We currently have a business need to get at parcel center points using parcel numbers. If some of our business systems can communicate using HTTP, I thought using the ArcGIS Server REST API with our map service would be ideal. But first I needed to figure out how to do it. What better way to test the concept by building a Python script! Continue reading
Python Library for Standardizing US Addresses
There is a very nice Python library that you can use to parse and standardize your addresses for geocoding. Use it to clean up your messy address data.

For more info and to download, visit https://github.com/datamade/usaddress.
To try it out live, visit https://parserator.datamade.us/usaddress.
For Python Nerds: The library utilizes a probabilistic, rather than rule-based approach to parse the data. This means you can customize and build the library with your own training data if need be.
David Rumsey Map Center Opening
If you find yourself near Stanford University on April 19th to 22nd, you should drop by the grand opening of the David Rumsey Map Center. Continue reading
The Best April Fools Joke Using a Map
On 1 April 1977 the Guardian produced a 7 page travel supplement on the tiny tropical republic of San Serriffe, “a small archipelago, its main islands grouped roughly in the shape of a semicolon, in the Indian Ocean”, which was apparently celebrating ten years of independence. The article included a map of the island republic. Continue reading
New GIS Funding Opportunities for Spring 2016
Looking for funding for your GIS implementations? Check out these funding opportunities for GIS in Transportation, Water Resources, Pollution, Energy, Environment, Fish, Wildlife, Forestry, and Infrastructure.
Diverging Color Ramp Addin
Using ArcGIS 10.4 and looking for a diverging color ramp for your map features? Try the Diverging Color Ramp Addin.
This addin enables you to intelligently apply a dichromatic color ramp to feature layers containing points, lines, or polygons in ArcMap 10.4. Continue reading
CCEA Meeting
Add April 7th to your calendars for the City and County Engineers Association (CCEA) meeting.
Time: Social – 11:30am to Noon, Buffet Lunch – Noon to 12:45pm, Program – 12:45pm to 1:30pm
Place: Luminarias Restaurant, 3500 Ramona Boulevard, Monterey Park, CA, 91754, (323) 268-4177
Cost: $30 – Members, $35 – Non-members, $15 – Students
Program: Marianne Jeffers, Section Head, LA County Mapping and GIS Services and Mark Greninger, Geographic Information Officer, LA County – “How LA County Public Works Improves Services with GIS”
OpenStreetMap Mapathon
Hi SoCalGIS group,
We’re reaching out to you and your organization about an upcoming mapathon Saturday April 2nd (http://meetu.ps/2Wjm0m) at the LA Times in downtown LA to get people together to edit OpenStreetMap and import all the buildings in the City of Los Angeles!
This is part of a larger effort to import all 3 million buildings in Los Angeles County using open data from the LARIAC (Los Angeles Region Imagery Acquisition Consortium) Program and the L.A. County Assessor. The import will improve Southern California’s maps by adding building shapes and data on heights, elevation, general use, year built, and the number of residential units. Continue reading
USGS Crowd-Sourced Structures Data Webinar
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
Geocortex User Group Meeting Today!
The Southern California Geocortex User Group Meeting is today from 1pm to 4pm at the City of Burbank. Location and parking info here. Hope to see you there!