Planet Georezo » February 22, 2012

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22 février 2012
22:00
Esri Federal GIS Conference #EsriFedCon opening plenary videoAnyGeo - GIS, Maps, Mobile and Social Location Technology
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Wow, Kudos to Esri for getting this week’s Esri Federal GIS Conference opening plenary video up on their website already! If you visit the FedCon website you’ll see the video along with lots of other goodies from D.C. Note, you can follow updates from the event on Twitter via hashtag #EsriFedCon – Note, you can [...]
21:24
What Competencies Should GIS Managers Have?GIS Lounge
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

URISA wants your input on its proposed Geospatial Management Competency Model (GMCM). The model is a list of 74 essential competencies and 17 competency areas that geospatial managers should have. The GMCM builds upon U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration’s (DOLETA) Geospatial Technology Competency Model, which specifies the foundational, industry-wide, and industry sector-specific expertise characteristic of [...]
21:07
Over 270 Attend First Faro 3D Documentation ConferenceLiDAR News
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The great thing about this event is the mix of metrology and longer range scanning users that are in the same room. Continue reading →

Click Title to Continue Reading...
21:05
GIS Intern | Southfield, MIGIS Lounge
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Our Company: TerraYebo, Inc. Our Product: My Inch of The EarthWho we are: MyInch of The Earth(MITE) is the first global, geocentric social networking connecting real-world locations and social sharing of common place interests, while generating annuity based revenues for global non-profit organizations. Think of what your favorite place is in the entire world, type it’s location [...]
21:01
Release of MapDotNet UX v8.2.6MapDotNet Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Version 8.2.6000.0 (released 2222012) Services Improved Windows resource management in renderer Studio Improved support for SSL, automatic detection SDK Upgraded to Silverlight 5 Upgraded to latest Azu

20:48
Sean Gillies: Fiona, pyproj, Shapely in a functional style
sur Planet OSGeo

Inspired by my Clojure and Haskell studies, I've rewritten one of the Fiona example scripts in a somewhat more functional and less imperative style.

The code blocks within for loops have been replaced by functions than operate on sequences and generators. This makes the final code involving the input and output files super clean. It also opens the door for rewriting the record processing functions in C (or Cython) for higher performance.
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20:48
Fiona, pyproj, Shapely in a functional styleSean Gillies Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Inspired by my Clojure and Haskell studies, I've rewritten one of the Fiona example scripts in a somewhat more functional and less imperative style.

The code blocks within for loops have been replaced by functions than operate on sequences and generators. This makes the final code involving the input and output files super clean. It also opens the door for rewriting the record processing functions in C (or Cython) for higher performance.
[https:]]
20:02
62% of You Say You Are Addicted to The Internet – Females More LikelyAnyGeo - GIS, Maps, Mobile and Social Location Technology
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Some interesting figures coming from SodaHead as they take a look at the growing issue of Internet addiction. Indeed some interesting findings as figures and findings from recent surveys reveal that some 62% of people feel they are addicted although 39% feel they could quit if they want. Additionally, Internet addiction spans over all age [...]
19:49
Share Your GIS or LBS Story To Win a Free Where Conference 2012 RegistrationGIS Lounge
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The EngagingCities site is raffling off a free registration to the Where Conference 2012 in exchange for you sharing your GIS or location-based services (LBS) story: Have you been involved with a project that utilized GIS or location-based services to engage citizens? We want to hear details about which app was used, and how the public was engaged [...]
19:49
Esri's Community Maps Program Joins TwitterCommunity Maps Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Is your organization on Twitter? The Community Maps Program is now!

We'll be tweeting announcements and interesting news on the Program. Feel free to share how your organization is using your basemap or applications.

Follow us @AGOL_CM_Program!
19:40
Software Engineer WantedUrban Mapping Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
Urban Mapping is looking for brilliant and motivated software engineers to join the core team of developers for Mapfluence, our hosted mapping and analytics platform. You will help us define and build the next generation of our world-class RESTful web services and APIs for geovisualization.

On the server side, we work primarily in Python, but the developers we are looking for are object-oriented wizards and can adapt to new languages quickly. So if you’re a rock star in Python, Java, C++, Smalltalk, Eiffel, or some other suitably object oriented language, then we want to hear from you.

We work in small, nimble teams and like to go from idea to production in less than two months. This means plenty of opportunity to conceptualize, develop and have your code used by a broad base of users, ensuring regular feedback.

REQUIRED SKILLS
- BS in Computer Science or related discipline, or equivalent education plus work experience
- 5+ years relevant work experience
- Expert backend object-oriented programmer (e.g. Python, Java, C++)
- Experience developing RESTful web services
- A working knowledge of Agile Development practices
- Great team player
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
OTHER RELEVANT SKILLS

Experience developing one or more of the following is a bonus:
- High-availability, high-traffic web services
- High performance geo-databases
- Web-based mapping applications
- Big data
Please send your resume along with a note of introduction to talent@urbanmapping.com and indicate ‘SOFTWARE ENGINEER’ in the subject line.

Urban Mapping, Inc (UMI) provides geospatial web and data services to simplify the development and deployment of online mapping and data visualization applications. UMI’s Mapfluence service offers a solid technical infrastructure for mapping, custom base maps and the industry’s most comprehensive on-demand data catalog. Since 2006, leading interactive publishers like Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft and leading enterprises like CoStar Group, Tableau Software and CoreLogic have utilized Urban Mapping’s geospatial data and technology. For more information, please visit www.urbanmapping.com.

This position pays a competitive base salary + benefits, including paid vacation, health insurance, stock options, training/education, centrally located in San Francisco’s Financial District, regular company outings, food & fun, etc…

Relocation assistance is available, as is sponsorship for work authorization (H-1B or TN NAFTA).

19:27
GIS-Lab: Google Summer of Code 2012
sur Planet OSGeo
Пару недель назад официально стартовала программа Google Summer of Code 2012, которая помогает вовлекать в проекты СПО новых участников из числа студентов. Работа студентов над тем или иным проектом спонсируется компанией Google.

Программа проводится с 2005 года и каждый раз привлекает множество участников со всего мира. Среди проектов, принимающих участие в GSoC можно назвать Linux, X.Org, KDE, GIMP, Drupal, Python Software Foundation, Blender, OSGeo и множество других.

С 27 февраля по 11 марта принимаются заявки от организаций. 16 марта будет опубликован список команд, которые принимаются в программу. С 26 марта по 6 апреля принимаются заявки от желающих участвовать в программе в качестве студентов. 23 апреля объявляется список участников. Наконец, 21 мая работа официально начинается. Последний код можно вносить в репозиторий проекта 20 августа, а через неделю, 27 августа, будут объявлены результаты программы.

Скорее всего, в отборе команд будет участвовать и OSGeo, поэтому если:
- вы студент/аспирант
- умеете программировать на C/C++/Python
- хотите поработать над задачей связанной с ГИС и получить бесценный опыт
- ну и наконец хотите получить скромное денежное вознаграждение размером в $5000
То сейчас самое время присматриваться к проектам, изучать код, писать и отправлять патчи разработчикам.

В этом году мы (точнее я — Voltron) обязательно будем добиваться менторства на GSoC если будут адекватные заявки. Есть несколько конкретных проектов для QGIS и я готов поддержать и помочь толковым активным студентам и аспирантам в подготовке заявки, так же, я уверен, им радо будет помочь все активное сообщество GIS-Lab. Если надумаете — пишите. Еще раз: C++/Python.

Компания Google платит стипендию в 5500 долларов США за каждый проект, из которых 5000 получает студент, а 500 — руководящая им организация (в нашем случае — OSGeo).

Подробную информацию и ответы на возможные вопросы можно получить из FAQ, просмотреть календарный план можно по следующей ссылке.

Пишите в форум и IRC.

18:48
Nuke That Google Map
sur Google Maps Mania

NUKEMAP is a nuclear bomb effects calculator for Google Maps. The calculator allows the user to select a location on Google Maps and view the likely effects of a nuclear bomb on the surrounding area.

