Archives for September 13, 2007

Social Music with Social FM

September 13, 2007 by gisuser

Do you like music? Do you like to listen to music at work? Ok, its off topic but this new service is very cool! Enter Social FM. Here’s the skinny from the company… The all-new Social.FM Web enables social discovery of music from friends and people with similar preferences on the Social.FM network. Anyone can search and discover music, music videos, biographies, album information, reviews, pictures, and chat and interact with Social.FM DJs worldwide. With over one million channels of user-programmed music and over 3.5 million unique user-contributed tracks, Social.FM embodies the ultimate social music mantra of “music of the people, by the people and for the people.” Social.FM Web is developed on Adobe’s Rich Internet Application (RIA) framework, requiring no software downloads or installation and featuring cross-platform support for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS/X and Linux.

Under the very cool is the coming soon… Social FM Mobile.. sweet! See http://search.social.fm there’s loads of great classics here like Journey, REO Speedwagon, Stones, yadayada and the sound quality is freaking awesome! The search UI is a bit confusing but you can fumble around and locate great tracks and videos.

I want a printer friendly map from Google, Yahoo! Live Local Ask Maps!

September 13, 2007 by gisuser

I’m just printing out some driving directions from Google Maps and Ask maps and it has me wondering.. whay can’t we get a really nice, effective printer friendly output from any of these mapping services? The maps and directions are great, however, every time I print one of these maps the map background is always some very light or pale yellow or tan color and basically serves only one purpose… it uses up my valuable printer cartridges! Hey map service… I don’t need a background color on maps that I print out! It looks great and is effective online but its totally useless to include on the output. Wouldn’t a couple of print options be nice.. a basic for quick output to take with you on your drive (ie. no background shading etc…, and an enhanced option with all the colors, shading etc.. so you could hang it on your wall!) my 2 cents! On a side note.. I noticed a banner ad from Ask Maps running on DIGG today. The banner promotes drag and drop mapping and directions… where is the drag and drop and what is this referring to???

FYI, I used several services to see if I got different estimates on a planned trip. Here’s what I found (note: all routed me the same way)

Ask Maps http://maps.ask.com/
9 miles Time: 15 minutes

Google Maps http://www.google.com/maps/
10.1 mi – about 16 mins up to 20 mins in traffic

Yahoo! http://maps.yahoo.com
9.2 miles Time : 16 mins (approx)
I like the way Yahoo returned the business name, phone number when I entered the address of a business

Live search – http://maps.live.com/
9.7 miles Time: 12 minutes

Adams County Colorado using ike GPS and ArcPad technology from North South GIS

September 13, 2007 by gisuser

Another HOT topic at yesterday’s GIS in the Rockies was GPS tagging of photos for your GIS project. Adams County Colorado is using a very cool mobile field data collection solution thanks to the help of NorthSouth GIS, a local GIS consulting firm. Adams County is Colorado’s 5th largest county and home to more than 400,000 people. However, the county is for the most part rural so data capture can be a huge undertaking. The county had a need to capture a vast amount of data by sending field crews to record coordinates along with digital photography. They wanted highly accurate data and needed to build a database that could be shared over the the county by staff. Using the Ike GPS laser data capture device from NSG the county has been able to captured GPS tagged photography, attach event data to these data, QC in the office, upload to their server, and distribute the information via an enterprise system.

The county has managed to implement a very efficient system and has streamlined their workflows, however, what wowed attendees at the session was the Ike device. Developer by a company called surveylab, ike is billed as the World’s only fully integrated data capture device… I have to agree.. this device is indeed WOW technology! The ike GPS / laser scanner provides users wit: a compass, range finder, GPS, digital camera, ArcPad support.. and much more!

Some more details on ike:
– offers traditional GPS use and data capture
– GPS laser enables data collection from a safe distance
– collect data from up to 1000 m distance
– weighs 1200 g
– desktop synch
– runs on Windows Mobile
– comes with ArcPad application builder (optional) and the ike SDK
– 3.5″ screen (320×240)
– rugged
– supports 1GB SD card and 64 MB RAM

For more on this see http://www.co.adams.co.us/ or http://www.northsouthgis.com/ and http://www.survey-lab.com/

August Geoworld tackling yesterday’s news

September 13, 2007 by gisuser

I just picked up a copy of GeoWorld while at the GIS in the Rockies event.. someone actually asked me… “do people still read this”? It’s a cool mag, however, its like a time warp! I noticed the “August 2007” edition features 34 pages I think (I picked up someone’s business card on thick card stock yesterday and it felt thicker than the magazine!). The magazine features an image on the cover that shows the City of Nanaimo – GIS pioneers? Not sure about that although Jason Birch has generated much interest in the city’s efforts via his work with Mapguide Open Source and Google Earth.. too bad the city can’t take advantage of some great Geo technologies to actually clean up the city… ever been to downtown Nanaimo…ohmygodwhatadump! Other goodies in the magazine include the ruling in the MAPPS case, the USGS releasing GeoPDF maps, and an update on the Rolla Mapping Center. All great stories but definitely yesterday’s news. I have to wonder if this edition is Matt Ball’s final act as the Editor of the Magazine now that he and Jeff Thurston have started a new gig. Stay tuned on that one I guess…

