Planet Georezo » January 27, 2012

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27 janvier 2012
22:11
The Things You Get Used ToFuzzy Tolerance
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Here’s a conversation I listened to in a recent meeting. I’m paraphrasing here – crossed arms and an expression of abject horror did not allow for accurate note taking.

“Our AGS has been as slow as a turtle that was hit by a car and then shot.”

There’s almost zero traffic on that AGS. Count: 1

“We’re going to fix the poor performance by going to 2 AGS servers.”

I have my doubts about that. Count: 2

“We’ll host the AGS apps themselves on another server entirely to keep them from slowing down our AGS servers.”

Count: 3

“But we’ll still need a AGS 9.3 box for the apps we can’t upgrade right now [read: loser connectors like .NET and Flex].”

Count: 4

“Whoa! We’ll need test boxes for AGS 9.3 and 10.”

Count: 6

“We want to move the ArcIMS Server to 10.”

Count: 7

“But there are some apps that can’t move right now [read: loser connectors like ActiveX]. We’ll still need a ArcIMS 9.3 box.”

Count: 8

“And test environments for ArcIMS 9.3 and 10!”

Count: 10

“Don’t forget the 2 ArcIMS boxes that support that one high-volume site.”

Count: 12

“And since we can’t get everything on ArcGIS 10 for the foreseeable future, we’ll have to support SDE 9.3 and 10 servers. 9.3 clients can’t connect to SDE 10.”

Damn it Esri, I though you had the SDE backward compatibility thing figured out. Count: 14

“Gotta have a SDE test environment. Just gotta.”

Count: 15

15 servers. There was no outrage. Nary an eye was blinked. It’s amazing the things you get used to.

For the record, our high-volume open source web app server and PostgreSQL/PostGIS server come in at a count of 2, and they run like their asses are on fire. We have a score of test boxes, but I don’t count those – they are our developers’ PCs.
21:52
Why do questions get closed?Stack Exchange GIS Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
Good Question.

There are a number of reason’s why GIS Stack Exchange Moderators close questions. The most likely is because the exact same question has already been answered. Please use the the search (top right) before posting new questions.

Exact Duplicate “This question covers exactly the same ground as earlier questions on this topic; its answers may be merged with another identical question.”

A simple search on the GIS Stack Exchange site will find questions or related questions (most with answers already!) which speeds up the user having to wait for responses.

Off Topic – questions are expected to generally relate to geographic information systems, within the scope defined in the FAQ. http://gis.stackexchange.com/faq

GIS covers a large field of topics – but some can be better answered on other Stack Exchanges sites {{insert link/or list of sites}}.

What to do if you disagree?
- post on meta, asking for clarification and the reasoning behind the closure, provide arguments for why in this particular instance should be okay
- ask again, providing more information, better wording.
NOT Constructive

This question is not a good fit to our Q&A format. We expect answers to generally involve facts, references, or specific expertise; this question will likely solicit opinion, debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion.

GIS SE likes Questions that can be answered – too many variables can delay or even be left unanswerable.

NOT a real Question

It’s difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form.

GIS SE Moderators can debate this one, sometimes it just takes a polite comment/message for the question being asked to contain more content or expand on details.

Too Localized This question is unlikely to ever help any future visitors; it is only relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the internet.

Can be hard for some to to be generic enough for based on the question for a very local or remote location.

21:39
OpenGeo Blog: Getting Curvey
sur Planet OSGeo

PostGIS has supported curved geometry types — CIRCULARSTRING, COMPOUNDCURVE< CURVEPOLYGON — since version 1.4, but the number of functions that directly calculate against the curved features has remained pretty small. You can generate a bounding box, or calculate a length, but that’s about it.

A COMPOUNDCURVE made up of a line string, a circular arc, and another line string.

In order to do more complex calculations like area calculation or intersections, you have to first convert the curved object into a linearized approximation, using the ST_CurveToLine function. This is fine for functions that return numbers (like ST_Area) or booleans (like ST_Intersects), but what about functions that return derived geometries?

Linearized version of the compound curve. The arc has been replaced by a regular collection of lines.

For derived geometries, the result will be linearized like the inputs. But portions of the geometry will be linearized versions of the original curves: wouldn’t it be nice to have those curves back for storage?

Yes, it would which is why ST_LineToCurve exists. The line to curve logic works on the premise that a linearized version of a curve will have a certain amount of regularity in it.

The version of the code from PostGIS 1.4 and 1.5 works by looking at the angles between successive segments. Segments that share an angle of deflection with neighbours are probably components of a circular arc. This worked OK, but the code involved a fair amount of trigonometry.

By looking at angles between edges, you can find edges that are former components of an arc.

A simpler approach used for 2.0 turned out to be looking at the circle the arc is inscribed on. Any circular arc in PostGIS is defined by a start point, mid point and end point. Between them, they imply a circle, and the center of the circle can be calculated. Any successive point which is the same distance from that center point as the arc points can be considered part of the arc.

By using the circle as a basis for comparison, each successive point needs a simple distance check, instead of a trig check.

The new code is a lot simpler, and can deal with derived segments of more variable length that the old code.

The simplest way to prove that it works is to wrap a curved geometry in multiple nests of ST_LineToCurve and ST_CurveToLine, pushing the geometry back and forth between representations. While the functions are not perfect inverses (the segmentization routine doesn’t necessarily include the middle control points of the input arcs) you can see that the space bounded by the geometries does not change.

Happy curving!

21:39
Getting CurveyOpenGeo
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

PostGIS has supported curved geometry types — CIRCULARSTRING, COMPOUNDCURVE
A COMPOUNDCURVE made up of a line string, a circular arc, and another line string.

In order to do more complex calculations like area calculation or intersections, you have to first convert the curved object into a linearized approximation, using the ST_CurveToLine function. This is fine for functions that return numbers (like ST_Area) or booleans (like ST_Intersects), but what about functions that return derived geometries?