The calculator includes a number of features, including radii effects polygons showing the extent of the likely fireball, radiation fallout and air blast. The map also allows the user to determine the size of the bomb or select from a number of historical nuclear bombs.

Would I Survive a Nuke? is another little Google Maps application that allows you to see the likely effect of a nuclear bomb falling on any location.

The application allows you to select a location, the size of the bomb and view the likely effects of the bomb striking at your chosen location.

Ground Zero II is a similar application that includes more bomb choices and also includes a wind direction selector that will show you the likely fallout area of a nuclear bomb striking at a particular location.

If you are interested in knowing where the nuclear warheads near you actually are then you should check out the Mother Jones Nuclear Facilities Map. This map of the USA shows where the military stores its nuclear warheads, nuclear labs and civilian nuclear power plants.

18:30
Adoption of Mobile LIDAR TechnologyLiDAR News
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The adoption of a disruptive technology like mobile laser scanning, in the final analysis will have more to do with organizational issues then it will the the hardware and software. Continue reading...

Click Title to Continue Reading...

17:25
Agriculture au Texas : l’irrigation vue par le satellite Pléiades à Olton
sur Le blog de l'image satellite - CNES
Dans la moitié ouest des Etats-Unis, au nord du Texas, à mi-chemin entre Dallas et Albuquerque, le satellite Pléiades 1A a pris cette image d’Olton le 27 janvier 2012.

Les motifs géométriques sont étonnants : la route principale qui marque la diagonale de l’image, les routes à angle droit qui délimitent des carrés et, surtout, les cercles parfaits avec des sillons qui font penser à des disques vinyles : ce sont de grandes parcelles agricoles irriguées.

Il s’agit ici d’irrigation par pivot, des grands arroseurs qui pivotent sur un axe central, comme on peut également en voir en France dans les régions de culture du maïs.

L’agriculture irriguée est l’activité principale de la région, avec du blé, du maïs, du sorgho et du coton. Du nord au sud, la partie centrale des Etats-Unis est le cœur agricole du pays.

Dans les années 50, les premiers systèmes d’irrigation pivot étaient actionnés par de l’eau sous pression. Aujourd’hui, ce sont souvent des moteurs électriques ou hydrauliques.

Aux États-Unis, l’irrigation constitue le socle du développement agricole de l’Ouest depuis le 19ème siècle. Le Texas est un des principaux états consommateurs d’eau aux Etats-Unis. Près des deux tiers de l’eau est utilisée par l’agriculture.

Dans le monde, selon la FAO (Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’agriculture et l’alimentation), 70% en moyenne des prélèvements d’eau sont utilisés pour l’irrigation et les besoins sont en augmentation. L’optimisation des quantités d’eau utilisée en agriculture est donc de plus en plus nécessaire, en recherchant des systèmes d’irrigation plus efficaces.

Au sujet de Pléiades :

17:24
How to Follow the Esri Federal User Conference #EsriFedConAnyGeo - GIS, Maps, Mobile and Social Location Technology
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

It’s February, Ash Wednesday to be precise, and that means it’s time for the Esri Federal User Conference, taking place in D.C this week from Feb 22-24. This is no shorts, flip flops, and back back Geo gathering, rather, we’re talking suits, ties, shiny shoes, and lots of brass! I woke up this morning to [...]

17:13
21/02/2012 : Pascal BERTEAUD est nommé directeur général de l'IGN
sur SIG la lettre : divers

21/02/2012 : Pascal BERTEAUD est nommé directeur général de l'IGN
- Communiqués de presse

17:13
Google Goggles will Spur Geospatial DevelopmentSpatial Sustain
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

There’s long been a rumor that Google has been hard at work on eye glasses that will stream information to the user. With a story in the New York Times today, that rumor has been verified, with details that the product will be released by the end of this year at a price point between [...]

16:23
Esri’s Federal GIS Conference Kicks Off with Call for Better Maps #esrifedcon
sur All Points Blog

Jack Dangermond, president of Esri, kicked off the Federal GIS Conference (formerly Federal Users Conference) by extolling the need to think more carefully about how maps are created and presented in order to communicate more effectively. "We need to remind ourselves that our maps... Continue reading

16:23
Esri’s Federal GIS Conference Kicks Off with Call for Better Maps #esrifedconAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Jack Dangermond, president of Esri, kicked off the Federal GIS Conference (formerly Federal Users Conference) by extolling the need to think more carefully about how maps are created and presented in order to communicate more effectively. "We need to remind ourselves that our maps... Continue reading

16:20
DOI’s Hayes Calls Geospatial Technology “Front and Center” in Federal Government #esrifedcon
sur All Points Blog

David Hayes, the Deputy Secretary for the U. S. Department of the Interior (DOI) was the keynote speaker for the Esri Federal GIS Conference this year calling GIS the most important tool in the federal government. "Geospatial technology is finally front and center," said Hayes. "The... Continue reading

16:20
DOI’s Hayes Calls Geospatial Technology “Front and Center” in Federal Government #esrifedconAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

David Hayes, the Deputy Secretary for the U. S. Department of the Interior (DOI) was the keynote speaker for the Esri Federal GIS Conference this year calling GIS the most important tool in the federal government. "Geospatial technology is finally front and center," said Hayes. "The... Continue reading

16:18
ArcGIS 10.1 “Biggest Release Ever” #esrifedcon
sur All Points Blog

Esri's Jack Dangermond, speaking at the company's Federal GIS Conference, said that ArcGIS 10.1 "is our biggest release ever" where users will find enhancements in quality and a focus on usability to empower geospatial professionals across more organizations. Dangermond said the release... Continue reading

16:18
ArcGIS 10.1 “Biggest Release Ever” #esrifedconAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Esri's Jack Dangermond, speaking at the company's Federal GIS Conference, said that ArcGIS 10.1 "is our biggest release ever" where users will find enhancements in quality and a focus on usability to empower geospatial professionals across more organizations. Dangermond said the release... Continue reading

16:00
AutoCAD WS - maintenant en 3D pour iPhone et Android
sur Geospatial made in France

AutoCAD WS est maintenant disponible en version 1.4 pour iPhone et Android.

Parmi les nouveautés, vous trouverez le support des fichiers DWG 3D, directement sur votre plate forme mobile.

Shaan a mis en ligne une vidéo montrant cette amélioration :

Autres nouveautés importantes : support de GPS, et impression à distance (“remote plotting”)

Lien pour iOS (App Store Apple) : [aucad.ws]

Lien pour Android (Android Market) : [aucad.ws]

15:55
Géoséminaire 2012
sur Géographie 2.0

Nous participerons, mardi 28 février au Géoséminaire sur les données géographiques. Le Géoséminaire 2012 portant sur le thème « L’évolution du marché des données géographiques » aura lieu le mardi 28 février 2012 à Montpellier (SupAgro, campus de la Gaillarde). Ce thème s’inscrit dans un contexte d’évolutions rapides, non seulement en termes technologiques, mais aussi dans le fonctionnement de [...]

15:39
The Power of GEOINT Keeps World’s Fish Farm’s Accountablegot geoint?
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The global fishing industry is often known for underreporting the number of fish and other organisms that it culls from the oceans each year. According to a recent study, 16 Mediterranean countries collectively reported that 199,542 tons of fish were harvested, when the reality was that 225,736 tons of fish were pulled from the region. How did this study come about? Through the use of Google Earth, researchers were able to scoured the entire Mediterranean coast at least three times and counted more than 20,000 fish cages throughout the region. By using the imagery, as well as calculating optimal cage volumes, densities, and harvesting rates, researchers could tell that something fishy was going on.

Pablo Trujillo, Chiara Piroddi, and Jennifer Jacquet, researchers working at the Fisheries Centre of the University of British Columbia who ran the study, had these illuminating comments featured in a recent article by The Scientist:

“It is very reassuring to think that, especially in the oceans, which to most of us are relatively inaccessible, I can sit here in my living room and see what is going on,” Jacquet agreed.

