Geo-information and Planning

ESRI Thailand Flood Map

2011-10-31T05:42:00.002+08:00

To many people, the tone may be of marketing, but I think it is ineluctable that ESRI as a world corporate citizen are showcasing the GIS technology that they have created and know best and use it in undertaking social responsibilities. The latest in the series would be the ESRI Thailand Flood Map, a respond to the major flood crisis that hit Bangkok Chao Phraya river basin since July 2011 and is still on-going as we speak. The flood waters so far have affected at least 2 million people in the region.

On ESRI Thailand Flood Map there are the social media features as seen in previous incident response pages from ESRI such as for the 2010 Haiti earthquake response. The supported social medias are YouTube, twitter and Flickr and it also allows page sharing via Facebook and twitter.

The Flood Map is also rich in data services. It integrates data services from road transport authorities (such as affected roads and recommended roads), and the flood extent data interpreted from optical satellite (SMAC) and radar satellite (GISTDA).

ESRI Thailand Flood Map

On similar note, if you interested, you may find the ESRI Global Incident Viewer that shows where major floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, fires, and cyclones are happening right now.

ESRI Global Incident Viewer

Top 10 improvements in ArcGIS for Desktop 10.1

2011-10-18T03:06:00.000+08:00

Right, most people are still on ArcGIS 9.3.x or ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 1/2.

But yes, ArcGIS for Desktop 10.1 is out there for beta testers by now. Note that now it is called ArcGIS for Desktop.

Looking through this video footage from ESRI User Conference 2011, a number of long awaited tools are coming our way, especially

the Geodatabase Administration Tools,
Editor Tracking, and
Geotagging photos to point feature classes (well, I think there should be an option to define the target storage for the photos, and not only just as geodatabase attachment feature).

Look here for Q&As on What's coming in 10.1.

For old timers, time to say goodbye to the followings:

ArcGIS 10.1 is the end of Esri's support of VBA as a development or customization language for ArcGIS.
ArcInfo Workstation will not ship with ArcGIS 10.1. ArcGIS 10 was the last release of ArcInfo Workstation.
ArcIMS 10 was the last release. Its entire functionality has been replaced by ArcGIS for Server.

If you have not -- it is time to get used to Python, Web Services and REST API. And Cloud GIS.

A Geoportal for Development Plan in Malaysia

2011-10-17T05:28:00.002+08:00

Courtesy of Integrated Geoplanning Sdn. Bhd., a planning and geographical information services company resided in Kuala Lumpur, here is some good examples of web mapping for development plan in Malaysia. So much had been said with regards to the use of GIS and web mapping technology to convey Proposed Plan in the context of urban planning yet nothing come best with some real examples like these.

There is more work to do, of course, especially for folks at Integrated Geoplanning Sdn. Bhd. Honestly speaking, the current web services is performing reasonably good, obviously it doesn't fly without a cached map service. The web mapping portals are heavily customized, with hyper links to the planning reports and online guides (with several broken links though!). Needless to say, it requires continues funding from the government agencies. Nonetheless, I guess soon the team would realized that it would take a lot more than just a map server and a few people to cope with demand from end users, and to be able to demonstrate the real benefits of using web GIS in participatory planning.

Go ahead and have a look at http://onemapserver.com/.

SSDM data example animation

2010-05-30T09:30:00.000+08:00

RSO Borneo map grid used by Department of Lands and Surveys, Sarawak

2010-05-02T21:15:00.001+08:00

Rectified Skew Orthomorphic (RSO) Borneo map projection system used by the Department of Lands and Surveys, Sarawak has 2,000,000 m and 5,000,000 m defined as the False Easting and False Northing respectively in the projection parameters; otherwise the Easting and Northing coordinates enter into negative values in the western most region of Sarawak, i.e. somewhere beyond Sematan area of Lundu district. Negative coordinates values are less flavourable for the purpose of coordinates computation and cadastral mapping.

As such, the modified version of the RSO Borneo projection parameters using EPSG:9812 Hotine Oblique Mercator (Variant A) (where the final rotation applied is at the natural origin) should look like this:

Latitude of projection centre	4	sexagesimal DMS
Longitude of projection centre	115	sexagesimal DMS
Azimuth of initial line	53° 18' 56.9537"	sexagesimal DMS
Angle from Rectified to Skew Grid	53° 7' 48.3685"	sexagesimal DMS
Scale factor on initial line	0.99984	unity
False easting	2,000,000	metre
False northing	5,000,000	metre

In ArcGIS (9.0 above), this map projection can be created easily by modifying from the existing projection file "Timbalai 1948 RSO Borneo Meters.prj" as in the following example:

File: Coordinate Systems\Projected Coordinate Systems\National Grids\Malaysia\Timbalai 1948 RSO Borneo Meters LnS Sarawak.prj

