Cross posted from HighEarthOrbit:

It’s time for the FortiusOne GeoCommons team to expand again – and we’re looking for an incredibly bright, hard working, and team oriented engineer to head up our operations team.

GeoCommons is unique among most web applications – it isn’t just deployed to the public web, but also to intranets, the cloud, and to the field. We have servers running in Jalabad, Afghanistan and Nairobi, Kenya, we help develop technology solutions within the Federal government and Intel, and work with Academia, disaster response, and major corporations.

Are you an engineer who likes playing with new technology and solving hard problems? Do you love writing Linux scripts that can deal with massively horizontally scaled servers or compressing systems to run on USB sticks? Do you have a passion for open data, open-source software, collaborative government, and cutting-edge technologies that help the world? An interest in mapping is obviously a plus.

Ping us through the blog, twitter, LinkedIn, email, or stop by our offices in Arlington VA to chat directly. And no, we don’t need any recruiters.

It’s time for the FortiusOne GeoCommons team to expand again - and we’re looking for an incredibly bright, hard working, and team oriented engineer to head up our operations team.

GeoCommons is unique among most web applications - it isn’t just deployed to the public web, but also to intranets, the cloud, and to the field. We have servers running in Jalabad, Afghanistan and Nairobi, Kenya, we help develop technology solutions within the Federal government and Intel, and work with Academia, disaster response, and major corporations.

Are you an engineer who likes playing with new technology and solving hard problems? Do you love writing Linux scripts that can deal with massively horizontally scaled servers or compressing systems to run on USB sticks? Do you have a passion for open data, open-source software, collaborative government, and cutting-edge technologies that help the world? An interest in mapping is obviously a plus.

Ping us through the blog, twitter, LinkedIn, email, or stop by our offices in Arlington VA to chat directly. And no, we don’t need any recruiters.

It’s time for the FortiusOne GeoCommons team to expand again – and we’re looking for an incredibly bright, hard working, and team oriented engineer to head up our operations team.

GeoCommons is unique among most web applications – it isn’t just deployed to the public web, but also to intranets, the cloud, and to the field. We have servers running in Jalabad, Afghanistan and Nairobi, Kenya, we help develop technology solutions within the Federal government and Intel, and work with Academia, disaster response, and major corporations.

Are you an engineer who likes playing with new technology and solving hard problems? Do you love writing Linux scripts that can deal with massively horizontally scaled servers or compressing systems to run on USB sticks? Do you have a passion for open data, open-source software, collaborative government, and cutting-edge technologies that help the world? An interest in mapping is obviously a plus.

Ping us through the blog, twitter, LinkedIn, email, or stop by our offices in Arlington VA to chat directly. And no, we don’t need any recruiters.

Using technology to map, explore, and reason about our world spatially is a powerful concept. Part of the challenge is efficiently storing and analyzing large volumes of information, and spatial databases have evolved to fill that role. However, the lines are blurry; not everyone agrees which functionality should be in the database and which should be elsewhere. For example, what kinds of spatial data should be natively understood by the database? Just points, lines, and polygons? Or should we add curves, rasters, 3D models, networks, TINs, point clouds, and more? Also, what kinds of transformation and analysis should be done inside the database, and what should be done in the application layer, e.g. with GIS software?

In one view, it makes sense to define a minimal set of geometric primitives and functions that provide value in many situations, and incrementally expand them as clear value is shown. This is great for interoperability and is exactly what the OGC, ISO, and other standards bodies have done. Being conservative also reduces the chance of committing to immature models when new types of data emerge (e.g., raster imagery, 3D building models, LIDAR). Last week, Dale highlighted the benefits of straightforward, easy to implement standards, and while not all geospatial standards fall into this category, it is a worthy goal.