“These satellite images can help us identify those who are not acting responsibly,” Trujillo said. “To do this you don’t have to ask for a million dollar grant, you just need enough time and a good set of eyes.”

This is clearly an example of how the power of GEOINT can be used in almost any situation to keep industries in check. Be sure to check out more here.

15:26
Dangermond Presents “Making a Difference” Award to David Schell, OGC founder #esrifedcon
sur All Points Blog

At the Esri Federal GIS Conference, Jack Dangermond opened the conference by presenting the "Making a Difference" award to David Schell, the founder of the Open Geospatial Consoritum. "The reason I started OGC was that I thought it was more important to make a difference than to make a... Continue reading

15:26
Dangermond Presents “Making a Difference” Award to David Schell, OGC founder #esrifedconAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

At the Esri Federal GIS Conference, Jack Dangermond opened the conference by presenting the "Making a Difference" award to David Schell, the founder of the Open Geospatial Consoritum. "The reason I started OGC was that I thought it was more important to make a difference than to make a... Continue reading
15:00
Ethics, CrisisMapping, and Data Protection Standards 2.0GEODATA POLICY
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

By Anahi, Stand By Task Force, February 14, 2012 As noted in Patrick Meier’s blog post on “Crowdsourcing, Crisis Mapping and Data Protection Standards”, humanitarian organizations have yet to develop and publicize data protection protocols for social media, crowdsourcing and volunteer geographical information. This is why, in November 2011, the Standby Task Force (SBTF) actively [...]

14:52
Slashgeo (FOSS articles): Ten Things You Need to Know about Open Source Geospatial Software
sur Planet OSGeo
All Points Blog offers an entry named Ten Things You Need to Know about Open Source Geospatial Software.

Here's the list, and head to the entry to read further explanations:
1. Open source geospatial software refers to GIS, GPS, spatial data management and related developer tools and end user applications delivered with an open source license.
2. An open source license must meet the definition developed by the Open Source Initiative.
3. Open source software is written by a community rather than a development team associated with a single software company. [...] Some do this as part of their “day jobs,” while others volunteer.
4. The Opposite of Open Source is Closed Source or Proprietary Software, not Commercial Software
5. Open Source Software is “Just” Software
6. OSGeo is the Body for Open Source Geospatial Software
7. Open Source and Open Standards-based Software are not the Same Thing
8. Implementing Open Source Software May Cost Money
9. Software developers and software users mix and match open source and proprietary software all the time. Esri’s ArcGIS, for example, includes the open source GDAL (raster handling) library.
10. Open source licenses are designed for software, not data. There are other licenses appropriate for data.
Google Plus One

14:52
Ten Things You Need to Know about Open Source Geospatial SoftwareSlashgeo.org
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
All Points Blog offers an entry named Ten Things You Need to Know about Open Source Geospatial Software.

Here's the list, and head to the entry to read further explanations:
1. Open source geospatial software refers to GIS, GPS, spatial data management and related developer tools and end user applications delivered with an open source license.
2. An open source license must meet the definition developed by the Open Source Initiative.
3. Open source software is written by a community rather than a development team associated with a single software company. [...] Some do this as part of their “day jobs,” while others volunteer.
4. The Opposite of Open Source is Closed Source or Proprietary Software, not Commercial Software
5. Open Source Software is “Just” Software
6. OSGeo is the Body for Open Source Geospatial Software
7. Open Source and Open Standards-based Software are not the Same Thing
8. Implementing Open Source Software May Cost Money
9. Software developers and software users mix and match open source and proprietary software all the time. Esri’s ArcGIS, for example, includes the open source GDAL (raster handling) library.
10. Open source licenses are designed for software, not data. There are other licenses appropriate for data.
Google Plus One

14:43
Alternative Entrepreneurs on Google Maps
sur Google Maps Mania

Citizens in the Lab is a Google Map of interesting projects in new kinds of employment and social enterprises which embody "new values, cultural centres, galleries, projects and teams".

As an example of the kind of projects Citizens in the Lab is interested in they point to how Brixton Village in London was re-energised by young entrepreneurs and artists working together to revitalize a fading historic market. The map includes similar types of co-operative projects around the world.

If you know of any projects that are missing from the map you can add them by registering with CommunityWalk.

14:34
Table Sharing in Arc2Earth SyncArc2Earth
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

In many ways Arc2Earth Sync was modeled after DropBox, the excellent service to synchronize files between computers. One of the best features of DropBox (besides that it *just works*) is the ability to share folders with other users. Everyone sees the exact same data and can colaborate easily without the usual friction of file downloading or emailing attachments. Likewise, the originator of the folder share has the ability to control who has access and how long that access exists.

It was this same type of frictionless data sharing that we wanted to bring to ArcGIS users looking to work on small, ad-hoc projects with a list of remote users, some of whom were not always online. For early Arc2Earth users, this was accomplished using KML files that were edited by remote users in Google Earth and then emailed and imported into the master file back at some home base. This actually worked once it was setup correctly but has a myriad of small issues that when taken as a whole, make the solution sub optimal at best.

Table Shares in Sync look to change this completely. A Share is time based access to a private table in any Sync Table Provider (Google Fusion Tables, EarthBuilder, CartoDB etc) that *just works* from the Sync desktop client. There’s not much needed to share a table, just the email address of the intended user. An notification is generated and sent automatically, they would only need to click on the link to accept the share. After that, their Sync client will add the table and immediately start downloading the latest data. If you set the Share to expire at a certain time, the table automatically disappears from their table list. All edits through the share are done via a proxy so those users never have native access to the underlying table (say, in Fusion Tables) so you can be assured that Sync is the only way they can access your data. Once the share is in place, they can interact with the table in ArcMap/ArcCatalog/models as they would with any other local geodatabase. If they went offline, they could continue making edits in ArcMap that would subsequently be synchronized when network access was restored.

Another benefit of DropBox shares is the folder is available online from the website. With Sync, this applies as well except that access is available using standard APIs instead of by download. So, if editing data via ArcMap on a laptop in the field is not available, they could use the ArcGIS iOS or Android app to collect data instead.

To share a table, open it’s main properties window and goto the Shares tab

This would generate a invite email that looks like this:

After accepting by clicking on the link, the table would immediatley appear in their Sync client. Start editing!

The best way to understand Sync Table Shares is to try it out, you can sign up for the beta here. Invite a friend or two and share a table between the group, you can all make and see edits in near real time.

14:29
Normes geographiques dans la BI GeOconnexion international
sur le blog decigeo

Dans le numero de fevrier du magazine GeOconnexion international on trouve un article très intéressant de Michael Sanderson (1Spatial) et Thierry Badard(Spatialytics) sur le besoin de trouver des normes aux formats geographiques dans la Business Intelligence . Selon cet article l'OGC (Open[...]

14:29
How Google Is Remapping Public Transportation and the GTFS-realtime StandardSlashgeo.org
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Google is discussing a stiry named How Google Is Remapping Public Transportation. We did mention quite a few times the GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification) in the past.

Their summary: ""Google wants to 'organize the world's information,' but there isn't a marketplace or a category of knowledge it can organize without remaking it in the process. A case in point: public transportation. Largely outside the media spotlight, Google has wrought a quiet revolution over the last five years in the way commuters get schedule information for local buses and trains, and the way public transit agencies communicate with their riders. GTFS and GTFS-realtime, which Google invented, have become the de facto world standards for sharing transit data, and have opened up space for a whole ecosystem of third-party transit app developers. This in-depth article looks at the history of GTFS and Google's efforts to give people information (largely via their smartphones) that can help them plan their commutes on public transportation — and, not incidentally, drive a lot less.""

