Check out this NASA map showing fractional turf grass (lawn) area across the United States. The associated article notes how common lawns are across the country despite a wide variability of climate and soils. Please note the article was dated 2005.
The Soviet Military secretly mapped the entire world, but few outsiders have seen the maps … until now. Check out this article from Wired Magazine about the secret world of Russia’s cold war mapmakers.
Thanks goes to Barry Waite from the City of Carson for sending us this link.
If you are looking for images of old maps, OldMapsOnline.org is the resource for you. It is the world’s largest portal for freely available, high-resolution images of historic maps, bringing together many of the world’s largest online historic map collections in a single search interface. Check it out.
Found this interesting article comparing 6 web map providers: ArcGIS Online, CartoDB, MapBox, SimpleMappr, MangoMap, and Click2Map.
After attending a few workshops on ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Sever today, here are a few things that I noted and thought you all might find interesting. If you work on the bleeding edge, you probably already know!
ArcGIS Pro
ArcGIS Server
For those of you that arrived in San Diego on Sunday, you were greeted by a downpour of rain that lasted into the night. However, that all cleared up today for the 36th Annual ESRI User Conference.
During this morning’s Plenary Session, Jack emphasized the “Geography Everywhere” theme and touched on the usual things like web GIS and sharing data. Really there were few surprises. However, they did have a cute little skit about all their apps, posing like individuals in a dating service to get your attention to use them. It was a different way of showing you all the choices you have when it came to apps. You can even vote for your favorite app here.
Here are a few new announcements that might be of interest:
I would suspect that ESRI will have the Plenary Session video online sometime today. I will update this post when it becomes available for you to watch at home! -mike
4:25pm update: Click here for today’s videos.
This year in July will be Disneyland’s 60th anniversary. Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955 in Anaheim California and was the only theme park designed and built under the direction of Walt Disney.
Opening day was broadcast live by ABC (one of the investors and joint owner of Disneyland) and was hosted by three of Walt’s friends: Art Linkletter, Bob Commings, and Ronald Reagan. About 28,000 people visited the park. Watch the whole thing below!
Believe it or not, Disneyland was built in 7 months before opening day! Also, Tomorrowland construction was delayed and was put together in the last 2 months! Before building began, Walt Disney was insightful to place towers around the area to film time-lapse movies during the construction. Check out this video of one of the film reels. It is really cool to see what that area of Anaheim looked like before Disneyland was built.
When guests entered the park, they were given little guides that told them about all the attractions at Disneyland. Check out this 1958 guide and maps.
I like in the Tomorrowland section there is a caption that reads “The colorful Avenue of Flags marks the entrance to Tomorrowland, the world of 1987”. I don’t remember 1987 looking like that!
Note no Monorail, Matterhorn, or Submarine Voyage. Those came in the summer of 1959. Check out this insert that was placed in the guides.
If you plan on visiting Disneyland tomorrow on anniversary day … all I can say is good luck to you and stay sane!
Check out this map showing the best-selling vehicles in each state for 2014. Besides the brand, states are color coded for the popular models. Click below to read the short article.
The City of Los Angeles has a mapping tool that allows users to view People Street projects, like plazas and parklets, that have been completed or coming soon. They are turning 7,500 miles of city streets into active, vibrant, and accessible public spaces. Check it out.
CGIA has released a map showing GIS contacts across the State. If you work with GIS in California, especially government, make sure your contact information is up to date.
SoCalGIS.org 