Bridging GIS, news, turorials, maps, free data

Jack Dangermond on A New Modality for GIS

2011-01-05T06:04:00.001-08:00

What Is GIS and How Can It Help Me

2010-10-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

EESRI founder Jack Dangermond on OpenStreetMap

2010-10-07T07:44:00.001-07:00

Interview with ESRI founder Jack Dangermond on OpenStreetMap from skobblertutorials on Vimeo.

Geospatial Revolution - Episode One

2010-09-16T09:01:00.001-07:00

Social media revolution - Facebook? Google? Twitter?

2010-08-16T11:04:00.000-07:00

Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos new augmented-reality mapping technology from Microsoft.

2010-07-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

BING MAPS

Blaise Agüera y Arcas is the architect of Bing Maps at Microsoft, building augmented reality into searchable maps. He's also the co-creator of Photosynth, software that assembles static photos into a synergy of zoomable, navigatable spaces.

Blaise Aguera y Arcas' background is as multidimensional as the visions he helps create. In the 1990s, he authored patents on both video compression and 3D visualization techniques, and in 2001, he made an influential computational discovery that cast doubt on Gutenberg's role as the father of movable type.

He also created Seadragon (acquired by Microsoft in 2006), the visualization technology that gives Photosynth its amazingly smooth digital rendering and zoom capabilities. Photosynth itself is a vastly powerful piece of software capable of taking a wide variety of images, analyzing them for similarities, and grafting them together into an interactive three-dimensional space. This seamless patchwork of images can be viewed via multiple angles and magnifications, allowing us to look around corners or "fly" in for a (much) closer look. Simply put, it could utterly transform the way we experience digital images. He's now the architect of Bing Maps at Microsoft, where he leads a team of researchers and engineers with strengths in social media, computer vision and graphics. He joined Microsoft when Seadragon was acquired by Live Labs in 2006. Shortly after the acquisition of Seadragon, Blaise directed his team in a collaboration with Microsoft Research and the University of Washington, leading to the first public previews of Photosynth several months later. His TEDTalk on Seadragon and Photosynth in 2007 is rated one of TED's "most jaw-dropping."

"Perhaps the most amazing demo I've seen this year."

Ethan Zuckerman, TED attendee and Global Voices blogger

click

DWG to SHP [from AutoCAD to ArcGIS]

2010-06-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

CONVERT DWG TO SHP!

If you do a lot of work in both ArcGIS and AutoCAD, as i do, you will know the difficulties of converting between the two. Although AutoCAD files can be directly imported into ArcGIS and ArcGIS can export to DWF files (which are directly compatible with AutoCAD), jumping between the two can have extremely annoying hidden difficulties.

This post, as well as this blog, will focus on working in the two environments and making your work mesh together in concert. This post is a guide for to simply add Autodesk Autocad DWG drawings into ArcGIS 9.2. So, without further ado...

As with any ArcGIS document, you need to make sure that you .DWG file is saved in a directory that is no further than two folders from the root drive. In addition, you must make sure that there are no spaces in the folder or filenames. eg. c:\Arc\GIS\cadfile.dwg

Next open and save a ArcMap document in the same folder. There can be spaces in this filename. Add data to the data frame > select the autoCAD document you wish to import. If the CAD is simplistic and is only one layer, you are done! However, since 99% of CAD documents do not fall within this description, you are not done.

The CAD document, by default, combines all the layers, annotation, etc... into one group layer in ArcGIS. You can expand this group layer and see the nonsensical way it displays the 5 layers within it by default - complete with annoying ArcGIS random colours and and strange coordinate/range descriptions. They will fall under categories like annotation, point, polygon, polyline etc... These are the filetypes that ArcGIS is most familiar with, but who wants them in one layer!? And the descriptions of the symbology is equally confusing. eg. continuous 4,62 etc...

Your goal is most likely to seperate the layers back to the point that they used to be when you had them in AutoCAD 2008 (or whatever version you are using). You may want all of the layers or you may want a select few. The process, as of right now, is somewhat confusing. I am currently working on a more streamlined process and will be blogging about it soon. But for now here is the method for extracting autocad layers from ArcGIS:

To do this, we must first right click on the CADD layer within the group layer > properties > drawing layers tab > then click disable all > then click the first of the layers you want to isolate (only one unless you want to combine several layers into one layer).

Close the window > right click again on the layer > go to data > expand it > click export data...
> chose a place to save the file and a file name and voila!

You have a layer that is an ESRI shape file (.shp). You can repeat this conversion process for each of the AutoCAD layers you want made into ESRI ArcGIS layers.

As I said, I am currently writing code to streamline this process and it will be done and posted on these forums soon!

also you can used CadToShape ... trial version here!

Bizarre Map Challenge 2010

2010-05-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

click - Bizarre Maps - click

The Bizarre Map Challenge is a map design competition open to high school, college, and university students in the United States. The goals of this challenge are: to promote spatial thinking; increase awareness of geospatial technology; and inspire curiosity about geographic patterns and map representation in students and the broader public.

More about this map!