Specifically on the GTFS-realtime standard from the article: "To enable all that, Google introduced a new standard in 2011 called GTFS-realtime. It builds on GTFS, but is a different animal, since it includes new feed types for trip updates, service alerts, and vehicle positions, as well as provisions for constantly refreshing this data throughout the day. In an advisory to agencies, Google puts it this way: “Because GTFS-realtime allows you to present the actual status of your fleet, the feed needs to be updated regularly—preferably whenever new data comes in from your Automatic Vehicle Location system.”"
Google Plus One
14:23
Google Android Augmented Reality Glasses In the WorksSlashgeo.org
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Science fiction is coming our way. Slashdot is discussing a story named Google Heads Up Display Coming By the End of the Year.

Their summary: "Google is working to deliver a heads-up display allowing users access to email, maps and other tools through a wearable interface. According to the NY Times' sources, the device will be available later this year, and sell for prices comparable to smartphones. 'The people familiar with the Google glasses said they would be Android-based, and will include a small screen that will sit a few inches from someone’s eye. They will also have a 3G or 4G data connection and a number of sensors including motion and GPS. ... The glasses will have a low-resolution built-in camera that will be able to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings and friends who might be nearby, according to the Google employees. The glasses are not designed to be worn constantly — although Google expects some of the nerdiest users will wear them a lot — but will be more like smartphones, used when needed.'"

More geo-stuff from the article: "The glasses will send data to the cloud and then use things like Google Latitude to share location, Google Goggles to search images and figure out what is being looked at, and Google Maps to show other things nearby, the Google employee said. “You will be able to check in to locations with your friends through the glasses,” they added."
Google Plus One

14:09
New Geo APIs - 2/22/12
sur All Points Blog

Bing Traffic API: The Bing Traffic API provides information about traffic incidents and issues, such as construction sites and traffic congestion. Traffic incident information is currently available for the United States and Canada. Users can also get information about traffic issues... Continue reading

14:09
New Geo APIs - 2/22/12All Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Bing Traffic API: The Bing Traffic API provides information about traffic incidents and issues, such as construction sites and traffic congestion. Traffic incident information is currently available for the United States and Canada. Users can also get information about traffic issues... Continue reading

13:28
TerraGo CEO Sees Growth in Federal Business #esrifedcon
sur All Points Blog

One of the perks of my job is I get to talk to people who are on the front lines of where our business is headed. I sat down with Rick Cobb, CEO of TerraGo Technologies at the Esri Federal GIS conference for a discussion about the growth of his business and the potential impact of... Continue reading

13:28
TerraGo CEO Sees Growth in Federal Business #esrifedconAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

One of the perks of my job is I get to talk to people who are on the front lines of where our business is headed. I sat down with Rick Cobb, CEO of TerraGo Technologies at the Esri Federal GIS conference for a discussion about the growth of his business and the potential impact of... Continue reading
13:07
The Esri Federal GIS Conference PlenarySpatially Adjusted
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

So the GIS conference funny season starts off today at the Esri Federal GIS Conference. Clearly the Feds don’t need power strips to power their laptops as I can’t find any place to recharge in this hall. While sitting down I hear Esri reps talk to people in the hall. They keep talking about “ArcGIS 4” being the great new product. It took me a while to figure out that they weren’t talking about the mythical follow on to ArcView 3.x but an unfortunate talking point problem. ArcGIS 4 is actually “ArcGIS for ” where can mean anything from “basemaps” to I guess actual analytics. Still ArcGIS 4 seems to confuse more than help. Maybe Jack getting on stage and saying it a couple times will make people understand.

Jack took to the stage and jumped in to how Esri and GIS are helping people do their jobs. Jack then brought out David Shell, Founder of OGC, to give him a “making a difference award”. I’ve got serious issues with many OGC standards, but I’ll give it to them that they have changed things. Hopefully they can make a difference and kill WMS.

David Hayes, today’s keynote, then stepped up and talked about how GIS and data are changing the Department of the Interior. Sorry Brian, no mention of BLM and their GeoCommunicator failure. Mr. Hayes says geospatial technology is the most important tool for Federal Government. I swear I could hear the consultants in the audience salivating at that.

When Jack came back on the stage, he jumped into “GeoInformation Products”. Jack says this is a code word for “maps”. Jack then said this is the “most exciting year of his life”. Reasons why include crowdsourcing, da cloud, collaboration, bigger pipes, social networking and of course GIS. Cloud GIS, according to Jack, is the new pattern in our space. He points to better access and common infrastructure (built on ArcGIS) that will help coordinate work inside and between agencies. Jack is clearly saying that Esri GIS in the cloud is how the Federal government will be doing business.

Jack says 10.1 will be released in about 8 weeks. He calls this Esri’s biggest release, ever. He says it will make ArcGIS easier. He says it takes part on the old Desktop and Server, but also in the “cloud”. Of course, Esri started with ArcGIS Online (which may or may not be ArcGIS.com, I can’t tell). It is, according to Esri, content mangement. He says that ArcGIS Online is about Intelligent Web Maps (so it isn’t content management). The idea is that you have one map in ArcGIS Online and share it with other Esri clients. ArcGIS Online enables; GIS, self-service mapping, office and organization.

ArcGIS Online seems to be a Google Earth Builder competitor. I’m not sure though if this is what people are really looking for. Are Google and Esri creating tools to one up each other rather than just provide what users what. I guess both services are aimed at federal customers who want this stuff.

Esri announced a product that integrates into Microsoft Office. There is now an Esri Maps “ribbon” that gets added to (at least this case) Excel. Unlike the ArcGIS Online, this tool actually seems to integrate into your existing workflows. The most brilliant feature? Share to Powerpoint. In addition they have integrated the toolbar into PowerPoint to add maps directly inside your slide decks. Beta will be available in late March going final late summer. Jack then came back out and says ArcGIS Online is integrated with SharePoint and Office, IBM Cognos and Salesforce.

Next up was ArcGIS for Desktop (not ArcGIS 4 Desktop). 3D, Imagery (you don’t need Erdas), sharing work with ArcGIS for Server or ArcGIS Online. ArcGIS for Server is 64bit and finally have a good Linux version. Esri is going to continue supporting Flex, Silverlight and JavaScript APIs. Thus if you’ve bet the farm on these APIs, you can continue doing so with 10.1. Mobile is still on iOS, Android, Windows (Phone/Mobile) and ArcPad. I’m not seeing any Mobile JavaScript API talk yet.

Jack mentioned he spend $300 million on 10.1 development. The next version will be called 11 (or 10.2) and Esri wants you to visit their Ideas site to post what you want (like drag and drop CSV files).

The afternoon sessions included outlining Esri’s “commitment to open and interoperable standards”, mobile clients, City Engine and new features of ArcGIS 10.1. It appears the new tools for imagery analysis, lidar and video extend the platform out far. I think the DevSummit will be the place to learn more about 10.1 and what’s coming.

The Esri Federal GIS Conference is aimed at Federal GIS user base so it isn’t an area I’m working in. With each new release, Esri pushes ArcGIS that much further as the geospatial choice for the USA Federal Government. The scale here is quite impressive to behold, others wanting to compete better get their act together.
13:01
Street View finally arrives in RussiaGoogle Earth Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Google has just released Street View in Russia, and while it only covers two cities so far (Moscow and St. Petersburg), the coverage in those cities is quite solid.

To see the new imagery for yourself, you simply search for one of the cities in Google Earth and then drag the peg man on to the map. Here's a quick video to show how that works:

You can also check out the Russian Street View Gallery that was assembled by Keir Clarke at Google Maps Mania, as he's found some great locations to highlight in there.

(via Google Lat Long Blog)

12:10
NYTimes: Google Augmented Reality Glasses Coming by Year’s End
sur All Points Blog

The promise, as reported by the New York Times citing employees familiar with the project is a pair of Google-made glasses that will be able to stream information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time. They are expected to go on sale by year end at about the cost of a smartphone... Continue reading

12:10
NYTimes: Google Augmented Reality Glasses Coming by Year’s EndAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The promise, as reported by the New York Times citing employees familiar with the project is a pair of Google-made glasses that will be able to stream information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time. They are expected to go on sale by year end at about the cost of a smartphone... Continue reading

10:47
Le forum OGC France dans les locaux Autodesk
sur Geospatial made in France

Le forum français de l’OGC (FOF) se réunit ce mardi 22 février 2012 dans les locaux Autodesk, à Paris.