Linearized version of the compound curve. The arc has been replaced by a regular collection of lines.

For derived geometries, the result will be linearized like the inputs. But portions of the geometry will be linearized versions of the original curves: wouldn’t it be nice to have those curves back for storage?

Yes, it would which is why ST_LineToCurve exists. The line to curve logic works on the premise that a linearized version of a curve will have a certain amount of regularity in it.

The version of the code from PostGIS 1.4 and 1.5 works by looking at the angles between successive segments. Segments that share an angle of deflection with neighbours are probably components of a circular arc. This worked OK, but the code involved a fair amount of trigonometry.

By looking at angles between edges, you can find edges that are former components of an arc.

A simpler approach used for 2.0 turned out to be looking at the circle the arc is inscribed on. Any circular arc in PostGIS is defined by a start point, mid point and end point. Between them, they imply a circle, and the center of the circle can be calculated. Any successive point which is the same distance from that center point as the arc points can be considered part of the arc.

By using the circle as a basis for comparison, each successive point needs a simple distance check, instead of a trig check.

The new code is a lot simpler, and can deal with derived segments of more variable length that the old code.

The simplest way to prove that it works is to wrap a curved geometry in multiple nests of ST_LineToCurve and ST_CurveToLine, pushing the geometry back and forth between representations. While the functions are not perfect inverses (the segmentization routine doesn’t necessarily include the middle control points of the input arcs) you can see that the space bounded by the geometries does not change.

Happy curving!
20:50
Fuzzy Tolerance Podcast #9 – Quality of Life DashboardFuzzy Tolerance
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Unless you have eagle eyes, watch it in at least 720p.

Resources

Quality of Life Dashboard Beta Site

Fork Me on Github

QOL Data on Fusion Tables

Ultimate CSS Gradient Generator

Google Image Chart Editor

Google Translator

Styled Maps Using Google Maps API Version 3

FPDF
19:42
NCPTT 3D Digital Documentation SummitLiDAR News
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

NCPTT - the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in conjunction with the Intermountain Regional Office and the Presidio Trust will be hosting a three day summit on digital...

Click Title to Continue Reading...
18:55
Vexillology…I think I just learned somethingVerySpatial
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Yet ANOTHER reason why I love The Big Bang Theory. “I’m surrendering…to fun.” The sad part is that they probably won’t make the 52 promised episodes.

18:52
Sean Gillies: Geoprocessing for humans: a pip requirements file
sur Planet OSGeo
In the geospatial software I'm writing and using these days, concerns are well separated. Fiona reads and writes features. Only. Shapely provides computational geometry algorithms. Only. Pyproj (not my work, but a favorite package) transforms coordinates between spatial reference systems. Only. The separation of concerns helps keep interactions between them predictable and as a user you pay only for what you eat.

A programmer-analyst's daily work has all the above concerns (and more, probably). A pip requirements file makes installing all three packages as easy as installing a single package like osgeo.ogr. I've uploaded one to GitHub: [https:]] . This Gist includes an example of using Fiona, pyproj and Shapely together. Fetching them all, assuming you've got pip and the GDAL/OGR libs and headers already on your system, is just:
```
$ pip install -r [https:] 
```

18:52
Geoprocessing for humans: a pip requirements fileSean Gillies Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
In the geospatial software I'm writing and using these days, concerns are well separated. Fiona reads and writes features. Only. Shapely provides computational geometry algorithms. Only. Pyproj (not my work, but a favorite package) transforms coordinates between spatial reference systems. Only. The separation of concerns helps keep interactions between them predictable and as a user you pay only for what you eat.

A programmer-analyst's daily work has all the above concerns (and more, probably). A pip requirements file makes installing all three packages as easy as installing a single package like osgeo.ogr. I've uploaded one to GitHub: [https:]] . This Gist includes an example of using Fiona, pyproj and Shapely together. Fetching them all, assuming you've got pip and the GDAL/OGR libs and headers already on your system, is just:
```
$ pip install -r [https:] 
```

18:10
Gary Sherman: QGIS: Running Scripts in the Python Console
sur Planet OSGeo
The QGIS Python console is great for doing one-off tasks or experimenting with the API. Sometimes you might want to automate a task using a script, and do it without writing a full blown plugin. Currently QGIS does not have a way to load an arbitrary Python script and run it¹. Until it does, this post illustrates a way you can create a script and run it from the console.

There are a couple of requirements to run a script in the console:
1. The script must be in your PYTHONPATH
2. Just like a QGIS plugin, the script needs a reference to qgis.utils.iface
Setting up the Environment
By default, the Python path includes the .qgis/python directory. The location depends on your platform:
- Windows: in your home directory under .qgis\python. For example, C:\Documents and Settings\gsherman\.qgis\python
- Linux and OS X: $HOME/.qgis/python
To see what is in your PYTHONPATH you can do the following in QGIS Python console:
```
import sys
sys.path
```
While you could use the .qgis\python directory for your custom scripts, a better way is to create a directory specifically for that purpose and add that directory to the PYTHONPATH environment variable. On Windows you can do this using the Environment Variables page in your system properties:

On Linux or OS X, you can add it to your .bash_profile, .profile, or other login script in your home directory:
```
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/home/gsherman/qgis_scripts
```
Writing the Script
With the environment set, we can create scripts to automate QGIS tasks and run them from the console. For this example, we will use a simple script to load all shapefiles in a specified directory. There are a couple of ways to do this:
1. Write a simple script with a function that accepts qgis.utils.iface as an argument, along with a path to the shapefiles
2. Create a Python class that uses an __init__ method to store a reference to the iface object and then add methods to do the work
We will use the latter approach because it is more flexible and allows us to initialize once and then call methods without having to pass the iface object each time.

