Planet Georezo

Un Planet est un site Web dynamique qui agrège le plus souvent sur une seule page, le contenu de notes, d'articles ou de billets publiés sur des blogs ou sites Web afin d'accentuer leur visibilité et de faire ressortir des contenus pertinents aux multiples formats (texte, audio, vidéo, Podcast). C'est un agrégateur de flux RSS. Il s'apparente à un portail web.
Vous pouvez lire le billet sur le blog La Minute pour plus d'informations sur les RSS !

Feeds

11741 items (0 unread) in 63 feeds

Autres planets

Planet OSGeo

Blogs GeoRezo.net

Dans la presse

Du côté des éditeurs

Géomatique anglophone

Toile géomatique francophone

Abonnez vous à cette page (RSS) !

Recent items

Skip to page: 1 2 3 ... 109

17 mars 2010
23:17
Eclipse MapsThe Map Room
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

There are an awful lot of maps showing the path of solar eclipses. These maps are vital to eclipse chasers, who spend vast sums travelling to places where they can see one, and those slightly less insane who nevertheless are interested in when the next one comes around. (I...
22:23
Australia 1st with Google Ads in MapsVector One
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

There you go. Ads in maps. Visit Google Australia, zoom in close and click on the ads. Read about it at the Sydney Morning Herald.
21:55
GORequest for iPhone the Government outreach mobile appGISuser GIS and Location Technology news
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

GORequest for iPhone the Government outreach mobile app enables citizens to communicate with local governments and report items of concern… Nice! About the app… See a pothole that needs...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
21:18
Visualization: Depiction ‘More Than Mapping’ UpdateVector One
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The people at Depiction have updated the software today and the upgrade adds some important features. Areas and line measurements can now be calculated. Creator information can now be added to depictions and the email feature now includes live email updating to the software — including shapes. The software handles GML, SHP, CSV and GPX [...]

21:13
Un petit film...Géolocalisation et Twitter
sur GEMTICE

Ce petit film propose une sorte de timelapse des Tweets géolocalisés dans Google Maps pour la ville de Londres:

Source: Digital Urban

21:11
FCC Application Allows You to Test Your Broadband BandwidthBetween the Poles
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The FCC's Consumer Broadband Test enables US consumers to test the quality of their broadband connections. The FCC says it may use data collected when you run the Consumer Broadband Test, along with a street address you may have contributed, to analyze broadband quality and availability geographically across the US. Two consumer broadband testing tools have been selected by the FCC for this test which measures bandwidth and latency. There is also a free Mobile Consumer Broadband Test for the Apple iPhone and Android mobile platforms called the “FCC Broadband Test.”

21:10
Geoff Zeiss: FCC Application Allows You to Test Your Broadband Bandwidth
sur Planet OSGeo

The FCC's Consumer Broadband Test enables US consumers to test the quality of their broadband connections. The FCC says it may use data collected when you run the Consumer Broadband Test, along with a street address you may have contributed, to analyze broadband quality and availability geographically across the US. Two consumer broadband testing tools have been selected by the FCC for this test which measures bandwidth and latency. There is also a free Mobile Consumer Broadband Test for the Apple iPhone and Android mobile platforms called the “FCC Broadband Test.”

21:02
Ajouter des couches cartographiques par transparence
sur GEMTICE

Un titre pompeux pour un outil assez génial: The transparent com site permet de sélectionner les bases de données cartographiques et d'afficher les dalles de différents services comme Google Maps, Google Map maker, Google earth et Yahoo street...en comparaison des dalles d'openstreetMap, le tout sous forme d'un calque t dont on peut faire varier la transparence. On peut ainsi comparer des données cartographiques issus d'un côté de Google Earth et celle d' OpenStreetMap
Dommage que la seule comparaison avec OpenStreetMap soit possible...Bientôt ?

Source: Free Geography Tools

20:55
GooeyOpenGeo
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The other thing I really enjoyed while re-tooling my geo-stack workshop was re-writing the PostGIS section to use the new GUI loader instead of the command-line tools.

The GUI was actually one of the first projects I worked on after coming to OpenGeo, and was a part of the 1.4 release. But it didn’t build in Windows, so nobody used it! For 1.5 I got myself a Windows build environment and made it work, so here it is! Another couple pages of boilerplate removed from the workshop.

19:55

GeoServer Team: Extending your map styling with geometry transformations

sur Planet OSGeo

When designing a map, sometimes you want to render something that is related to the geometries you have at hand, but which is not specifically the geometries themselves. Maybe you want to highlight the end of a line, create a drop shadow effect, or make the vertices that make up a geometry more evident to the user. Unfortunately the SLD specification that GeoServer uses for its rendering does not allow you to dynamically extract such information. If you need to achieve those effects, you will usually need to generate a new layer by preprocessing your data offline (for example, using PostGIS’s excellent spatial analysis functions).

Today I’m going to show you how to achieve those effects dynamically using what we call geometry transformations. Geometry transformations are yet another extension to SLD in order to make it more powerful. (Another example of SLD an extension that GeoServer has implemented is dynamic symbolizers.) Standard SLD allows the user to specify a <Geometry> element in each symbolizer, but its contents can only be a <PropertyName>; this allows a user to choose a different geometry should a spatial table contain more than one. With geometry transformations, GeoServer allows you to specify a filter function as well, which can transform the geometry. (You may want to refer to my previous post on filter functions.)

Let’s look at an example. Say we have a building layer, rendered with a plain gray fill:

plain

We can add a twist to this plain map by adding a drop shadow beneath the buildings layer. To achieve this we will offset the buildings a bit, fill them dark gray, and then paint the standard buildings layer on top of it. The style looks like:

      <FeatureTypeStyle>
        <Rule>
          <Title>Shadow</Title>
          <PolygonSymbolizer>
            <Geometry>
               <ogc:Function name="offset">
                  <ogc:PropertyName>the_geom</ogc:PropertyName>
                  <ogc:Literal>0.00004</ogc:Literal>
                  <ogc:Literal>-0.00004</ogc:Literal>
               </ogc:Function>
            </Geometry>
            <Fill>
              <CssParameter name="fill">#555555</CssParameter>
            </Fill>
          </PolygonSymbolizer>
        </Rule>
      </FeatureTypeStyle>
      <FeatureTypeStyle>
        <Rule>
          <Title>Polygon</Title>
          <PolygonSymbolizer>
            <Fill>
              <CssParameter name="fill">#CCCCCC</CssParameter>
            </Fill>
            <Stroke>
              <CssParameter name="stroke">#000000</CssParameter>
              <CssParameter name="stroke-width">0.5</CssParameter>
            </Stroke>
          </PolygonSymbolizer>
        </Rule>
      </FeatureTypeStyle>

And the result is:

shadow

The filter function takes the geometries and offsets them by (0.00004, -0.00004). Geometry transformations occur against the original geometry, which in this particular case is in EPSG:4326, so the values of the offset are also in units of lon/lat.

You can find more examples about this functionality in the geometry transformations section of the User Manual. You can also get creative by looking at the currently available set of filter functions. Also remember, if you want a function that’s not there, it is possible to add new ones; drop by on the developer mailing list and we’ll provide you with directions.

19:55
Extending your map styling with geometry transformationsGeoServer Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
When designing a map, sometimes you want to render something that is related to the geometries you have at hand, but which is not specifically the geometries themselves. Maybe you want to highlight the end of a line, create a drop shadow effect, or make the vertices that make up a geometry more evident to the user. Unfortunately the SLD specification that GeoServer uses for its rendering does not allow you to dynamically extract such information. If you need to achieve those effects, you will usually need to generate a new layer by preprocessing your data offline (for example, using PostGIS’s excellent spatial analysis functions).

Today I’m going to show you how to achieve those effects dynamically using what we call geometry transformations. Geometry transformations are yet another extension to SLD in order to make it more powerful. (Another example of SLD an extension that GeoServer has implemented is dynamic symbolizers.) Standard SLD allows the user to specify a element in each symbolizer, but its contents can only be a ; this allows a user to choose a different geometry should a spatial table contain more than one. With geometry transformations, GeoServer allows you to specify a filter function as well, which can transform the geometry. (You may want to refer to my previous post on filter functions.)

Let’s look at an example. Say we have a building layer, rendered with a plain gray fill:

We can add a twist to this plain map by adding a drop shadow beneath the buildings layer. To achieve this we will offset the buildings a bit, fill them dark gray, and then paint the standard buildings layer on top of it. The style looks like:
```
      
        
          Shadow
          
            
               
                  the_geom
                  0.00004
                  -0.00004
               
            
            
              #555555
            
          
        
      
      
        
          Polygon
          
            
              #CCCCCC
            
            
              #000000
              0.5
            
          
        
      
```
And the result is:

The filter function takes the geometries and offsets them by (0.00004, -0.00004). Geometry transformations occur against the original geometry, which in this particular case is in EPSG:4326, so the values of the offset are also in units of lon/lat.

You can find more examples about this functionality in the geometry transformations section of the User Manual. You can also get creative by looking at the currently available set of filter functions. Also remember, if you want a function that’s not there, it is possible to add new ones; drop by on the developer mailing list and we’ll provide you with directions.
19:49
GeoBriefs: Map Madness, Scribble MapsGIS Lounge - Geographic Information Systems
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Here are a couple of fun applications. In time for March Madness, ESPN has launched Map Madness. The challenge is to pinpoint the location of all the schools based on questions that pop up. You have ten seconds to mark your location. The quicker you answer, the more points you get. In order to move on [...]
19:14
EPA Opens a Forum for Water Protection FeedbackSpatial Sustain
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has just launched an online Water Forum to collect public input on how it can best protect and improve America’s waters. Input is open to any interest — from planning, to scientific tools, to low impact development, to green infrastructure. The emphasis is on means to better use resources and [...]
19:00
OS Consultation a fairy tale ?edparsons.com
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
The past couple of months seems to have offered a cathartic opportunity for the relatively small UK Geographic Information Industry to get some long terms issues off its collective chest.

In no particular order we have seen the following public responses to the Consultation for the future of Ordnance Survey. (Let me know if you know of any more.. updated – thanks for all the links, keep them coming)
All these responses share a common opinion that the status-quo or Ordnance Survey’s own strategy (remember that?) for it’s future is not acceptable.

In many cases the responses quite rightly identify the issue as something wider than just should OS make some data free, but what is the UK strategy for the use of Geographic Information in general.

This strategic view is something which has never been defined clearly, but is something OS has unfortunately tried to remain gatekeeper for, as it’s Director General is advisor to Government on all things geographical.