WORLD LARGEST IMAGE - PARIS

2010-04-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

Paris 26 Gigapixels is a stitching of 2346 single photos showing a very high-resolution panoramic view of the French capital (354159x75570 px). Dive in the image and visit Paris like never before!

PARIS 26 GIGAPIXEL

Yushu, China Earthquake 14 April 2010

2010-04-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

A series of strong earthquakes struck a mountainous Tibetan area of western China on April 14, 2010, killing hundreds of people and injuring more than 10,000 as houses made of mud and wood collapsed. Less than 24 hours later, DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird satellite collected this image over Yushu China. The following imagery presentation provides an initial view of the extensive damage seen throughout the area.

Before Earthquake

After Earthquake

Burj Khalifa. Dubai, United Arab Emirates

2010-03-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

This half-meter resolution satellite image features the Burj Khalifa building, located along the Sheikh Zayed Road in the heart of downtown Dubai. The skyscraper stands 828 meters (2,717 feet) high and is the tallest manmade structure in the world. The image was taken by the GeoEye-1 satellite from 423 miles in space on Feb. 9, 2010 as it moved from north to south over the United Arab Emirates at a speed of four miles per second. (click to download)

Car chase in Google Maps

2010-02-27T16:19:00.000-08:00

For a little fun, watch this animated car chase short video which uses imagery pulled from Google Earth (the description of the video says Google Maps but clearly the opening zoom from the world down to the streets of Manhattan is pure Google Earth). The video was created by Honest which is the directing team of Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion. The video is a very short (just over one minute) excursion through the busy streets of New York with periodic car crashes and tread marks burned into the pavement. Hope you like it! :)

Satellite Car Chase from Honest Directors on Vimeo.

World’s Highest Resolution Pictures [ I ]

2010-02-18T15:26:00.000-08:00

Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California.

Angel Stadium of Anaheim (originally Anaheim Stadium and later Edison International Field of Anaheim) is a modern-style ballpark located in Anaheim, California. It is the home ballpark to Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of the American League, and was previously home to the NFL's Los Angeles Rams (now St. Louis Rams). The stadium is often referred to by its unofficial nickname The Big A.

Machu Picchu, Peru

Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,430 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438-1472). Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World. Collected September 8, 2003.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

This half-meter resolution image of Vancouver, British Columbia was collected by the GeoEye-1 satellite on April 26, 2009. The full image features the Olympic and Paralympic Village Vancouver, home to the athletes for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games. The village is located on the southeast side of False Creek.

Bucharest State Circus Park & Dinamo Bucharest Stadium. Romania

This satellite image of Bucharest, Romania was taken from 423 miles in space by the GeoEye-1 satellite on Sept. 23, 2009. The image shows the Bucharest State Circus building and surrounding park. The State Circus building hosts local and touring circus troupes and can accommodate over 3,500 spectators.

The Colosseum, Rome, Italy

This satellite image of Rome, Italy was taken from 423 miles in space by the GeoEye-1 satellite on Sept. 11, 2009. The image shows the Colosseum, which has 50,000 seats and was the largest amphitheatre ever built during the Roman Empire.

Dubai Airshow 2009, Airport Expo. Dubai, United Arab Emirates

This half-meter resolution satellite image of Dubai International Airport was taken from 423 miles in space by the GeoEye-1 satellite on Nov. 16, 2009 during the Dubai Airshow 2009. The airshow is the foremost aerospace event in the Middle East.

Haiti Earthquake Free Maps and Related Resources

2010-02-17T04:40:00.000-08:00

Maps, Web Maps, Open Source and related geospatial data and information related to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti

Haiti Earthquake GeoEye Satellite Maps on Google Earth - Working with satellite imaging company GeoEye, Google on Wednesday evening updated its imagery of Haiti to reflect the devastation of 12 Tuesday's earthquake.

Click here to view with Google Earth or to download

Latest Worldwide Earthquakes List
or the
Latest USA Earthquakes List

ERDAS Apollo Web Service

DigitalGlobe - Haiti Coverage map (pdf)

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA’s Terra spacecraft captured this false-color image of Haiti on January 21, 2010, nine days after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the region and caused massive damage and loss of life, and one day after a large 5.9 aftershock caused additional damage.

While ASTER’s 15-meter (50-foot) resolution is not sufficient to see damaged buildings, it can be used to identify other results of the shaking. Tiny dots of white against the plant-covered landscape (red in this image) are possible landslides, a common occurrence in mountainous terrain after large earthquakes. The possible landslides were identified by carefully comparing the new image with an image acquired one year ago.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, is silver in the false-color image. The rivers are pale blue, while the ocean is dark blue. Exposed soil is white. See the picture here

NASA 7.0 Quake Near Port Au Prince satellite image on January 21, 2010

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

We've worked closely with GeoEye throughout the afternoon to make their most recent satellite imagery of Haiti, taken at approximately 10:27am EST today, available as a KML overlay for Google Earth. You can download the KML here and open it in Google Earth, or look at it via the browser plug-in below. As you'll see, the imagery shows a powerful glimpse into the destruction in Haiti. Here are before-and-after screenshots of the Presidential Palace and an area of Port-au-Prince:

click to see full-size

We will continue to automatically update the layer (you'll only need to download it once) as we are able to make more imagery and data available.

