Adam Estrada

GmapEZ

Adam Estrada — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:09:42 +0000

Using GMapEZ

I have been using GMapEZ for a few years now and it continues to impress me by how easy it is to use. The GMapEZ script completely eliminates the need for any javascript programming which in my opinion is a really good thing. I have used it in the past to add pushpins that are returned form any number of data sources. I like classic ASP so I’ve returned data from an ASP RecordSet or now a days from a .NET DataReader. At any rate, you simply have to read data from the DB and then write out the HTML to represent the structure needed to put pushpins on your map. Here is a C# example of what I am talking about.

^?View Code CSHARP

public partial class Pages_mapPanel : System.Web.UI.UserControl
{
    #region Page Props
 
    public String defaultGmapPage = "http://maps.google.com/maps";
    public String defaultPage = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["defaultPage"];
 
    #endregion
 
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        try
        {
            string mapPlaceHolder = this.loadMapData();
            this.ctlPlaceHolder.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(mapPlaceHolder)); 
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            throw (ex);
        }
    }
 
    #region loadMapData()
    public String loadMapData()
    {
        try
        {
            OracleConnection conn = new OracleConnection();
            String mainConn = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["MainConnStr"].ConnectionString;
            conn.ConnectionString = mainConn;
            conn.Open();
            OracleCommand cmd = new OracleCommand();
            cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
 
            String query = "SELECT * FROM MYTABLE ORDER BY DATEIN DESC";
            cmd.CommandText = query;
            cmd.Connection = conn;
 
            cmd.ExecuteReader();
            OracleDataReader dr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
            StringBuilder map = new StringBuilder();
            QueryString qs = new QueryString();
 
            while (dr.Read())
            {
                qs.Add("fid", "ms");
                qs.Add("id", dr["ID"].ToString());
 
                    map.Append("\"" + dr["ID"].ToString() + "\" href=\"" + defaultGmapPage + "?ll=" + dr["LATITUDE"].ToString() + "," + dr["LONGITUDE"].ToString() + "&t=k&hl=en\">GREEN MINI");
                    map.Append("\"Event\">\"1\" face=\"Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\">");
                    map.Append("Name: " + dr["NAME"].ToString() + "
");
                    map.Append("Type: " + dr["TYPE"].ToString() + "
");
                    map.Append("Description: " + dr["DESC"].ToString() + "
");
                    map.Append("\"" + defaultPage + qs + "\">Go To Main Page...");
                    map.Append("
");
                    map.Append("\"Dates\">\"1\" face=\"Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\">");
                    map.Append("Date In: " + dr["DATEIN"].ToString() + "
");
                    map.Append("Date Out: " + dr["DATEOUT"].ToString() + "
");
                    map.Append("\"" + defaultPage + qs + "\">Go To Main Page...");
                    map.Append("
");
                }
            }
 
            conn.Close();
            return map.ToString();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Zekiah.Logging.LoggingManager.WebApplication.Error("A Fatal Error has occured in the Map Control", ex);
            redirectToFailure();
            return null;
        }
    }
    #endregion
 
	#region Failure Notice 
    private void redirectToFailure()
    {
        QueryString qs = new QueryString();
        qs.Add("fid", "ERROR");
        Response.Redirect(defaultPage + qs, false);
    }    
    #endregion 
}

Please note that I am reading data from an Oracle Database and simply returning it as a properly formatted String in HTML format. Each pushpin also has two tabs which can hold extra data including another URL. For more information on what you can do with GMapEZ, check out the examples on the hosted site. You’ll also note that I used a class written by Bobby ReRosa called “QueryString”. What a freaking time saver this thing is! Thanks Bobby…I actually want to write more on how to use it in another blog post so look for that one too.

