This is a reminder that U.S. Geological Survey is hosting a webinar next week on our Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) program. VGI provides an editing environment that allows interested persons to add, delete, and modify certain structures in the USGS structures database. The online VGI editor is based on the popular Open Street Map interface and anyone who is interested can sign up for an account to help us update structures and improve the quality of our data for future release to the public.

Structure types available for editing include schools, colleges/universities, fire/EMS stations, police stations, correctional facilities, state capitol buildings, hospitals, ambulance services, cemeteries, and post offices. Continue reading →

Hello Everyone:

USGS has a program underway to receive and review crowdsourced data for certain building structure types.  Our National Map Corps is managing the Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) program.  VGI provides an editing environment that allows interested persons to add, delete, and modify structures in the USGS structures database.  The online VGI editor is based on the popular Open Street Map interface and anyone who is interested can sign up for an account to help us update structures and improve the quality of our data for future release to the public.

Structure types available for editing include schools, colleges/universities, fire/EMS stations, police stations, correctional facilities, state capitol buildings, hospitals, ambulance services, cemeteries, and post offices.

The VGI effort covers all 50 states (though not the Pacific Territories).  Your Pacific Region National Map liaisons plan to host a webinar to introduce the VGI program to anyone who is interested in possibly contributing their knowledge of structures to our mapping program.  Data contributed through VGI will be vetted by USGS and will reside in the USGS structures dataset.  The structures data are available to the public and also appear on USGS products such as new US Topo maps (http://nationalmap.gov/ustopo/index.html)

To read the latest on VGI and help whet your appetite for contributing data please see the VGI newsletters here:  http://nationalmap.gov/TheNationalMapCorps/newsletters.html

We are planning to offer this one hour webinar on Thursday, March 31 at 1:00 PM PDT (1:00 PM MST, 10:00 AM HST).  To attend this meeting, you must first register for it.  Please click this link to see more information, and register for the meeting.

https://usgs.webex.com/usgs/j.php?RGID=rae74b50d93b96bc85f825658d822c340

Once you have registered for the meeting, you will receive an email message confirming your registration.  This message will provide the information that you need to join the webinar.

Thanks and please contact us with any questions,

Carol Ostergren
Drew Decker

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Drew Decker
National Map Liaison for Pacific Region
U.S. Geological Survey
4165 Spruance Road
San Diego, CA 92101
619-225-6430
ddecker@usgs.gov
USNG 11S MS 8026 2158

Carol Ostergren
US Geological Survey National Geospatial Program
CSUS—Placer Hall
6000 J Street Sacramento, CA 95819-6129
916-278-9510
costergren@usgs.gov

ESRI is hosting a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on building your own Geo Apps.  They state:

You don’t have to be a software developer to build valuable geo-enabled apps that make your communities smarter and businesses more successful. This course will show you how to combine location and narrative in one application to better communicate and broadcast your story, create custom web applications that solve problems in your community, and build powerful native applications for iOS and Android devices without touching a piece of code. If you are a developer, you’ll be interested in Esri’s APIs, SDKs, and the buzzing GeoDev community.

The course includes:

• Hands-on exercises, short video lectures, quizzes, polls, and discussion
• 4 week course with 7 sections open throughout the course, 1-2 hours of study per section
• Certificate of completion and awards

You will be exposed to application templates and test drive Web AppBuilder and AppStudio.  The free online course runs from February 3 to March 3, 2016.  Check it out and sign up!

Geographic masking is the deliberate alteration of locational data to preserve the privacy or integrity of the data being displayed or analyzed. For example, the locations of the nests of endangered bird species may be publicly posted on a web site, but the availability of this data could create inappropriate visits that could disturb or endanger the birds, and so should be masked.

This GITA sponsored webinar on January 20th will discuss masking in the context of geospatial privacy, a topic of great national concern in the era of social media and Wikileaks.  Most of the methods in current use will be discussed, along with their advantages and disadvantages.  How the methods are implemented and what impact they have on geographic and spatial analysis are explored.