New York Times - Relief map showing magnitude of the disaster

Earthquakes with 1,000 or more deaths since 1900

New York - 1924-2008 - City Map Airphotos

2010-02-10T05:59:00.000-08:00

CITY MAP - NEW YORK - AIRPHOTOS

History can be viewed in many ways, but man I’m I excited about this. I feel like I just found a time machine. NYC.gov has recently launched a Google-esque interactive aerial map of New York in 1924! I have now spent many hours obsessively traveling (virtually) all over the city to see how its changed. I’ve compiled some of my findings here to save everyone some time. Among other things you’ll see that the city was still sans airports in 1924, that there used to be another huge reservoir in Central Park, that the waterfront was much busier back then and that the city is much greener now than it used to be. This is a before and after history of New York City told by comparing aerial photography from 1924 and 2008. Much has changed in 84 years, and much has stayed the same. Here are some examples and observations.

All images are from NYC.gov. They were originally taken by Arthur S. Tuttle, Chief Engineer, Board of Estimate and Apportionment, who flew over the city in 1924 to document all of its landmarks.

You can navigate the map for yourself here

Click on the images below to enlarge.

The original World Trade Center complex was built from 1966 -1973. Battery Park City, an addition to Manhattan’s west side, was built where piers used to stand using landfill from the WTC construction.

Yankee Stadium (lower right) was only one year old in 1924. The stadium seen at the upper left is the Polo Grounds, home to the New York Giants (now in San Francisco). The Polo Grounds originally opened in 1890 and had just been renovated in 1923. It was demolished in 1964.

The waterfront around the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges was crowded with ships in 1924.

Union Square, one of the greatest public spaces in the world, was laid out in 1832 and rebuilt in 1882. It was looking pretty bare in 1924.

Columbus Circle has acquired more more circle-ness and vegetation.

The cathedral that was Penn Station was only 14 years old in 1924. It was demolished in 1963 and shoved underground to make way for Madison Square Garden.

Stuyvesant Town was a Robert Moses era project built in the mid 1940s. Its of the most iconic and successful of post-war private housing communities and was occupied mostly by WWII veterans’ families.

From wikipedia:
Before the construction of Stuyvesant Town, the neighborhood contained eighteen typical city blocks, with public schools, churches, factories, private homes, apartments, small businesses, and even relatively new modern-style apartment buildings. In all, 600 buildings, containing 3,100 families, 500 stores and small factories, three churches, three schools, and two theaters, were razed. As would be repeated in later urban renewal projects, some 11,000 persons were forced to move from the neighborhood. In 1945, The New York Times called the move from the site "the greatest and most significant mass movement of families in New York’s history" (NYT, March 3, 1945). The last residents of the Gashouse District, the Delman Family, moved out in May 1946, allowing demolition to be soon concluded.

The Empire State Building was still 5 years away. Buildings were still standing on its future site in 1924.

Built between 1943 and 1948 to relieve La Guardia’s traffic, JFK Airport was originally known as Idlewild after the Idlewild Golf Course it replaced

La Guardia Airport was built on fairgrounds previously used by the Gala Amusement Park. It originally opened as a private flying field named Glenn H. Curtiss Airport. It was later named North Beach Airport before being turned into a commercial airport and named New York Municipal Airport in 1939. It was renamed La Guardia, after the NYC mayor that championed it, in 1947.

Coney Island picked up some new sand. The Cyclone roller coaster (on the right side of the 2008 picture, was built in 1927. There’s another roller coaster standing in its place in 1924. The iconic red Parachute Jump structure seen below the baseball stadium in the 2008 image, was not built until the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Bryant Park, originally built as Reservoir Square in 1847. The park has suffered many ups and downs throughout its history. In 1878, the new Sixth Avenue Elevated railway cast a shadow on the park, leading to neglect until the 1930s. It was redesigned in 1933 as a Great Depression public works project under Robert Moses, but again neglected after the El was taken down and construction began on the Sixth Ave Subway line. By the 70s, the park, the known as Needle Park was a haven for drug dealers, prostitutes and the homeless. The park was cleaned up through the 80s and redesigned completely in 1988. As you can see its looking a little better now then in 1924.

Central Park’s Great Lawn used to be a the Lower Reservoir. As the Croton-Catskill Reservoir system was completed, to satisfy New York City’s need for water, the Lower Reservoir came to be redundant. It started getting drained in 1930. It became a “Hooverville” of improvised shacks as it stood idle before being completed as the Great Lawn during La Guardia’s mayoral administration in 1936. The Metropolitan Museum, founded in 1870 and moved to its Central Park location in 1880, is the large structure seen in the park in the middle of the image.

Prospect Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux of Central Park (and many others) fame, opened in 1867. Its only 57 years old in this picture.

These are Hyperakt’s stomping grounds. The studio is located just a few blocks from the Gowanus Canal, a commercial waterway completed in 1869.