Le FOF est à l’origine de la journée française de l’interopérabilité (la dernière a eu lieu en novembre 2011).

N’hésitez pas à visiter le site du forum français de l’OGC, et à le rejoindre.

10:26
Ten Things You Need to Know about Open Source Geospatial SoftwareDirections Magazine - Top Stories
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

How confident are you in your knowledge of open source geospatial software? How about a quick introduction or refresher? Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg offers 10 points that are important to understand about open source software.

More about: creative commons, database, gdal, google, gps, ogc, open source, osgeo
10:14
Meet Your Colleagues: Geoffrey Jacquez Ph.D.Directions Magazine - Top Stories
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

Over the next few weeks, we'll be introducing you to some of your colleagues in GIS. This week, we introduce you to Geoffrey Jacquez, president of BioMedware, whose geohealth-focused scientific methods and software tools are used by public health departments around the globe.

More about: colleagues, geospatial technology

10:00
Mountaintop Mining and Health and other Health GIS News
sur All Points Blog

An interactive map launched Feb. 14 by the nonprofit iLoveMountains.org plots county-level data on indicators of health and quality of life in relation to mountaintop mining sites. "The Human Cost of Coal" is a map centered on the mountaintop mining region of southern West... Continue reading
10:00
EAST Students Map Hospital and other Education GIS News
sur All Points Blog

By request from the local SWAT team, students in the EAST Lab Program at Paragould High School [AR] are working on a huge project. They are constructing digitized maps, floor-by-floor, of a local hospital to better assist officers in handling an emergency situation. -... Continue reading

10:00
Mountaintop Mining and Health and other Health GIS NewsAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

An interactive map launched Feb. 14 by the nonprofit iLoveMountains.org plots county-level data on indicators of health and quality of life in relation to mountaintop mining sites. "The Human Cost of Coal" is a map centered on the mountaintop mining region of southern West... Continue reading
10:00
EAST Students Map Hospital and other Education GIS NewsAll Points Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

By request from the local SWAT team, students in the EAST Lab Program at Paragould High School [AR] are working on a huge project. They are constructing digitized maps, floor-by-floor, of a local hospital to better assist officers in handling an emergency situation. -... Continue reading

9:24
The Russian Street View Gallery
sur Google Maps Mania

The new release of Street View in Russia has captured some great images of buildings in Moscow and St. Petersburg. I've started to put together a Russian Street View Gallery to showcase some of the best Street Views in Russia.

The gallery uses the Google Street View Image API to provide preview images of the Street Views in the gallery. Just click on any of the small thumbnail images to view the full Street View in the full Google Map.

9:17
OTB Team: (Late) report of OTB Users and Contributors Survey
sur Planet OSGeo

In order to get a good picture of the OTB community, we proposed a survey to our user between the end of June and October 2011. This post is a (late) report of the results we had, thanks to your answers.
General information about the survey
We had a total of 62 answers to the survey. Not many questions were mandatory so I will try to avoid to give statistics using percentages for answers and prefer to give the number of answers.
This article does not claim to provide a complete and general summary. We are aware that it can be dangerous to draw too many conclusions from opinions poll.
This article is more at an introduction to the results which are completely available here.
Who answered the survey?
Before trying to investigate and give conclusions about the survey, let’s first analyze who took time to answer it!

People who answered are mostly engineers and scientists (18 and 22) working in institutional organizations (23) and equally in labs (15) or private companies (17). But there are also people working in NGO, students, which shows the diversity of people who use the library. Though OTB was developed in the frame of the Methodological Part of the ORFEO Accompaniment Program to prepare, accompany and promote the use and the exploitation of the images derived from Pleiades (PHR) and Cosmo-Skymed (CSK) satellites, interestingly most people are not involved in this program. They found out about the library through the web or thanks to co-workers or public presentation in conferences for example, rather than from the ORFEO program. Obviously they use the ORFEO ToolBox but they also use a lot of other tools (Open Source or proprietary one) in their daily work. Another interesting point to notice is that the amount of people using Linux system to do image processing with OTB is equal to the amount of Windows users (41 and 41).
How do you access OTB?
First, although OTB has celebrated its fifth birthday earlier this year, 39 of them use the library for less than 1 to 3 years (26 use it for less that one year). Note that 31 are building OTB and derived tools themselves to use it. Building projects from source does not seem to be a problem for about half of them. Note also that 11 people (21%) use binary packages (Ubuntu/OpenSuse/CentOS/ArchLinux). We should surely maintain the effort in this frame and continue to facilitate the accessibility to the library by providing these packages for Windows, MacOS X and Linux systems.
The OTB/Monteverdi tipping point
33 access the OTB through the library and 30 through Monteverdi. That’s clearly an important information given by the survey. We see here that Monteverdi is an important way to access OTB (as important as the library itself). Obviously without the library, Monteverdi would not exist, but we see that GUI applications are an entry point for the OTB. Command line applications are also largely used by end-users and I think that it will continue to increase in the future thanks to the new OTB applications framework available in release 3.12, which allows to access OTB functionalities in a number of different languages and context (in QT standalone application, in Quantum GIS plugins, in Python, in Clojure….) Clearly OTB have to continue in these 3 directions and we have to be aware that GUI applications have become an important entry point for a majority of OTB users.
Why do you use OTB for?
Even if 32 people use OTB with HR data (Spot like) and 28 with VHR optical images, we can see a great diversity of remote sensing data use with OTB which clearly show that OTB is useful in a lot of context (hyperspectral, SAR, lidar…). The diversity in the data processed by OTB users is confirmed by the diversity of OTB algorithms in use. 31 users use feature extraction algorithms, the best score, which is reassuring because it is one of the main reason why OTB was developed, but lots of other functionalities are also largely used. The survey shows that there is a great deal of interest of the RS community in having a tool providing a wide range of functionalities through a common and generic interface.
Why OTB sucks ?
The title is intentionally provocative to illustrate the fact that in this kind of survey, questions related to critics are really interesting and provide relevant advises on how to improve the software together. 12 answers put the emphasis on the complexity of the design due to the genericity of the library, that’s surely related to the well-known steep learning curve associated to OTB. Using the library though C++ classes requires knowledge in C++ design pattern and template metaprogramming. But it’s worth it!

Moreover, access to OTB is made more and more easier through different languages, interfaces …

The second answer is about the incomplete validation of some algorithms. OTB contributors works a lot to maintain a high quality and using test driven developments technics and continuous integration. But this process is only as good as what we do with it, and this shows that there is room for improvement. Validating an algorithm might be a complex task per se, but the high level design can make this even more difficult : multiple plateforms, different streaming and threading behaviours related to the available hardware … And on top of it, different data fed to the algorithm in different context of uses! A faulty design or incomplete definition of some functionnality from the very start of it might also be a cause : design and validation qualtiy are often related. But all softwares have bugs, and we find extremely helpful that whenever you encouter an undesired behaviour, suspicious result or bug, you file it to the OTB bug-tracker : open-source software is about improving things together, and anyone can help !

We received interesting remarks also on the documentation. Even if the software guide is more than 700 pages long, users are pointing the fact that knowing the complexity of OTB design, the doxygen documentation of classes is sometimes incomplete or unclear and that it lacks of examples for some filters. One respondent made the suggestion that code example should be included for every class in the doxygen: that’s a very useful suggestion (and we actually already have these examples with the tests, we’ll have to link them to the doxygen). This subject is also pointed out when you said (23) that the main difficulty with OTB is to find relevant information in the documentation.
Is it the Monteverdi partition “audible”?
You clearly explain that Monteverdi lacks a better GUI and also a better ergonomy! The best example is the number of mouse clic need to get an image opened and displayed. According to your comments, the software has a great potential but also suffers from a lack of stability.
Lost in OTB?
When working with Open Source software, an important point is to have access to a minimum of informations to solve problems that will obviously arise. You said that the development team and the community is very useful (many thanks for us !). Error messages given by the library are in most cases usually helpful for you (14+21). Moreover doxygen and software guide are equal sources of informations (16 and 17).