PROJCS["Timbalai_1948_RSO_Borneo_Meters",GEOGCS["GCS_Timbalai_1948",DATUM["D_Timbalai_1948",SPHEROID["Everest_Definition_1967",6377298.556,300.8017]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0.0],UNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]],PROJECTION["Rectified_Skew_Orthomorphic_Natural_Origin"],PARAMETER["False_Easting",2000000.0],PARAMETER["False_Northing",5000000.0],PARAMETER["Scale_Factor",0.99984],PARAMETER["Azimuth",53.31582047908623],PARAMETER["Longitude_Of_Center",115.0],PARAMETER["Latitude_Of_Center",4.0],PARAMETER["XY_Plane_Rotation",53.13010235415598],UNIT["Meter",1.0]]

Note that ESRI only support this map projection system from ArcGIS 9.0 onwards.

Once the above projection file is defined, it is easy to integrate map data from other Coordinate Reference Systems into the Department's geodatabases. Example of common translations available for this region are:

Geographic coordinates, WGS 84 datum (i.e. GPS data) <=> RSO Borneo LnS (Timbalai 1948 datum)
UTM Zone49N, Zone50N, WGS 84 datum <=> RSO Borneo LnS (Timbalai 1948 datum)

There are a few Datum Transformation parameters (3 parameters geocentric translations, 7 parameters transformation) listed in ArcGIS. If you have no other sources of parameters, use the Set 4 - Timbalai_1948_To_WGS_194_4 (Position Vector dx=-533.4, dy=669.2, dz=-52.5, rx=0.0, ry=0.0, rz=4.28, s=9.40).

The RSO Borneo (metres, Code EPSG::29873) on EPSG Registry (http://www.epsg-registry.org/). is based on EPSG Code:9815 Hotine Oblique Mercator (variant B), of which the final rotation is applied to the center of projection at
Easting 590476.87 m
Northing 442857.65 m

ArcGIS 10!

2010-01-14T19:04:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I heard that ArcGIS 9.4 is now offically renamed as ArcGIS 10, and it was announced by Jack Dangermond via Podcast.

ArcGIS Desktop 9.4 new features

2009-09-05T20:22:00.000+08:00

This video is one of the ESRI User Conference series demonstrating the new ArcGIS Desktop 9.4 3D features for city modelling - Line Of Sight and Skyline Analysis.

Pretty impressive.

Garmin GPS map data for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei

2009-06-06T09:42:00.006+08:00

The below two community-based GPS portals are a phenomenon of how Internet had shape the development of data content in a region. You are recommended to register with these two forums, in order to get the best out of them.

MSM http://www.malsingmaps.com/
A community based GPS portal of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. This is where you can download MSM Garmin and Mapking GPS map files. The guide to obtain unlock codes from the moderator is here.

MFM Malaysia, Singapore GPS free maps project
MFM is formed by GPS mapping enthusiasts formerly from GPSMappers.net and Malsingmaps.com. You can find the MFM Garmin GPS map data without unlock codes here.

ArcGIS Explorer 900 preview (youtube)

2009-03-01T09:46:00.004+08:00

GDB XRay 2.2

2008-04-26T20:49:00.002+08:00

GDB XRay is another great tool for geodatabase data modeller.

"GDB XRay provides tools for GIS Design and Documentation - you can "XRay" your Geodatabases and Map Documents. The purpose is to help people building GIS models to refine their design and documentation with round-trip, simple design tools."

However, do not expect a near to finish database diagram. It only generates graphic for each feature class and output into SVG format for user to copy & paste into their documents.

ArcGIS Diagrammer

2008-02-23T12:23:00.003+08:00

A great tool to complement ArcCatalog; not to be missed by any Geodatabase data modeler.
See also: http://mrrichie.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DD16C3F34F4D913E!776.entry

Lat/Lon or Lon/Lat?

2007-12-30T22:52:00.000+08:00

Here is another example of potential threat to coordinate integrity. Our mind is used to label cartesian coordinates in the order of X,Y (Easting,Northing). However, when come to geographic coordinates, more often we like to use Latitude/Longitude (Lat/Lon) instead of Lon/Lat; "Lon" being the X axis, and "Lat" is the Y axis.

We can be trapped in this seemingly trivial matter, as demonstrated by SQL Server 2008 team. See this Thread on MSDN http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2431933&SiteID=1 or http://geotips.blogspot.com/2007/12/they-called-it-off.html.

Map Asia 2007 - Kuala Lumpur

2007-08-22T10:34:00.000+08:00

Map Asia 2007 held in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre duing 14-16 August 2007 , is arguably one of the best GIS conferences in recent years in Malaysia, with an impressive turn out of delegates, visitors, and exihibitors.

Among the exhibitors are GIS software vendor, photogrammetry and remote sensing companies, and data service providers, including big name like ESRI, Bentley, Fugro Earth Data, Digital Globe, Leica Geosystem and Microsoft-Vexcel photogrametry.