The consultation understandably and in my mind quite rightly has remained focused on the specifics of making OS data free, and in the great tradition of Civil Service options papers offers a Goldilocks Choice; one too cold, one too hot and one option just about acceptable.

Option 1 appears to maintain the status-quo and I don’t see anyone outside the Romsey Road distortion field supporting it.

Option 2 is perhaps something that may be achievable in the long term with continued technological change and changing market requirements, however at the moment this would put Ordnance Survey in a position where it’s current operational processes are financially unsustainable.

So Option 3 represents the obvious compromise, some small scale data for free while allowing the cash cow of MasterMap to continue to fund a reduced but largely similar OS to the one we have today.

There are of course two rather large Elephants in the room, one of which appears to have been put into the “too difficult” bucket and the other is not mentioned perhaps because by making data free the issue will disappear ?

Postal Geography, the fact there is no single address register which can be used without major limitations is a national embarrassment, for a knowledge economy this is the equivalent of trying to run railways before a single standard time was introduced. This is an issue bigger than Ordnance Survey, although OS has had it’s part to play in the current mess, this really does need strategic leadership from the centre.

Derived Data, OS must stop its current practice of claiming intellectual property rights to any geospatial product created with even passing reference to Ordnance Survey products as “derived” information. There is no direct mention of this is the consultation, and if OS data is made available using a CC-BY license then this may not be an issue, but I would really like to see this clarified.

I just can’t help thinking however them is a dreamlike / fairy tale element to this process, Goldilocks aside. The consultation process ends today, and Government will probably shut down and enter Purdah in 2 weeks, I just hope we don’t wake up after the election and find the whole process was a dream and the new administration has much bigger issues to deal with.

Written and submitted from home (51.425N, 0.331W)
Share this post: [http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edparsons.com%2F2010%2F03%2Fos-consultation-a-fairy-tale%2F"] title="Twitter">
18:49
Attention Developers: Southern Maryland GiveCamp This WeekendGeoMusings
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The first Southern Maryland GiveCamp is happening this weekend at St. Mary’s College of Maryland in St. Mary’s City for the benefit of 19 local non-profits. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of a GiveCamp, the web site sums it up but here is an excerpt: GiveCamp is a weekend-long event where software developers, designers, [...]

18:11
Le géomarketing et les réseaux sociaux
sur Inventis Géomarketing
Utiliser les médias sociaux pour promouvoir vos produits et services, c’est une bonne idée. Y ajouter la dimension spatiale, c’est encore mieux.

Hier, le très populaire site mashable.com a publié un article sur les possibilités du « location-based marketing » offert par les réseaux tels que Foursquare, Gowalla ou Loopt. L’idée fait son bout de chemin un peu partout sur la planète actuellement. Le phénomène est grandissant et l’avantage pour les entreprises semblent être sans équivoque (voyez l’exemple ici).

Mais qu’en est-il au Québec ? Est-ce que des entreprises utilisent réellement le marketing par géolocalisation dans un contexte d’affaires ? Est-on trop frileux face à la technologie ? Le québécois moyen serait-il un retardé technologique chronique ???

Faites-nous part de vos réussites ! On aimerait changer d’opinion…
- [b2l.me] title="Tweetez-le !">Tweetez-le !
- Partagez-le sur Facebook
- Partagez-le sur Linkedin
- Ajoutez-le à Google Bookmarks
- Publiez-le sur MySpace
- Partagez-le sur del.icio.us
- S'abonner aux commentaires de cet article ?

18:09
Virtual Fence on Mexican Border Gets Budget CutSpatial Sustain
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The “virtual fence” sensor web project along the Mexican border has been stripped of $50Million of federal stimulus funds by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano due to cost overruns and missed deadlines. The fence has been installed and is undergoing testing in two areas along the Arizona border, but there are no plans to extend [...]

18:00
L'art à l'oeuvre dans l'espace public
sur Les Cafés géographiques

Débat animé par :
Philippe Chaudoir (professeur à l'Institut d'Urbanisme de Lyon)
François Gindre (directeur de Lyon Parc Auto)
Georges Verney-Carron (président du groupe "Communiquez" qui réunit notamment "Art/entreprise")
17/03/2010 18h à 20h Café de la Cloche, 4 rue de la Charité, 69002 Lyon (M° Bellecour)

17:55
Geoff Zeiss: Water Consumption During the Olympic Hockey Final
sur Planet OSGeo

Water usage statistics from the City of Ottawa show a sudden spike after Canada's overtime win, as lavatories across town were flushed near simultaneously, peaking at about 6:20 p.m. on game day. There was a jump in water consumption right after Crosby's winning goal, but the larger spike in water use came a few minutes later, after the medals were handed out. Similar statistics were released by the Cities of Edmonton and Vancouver. Apparently tracking water consumption in Ottawa is more difficult than in other cities because jumps are leveled by large reservoirs that supply most of the city's water. The data was extracted from pressurized zones in certain sections of Ottawa. In 2009 Ottawa's two water treatment plants at Lemieux Island and Britannia produced an average of 292 million litres a day. Water consumption per capita in Ottawa in general is in decline relative to the growing population, largely because of new and more efficient toilets and appliances.

17:55
Water Consumption During the Olympic Hockey FinalBetween the Poles
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Water usage statistics from the City of Ottawa show a sudden spike after Canada's overtime win, as lavatories across town were flushed near simultaneously, peaking at about 6:20 p.m. on game day. There was a jump in water consumption right after Crosby's winning goal, but the larger spike in water use came a few minutes later, after the medals were handed out. Similar statistics were released by the Cities of Edmonton and Vancouver. Apparently tracking water consumption in Ottawa is more difficult than in other cities because jumps are leveled by large reservoirs that supply most of the city's water. The data was extracted from pressurized zones in certain sections of Ottawa. In 2009 Ottawa's two water treatment plants at Lemieux Island and Britannia produced an average of 292 million litres a day. Water consumption per capita in Ottawa in general is in decline relative to the growing population, largely because of new and more efficient toilets and appliances.
17:52
National Hydro Network of Canada - FGDB FormatSlashgeo
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

GeoBase Support writes "In celebration of United Nations World Water Day on March 22, National Hydro Network's (NHN)of Canada own contribution is the release of a brand new data format added to its product line of NHN distribution formats. In fact, from now on, NHN product data can be downloaded in ESRI File Geodatabase (FGDB) format, in addition to GML (Geography Markup Language), ESRI Shapefile and KML (Keyhole Markup Language) formats already offered. This new FGDB format is offered with an ESRI ArcMap MXD Project file, which makes NHN data much more easily usable, notably because of the data structure, symbology or graphical semiology and already built-in geometric network it contains. Canada's national coverage of NHN data is now fully available in this new format. All this is accessible at no cost on GeoBase portal. For more details and to access available data, please see the National Hydro Network section." See also several related stories below.
Read more of this story at Slashgeo.
17:43
Worldwide Telescope (WWT) now in Bing MapsMapperz - The Mapping News Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Worldwide Telescope (WWT) now in Bing Maps [Preview mode] The Sky at night (and day) in Bing Maps Explore With the new Bing Maps Worldwide Telescope (WWT) App you can explore the constellations and...

Map and GIS News finding blog. With so many Maps and GIS sites online now it is hard to find the good from the not so good. This blog tries to cut the cream and provide you with the newest, fastest, cleanest and most user friendly maps that are available online. News has location and it is mapped.

17:41
Chaipat Nengcomma: Emap on Facebook
sur Planet OSGeo

______มีคนเคยบอกไว้ว่าหัวใจของการเขียน blog คือ content แต่สิ่งที่สำคัญไม่ยิ่งหย่อนไปกว่ากันคือวิธีการเข้าถึงคนอ่าน ปัจจุบันคนใจเครือข่ายสังคมแบบออนไลน์กันเยอะขึ้น โดยเฉพาะกลุ่มวัยรุ่นและคนวัยหนุ่มสาว ผมเองก็ไม่แก่แต่ก็ไม่ได้ตามเทรนด์ไปซะทุกเรื่องดังนั้น การเล่นหรือเข้าไปอยู่ในเครือข่ายสังคมของผมจึงน้อยมากถึงมากที่สุด แต่เนื่องจากไอเดียของน้องที่รู้จักบอกว่าอยากเล่นเกมส์ไปด้วยและก็อัพเดตความรู้ไปด้วยบน FaceBook จะทำได้ไหม? เมื่อน้องขอมาพี่ก็จัดให้ผมก็เลยเข้าไปสมัคร facebook หัดเล่น(เกมส์)อยู่สักพักก็เลยเปิดตัว EMAP GIS บน FaceBook ให้ได้เชื่อมต่อกัน แต่แน่นอนว่าผมไม่ได้เข้าไปเขียนเองแต่พยายามจะเขียน code ให้มันเชื่อมต่อกับ wordpress CMS เพื่อ update content เข้าไป คล้ายกับ Twitter ที่มัน update หัวข้อบทความเข้าไปนั้นแหละครับ โดยหนทางก็ไม่ยากครับผ่านทาง Openstream API ของ Facebook ซึ่ง Facebook ก็สนับสนุนภาษา PHP เป็นอย่างดีเช่นเดียวกับ wordpress หรือถ้าไม่อยากออกแรงก็ใช้ pulg-in ดีๆได้เลยเช่น gigya-socialize ,WP-FacebookConnect หรือ Simple Facebook Connect ถ้าใครอยากลองพัฒนาลองแวะไปอ่านได้ที่ [dentedreality.com.au]

______อีกเหตุผลหนึ่งที่ผมหัดเล่น Facebook เพราะอีกไม่นาน(คาดว่าจะเป็นเดือนหน้า) Facebook จะเพิ่มฟีเจอร์ของ Location เข้าไปรับลองว่าน่าจะเป็นอะไรที่น่าสนุกและตอบสนองต่อผู้ใช้ได้ไม่มากก็น้อยทีเดียวครับ สนใจแวะเข้ามาเป็นเพื่อนกับผมได้ที่ EMAP on Facebook

17:26
Video Montage - Fun Social Location on the iPhone 3G SGISuser GIS and Location Technology news
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

A little bit of fun showing off just a few of the cool, location-aware social things you can do with the iPhone 3GS or other smartphone (Android mobile or Symbian etc…) enjoy and turn up your...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
17:14
American Public Works Association Adds Focus on SustainabilitySpatial Sustain
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The American Public Works Association (APWA) has just created the APWA Center for Sustainability. The mission of this organization is to create the next generation of public works professionals that work closely with a more engaged and better informed public, and take an integrated systems approach to addressing livability and community issues. A statement from APWA [...]

