Some useful tips and presentation Zen from Dave Bouwman, dtsgis Fort Collins, CO, shared at the Esri Dev Summit. Some useful tips for those looking to enhance their presentation skills… great stuff Dave! This is the first 2-3 minutes from Dave’s 20 minute presentation. Dave encourages you to “use whatever works best for you” – Check out a summary PDF from Dave posted at http://bit.ly/gudtszen1
Archives for March 2012
Video – Esri DevSummit Extreme Dodgeball Action
At the 2012 DevSummit in Palm Springs a number of geogeeks took part in a March Madness format dodgeball tourney. The tourney involved 16 teams and eventually was culled down to an exciting final 4. One of the 2 final series was particularly exciting with the teams getting pretty heated up and things coming down to the final game in the best of 5 match. Here’s some of the action to give you a glimpse of some geeky Geo developers burning off some steam! Fun stuff…
Geo Tech Career Hunting Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions To Score an Interview
Finding a job can be a daunting task but it doesn’t have to be. Many are turning to social media, in particular Twitter, to help score a new gig. Here’s some helpful social media job hunting resources, a few tips, and some simple ideas that could help.
- Keep your resume and cover letter templates up to date
- Just starting out as a recent College grad? Consider adding some industry certification to your resume (like a GISP)
- Create multiple resume versions and cover letters tailored for a specific type of job
- Create a good LinkedIn profile – many if not most hiring agents use LinkedIn
- Keep your social media profiles and accounts clean and professional – HR people will search you!
- If you see jobs posted in discussion boards on LinkedIn then reply Privately to the posting person
- If it doesn’t jeopardize you in some way be open! Share on your social streams that you are searching for a new job and briefly tout your expertise.
- Don’t surf the web and apply for jobs while at work
- If you know people at companies that interest you then come right out and ask if anything is available or perhaps coming available soon… be aggressive!
- You may think business cards are “oild school” but don’t fool yourself, carry one with you ALWAYS – get custom “ME” cards made at MOO.com
- Provide logical, clear, professional contact information on your resume – don’t use some lame email address like BigBeer69@gmail.com and be sure to also include a phone number. If you have to, secure a free Google Voice number, very handy!
- Use niche job boards – Monster and Dice are great for job ads from big companies, however, if you’re interested in smaller companies you’ll want to hit the industry specific boards. For Geo tech brows the GJC.org, GeoSearch, GISlounge, GISjobs.com and our own GISuser job board.
- For geeky, hard-core developer jobs (for example, companies like Ubisense, Geocommons, WeoGeo, Zekiah etc…) be sure to monitor their blogs. Quite often these companies will rely mainly on their social networks and blog to reach people that they know already believe in them and are fans!
- Are you sure you are willing to relocate? Before you apply for a job that’s 3,000 miles away make sure and don’t waste everyone’s time.
- Will you hire foreign workers or will you move to another country? Believe me, I’ve been through this and there’s MANY issues to deal with and its no cake walk, particularly for the worker on a visa.
- Google yourself and double-check ALL your social media streams… it’s amazing what you’ll find!
- Be genuine, don’t lie on your resume and don’t suck up {too much} – and don’t call yourself an “expert” unless you can back up that statement!
- For a helpful read check out Lifehacker and How to promote yourself without being Sleazy!
Steve Riley talks cloud at DevSummit
This morning at the Esri DevSummit it was all about the cloud thanks to a keynote delivered by Steve Riley of Riverbed Technology. From Steve… “The cloud is important for esri, fundamental for expanding and making it easier for developers to create new value on what they provide.
As an esri customer, being comfortable with the cloud is important!”
Great stuff… Follow #devsummit on twitter for loads of updates
Webinar – Share Spatial Data in Minutes using Google Fusion Tables and FME
The crew at Safe Software is hosting yet another webinar in the near future. Save the date, Thursday. March 29. Enjoy this free webinar to learn How to Gather and Share Spatial Data in Minutes using Google Fusion Tables and FME. During this Webinar Learn How You Can:
- Gather, visualize, and share data with Fusion Tables
- Load a wide range of data (GIS, CAD, LiDAR, raster, database, etc) into Fusion Tables using FME
- Extract and incorporate data found in Fusion Tables
- Perform ETL on data from Fusion Tables
- Leverage FME 2012’s new support for Fusion Tables
View news about future events and webinars HERE
Tornado Risk Report Reveals Tornado Alley Could Cover All States East of The Rockies
I find this tornado and hail risk incident report from CoreLogic to be pretty interesting. Obviously being in tornado alley can be a bit risky but it seems that most tornado damage is now taking place outside of the area known as tornado alley! The report discusses the impact of record-breaking hazard events across the country over the last year for insurance companies and homeowners, and provides greater insight into the extent of severe tornado and hail risk in geographic regions far beyond the Great Plains states.
Some interesting observations noted in the report include:
- of the top ten states with the highest number of tornado touchdowns between 1980 and 2009, only three actually fell within Tornado Alley
- At least 26 states have some area facing extreme tornado risk
- Estimated property damage within the Tornado Alley states from 2000-2011 was approximately $2.5 billion, while in comparison, the 16 states located outside of Tornado Alley with the next highest numbers of tornado touchdowns totaled nearly $15.5 billion
- At least 11 states have significant areas facing extreme hail risk, and almost every state east of the Rocky Mountains has some area facing a moderate or higher level of hail risk
New maps really need to be drawn and “tornado alley” now ideally should cover over half of the USA! see more in this official news announcement about the report
Perhaps a map of Tornado Alley should look like this! Note: map is by @gletham and not part of the report!