On the other hand, what I see in the market is a rapid expansion of expressive and analytical power. SQL Server and PostGIS join Oracle, Informix, and DB2 with the ability to reason geodetically. Netezza and Teradata combine spatial with their high-performance data warehouse technologies. Oracle continues to innovate in 3D, with support for 3D models, TINs, and point clouds. The debate over the value of storing rasters in the database appears to be ending, with PostGIS support on the horizon, and the introduction of RasterLite, together joining mature support in Oracle and ESRI’s Geodatabase.

Last month, I had the pleasure of hearing Joel Spolsky speak at StackOverflow DevDays in Seattle. He discussed the trade-off between simplicity and complexity when building great applications, and I expected him to say something like, “Expose lots of flexibility in your application, but make it possible to keep simple tasks simple, e.g. using wizards,” but what he actually said was much more interesting: To be successful in the market, software has to have all those features – and thus complexity – and the main thing is to always let the user set the agenda and stay in control. Perhaps this explains the explosion of geospatial features in database products; all that expressive and analytical power is simply a hallmark of success.

Today is Veteran’s Day, which is a celebration first commemorating the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, when an armistice brought an end to World War I. In 1954, Congress mandated the holiday honor all veterans. Veteran’s Day, a federal holiday, celebrates the service members who survived their experiences in war. For the second year in a row on this blog, the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), on behalf of its members, staff, and board of directors, would like to pay tribute to all those who have served their Nation, in peace and in war.

Once again, we would like to pause on this day to think about what we do and who we do it for, and move forward with absolute clarity and resolve that we must never falter in our efforts to be ever more effective, efficient, accurate, and timely in the delivery of GEOINT to those whose lives depend on it, and in honor of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of freedom.

Back channel #geocom chatter inspired me to make this cartoon dedicated to "GeoWeb" evangelists everywhere.

Credits: engraving reproduction from Wikimedia, cutout from http://imaletyoufinish.com.

In the UK there is a saying about waiting ages for a bus and then two come along at the same time. In the world of location based or context based computing it’s not exactly the case that there is little happening, but yesterday produced two interesting stories.

I had the pleasure on presenting at the AGI North Where2.0now event in Harrogate. It was a great event, but there was much joking from those who travelled from London and Southern England how far we had travelled.

Well now it’s possible to track exactly how far if you should choose too, as a Google Latitude user I can look at my history and see where I have travelled over a period of time.

As you would expect this is a service you need to opt in to, and by default your history will not be kept. But if you chose to store you history is makes a fascinating record of your travels here for example is my trip to Harrogate yesterday.

Tracking and storing you location is nothing new, John McKerrell has been doing so for a couple of years using his mapme.at service.

At the conference yesterday he showed the coolest piece of geo hardware seen since the Garmin GPS45, a location clock powered by mapme.at

If you have ever read any Harry Potter you will be familar with the idea of the Weasley Clock, a magical clock owned by the Weasley family which shows not the time but the location of members of the family and if they are in “Mortal Peril”.

Visit Johns blog to read how he has built a working Weasley clock using a Arduino kit, mapme.at and great imagination.

So cool !!

Written and submitted from my home (51.425N, 0.331W)

1. Courses in 3D laser scanning are almost non-existent in either 2 or 4 year college programs in the US.
2. Dr. John Yu and the NSF have created and implemented a valuable model course curriculum.
3. We all need to accept the challenge of making this happen in our local communities.

According to Professor John Yu, Professor of Engineering at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, CA courses in 3D laser scanning are almost non-existent at the community college level in the US. I don’t think it is much better at the 4 year schools. In fact, many civil engineering programs do not even require a surveying course. That may have made sense 10 to 15 years ago, but there is just too much 3D innovation taking place to ignore laser scanning, and the collection of 3D data. It is now central to the design process.

The course itself sounds very well thought out, consisting of 12 lecture modules and 13 lab exercises. Being funded through a NSF Advanced Technological Education program grant this should serve as a model for other educational programs. The curriculum was based on an industry survey and input from an advisory committee. Topics covered include the theory of distance measurement, performance of laser scanning devices, available hardware and software, post processing, 3D modeling – the list of topics is extensive.

