Mapping Sites Being Investigated by China

Wednesday May 07th 2008
Filed Under Features, Issues in GIS, Privacy Issues 

Min Yiren, vice head of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, claims that there are 10,000 illegal mapping web sites in China. Google, among others, is being investigated as part of an effort to get rid of mapping sites that don’t depict borders according to the requirements of the Chinese government. Additionally, sites that show sensitive areas are also being investigated.

Read more: China to investigate Google for illegal maps: official media

GIS Interoperability Elusive

Sunday May 04th 2008
Filed Under Features, Issues in GIS 

Government Computer News reports (Where GIS gets lost) that while almost 70% of United States government agencies are using some form of GIS, most agencies have developed their GIS data independently which often creates compatibility issues when using data from other agencies. Currently, there is no uniform standard for data creation and sharing among the various local, state and federal agencies that create and have a need to use other agency data. The article quotes Dan Ponte from the USGS: “Even within our own organization, being able to get information easily from one data system into another is not a simple task. We haven’t really cracked that nut.” GCN also has a sidebar article: Toronto police struggle with GIS’ success.

CO2 Emission Maps and Data

Tuesday April 08th 2008
Filed Under Data, Features 

Purdue University has announced the availability of high resolution CO2 emission maps and data for the United States. The Vulcan Project details carbon dioxide emissions at a level of detail more than 100 times previously available datasets. Additionally, CO2 emissions were calculated in 10 kilometer grids based on a method developed to “extract the CO2 information by transforming data on local air pollution, such as carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide emissions.” The data from the Vulcan Project is available for downloading. You can also check out the map in action via YouTube.  Researchers on the Vulcan Project are also working on Hestia, a project that will look at global CO2 emissions.

Carbon Map of the United States

Top Causes of Errors in Online Mapping Systems

Tuesday April 08th 2008
Filed Under Features, Internet Mapping 

Spatial data errors in online mapping and GPS navigation systems can send travelers off on the wrong route sometimes with comical but sadly, sometimes deadly results.  Having been burned by trusting online driving directions before, Chris Silver Smith from Search Engine Land reviews the top reasons online mapping sites have bad data.  Reasons he lists for bad data include inaccurate base data, accuracy of geocoding, lag time to incorporate newly developed areas and difficulty in interpreting variations on addresses.

Take Control of Your Maps

Tuesday April 08th 2008
Filed Under Features, Internet Mapping, Open Source 

Paul Smith (developer of EveryBlock), has a broad article entitled “Take Control of Your Maps” on the “A List Apart” site that takes a look at open source online mapping options other than Google Maps. The article is a good introduction to some of the basics of getting started with open source map servers such as OpenLayers. Getting into mapping options other than Google Maps can be necessary for those looking to have more control over the design elements of their online mapping application. The article also gets into some of the basics of rendering, looking at scale dependency and labeling although disappointingly the article refers to GIS as graphical information systems.

Ancient Tree Hunt

Monday April 07th 2008
Filed Under Conservation Biology, Features, Internet Mapping 

With the plea, “Help us to find and map all the old, fat trees across the UK,” the Ancient Tree Hunt seeks to merge antique and modern mapping to identify and protect ancient trees across the United Kingdom.  Historic maps ranging from 1843 to 1893 have been overlayed onto modern geospatial data in an effort to identify the location of historic trees.  The site invites interested participants to use the interactive map to identify areas from the historic maps that contained trees.  Volunteers can then take that geographic information and head into the countryside to find and survey ancient trees.

Ancient Tree Hunt

Everyscape

Sunday September 09th 2007
Filed Under Features, Internet Mapping 

Everyscape is poised to launch their virtual version of the world this fall. Looking to compete with Google Earth, this flash based online mapping application will use panoramic photos to create a 3D view of the world not just just from the street but will also of interiors of buildings. The plan, according to the company is to “bridge the gap between the physical world and the virtual one by allowing people to search, find, and experience every aspect of a city or town.” Currently, a demonstration of Union Square in San Francisco is available for “test driving” with stated plans to cover Boston, New York and Seattle.

everyscape.png

Read more

First Impressions of the ESRI User Conference

Tuesday July 24th 2007
Filed Under ESRI, Features 

Both in their first year as full-time GIS professionals, Kristina Jacob and Marc Zuber attended their first ever ESRI International User Conference this past June in San Diego, California. As Geography graduates from California State University, Northridge, both found positions as GIS technicians for two cities located in the Southern California area. Their proximity to San Diego provided them with the opportunity to take advantage of the biggest annual ESRI conference in the world. Read more

ArcExplorer

Monday July 16th 2007
Filed Under ArcExplorer, Features 

Promoted during the plenary session at the recent ESRI International User Conference, ArcGIS Explorer on the surface looks like ESRI’s answer to Google Earth. As explained by Mark Bockenhauer and Bern Szukalski during a technical session at the User Conference, what takes ArcGIS Explorer beyond the mapping capabilities offered by other such applications is the ability to offer tasks in the form of geoprocessing tools and models. Read more

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