From wikipedia:
After World War I, with six million annual tons of cargo produced and trafficked though the waterway, the Gowanus Canal became the nation’s busiest commercial canal, and arguably the most polluted. The heavy sewage flow into the canal required regular dredging to keep the waters navigable.

Factories, warehouses, tanneries, coal stores, and manufactured gas refineries sprang up as a result of its construction. Much of the brownstone quarried in New Jersey and the upper Hudson was placed on barges with lumber and brick and shipped through the canal to build the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Park Slope.

The west side rail yards in Manhattan.

The Brooklyn Museum, designed by McKim, Mead, and White, opened its doors in 1897. The museum was originally intended to be about 4 times bigger, but funding for construction dried up.

Some things haven’t changed much. The Central Park Lake has always been filled with boaters.

The Brooklyn Dodgers played at Ebbets Field, located just northeast of Prospect Park in Brooklyn. It opened in 1913 so it was just 11 years old here. The stadium was demolished in 1960 after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957. It was replaced by a housing project.

Flushing Meadows was another Robert Moses pet project. It was a massive dumping ground in 1924. It was developed in the 1930s to house the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair and later also housed the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair. The blue circle in the map on the right is the Unisphere, the centerpiece icon of the latter World’s Fair. The Unisphere is a 12-story high, spherical stainless steel representation of the Earth.

The glorious Grand Army Plaza is at the northwest corner of Prospect Park. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1867. Brooklyn had some serious Paris envy.

Central Park’s Sheep Meadow.

Sara Roosevelt Park at Houston and 2nd Ave was built in 1934, 10 years after this picture. Check out the elevated subway on the Bowery.

Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Central Park was opened in 1859, completed in 1873. The park was designed by the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and the architect Calvert Vaux.

Click Here for NEW YORK CITY MAP !

Global 30 Arc-second Elevation Data : GTOPO30

2010-01-05T06:30:00.000-08:00

Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Find Data Products and Data Available Gtopo30 info

GTOPO30 is a global raster Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with a horizontal grid spacing of 30 arc seconds (approx. 1-km); the most popular, publicly available and complete global DEM dataset. And allows users to FREELY preview or DOWNLOAD Data.

GTOPO30 was derived from several raster and vector sources of topographic information. For easier distribution, GTOPO30 has been divided into tiles which can be selected from the map shown above. Detailed information on the characteristics of GTOPO30 including the data distribution format, the data sources, production methods, accuracy, and hints for users, is found in the GTOPO30 README link, at the end of this article.

Below, the GTOPO30 “easy-to-use” Data Download page:

GTOPO30, completed in late 1996, was developed over a three year period through a collaborative effort led by staff at the U.S. Geological Survey's Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS). The following organizations participated by contributing funding or source data: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the United Nations Environment Programme/Global Resource Information Database (UNEP/GRID), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica Geografica e Informatica (INEGI) of Mexico, the Geographical Survey Institute (GSI) of Japan, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research of New Zealand, and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR).

GTOPO30 is a global digital elevation model (DEM) with a horizontal grid spacing of 30 arc seconds (approximately 1 kilometer). GTOPO30 was derived from several raster and vector sources of topographic information. For easier distribution, GTOPO30 has been divided into tiles which can be selected from the map shown above. Detailed information on the characteristics of GTOPO30 including the data distribution format, the data sources, production methods, accuracy, and hints for users, is found in the GTOPO30 README file.

Click here to Access GTOPO30 Data Download page

European Digital Archive of Soil Maps - EuDASM

2009-12-25T02:46:00.000-08:00

European GLOBAL Digital Archive on Soil Maps

For some 40 years, ISRIC – World Soil Information has been providing significant support to the international science community by collecting and archiving regional, national and global-scale maps of soils and land resources.

Realizing the need to conserve the information on existing maps, which underpin the fast-developing thematic mapping strategies to support soil protection, the Institute of Environment and Sustainability (IES) in the European Commission and ISRIC came up with this project and the immediate objective is to transfer soil information into digital format, with the maximum resolution possible, to preserve the information of paper maps that are vulnerable to deterioration.

Beyond data rescue, the archive is expected to develop into a common platform for storing soil maps from around the world and making the information readily accessible. Organizations that maintain soil map archives in paper form, and wishing to conserve this information by transferring it into digital form, are invited to join the EuDASM program.

A Sample Soil map of Europe:

A Sample Soil map of Asia:

The initiative for this program was taken by Dr Luca Montanarella of the European Joint Research Centre and Dr Otto Spaargaren of ISRIC – World Soil Information in October 2004. The first level success for this initiative was figured out by completion of the around 2000 soil maps pertaining to the African continent. Through this digitization program the map quality and precision of information were preserved against further loss assuming to be required for future use by land resources specialists.