The script looks like this:
```
#!/usr/bin/env Python
"""Load all shapefiles in a given directory.
  This script (loader.py) runs from the QGIS Python console.
  From the console, use:
    from loader import Loader
    ldr = Loader(qgis.utils.iface)
    ldr.load_shapefiles('/my/path/to/shapefile/directory')
 
  """
from glob import glob
from os import path
 
class Loader:
    def __init__(self, iface):
        """Initialize using the qgis.utils.iface 
        object passed from the console.
 
        """
        self.iface = iface
 
    def load_shapefiles(self, shp_path):
        """Load all shapefiles found in shp_path"""
        print "Loading shapes from %s" % path.join(shp_path, "*.shp")
        shps = glob(path.join(shp_path, "*.shp"))
        for shp in shps:
            (shpdir, shpfile) = path.split(shp)
            self.iface.addVectorLayer(shp, shpfile, 'ogr' )
```
Running the Script
To open the console use the Plugins->Python Console menu item.

The comment at the head of the script explains how to use it.

First we import the Loader class from the script file (named loader.py). This script resides in the qgis_scripts directory that is our PYTHONPATH.
```
from loader import Loader
```
We then create an instance of Loader, passing it the reference to the iface object:
```
ldr = Loader(qgis.utils.iface)
```
This creates the Loader object and calls the __init__ method to initialize things.

Once we have an instance of Loader we can load all the shapefiles in a directory by calling the load_shapefiles method, passing it the full path to the directory containing the shapefiles:
```
ldr.load_shapefiles('/home/gsherman/qgis_sample_data/vmap0_shapefiles')
```
The load_shapefiles method uses the path to get a list of all the shapefiles and then adds them to QGIS using addVectorLayer.

Here is the result, rendered in the random colors and order that the shapefiles were loaded:

Some Notes
- When testing a script in the console you may need to reload it as you make changes. This can be done using reload and the name of the module. In our example, reload(loader) does the trick.
- You can add more methods to your class to do additional tasks
- You can create a “driver” script that accepts the iface object and then initializes additional classes to do more complex tasks
1. I have plans on the drawing board to implement this feature.

18:10
QGIS: Running Scripts in the Python ConsoleSpatial Galaxy
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
The QGIS Python console is great for doing one-off tasks or experimenting with the API. Sometimes you might want to automate a task using a script, and do it without writing a full blown plugin. Currently QGIS does not have a way to load an arbitrary Python script and run it¹. Until it does, this post illustrates a way you can create a script and run it from the console.

There are a couple of requirements to run a script in the console:
1. The script must be in your PYTHONPATH
2. Just like a QGIS plugin, the script needs a reference to qgis.utils.iface
Setting up the Environment
By default, the Python path includes the .qgis/python directory. The location depends on your platform:
- Windows: in your home directory under .qgis\python. For example, C:\Documents and Settings\gsherman\.qgis\python
- Linux and OS X: $HOME/.qgis/python
To see what is in your PYTHONPATH you can do the following in QGIS Python console:
```
import sys
sys.path
```
While you could use the .qgis\python directory for your custom scripts, a better way is to create a directory specifically for that purpose and add that directory to the PYTHONPATH environment variable. On Windows you can do this using the Environment Variables page in your system properties:

On Linux or OS X, you can add it to your .bash_profile, .profile, or other login script in your home directory:
```
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/home/gsherman/qgis_scripts
```
Writing the Script
With the environment set, we can create scripts to automate QGIS tasks and run them from the console. For this example, we will use a simple script to load all shapefiles in a specified directory. There are a couple of ways to do this:
1. Write a simple script with a function that accepts qgis.utils.iface as an argument, along with a path to the shapefiles
2. Create a Python class that uses an __init__ method to store a reference to the iface object and then add methods to do the work
We will use the latter approach because it is more flexible and allows us to initialize once and then call methods without having to pass the iface object each time.

The script looks like this:
```
#!/usr/bin/env Python
"""Load all shapefiles in a given directory.
  This script (loader.py) runs from the QGIS Python console.
  From the console, use:
    from loader import Loader
    ldr = Loader(qgis.utils.iface)
    ldr.load_shapefiles('/my/path/to/shapefile/directory')
 
  """
from glob import glob
from os import path
 
class Loader:
    def __init__(self, iface):
        """Initialize using the qgis.utils.iface 
        object passed from the console.
 
        """
        self.iface = iface
 
    def load_shapefiles(self, shp_path):
        """Load all shapefiles found in shp_path"""
        print "Loading shapes from %s" % path.join(shp_path, "*.shp")
        shps = glob(path.join(shp_path, "*.shp"))
        for shp in shps:
            (shpdir, shpfile) = path.split(shp)
            self.iface.addVectorLayer(shp, shpfile, 'ogr' )
```
Running the Script
To open the console use the Plugins->Python Console menu item.

The comment at the head of the script explains how to use it.

First we import the Loader class from the script file (named loader.py). This script resides in the qgis_scripts directory that is our PYTHONPATH.
```
from loader import Loader
```
We then create an instance of Loader, passing it the reference to the iface object:
```
ldr = Loader(qgis.utils.iface)
```
This creates the Loader object and calls the __init__ method to initialize things.

Once we have an instance of Loader we can load all the shapefiles in a directory by calling the load_shapefiles method, passing it the full path to the directory containing the shapefiles:
```
ldr.load_shapefiles('/home/gsherman/qgis_sample_data/vmap0_shapefiles')
```
The load_shapefiles method uses the path to get a list of all the shapefiles and then adds them to QGIS using addVectorLayer.