17:04
17/03/2010 : Système U choisit GeoConcept pour optimiser les performances de son réseau
sur SIG la lettre : divers

Dans le cadre de son plan de développement, Système U a choisi les solutions de GeoConcept, concepteur leader de technologies d'optimisation géographique, pour analyser les performances de son réseau et déterminer les meilleures implantations possibles de ses futurs points de vente en fonction du potentiel commercial de ces emplacements. - Communiqués de presse

16:56
South Africa — Water ManagementVector One
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

South Africa is one of 30 driest countries in the world. Water matters, and it matters a lot. It supports agriculture and the economy. It is also manageable and conservation plays a vital role. – South Africans must do more to save water. That’s the call from Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Ms Buyelwa Sonjica [...]

16:05
Ski Journey Planner with Google Maps
sur Google Maps Mania

ZoombuZoombu Ski is a journey planner that uses Google Maps to help find the best way for UK residents to travel to a ski resort or chalet in the French Alps. Zoombu searches and compares flights, Eurostar trains, coaches, trains and driving options to help find the cheapest, fastest or greenest way to travel.To carry out a search in Zoombu enter your starting address, destination and dates of

15:53
MIX10 NotesThe Memory Leak
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

I’ve been watching some of the live video feed from Microsoft’s MIX10 presentations. I found these interesting: The Open Data specification looks promising. Netflix open data catalog was used for demonstration. I wish Netflix provided a way to query popularity rank by zipcode for a particular title. This would make it easy [...]

15:39
Geoff Zeiss: Android-based Motorola Droid Outsold iPhone During First 74 Days
sur Planet OSGeo

Flurry has estimated the sales numbers for the first 74 days of the launch of the original iPhone and the Motorola Droid, which uses the open source Google Android OS. 74 days was the period chosen because that's the time it reportedly took to see one million of the original iPhones. The launch dates were June 29, 2007 for the iPhone and November 5, 2009 for the Droid.
Flurry found that more Droid's were sold in 74 days than iPhones after their respective launches. Flurry found it so surprising that the Droid exceeded the iPhone over the first 74 days that they recomputed their estimates several times without changing their conclusion.

15:39
Android-based Motorola Droid Outsold iPhone During First 74 DaysBetween the Poles
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Flurry has estimated the sales numbers for the first 74 days of the launch of the original iPhone and the Motorola Droid, which uses the open source Google Android OS. 74 days was the period chosen because that's the time it reportedly took to see one million of the original iPhones. The launch dates were June 29, 2007 for the iPhone and November 5, 2009 for the Droid.
Flurry found that more Droid's were sold in 74 days than iPhones after their respective launches. Flurry found it so surprising that the Droid exceeded the iPhone over the first 74 days that they recomputed their estimates several times without changing their conclusion.
15:32
Digital Economy Bill, this would funny if it was not so serious..edparsons.com
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

In a real test of democracy, a widely regarded poor piece of legislation is currently making it’s way through parliament without much scrutiny to make sure it becomes law before the upcoming election. The Digital Economy Bill is wide-ranging and addresses an increasingly important part of the British Economy, yet it’s hard not to get the impression that due process is being sacrificed to meet the needs of some very vocal lobby groups.

Write to your MP if you think its wrong that your connection to the internet could be removed on evidence that would so weak that no criminal case could even be made.

“Alright mush.. we know you were in WH Smiths when someone nicked the packet of smarties.. we going to take your car keys to make sure you never visit the shop again !”

Of course there is also the wider argument, who is actually suffering the music industry or the record business ?

Written and submitted from the Google Offices, London (51.495N, 0.146W)
Share this post: [http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edparsons.com%2F2010%2F03%2Fdigital-economy-bill-this-would-funny-if-it-was-not-so-serious%2F"] title="Twitter">

15:28
N° 2. Frantisek Kupka. LA FRONTIERE FRANCO-ALLEMANDE
sur Les Cafés géographiques

Ce croquis représente de manière symbolique la nouvelle frontière franco-allemande après 1870. Ce bandeau figure en tête du chapitre « Le peuplement de la terre ». Il illustre les convictions internationalistes et antimilitaristes de Reclus, avec la remarquable phrase qui l'accompagne : « Le fait de tracer une frontière politique sur la crête des Alpes a suffi pour exhausser pratiquement ces montagnes ». Deux cavaliers armés, un Français de face et un Allemand de dos, patrouillent de part et d'autre d'une (...)

15:15
3 Second Poll! What Would You Like More of?GISuser GIS and Location Technology news
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Please help us along by providing an idea of what you’d like more of… thanks! Loading…

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

14:58
The Beautiful Earth on Google Maps
sur Google Maps Mania

Earth Art with Google MapsPongsocket a blog by 19-year old Andy Graulund from Copenhagen, Denmark has started putting together some visually stunning views that can be found in Google Maps satellite imagery.Andy says that "unlike GoogleSightseeing, this isn’t only for the obscurity: it’s for the art." It certainly shows that the Earth can still be a beautiful place._____________

14:54
17/03/2010 : 2010 : l'année de tous les changements chez IMAO.
sur SIG la lettre : divers

IMAO, société d'acquisition aérienne (prises de vues numériques & LIDAR) s'installe dès le 1er Avril 2010 dans ses nouveaux locaux de l'aéroport de Limoges – Bellegarde. Cette position plus centrale dans la France, permet d'atteindre n'importe quelle partie du territoire national en moins d'une heure. - Communiqués de presse

14:11
Pay to Have Your Logo on Google Maps
sur Google Maps Mania

not actual size - image enlargedGoogle have today announced that companies can pay to place their logo on Google Maps. Only they didn't quite announce it like that.The Official Google Australia Blog claims that the move is designed to help you navigate Google Maps,"These easily recognisable logos more closely depict online what the offline world looks like, so next time you're trying to find your

13:39
2010 NSGIC Midyear Archive Published (#nsgicmidyear)NSGIC News
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
The archive of PowerPoint presentations and other materials from the 2010 NSGIC Midyear Conference in Annapolis, Maryland, is now available.The archive includes the final on-site agenda (PDF) as well as the final attendance roster (PDF) from the conference. NSGIC's on-line conference archives include materials from the 1999 Midyear conference to the present.

Other on-line materials from the 2010 Midyear include:
- A series of NSGIC News posts
- A pair of "raw notes" archives:
- An archive of tweets from and about the conference: #nsgicmidyear
- Outstanding reportage from Directions Magazine's Adena Schutzberg on the all Points Blog:
Ms Schutzberg has also written a wrap-up of the conference for Directions Magazine. NSGIC MidYear Wrap Up: Frustration in Annapolis, published today, outlines some of the major issues discussed at the conference. While I was initially disheartened by the title, I can't fault Adena's reporting, and I was glad to see, and agree with, her conclusion:

What I conclude from these few days is not that the geospatial communities at the federal or state level or within the two organizations represented (NSGIC and MAPPS) are failures. I conclude that there are more geospatial pieces than ever that state and federal government and private industry must coordinate and track as geospatial becomes more pervasive in our world. That fact, along with my frustration, ironically, is a measure of the geospatial community's success in spreading the word about the value of our data and technology.

13:22
New York's Finest Coffee on Google Maps
sur Google Maps Mania

New York's Best CoffeeThe New York Times have created a Google Map to show the places in New York serving the best coffee. Included on the map are outstanding coffee bars that produce extraordinary coffee at the highest standards, day after day.It is possible to search the map by address or Zip code. The information windows for each coffee bar includes a review, an address and a link to the bar's

12:55
Google.org’s Earth Engine Aims to Assist Scientists for Global GoodSpatial Sustain
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The Earth Engine is an idea that spun out of work that Google.org was doing with the Google Earth Outreach Program in Brazil with indigenous people and non-profit organizations focused on conservation. The scientists were happy with Google Earth, but expressed the need for a system that could not only map, but also monitor, deforestation [...]
12:43
White House Threatens to Veto Intelligence Bill Over Transparency and Oversight Issuesgot geoint?
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The White House threatened to veto the Intelligence Authorization bill because its demands for transparency and oversight would, in some cases, put American lives at risk, in the view of the Obama administration. President Obama’s budget director, Peter Orszag (pictured), sent letters to the heads of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on Monday stating the that the House and Senate Intelligence Authorization bills “and their classified annexes still contain several provisions of serious concern to the Intelligence Committee (IC). Three categories of provisions are so serious that the President’s senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill if they are included in the version presented for his signature: the Congressional notification provisions, GAO provisions, and provisions regarding the amounts authorized for the National Intelligence Program.” What do you all think? There is a fine line between transparency and risking the lives of those who work in the IC. Check out the Washington Posts’s coverage here.
12:32
WMS Inspector Extension For FirefoxFree Geography Tools
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
Adria Mercador writes to announce his WMS Inspector Extension (WMS = Web Map Service) for the Firefox browser: Load all WMS requests in the current page and their parameters Requests sorting by service or type Individual WMS requests (images or errors) visualization Copy services, requests or parameters to the clipboard Direct editing of requests parameter values Output GetCapabilities response as an [...] Related posts:
12:25
Searching for gold in Google EarthGoogle Earth Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

If you ever like to pan for gold, a new tool might be able to help you out. Using a U.S. Department of Interior database, Gold Maps Online has created a variety of KML files to help highlight areas where gold is currently being found.

From their site:

This map can be viewed as a near real-time look at America's active gold deposits. It's near real-time because gold mining claim holders are required to pay annual fees to maintain ownership. They wouldn't do that if they weren't finding gold on the property. This is a map of where prospectors are finding gold in 2010.

The maps aren't free, but you have a few good options. You can try a free sample map to see what it looks like. If you'd like another state, simply contact them and mention GEB and they'll give it to you for free!

These maps are quite well done and could be rather valuable if you happen to be planning a search for gold.

12:16
Warning: Time Wasting March Madness Geo Game
sur All Points Blog

ESPN has a free locate the schools in the bracket game. You were warned. [Link updated per comment.]...Read more

12:16
Warning: Time Wasting March Madness Geo GameAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

ESPN has a free locate the schools in the bracket game. You were warned. [Link updated per comment.]...Read more

12:11
Just van den Broecke: OpenStreetMap Tiles for Dutch Projection EPSG:28992
sur Planet OSGeo

A practical howto for rendering map tiles in other projections using the OpenStreetMap rendering tool chain with Mapnik. As an example the Dutch projection EPSG:28992 is used.