All the maps are categorized, and can be downloaded as below:

Africa
Asia
Canada
Caribbean islands
Europe
Latin America
United States of America

Click here to Access to Soil Maps

OR

Click here for complete details & see the Extent of coverage

GeoNetwork - The portal to FREE spatial data and information

2009-12-24T05:53:00.000-08:00

Find Interactive Maps, GIS datasets, Satellite Imagery and Related Applications

GeoNetwork opensource allows to easily download and share geographically referenced thematic information from hundreds of different organizations from around the world and find Interactive Maps, GIS datasets, Satellite Imagery and Related Applications. Its online database holds more than 450 different variables. Display them on-the-fly as maps, graphs, data tables or download the data freely in different formats.

Main Features are :

Instant search on local (FAO & UN) and distributed geospatial catalogues
Uploading and downloading of data, documents, PDF's and any other content
An interactive Web map viewer that combines Web Map Services from distributed servers around the world
Online map layout generation and export in PDF format
Online editing of metadata with a powerful template system
Scheduled harvesting and synchronization of metadata between distributed catalogues
Groups and users management
Fine grained access control

Search catalogue by topic:

Administrative and Political Boundaries
Agriculture
Applied Ecology
Biological and Ecological Resources
Climate
Fisheries and Aquaculture
Forestry
Hydrology and Water Resources
Land Cover and Land Use
Population and Socio-Economic Indicators
Soils and Soil Resources
Topography

GeoNetwork opensource is a standard based and decentralized spatial information management system, designed to enable access to geo-referenced databases and cartographic products from a variety of data providers through descriptive metadata, enhancing the spatial information exchange and sharing between organizations and their audience, using the capacities and the power of the Internet. The system provides a broad community of users with easy and timely access to available spatial data and thematic maps from multidisciplinary sources, that may in the end support informed decision making. The main goal of the portal is to increase collaboration within and between organizations for reducing duplication and enhancing information consistency and quality and to improve the accessibility of a wide variety of geographic information along with the associated information, organized and documented in a standard and consistent way.

Below, the detailed search interface which helps users to find exactly what they want !

GeoNetwork's purpose is:

To improve access to and integrated use of spatial data and information
To support decision making
To promote multidisciplinary approaches to sustainable development
To enhance understanding of the benefits of geographic information

Click here to ACCESS the GeoNetwork portal

copywright

Explore ArcGIS Explorer in a Free Training Seminar

2009-12-20T15:29:00.000-08:00

A new free training seminar covers everything you need to know to get started using ArcGIS Explorer, the free GIS viewer from ESRI. If you've used previous versions, the seminar offers an easy way to get up to speed on the latest ArcGIS Explorer features and capabilities and the enhanced interface. And you can't beat the price.

In just under an hour, you'll learn all the basics—how to navigate the various interface components, view content in 2D and 3D, and add different types of content to the default map. Then the cool stuff—you'll learn how to create popups, notes, and dynamic ArcGIS Explorer presentations (I like to call them geopresentations).

In the demo below, Bern Szukalski, senior product manager and technology evangelist at ESRI, shows how simple it is to create a geopresentation that will wow your audience. Why confine yourself to boring PowerPoint bullets when you can just click to add map "slides" that play in a live ArcGIS Explorer session?

Note: The demo is 15 MB and may take a moment to load.

click

Five step to process for GIS Analysis

2009-12-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

Fall has arrived, but data from last summer's ESRI Training survey is still being analyzed. One survey question asked respondents to tell us what GIS topics they would need training on in the next 12 months. The information gleaned from this question helps us focus our resources on developing training products that best meet our users' needs.

This year, it was gratifying to learn that the most requested training topic was "GIS analysis techniques and methods." More than 55 percent of respondents selected this topic. It just so happened that we got the report on the survey results around the same time we released our new instructor-led course, Performing Analysis with ArcGIS Desktop.

We took our time designing and developing this course (more than a year!) because we wanted to offer our users a signature course on analysis. After all, the power of a GIS to inform decision making derives from the robust analysis tools and capabilities it offers.

Performing Analysis with ArcGIS Desktop takes a holistic approach to teaching GIS analysis techniques and methods. The course is built around a five-step process you can apply to any project to generate reliable results for decision makers.

1. Frame the question
2. Explore and prepare data
3. Choose analysis methods and tools
4. Perform the analysis
5. Examine and refine results

Course exercises provide opportunities to practice with many ArcGIS analysis tools, including those used for site selection, surface analysis, weighted suitability modeling, and regression analysis, as well as spatial statistics tools used to examine data patterns and find hot spots. Some complex spatial modeling techniques like conditional branching using Python scripts and iteration are also covered.

If you're someone who needs training on GIS analysis, this signature course is the one to sign up for.

10 ArcMap Productivity Tips You Can Use Now

2009-12-17T07:09:00.000-08:00

The ArcGIS 9.4 release will include many productivity improvements to help you get your GIS work done faster. But ArcGIS 9.4 won't be released until next year—so here are some tips you can try out in ArcMap right away. The 10 shortcuts below can shave milliseconds off common tasks, and hey, milliseconds count when you're trying to get stuff done. You just may be able to get to lunch five minutes earlier and beat the crowd. That alone is going to save you at least 10 minutes, more if you're going to Old Ebbitt.

