2018 CGA Conference

Posted on April 2, 2018 by socalgovgis - Michael Carson

If you find yourself taking a trip to Cambridge, MA in April, you might want to drop by Harvard’s Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA). CGA, together with the Harvard Data Science Initiative and ESRI, will host a conference on Illuminating Space and Time in Data Science on April 26-27, 2018. This conference aims at bringing together mainstream data scientists and geographic information scientists, to review the status of both fields, explore commonalities between the two, and identify the relevance of space and time in Data Science. The event features keynote speakers Francesca Dominici and Michael Goodchild, as well as thirty distinguished scholars from around the world. It is co-sponsored by I/UCRC Spatiotemporal Innovation Center and MapD Technologies, Inc.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information and to register, please visit http://gis.harvard.edu/events/conferences/2018-cga-conference-illuminating-space-and-time-data-science.

ESRI Updates Landsat Services

Posted on April 2, 2018 by socalgovgis - Michael Carson

Starting April 11, 2018, ESRI will update their Landsat Image Services. Improvements include revised scaling of Top of Atmosphere (TOA) reflectance values, daily updates, new QA band, a new field to keep track of Landsat product ID, and WCS/WMS compatibility. For more info visit ESRI’s blog posting here.

ArcGIS Offline Data Collection Without a Named User

Posted on March 30, 2018 by socalgovgis - Michael Carson

Use ArcGIS Server? Want to edit data out in the field with disconnected editing capability but don’t want to be forced into the ArcGIS named user model just to use Collector? Webmapsolutions.com might have an answer for you! They have built an offline-enabled ArcGIS data collection app which works with ArcGIS Server (no named user required), but can also work with Portal and ArcGIS Online! Check it out.

LARIAC5 Imagery

Posted on March 29, 2018 by socalgovgis - Michael Carson

Burbank received the LARIAC5 2017 imagery and I must say it looks great! Click to enlarge.

Also, this time around the imagery has 4 bands, band 4 being near infrared, so you can display color infrared (CIR) to make the vegetation pop. Just set the Red band to 4, the Green band to 1, and the Blue band to 2:

Very cool. Great job LA County! -mike

California Releases “EQ Zapp”

Posted on March 27, 2018 by socalgovgis - Michael Carson

The California Earthquake Hazards Zone Application (“EQ Zapp”) is an online map that allows anyone with a computer, tablet, or smartphone to conveniently check whether a property is in an earthquake hazard zone. Earthquake hazard zones include fault rupture areas, liquefaction areas, and earthquake induced landslides. Check it out!

Free Story Maps Training for Students

Posted on March 23, 2018 by socalgovgis - Michael Carson

This afternoon at 1:30 PM, SCAG has a free Story Maps training class with Bern Szukalski at SCAG’s offices in Downtown LA at 1:30pm. Sign up now and hurry: https://t.co/cX7GvGEGBJ .

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USGS Water Resources and Land Change Information

Posted on March 21, 2018 by socalgovgis - Michael Carson

The USGS Library provides reference services and instructional sessions to library users on finding print, digital, and online library materials. They are offering two webinars.

The first will focus on how to find and use information sources and products related to water use, surface water, groundwater, water quality, floods, droughts, and hurricanes (data, databases, publications, maps, and field and laboratory methods). Click here for more info and to register.

The second will focus on how to find and use information sources and products related to long-term and short-term land changes from natural-hazard events, land-use change, and example reference inquiries related to finding current and historical land information. Click here for more info and to register.

Both webinars will also cover education tools available from the USGS and other geoscience stakeholders.

ESRI Acquires ClearTerra Location Data Extraction Technology

Posted on March 13, 2018 by socalgovgis - Michael Carson

ESRI has announced it has acquired technology from ClearTerra, a creator of geospatial and activity-based intelligence tools. This acquisition will provide the ArcGIS platform users the ability to easily discover and extract geographic coordinates from unstructured textual data like emails, briefings and reports, instantly generating intelligent map-based information.

This capability will make mapping this information easier across many industries. Defence, intelligence, and public safety organizations tend to have massive volumes of unstructured data, as do other fields such as petroleum, utilities, and maritime, where locating information on the earth is not as easy as searching for a street address. ESRI’s acquisition of ClearTerra technology brings workflow-enhancing software technologies into the ArcGIS platform.

ClearTerra LocateXT technology allows analysts to rapidly scan through documents without having to spend hours reading, copying, pasting and running spreadsheet formulas, placing the results instantly into geospatial features. Additionally, ClearTerra FindFZ technology provides enhanced search capabilities for the ArcGIS platform, incorporating the powerful techniques found in internet search engines.

ClearTerra has been an active member of the ESRI partner program, providing their software to ArcGIS users via desktop, server and the cloud. Support and maintenance for the software will continue via ESRI with no interruption of service and is readily available for licensing.

Waldo Tobler

Posted on March 13, 2018 by socalgovgis - Michael Carson

Waldo R. Tobler, professor emeritus of Geography, famed cartographer and founder of the first law of geography, passed away on February 20, 2018 at the age of eighty-eight. Some of you might remember Waldo Tobler. I remember his work while studying Geography and GIS in college many years ago.

Waldo Tobler trained as a mathematical cartographer, and is best known for his contributions to that field. He coined the term “analytical cartography” to reflect the combination of mapping and analysis. He was also responsible for the statement known as Tobler’s First Law of Geography, “all things are related but nearby things are more related than distant things”, a somewhat offhand comment in an early paper that has proven to be enormously important in the development of geographic information science.

Click here and here for more information about Waldo Tobler.