I am in particular enjoyed the great Keynote address by Dr. Frank Leberl, 62-year old professor on Microsoft photogrammetry and Virtual Earth. Dr. Frank is very energitic. Microsoft acquired his Vexcel Corporation in 2006. He shows an interesting technology preview of Microsoft Photosynth.

The other powerful Keynote presentation is by Dr. David Maguire, ESRI. He pointed out that Geo-technology is one of the three major growth area incordance to US Bureau of Labor, after Nano-tech and Bio-tech. He conclude that GIS is central to economic development, a key component of sustainable develoment and an organising framework for challenging local and global issues.

If I may spot some trends and observations from the exhibition and forum that would be:

China and Taiwan technology company started to push their GIS software: Supermap, SuperGIS, Korean is also represented by GAIA ubiquitous gis web server,
Vendor offer opportunity for integration, such Leica ERmapper's Image Integration Frame (IIF) for vector data on Image Web Server, and Bentley's KML - Google earth support.
Growing or rather 'rejuvenisation' of photogrammetry, sparked by Google Earth's success,
A lot of Laser Ranging (LiDAR), including some success stories of its application in Malaysia context.

Map Asia 2007 is an annual event organised by GIS Development Sdn. Bhd.

GUI Administrator Tool for ArcSDE

2007-07-03T21:50:00.001+08:00

The idea of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) based administrator tool for ArcSDE is not new, but ESRI has left it for other to develop. A Columbian's product, TuxedoDB for ArcGIS ArcSDE is certainly welcomed by GIS and SDE Administrators.

URL: http://www.geommatters.com/

SmartExporter - ArcMap 9.1/9.2 Layout/Map to DXF Export Filter

2007-06-28T22:34:00.000+08:00

Found this interesting GIS-CAD integration product in ArcScript http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=14823

SmartExporter is an ArcMap export filter for exporting maps and complete layouts (including title, north arrow, legend, layer symbology, etc.) to AutoCAD DXF format. More information available at http://www.gisexpertsolutions.com/

Project Copier MXD for ArcGIS

2007-06-26T21:04:00.000+08:00

ArcGIS toolkit good for packaging GIS project for transfer and archive --

"A comprehensive data duplication and map document transporting utility, allowing you to copy ArcGIS 8.x (mxd) map documents and referenced data sources to a specified output location."
http://www.spatial-online.com/ProjectCopierMXDforArcGIS.htm

Impressive colour of life - from CPAnet.cn

2007-05-02T22:51:00.000+08:00

Source: http://www.cpanet.cn/gcms/end.php?news_id=8275

More on ArcSDE & PostgreSQL

2007-03-25T11:43:00.000+08:00

See Paul Ramsey (http://geotips.blogspot.com/)
More on Spatial Types and SDE

Hm... ArcSDE 9.3 to support PostgreSQL

2007-03-15T21:41:00.000+08:00

Interesting Q&A extracted from ESRI Developer Summit 2007

Software Strategy

Q: What are the plans for supporting the PostgreSQL database with ArcGIS Server (ArcSDE technology) and when will this functionality be available?

ArcGIS Server (ArcSDE technology) will support the PostgreSQL database at the ArcGIS 9.3 release. This will further enhance ESRI's commitment to make its technology compatible and integrated with Open Source software technologies. The enterprise geodatabase and all of its standard capabilities will be fully supported. It will be OGC/ISO compliant and the PostGIS geometry type will be supported. In addition, ESRI will also provide its own spatial type for storing geometries in PostgreSQL.

Palm oil biodiesel has ugly downside

2007-03-11T18:16:00.000+08:00

America's drive for energy independence and clean air could threaten orangutans, Sumatran tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses and the world's largest butterflies. All could be hurt as the rainforests of Southeast Asia are cleared to produce palm oil for use in biodiesel.

It's the downside of the crash effort to rein in global warming.

See http://www.miamiherald.com/103/story/37991.html
Palm oil biodiesel has ugly downside BY LES BLUMENTHAL

Lim Kit Siang blog has been suspended by service provider

2007-01-20T20:38:00.000+08:00

Lim Kit Siang blog has been suspended by service provider -- didn't pay bill?

Beijing December '06 - cold and vibrant

2006-12-20T17:04:00.000+08:00

Seismic data SEG-Y free viewer

2006-11-20T22:06:00.000+08:00

SeiSee -- a program shows seismic data in SEG-Y format on screen of your personal computer (Windows-9X, NT, 2000, XP). http://www.dmng.ru/seisview/

ESRI into Open Source: 52°North Initiative

2006-11-05T11:19:00.000+08:00

52°North Initiative for Geospatial Open Source Software GmbH

2006: SUPP lost miserably

2006-10-15T12:06:00.000+08:00

2006的政治记忆。。。

人联惨败了

古晋--浮罗岸。