Here is the result, rendered in the random colors and order that the shapefiles were loaded:

Some Notes
- When testing a script in the console you may need to reload it as you make changes. This can be done using reload and the name of the module. In our example, reload(loader) does the trick.
- You can add more methods to your class to do additional tasks
- You can create a “driver” script that accepts the iface object and then initializes additional classes to do more complex tasks
1. I have plans on the drawing board to implement this feature.
18:00
Four New Bing Maps V7 ModulesBing Maps Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

By Ricky Brundritt, EMEA Bing Maps Technology Solution Professional

In September of 2011 we started the Bing Maps v7 Module CodePlex Project. The purpose of this project is to create a single place where developers can find and share useful modules that expand the functionality of the Bing Maps V7 API. Currently, there have been 10 modules submitted to the project. With a number of new modules in development, it’s safe to say that this project is definitely worth looking into. Today I would like to highlight the four newest modules added to this project.

Point Based Clustering Module

Download here

I created this module based on feedback received around the Client Side Clustering Module that I created some time ago. The older client side clustering module uses a grid based algorithm which is fast, but requires re-clustering the data every time the map moved. This allows for 5000+ pushpins to be clustered in a fraction of a second but often results in pushpins jumping around the map as you pan. The point based algorithm prevents pushpins from overlapping and jumping around by only clustering the data when the zoom level changes. Additionally this module keeps track of clustered information for each zoom level, making the algorithm faster the more you use it. This improved UI experience does affect performance and as such this algorithm is recommended for 2000 or less pushpins. Interested in reading more about how this algorithm was created? Check out this blog post.

GPX Parser

Download here

I created this module due to a number of requests I had received for such a module. This module allows you to easily pass in a URL to a GPX file and have it parsed into an EntityCollection which you can then render on Bing Maps. GPX is a type of XML file that is commonly used by GPS devices. It can be used to describe waypoints, tracks, and routes. Majority of the XML tags for V1 and V1.1 of the GPX schema are supported and all data is stored in a Metadata property, which is added to each entity.

Route Optimization - RouteSavvy Module

Download here

This module was created by OnTerra Systems, a Bing Maps Partner.

In today’s economy, it is more important than ever that companies optimize and manage their supply chains more efficiently. Given today’s fuel costs, product delivery with high quality of service and short delay times is paramount. Distribution accounts for a large proportion of the overall operational costs of a producer. Hence, effective and efficient management of transportation and distribution of goods are becoming increasingly important.

One of the key problems in this process is the optimization of delivery routes to customers. This problem is known as the “Travelling Salesman Problem” (TSP). RouteSavvy is a web service that helps solve this problem.

RouteSavvy is a simple but powerful tool that can take anywhere from 3 or 4 locations to hundreds of locations. It reorders them based on whether you'd like to visit them in a "round-trip" OR as a one-way trip, with the last stop chosen either by you or by the software (whichever is preferred).

Web developers can now easily integrate the RouteSavvy API into their web application by adding the RouteSavvy Map Module. The map module uses Ajax to call the RouteSavvy web service to optimize a given set of locations.

Here is a screen shot of a set random location optimized for a round trip:

Mini-Map Module

Download here

This module was created by OnTerra Systems, a Bing Maps Partner.

The Bing Maps Ajax v7 control doesn’t include support for adding a Mini-Map. The Mini-Map module adds a small map at the right corner of the parent map that’s collapsible and shows the extents covered by the current map. This module adds a mini map at the top right corner of the screen. Mini-map view helps to give a zoomed out overview of your location. Here is a screen shot of the implemented Mini-Map module:

I hope you find these new modules useful!
16:23
Geospatial Analyst Goes Rogue with Street Signs About Drones in NYCSpatial Sustain
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

There’s an interesting story today in Forbes about hoax signs placed in the streets of New York by an unnamed geospatial analyst. The signs warn, “ATTENTION: Drone Activity in Progress,” and “ATTENTION: Local Statute Enforced by Drone.” The perpetrator is an Iraq veteran who has grown concerned about the use of drones for domestic purposes. [...]
15:50
Friday’s Food for Thought: Needing to “Leap Ahead”got geoint?
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Welcome to the Friday’s Food for Thought post from got geoint? Who doesn’t love Fridays? It is the time to unwind, recharge and often assess one productivity during the previous four days. Speaking of busy weeks, the Pentagon proposed its future budget cuts yesterday. While this will certainly usher in an era of “doing more with less,” there will still be plenty of growth opportunities in the GEOINT sector. Speaking of growth opportunities, USGIF just announced an open solicitation to its membership for a Tradecraft Development Subcommittee Co-Chair. Don’t miss out on this one!

Pentagon Cuts to Hit Defense Industry

The budget cuts the Pentagon proposed Thursday stand to hit nearly every part of the defense industry, from makers of fighter jets and warships to providers of services such as information technology support. Facing rising political pressure to trim spending, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta proposed cutting the budget by $487 billion over the next decade. There were notable exceptions to the austerity. The Pentagon is seeking to protect spending for building unmanned systems and for developing new ones. Funding for an unmanned Army system known as Gray Eagle would be spared, and the Pentagon vowed to invest in sea-based intelligence systems like Fire Scout, a Northrop Grumman-made drone, and in space systems.

More About What Won’t Get Cut

Space News also pointed out that planned upgrades to space capabilities including GPS, the Space-Based Infrared System for missile warning and Advanced Extremely High Frequency secure communications satellites will be preserved in the request, expected to be delivered to Capitol Hill in mid-February. Programs to defend U.S. and European territory against ballistic missile attacks also will be preserved, officials said, but some regional interceptor programs will not see funding increases that had been anticipated.

Needing to “Leap Ahead to Defeat the Enemy”

NextGov points out that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta comment yesterday about “leaping ahead to defeat the enemy” across many domains, including space and cyberspace

Adjusting to a New Budgetary Culture in Space

Intelsat General’s CEO discusses how we are in “hunker down” mode when it comes to dealing with new budgetary realities for space.

