Check this map out showing how much snow it takes to cancel school by state. Click it to read the article about how it was created.
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How Much Snow Does it Take to Cancel School?
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Author Archives: socalgovgis - Michael Carson
Say Goodbye to Google Maps Engine
Google has announced that they are ending support for Google Maps Engine (GME). If you are using GME to store your vector and raster data in the cloud, be aware that your GME data will be removed in a year on January 29, 2016.
So where can you migrate your data now? Safe Software has written an article listing some options that you have. Of course if you use their FME product, it’s just a one-step process! However, besides the sales pitch, they do present some options that you have to migrate your data to.
I personally have used ArcGIS Online and Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) to store spatial data. With ArcGIS Online you have to buy a plan first, then you will consume credits when you store your data there. With Amazon RDS you can use SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or the new Amazon Aurora with costs for the instance (server) size/database type, consumed storage, and traffic. Keep in mind that ArcGIS Online has tools built-in to analyze and display spatial data as well as being integrated with their ArcGIS software products. Amazon RDS is just a storage solution, so you will need to come up with other options for analyzing and map display of your spatial data in the cloud, like using ArcGIS software or something else.
Historic Sites – Old Highways – Battle Fields
Into a little history in LA County? I found this interesting map showing historic sites, old highways, battle fields, indian villages, gold mines, camps, towns, and other historical places of interest in old Los Angeles County. The map was created by George W. Kirkman and titled “The Kirkman-Harriman Pictorial and Historical Map of Los Angeles County 1860-1937”. Check it out on the LA Public Library website!
Move from Silverlight to HTML5
If you have apps using Silverlight, this is the year to plan and move them to HTML5. ESRI plans on deprecating ArcGIS APIs and Viewers for Silverlight, and Google plans to remove support for NPAPI (and therefore Silverlight) in Chrome. Note that IE and Firefox will still support Silverlight for some time.
If you have apps built on Geocortex technology, it is time for you to move to HTML5 for sure. Watch this video from a past webinar to help get your applications where they need to be for the transition.
Living in the Example Map
Just found this one on the XKCD site. Pretty funny.
I don’t think I would live so close to that volcano!
Wages Winners and Losers Since 2004
Check out this interactive map comparing the annual average pay from 2004 and 2013. One-third of all US counties have seen their pay decline!
GIS Conferences and User Group Meetings 2015
Here are a few of the first GIS Conferences and User Group Meetings in California this year:
- SoCal Geocortex User Group Meeting – January 22, 2015, Arcadia
- Geodesign Summit – January 22-23, 2015, Redlands
- Los Angeles Geospatial Summit – February 27, 2015, Los Angeles
For more information about these and other GIS conferences, visit the GIS Conferences page.
Santa’s Village Returns!
If you grew up here in SoCal, you probably remember going to Santa’s Village.
Santa’s Village was a winter themed amusement park in the Skyforest area of Lake Arrowhead. Opened in 1955, more than a month before Disneyland, it was the first franchised amusement park. The park covered 220 acres and was one of SoCal’s biggest tourist attractions. It had rides including a bobsled, monorail, and spinning Christmas Tree ride, and also included a petting zoo, live reindeer, and shops that included a bakery, candy kitchen, and toy shop. And don’t forget Santa himself, which everyone could visit in his home!
Alas, reduced attendance and revenue shortfalls caused Santa’s Village to close in 1998. The property sold three years later for $5.6 million and served as a staging area for local logging operations. If you have ever driven by on the Rim of the World Highway, you have probably seen the park’s faded candy cane signpost and dilapidated buildings. But the story does not end there.
On May 15, 2014, there was a pending sale of the property to an unidentified Lake Arrowhead resident who was stated to have “big plans for the property”. Later, those big plans were revealed to bring Santa’s Village back with other recreational/action sports attractions in Spring 2015! It will be called SkyPark at Santa’s Village.
So if you were a Santa’s Village fan, consider this a Christmas present for you!
Merry Christmas everyone and a happy New Year! -mike
Holiday Lights Seen From Space
A joint mission between NOAA and NASA has yielded data showing just how much brighter Earth is during the holiday lights season. In some places, the effect makes the area 50% brighter than on an average day. Check it out!
ArcGIS Pro 1.0 Released in 10.3
ESRI has released ArcGIS Pro 1.0 in the 10.3 release of ArcGIS. It comes with your ArcGIS Desktop licenses. For more information, visit the ArcGIS Pro page.
SoCalGIS.org 