12:00
Census Tracts (aka Tidbits)All Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

DeSoto County, MS [corrected per comment] is gearing up for the Census but there are concerns looking ahead: Some supervisors questioned whether the county's GIS department could handle all the Census data, once it returns next year. Officials de...Read more

12:00
Census Tracts (aka Tidbits)
sur All Points Blog

DeSoto County, MS [corrected per comment] is gearing up for the Census but there are concerns looking ahead: Some supervisors questioned whether the county's GIS department could handle all the Census data, once it returns next year. Officials de...Read more

11:42
Local GIS TidbitsAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

It's been nine years since the West Virginia Addressing and Mapping Board was created to convert addresses from rural to city-style addressing to aid in public safety, among other things. To date, 13 of 55 counties have been converted. - Clarksbur...Read more

11:42
Local GIS Tidbits
sur All Points Blog

It's been nine years since the West Virginia Addressing and Mapping Board was created to convert addresses from rural to city-style addressing to aid in public safety, among other things. To date, 13 of 55 counties have been converted. - Clarksbur...Read more

11:30
Passer d'une licence monoposte à une licence réseau
sur Geospatial made in France

C’est une question qui revient de temps en temps : comment faire passer ma licence monoposte AutoCAD Map 3D en licence réseau AutoCAD Map 3D ?

La réponse est d’ailleurs valable pour la plupart des logiciels Autodesk.

Cette réponse est double :

- au niveau commercial, il faut convertir la licence en achetant un “AutoCAD Map 3D Network License Activation Fee”.

- au niveau technique, comme indiqué dans la base de connaissance AutoCAD, il faut désinstaller la licence monoposte, et réinstaller la licence en mode réseau.

Je sais que l’on trouve sur le web des manipulations de base de registre qui permettraient d’obtenir le même résultat. Maintenant vous saurez que ce n’est pas ce qui est recommandé par Autodesk :-)

11:00
L'API du GéoPortail passe en version 1.0
sur Geotribu

L'API cartographique de l'Institut Géographique National (IGN) passe du statut de bêta au statut de release officielle. La version 1.0 a en effet été annoncée aujourd'hui (16 Mars 2010).

De nouvelles fonctionnalités ont été apportées avec notamment :

11:00
DMTV #9: The GeoTech Center-The Link Between Academia and the WorkforceAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The National Geospatial Technology Center of Excellence, the GeoTech Center, is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Advanced Technology Education (ATE) center that was started in 2008. Directions Media's Editor in Chief, Joe Francica, interv...Read more

11:00
DMTV #9: The GeoTech Center-The Link Between Academia and the Workforce
sur All Points Blog

The National Geospatial Technology Center of Excellence, the GeoTech Center, is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Advanced Technology Education (ATE) center that was started in 2008. Directions Media's Editor in Chief, Joe Francica, interv...Read more

10:55
Jo Cook: WhereCampEU
sur Planet OSGeo

On Friday and Saturday I attended the inaugural WhereCampEU “un-conference” in London. The short review: if one comes anywhere near you- go for it! It’s well worth it and I enjoyed every minute.

The slightly longer review: since there were no themes or papers organised beforehand, I guess it was a good opportunity to take the temperature of a certain part of the UK/EU geospatial community. So we got lots and lots of OpenStreetMap papers and iPhone apps! Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing, but personally, the papers that stood out for me were Steven Feldman’s talk on Business Models and how we are all f*cked without one, and, as always, Bob Barr’s talk on the true cost of “Free” data. That particular talk was timely, coming just before the deadline for the consultation on freeing Ordnance Survey data.

On business models- Steven gave the talk twice due to popular request (one advantage to the un-conference format), and got remarkably different responses. The gist was whether you could come up with a one-minute elevator pitch on your business, your customers, and your prices. If you can’t do that, then you should be able to. There was quite a split in the audience. On one hand there were people who are genuinely trying to make a business out of what they do- who have mortgages to pay, employees to pay, and kids to feed, who can see the point in a business model, and on the other hand there were people with well-paid day-jobs and a lucrative sideline in making iPhone apps who couldn’t see the point. That’s an over-generalisation, but I have work to do, so forgive me. I did start musing about doing a 140 character “tweet-pitch” too but maybe that’s just jumping on the bandwagon!

Overall, at the end of the two days I didn’t feel like I’d been at a conference, even though it was just as packed and even more fast-paced than usual. It was just more relaxing and informal, and the lack of corporate salesmen helped too! The venues were fantastic, as was the food, and the evening geo-beer was much appreciated. The team were keen to point out that next year’s “un-conference” (if it happens) should be somewhere else in Europe. At the time there weren’t that many takers, perhaps because there was a UK bias to the attendees, but I’m sure the enthusiasm and positive feedback will percolate around and we’ll get some volunteers.

After that I spent a couple of days being a tourist in London and catching up with old friends. As a test, I did my London navigation with a zoomable paper map, which I can say works very well and is pleasingly analogue (no batteries or data costs). Crikey though- who needs that many Starbucks, Costa and Caffe Neros?

10:55
WhereCampEUComputing, GIS and Archaeology in the UK
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

On Friday and Saturday I attended the inaugural WhereCampEU “un-conference” in London. The short review: if one comes anywhere near you- go for it! It’s well worth it and I enjoyed every minute.

The slightly longer review: since there were no themes or papers organised beforehand, I guess it was a good opportunity to take the temperature of a certain part of the UK/EU geospatial community. So we got lots and lots of OpenStreetMap papers and iPhone apps! Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing, but personally, the papers that stood out for me were Steven Feldman’s talk on Business Models and how we are all f*cked without one, and, as always, Bob Barr’s talk on the true cost of “Free” data. That particular talk was timely, coming just before the deadline for the consultation on freeing Ordnance Survey data.

On business models- Steven gave the talk twice due to popular request (one advantage to the un-conference format), and got remarkably different responses. The gist was whether you could come up with a one-minute elevator pitch on your business, your customers, and your prices. If you can’t do that, then you should be able to. There was quite a split in the audience. On one hand there were people who are genuinely trying to make a business out of what they do- who have mortgages to pay, employees to pay, and kids to feed, who can see the point in a business model, and on the other hand there were people with well-paid day-jobs and a lucrative sideline in making iPhone apps who couldn’t see the point. That’s an over-generalisation, but I have work to do, so forgive me. I did start musing about doing a 140 character “tweet-pitch” too but maybe that’s just jumping on the bandwagon!

Overall, at the end of the two days I didn’t feel like I’d been at a conference, even though it was just as packed and even more fast-paced than usual. It was just more relaxing and informal, and the lack of corporate salesmen helped too! The venues were fantastic, as was the food, and the evening geo-beer was much appreciated. The team were keen to point out that next year’s “un-conference” (if it happens) should be somewhere else in Europe. At the time there weren’t that many takers, perhaps because there was a UK bias to the attendees, but I’m sure the enthusiasm and positive feedback will percolate around and we’ll get some volunteers.

After that I spent a couple of days being a tourist in London and catching up with old friends. As a test, I did my London navigation with a zoomable paper map, which I can say works very well and is pleasingly analogue (no batteries or data costs). Crikey though- who needs that many Starbucks, Costa and Caffe Neros?
10:44
CONNECT testet Fußgängernavigation: Walk & Ride mit 4 SternenUnited Maps
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

In der aktuellen CONNECT 4/2010 testet die Redaktion Apps und Plattformen zur Fußgängernavigation.

Walk & Ride schneidet bestens ab:

"Bei Walk & Ride (...) kommt noch dazu, dass die optische Aufbereitung der Karte wirklich exzellent ist und die App absolut flüssig auf dem iPhone läuft. (...) die einzige Software im Test, die fehlerfreie Fußgängerrouten errechnet hat - ohne U-Turn, ohne Tunnel und grafisch ansprechend präsentiert."

Danke für die Blumen! Die Verbesserungsvorschläge nehmen wir uns ebenso vor wie die Kritiken im Appstore - versprochen.

9:54
Social Media Mapper
sur arcOrama, un blog sur les SIG, ceux d ESRI en particulier

Aussi variées soient-elles dans leur nature et leur finalité, les plateformes de réseaux sociaux se dotent toutes les unes après les autres d'API permettant la géolocalisation. De Panoramio à Twitter en passant par celle de YouTube ou Facebook, ces APIs sont plus ou moins sophistiquées dans les types de requêtes qu'elles autorisent. Cependant, elles permettent toutes, à minima, la localisation

7:19
Examining America's Bars with Google Maps
sur Google Maps Mania

The Beer Belly of AmericaThe Floatingsheep website has been carrying out some great analysis of user generated Google Map placemarks. Back in January I wrote about their comparison of the number of book stores and churches added to Google Maps across the USA.Floatingsheep have now turned their attention to a comparison of grocery stores and bars across the USA. As you might expect grocery stores

5:29
A St Patty’s day linkVerySpatial
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

If you play this video at an appropriate volume you will either get yelled at by your coworkers to turn it down or to turn it up…ignore the former and share a pint with the latter. And hey, with is more geographic than a band from Newfoundland being used to highlight a holiday we all connect with beer Ireland.
3:25
Test Drive Internet Explorer 9geo.geek.nz
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

MIX10 is currently underway in Las Vegas and we are seeing some great material coming out of this event. This morning Microsoft made an early developer version of Internet Explorer 9 available for download. The Internet Explorer 9 “test...
1:45
ESRI Developer Summit 2010 Focuses On Opportunities To Integrate Geospatial Technologygeo.geek.nz
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The ESRI Developer Summit 2010 kicks off next week in Palm Springs and as part of this excellent developer experience a press release has been published. Software developers from around the world will participate in the 2010 ESRI Developer Summit...
1:32
Cloud Computing, GeoDesign And ArcGIS 10 Top The List At The ESRI User Conference 2010geo.geek.nz
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Registration for the ESRI International User Conference 2010 is now open! As we build up to another weeklong event a number of key topics have topped the discussion list. The ESRI International User Conference (ESRI UC) is a weeklong event that...
1:13
Mapping education moniesVerySpatial
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently highlighted an interactive map of state spending on higher education institutions and how federal stimulus monies are being used in each state. The focus is on three themes: Percent of higher ed budget from stimulus monies (FY 2009-10), change in general fund spending (FY 2008-2010), and budget gaps as a percent of the general fund budget (FY 2010). It is interesting to see which states are in the best position to support state schools and which ones will have significant issues when federal stimulus monies begin to disappear in 2011. The image below is the % budget from stimulus map, click through to play around with the interactive map.
1:10
ArcGIS Explorer Build 1200 In Action!geo.geek.nz
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

ArcGIS Explorer Build 1200 was made available for download last week and since then I have been having a play when I can with some of the great new features available. I thought I would post some pictures of ArcGIS Explorer Build 1200 in...