Defense Cuts Imperil Our Security

After the International Atomic Energy Agency dropped the bombshell news that Iran has accelerated its drive to build a nuclear weapon, you’d expect leaders on Capitol Hill to hold a flurry of hearings on how to counter the threat. Instead, congressional hearing rooms have been booked solid to discuss how to slash national security spending. Budget cuts dominate the debate, while the prospect of a nuclear Iran barely raises eyebrows. The defense cuts proposed under the debt ceiling deal would leave the U.S. with far fewer options for confronting an Iran armed with the bomb. Congress has already cut $450 billion from the Pentagon budget. Read the full Op-Ed by retired Navy Rear Adm. Ernie Elliot here.

No Music This Week

Since these budgetary changes are serious business, we are not featuring a music video this week. Though be sure to come back next week, as we will be amping up our efforts to “find a popular culture thread” that reinforces what is happening in the GEOINT sector.

Happy Friday.
15:00
Who Will Regulate Robots?GEODATA POLICY
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

by Ryan Calo, Stanford Center for Internet and Society, January 20, 2012 As robots leave the factory and battlefield and enter our homes, hospitals, and skies, it is not clear who will come to regulate them. But we can begin to spot some interesting patterns. Students of this transformative technology should keep their eye on [...]
14:32
Google Earth 6.2 Released: Seamless Globe and Google+ IntegrationSlashgeo.org
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Yesterday, Google released Google Earth 6.2.

From the announcement: "With Google Earth 6.2, we’re bringing you the most beautiful Google Earth yet, with more seamless imagery and a new search interface. Additionally, we’ve introduced a feature that enables you to share an image from within Google Earth, so you can now simply and easily share your virtual adventures with family and friends on Google+. [...] We’ve also made some updates to the search feature in Google Earth. Aside from streamlining the visual design of the search panel, we’ve enabled the same Autocomplete feature that's available in Google Maps."

On the welcomed seamless globe: "While this change will appear on all versions of Google Earth, the 6.2 release provides the best viewing experience for this new data." Sri Lanka, before and after:

A quick reminder, Slashgeo has its Google+ page too (but it's inactive at the moment, that doesn't mean it's not worth adding it to your circles ;-).

Related, the GEB shares an entry named Google Earth 6 now required for Street View.
Google Plus One

14:21
Nokia Sells Off Media Advertising Business
sur All Points Blog

In another sign Nokia is reshaping itself comes its decision to get out of the advertising business. Finnish group Nokia has sold its media advertising business to a U.S. startup Matchbin as it focuses on core businesses, a company spokesman said on Friday without disclosing detail... Continue reading

14:21
Nokia Sells Off Media Advertising BusinessAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

In another sign Nokia is reshaping itself comes its decision to get out of the advertising business. Finnish group Nokia has sold its media advertising business to a U.S. startup Matchbin as it focuses on core businesses, a company spokesman said on Friday without disclosing detail... Continue reading

13:56
The Forgotten Poland on Google Maps
sur Google Maps Mania

Forgotten.pl is a Polish website dedicated to abandoned buildings, rail-roads, underground tunnels, castles, military sites and any other locations that have long been neglected.

The site has a huge database of user submitted abandoned locations. If you are keen to explore the abandoned Poland it is probably best to explore the site using the category filter. Each category (buildings, military, castles etc) has its own Google Map that allows users to search for individual entries by location.

13:44
Pretty Imagery in Google Earth and other Google Maps/Earth News
sur All Points Blog

Google Earth 6.2 had a "prettier" version of its imagery. No, it's not new data just a new smoothing algorithm. Today, we’re introducing a new way of rendering imagery that smooths out this quilt of images. The end result is a beautiful new Earth-viewing experience that preserves... Continue reading

13:44
Pretty Imagery in Google Earth and other Google Maps/Earth NewsAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Google Earth 6.2 had a "prettier" version of its imagery. No, it's not new data just a new smoothing algorithm. Today, we’re introducing a new way of rendering imagery that smooths out this quilt of images. The end result is a beautiful new Earth-viewing experience that preserves... Continue reading
13:09
An amazing 3D tour of the Costa ConcordiaGoogle Earth Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Last week we showed you the fresh satellite imagery and tour of the wreck of the Costa Concordia. It was a great file that helped to show what happened, but now Peter Olsen (who just days ago unveiled the excellent Terra Nova models) has built an incredible 3D tour of the wreck, with the entire journey animated!

The speed has been increased to save time, so you don't have to wait 2-1/2 hours for it to finish, but it's otherwise as accurate as possible. To see it for yourself, simply visit the Costa Concordia Disaster Animation page in the Google 3D Warehouse and choose the "View in Google Earth" link.

If you're not familiar with using Tour files in Google Earth, simply click the "Double-click me!" text on the left to get it started, then click the play button at the bottom to step through the introductory slides, as seen here:

Fully animated tours like this are a great way to recreate events, and Peter is one of the best around at creating them. A similar example you might want to check out is his recreation of the 1977 Tenerife Airport disaster from a few years ago. Great job, Peter!

13:05
[INSPIRE by clouds] Métadonnées et profil français ISO19115
sur GeoRezo.net - Géoblogs

Question d'icadedt sur norme iso 19139 francais.

Ce fil appelle plusieurs réponses :
Les recommandations françaises ne recommandent pas de mettre en œuvre le profil français. Lors d'une présentation aux Rencontres SIG La Lettre, une de mes diapositives rendant compte des premiers résultats du groupe de travail disait :

Il n'est pas recommandé d'attirer l'attention sur le profil français pour le moment.

J'ai en effet compris, à cette occasion, que le profil français est obsolète, non conforme à INSPIRE et dérogatoire à ISO19115. De plus, la future version de cette norme prendra en compte la quasi-totalité de ses avancées en 2013.

