GeoJSON has emerged as a popular format for sharing location-based information on the web, and the JavaScript Maps API is embracing this open standard. This means, as a developer, you can now pull raw data from multiple data sources, such as the US Geological Survey or Google Maps Engine and easily display it on your website with this bit of code:
map.data.loadGeoJSON(‘earthquakes.json’);
Visit Google’s blog to read more about it.
ESRI has released Collector for ArcGIS 10.2.2. It is available for both iOS and Android. This release introduces support for downloading maps to smartphone and tablet devices so that you can collect and update GIS features in the field where there is no data connection and then synchronize changes when connected. Nice! More information here.
From Scott Gregory, California State GIO:
As you may or may not know, AB1327 is a bill that could potentially impact the work that we do in regards to remote sensing and aerial imagery collection, etc… in the near future. See the link below for more detail. My office is in the process of providing the Legislature a summary analysis of the bill. In our analysis we want to highlight civilian use (non-public safety governmental) cases for UAV technology as a rebuttal to some of the limiting language in the bill.
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1327
If this bill will affect your organization’s future data collection needs, please provide me a brief summary to be incorporated into the analysis. Something like the follow would be appropriate:
Dept. of Water Resources
Levee Inspection
The use of civilian accessed UAV technology would greatly enhance our ability to assess the current conditions of the State’s levee system. This would enhance collection efforts saving time and money in the process because it is accomplished remotely without having to send staff and resources to the field for collection. This process would increase accuracy of surveys….
Basically, I would be looking for the organization name, use case and description of that use case. Please circulate to the user community within your respective organizations to solicit feedback. Please email or call if you have any questions. I would like to have these complied by 10am Friday (3/14/14). Thanks for your help.
Scott Gregory
Deputy Director
State Geographic Information Officer
California Department of Technology
Scott.Gregory@state.ca.gov
916.431.5449
10860 Gold Center Drive
Rancho Cordova, CA. 95670
I thought this was pretty amazing showing a river changing course over time, from 1984 to 2012.
Remeber leaning about oxbow lakes in Geography class? Well, you can watch them being formed! I believe this is the Rio Ucayali in Huanuco, Peru.
Hack for Pasadena is two-days of open sourced talks and hands-on problem solving, to re-imagine the way the web, applications, technology, and community participation will shape the future of the City of Pasadena. Hack for Pasadena brings together the tech community with businesses, nonprofits, academia and city officials to work together to solve complex social problems through technology innovation. Anyone can pitch an idea or problem. Ideas may range from coming up with creative ways to address the city’s biggest challenges like homelessness, transportation, crime, affordable housing and public safety, to beautification projects and business ideas that will make the city more livable. From there, small groups form to brainstorm solutions and start tackling the issue with design and code. Publicly accessible data sets will be used to support the solutions. At the end of two days, each group will present a workable solution that improves the daily life for real people in our community.
And here are the prizes!
Hack For Pasadena will be Saturday March 15 to Sunday March 16. For more information and to register, visit www.hackforpasadena.com .
The USGS has release a Wind Farm Mapping Application, which allows users to access the more than 47,000 individual wind turbines contained within the national wind turbine database. You can filter data by total height, capacity, and blade length and also download the wind energy data.
The purpose of the project was to provide a publically available, spatially referenced, national dataset of onshore wind turbine locations and their corresponding facility information and turbine technical specifications. The project compiles wind turbine information from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Digital Obstacle File, as well as other manually digitized turbine locations.
Ah yes, Daylight Savings Time is here again on Sunday. Don’t forget to move your clock forward an hour. If you want to be exact, do it at 2am Sunday morning! If you are in Hawaii, Arizona (except the Navajo Nation), and Alaska Aleutian Islands, just ignore it. For some reason animals ignore DST. I try to convince my dog that meal time is an hour later … like a teenager he refuses to understand!
I bought this book a few years ago about DST. It’s really good and explains the detailed history of DST. Get your copy today! (PS – I do not make any money from the sale of this book, I just enjoyed reading it.) -mike
I read this article today and thought how Geography is very important!
Long Beach mayoral candidate sends out mailer with San Diego skyline:
URISA is pleased to announce the presentation of one of its most popular Certified Workshops, Deploying Mobile Solutions: What to Consider, via instructor-led web based training. URISA’s Deploying Mobile Solutions: What to Consider workshop is regularly presented at URISA conferences, chapter events, and at regional conferences. Normally a full-day classroom session, the workshop has been re-packaged into three sections and will be presented online this March to meet the constant demand for the subject matter without the travel expense and time away from work. The workshop content is thoroughly peer-reviewed and updated each year and is eligible for GISP Education credit (8 hours of EDU-2).
This 8-hour workshop will be presented over three days:
Cost: URISA International Members: $195 Non-members: $295
Attendees will receive all of the benefits of traditional classroom learning in an interactive online classroom while not having the expense of traveling to onsite training locations. Interactive communication between the instructor and other attendees is accomplished through communication tools within the training platform. Participants will receive an electronic workbook to accompany the instruction and certificate of completion.
Course Description: One way to meet demands for providing superior service levels and operational efficiencies under tightening budget constraints is to leverage new technology that places GIS data in the hands of field crews. This allows for improved management and better maintenance of work processes to properly appraise infrastructure assets and to meet service request response times.
This workshop is designed to provide local government managers with practical guidelines for building an effective mobile GIS program across multiple departments.
Specific topics include:
Intended Audience: Supervisors and managers responsible for public works operations. GIS and IT department managers interested in mobilizing user applications and Mobile GIS project managers.
Instructor Profile: Tripp Corbin, MCP, CFM, GISP, eGIS Associates, Atlanta, GA. Tripp Corbin, MCP, CFM, GISP, eGIS Associates, Atlanta, GA. Tripp Corbin is the Chief Executive Officer and Lead Instructor for eGIS Associates. He is an award winning Esri Certified Trainer with over twenty years of experience orchestrating and managing surveying, mapping and GIS projects. He is recognized as an industry expert with a variety of geospatial software packages including Esri, Autodesk and Trimble products. Tripp was the primary author of several popular GIS courses including: Using AutoCAD data in ArcGIS, Performing GIS Analysis with ArcGIS, and ArcGIS Desktop Associate Exam Prep. He created the online GIS Analyst Certificate program offered by the University of North Alabama Continuing Studies Center as well as teaching classes for the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) at North Carolina State University.
Tripp is a member of the Board of Directors for URISA International and the GITA Southeast Chapter. He holds many certifications including GIS Certified Professional, ArcGIS Desktop Associate, Esri Certified Trainer, CompTia Certified Technical Trainer, Microsoft Certified Professional, URISA Workshop Instructor and Certified Floodplain Manager.
Limited Participation: Sign up early as the online ‘classroom’ is limited to only 100 participants. Consider pulling your team together to participate in the workshop together.
If your schedule will not allow your attendance at all three sessions, note that the sessions will be recorded and archived for participants’ access.
Register today to reserve your spot!
The GIS Certification Institute is conducting it’s 3rd annual map contest. This year’s competition is to produce a high quality map of a portion of the U.S. National Bridge Inventory (NBI). This will require parsing and geocoding ASCII files in which the NBI is stored, as well as the production of a quality map which could be viewed on the web. First, second, third place and honorable mentions will be awarded. The winning poster will be taken to the ESRI User Conference and submitted to the ESRI map book, if it was generated with ESRI products.
Who may enter: Anyone is eligible, except those who are going to judge.
Submission Time Frame: March 1 to 31, 2014 – Online portal to accept files along with a required submission form.
Prizes:
SoCalGIS.org 