Oracle Spatial and USER_SDO_GEOM_METADATA

Adam Estrada — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:42:44 +0000

Oracle is a very powerful database but at the same time VERY difficult to use. I’m guessing that’s why Oracle DBA’s get all the money and women…hehe. Oracle Spatial is also an incredibly powerful tool, if you know how to use it. I’ve talked before about how to get your spatial data in to the Database, but what happens if the database doesn’t like the data? See, in Oracle you must have an SDO_GEOMETRY type to actually perform spatial queries on your data. What they don’t make so apparent is the fact that you must also Insert a record in to the USER_SDO_GEOM_METADATA table (they call it a view) and also create a Spatial Index to perform the query. SHP2SDO will create the Update/Insert statement for USER_SDO_GEOM_METADATA but if you already Inserted the data and don’t have the original you can use the following to Insert in to your table

^?View Code SQL

INSERT INTO USER_SDO_GEOM_METADATA
VALUES(
'EVENTS','GEOM',
    MDSYS.SDO_DIM_ARRAY(   
    MDSYS.SDO_DIM_ELEMENT('X', -180, 180, 0.000000005),
    MDSYS.SDO_DIM_ELEMENT('Y', -90, 90, 0.000000005)
     ),
  4326   -- SRID (reserved for future Spatial releases)
);

Once you’ve Inserted that record you can look at it using the following Query:

^?View Code SQL

1 2	SELECT * FROM USER_SDO_GEOM_METADATA

The Update query is simple…

^?View Code SQL

UPDATE EVENTS S set S.GEOM.SDO_SRID = 4326
 
UPDATE USER_SDO_GEOM_METADATA SET SRID = 4326 WHERE TABLE_NAME='EVENTS'
 
UPDATE USER_SDO_GEOM_METADATA SET DIMINFO = 
MDSYS.SDO_DIM_ARRAY(MDSYS.SDO_DIM_ELEMENT('X',-180,180,0.000000005),
MDSYS.SDO_DIM_ELEMENT('Y',-90,90,0.000000005)) WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'EVENTS'

If you want to make sure your geometries are valid, you may use Oracle’s ST_IsValid() command.

^?View Code SQL

1 2	SELECT s.GEOM.st_isvalid() FROM EVENTS s

Finally, do you want to generate a GEOM column from latitude/longitude fields?

^?View Code SQL

UPDATE EVENTS
SET GEOM = MDSYS.SDO_GEOMETRY(
2001, -- 3-dimensional point or use 2001 for 2-dimensional point
NULL,
MDSYS.SDO_POINT_TYPE(EVENTS.LON, EVENTS.LAT, NULL), -- X,Y,Z
NULL, NULL );

Have fun!

GIS for the “Have Nots”

Adam Estrada — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:59:47 +0000

A colleague of mine, Marshall Worthey, gave this presentation at GIS in the Rockies earlier this year. Last night, I did it at a GeoDC event at FortiusOne.

GIS in the Rockies Presentation

View more presentations from geodawg.

For more information on embedding maps from Geocommons in to Wordpress, check out this previous post of mine.

More on ESRI Flex and Config.xml

Adam Estrada — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:59:38 +0000

More often than not, when building a Flex application that includes a URL that references a map service, you’ll have to swap out that URL from your development environment to production when you go live. The following script/technique is intended to alleviate having to completely rebuild your application during deployment.

Take a look at the following mxml file and note that there are 3 things in particular to note.

^?View Code ACTIONSCRIPT

< ?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx :Application
    xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
    xmlns:esri="http://www.esri.com/2008/ags"
    layout="absolute"
    initialize="init()"
    styleName="plain"
    >
  mx><mx :Script>
    < ![CDATA[
    	import mx.collections.XMLListCollection;
    	import mx.collections.ArrayCollection;
        	import com.esri.ags.Graphic;
        	import com.esri.ags.events.MapMouseEvent;        	
        	import com.esri.ags.geometry.MapPoint;
        	import com.esri.ags.geometry.Extent;
            import com.esri.ags.events.ExtentEvent;
            import mx.rpc.events.FaultEvent;
        	import mx.rpc.events.ResultEvent;
            import mx.controls.Alert;
            import flash.external.*;
            import mx.events.FlexEvent;
            import com.esri.ags.layers.TiledMapServiceLayer;
            import mx.controls.Button;
            import mx.controls.Text;
            import com.esri.ags.layers.ArcGISDynamicMapServiceLayer;
            import mx.rpc.http.HTTPService;
 