Pour des raisons éditoriales, les premières conclusions validées du groupe ne figurent pas dans le guide final, c'est peut-être une erreur.

Pour tester la conformité de ses métadonnées, je rappelle ce billet.

12:25
Revue de presse de la semaine du 22 Janvier
sur Geotribu

Cette semaine encore, c'est une revue de presse riche en annonces que nous vous avons concocté. Vous y retrouverez notamment les sorties de la semaine avec un plugin QGIS permettant de faire un atlas ou encore la nouvelle version de MapProxy.

en lire plus

12:17
Free and Open Source GIS Ramblings: Looking for Roundabouts in OSM
sur Planet OSGeo

Roundabouts are handled interestingly in OSM: They can be both nodes or ways and represented as points, lines or polygons.

And this is how they can be downloaded for a specific area:

> wget [open.mapquestapi.com] > wget [open.mapquestapi.com]

Note: Not all XAPI servers are available all of the time. Check this site if the server is down: OSM Wiki – Xapi.

12:05
Métadonnées et profil français ISO19115
sur INSPIRE by clouds

Question d’icadedt sur norme iso 19139 francais. Ce fil appelle plusieurs réponses : Les recommandations françaises ne recommandent pas de mettre en œuvre le profil français. Lors d’une présentation aux Rencontres SIG La Lettre, une de mes diapositives rendant compte des premiers résultats du groupe de travail disait : Il n’est pas recommandé d’attirer l’attention [...]

11:31
Ambiances froides et consultations respiratoires dans le secteur de la santé publique à Sfax (Tunisie)
sur Cybergeo

Ce travail porte sur le lien qui existe entre les ambiances froides et la consultation pour broncho-pneumopathies dans le secteur de la santé publique à Sfax de 1995 à 2005. Exprimées par des indices bioclimatiques d’inconfort de Thom et de refroidissement éolien utilisés au pas de temps saisonnier, mensuel et quotidien, les ambiances froides (hiver) contribuent à l’augmentation de la consultation pour broncho-pneumopathies. Les types de temps correspondants jouent un rôle essentiel dans la caractérisation de l’ambiance biométéorologique instaurée et influencent, par conséquent, le nombre de consultations journalières pour broncho-pneumopathies enregistrée.
11:31
Sciences du relief ou géomorphologie ?
sur Cybergeo

En France, de la première édition du Traité d’Emmanuel de Martonne à nos jours, les rapports de la géomorphologie et de la géographie académiques sont passés de la coexistence à la domination puis à la marginalisation. Or, les changements de la géographie d’une part, les conditions d’existence, les contenus et les pratiques de la géomorphologie actuelle d’autre part, font que les nombreuses et diverses spécialités de ce champ scientifique questionnent la définition de la géographie, mais aussi celle de la géologie. En effet, bien que l’étude des causes, des effets et des conséquences de l’érosion puisse être revendiquée, à des degrés variables, par le géodynamicien, l’ingénieur, l’agronome, l’urbaniste, l’aménageur, le sociologue, une analyse rétrospective montre que ce sont les géographes qui ont longtemps poussé le plus loin la réflexion en ces matières. Mais la situation s’est sensiblement modifiée au cours des années 1990, avec la reprise d’une partie du questionnement géomorphologique par un nombre croissant de spécialistes issus des géosciences et le développement de la géographie des risques. C’est pourquoi traiter de « la » géomorphologie sans nulle autre précision revient à réifier un champ scientifique en expansion, caractérisé par sa diversité et sa dimension interdisciplinaire. En fait, prises dans toute leur complexité, les sciences du relief sont une composante dynamique de la géologie sur le versant des géosciences autant que de la géographie sur le versant des sciences sociales.
11:31
Hexagones sans centre, centres sans hexagone
sur Cybergeo

Le système triangulo-hexagonal de Walter Christaller (Die zentrale Orte, 1933) a fait l’objet de vifs débats parmi les géographes de langue allemande depuis 1933 jusqu’à nos jours. Malgré le fait que plusieurs dénoncent les erreurs mathématiques de Walter Christaller, ses hypothèses irréalistes, la non-adéquation de son modèle à la réalité ou son lourd passé totalitaire, on voit apparaître, disparaître, puis réapparaître des hexagones, idée fixe ou image idéale qui hante la pensée des géographes et des aménageurs. Même lorsque cette figure disparaît, les idées fondamentales du système christallérien subsistent, toutes fondées sur la notion de « centre ». Pourquoi donc tant d’auteurs, venant d’horizons différents sur le plan scientifique (géographes ou aménageurs), politique (partisans de régimes totalitaires ou démocrates) ou national (Estonie, Allemagne, Autriche, Suisse), ont-ils perduré dans la défense d’un système condamné dès les débuts ?
Certains parmi ces géographes appellent cependant à un changement de paradigme dès la fin du 20^e siècle. On voit aussi apparaître, parfois même chez des auteurs encore fascinés par l’hexagone, des notions qui contredisent partiellement ou totalement le système christallérien : « décentralisation concentrée », « concentration décentrale », « déconcentration » ou « structure polycentrique » du système urbain. Toutes ces notions peinent cependant à se distancer de celle de centralité. En réalité, tous les lieux sont à la fois centraux et décentraux, les deux étant indissociablement liés.
11:31
Variations des représentations et perceptions d’espaces publics sonores ordinaires selon les formes urbaines
sur Cybergeo

Cet article examine l’impact des formes urbaines sur les percepts sonores dans trois espaces publics grenoblois : la place des Tilleuls dans le centre ancien, la place Mistral-Eaux-Claires dans le quartier des Eaux-Claires, et la place Centrale sur le domaine universitaire. Les notions d’ambiance et d’espace public, toutes deux à l’interface de plusieurs disciplines, ont ceci en commun qu’elles renvoient à un phénomène d’expérimentation et donc de perception du lieu. Parmi les déterminants de ce lieu, la forme urbaine constitue aujourd’hui un élément d’appréciation très présent dans la pensée collective. Basée sur des données tant quantitatives que qualitatives, cette étude se propose d’évaluer les interactions entre représentations urbaines et perceptions sonores.