Working with Maps

To activate a data frame, hold down the Alt key and click the data frame name.
To create a copy of a layer within the same data frame, hold down the Ctrl key and drag the layer up or down. If multiple layers are selected, you can copy all of them at the same time by Ctrl-dragging. (When dragging a layer into a different data frame, the layer is copied by default. If you want to move a layer to a different data frame, hold down Ctrl while you drag it to the new data frame.)
Hold down the Alt key and click a layer name to zoom to the extent of that layer.
Select (click) a layer and press Enter to open its layer properties dialog box.
Hold down the C key while any tool is active to pan the map. Hold down X to zoom out, and Z to zoom in. This shortcut is especially useful when you need to select features that are geographically disbursed.

Working with Tables

To quickly open a table, hold down the Ctrl key and double-click a layer or table in the Table of Contents; alternatively, select the layer or table and press Ctrl+T.
Outside of an edit session, press the spacebar to select or unselect a row.
Press Ctrl+U to switch (reverse) a selection.
Double-click a field name to sort the field in ascending order. Double-click the field name again to sort in descending order.
Click a field name and press Ctrl+H to turn off (hide) the field. (To display the field again, go to the layer properties dialog box > Fields tab, check the field name, and click OK.)

You can find these tips and many others in the ArcGIS Desktop Help.

Global GEO Data Portal (FREE geospatial & statistical data)

2009-11-30T05:27:00.000-08:00

GEO Data Portal oferă INTEGRAL GRATUIT, accesul rapid şi uşor la o gamă largă de date statistice şi seturi de date geospaţiale. GEO Data Portal are autoritate pentru seturile de date utilizate de către UNEP şi partenerii săi din Fondul Global de Mediu Outlook (GEO) raportul şi alte evaluări integrate de mediu.

Baza sa de date online deţine mai mult de 450 de categorii diferite, de la nivel naţional, subregional, regional şi global, seturi de date geospatiale (hărţi), acoperind diferite teme cum ar fi de apă dulce, populaţia, padurile, emisiile, date climatice, catastrofele, date despre sănătate şi PIB. Afisandu-le ca harti, grafice, tabele de date sau le puteti descărca usor în diferite formate.

Noi seturi de date adăugate şi actualizate:

Participation in Treaties - Basel Convention, Participation in Treaties - Convention on Biological Diversity, Participation in Treaties - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Participation in Treaties - Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Participation in Treaties - Kyoto Protocol, Participation in Treaties - Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Participation in Treaties - Rotterdam Convention, Participation in Treaties - Stockholm Convention on Persistant Organic Pollutants, Participation in Treaties - United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Participation in Treaties - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Participation in Treaties - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate, Change (National Reports, UNFCCC), Participation in Treaties - Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol, Participation in Treaties - World Heritage Convention

Emissions of CH4, (National Reports, UNFCCC), Excluding Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry, Emissions of CH4, (National Reports, UNFCCC), Including Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry, Emissions of CO - Total (National Reports, UNFCCC), Emissions of CO2, (National Reports, UNFCCC), Excluding Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry, Emissions of CO2, (National Reports, UNFCCC), Including Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry, Emissions of HFCs, PFCs and SF6 - Aggregated (National Reports, UNFCCC), Emissions of NMVOC - Total (National Reports, UNFCCC), Emissions of NO2 (National Reports, UNFCCC), Excluding Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry, Emissions of NO2 (National Reports, UNFCCC), Including Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry, Emissions of NOX - Total (National Reports, UNFCCC), Emissions of SO2 - Total (National Reports, UNFCCC)

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Tehnicile vechi detronate de tehnologiile GIS

2009-11-30T04:21:00.000-08:00

Există zeci de definiţii încercând să surprindă esenţa noţiunii de GIS. Un Sistem Informatic Geografic, prescurtat GIS (Geographic Information System) este un ansamblu de persoane, echipamente, programe, metode şi norme având ca scop culegerea, validarea, stocarea, analiza şi vizualizarea datelor geografice
Pentru a reuşi să înţelegem mai bine conceptul de GIS şi avantajele ce decurg din utilizarea unor astfel de sisteme, am stat de vorbă cu Constantin Niţu, profesor universitar doctor inginer şi cu Florin Iosub, absolvent al Facultăţii de Geografie, specializarea GIS, în prezent angajat ca referent în cadrul firmei HidroGIS.

Ce reprezintă de fapt un GIS şi care sunt domeniile în care sunt utilizate astfel de sisteme? Cât de importantă este înlocuirea sistemelor clasice cu astfel de sisteme bazate pe tehnologie?

Constantin Nitu :În orice organizaţie economică, primărie, minister, unitate de învă-ţământ există trei subsisteme: de conducere, de execuţie şi informa-ţional. Subsistemul informaţional culege, organizează, stochează, prelucrează şi furnizează date şi informaţii. Partea din acest subsistem unde toate operaţiunile de mai sus se realizează cu calculatorul electronic şi cu reţeaua de comunicaţii constituie sistemul informatic. Iar dacă datele şi informaţiile au caracter geografic, sistemul devine sistem informatic geografic. Specialiştii apreciază că 80 la sută din totalitatea datelor şi informaţiilor au caracter geografic, fiind legate de poziţia pe Terra. Aşadar, domeniile sunt nelimitate, economic, financiar, transporturi, servicii de urgenţă, securitate naţio-nală, turism, alimentare cu energie electrică, colectarea gunoaielor. Convenim să îi spunem prescurtat SIG.