Kudos to Dr. Yu, the NSF and all those involved. The first class completed the course this spring. They only had one scanner for 21 students, which you can imagine was not adequate, but overall the course was a tremendous success. Anyone have a an old scanner they would be willing to donate to the program?

Now is the time to get these programs in place to support the next upturn in the economy. Dr. Yu has done a lot of the hard work.

Microsoft finally has added draggable routes to their Bing Maps service. ‘Bout time guys since Google has had it for over 2 years. That said I’ve been using Bing Maps more lately because I don’t trust the Google Maps layers (great API, horrible data).

Is anyone going to host a Bing Maps Party?

Related posts:

1. Huge Bing Maps Worldwide Update
2. Bing Maps for Enterprise?
3. MapQuest Continues to Update Their API

James Madison University has a great new partnership with high school in Virginia for a program called The Geospatial Semester . From the Geospatial Semester webpage:

“The Geospatial Semester is a unique partnership between high schools in Virginia and the Integrated Science and Technology department at James Madison University (JMU). High school seniors participating in the Geospatial Semester take classes on geospatial technology in their home school and can earn credit from JMU. A key aspect of the program is a focus on local projects connecting students, technology, and their community.”

I think this is great idea to give more opportunities for kids in high school to get experience with GIS and geospatial technologies and concepts, and give them a leg up when they get to college. If you know of similar programs in other states, let us know, because I’m always excited to see great outreach projects in the educational community.

Not long ago I posted a blog about the merits of having U.S. Census Bureau data available in GeoCommons. Part of my discussion was about accuracy and reliable sources of data. My claim was that I thought it was a safe assumption to make about government sourced data being pretty accurate—at least I hope so. To rightly define accuracy in terms of data is tough to do—however for the sake of taxpayers dollars, I think government agencies are a pretty reliable source. Agencies dedicate themselves to creating and culling data like the Environmental Protection Agency for the environment, and in this case, demographics from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Census data can be prettying interesting. For instance, when looking at demographic statistics you get an idea of what age groups live in a certain area. In addition to age, you can also find out the different genders, and races that might make up an area. Looking at these numbers as they are posted in spreadsheet format is helpful, but I think displaying this information is far more aesthetically appealing and easier for the end user to understand when viewed on a map.

I recently uploaded the latest Census Housing Unit Estimates data by county to GeoCommons. Below is a Maker! map of 2008 housing unit estimates.

Click here to view this map in Maker! Click here to view data set in Finder!

As you can see Maker provides the end user with the capability of showing Census data in a creative fashion, while also maintaining one of the most important aspects the Census; that is gives context to an area.

I’ll continue to upload Census data to Finder so everyone dabbling in GeoCommons can have a chance to check out the data and make maps. I’ve uploaded data by county on the full US level, and county data by individual state-county as well.

Click here to view other Census data sets in Finder!

So the news at the DevSummit was that you could install both ArcGIS 9.4 alongside ArcGIS 9.3.1.  I’m not part of the beta for 9.4, but reports are that ESRI has not enabled this yet for the latest 9.4 beta release.  If you want to install 9.4 on a computer running ArcGIS 9.3.1, you are being prompted to uninstall 9.3.1 before continuing.  Has anyone yet been able to run 9.4 and 9.3.1 at the same time?

Now this could be a limitation of the current beta and not actually any retreat by ESRI on being able to run two versions of ArcGIS on the same machine.  Either way it make it really hard to beta test the 9.4 release as you can’t compare it to older versions.

Your Mamma Don’t Dance and your ArcGIS won’t install…

Related posts:

1. ArcGIS 9.2 Service Pack 6 Announced
2. Depreciation Plans for ArcGIS 9.3.1 With a Little What’s Coming in 9.4
3. ArcGIS Explorer Beta 1 Snapshot 1 Available to Beta Testers

New data capture devices, new data sources, new media, new types of distribution…all of this has a foundation in the realm of GIS development and will not go away anytime soon.  There will always be something new around the corner that will require some sort of technical/computer programming know-how in relation to GIS.