August Geoworld tackling yesterday’s news

September 13, 2007 by gisuser

GIS In The Rockies – Ohio Greenway Project using Geocortex IMF

September 13, 2007 by gisuser

More random notes from GIS In The Rockies… I have to admit, before yesterday I wasn’t terribly familiar with the Trust for Public Lands (TPL). That changed after taking in a short session TPL operates out of more than 50 offices nationwide and helps agencies create a vision for conservation. To date the organization has taken on more than 3200 projects, helped conserve more than 2.2 million acres of land, and helped to generate more than $24 billion in state and local conservation funding. Presenters Breece Robertson and Tom Dudley from TPL Santa Fe, NM presented a session that described the Ohio Greenway Gateway project – a web-based GIS supporting a conservation project that spans 20 counties in northern Ohio. Supporting the project is a web resource that was developed using the Geocortex solution from Latitude Geographics. The application enables stake holders to view land parcels and detailed information, color ortho imagery, and even print using custom print templates (8.5×11 or large plotter sizes). The system has become a useful, simple to use application that facilitates cross-jurisdictional use providing access to a rich database. TPL elected to use the Latitude Geographics IMF framework because it was powerful, simple to use, provided drag and drop tools, and most important, delivered out of the box functionality. For more details see

http://www.tpl.org/

http://www.latitudegeo.com/

http://www.geocortex.com/imf/index.html

GIS in the Rockies – NOAA and traditional GIS & GI Science tips

September 13, 2007 by gisuser

Some notes from GIS in the Rockies. I managed to get to this event (now celebrating 20 years) for one day. GIS in the Rockies brings together the Colorado GIS community (and many others) and offers attendees a chance to get a glimpse of the latest apps, services, and geo technologies being used by GIS professionals in Colorado. I decided to attend on Wednesday at it seemed that this first day offered the best sessions out of the two days – time would only allow me to spend one day here. At 8:30 the sessions started and ran back-to-back-to-back pretty much all day long. At first glance it seemed that people were a little confused because sessions ended on the hour or half-hour only to have the next session start immediately — 5 minutes or so between sessions would have been quite helpful! Some of the highlights that I took away from the day:

A session by presenter William Linzey from NOAA touched on traditional GIS & GI Science and building an accurate GIS. It was sort of a primer on the technology but nonetheless quite interesting. The tips regarding data accuracy were very helpful and still hold true to this day… let’s not forget about data accuracy and assumptions about accuracy – in this day of mashups and the GeoWeb 2.0 this concept is being left on the back burner! In particular I enjoyed the assumptions about accuracy that many people make. These include:

– trusting the source

– the accuracy has been taken care of

my software will ensure accuracy

– what we have is good enough

– accurate data is costly

– metadata.. what metadata?

Another set of very useful tips that we’ve heard before but should think about with every project were offered up:

– why is my project being undertaken (local, regional, or national in scope?)

– who’s my audience

– do I need static or temporal data?

– what resources are at my disposal… human, technological?

– what funding constraints will I encounter?

– what’s the project area?

– what data repositories can I take advantage of?

Once again.. much of these are a reminder of things that we should always consider when conducting GI Science. Linzey also touched on the topic of spatial reference systems and the importance of understanding the control and referencing required by your GIS applications. For more on this be sure to bookmark the National Geodetic Survey website – http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/

More notes from GIS in the Rockies to come… A few images from the event can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gisuser/sets/72157601978982154/

Forum Nokia Tech Days – Florida, California

September 13, 2007 by gisuser

Interested in mobile application development (maybe LBS) for the World’s most popular mobile platform? Forum Nokia has just announced 2 dates for developer-focused seminars taking place this fall. Join Forum Nokia in Miami for an intensive, two-day developer conference focusing on emerging technologies and new channel opportunities. Whether you are a web developer or open source developer you will find technical and business information you need to leverage the power of Nokia platforms and technologies. The conference will feature widgets and browser run-time technologies, Linux and Maemo open source platforms, S60, Java, Flash and Symbian technology experts and partners. Nokia business development staff will also be on hand to share ways of tapping new, lucrative channels.

Date and Locations:
October 10 and 11, Grand Bay Hotel Miami, Miami, Florida

November 13 – 14th, The Cabana Hotel Crowne Plaza, Palo Alto, CA

Features: What’s New, Tips, How-To, Ideas, Experts and more – see http://www.symbianone.com/special/Nokia-TechDays2007

Event Reminder – Victoria ESRI Regional User Conference

September 13, 2007 by gisuser

A heads-up for those interested in ESRI products on Vancouver Island, B.C. Victoria ESRI Regional User Conference on October 1- 2, 2007. The conference will be held at the Victoria Conference Centre 720 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC. See www.esricanada.com/events/eruc2007 for more information.

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