Archives for September 13, 2007
I want a printer friendly map from Google, Yahoo! Live Local Ask Maps!
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
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
August Geoworld tackling yesterday’s news
GIS In The Rockies – Ohio Greenway Project using Geocortex IMF
GIS in the Rockies – NOAA and traditional GIS & GI Science tips
Forum Nokia Tech Days – Florida, California
Date and Locations:
October 10 and 11, Grand Bay Hotel Miami, Miami, Florida