However, what happened to the GIS analyst? I know plenty of developers who can create a mobile device application that collects the geo-location of people who bought coffee this morning and display their location on a map.  And?  What good is that data?  Will it improve society and tell us more about ourselves?  Where is the analysis?  Do not misunderstand.  These new Web 2.0/NeoGeo data collection and display applications are awesome.  They have driven the GIS industry to new and interesting places.  However, how can we have all these great new data and applications and no new analysts?

Unfortunately, the need for “pure” GIS analysts has fallen off.  A single analyst accomplishes more work now than most can imagine due to better software and methods.  Another fact is that many positions have been disguised.  GIS analysts are currently placed in jobs titled Market Research Analyst, Crisis Management Analyst, Property Tax Policy Analyst, etc.  All of these positions and many others utilize GIS in major ways but subject matter and the employer’s focus will dictate the occupation title.

A title change is not necessarily a bad thing but it does make it more difficult to find a GIS analyst position.  (Make note of that when doing keyword searches on jobs.)  It also brings into question what someone may need to know beyond just spatial analysis methods and GIS in order to get a job.  Do you need to have experience in Marketing and GIS or Retail Management and GIS or Medicine and GIS to be qualified for these “disguised” positions?  It definitely will not hurt you to know about a subject outside of your GIS “comfort zone”.  Getting experience is the tricky part.  Getting a dual-degree in Geography/GIS and another subject is one route you could take.  Another is to become familiar with a particular industry’s language and interests.  Look into books and trade magazines that discuss different applications.  Future GIS analysts must become chameleons.  If the position that you want is disguised, fight fire with fire.

• Draggable Routes – Bing Maps now allows you to generate a route, then you can change the route, you can simply grab any part of it and drag it to where you want the route to actually go. To use draggable routes, click the directions link in the welcome pane or the car icon near the bottom of the welcome pane. Enter a start and end, generate a route, then grab anywhere on the route to move the route line. The route will regenerate for you.
• Zoom Bar – No longer just a zoom in and zoom out button, the zoom bar allows you to jump to specific zoom levels within predefined settings.

• Embeddable Map Cutomizer (EMC) – You can now take a map view right from Bing Maps and embed it into your site. To do this, you’ll want to click the Share button once your map is where you want it to be. You can copy the embed code from there; or, you can click the Customize View link which will take you to the embeddable map customizer (EMC). The EMC allows you to set a map to the map height and width (small, medium, large or custom); the map type (static or draggable); the map styles (road, aerial, aerial w/ labels); and, add links to Bing Maps for Viewing a Larger Map or Getting Directions. Once you’ve set everything the way you want it, click Generate Code and there is your code. You copy it, then paste it into your web page and you’ll have the map you wanted.
  

Mapperz News Blog

In September, USGIF concluded a long and exhaustive search for its first academic director with the hiring of Dr. Max Baber, who joined the foundation as the director of academic programs. Dr. Baber joins USGIF from the University of Redlands, and he will be responsible for the USGIF Geospatial Intelligence Accreditation Program, the scholarship program, GEOINT 101, professional certification and tradecraft development, as well as other programs and outreach initiatives. Here’s an exclusive podcast with Dr. Baber.

Lots of interesting new stuff to explore in this 1.0 release of the Bing Maps Silverlight Control. That seems like a mouthful, and I’m sure it will be acronymed to something like BMS Control, but the one thing that immediately stands out from the announcement is this:

“Sessions will be used with the Bing Maps AJAX Map Control and the Bing Maps Silverlight Control. A session is basically defined as loading the map control and exploring at will, no tile limitations.”

• “Bing Maps AJAX Control all maps rendered onto the client upon the initial request is considered 1 session. Session includes any requests for geocoding, routing or search.”
• “Bing Maps Silverlight Control – all maps rendered onto the client upon the initial request is considered 1 session. There are no services built into the Bing Maps Silverlight Control, so you would use the Bing Maps Web Service for geocoding, routing and search, but will include those too.”
• “Bing Maps Web Service all maps, geocodes, routes and searches will each invoke 1 transaction.”