            private function initXML():void
        	{
        		var configService:HTTPService = new HTTPService();
        		configService.url = "config.xml";
        		configService.resultFormat = "e4x";
        		configService.addEventListener(ResultEvent.RESULT, configResult);
        		configService.addEventListener(FaultEvent.FAULT, configFault);
        		configService.send();
        	}
 
            private function configResult(event:ResultEvent):void
            {
            	var configXML:XML = event.result as XML;
            	var serviceList:XMLList = configXML..service;
            	for (var i:int = 0; i < serviceList.length(); i++)
            	{
             		var serviceName:String = serviceList[i].name;
            		var serviceURL:String = serviceList[i].url;
            		var serviceAlpha:int = serviceList[i].alpha;
            		var serviceVisible:Boolean = serviceList[i].visible;
            		var serviceLayers:ArrayCollection = new ArrayCollection(serviceList[i].layers.split(","));
 
            		var tLayer:ArcGISDynamicMapServiceLayer = new ArcGISDynamicMapServiceLayer(serviceURL); 
            		tLayer.id = serviceName;
            		tLayer.visible = serviceVisible;
            		tLayer.alpha = serviceAlpha;
            		tLayer.visibleLayers = serviceLayers;
            		myMap.addLayer(tLayer);	
            	}          	
            }
 
            private function configFault(event:FaultEvent):void
            {
            	Alert.show(event.fault.faultString);
            }
 
 
            private function layerShowHandler(event:FlexEvent):void
            {
                // update the LODs/zoomslider to use/show the levels for the selected base map
                var tiledLayer:TiledMapServiceLayer = event.target as TiledMapServiceLayer;
                myMap.lods = tiledLayer.tileInfo.lods;
            }
 
			//add a callback for js to flex communication
			public function init():void
			{
				initXML();
			  if (flash.external.ExternalInterface.available)
			    flash.external.ExternalInterface.addCallback("changeExtent", changeExtent);     
			}
 
			//call from js
			public function changeExtent(sextent:String):void	
			{
				//var avals = sextent.split("|");
				//var ext:Extent = new Extent(new Number(avals[0]),new Number(avals[2]),new Number(avals[1]),new Number(avals[3]));
				//ext.spatialReference = myMap.spatialReference;
				//myMap.extent = ext;
			}
 
            public function onBasemapCreationComplete():void
			{
            	myMap.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, pushExtentEvent);
            }
 
     		//send extents to html/js
     		public function pushExtentEvent(event:MouseEvent):void           
      	 	{
      	 		if (flash.external.ExternalInterface.available)
			     {
			       const mapPoint:MapPoint = myMap.toMapFromStage(event.stageX, event.stageY);
			       var extent:Array = new Array();
			       flash.external.ExternalInterface.call("displayExtent", mapPoint.y.toFixed(6), mapPoint.x.toFixed(6));
			     }        
      	 	}
      	 	private function onMapClick(event:MapMouseEvent):void
      	 	{    	 		
      	 		myMap.infoWindow.label = "Event Location ";
      	 		myMap.infoWindow.show(event.mapPoint);
      	 	}
        ]]>
    mx>
    <esri :Map id="myMap" width="100%" height="100%" mapClick="onMapClick(event)" >
      esri><esri :extent>
        esri><esri :Extent xmin="-122.2" ymin="24.89" xmax="-70.59" ymax="46.92"  >
          <esri :SpatialReference wkid="4326"/>
        esri>
 
        <esri :ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer
            visible="{bb.selectedIndex == 0}"
            show="layerShowHandler(event)"
            url="http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/ESRI_StreetMap_World_2D/MapServer" 
            creationComplete="onBasemapCreationComplete()" />
        <esri :ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer
            visible="{bb.selectedIndex == 1}"
            show="layerShowHandler(event)"
            url="http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/NGS_Topo_US_2D/MapServer" 
            creationComplete="onBasemapCreationComplete()"/>
        <esri :ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer
            visible="{bb.selectedIndex == 2}"
            show="layerShowHandler(event)"
            url="http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/ESRI_Imagery_World_2D/MapServer" 
            creationComplete="onBasemapCreationComplete()" />
 
