Monthly Archives: September 2016

Finding Government Publications

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The US government is one of the world’s largest publishers, both in paper and on the web.  More than 200 years ago Congress authorized the sending of free copies of certain government publications to libraries around the country.  This developed into the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), with more than 1,100 public, academic, and government libraries as members.  Each of these libraries receives government materials for free, and is required to make them available to the public.

The Federal Depository Library Program is run by the Government Printing Office (GPO), which recently changed it’s name to Government Publishing Office in order to indicate it is now more involved with electronic data rather than paper.

If you are looking for government publications and other federal information, give these online sources a try:  Continue reading →

California GIS Jobs This Week

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GIS Analyst/Developer – San Francisco area

GIS Analyst – Edwards AFB

Geospatial Engineer – San Francisco area

Supervisor GIS Analytics – San Francisco area

GIS Technician – Fort Irwin

GIS Technician – San Jose area

Crime Analyst – Daly City

Analyst – Fremont area

GIS Analyst – Calabasas area

ESRI ArcGIS Developer – San Diego area

GIS Applications Developer – Los Angeles area

GIS Specialist – City of Healdsburg

Map Layout Production Engineer – ESRI, Redlands

 

Spider Diagrams

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Recently I had a need to generate a spider diagram for my map.  Spider diagrams, also called desire lines for business scenarios, are a series of rays drawn from a central point to related points.  The result shows you the actual area of influence for each central point.

spiderdiagram

Some good examples would be store locations and customers that visit them, library locations and patrons’ home locations, or in my case fire station locations and incidents they responded to.  Continue reading →

Lyft Added To Google Maps

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Last week Google announced that is has added support for Lyft and Gett to Google Maps for Android and iOS.  Google Maps now displays ridesharing options from nine partners in over 60 countries:

  • Gett in the UK (and now New York City)
  • GO-JEK in Indonesia
  • Grab in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines
  • Hailo in the UK and Spain
  • Lyft in the U.S.
  • mytaxi in Germany and Spain
  • Ola Cabs in India
  • Uber around the world
  • 99Taxis in Brazil

The feature works in the same way as other transportation options in Google Maps. For example, Continue reading →

Happy Birthday California!

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ca-flag-640x420

Today America’s most populous state and third largest by geographic area is 166 years young.  California became the 31st American state on September 9, 1850.

Some fun facts that you might not know about the Golden State:

  • California is home to the highest point in the continental U.S., the 14,494 foot Mt. Whitney.
  • It is also home to the lowest point in the continental U.S., Death Valley, which drops down to 282 feet below sea level.
  • The fortune cookie was invented here. At least the Americanized version. Efforts to trace its origins into the past and across the Pacific Ocean have been difficult, as documented by The New York Times and The Smithsonian.
  • California is the only state to host the Summer (1932 & 1984) and Winter Olympics (1960).
  • Our state song? “I Love You California.”

And here are some things that were going on in the world in the year 1850.

If you happen to be in Sacramento today, you can join in the festivities at the State Capital from 11am to 1pm.