“With the new terms of use for the Bing Maps Platform you get 125,000 sessions per year for FREE. You also get 500,000 transactions a year for FREE. “

Educators – free unlimited use of the Bing Maps platform

Not-for-Profits – free unlimited use of the Bing Maps platform

Commercial, non-commercial and government – proof of concept development free

More details here:
Bing Maps terms of use changes benefit educators, not-for-profits, and developers
Bing Maps Silverlight Control 1.0 released
Terms of Use

This alleviates a big concern I had originally with use of the Silverlight Map Control CTP. Transaction based licensing did not align with Google pricing and was nearly impossible to predict for tile navigation, which is the engaging part of Silverlight Control. This announcement wipes out these problems and makes my job as a developer a whole lot easier.

Thanks Microsoft!

It’s official!  We are pleased to announce that GeoServer has been accepted into incubation at the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).  Putting GeoServer under the same roof as all the best geospatial projects in the open source world is a great advance for the project.  While GeoServer is not yet an official OSGeo project, just getting accepted in to the incubation process is a firm indicator that we are on the right track.  The process makes sure that we meet all of OSGeo’s standards for a diverse community, a robust governance structure, and clean code that others can rely upon.  We believe GeoServer has all of these, but additional validation from a third party like OSGeo signals to the world that it is so.  Thanks to the incubation committee and the board for approving our application, and to Richard Gould for serving as our mentor.  And of course to the whole GeoServer community for taking us here.

Jeff Thurston, co-founder and edi­tor of V1 Mag­a­zine who is based in Berlin, recently penned a highly compelling editorial on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of geospatial technologies. Written from the perspective of someone who has lived in Germany since 1994, and whose spouse actually lived in Germany during this historic event, Thurston highlights how much things have changed in the past 20 years from a point of view that carries tremendous meaning for us: from a geospatial perspective.

One passage from the article that caught our attention was this one:

“The fall of the Berlin Wall has meant many geospa­tial related projects involv­ing the Euro­pean Union, increased expen­di­ture toward infra­struc­ture devel­op­ment in trans­port, nat­ural resources, GPS related activites and a unique ori­en­ta­tion toward spa­tial data infra­struc­ture (SDI), par­tic­u­larly along the bor­ders of Ger­many where other coun­tries are involved.”

Thurston goes on to highlight how things have changed over the past 10 years:

“In ten years I‘ve seen lots of geospa­tial activ­ity in Berlin and other parts of Ger­many grow. To my mind there are few or no restric­tions for prac­tis­ing geospa­tial activ­i­ties across the coun­try. Ger­many has a strong ori­en­ta­tion toward export­ing geot­ech­nolo­gies — which is not wholly sur­pris­ing given that bar­ri­ers to EU trade are decreas­ing, most peo­ple can speak or under­stand two or more lan­guages and pro­duc­tion capac­ity is sup­ported. What I would really like to see is a pro­gram to trade stu­dents in geo­sciences between Ger­many and other parts of the world, more frequently.Also, the tax sys­tem does not favor indi­vid­ual entre­pre­neurs want­ing to start a geospa­tial busi­ness — this can be hard for recent graduates.”

It’s exciting to see an article that ties the concept of GEOINT into a major historical/global event like the fall of the Berlin Wall. We recommend you read the full article here.

It's odd that Jeroen would mention this huge design gap and in the next breath invoke SDI and standards-based internet GIS (note that Jeroen, in his blog, often espouses rethinking SDI in light of the web).

GIS/SDI architecture design is to web architecture design as 18-button mouse is to "magic mouse". Buttons vs. gestures. A multitude of complex, specialized, rigid protocols vs. one dumb protocol that can channel different, complex, emergent interactions.

(Of course, it's hard to imagine that Apple is going to make it easy for mere mortals to create their own gestures, but hacks should be forthcoming.)