These sources of information (Software Guide and doxygen) are very important but in most cases not really relevant speaking of the Monteverdi documentation and that’s a bad point. To improve this, the OTB development team initiated in 2011 a guide dedicated to non-developers : the OTB CookBook. This guide is composed of a brief tour of OTB applications and Monteverdi, followed by a set of recipes to perform usual remote sensing tasks with both tools. Starting OTB 3.14, it also contains the reference documentation for all OTB applications.
OTB : Give me a break? Stop or encore?
OTB provides a wide variety of functionalities taking often advantages of dedicated Open Source libraries inside it (GDAL, OSSIM, OpenJPEG, libSVM…). But there are still new algorithms which could be included in the library. We do not give the entire wish-list here, but there are multiples demands for :new classification methods, multi-source analysis, QT viewer… The diversity of data that you manage combined with the diversity of algorithms that you want to use put the emphasize on the need for software interoperability combined with a full access to the software which enable users to tailor/control their processes.

“Found all the remote sensing image processing functionality that I needed (together with the ITK libraries)”

For example, the accessibility of OTB through GIS software like Quantum GIS is a common ask (27 people), and we all agree that we need to continue to work jointly with the amazing QGis community to build the bridge between the 2 softwares.

OTB is all about you, thank you again to all the people who take time to answer the survey.

For those who are interested, all the results (anonymous) and detailed statistics are available here.

Keep in touch!

OTB Team

9:17
(Late) report of OTB Users and Contributors SurveyWhat's new about OTB?
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

In order to get a good picture of the OTB community, we proposed a survey to our user between the end of June and October 2011. This post is a (late) report of the results we had, thanks to your answers.
General information about the survey
We had a total of 62 answers to the survey. Not many questions were mandatory so I will try to avoid to give statistics using percentages for answers and prefer to give the number of answers.

This article does not claim to provide a complete and general summary. We are aware that it can be dangerous to draw too many conclusions from opinions poll.

This article is more at an introduction to the results which are completely available here.
Who answered the survey?
Before trying to investigate and give conclusions about the survey, let’s first analyze who took time to answer it!

People who answered are mostly engineers and scientists (18 and 22) working in institutional organizations (23) and equally in labs (15) or private companies (17). But there are also people working in NGO, students, which shows the diversity of people who use the library. Though OTB was developed in the frame of the Methodological Part of the ORFEO Accompaniment Program to prepare, accompany and promote the use and the exploitation of the images derived from Pleiades (PHR) and Cosmo-Skymed (CSK) satellites, interestingly most people are not involved in this program. They found out about the library through the web or thanks to co-workers or public presentation in conferences for example, rather than from the ORFEO program. Obviously they use the ORFEO ToolBox but they also use a lot of other tools (Open Source or proprietary one) in their daily work. Another interesting point to notice is that the amount of people using Linux system to do image processing with OTB is equal to the amount of Windows users (41 and 41).
How do you access OTB?
First, although OTB has celebrated its fifth birthday earlier this year, 39 of them use the library for less than 1 to 3 years (26 use it for less that one year). Note that 31 are building OTB and derived tools themselves to use it. Building projects from source does not seem to be a problem for about half of them. Note also that 11 people (21%) use binary packages (Ubuntu/OpenSuse/CentOS/ArchLinux). We should surely maintain the effort in this frame and continue to facilitate the accessibility to the library by providing these packages for Windows, MacOS X and Linux systems.
The OTB/Monteverdi tipping point
33 access the OTB through the library and 30 through Monteverdi. That’s clearly an important information given by the survey. We see here that Monteverdi is an important way to access OTB (as important as the library itself). Obviously without the library, Monteverdi would not exist, but we see that GUI applications are an entry point for the OTB. Command line applications are also largely used by end-users and I think that it will continue to increase in the future thanks to the new OTB applications framework available in release 3.12, which allows to access OTB functionalities in a number of different languages and context (in QT standalone application, in Quantum GIS plugins, in Python, in Clojure….) Clearly OTB have to continue in these 3 directions and we have to be aware that GUI applications have become an important entry point for a majority of OTB users.
Why do you use OTB for?
Even if 32 people use OTB with HR data (Spot like) and 28 with VHR optical images, we can see a great diversity of remote sensing data use with OTB which clearly show that OTB is useful in a lot of context (hyperspectral, SAR, lidar…). The diversity in the data processed by OTB users is confirmed by the diversity of OTB algorithms in use. 31 users use feature extraction algorithms, the best score, which is reassuring because it is one of the main reason why OTB was developed, but lots of other functionalities are also largely used. The survey shows that there is a great deal of interest of the RS community in having a tool providing a wide range of functionalities through a common and generic interface.
Why OTB sucks ?
The title is intentionally provocative to illustrate the fact that in this kind of survey, questions related to critics are really interesting and provide relevant advises on how to improve the software together. 12 answers put the emphasis on the complexity of the design due to the genericity of the library, that’s surely related to the well-known steep learning curve associated to OTB. Using the library though C++ classes requires knowledge in C++ design pattern and template metaprogramming. But it’s worth it!

Moreover, access to OTB is made more and more easier through different languages, interfaces …

The second answer is about the incomplete validation of some algorithms. OTB contributors works a lot to maintain a high quality and using test driven developments technics and continuous integration. But this process is only as good as what we do with it, and this shows that there is room for improvement. Validating an algorithm might be a complex task per se, but the high level design can make this even more difficult : multiple plateforms, different streaming and threading behaviours related to the available hardware … And on top of it, different data fed to the algorithm in different context of uses! A faulty design or incomplete definition of some functionnality from the very start of it might also be a cause : design and validation qualtiy are often related. But all softwares have bugs, and we find extremely helpful that whenever you encouter an undesired behaviour, suspicious result or bug, you file it to the OTB bug-tracker : open-source software is about improving things together, and anyone can help !

We received interesting remarks also on the documentation. Even if the software guide is more than 700 pages long, users are pointing the fact that knowing the complexity of OTB design, the doxygen documentation of classes is sometimes incomplete or unclear and that it lacks of examples for some filters. One respondent made the suggestion that code example should be included for every class in the doxygen: that’s a very useful suggestion (and we actually already have these examples with the tests, we’ll have to link them to the doxygen). This subject is also pointed out when you said (23) that the main difficulty with OTB is to find relevant information in the documentation.
Is it the Monteverdi partition “audible”?
You clearly explain that Monteverdi lacks a better GUI and also a better ergonomy! The best example is the number of mouse clic need to get an image opened and displayed. According to your comments, the software has a great potential but also suffers from a lack of stability.
Lost in OTB?
When working with Open Source software, an important point is to have access to a minimum of informations to solve problems that will obviously arise. You said that the development team and the community is very useful (many thanks for us !). Error messages given by the library are in most cases usually helpful for you (14+21). Moreover doxygen and software guide are equal sources of informations (16 and 17).

These sources of information (Software Guide and doxygen) are very important but in most cases not really relevant speaking of the Monteverdi documentation and that’s a bad point. To improve this, the OTB development team initiated in 2011 a guide dedicated to non-developers : the OTB CookBook. This guide is composed of a brief tour of OTB applications and Monteverdi, followed by a set of recipes to perform usual remote sensing tasks with both tools. Starting OTB 3.14, it also contains the reference documentation for all OTB applications.
OTB : Give me a break? Stop or encore?
OTB provides a wide variety of functionalities taking often advantages of dedicated Open Source libraries inside it (GDAL, OSSIM, OpenJPEG, libSVM…). But there are still new algorithms which could be included in the library. We do not give the entire wish-list here, but there are multiples demands for :new classification methods, multi-source analysis, QT viewer… The diversity of data that you manage combined with the diversity of algorithms that you want to use put the emphasize on the need for software interoperability combined with a full access to the software which enable users to tailor/control their processes.