1:09
La ville de Saguenay choisit JMap pour optimiser ses opérations de déneigement et sa viabilité hivernale!
sur BalizMedia : Communiqués de presse

Un Web-Gis au service des municipalités québécoises…

Montréal, mercredi le 17 mars 2010 - Après les villes de Montréal, de Blainville et de Repentigny, la ville de Saguenay se procure la solution JMap pour la gestion du déneigement et de ses opérations mobiles.

« On profite de l’accalmie de cet hiver pour doter les travaux publics de nouveaux outils pour le déneigement, améliorer la gestion des infrastructures et de la sécurité afin d’en faire profiter l’ensemble de la municipalité (Services 311, 911, Sécurité Civile…)». – Monsieur Laval Claveau, Directeur adjoint Travaux publics, Ville de Saguenay.
Lire la suite...
0:58
Plus de contenus et d’analyses dans la nouvelle version d’ArcGIS Explorer
sur BalizMedia : Communiqués de presse

La nouvelle version d’ArcGIS Explorer d’ESRI offre un meilleur accès aux services de géotraitement. Les améliorations portent sur la mise en place d’une nouvelle galerie d’analyses et sur la mise à jour des fonds de carte d’ArcGIS Online.

La nouvelle version d’ArcGIS Explorer d’ESRI s’appuie sur une conception intuitive, sur l’amélioration de l’accès aux services de géotraitement et sur la diffusion de fonds de cartes disponibles, dans une galerie en ligne.

ArcGIS Explorer est un logiciel gratuit et téléchargeable qui permet l’utilisation des fonctionnalités d’un SIG, sur un globe.
Lire la suite...

0:56
Seeing the trees through the cityLetters from the SAL
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

From a high-resolution land cover mapping perspective the urban environment is a worst case scenario. 2D and 3D heterogeneity make detecting features of interest extraordinarily difficult. Active sensor technology, particularly LiDAR can help to compliment, and in some cases, take the place of, data from passive sensors.

Below is an example of some graphics I generated for the Million Trees Research Symposium, held March 5th and 6th in New York City. As New York City lacks wall-to-wall LiDAR coverage, I pulled some examples from our work in Baltimore to illustrate the utility of using LiDAR to overcome some of the limitations of high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery. LiDAR generates its own electromagnetic energy, and thus it generally produces consistent height measurements regardless of the natural lighting condition.

As cities such as New York, Boston, and Los Angeles seek to track the impact of their tree planting initiatives over time, they would be wise to consider investing in LiDAR collections every 5-10 years. There is no doubt that imagery has an important roll to play, but in the "urban canyons" it's LiDAR that allows one to see the trees through the city.

Point cloud from downtown Baltimore. The arrows point to street trees in the "urban canyon."

2007 color infrared (CIR) 1m resolution National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) data of the same area. The street trees are obscured by the building shadows.

Normalized digital surface model (nDSM) derived from the LiDAR data. The street trees are clearly visible.

While there has been a lot of talk recently about LiDAR-imagery fusion for automated feature extraction it has been my experience that extracting information from a combination of LiDAR and imagery requires more than a query of height information from the LiDAR and spectral information from the imagery. In the urban canyons it may be more advantageous to use only the LiDAR. Detecting these areas, by the presence of shadows, is of course best done using the imagery. This approach goes beyond simply populating the point cloud with spectral information from the imagery, towards an intelligent system; one that maximizes the capabilities and minimizes limitations.

I would like to thank the City of Baltimore for giving us access to their LiDAR data, particularly our friends in Baltimore City Recreation and Parks.

0:54
Le Groupe ARTICQUE Solutions voit le jour
sur BalizMedia : Communiqués de presse

Après le rachat de GEOBS en 2007, celui d’InterCarto en 2009 qui dégage un résultat de 50 000 euros sur seulement 10 mois d’exercice, l’entrée au capital d’AtmoExpert, et la création de « Articque USA LLC », Articque se devait de rationnaliser l’organisation de ces sociétés. L’ensemble des participations a été intégré à une société holding créée pour l’occasion : le Groupe ARTICQUE Solutions au capital de 680 000 euros, dont le siège social est à TOURS.

Le groupe dispose d’une belle trésorerie lui permettant d’avoir de grandes ambitions de croissance externe en France et aux USA. Plusieurs négociations sont ouvertes mais le PDG est toujours à l’écoute des porteurs d’entreprises.
Lire la suite...

0:37
Mateusz Loskot: Open Source, Decoupled and Accelerated
sur Planet OSGeo

All right, I confess, I’ve lied a bit in the topic. I’m not going to discuss any of the Free and Open Source Software philosophies here. What I’m going to do is to smuggle an interesting discussion that I believe it may be interesting to other Open Source Software hackers, especially projects from the C/C++ camp of the OSGeo Foundation. I would also say that subject of this discussion is quite idiomatic to the universe of FOSS production. It is about a software project. A project that has grown and it has grown in many dimensions, also in parallel dimensions.

“See the turtle of enormous girth!
On his shell he holds the earth.” — Stephen King

Infrastructure supporting a project becomes insufficient, maintenance is difficult, release process is a full-time job and situation has taken a lot of the fun out of participating. Population of users and developers has grown. As the Community gathers appreciable portfolio of masters of the software development craft, it is in constant state of snowball war exchanging fire of ideas, new projects and discussions. It’s truly a pleasure to learn about them but, well, it pours oil on the fire of entropy. Here we come to the crux.

Gain of entropy eventually is nothing more nor less than loss of information — Gilbert N. Lewis

Today, David Abrahams posted, somewhat provocative, e-mail to the Boost project mailing list. It is titled Boost, Decoupled and Accelerated and delivers the following message: It’s time to make Boost development fun again.

It may sound like yet another internal discussion within an Open Source project. There are zillions of similar debates archived around. Yes, indeed, but not exactly. In fact, David announced something that may be of wider interested. It is

a system called Ryppl to decentralize development, testing, release, and installation of interdependent projects

followed by yet more interesting comment

I believe this project has the potential to change the face not only of Boost, but of open-source software in general.

One may think, well, it seems related to the issue of the current trends or we’re suffering redundancy in IT prophets. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps… but what I know for sure is that David Abrahams is one of my favourite and highly regarded software developer and author. I can hardly recall any of David’s comments, observations or suggestions that would be lacking of point, I mean a very rational point.

I have licked a bit of experience myself of working with or maintaining complex projects or projects that feel complex. I think I wouldn’t risk anything saying David has a point. I’m looking forward learning more about the whole idea.

I hope I’ll be able to confirm it myself while listening to David’s presentation at BoostCon’10.

0:01
Venez découvrir les dernières solutions de GEOSIGNAL au stand 27 des Rencontres-SIG-la-Lettre
sur BalizMedia : Communiqués de presse

GEOSIGNAL renforce son positionnement d’intégrateur de solutions géomatiques : avec CHINOOK, plateforme d’intégration et de diffusion de données cartographiques et thématiques, GEOSIGNAL propose à ses clients des solutions complètes et performantes pour structurer, diffuser et exploiter les informations essentielles à la gestion de leurs territoires.

Intégrant les standards (OGC, INSPIRE, WMS, WFS…) et les environnements existants (SGBD, logiciels SIG éditeur), CHINOOK, complété par l’expertise de GEOSIGNAL sur la structuration de vos données, vous garantit performance et évolutivité.
Lire la suite...

16 mars 2010
23:12
Cultural barriers with offshore tech supportThe ENTCHEV GIS Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Just finished the (hopefully) final round of tech support merry-go-round with a host/registrar.

The problem – a fairly straightforward one. I wanted to transfer all my holdings with this outfit to another party, who created an account with this specific organization just for this purpose. I have done numerous such transfers in the past, with other hosts. The transfer happens online, and is completed in minutes.

Not with this outfit. I had to download, fill out and fax a form (not the subject of my gripe). I had to place multiple phone calls to tech support (to a call center in the Philippines, it turns out, but not the subject of my gripe, either). The subject of my gripe is that nobody knew what the right form was, but nobody would admit that, either.

Three different support "analysts" kept promoting three different forms with unwavering confidence. The third suggestion not only did not look right, it didn’t even look wrong. So I called the company HQ in the US, which emailed me the right (completely different) form.

The process of locating the right form was sabotaged not by a language barrier, but by a cultural barrier. None of the analysts could (or would) say that they did not know the answer to my question. They kept insisting that the obviously wrong form was the right form.

In his book "Outliers: The Story of Success," author Malcolm Gladwell examines the role of culture in the crash of Korean Air Flight 801 in 1997. In a nutshell, the second pilot dared not tell the first pilot that the first pilot was making a mistake. So the second pilot’s inaction killed everybody on board. What Korean Air was struggling with was a cultural legacy. Once they figured out that their problem was cultural, they fixed it.

US companies offshoring tech support to countries with different cultures will do well to study Korean Air’s mistakes.
22:13
Review: The Power of PlaceThe Map Room
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The Power of Place: Geography, Destiny, and Globalization's Rough Landscape by Harm de Blij Oxford University Press, 2008. Hardcover, 294 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-536770-6 "The future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed," the science-fiction writer William Gibson has said. Legendary geographer Harm de Blij's latest book, The Power...

21:30
Geoff Zeiss: Water Projected to Account for Largest Worldwide Infrastructure Expenditure through 2030
sur Planet OSGeo

An estimate developed by Booz Allen Hamilton in 2005 projected that between 2005 through 2030, modernizing and expanding the water, electricity, and transportation systems of the cities of the world will require approximately $41 trillion.
Of this 55% or $22.6 trillion will be required for water infrastructure. Thanks to Chris Maeder for pointing me to this.
US
The ASCE Report Card for 2009, which assigned a grade of D- to both drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in the US, has estimated that the total investment required in water and wastewater in the US over the next five years is $255 billion or 12% of the total $2.1 trillion required to modernize US infrastructure as estimated by the ASCE.