    <mx :ToggleButtonBar id="bb" horizontalGap="2" selectedIndex="0" themeColor="0x00FF00" right="5" top="5">
        mx><mx :dataProvider>
            mx><mx :Array>
                mx><mx :String>Streetsmx>
                <mx :String>Topomx>
                <mx :String>Imagerymx>

First, note the code block that references an external XML file (config.xml). It really doesn’t get any easier than this. What’s really cool about this XML file is that basically, all the web service configuration options from the ArcGIS Service are configured through here. You can traverse through the config.xml file by referencing the node you want in the XMLList or serviceList:XMLList.

var serviceName:String = serviceList[i].name;
var serviceURL:String = serviceList[i].url;
var serviceAlpha:int = serviceList[i].alpha;
var serviceVisible:Boolean = serviceList[i].visible;
var serviceLayers:ArrayCollection = new ArrayCollection(serviceList[i].layers.split(“,”));

^?View Code ACTIONSCRIPT

private function initXML():void
        	{
        		var configService:HTTPService = new HTTPService();
        		configService.url = "config.xml";
        		configService.resultFormat = "e4x";
        		configService.addEventListener(ResultEvent.RESULT, configResult);
        		configService.addEventListener(FaultEvent.FAULT, configFault);
        		configService.send();
        	}
 
            private function configResult(event:ResultEvent):void
            {
            	var configXML:XML = event.result as XML;
            	var serviceList:XMLList = configXML..service;
            	for (var i:int = 0; i < serviceList.length(); i++)
            	{
             		var serviceName:String = serviceList[i].name;
            		var serviceURL:String = serviceList[i].url;
            		var serviceAlpha:int = serviceList[i].alpha;
            		var serviceVisible:Boolean = serviceList[i].visible;
            		var serviceLayers:ArrayCollection = new ArrayCollection(serviceList[i].layers.split(","));
 
            		var tLayer:ArcGISDynamicMapServiceLayer = new ArcGISDynamicMapServiceLayer(serviceURL); 
            		tLayer.id = serviceName;
            		tLayer.visible = serviceVisible;
            		tLayer.alpha = serviceAlpha;
            		tLayer.visibleLayers = serviceLayers;
            		myMap.addLayer(tLayer);	
            	}          	
            }
 
            private function configFault(event:FaultEvent):void
            {
            	Alert.show(event.fault.faultString);
            }

The XML is below: Note the configuration options that you would normally have to set in your compiled code. I just included the service name, url, alpha and visibility in this demonstration. There are many more options to choose from…

^?View Code XML

< ?xml version="1.0"?>
>
>
	>
	Service Name
	>
	>
	http://yoururl.com/yourserver/rest/services/BaseMap/MapServer/
	>
	>
	1.0
	>
	>
	true
	>
	>
	0,1
	>
>
>

The next thing to take a look at is the fact that there is an Event that grabs the Latitude and Longitude from your map when it's clicked on (MouseEvent.CLICK). Moreover, it passes them to an HTML Input text box in the host page through an ExternalInterface call. The corresponding javascript should resemble the following. Note the < %= this.latitude.ClientID %> and < %= this.longitude.ClientID %> as they are required if you are embedding this in a ASP.NET for C# application.

^?View Code JAVASCRIPT

Finally, I snagged an example off of the ESRI Flex Community page that allowed me to toggle between Streetmap, Topographic Maps and Imagery data. As the selected Index changes, the base map changes...