“Found all the remote sensing image processing functionality that I needed (together with the ITK libraries)”

For example, the accessibility of OTB through GIS software like Quantum GIS is a common ask (27 people), and we all agree that we need to continue to work jointly with the amazing QGis community to build the bridge between the 2 softwares.

OTB is all about you, thank you again to all the people who take time to answer the survey.

For those who are interested, all the results (anonymous) and detailed statistics are available here.

Keep in touch!

OTB Team

8:23
Atlas des peuples d'Europe occidentale
sur Les Cafés géographiques

Jean Sellier et André Sellier, 2011, Atlas des peuples d'Europe occidentale, Paris, La Découverte, 200 p., première édition 1995, 3990
C'est toujours avec un plaisir non dissimulé que l'on ouvre les atlas de Jean et André Sellier. Elégance de la cartographie, de facture très classique (bravo à la cartographe, Anne Le Fur), agréable format à l'italienne, parcours à travers les siècles et les pays, cet Atlas des peuples d'Europe occidentale ne surprendra pas le lecteur habitué aux ouvrages des Sellier, ni à ceux qui (...)

7:15
Street View Launched in Russia
sur Google Maps Mania

Red Square

Google Maps now has Street View imagery in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. There is also a little pocket of Street View around the Qolsharif Mosque in Kazan. Street View Fun also discovered that one street in Lodz, in Poland has also been given Street View.

In Moscow you can now take a virtual stroll on Google Maps around Red Square and the Kremlin. In St.Petersburg you can stroll around the whole UNESCO Heritage site of the centre of St. Petersburg. This includes the Winter Palace and The Peter and Paul Fortress.

The Peterhof Palace, St.Petersburg

Some more Russian landmarks that can now be viewed in Street View are:

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow
The Peterhof Palace, St.Petersburg (and all the Palace gardens)
The Old St.Petersburg Stock Exchange
The Church of the Saviour on Blood, St Petersburg

Via: Google Lat Long

6:50

Martin Davis: Barnes Analysis for Surface interpolation

sur Planet OSGeo

4:10
Using Google Docs in your ArcGIS Online mapsArcGIS Online Blog
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
In a previous post we covered how you can use a spreadsheet (CSV file) from a Web location to add a layer to your ArcGIS Online map. You can do the same using Google Docs by following these simple steps.

In this example we have a Google Docs spreadsheet of crime locations containing latitude and longitude values. Under File choose Publish to the Web...

In the next dialog change the link setting from the default option of Web page:

To CSV by opening the drop-down list, as shown below:

Then copy the URL so you can add it to your map:

Adding from Google Docs using the ArcGIS.com Map Viewer

Using the map viewer click Add, then choose Add Layer from Web:

Choose CSV and paste the Google Docs URL, as shown below, then click Add Layer:

Once added, you can rename, configure the pop-up, and change symbols, just like any other layer. Below we've chosen to symbolize the crimes from our Google Docs spreadsheet based on the time of day:

Add from Google Docs using ArcGIS Explorer Online

Using Explorer Online click Add Content and choose Import, then CSV:

Choose Enter URL, as shown below:

Then paste the Google Docs URL into the input. Once you've added your Google Docs spreadsheet you can rename it, change symbols, configure pop-ups, and use the layer in Explorer Online dashboards and presentations.

Like other URL-based CSV sources, when the map is opened or refreshed any changes to the layer's source will be displayed in the map.

For more information see:
- Adding features from a file (Map Viewer)
- Import CSV file (Explorer Online)

3:44
Darren Cope: 2011 – The Year in Review
sur Planet OSGeo
Once again, I’m late with my summary of the past year. Shocking, I know ;) Better late than never though, so deal with it!

I’m not even sure how best to summarize 2011; once again it was a year of ups and downs, both in life in general, and in my cycling. However, like 2010, I’m very fortunate that the ups outnumber the downs by a significant degree! If only I could figure out how to eliminate those downs all together…
Cycling

In 2011, I got out on the bike 150 times, for a total of 6882.96km. This is down 964.01km from 2010, which seems hard to believe because it doesn’t feel like I did significantly less riding! Total ride time clocked in at 239.74hrs, which is (obviously) 10 full days (or, put another way, 2.7% of the year.) Some quick math shows that my average speed (for all rides, on all bikes) was 28.71km/hr. These numbers all exclude the 38.62hrs I put in on the spin bike, which would bring my total to 3.2% of the year ;)

The first outdoor ride of the year was February 5, and the last was on December 11. My biggest month was July when I rode 1424.46km, while the smallest was January, with zero on-road kms :(

As for bikes, I put 5380.94km on the Colnago (78% of my total), 1047.83km on the ‘cross bike (15%), 345.84km on the TT bike (5%) and a mere 22.12km on the Mountain bike (0.3%). A couple of others thrown in there make up the last few percentage (test ride on the R3, etc.)

Early season highlights included my best ever result at Paris-Ancaster, coming 75th overall (in a field of 1188) – 26th of 284 in the Men 30-39 category. Total time was 2h 02′ 40″, which was much better than the 2h 05′ 34″ from 2010! I hope to have another improved result this year, but perhaps shouldn’t get too confident! It’s hard to continue to knock time off year after year!

An early season minor crash slowed me down a bit in May, but fortunately not much damage was done! Summer consisted of lots of good fast rides, with every Monday for a month and a half faster than the previous! A good hard Rideau Lakes tour was thrown in for my longest ride of the year – 192.38km.

I was once again unsuccessful in my attempt at the 40km Project, coming 22 seconds from my goal. Frustrating to say the least! As is clear from some of the numbers above, I need to spend more time on the TT bike – 446km/5% just isn’t enough to be fully comfortable yet! This will once again be the primary riding goal for 2012.

Without a doubt, the overall riding highlight of the year was Tour de Brew; Vermont hills are amazing and I can’t wait to go back for 2013! Planning is already underway for an even bigger and better trip!

Fall ‘cross season was about the same as always; nothing special! By the end, I was once again lacking motivation, and entirely burnt out! If only ‘cross season was in the summer ;) On the plus side, increased focus on core strengthening and a slightly tweaked bike fit resulted in an almost entirely pain free season–the first since I’ve started having back issues! Goal for 2012 is to continue doing strength and stretch work all year rather than just when problems become noticeable! (Yes, I realize I said that last year…)
Paddling

Well, once again, I only got out for one quick trip this year; to Puzzle Lake Provincial Park with Matt. The string of twice a year trips seems to have ended :( I hope to rectify that this year, and get in at least a couple of short trips. Ideally at least one of them would even be a long trip!
Blog

The blog has been up and down about as much as everything else. I go through phases where I really want to write, and then phases where it’s the last thing I want to do! According to Google Analytics, this site saw 10,131 visits and 16,454 pageviews in 2011. The 10 most popular posts were:
Interestingly, my Sigma Rox posts continue to be very popular, and the rest of my traffic tends to be more GIS related.

My eBook continues to sell, slowly. The big news this year is that, as well as being available from the Road Bike Rider eBookstore, you can now buy your copy directly from this site for a much lower price–only $1.99!

Overall, another fun year with some great rides and good times! Here’s to an even better 2012!

3:44
2011 – The Year in ReviewDARREN COPE » GIS
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com
Once again, I’m late with my summary of the past year. Shocking, I know ;) Better late than never though, so deal with it!

