Storytelling With Maps Contest

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Once again ESRI is encouraging mappers everywhere who harness the power of GIS technology to enter the ESRI Storytelling with Maps Contest.

Submissions will be judged on a range of factors. Each Story Map selected will combine design, user experience, impact, and overall creativity with an interesting and engaging story.

ESRI will award first, second, and third place prizes in five categories:

  • Travel/Destinations/Recreation
  • Infrastructure/Planning/Government
  • Science/Technology/Education
  • Culture/History/Events
  • Conservation/Environment/Sustainability

One grand prize will be awarded to the best overall Story Map entry, as determined by the contest judges. Here are the prizes:

  • Grand Prize/Best Overall: A one-year ArcGIS Online subscription for five users plus a plaque and a certificate
  • First Prize: A GoPro camera plus a plaque and a certificate
  • Second Prize: A copy of the ESRI Press book Cartographica Extraordinaire: The Historical Map Transformed plus a plaque and a certificate
  • Third Prize: A copy of the ESRI Press book Cartographica Extraordinaire: The Historical Map Transformed plus a plaque and a certificate

All entries must make use of one of the ESRI Story Map apps. Entries may be hosted in ArcGIS Online or on another server. Contest participants may and are encouraged to customize the Story Map apps to suit their needs.

Submissions must be received by 5:00 p.m. (PDT) on June 8. Winners and their Story Map entries will be unveiled at the 2015 ESRI User Conference.

Enter the contest and get full contest details at esri.com/storytellingwithmaps. Discover more about ESRI Story Map apps at storymaps.arcgis.com.

Submissions will be judged on a range of factors. Each Story Map selected will combine design, user experience, impact, and overall creativity with an interesting and engaging story.

EarthWorks

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This one came across my desk and I thought it was interesting to share:

Stanford University Libraries is introducing EarthWorks, their new geospatial data discovery application. EarthWorks allows you to discover and download GIS data and maps from a variety of institutions.

The software is built on top of the open-source project GeoBlacklight, which adds geospatial capabilities to the widely used discovery system Project Blacklight. GeoBlacklight is the product of an ongoing software collaboration between MIT, Princeton, and Stanford. Contributions and collaborators are most welcome!  GeoBlacklight can be used on its own, or as part of GeoHydra, an emerging suite of tools for managing geospatial data assets within a Hydra data repository. For more information about GeoHydra, please see the interest group wiki.

Metadata sharing for EarthWorks is enabled through collaboration with the OpenGeoPortal project and the new OpenGeoMetadata initiative.

EarthWorks also uses GeoMonitor to monitor the availability of data being provided by the network of collaborating institutions.

Questions about EarthWorks, GeoBlacklight, GeoMonitor, or how we collaborate with OpenGeoMetadata can be directed to geoblacklight-working-group@googlegroups.com .

Upcoming related meetings and events:

Open Repositories June 8 – 11, 2015 Indianapolis, IN ,USA

Hands on GeoBlacklight Workshop ESRI Education GIS Conference July 18-21, 2015 San Diego, CA, USA

“GeoBlacklight, a New Discovery Platform for Geospatial Data” lightning talk ESRI User Conference July 20 – 24, 2015 San Diego, CA, USA

“Preservation and discovery for GIS data” presentation HydraConnect September 21 – 24 2015, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA – Hydra Geospatial Interest Group

Demystifying Raster Image Properties and Compression

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LizardTech University is offering a free webinar on Demystifying Raster Image Properties and Compression:

Have you ever wanted to know more about raster imagery? In this webinar, we’ll discuss all the basic properties of raster imagery that you’re likely to encounter. By the end of the webinar, you’ll understand what image bands are, what compression ratios mean, what it means for an image to be 16-bit, and more.

This is the first installment in a series of webinars about raster imagery and GIS.

Date: Thursday, April 23, 2015
Time: 11:00 AM PDT
Duration: 30 Minutes

Register today!

GIS Software Ranked by Public Opinion

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Interested to know what the most popular GIS software is?  To see what the GIS industry is using, an article from GISGeography.com maps out the GIS software landscape and lists the top 30 GIS desktop options using the following ranking guidelines:

  • 40% is based on which GIS software is required by employers in job postings
  • 20% is based on which GIS software is being used in research and publications
  • 20% is based on which GIS software is being searched for
  • 20% is based on which GIS software is being discussed in community forums

SoCal URISA Open Source GIS Workshop

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SoCal URISA along with Palomar College presents a Certified URISA workshop on Open Source GIS with URISA instructor Sara Yurman.

Saturday, April 25th, 2015
9am to 5pm
Hosted at Palomar College’s GIS Lab
1140 W Mission Rd, San Marcos, CA 92069

Palomar College, San Marcos in the Natural Science Bldg.   NS-127(GIS Lab) Directions and parking pass will be emailed out to registrants closer to the date.

There are a limited amount of desktop computers available for use which will have the software downloaded on them. You can bring your own laptop and our reminder email will have software download instructions on them so you can install on your laptop before the workshop date. A complete list of topics covered will be emailed shortly.

Preliminary Schedule:
8:30 am – Registration opens, grab a light breakfast too.
11:30 am – Lunch
5:00 pm – Conclude Workshop

The workshop is Free for SoCal URISA members, otherwise purchase or renew your membership.

$30  Annual Fee
$10 Student Annual Fee

Please don’t forget to save you receipt from this event and use it towards your GISP credit.
Registration is limited to lab size so do not hesitate.

More information and online registration: http://socalurisa.camp9.org/event-1899459

About Sara Yurman:

 Sara Yurman is an experienced GIS Manager and a founder of Spatial Focus, Inc. She has over 20 years of experience in both organizational and technical aspects of geographic information, encompassing government at the local, regional, and state levels. Her activities have included team-building and change management as well as implementations of raster and vector GIS, GPS data integration, system development, and database design. Before the founding of Spatial Focus, Inc. Ms. Yurman was a consultant for American Cadastre, Inc. Prior to that, she worked with a variety of clients on strategic and technical issues, advising clients on profit potential of existing geographic data within their organization. Ms. Yurman received a Bachelor’s degree from the California Institute of the Arts and a Master’s degree in geography from Georgia State University. Sara was the Conference Chair for the 2011 URISA/NENA Addressing Conference.