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09 May 2013

QGIS equals no need for ESRI anymore.

QGIS equals no need for ESRI anymore.

Quantum GIS is replacing our ArcGIS platform. Simple












Why, with the up and coming of QGIS 2.0 (currently at 1.9 alpha)

Why the big move, simply to save money.

Over the years Quantum GIS has come a long way, large community, lots of talented programmers giving up their time to create a Open Sourced GIS.

For us we use oracle there is a custom built model that needs to be forced into an ESRI to fit their model to be used.
We have materialized view, synonyms that need to be plain spatial tables 















 
The key to this move is the direct connecting to Oracle. No need for ArcSDE or versions, just put in the connection details and load that data.

A huge cost saving, when you have hundreds of users.

What about the support?
With the huge community base and other GIS community sites (GIS Stack Exchange) it is becoming more efficient to search and ask online than it is to have a technical person who does not have any knowledge of your GIS model.
90% of our issue in-house are solved completely.
What about the 10% in most cases there is a workaround the impact is the time to work on it. 


http://www.qgis.org/
Download (current release 1.8)
http://hub.qgis.org/projects/quantum-gis/wiki/Download

Weekly Download (Windows) 1.9 Alpha
http://qgis.org/downloads/weekly/
Do some testing and find out.




02 May 2013

OpenStreetMap GPS Data Visualised

OpenStreetMap GPS Data Visualised

All the raw gps data - the fundamental part for creating the OpenStreetMap project is shown on this map













gpx file index (source)
http://planet.openstreetmap.org/gps/

*some older traces & private one are not shown.

Map of GPS Traces
http://zverik.osm.rambler.ru/gps/#zoom=5&lat=51.89&lon=4.76 

Regional Extracts
http://zverik.osm.rambler.ru/gps/files/index.html 

OpenStreetMap
http://www.openstreetmap.org/



22 April 2013

GIS Stack Exchange Election has started 22nd April 2013.






GIS Stack Exchange Election has started 22nd April 2013.

2 Moderator positions available 7 worthy candidates in the running

(Good luck to all and please vote.)

not part of GIS Stack Exchange? this is becoming a huge knowledge base of nearly 20,000 questions and many thousands of good answers then sign up.)

FAQ

http://gis.stackexchange.com/faq

Update: Winners are Matt Wilkie (Yukon, Canada) and Ian Turton (UK)
congratulations














Vote Here:

http://gis.stackexchange.com/election

05 April 2013

Ordnance Survey Terrain 50 - OpenData

OS Terrain 50 - OpenData

OS Terrain 50. A new product, which has a similar resolution to Land-Form PANORAMA, will enable users to access an advanced product with consistently maintained height content for the whole of Great Britain.

Land-Form PANORAMA was an unmaintained product and was last updated in the 1990s. The new product will give users more confidence in the currency of the data and will be supplied in additional formats, making it far more accessible.


 













OS Terrain 50 TM is a height product for Great Britain which enables you to add the third dimension to your regional scale applications. It is maintained alongside our other products to maximise interoperability between our data products. It benefits from comparatively lower data volumes for ease of use and data storage whilst enabling a realistic view of the landscape for risk assessment, development and environmental analysis.

OS Terrain 50 is shown overlaid by 1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster.

Download https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/opendatadownload/products.html


Source:
http://blog.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/2013/04/os-opendata-product-update-os-terrain-50/
 
 

03 April 2013

AutoCAD 2014 and Bing Maps

AutoCAD 2014 now has a built-in Geolocation feature and allows users to create and enhance their designs with Bing Maps geocoding and map data. Bing Maps inside AutoCAD 2014 brings in location context and results in more accurate and richer designs. The key geolocation workflows in AutoCAD 2014 supported with Bing Maps include:
  • Locate your AutoCAD design in the real-world using Bing Maps geocoding service
  • View your AutoCAD design in the real-world high resolution aerial and satellite imagery
  • Aggregate and overlay 2D and 3D geolocated data with your AutoCAD designs
  • Locate yourself on your AutoCAD design in the field using GPS and Bing Maps

















Overlaying your own data over Bing imagery


AutoCAD
http://www.autodesk.com/products/all-autocad

Source:
http://www.bing.com/blogs/site_blogs/b/maps/archive/2013/04/03/bing-maps-in-autocad-2014.aspx


19 March 2013

iD Open Street Map Editor

iD Open Street Map Editor


"iD is a project to develop a new, friendly editor for OpenStreetMap. It’s designed to offer newcomers an easy way into editing OSM. It’s intended to complement existing editing software, a simple editor to lead into Potlatch and JOSM. Why should Google Map Maker have all the fun?"











edit live
http://www.openstreetmap.us/iD/release/#layer=Bing&map=18.00/38.90080/-77.02140


more information:
http://ideditor.com/

19 February 2013

USPS Mapping Tool

USPS Mapping Tool
 
"You can map out a target area, select a delivery route and mailing drop off date, and pay online—all from your computer. And, you can create your mailings up to 30 days before you plan to mail them."

Every Door Direct Mail®



Find the customers who matter most. Every Door Direct Mail from the U.S. Postal Service® is designed to reach every home, every address, every time. Just sign in to your USPS.com account, pick your delivery routes, let us know when you'd like to drop off your order, and we'll take care of the rest.


https://eddm.usps.com/eddm/customer/routeSearch.action

*cost are approximate.

23 January 2013

Skobbler's Tile Servers - Examples

A section contains examples of skobbler's tile server solution for map tile integration with Leaflet, OpenLayers and Google Maps API v3.





