I’m not even sure how best to summarize 2011; once again it was a year of ups and downs, both in life in general, and in my cycling. However, like 2010, I’m very fortunate that the ups outnumber the downs by a significant degree! If only I could figure out how to eliminate those downs all together…
Cycling

In 2011, I got out on the bike 150 times, for a total of 6882.96km. This is down 964.01km from 2010, which seems hard to believe because it doesn’t feel like I did significantly less riding! Total ride time clocked in at 239.74hrs, which is (obviously) 10 full days (or, put another way, 2.7% of the year.) Some quick math shows that my average speed (for all rides, on all bikes) was 28.71km/hr. These numbers all exclude the 38.62hrs I put in on the spin bike, which would bring my total to 3.2% of the year ;)

The first outdoor ride of the year was February 5, and the last was on December 11. My biggest month was July when I rode 1424.46km, while the smallest was January, with zero on-road kms :(

As for bikes, I put 5380.94km on the Colnago (78% of my total), 1047.83km on the ‘cross bike (15%), 345.84km on the TT bike (5%) and a mere 22.12km on the Mountain bike (0.3%). A couple of others thrown in there make up the last few percentage (test ride on the R3, etc.)

Early season highlights included my best ever result at Paris-Ancaster, coming 75th overall (in a field of 1188) – 26th of 284 in the Men 30-39 category. Total time was 2h 02′ 40″, which was much better than the 2h 05′ 34″ from 2010! I hope to have another improved result this year, but perhaps shouldn’t get too confident! It’s hard to continue to knock time off year after year!

An early season minor crash slowed me down a bit in May, but fortunately not much damage was done! Summer consisted of lots of good fast rides, with every Monday for a month and a half faster than the previous! A good hard Rideau Lakes tour was thrown in for my longest ride of the year – 192.38km.

I was once again unsuccessful in my attempt at the 40km Project, coming 22 seconds from my goal. Frustrating to say the least! As is clear from some of the numbers above, I need to spend more time on the TT bike – 446km/5% just isn’t enough to be fully comfortable yet! This will once again be the primary riding goal for 2012.

Without a doubt, the overall riding highlight of the year was Tour de Brew; Vermont hills are amazing and I can’t wait to go back for 2013! Planning is already underway for an even bigger and better trip!

Fall ‘cross season was about the same as always; nothing special! By the end, I was once again lacking motivation, and entirely burnt out! If only ‘cross season was in the summer ;) On the plus side, increased focus on core strengthening and a slightly tweaked bike fit resulted in an almost entirely pain free season–the first since I’ve started having back issues! Goal for 2012 is to continue doing strength and stretch work all year rather than just when problems become noticeable! (Yes, I realize I said that last year…)
Paddling

Well, once again, I only got out for one quick trip this year; to Puzzle Lake Provincial Park with Matt. The string of twice a year trips seems to have ended :( I hope to rectify that this year, and get in at least a couple of short trips. Ideally at least one of them would even be a long trip!
Blog

The blog has been up and down about as much as everything else. I go through phases where I really want to write, and then phases where it’s the last thing I want to do! According to Google Analytics, this site saw 10,131 visits and 16,454 pageviews in 2011. The 10 most popular posts were:
Interestingly, my Sigma Rox posts continue to be very popular, and the rest of my traffic tends to be more GIS related.

My eBook continues to sell, slowly. The big news this year is that, as well as being available from the Road Bike Rider eBookstore, you can now buy your copy directly from this site for a much lower price–only $1.99!

Overall, another fun year with some great rides and good times! Here’s to an even better 2012!
1:04
New Provider Model and CartoDB Provider for SyncArc2Earth
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

We just rolled out a new Beta version of Arc2Earth Sync, all current users will be updated automatically. New users can get the latest version by signing up for the beta here. There was a lot of bug and feature fixes in this build but we also added some fairly major functionality as well.

First, we overhauled how Table Providers are used by the desktop client. The original design had assumed a user would choose a provider (Fusion Tables, Earth Builder CartoDB etc) and use that exclusively for all of their work. However, what we found was users wanted to mix and match tables from different locations or accounts. So, in this version, there is still a default provider (Google Fusion Tables) that needs to be authorized on setup but there is a also a new “Connect” button that allows you to add any number of other providers as well.

Second, and the primary reason for this post, is the addition of the CartoDB provider in the beta. CartoDB is an excellent GIS cloud service, a lot like Fusion Tables except more power is exposed to the user. Under the hood, CartoDB is PostGIS, portions of TileMill and a lot of extra code to host your data and expose it via SQL and Map Tile APIs

By adding a CartoDB Provider to Sync, we make it available directly in ArcGIS. You can edit the points/lines/polygons in ArcMap and watch as it changes in the online CartoDb tables (and map tiles). We also allow it to work with other services like ArcGIS.com or any of it’s online APIs and applications.

One other item of note in this provider, its the first one to take advantage of Sync’s ability to translate ArcGIS renderers and symbols into other formats that can be used to draw maps outside of ArcGIS. In CartoDB’s case, that other format is Carto from DevelopmentSeed (the makers of MapBox/TileMill ). Carto is an excellent format for map symbology/labels and is drawn via the excellent Mapnik graphics library, so the results are visually beautiful.

In CartoDB, Carto is used as the custom format for styling and labeling any of your tables. Sync will translate the symbols used in any simple, uniquevalue or classbreaks renderer in ArcMap, into the appropriate css attributes. What’s better is that Carto supports “attachments”, or the ability to apply multi-pass rendering of different drawing attributes to the same feature on the map. The best example of this is drawing streets, one wide line is drawn as the outline while a second smaller stroke is applied over the top (after all of the features have been drawn). This makes for a smooth transition and visually appealing linework. ArcGIS has a very large set of symbols that use multiple levels to achieve the desired result, Sync will translate all of these into the appropriate “attachment” for the style. It will then upload the style when it detects a change, keeping your online map looking just the way you want it (note – this can be optionally turned off)

Here’s some sample multi-layer line symbols from the standard ArcGIS style gallery applied to a CartoDB based table. You can see the levels, colors, dash-arrays and x/y offsets are all applied correctly to the Carto CSS attributes. There is a limit to what can be translated but it seems to be the best correlation between ArcGIS symbols and another format that we’ve run into so far.

And here’s the live result up on cartoDB

There is currently a known issue on CartoDB that prevents url-based images to be used in a carto stylesheet, however, when this is fixed, all of your ArcGIS markers, marker lines and marker fills should work as expected. Many of our users have complained that Fusion Tables does not support custom markers for symbols (an issue Google is working on) so I’m hoping the CartoDB folks get this worked out asap

CartoDB is a great service with flexible pricing, give it a try for free and see if its a good fit.
0:59
Open Geospatial Consortium meeting on smart grid location standardsBetween the Poles
sur Planet Geospatial - http://planetgs.com

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is inviting interested parties to a Smart Grid Location Standards Meeting to be held on March 20 from 8:00-10:00 a.m. at the OGC Technical Committee Meeting in Austin, Texas, USA. This meeting is sponsored/hosted by the OGC, in cooperation with the University of Texas at Austin. The OASIS eMIX (Energy Market Information Exchange) standard uses the OGC Geography Markup Languate (GML) Encoding Standard. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) CIM (Common Information Model) standard is "harmonized" with WXXM (Weather Information Exchange Model), which is an industry profile based on GML. More standards coordination and development, however, is required to enable efficient geospatial communication within smart grids and between smart grids and "neighboring" activities such as emergency response, disaster management, urban planning and building energy management. Many of the OGC's domains of activity – sensor webs, weather, indoor/outdoor location integration, 3D city models, location services, data fusion and others – have significance for the Smart Grid. Many OGC members have a stake in the Smart Grid information technology market, the growth of which depends on the evolution of a standards infrastructure that includes location standards.

This meeting (an "ad hoc" meeting in the OGC's formal meeting nomenclature) has been set up to assess the level of interest in the community to tackle open geospatial standards for the Smart Grid. The Smart Grid Location Standards Ad Hoc meeting is open to the public and admission is free, but Smart Grid Location Standards Ad Hoc Meeting attendees who don't plan to attend other OGC Technical Committee sessions must register via email at register@opengeospatial.org.

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