Author Archives: socalgovgis - Michael Carson

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About socalgovgis - Michael Carson

Michael Carson, GIS Manager (retired) for the City of Burbank and President of Southern California Government GIS User Group. Currently teaching GIS at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita.

Pay for Google Street View?

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Like many of you, you might be using the Google API in your Geocortex apps so you have access to the Google Street View tool.  Well, for us it stopped working recently:

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We found out that Google changed their API terms of use this summer.  They have stopped supporting keyless usage.  That means you cannot access Google Street View through your apps without a billing account and an API key.  Keyless calls to the Maps JavaScript API and Street View API will return low-resolution images watermarked with “for development purposes only.”  You do not have to worry about this if you use the Google Maps website and Street View there.  This is only through API interfaces.

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Deep Learning and ArcGIS using Python

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ESRI has an upcoming GeoDev Webinar about Integrating Deep Learning with ArcGIS using Python (August 24th).  This webinar will showcase examples of applying Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning to geospatial data using ArcGIS API for Python. It will cover several scenarios of applying the latest machine learning and deep learning techniques to geospatial data.  Sign up today!

727 Best Colleges

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Looking for a college?  Though GIS programs were not used as a factor, check out this listing of colleges based on graduation rates, tuition charges, family borrowing, and alumni earnings (plus 22 other data points) to find the country’s top values.

Top ranked in the SoCal area:

#2 University of California – San Diego
#3 University of California – Irvine
#4 University of California – Los Angeles
#12 California Institute of Technology – Pasadena
#22 California State University – Long Beach
#32 University of California – Riverside
#45 California State University – Dominguez Hills
#47 California State Polytechnic University – Pomona

And if you are looking for colleges in the area that have GIS programs, check out the Education section on the resources page.

California Place Names

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Ever wonder where that place name came from?  I found a scanned copy of a 1916 journal article “California Place Names of Indian Origin” on the UC Berkeley Library website.  Check out this entry for Azusa:

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Ha!  I like footnote #6, and I paraphrase: some guy living in Azusa quotes some other guy who’s godfather said it means “skunk hill” because of the skunks, the small polecat variety, on the hill named “Azuncsabit” by the Indians, east of the town where the ranch house of the grant stood.

And here I thought Azusa got it’s name from the phrase “the best city from A to Z in the USA!”

You can download the PDF of the journal article here.

I also bought this book many years ago and it’s pretty interesting if you are into the etymology of place names:

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US State Dept International Boundary Studies

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Florida State University has placed the US State Department’s International Boundary Studies online.  They are really useful for getting a high-level description of the history and delimitation of international boundaries around the world.  Most often the studies will not have any maps, but the text will have a description of the boundaries.  Check it out!

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