We had a great meeting last week. Thanks goes to Culver City for hosting … and the snacks too!
Meeting presentations and pictures have been posted on our Meetings page. Also, we are looking for someone to host our next meeting in the Fall/Winter. Please contact us if you want to host.
The Ordnance Survey has a great posting of online resources for map design. Resources for colors, fonts, symbols, and inspiration. Check it out.
Just a reminder that our next SoCalGIS meeting will be tomorrow, May 9th, at the City of Culver City. More details and agenda on our Meetings page.
If you have not done so already through email or meeting invite, contact Michael Carson at mcarson@burbankca.gov and let him know you will be attending. This will help us get an accurate count for refreshments.
Hope to see you there!
NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) has some current images of the Springs Fire.
Android and iPhone users can now use their mobile devices as digital topo maps, leveraging USGS maps together with the power of GPS to zoom in on their precise location while hiking, biking, running, or any other activity that benefits from precision navigation.
The type of data that are available includes USGS imagery and topographic maps from The National Map, as well as road and contour layers. For more info, visit http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3580 .
Kenneth Appel, who used a computer to solve the four color map problem, dies at 80.
As a companion tool to assist in 2016 RTP/SCS local input and scenario planning, SCAG is developing a Scenario Planning Model (SPM) based on the UrbanFootprint software platform developed by Calthorpe Associates. We believe that SCAG SPM can significantly contribute to the regional and local planning process by expanding land use scenario planning and analysis capacities while maintaining consistency across the region. SCAG plans to rollout SPM and data around October, 2013. More information can be found at: http://www.scag.ca.gov/modeling/scenarioplanning.htm.
For the model to be most useful to local jurisdictions, we would like to form a SPM working group consisting of one (or more) designated staff from selected jurisdictions. The role of the SPM working group is to provide guidance in developing a more efficient model that better serves the needs of end users such as local and regional planners. We envision that the SPM working group will be a forum for sharing ideas and expectations about the model’s functions and operations through collaborative interaction. It is also an opportunity for members to gain first-hand experience with SPM tools and data.
We are reaching out to your jurisdiction based on past participation in the SCAG 2012 RTP/SCS local input process and GIS services program as well as the status of the General Plan land use element update. Participation in the SPM working group may require approximately 10-15 staff working hours per month and 20-25 hours per month if your jurisdiction would like to participate in pilot testing (which is anticipated to begin July, 2013). We anticipate the majority of SPM working group activities to occur between May, 2013 and August, 2013.
If you are interested in joining the SPM working group, please respond by May 3, 2013 – we would greatly appreciate your participation. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Amy Volz at volz@scag.ca.gov or (213) 236-1919 or Guoxiong Huang at huang@scag.ca.gov or (213) 236-1948. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Guoxiong Huang
Manager, Modeling & Forecasting
Maps and the Geospatial Revolution is just one of many different types of courses offered at coursera.org … and they are free!
From Warren Roberts at Rio Hondo College:
GIS is increasingly used and GIS courses are needed. We work to keep GIS curriculum articulated with industry users in an effort to keep our lesson material practical and applied. We’re currently updating the certificate and gathering input from industry.
Meanwhile, can you take a couple of minutes to submit a answers to a short survey on importance of certificate. We appreciate your input and will share results at the end of the month.
Check out UCLA Library’s collection Maps of Los Angeles, California, the United States, and the World.