11:02
Réseaux et canalisation : plus que deux mois pour déclarer ses réseaux
sur Le blog TIC » Information Géographique

Instaurées par la loi Grenelle 2 et précisées par un décret et un arrêté, les nouvelles obligations des communes en matière de prévention de l’endommagement des réseaux lors de travaux tiers entrent progressivement en vigueur. Concrètement, les exploitants de réseaux et maitres d’ouvrage dont font partie les collectivités locales ont l’obligation de référencer leurs réseaux [...]

11:00
2011 in ReviewGeoIQ Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

We’re fast into a new calendar year, predictions have been lain and we’re already beginning to see the emergence of some new and exciting technologies that will change future markets.

Last year was an incredibly exciting year for GeoIQ. We were fortunate to work with a number of amazing users that are solving hard and meaningful problems. We launched products that have had an indelible mark on changing the mapping and geospatial web and a few new capabilities that we’re just getting started with.
A New Kind of Basemap
Nearly a year ago today we rethought the basemap when we launched Acetate. Our goal was to move beyond the cookie cutter standard maps that are confusing when visualizing thematic data and instead build a clean context where the data are more easily read and understood. And beyond just a simple “basemap”, Acetate peeled apart the map where data fits within the other layers of roads and placenames for a beautiful composite map.

We made Acetate the default basemap on GeoCommons as well as provided a terrain version. And because Acetate was built with open data and open tools we have distributed it to our users both online and offline in the field and behind firewalls – providing a simple mapping experience to everyone.

What we were hoping for, and happily saw occur, was the adoption of Acetate and the concept across the community.
GeoCommons 2.0 & Collaboration
Last Spring we revamped our user experience and launched GeoCommons 2.0. With the new capabilities, easier to create maps for everyone we felt that we truly opened up mapping and analysis to the world. To date, the community has grown to over 80,000 users per month and 4 million maps – considerably large for what used to be considered a niche domain.

For the first time, we provided free and open access to powerful geospatial analysis. At Where2.0 I spoke about Collaborative Analytics – enabling groups and organizations to quickly and easily share insight and make decisions together. Through GeoCommons anyone is able to ask a question and see their answers within a few minutes. But the true power occurs when they share this with their colleagues or friends – whether that’s within their team’s wiki or posting it to Facebook.

Beyond just a better user experience, we also did a lot under the hood to leverage the scaling of the Cloud. We can now dynamically increase or decrease GeoIQ on demand based on usage, ensuring that data is globally and immediately available. We also made this a core capability to the GeoIQ platform so that organizations deploying the GeoIQ platform behind their firewalls can do it quickly and easily.

The point is that only through collaboration of analysis can we reach concensus. Last year we shared with the world that idea, and looking forward we have a lot of concepts on how to make this more capable for monitoring and alerting on new information.
Graceful Degradation & HTML5
Web Browser innovation has evolved to a new era of web technology that we’re now starting to utilize. Historically Adobe Flash was the only way to provide truly performant and highly interactive visualizations. It still is the most powerful technology with nearly ubiquitous adoption. However, we’re finally seeing the advent of web native formats that are open and provide similar capabilities. Last year we introduced the capability for fully Javascript HTML5 maps when a user didn’t have Flash available. This ‘graceful degradation’ allowed users with Flash available to use the best performance, but also users the viewed maps on iPads or other devices to use the HTML5 maps seamlessly.

Looking forward this concept of appropriate interfaces for the user is being extended to more mobile screens, and even smaller and offline tablets. You can’t presuppose how or where a user will want to see and use their data so we’ll be pushing more into making GeoIQ maps and data available wherever, and however, you want.
Realtime Maps
Never content to merely improve capability we sought to introduce new ways to access and analyze realtime streaming data. Just as much as users are moving from desktops to mobile, data are moving from static captures to continous and dynamic. GeoIQ provides simple and easy access to these new streams of data that can be combined with static and organizational data to not just visualize, but monitor emerging information and see the impact of events.

The new technology we launched powers GeoIQ Social which has been used from monitoring events to helping search and rescue teams respond to cries for help. Like everything we do at GeoIQ our technology crosses domains to the common elements of time and space to help find solutions and measure their impact.

So those are just some highlights of where we’ve been and what we’ve done. It only begins to convey how busy, and excited, we’ve been the last 12 months alone in developing new and innovative technology that have helped our users and improved our customers. We’re looking forward to the upcoming year planning to develop and share with the word just as much – and even more – in pushing the boundaries of collaborative mapping.

10:03
Gerrymandering Shown with Google Maps
sur Google Maps Mania

The New York World has produced an excellent Google Maps based visualisation of the Proposed New York Senate Districts.

This visualisation of the proposed rezoning works brilliantly in map form, not only because of the obvious geographic nature of creating new senate districts but because the map perfectly illustrates the disparity in the population sizes between upstate and downstate proposed districts.

The large red area to the north on the map shows that these proposed districts will each have a smaller population than the blue districts to the south of the map in New York City. In effect New York City voters will count for less than their up-state neighbors.

As The New York World states this "regional discrepancy is crucial to Republicans' efforts to preserve their narrow control of the Senate".