^?View Code ACTIONSCRIPT

        <esri :ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer
            visible="{bb.selectedIndex == 0}"
            show="layerShowHandler(event)"
            url="http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/ESRI_StreetMap_World_2D/MapServer" 
            creationComplete="onBasemapCreationComplete()" />
        <esri :ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer
            visible="{bb.selectedIndex == 1}"
            show="layerShowHandler(event)"
            url="http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/NGS_Topo_US_2D/MapServer" 
            creationComplete="onBasemapCreationComplete()"/>
        <esri :ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer
            visible="{bb.selectedIndex == 2}"
            show="layerShowHandler(event)"
            url="http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/ESRI_Imagery_World_2D/MapServer" 
            creationComplete="onBasemapCreationComplete()" />
 
    <mx :ToggleButtonBar id="bb" horizontalGap="2" selectedIndex="0" themeColor="0x00FF00" right="5" top="5">
        mx><mx :dataProvider>
            mx><mx :Array>
                mx><mx :String>Streetsmx>
                <mx :String>Topomx>
                <mx :String>Imagerymx>

So, I've had fun playing with this an I've actually been able to use the entire script in a project I was a part of. I hope that someone else gets as much use out of it as I did.

SpatiaLite 2.4.0 RC-0

Adam Estrada — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:38:35 +0000

Alessando announced today that the latest version of SpatiaLite is ready for download. This is a Release Candidate so he is really looking for feedback! Please download it and test if you can…Check out the impressive RoadMap for this Open Source project.

Road Map

libspatialite

supporting 3D geometries [XY, XYZ, XYM, XYZM]

implementing compressed geometries

supporting ST_alias-names for OGC functions

supporting SQLite v.3.6.20, and consequently truely enforcing Foreign Key constraints

supporting libproj 4.7.0 [lots of new SRIDs added]

added SQL functions supporting GreatCircle and Geodesic distance/lenght computation

added SQL functions for unit conversions [meter to feet and alike]

fixed several SHP related issues

supporting 3D shapefiles

spatialite-tools

added a new CLI tool spatialite_osm supporting direct acquisition of

road networks from Open Street Map XML/OSM datasets

librasterlite

minor bug-fixing and code cleaning

now supporting the MSVC compiler as well

Important notice:
Alexender Simakov [the Wavelet codec developer]

is currently evaluating my proposal to re-release his libepsilon under the LPGL.

accordingly to this librasterlite will be re-released under LGPL as soon as possible

spatialite-gui

supporting an interactive Query / View builder tool

added the capability to DROP or RENAME columns

spatialite-gis

supporting View-based layers [read-only]

supporting VirtualSHP-based layers [read-only]

supporting map labeling with optional anti-overlap optimization

supporting interactive routing

supporting map output generation as:

PNG, JPEG, TIFF images

PDF documents

SVG documents

Quantum GIS QGis

updated data provider released on QGis trunk SVN

I particularly like the fact that it now supports routing using OpenStreetMap! Way cool, Sando!

Geographic to UTM Converter

Adam Estrada — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:16:55 +0000

A few years ago, I came across an algorithm (written in javascript) to convert Decimal Degrees to Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates. At the time, I really needed this functionality because I had to perform some basic QA/QC tasks on data that was all referenced to UTM in North America. Of course, I didn’t know if all my other reference data in UTM was accurate to client specifications so I needed to convert them to Geographic in decimal degrees to display over a Google Map. See below:

Your browser does not support iframes.

I hope that someone else find this as useful as I did for spot checking large amounts of data…

^?View Code HTML

Click in the text box then map it!

< !DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">


Geographic/UTM Coordinate Converter








 



Geographic
(decimal degrees)
To/From
UTM



lon

 
x




lat


y





zone






hemisphere

N
S




 
Google Maps...

GDAL: the definitive FREE GIS software

Adam Estrada — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:07:57 +0000

This field is growing and there are a lot of GIS software applications out there to choose from but I am learning that many of you really don’t understand how powerful GDAL/OGR and the FWTools suite really is. When duty calls and I need to do some heavy reprojecting, import/export, compression, etc…I usually always go to GDAL and FWTools to get the job done.