21:30
Water Projected to Account for Largest Worldwide Infrastructure Expenditure through 2030Between the Poles
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

An estimate developed by Booz Allen Hamilton in 2005 projected that between 2005 through 2030, modernizing and expanding the water, electricity, and transportation systems of the cities of the world will require approximately $41 trillion.
Of this 55% or $22.6 trillion will be required for water infrastructure. Thanks to Chris Maeder for pointing me to this.
US
The ASCE Report Card for 2009, which assigned a grade of D- to both drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in the US, has estimated that the total investment required in water and wastewater in the US over the next five years is $255 billion or 12% of the total $2.1 trillion required to modernize US infrastructure as estimated by the ASCE.

20:39
Communiquer - Installer et déployer facilement votre infrastructure de données spatiales avec EasySDI
sur PortailSIG - Actualité

Communiquer - Installer et déployer facilement votre infrastructure de données spatiales avec EasySDI

20:18
Internet Explorer 9 Previewed at MIX10Fuzzy Tolerance
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
Microsoft has given us another sneak peak at Internet Explorer 9 at their MIX10 web designer and developer conference. Among the highlights (sources: Ars, Download Squad):
- Better standards support, with a ACID 3 score of 55/100 (up from IE8’s 20/100). That’s better, but hopefully this will improve as development continues. The other guys are generally in the 90-100/100 range.
- Faster JavaScript, doubling the speed of IE8 (but still 1/3 the speed of Chrome and Opera and 1/2 the speed of Firefox). The JavaScript engine can take advantage of multiple cores.
- SVG support (huyah!). It’s limited at this point but growing. That would be big.
- Video tag support. Did not see that coming.
- GPU accelerated page rendering. It can play HD video smoothly.
If there’s something I wish they were looking at for IE9 that they haven’t hit on, I can’t think of it. The only downer is a lack of release date (they won’t even project a release year). Since they tend to time IE releases with OS releases and Windows 7 just came out, it could be a long wait.

I’m not looking for IE9 to compete for the attention of savy web users. I just want it to not suck for people that don’t know any better. And from what they’re showing now, there’s a solid chance it won’t suck.
20:13
LiDAR Band CombinationsLiDAR News
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
1. Jason Stoker, CLICK Director is the author of an important research paper on LiDAR band combinations.
2. By combining LiDAR derived data, such as slope, with the primary color bands more “imagery friendly” data products can be produced.
3. This opens up the use of well established image processing and classification techniques.
Jason Stoker, who is the Director of USGS’s CLICK – Center for LiDAR Information Coordination and Knowledge is the author of an important research paper that has just been published in the March 2010 PE&RS Journal. As this is not a peer reviewed article it is open to the public.

Jason and his team are conducting research on the use of lidar-derived data, such as elevation or slope, to create more visually informative, and “imagery friendly” data formats. If you are used to working with multi- or hyperspectral imagery than the approach will be familiar to you. If not, it will take some time to understand how the data can be combined with the 3 primary colors RGB – red, green and blue to produce what Jason refers to as LiDAR band combinations.

In the end the potential benefits of this approach include the ability to take advantage of well established image processing and classification methods for analyzing the data, as well as the general improvement derived from better visual understanding of the information.

Jason is requesting that people experiment with this approach and provide him with your feedback.

20:10
GeoExt Team: GeoExt Custom Build Tool
sur Planet OSGeo
We've just added a custom build tool to the GeoExt website. With this, you can quickly create customized builds of the GeoExt library tailored specifically to your application.

The build form lets you specify the components used by your application and automatically adds dependencies required by those components. The tool works with the latest release (v0.6 at this writing), and as we put out new releases, we'll add custom download pages for those.

As an example of its use, I'll demonstrate how to create a build for the popup example.
1. Navigating to the popup example, I can click the link to view the application source.
2. I scan that source for GeoExt constructors and components whose configurations include xtype properties that start with "gx_".
3. I find that the example uses GeoExt.Popup and a component with xtype: "gx_mappanel".
4. On the build page, I select GeoExt.Popup and GeoExt.MapPanel from the listed components.
5. At the bottom of the page, I click the download button and get a prompt to save my customized version of GeoExt.js (only 13KB compared to >300KB for the full library uncompressed).
Thanks to OpenGeo for supporting development and hosting this tool.

19:56
Google annonce la sortie prochaine de l’API Google Latitude
sur GeoInWeb

The Next Web vient de publier une interview de Steve Lee, Group Product Manager chez Google qui annonce la sortie prochaine de l’API Google Latitude. (pour en savoir plus sur Google Latitude : Google Latitude : partager votre position). Cette sortie se fera très probablement à la prochaine conférence de Google dédiée aux développeurs Google I/O.

Dans les grandes lignes Steve Lee indique que Buzz et Latitude sont bien 2 services distincts. Buzz est un service plus « social » que Latitude. Ce dernier se consacre au partage de sa géolocalisation avec un groupe spécifique.

L’API permettra de mettre à jour d’accéder aux informations de sa position. Un système d’authentification OAuth sera disponible.

19:55
Make Smarter – Guide to Nonprofit GIS, Security Tips, SOA Best PracticesFuzzy Tolerance
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
First up in this month’s make smarter comes via SlashGeo and is maptogether’s Illustrated Guide to Nonprofit GIS and Online Mapping. This well written and illustrated document covers the basics of GIS, some examples of nonprofits doing work with GIS, and a review of some free tools nonprofits can use. It’s a great resource for nonprofits and a good introduction to GIS in general.

Next up is the CWE/SANS 2010 Top 25 Most Dangerous Programming Errors, an annual list of how we programmers bork up security. Not much changed from last year’s list, which means at least we’re borking things consistently. It’s worth a read if you write software for a living. SQL injection and XSS are right at the top as usual. If you want to know how security mistakes can ruin your day, take a look at this SQL injection story.

NSGIC has good post called Data Sharing Issues: What Works and What Doesn’t by Linda Wayne, which mirrors a lot of what was in NCGISS’s Recommendations for Geospatial Data Sharing (PDF). Excellent, common sense recommendations, the #1 provision in each being AVOID FORMAL AGREEMENTS. I might have that framed and hung in my office so that I can, if the need arises, take it off the wall and bludgeon people with it.

InfoQ links to and gives a good summary of an paper called Emerging Industry SOA Best Practices. A couple of good points are:

Determine if SOA is the right approach.While SOA can provide the benefits of reuse, agility, and loose coupling, these benefits are not always the software architect’s first priorities.

Start small, learn, and evolve. [I've seen this mistake a lot. If you have somebody spending 6 months formulating a SOA strategy document, consider your goose cooked. To mangle a programming quote, premature EA is the root of all evil. For pete sakes just do something.]

Not smart enough yet? Here are a few tidbits I didn’t get to fully check out that might tickle your fancy:
- SlashGeo linked to an IBM article titled Make Your Own Map-based Mashup, which uses PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Tomcat, and GeoTools on the backend and OpenLayers on the front end. There are probably easier ways to slay this dragon in lieu of writing Java code (cough GeoServer cough), but to each his own.
- Ghabuntu posted 5 open source and free software books that are worth your time, none of which I read but the titles were catchy.
- Smashing Magazine has a post out called The Future Of CSS Typography, which is everything you wanted to know about CSS font tags but were afraid to ask.
19:49
6 Tips for Developers Moving into GISgeographika
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

With the rise of the neogeographers, along with the increased awareness and use of GIS thanks to the web, more and more positions are open for developers looking to move away from writing business accounting logic, and into the exciting “new” world of spatial data. I’ve noticed a few gotchas that have happened to developers with no GIS background while working on projects, so this list may at least raise awareness of some of the hurdles.
1. Get to Know your GIS Application
Most desktop development in GIS involves building extensions to an existing application using an existing programming library. In order to avoid reinventing the wheel you need to be able to use your GIS desktop package.

Before developing any automated tasks, manually go through the process to get a feel for any issues that may arise, and learn some of the terminology used by the program for the various functions. If the application has an option for hatched polygon fills, this option is also likely to be buried somewhere in the API. If you can’t find what you are looking for then run what you are trying to accomplish past a GIS user.
2. Learn some Basic Terminology
A good GIS glossary can be found on the ESRI site, and it is also available in a A to Z of GIS book. Of course nothing is simple as different software companies use different terms for the same thing so a Layer in ArcMap, is the equivalent of an Overlay in Google Maps.

If you want to find all the point addresses within 100m of a road you don’t need to spend weeks writing your own algorithms (I’ve seen this happen..), armed with a good GIS vocabulary you will be aware of the term buffering and can find how to do this programmatically in your software. Your new employer will prefer a basic question related to GIS or geography than 2 weeks developing a function that could be achieved with a single line of code.

If developing for the web there are a plethora of technical terms you will have to learn such as WMS, WFS, GeoJSON, GeoXML (most web standards also seem to take a Geo- prefix), KML, tile caches etc.
3. Get to Know your Datasets
Half the battle with GIS development is getting data into a consistent format so you can run analyses on it. Get ready to start dealing with Excel spreadsheets, strange proprietary GIS formats, and file dumps that may or may not resemble databases. Remember that many of these datasets will be coming from GIS technicians rather than database developers. Safe’s FME can convert pretty much anything to anything else, and the translations can be saved and automated saving plenty of time.

Spatial data is not too complicated. Most features can be represented as points, lines, or polygons. Obviously things can get more complicated such as multipart polygons, doughnuts, geometric networks etc. but these features are not overly common. However learn about projections and how to reproject data. If your data is invisible with no errors then projections are often the issue.

There is also a semi-mythical object called metadata. If this doesn’t exist expect to spend plenty of time trying to track down what various fields mean, if look-up tables are available, and what projection the data is in.
4. Learn the differences between Raster and Vector.
If you want to display cells across a whole country then you will need to user raster, vector data will take an age to draw. Don’t make the mistake or drawing lots of nicely coloured geometric squares.
5. Find New Programming Forums
You may need to look further afield than StackOverflow for answers to technical problems (except maybe Google Maps on Android). Where to look depends on what you work with. Each major GIS vendor’s site is likely to have a forum which serves as the focal point for all developers using their software, for example ESRI has widely used user forums. For open source mailing lists seem to be the support technology of choice – here Nabble is your friend.
6. Bring your experience
Many people working in GIS come from a geography background, and are self-taught programmers. If you are working with a team then try to introduce concepts that are now commonplace in other areas of software development – source control, unit tests, object programming etc.

You may also see GIS users spending hours doing things by hand that can clearly be automated. If you know some Python then you will be able to save hundreds of man hours with geoprocessing scripts for both proprietary and open source applications. For unknown reasons Python has become the scripting language of choice in GIS. Its good for web GIS too.