Openlayers example


Skobbler's tile servers solution is fully compatible with the most popular Java Script frameworks. You can use this solution for frameworks like Leaflet, OpenLayers and Google Maps API v3.
The URLs for the tile servers are:
http://tiles1.api.skobbler.net/tiles http://tiles2.api.skobbler.net/tiles http://tiles3.api.skobbler.net/tiles http://tiles4.api.skobbler.net/tiles
The URLs are formatted in the standard form, as it is required by the frameworks mentioned above.
 

For example: http://tiles1.api.skobbler.net/tiles/z/x/y.png?api_key=[YOUR_SKOBBLER_API_KEY]


Example:
http://developer.skobbler.com/demo/skobbler-tiles-openlayers.html 

Embedded Solution an easy way to put maps on your website:
http://developer.skobbler.com/web-tiles/embedded


Best of all - You can use skobbler tiles for free - for up to 100,000 map views per month.

http://developer.skobbler.com/web-tiles
 

03 January 2013

Google Maps SDK for iOS

Google Maps SDK for iOS

 With the Google Maps SDK for iOS, you can add maps based on Google maps data to your application. The API automatically handles access to the Google Maps servers, map display, and response to user gestures such as clicks and drags. You can also use markers, polylines, and info windows to your map. These objects provide additional information for map locations, and allow user interaction with the map.

Developing an application with the Google Maps SDK for iOS requires the following:

  • Xcode 4.5 or later.
  • iOS SDK 6.0 or later.
Applications that use the Google Maps SDK for iOS will work on iOS 5.1 and above.











Creating Google Maps on iOS, you will need to download the Google Maps SDK for iOS and ensure that you have an API key
 
https://developers.google.com/maps/ios-access 

Source:
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/ios/

12 December 2012

Mining Atlas

Mining Atlas - Explore over 10'000 Mines and Projects

A nice integration of using Google Earth that allows users to explore mining activities across the planet, either use the search bar or zoom into areas using the map to find mines.

The tour feature is a good addition that zoom,pans and tilts the Google earth camera around the selected mines - tour is automatically on as default.

There are also printing and distance measurement tools (in KM) that can be used.












To experience this altas go to:

http://www.mining-atlas.com/featureSection/The_Biggest_Mines_in_the_World_Introduction.php

Source and thanks to Dominique Pitot

04 December 2012

Google Maps Android API v2


Google Maps Android API v2

New Features

With the new version of the Google Maps Android API, developers can utilize Google Maps to its fullest. We’ve incorporated many of the highly-requested features developers want, such as:
  • More dynamic and flexible UI designs for large screen Android devices, such as tablets, using Android Fragments
  • Adding more Google Maps layers in their apps including satellite, hybrid, terrain, traffic and now indoor maps for many major airports and shopping centers
  • The ability to create markers and info windows with less code
  • The maps in the Google Maps Android API v2 can be tilted and rotated with easy gestures, giving users the ability to adjust the map with an orientation that makes sense for them. At any zoom level, you can pan the map, or change its perspective with very little latency thanks to the smaller footprint of the vector-based map tiles. Many cities, when viewed close up, will have 3D buildings visible, as viewable in the below picture of Vancouver, Canada.


26 minute youtube video of the Google Maps v2 update:
 

source:
http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/12/better-maps-in-your-android-apps.html








19 November 2012

Firefox OS and Nokia Offline Maps

Firefox OS and Nokia Offline Maps
 
A nice discovery when using the the pre-release of Firefox OS.
NOKIA OFFLINE MAPS

 



















Users can download Maps from Nokia using FireFox OS.

Installing FireFox simulator 0.7 (http://onsoftware.en.softonic.com/hands-on-withmozillas-firefox-os)

Then using Firefox install from local file.




Go the Simulator of FireFOX OS.

GO TO MAPS

Nokia Powered Maps then give you the option to download areas.
Save the Maps (between 4 & 18mb in testing)

Disconnect - Firefox  'work offline'

 








View the maps in Offline Mode

Note: This is still alpha - there will be bugs...

Please Report Bugs. https://github.com/mozilla/r2d2b2g/issues

08 November 2012

Mapumental Interactive Travel Time Maps

Mapumental Interactive Travel Time Maps

If you’ve been following mySociety for a while, you’ll know that we have been interested in making maps that show commuting times for several years.
However, we’ve never made public a simple, free, useful version of our slidy-swooshy Mapumental journey times technology"

Propertied for Rent/Purchase are also available to be added to the map if the user wishes to do so.

Using the slider you can adjust interactively your commuting time which updates the time-travel-polygon mask on the map.













This example available - http://property.mapumental.com/map/KT12SE-a-0900/a9bc8122#t28


More information
http://www.mysociety.org/2012/11/08/mapumental-property-launches/

Website:
http://property.mapumental.com/
 
 

29 October 2012

English Constituency Boundary Changes Map

English Constituency Boundary Changes Map

Nicely put together using Openlayers and Boundary-line Data to create a map that shows changes between Constituency Boundaries

 There are some interesting patterns – many urban areas, such as London, have undergone very significant redrawing, while many rural areas – historically with higher constituency populations – remain untouched.












Oliver O'Brien comments on creating the map:

"Technical note, this is my first pure HTML5 map. It also takes advantage of simpler ways of setting up maps in the latest release of OpenLayers, 2.12. It means it is out-of-the-box compatible with mobile browsers, and the HTML, JavaScript (including a JQueryUI slider) and CSS adds up to less than 200 lines of code – the only other code used being a couple of Mapnik XML stylesheets for rendering the two maps themselves."


Source and Author of the Map
http://oliverobrien.co.uk/2012/10/boundary-change-map/

The Boundary Change Map
http://boundaries.spatialanalysis.co.uk/