The following utility programs are distributed with GDAL and are among the most powerful command line GIS applications available today. I for one have beaten gdalwarp to death! I will include all that it can do in later posts. Until then, here is the list of what is included in the FWTools installer for Windows and Linux.

gdalinfo – report information about a file.

gdal_translate – Copy a raster file, with control of output format.

gdaladdo – Add overviews to a file.

gdalwarp – Warp an image into a new coordinate system.

gdaltindex – Build a MapServer raster tileindex.

gdalbuildvrt – Build a VRT from a list of datasets.

gdal_contour – Contours from DEM.

gdaldem – Tools to analyze and visualize DEMs.

rgb2pct.py – Convert a 24bit RGB image to 8bit paletted.

pct2rgb.py – Convert an 8bit paletted image to 24bit RGB.

gdal_merge.py – Build a quick mosaic from a set of images.

gdal2tiles.py – Create a TMS tile structure, KML and simple web viewer.

gdal_rasterize – Rasterize vectors into raster file.

gdaltransform – Transform coordinates.

nearblack – Convert nearly black/white borders to exact value.

gdal_retile.py – Retiles a set of tiles and/or build tiled pyramid levels.

gdal_grid – Create raster from the scattered data.

gdal_proximity.py – Compute a raster proximity map.

gdal_polygonize.py – Generate polygons from raster.

gdal_sieve.py – Raster Sieve filter.

gdal_fillnodata.py – Interpolate in nodata regions.

gdal-config – Get options required to build software using GDAL.

Note that a lot of these apps are python scripts than can be run just about anywhere. I have done quite a bit of processing with FWTools apps, especially gdalwarp, gdal_translate and then gdal_contour. If you have a project that requires some serious processing power, check some of these out. You won’t be disappointed…Note: Most FOSS GIS applications available today use GDAL and OGR on the back end in some way, shape or form. See the list here!

If you build it, they will come…

Adam Estrada — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:06:40 +0000

If you create a web service, no matter what, someone out there will use it! This is a fact and these days there is a web service for just about everything from the weather to where the most recent earthquakes are. There are private instances and publicly available ones that are designed to sell more software licenses. There are also a wide variety of free services out there for you to choose from but all in all, my point is that with this whole Geoweb phenomenon I think the days of creating your own truly unique data sets will be coming to a slow halt. I foresee geo-minded folks utilizing what other people have created in their apps and why not? It saves time and money which is what really matters, huh?

The nature of our business and the data we use is so simple! We deal with pixels, points, lines and polygons that can be manipulated a million different ways through attribution and symbology. There are format-specific standards to adhere to and models on how store and disseminate them so why not leverage what other people have created and published. I for one am constantly on the lookout for more data and software that will gobble it up. This is where applications (on the web) like GeoCommons and WeoGeo come in to play. They allow you to publish your data, do stuff with it and then open it up for anyone to reuse. WeoGeo’s model is pretty cool because they also allow you to monetize on other people using your data by selling it as the owner sees fit. GeoCommons has Finder! and Maker! which really help you upload or search for data and then create some cool maps but they have a model that is more like OpenStreetMap or Cloudmade. My opinion on this is that free data is good data If you’re self sufficient enough to have your own IT infrastructure and want to publish your data that way, look at ArcGIS Server or the two competing FOSS options GeoServer and MapServer.

QGIS

I am a Mac user and use QGIS pretty extensively to read WMS and WFS services that I come across over the web. I encourage anyone out there to do the same thing as the latest and greatest build of QGIS is REALLY nice! So I guess my question is, where are the services that you use the most?

Selenium for Web Site testing

Adam Estrada — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:39:02 +0000

Selenium is a FREE suite of tools to automate web app testing across many platforms. Click here to see a list of all the Selenium projects…I particularly like the Firefox plugin!

Customizing config.xml in the ESRI FlexViewer

Adam Estrada — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:47:43 +0000

If you’re relatively new to Flex (like me), you will have noticed that a lot of the functionality in this framework is geared towards WebServices and external XML calls. If you’re also a #geonerd and love Flex, you’ve probably come across the FlexViewer example on ESRI’s website. This is an awesome and very powerful example of all that Flex can give you right out of the box. The challenge here is that you have to learn how to weed though all the different classes and other bologna in order to understand exactly what is going on.

My latest challenge was deploying an application that referenced several .NET web services that were GOING to change once delivered to the customer. So, it made no sense what so ever to hard code the URL’s for the web services in the application it self. I decided to add them to config.xml which is at the root of the web application. This file behaves much in the same way as the web.config file that is created on-the-fly in your .NET web application. This one, however, holds things elements like URLs, queries, logo assignments and like in this example, paths to web services.