Along with software development practices any previous experience with databases will be huge plus. If you know what the following are you will soon become a very productive member of staff – primary key, normalisation, relationships may be new concepts to your new organisation. Geodatabases introduce a few new concepts, such as spatial indexes, projections, and geometry types, but if you have a good grounding in standard databases you will pick things up easily.

Feel free to add anything I’ve missed in the comments below, and good luck!
19:42
Sweet SuiteOpenGeo
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
As egregious as this self-horn-tooting is, I have to post about how enjoyable I have found using the OpenGeo Suite. It might sound odd, coming from an OpenGeo person, to “discover” the Suite at this late date but my personal reality is that I spend much of my time with PostGIS, and until recently only did short testing passes over the Suite.

But this last week, I have been revising a workshop that I will be giving with Steven Citron-Pousty at Where 2.0 this month, possibly at GeoWeb in the summer (and on my own at the Minnesota GIS/LIS conference in the fall). And included in that revision is using the OpenGeo Suite instead of vanilla GeoServer.

Among the things I’ve really enjoyed are:
- How easy the install process is. No messing around installing JDKs or JAI extension libraries.
- How clean the new UI is. Much more sensible names for things and less clicky workflow.
- The instant gratification of the Suite tools. Installer creates datastore and layers and associated styles in one go. Styler writes new SLD with a click click click.
- The little On/Off button in the Dashboard. For some reason I really like that.
The net effect of all the cleanups is I’ve removed about 6 screens of configuration boilerplate from the workshop. More time to talk concepts and scare the students with JavaScript examples!

19:41
Bing Maps : encore plus visuel grâce à l’API de Flickr
sur GeoInWeb

Le célèbre site ProgrammableWeb, présente les nouvelles possibilités qui sont offertes à Bing Maps grâce aux données de Flickr, à travers sa fonctionnalité « Street Side » (le Street View de Microsoft).

Je vous avais déjà partagé une démonstration de ces nouvelles évolutions, mélangeant vue 360° et photos Flickr géotaguées….désormais des previews">[http%253A%2f%2ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2f3259%2f2722117853_f1ce2c5090.jpg&o=&a=0&n=0] sont directement visibles dans Bing Maps.

">[http%253A%2f%2ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2f3362%2f3666012117_324e95cf5e_b.jpg&o=&a=0]

Voici une vidéo de présentation :

19:38
Real-Time Ship Tracking on Google Maps
sur Google Maps Mania

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires all vessels over 299GT to carry an AIS transponder on board. The transponder transmits data on position, speed and course, among some other static information, such as the vessel’s name, dimensions and voyage details.Thanks to this AIS data there are now a lot of Google Maps mashups showing the real-time positions of ships around the world.

19:11
WhereCampEU London – a great successSpatial Knowledge
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

First day back in the office after an exhausting weekend attending the WhereCampEU unconference here in London. The conference was really well organised, with great venues and food, and all that at zero cost thanks to very generous sponsors and a great bunch of volunteers! Also thanks for the free beer at Smithy’s sponsored by Axon Active, I thoroughly enjoyed the pub evening.

Attendants came from over 13 different countries, with public and private sector attendants, web2.0 startups, core OpenStreetMap people and a strong presence of academics, specifically UCL!

Slowly, people seem to be uploading their presentations to the wiki, allowing a more complete view of the content presented. Altough in retrospect, I might have made some bad decisions regarding which sessions to attend, my conference highlights included definitely the Skobbler presentation, the Zen of Map Quality , and Steven Feldman’s business model workshops. On the Saturday afternoon, Bob Barr passionate analysis of the current and future state of the Ordnance Survey made for a great closure to the conference. I didn’t make it to the post conference drinks on Saturday.

Overall, I would have wished for less Openstreetmap presentations, at times it felt like a dress rehearsal for the SOTM2010 !!! But, I will definitely return to WhereCampEU 2011, as it is a great opportunity to network with a wide array of relevant players in the geoweb industry and OSM community.
18:53
SXSW Tackles “City as Platform”Spatial Sustain
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

There’s a growing (renewed?) interest in the Internet of Things around the benefits for a more instrumented and connected city. IBM organized a session at SXSW in Austin that took place this morning titled, “City as Platform.” The objectives of the session was to discuss the role of information architects, the interface of systems with [...]
18:33
Phone Map ToysGIS in XML
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
Fig 1 – Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator

New toys last night! Microsoft released the Windows Phone 7 Series Development CTP at MIX2010 yesterday. Tim Heuer has a helpful Getting Started page.

I’m curious to see the resulting acronymization for this, perhaps ‘WiPho7′, hopefully not ‘Wiph7′.

The great news is Silverlight support with XNA thrown in as well, with Silverlight life is easy, with XNA life is 3D.

Getting started was straightforward. I just followed Tim Heuer’s instructions and then went to Petzold’s blog.

and … “Houston, we have emulation.”

Fig 2 – Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator

After a couple of minutes I have the emulator running a simple Bing Maps image. It’s nothing more than an with the new RESTful Beta as a source, but you get the idea.

Some of the nice hardware specifications:
- 800×480
- Wi-Fi (InternetExplorer)
- Camera 5 megapixel
- Accelerometer
- Compass
- Location (longitude, latitude, altitude, course, speed, reverse geocoded address)
- Speech
- Vibration
- Push Notification
MIX2010 showed some devices, but real hardware should be available by this fall.

As far as maps, Charles Petzold has this to say:

“Programs are location-aware, have access to maps and

other data through Bing and Windows Live, and can interface with social networking sites.”

Summary:

Overall, this fills a big hole in the Silverlight framework. We will at least have a Silverlight target across the full range of platforms by 2011. Android has a big headstart, but I believe the base Silverlight/XNA CLR technology will provide a stronger development platform in the long run. Sorry Apple fans. With some real competitor technologies, iPhone will eventually recede due to Apple’s artsy, control freaky orientation.

18:30
"L'Afrique des états, état de l'Afrique : 50 ans d'indépendance (1960-2010) des états francophones d'Afrique"
sur Les Cafés géographiques

Débat, "L'Afrique des états, état de l'Afrique : 50 ans d'indépendance (1960-2010) des états francophones d'Afrique", le 16 mars 2010 à 18h30 au Bar des Fleurs (36, place des Carmes 76000 Rouen) avec Michel Lesourd, professeur des Universités en Géographie (Université de Rouen, Alain Antil, responsable du programme Afrique subsaharienne à l'IFRI, enseignant à l'Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Lille) et à l'Institut Supérieur Technique Outre-Mer (ISTOM), Adama Ball, doctorant en Géographie (Université de Rouen) et David (...)
18:30
L'Afrique des états, état de l'Afrique : 50 ans d'indépendance (1960-2010) des états francophones d'Afrique
sur Les Cafés géographiques

Débat, "L'Afrique des états, état de l'Afrique : 50 ans d'indépendance (1960-2010) des états francophones d'Afrique", le 16 mars 2010 à 18h30 au Bar des Fleurs (36, place des Carmes 76000 Rouen) avec Michel Lesourd, professeur des Universités en Géographie (Université de Rouen, Alain Antil, responsable du programme Afrique subsaharienne à l'IFRI, enseignant à l'Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Lille) et à l'Institut Supérieur Technique Outre-Mer (ISTOM), Adama Ball, doctorant en Géographie (Université de Rouen) et David (...)

17:21
Chaipat Nengcomma: Social LBS @ SXSW
sur Planet OSGeo

_____ช่วงนี้กระแสงาน SXSW ( [sxsw.com] ) กำลังมามีข่าวต่างๆออกจากงานนี้ไม่ขาดสายในช่วงสัปดาห์ผมเอง ก็คอยตามอยู่ แต่ปีนี้ดูเป็นปีที่จะมีความรู้สึกอินมากกว่าปีอื่น เนื่องจากกระแส Location based service มาแรงจริงๆมีหลาย session ที่นำเสนองานประเภทนี้ รวมถึงเรื่อง Social Network and Location ได้อย่างน่าตื่นตาตื่นใจ จนหลายคนบอกว่าปี 2010 เป็นปีแห่ง location ถ้าจะดูจากกระแสคงต้องบอกว่าเห็นด้วยครับ สิ่งหนึ่งที่จับต้องได้คือกลุ่ม start up เช่น Foursquare , Loopt , Gowalla รวมไปถึง social network ชื่อดังที่มีการเพิ่มฟีเจอร์ location เช่น twitter, Facebook

______นอกจากนี้ยังมีหัวข้อการบรรยายที่เกี่ยวข้องกับ location ที่น่าสนใจอีกหลายหัวข้อเช่น Geolocation On The “Horizon” , Location Beyond iPhone: Locating 100+M Phones ,Time + Social + Location. What’s Next In Mobile Experiences? ,Location-Based Marketing and Advertising: Targeting the Mobile Consumer การดูงานประเภทนี้มันช่วยกระตุ้นต่อมความอยากความกระสันที่จะทำอะไรสนุกๆใหม่ๆขึ้นมามากทีเดียว ตบท้ายด้วย clip การออกบูตโชว์ฟีเจอร์ล่าสุดของ Google Map ที่ชื่อว่า cyclists

17:01
Google Home View Trial for Germany
sur Google Maps Mania

A Bit of Tuesday Google Maps FunThere has been a bit of debate in Germany recently about the (hopefully) soon to be released Street View of the country. This prank video however seems to suggest that Germans are quite happy to allow Google even into their homes.The video is in German but, even if you don't speak the language, you should enjoy the video. _____________

16:45
Give Me a Map Sandwich
sur James Fee GIS Blog

Manage Your Content – Integrate Your Content
I talked a little bit on the WeoGeo blog last week about how we were very focused on content management. Yea, very sexy stuff… But what I think it highlights is the way that we can share our data with each other. Getting your data “into the Cloud”, whatever that means these days, and then using it as much as possible gives you the best return on your investment. One thing that did come up at the FedUC in February was the huge adoption of ESRI’s ArcGIS Online Map Services among users. Using these great free services as backdrops to your mapping content gives you a great starting point. But how you can integrate your geo-content into them is critical. Making it as easy and simple to do is how you’ll be able to leverage your data.
The “Map Sandwich”
ESRI’s cartography blog of all places has the key to showing where data vendors (and just all around geo-Joes) can leverage their datasets in this new ecosystem of free web services. Now the blog post focuses on the cartography aspects of this mashup, but the huge takeaway here is that you can easily integrate your data into these free services in ways that your users/customers can leverage easily. What users want is to quickly integrate your data into their ecosystem. This means they want to consume them on their terms, not yours. Companies that successfully integrate with the Google, the Microsoft and large GIS vendors such as the ESRI, will see great consumption of their data. Those that create their own private data sharing sites or web services will see their fortunes decline, like Paul says.
A Window into the Future
I’ll tell you right now who I see fitting perfectly into this “Map Sandwich” world, Brian Flood’s Arc2Earth. Take a look at his demo app, “Tax Parcel Search – Westfield, NJ“. What is really cool about this demo app is that Brian has a link to the API that makes it happen. He based this API on some draft standards so it should be really easy to integrate into just about any application out there, but the chocolate syrup and cherry on top is his ArcGIS Server REST API Compatibility. Now, he still hasn’t released this publicly (at least that I can see), but it means that any data you create using his Arc2Earth API will be easily consumable in the ESRI ecosystem natively. No wacky WMS or WFS for ESRI users, this stuff will be copy and paste stupid easy.