Florin Iosub: GIS-ul reprezintă combinarea administrării datelor cu conţinut şi indexare, reprezentării spaţiale şi a tehnicilor de analiză în scopul facilitării înţelegerii entităţilor lumii reale şi a interacţiunilor dintre acestea. Pentru un GIS performant avem nevoie de două componente principale: hardware şi software, subordonate celei de-a treia compo-nentă, cea umană. GIS-ul, sprijinit îndeaproape de teledetecţie produce hărţi digitale ale acoperirii/utilizării terenului, hărţi de hazard şi de risc la inundaţii, secete, hărţi cu delimitarea zonelor afectate de calamităţi. Totuşi, rezultatele obţinute dintr-un GIS nu se limitează doar la hărţi, prin utilizarea unui astfel de sistem sunt obţinute baze de date GIS dedicate tematic, produse derivate din info-plane GIS şi cel mai important, poate, estimări ale rezervelor de apă din stratul de zăpadă. În acelaşi timp, produsele cartografice digitale rezultate din imaginile satelitare reprezintă un suport real pentru studii ale spaţiului urban. Ca orice alt sistem, clasic sau modern, GIS-ul are în acelaşi timp avantaje şi dezavantaje. Din prima categorie putem enumera faptul că datele sunt mult mai eficient organizate, redundanţele înstocarea datelor sunt eliminate, utilizatorii au o productivitate mărită şi până la urmă, analizele, statisticile şi căutările sunt realizate mult mai uşor. Unul dintre riscurile GIS-ului este acela de a uita că produsele digitale nu sunt mult mai precise decât hărţile de la care provin, având în vedere acurateţea datelor prelevate în teren. Culegerea unor date eronate poate duce la erori şi mai mari, având ca rezultat un sistem greşit, metodele şi tehnicile neavând nici o vină, totul pornind de la munca de teren.

Folosirea unui sistem GIS înseamnă pe de o parte a răspunde activ la noile provocări tehnologice şi conceptuale. Ştim că se caută tot mai mult specialişti GIS, ca urmare a cererii mari de astfel de sisteme. Ce ne puteţi spune despre oferta actuală în domeniu de pe piaţa românească ?

Constantin Nitu : Un asemenea sistem este destul de complex. La realizarea lui participă specialişti din domenii diverse, geografi, cartografi, informaticieni, electronişti, topografi, geodezi, specialişti în reţele de comunicaţii, fotogrammetrişti, matematicieni, specialişti în teledetecţie, programatori, economişti şi lista ar putea continua. Nu suntem departe de nivelul mondial ca proiectare şi concepţie. Doar fondurile şi gândirea celor care iau decizii politice constituie probleme mai dificile. Ne străduim ca şi în învăţământul secundar să fie folosite noile tehnologii. Asta fiindcă deja în limbajul obişnuit intră noţiuni ca GPS, servicii bazate pe localizare, hartă electronică, hartă digitală. Acum, fiindcă sunt profesor de SIG şi cartografie asistată de calculator, să definim locul geografului în sistem. El este cel care defineşte datele geografice, respectiv date de poziţie şi date tematice, sursele acestor date, gradul de actualitate, precizia necesară, tehnologiile automate de culegere şi validare a acestor date, modul de organizare şi de structurare pentru o regăsire rapidă, uneori în timp real. Tot el este cel care concepe şi proiectează produsele cartografice, grafice sau multimedia furnizate utilizatorilor specializaţi şi marelui public. Cu pregătirea stăm binişor. Există acum specializare Mediu SIG, însă cu trecerea la programul Bologna dispare această specializare. Disciplinele se predau totuşi la specializarea cartografie, în primele două cicluri de pregătire. Iar pentru cine vrea să urmeze şi cel de al treilea ciclu, de pregătire prin doctorat, eu sunt conducător la doctorat la instituţia care m-a format, Academia Tehnică Militară. Există şi alte centre importante unde există asemenea cicluri, de exemplu masteratul în Geomatică de la Facultatea de Geografie din municipiul Cluj-Napoca, masteratul în GIS, Facultatea de Geografie din Timisoara sau cursurile Facultăţii de Geodezie din UTCB.

Florin Iosub: Din datele pe care le avem până în momentul de faţă, pe piaţa forţei de muncă din România oferta în domeniul Sistemelor Informaţionale Geografice este destul de scăzută. Deşi GIS-ul a început să se dezvolte încă de la sfârşitul anilor '50, în România este un domeniu nou şi privit cu reticenţă. Aceasta pe de o parte că nu există mulţi specialişti, iar pe de altă parte că mulţi dintre noi nu sunt încă deschişi către tehnologiile noi. Totuşi, se pare că în prezent există tot mai multe universităţi care oferă studii în domeniu, şi în acelaşi timp, există întotdeauna alternativa urmării unor cursuri postuniversitare în afară, dar de aici derivă un alt risc şi anume, pierderea unor specialişti în locul câştigării unora.