Once you figure out what is going on, this is relatively simple to do so I hope that this example helps to put things in to perspective for you.

First things first…You have to first grab the XML file and because this is a web application, you are able to use HTTPService() to call you file on the server. My biggest “idiot” moment was caused because this file is at the root of the application while most of the “config” files that ride along with their corresponding .swf’s are in the same directory. No matter! See the code below that will show you how to connect to your config.xml file.

^?View Code ACTIONSCRIPT3

private function doInit():void
{
        try {
	        var initService:HTTPService = new HTTPService();
	        initService.url = "config.xml";
		initService.resultFormat = "e4x";
		initService.addEventListener(ResultEvent.RESULT, initResult);
		initService.send();
	}
		catch(e:Error)
		{
			showMessage(e.message, false);
		}
}

Note that this function has an event lister (addEventListener) that calls another function which in this case is called “initResult”. Also note that with all Actionscript, it’s pretty good practice to use try/catch statements in all of your functions. Actually, isn’t this true in any programming language?

Now, on to the next function! This is the function that actually does the work and populates an “Object” with the data your specify from your XML file. Please note that I added an extra root node to config.xml called . Under that we have and under that we’ve got and . I am merely trying to retrieve a URL based on a service name so if we do a query for , the URL for that name will be returned. w00t! The function called “initResult” is as follows.

^?View Code ACTIONSCRIPT3

private function initResult(event:ResultEvent):void
	{
		try
		{
			var i:int;
			var serviceArray:Array = [];
			var serviceXML:XML = event.result as XML;
			var serviceList:XMLList = serviceXML..service;
 
			for (i = 0; i &lt; serviceList.length(); i++) {
				var name:String = serviceList[i].name;
				var url:String = serviceList[i].url;
				var serviceURL:Object =
				{
					name: name,
					url: url
				}
					trace(name, url);
			}
		serviceArray.push(serviceURL);
	}
			catch (e:Error)
			{
    			    showMessage(e.message, false);
			}
	}

You’ll first notice that I created an Array.

var serviceArray:Array = [];

I then grabbed the resulting event as XML from the event listener.

var serviceXML:XML = event.result as XML;

. From there I searched down through the XML file for the root node I was looking for which in this case was called “service” in the XML file:

var serviceList:XMLList = serviceXML..service;

. Finally, I looped through the file to find all the data in the tags using a *for* loop.

^?View Code ACTIONSCRIPT3

for (i = 0; i &lt; serviceList.length(); i++) {
	var name:String = serviceList[i].name;
	var url:String = serviceList[i].url;
	var serviceURL:Object =
		{
			name: name,
			url: url
		}
	trace(name, url);
}
serviceArray.push(serviceURL);

There are a couple things to notice here.
1. You can loop through anything in an XML file…you’ve just got to know what you’re looking for.
2. It’s absolutely mandatory that you create an :Object and populate it using the .push command.

serviceArray.push(serviceURL);

What you’ve got now is an Object that has all of the information that you can readily reuse when the page/site loads.

Wordpress as a CMS

Adam Estrada — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:42:34 +0000

We (my team and I) just finished a little prototype effort between Zekiah and FortiusOne that required a private instance of GeoCommons that meshed up nicely with a Wordpress UI. The deal with Wordpress (if you don’t already know) is that it’s a pretty robust blogging platform which means that you can add your own content and syndicate it out as needed but the core software is pretty limited if you want to privatize the data you’re serving out.

The Project:

Green Mountain Falls, Colorado is a little municipality in the middle-of-nowhere Colorado but they do have a requirement to serve up their proprietary geospatial data to both the general public and then to those who really need it like their Fire and Police Departments. I won’t go in to why the GMF data is private as certain geo-type people go richter over the whole “my data is private” issue, but I will say that GMF does have their reasons. We begged and pleaded with the folks at FortiusOne to work with us on this endeavor because their core technology is absolutely what the doctor ordered. There are a lot of reasons why GeoCommons (GC) was the best solution so I will only elaborate on a few.