5 Awesome Mobile Apps and Services to Save You $$ At The Gas Pump
Gas prices are reaching record highs (again) and so there’s no doubt that drivers will be turning to technology to help save a little at the pump. There’s a number of things that people can do to save some cash. In addition to combining trips, using public transport, shopping for deals, and cutting back on consumption with smaller vehicles perhaps the best way to save some $$ immediately is to optimize your route and have access to real-time data – enter the mobile apps. the following are just 5 of the suggested mobile solutions that can help save you some pain at the pump:
AAA / CAA TripTik AAA TripTik Mobile is a GPS-based app with maps showing gas station locations and other points of interest, such as hotels, restaurants and attractions, near a user’s location or any user-specified location. Gas station details include updated prices for all available grades of gasoline.
INRIX This fabulous navigation and real time service puts real-time drive times and traffic data at your fingertips… a must have if you plan on heading down the Interstate to the airport. INRIX mobile is available for iOS, Android, and BB see http://www.inrixtraffic.com/
Where Where widgest provide the user with loads of information at their fingertips, like access to nearby restaurants, hotels, hot spots, and gas stations. The app detects your location and using gas staion locate tool will show you all the stations nearby along with the latest price.
Fleet Tracking With LiveViewGPS GPS fleet tracking from LiveViewGPS helps business owners keep track of employees driving company vehicles and target inefficiencies that may be driving up fuel use, such as excessive idling, poor driver routing, speeding, and unauthorized vehicle use see
waze Waze is the popular, free community navigation app providing users with turn by turn navigation and routing. The free mobile service provides users with a connected community of wazers all sharing information, tips, and drive times.
The WHERE mobile app
These are just a few solutions at your disposal. For more see Location Based Mobile Apps Helping You Save At The Gas Pump
Video – Hexagon Conference Sights and Sounds
Ever wondered what it’s like attending a Hexagon conference? This year’s Think Forward 2012 Hexagon conference is scheduled to take place June 4-7 in Las Vegas and will host thousands of professionals that use solutions from ERDAS, Intergraph, and Leica Geosystems, all under one roof. More can be found at the official event website http://www.hexagonconference.com
Note, a saving of $500 on registration is available for those who commit prior to April 16!
Amazing Street View WebMap of National Parks from @Nature_Valley
Wow, I’m simply loving this one! During my morning crawl around the web for interesting “Geo” news announcements I was surprised to notice a little gem from of all companies, Nature Valley – yes indeed, the guys who make those awesome, healthy bars that you may have enjoyed. Interesting to note, have you ever checked out their website at http://www.naturevalley.com? It’s actually quite impressive to see the focus on nature, the outdoors and geography… oh, there’s also some info about their products buried there too! Back to the news.. so today the company has announced details of Nature Valley Trail View, a visually stunning and immersive experience for outdoor enthusiasts to plan trips and explore trails.. hundreds of miles of trails. At the heart of the web service is an impressive WMS and stunning imagery, loads of it! Pan around the map, zoom in to view hiking trails, get information about interesting places and POIs, click on icons and view stunning photos and videos (300 miles of trail videos) … this is truly awesome.
This is a terrific example of taking GIS and Geo technology to the masses and to the mainstream for a practical business use. This isn’t about GIS or Geo Technology, rather, this is just another fine example of how the Geo professionals can think about unlocking their valuable Geo data and serving it up in an innovative way for a client that you may not have considered approaching. Check out this video where Trail View was announced at SXSW and of note, see Pete Cashmore (Mashable) comments… kind of funny I think how Cashmore almost implies that Nature Valley has invented a great idea here! Perhaps a wakeup call as to how GIS professionals have really locked up their data and apps and now mainstream business are getting much attention and accolades for implementing technology that you’ve all worked on for many years but have never really told the World about!
Check out the resource at http://www.naturevalleytrailview.com and explore the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park, and the Great Smokey Mountains.
http://www.naturevalleytrailview.com/ – See also this video from SXSW
For complete details See – Nature Valley Launches First Ever Street-View Style National Parks Experience
Nokia PureView 808, The Best Smartphone Camera In The World – Perhaps!
There’s no question that indeed, the Nokia PureView 808 may in fact be the World’s best smartphone camera… hands down! Given that I’m a huge believer that the Nokia N8 was likely the killer camera prior to this year, indeed there’s no reason to doubt that the PureView 808 is now holding that spot. With 16 GB internal user memory, expandable to 48GB via microSD, 4″ display, Bluetooth, USB, 41 megapixel camera sensor, Auto focus and touch focus, Full HD (1920×1080) video and more you have to be excited about this one if mobile photography is your thing… this bad boy makes me drool! Check out detailed Specs and more at http://europe.nokia.com/pureview
Via Nokia… Nokia 808 PureView http://nokia.ly/xz6mhS takes every bit of image goodness captured by a 41MP sensor and Carl Zeiss lens and turns it into beautifully detailed images and Full HD videos.