Tehnicile GIS permit combinarea de informaţii de diferite tipuri (cifre, imagini, hărţi), componente hardware şi software, toate aflate sub directa coordonare şi determinare a componentei umane. În cazul în care oferta de specialişti în domeniu este foarte scăzută pe când cererea este în continuă creştere, care va fi viitorul acestui domeniu în România?

Constantin Nitu: Omul este principala componentă a sistemului. El concepe, proiectează, utilizează şi întreţine toate componentele sistemului, inclusiv datele geografice. Amintesc faptul că pregătirea, aşa cum ştiu studenţii mei, se face pe bază de proiecte, în timpul orelor de laborator şi continuate acasă, numai cu folosirea calculatorului electronic. Consultaţiile se dau online iar temele şi rezolvările se transmit folosind web. Practica se face la instituţii de stat de specialitate sau la firme private. Pe timpul vacanţei studenţii se pot angaja la asemenea firme şi la terminarea studiilor se pot angaja definitiv. Unor studenţi le-am dat recomandări pentru studiile de master în ţări ca Anglia şi Germania. Viitorul ni-l croim noi. Deja au apărut grupuri de discuţii ( gis_romania@yahoogroups.com) ( geo-spatial@yahoogroups.com), apar specialişti de prestigiu, respectaţi de comunitatea specialiştilor, printre care aş aminti si foştii mei studenţi de la Academia Tehnică Militară şi de la Facultatea de Geografie a Universităţii din Bucureşti, precum cercetătorii Ion Nedelcu, Sorin Ştefan Andrei, Vasile Crăciunescu (iniţiator, împreună cu colegul meu, domnul Lector dr. Ştefan Constantinescu al site-ului bine apreciat de specialişti, cu adresa www.earth.unibuc.ro), Adrian Alexei, Tiberiu Tomoiagă sau foarte buni specialişti precum Virgil Dulgheru, Florin Iosub, Daniel Neacşu, Ionuţ Şandric, Dan Pomîrleanu, Monica Gheţu, Elena Dragomir, Andreea Guţu, Andreea Argeşanu, Ramon Amza şi mulţi alţii. Să nu uit de colegii mei care au participat la pregătirea studenţilor de la Facultatea de Geografie a Universităţii din Bucureşti, conf. Dr. Mihai Bogdan, lectori dr. Ştefan Constantinescu şi Cornel Tudose, asistent drd. Mircea Cristian Vişan şi Ionuţ Ovejanu, drd. Ionuţ Şandric şi mulţi alţii. Ei sunt pionierii!

Florin Iosub: În ultimii ani se poate observa o creştere a interesului asupra tehnologiilor GIS, ca de exemplu proiectul România Digitală. Problema e că în ţara noastră nu există încă organizaţii de profil care să promoveze şi să explice pe înţelesul tuturor ce înseamnă tehnologia GIS. Multe firme susţin că activează în domeniul GIS, însă GIS-ul nu constă în a vectoriza nişte hărţi vechi pentru a obţine altele noi, dimpotrivă, reprezintă o tehnologie foarte complexă şi necesită cunoştinte dintr-o gamă cât mai largă de domenii. Fie că vrem, fie că nu, pe viitor vom fi nevoiţi să utilizăm cât mai mult tehnicile GIS şi ca urmare a faptului că suntem constrânşi de Uniunea Europeană, toate ţările membre având un Sistem Informaţional Geografic foarte bine pus la punct. Deja există o mică comunitate în România în ceea ce priveşte utilizatorii de tehnici GIS în special a tehnologiilor oprnsource ce încearcă să promoveze aceste tehnici

Mulţumiri Anei Voitinovici

Sisteme Informationale Geografice

2009-11-30T04:14:00.000-08:00

Un sistem informatic geografic este un sistem dedicat gestionarii, analizei si afisarii informatiei geografice, ce este reprezentata de serii de seturi informationale cum ar fi: harti si reprezentari globale, seturi de date geografice, modele de prelucrare si de diagrame de lucru, modele de date, si metadate.

Decizii Bune Datorita Modelarii si Cartografierii Lumii Inconjuratoare

Un GIS poate oferi informatia necesara ce raspunde anumitor cerinte si nu in ultimul rand distribuirea acesteia si celorlalti utilizatori. Datorita vizualizarii relatiilor, a legaturilor, si a modelelor dintre date, veti putea lua cele mai bune decizii si veti asigura astfel si o crestere a eficientei profesionale in cadrul propriei organizatii.

In cadrul acestei sectiuni, veti putea gasi informatiile esentiale privitoare la instrumentele si beneficiile de care dispuneti la implementarea unui GIS.

GIS - ESRI

Tehnologia GIS trebuie sa evolueze constant pentru a oferi solutii tuturor utilizatorilor, indiferent de domeniu de aplicatii. ESRI este pregatitat pentru a raspunde acestor echimbari tehnologice.

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