10:00
LightSquared Update - Javad Letter: GPS Companies Can’t Handle the Truth - 1/27/12
sur All Points Blog

In a letter to the FCC, Javad CEO Javad Ashjaee reitarates that the testing procedure used to explore the impact of LightSquared on GPS was political, not scientific. He concludes with a familiar quote as to why his filter-enhanced soutions were not tested: There can be only reason... Continue reading
10:00
NGA to Procure Less Imagery but More Capacity, FBI RFI for LBS Intelligence
sur All Points Blog

The U.S. Defense Department intends to reduce planned purchases of commercial satellite imagery in 2013 as part of a broader initiative aimed at reducing U.S. military expenditures by $259 billion over the next five years, according to a Pentagon planning document released Jan.... Continue reading

10:00
LightSquared Update - Javad Letter: GPS Companies Can’t Handle the Truth - 1/27/12All Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

In a letter to the FCC, Javad CEO Javad Ashjaee reitarates that the testing procedure used to explore the impact of LightSquared on GPS was political, not scientific. He concludes with a familiar quote as to why his filter-enhanced soutions were not tested: There can be only reason... Continue reading
10:00
NGA to Procure Less Imagery but More Capacity, FBI RFI for LBS IntelligenceAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The U.S. Defense Department intends to reduce planned purchases of commercial satellite imagery in 2013 as part of a broader initiative aimed at reducing U.S. military expenditures by $259 billion over the next five years, according to a Pentagon planning document released Jan.... Continue reading
9:47
What Could the Davos World Economic Forum Gain From Geospatial Understanding?Vector One
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

In the ‘Perspectives’ column this week— “What Could the Davos World Economic Forum Gain From Geospatial Understanding?” This week the World Economic Forum is taking place in Davos, Switzerland. While much of the discussion is focused upon economic policy development, the technological and conceptual linkages that contribute to economic growth and wealth are not [...]

8:10
26/01/2012 : Esri France propose l'accès au Géoportail à tous les utilisateurs ArcGIS
sur SIG la lettre : divers

Esri France annonce la publication des flux de cartes du Géoportail© de l'IGN dans le cadre de son offre de services en ligne. Ces flux de cartes sont désormais disponibles pour tous les utilisateurs ArcGIS, élargissant encore plus la gamme des données de qualité prêtes à l'emploi accessible pour les utilisateurs des produits Esri.
- Communiqués de presse

7:04
Bloomfield River and Wujal Wujal, Queensland 3D animationFrom High Above
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The Bloomfield River is a river situated in Queensland, north of Daintree. The river enters the sea north of Cape Tribulation. Wujal Wujal is the name of a relatively small Aboriginal community on the north and south sides of the Bloomfield River as seen at the end of the video. This fly-through has been created [...]
2:36
LiDAR Magazine Available Online and in PrintLiDAR News
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

With all the work that goes into producing LiDAR Magazine I just want to be sure that everyone is aware that third digital version is now available here. Continue reading →

Click Title to Continue Reading...
2:09
Celebrating FME2012 with Leaflet, OSM and MapQuest!bbox.me
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The old FLEX-based OSM extractor has been around for a while. A week ago I decided to rewrite it in HTML and it’s now in live beta!

In short http://bbox.me/osm lets You search and zoom in any area and get a ready-made FME Workbench for that particualar place.

This is making it real easy to extract smaller areas of OSM-data straight into FME.

- Dont forget to tribute OSM-data and MapQuest (and FME from www.safe.com) if You use it !

(If You do use Internet Explorer and have problems getting search to work. Try adding bbox.me to trusted sites).

The major supergreat components I used was:

- Leaflet

- Open MapQuest and tiles.

I will publish new and fresh 2012 Workbenches later on but for now I just include a small instruction. Use this at Your own risk!

Click to enlarge:

The old OSM-extractor in Flex should still work. Read about it here:

[bbox.me]

/Regards

Ulf Mansson (Månsson)

1:46
Cameron Shorter: Presenting at GeoNext conference
sur Planet OSGeo

I'm speaking at the GeoNext conference, and will be answering audience questions on the topic of:
"Where to start with Geospatial Open Source Software, and how to build a business around Open Source products".
Speakers at the GeoNext conference are covering topics around emerging geospatial business trends, which are being driven by such things as mobile phones, commoditisation of data, and web 2.0 principles such as crowd sourcing. It is running in Sydney, Australia on 29 February 2012. More details here: [geonext.com.au]
If you will be coming, then let me know and come and say hello.

1:46
Presenting at GeoNext conferenceCameron Shorter
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

I'm speaking at the GeoNext conference, and will be answering audience questions on the topic of:

"Where to start with Geospatial Open Source Software, and how to build a business around Open Source products".
Speakers at the GeoNext conference are covering topics around emerging geospatial business trends, which are being driven by such things as mobile phones, commoditisation of data, and web 2.0 principles such as crowd sourcing. It is running in Sydney, Australia on 29 February 2012. More details here: [geonext.com.au]

If you will be coming, then let me know and come and say hello.
1:41
ArcGIS for SharePoint 2.1.1 released!Silverlight/WPF Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
We are pleased to announce the release of ArcGIS for SharePoint version 2.1.1. This is a quick-turnaround maintenance release to fix critical bugs that were identified in the 2.1 release. The ArcGIS for SharePoint team has worked hard to address these issues quickly to minimize their impact on our users. The issues addressed include:
- A license timeout that will occur on Feb 1st, 2012
- The ArcGIS Location Field does not load on SharePoint subsites
- The ArcGIS Map Web Part does not load on Windows XP clients if data containing characters with diacritical marks (e.g. ü, ä, ñ, etc) is included in the map
Users that are currently using version 2.0, 2.1 beta, or 2.1 final can easily upgrade to the latest version. To do so, simply run the setup and select the upgrade option.

Users that have version 2.1 installed must upgrade to version 2.1.1 to continue using the product.

As always, you can check out the ArcGIS for SharePoint Resource Center for information on getting started, help using the product, and samples to show you how to build add-ins for the Map Web Part. And if you have questions, be sure to take advantage of the ArcGIS for SharePoint forum to get help from the community.
The ArcGIS for SharePoint Team

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