Customers want this integration and it just isn’t ESRI users. We can sit on our high horse all we want and talk about open standards, but in the trenches people with money don’t have time for the OGC and others to get their act together (and even then they could care less).

“Give me a web service that integrates into my ArcCatalog natively and I’ll buy”

That simple.

“I’m using the ESRI Flex API and want to use your dataset.”

Here is the ESRI REST URL, have at it.
Give Me Some of that Good Data-as-a-Feature
We should be looking at these Data-as-a-Feature services as opportunities to get our data into the hands of those creating applications. A quick look at the ESRI Mashup Challenge shows that there are tons of very useful apps screaming to integrate your data layers into them. You just need to make sure you provide the meat and let ESRI handle the bread and lettuce (maybe a little bacon too).

[www.flickr.com] / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Bottom Line
So the above example is “ESRI Centric”, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t valid for EVERYONE. If your online geo-content isn’t in formats or services that can easily be integrated into popular mapping APIs and libraries, your data is not going be easily used. For the consultant, if you can’t deliver you data to your clients quickly and easily, they’ll look elsewhere for services (integrating with Drupal, SharePoint, whatever). For data providers, if I can’t grab your data and throw it into my OpenLayers mapping application or Silverlight API app by cutting and pasting lines of code, I’ll probably not use your data at all. You’d better start thinking this way because the landscape has changed, work with web services or be out of work. The writing is clearly on the wall, pay attention.

16:45
Give Me a Map SandwichJames Fee GIS Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Manage Your Content – Integrate Your Content
I talked a little bit on the WeoGeo blog last week about how we were very focused on content management. Yea, very sexy stuff… But what I think it highlights is the way that we can share our data with each other. Getting your data “into the Cloud”, whatever that means these days, and then using it as much as possible gives you the best return on your investment. One thing that did come up at the FedUC in February was the huge adoption of ESRI’s ArcGIS Online Map Services among users. Using these great free services as backdrops to your mapping content gives you a great starting point. But how you can integrate your geo-content into them is critical. Making it as easy and simple to do is how you’ll be able to leverage your data.
The “Map Sandwich”
ESRI’s cartography blog of all places has the key to showing where data vendors (and just all around geo-Joes) can leverage their datasets in this new ecosystem of free web services. Now the blog post focuses on the cartography aspects of this mashup, but the huge takeaway here is that you can easily integrate your data into these free services in ways that your users/customers can leverage easily. What users want is to quickly integrate your data into their ecosystem. This means they want to consume them on their terms, not yours. Companies that successfully integrate with the Google, the Microsoft and large GIS vendors such as the ESRI, will see great consumption of their data. Those that create their own private data sharing sites or web services will see their fortunes decline, like Paul says.
A Window into the Future
I’ll tell you right now who I see fitting perfectly into this “Map Sandwich” world, Brian Flood’s Arc2Earth. Take a look at his demo app, “Tax Parcel Search – Westfield, NJ“. What is really cool about this demo app is that Brian has a link to the API that makes it happen. He based this API on some draft standards so it should be really easy to integrate into just about any application out there, but the chocolate syrup and cherry on top is his ArcGIS Server REST API Compatibility. Now, he still hasn’t released this publicly (at least that I can see), but it means that any data you create using his Arc2Earth API will be easily consumable in the ESRI ecosystem natively. No wacky WMS or WFS for ESRI users, this stuff will be copy and paste stupid easy.

Customers want this integration and it just isn’t ESRI users. We can sit on our high horse all we want and talk about open standards, but in the trenches people with money don’t have time for the OGC and others to get their act together (and even then they could care less).

“Give me a web service that integrates into my ArcCatalog natively and I’ll buy”

That simple.

“I’m using the ESRI Flex API and want to use your dataset.”

Here is the ESRI REST URL, have at it.
Give Me Some of that Good Data-as-a-Feature
We should be looking at these Data-as-a-Feature services as opportunities to get our data into the hands of those creating applications. A quick look at the ESRI Mashup Challenge shows that there are tons of very useful apps screaming to integrate your data layers into them. You just need to make sure you provide the meat and let ESRI handle the bread and lettuce (maybe a little bacon too).

[www.flickr.com] / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Bottom Line
So the above example is “ESRI Centric”, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t valid for EVERYONE. If your online geo-content isn’t in formats or services that can easily be integrated into popular mapping APIs and libraries, your data is not going be easily used. For the consultant, if you can’t deliver you data to your clients quickly and easily, they’ll look elsewhere for services (integrating with Drupal, SharePoint, whatever). For data providers, if I can’t grab your data and throw it into my OpenLayers mapping application or Silverlight API app by cutting and pasting lines of code, I’ll probably not use your data at all. You’d better start thinking this way because the landscape has changed, work with web services or be out of work. The writing is clearly on the wall, pay attention.
16:27
Scotland — Land Use StrategyVector One
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Scotland is in the midst of discussions pertaining to it’s Land Use Strategy. This is a wonderful opportunity for people to participate in the many meetings being held around Scotland. The land use strategy will essentially discuss and include all issues related to land. From food production to shorelines, it is an opportunity to initiate [...]

16:02
Les versions 2011 de la gamme Média & Divertissement sont annoncées
sur Geospatial made in France

Les nouvelles versions de la gamme 2011 Autodesk Média & Divertissement sont maintenant annoncées.

Vous pourrez trouver sur [area.autodesk.com] des informations sur :

- Autodesk Maya 2011

- Autodesk 3DS Max 2011

- Autodesk Softimage 2011

- Autodesk MotionBuilder 2011

- Autodesk Mudbox 2011

- Autodesk Maya 2011 Entertainment Creation Suite

- Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 Entertainment Creation Suite

- Autodesk FBX 2011

- Autodesk Kynapse 7

- Autodesk Human IK 4.5

16:00
New LiDAR GIS BlogLiDAR News
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

I just came across a reference to a new LIDAR/GIS blog through a post by Jason Amadori on LiDAR DTM editing. Looks like Jason is CEO at Earth Eye where a good friend, Mark Romano also works. This group is going after the airborne LiDAR and mobile laser scanning business. Looks they have been working on some interesting projects from the blog archives.

15:16
Darren Cope: Editing SQL Server Spatial Data?
sur Planet OSGeo

I’m looking for some thoughts on the best way of editing spatial data stored in Microsoft SQL Server. Ideally full editing including COGO entry, ability to quickly reshape existing features, copy features between layers, and create new features.

At this point there don’t seem to be any solid editing tools that are up to the task. I hope I’m wrong, and that you will all provide lots of comments to set me right!

QGIS doesn’t read SQL Server Spatial, and without writing an extension for it (any demand for that?) I don’t see that it ever will since it’s focused more on the open-source world and thus PostGIS. We’re not about to shell out for any ESRI licenses at this point. The only other tool appears to be Manifold, but to be honest the controversies around it have me a bit skeptical. Does it work well for editing data straight from SQL Server? If so, perhaps it’s worth a shot?

I know, I know, we should be using PostGIS. However, for a whole number of legacy reasons, we’re stuck on SQL Server at this point and likely for the foreseeable future.

Comments/thoughts are greatly appreciated!
15:13
Geoff Zeiss: Rising PC Shipments Driven by Mobile
sur Planet OSGeo

According to an IDC report, PC shipments are expected to grow by 12.6% year-over-year and double-digit growth will continue through 2014. Portable PCs are expected to account for 70% of the global market by 2012. Growth in shipments of netbooks and low-end mini-laptops slowed while other laptop categories increased 22% increase year-over-year. In the second half of 2009 global shipments were up 2.9% year-over-year. In the United States, PC shipments were up 6.7%. Consumer PC purchases were the sole driver of the market last year increasing 38.5% year-over-year. Commercial shipments were flat until the end of the year when there was a slight increase.
Gartner, in its preliminary 2010 forecast earlier this month, predicted that that global PC shipments would increase 19.7% year-over-year. Gartner expects mobile PCs to account for 90 percent of PC growth over the next three years. In 2009, mobile PCs accounted for 55 percent of all PC shipments and Gartner expects that by 2012, mobile PCs will be responsible for nearly 70 percent of shipments.
Gartner expects that the worldwide market for touchscreen mobile devices in 2010 will increase 96.8 percent increase over 2009. Gartner predicts that by 2013, touchscreen mobile devices will account for 58 percent of mobile device sales worldwide and, incredibly, more than 80 percent in North America and Western Europe.

15:13
Rising PC Shipments Driven by MobileBetween the Poles
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

According to an IDC report, PC shipments are expected to grow by 12.6% year-over-year and double-digit growth will continue through 2014. Portable PCs are expected to account for 70% of the global market by 2012. Growth in shipments of netbooks and low-end mini-laptops slowed while other laptop categories increased 22% increase year-over-year. In the second half of 2009 global shipments were up 2.9% year-over-year. In the United States, PC shipments were up 6.7%. Consumer PC purchases were the sole driver of the market last year increasing 38.5% year-over-year. Commercial shipments were flat until the end of the year when there was a slight increase.
Gartner, in its preliminary 2010 forecast earlier this month, predicted that that global PC shipments would increase 19.7% year-over-year. Gartner expects mobile PCs to account for 90 percent of PC growth over the next three years. In 2009, mobile PCs accounted for 55 percent of all PC shipments and Gartner expects that by 2012, mobile PCs will be responsible for nearly 70 percent of shipments.
Gartner expects that the worldwide market for touchscreen mobile devices in 2010 will increase 96.8 percent increase over 2009. Gartner predicts that by 2013, touchscreen mobile devices will account for 58 percent of mobile device sales worldwide and, incredibly, more than 80 percent in North America and Western Europe.

Skip to page: 1 2 3 ... 109

Le portail francophone de la géomatique

Mon compte :

Feeds

Recent items