GeoCommons is literally so easy a cave man can do it. With a private instance, we were able to upload our own data and show/hide it as needed in the final UI.
You can pick and choose from your own base maps so Google, Bing and OSM are all options to use for your final compiled cartogram.
Cartography, cartography, cartography!!! You gotta give it to the F1 team…they’ve provided a robust desktop-like GIS symbolization and thematic mapping experience on the web and in this case all in a private instance of GC in the Cloud.

The Problem:

Green Mountain Falls has private data…These data are from their roads network and also in their unique way of representing parcels in the town. I’d have to refer to another source to fully explain this whole thing…Bottom line is that all of their geospatial data could not be 100% open to the rest of the world. Like I mentioned earlier, we stored it a private instance or GeoCommons and then applied some role-based authentication to the layers using the GeoCommons API and a couple pieces of Wordpress magic.

Wordpress has literally thousands of plugins that you can pick and choose from to run and enhance your blog. We weren’t interested in SEO or any of that other jazz that really helps your site get noticed! We were interested in safe-guarding the data. In Wordpress, there are two plugins in particular that will allow you to do this!

Capability Manager – The Capability Manager plugin provides a simple way to manage role capabilities. Using it, you will be able to change the capabilities of any role, add new roles, copy existing roles into new ones, and add new capabilities to existing roles. You can also delegate capabilities management to other users. In this case, some restrictions apply to this users, as them can only set/unset the capabilities they have. With the Backup/Restore tool, you can save your Roles and Capabilities before making changes and revert them if something goes wrong. You’ll find it on the Tools menu. At the current version, you cannot manage capabilities at user level (only can be managed for roles). This will be included in next versions.

The Capabilities Manager gave us an easy way to create and assign new roles to GMF users. I encourage everyone to check this plugin out!

User Access Manager – With the “User Access Manager”-plugin you can manage the access to your posts, pages and files. You only create a user group, put registered users to this and set up the rights for this group. From now on the post/page is only accessible and writable for the specified group. This plugin is useful if you need a member area or a private section at your blog or you want that other people can write at your blog but not everywhere.

With UAM, we were able to show and hide Wordpress pages so that only certain Users and User Groups could see them.

How did you mashup your GeoCommons Maps?

Simple! Just like Google, Bing and Yahoo, GeoCommons allows you to embed your map directly in to your own website! See the graphic below…Note: in the map you create, you can select the “Details” button in the top-right corner of the screen which will present you with the code to embed your map. Copy and paste and you’re set!

Embedding GeoCommons Maps!

Sample code to embed a GeoCommons map in to your own website is as follows…

^?View Code JAVASCRIPT


  



View full map

I’d really like to thank Kate Chapman, Andrew Turner and the folks on the Zekiah team (you know who you are) for helping to put this proof of concept together! Wanna see the Green Mountain Falls site in action? Geez…Click on the screen grab below to access it!

Green Mountain Falls, Colorado

ESRI FlexViewer and Error: 1065

Adam Estrada — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:12:51 +0000

I am working on a project right now that I have been able to use the new FlashBuilder beta to develop on. I chose this platform because Adobe has made it all too easy to integrate with .NET web services. You can literally just point to a WSDL and FlashBuilder will generate all the code behind for you. What is really cool and a huge time saver is that you can bind controls back to the pre-generated CRUD operations from the web service. I switch the page I’m working on to design mode and then drag a form on the canvas. A simple right click to access the “Bind” operation and voila! You’re ready to deploy! Not really…but man it gets you close.

Because I am also developing a mapping application using ESRI’s FlexViewer framework, I have to integrate my CRUD forms in to the ESRI environment. Needless to say, this caused all kinds of problems! When I created a project outside of the FlexViewer project, everything worked perfectly! As soon as I tried to integrate it in to FlexVewer as a floating widget…Kaboom! I got the dreaded 1065 error. If you are reading this, it’s probably because you came across this error as well and found this page on the interwebs.

Error #1065: Variable x is not defined.

This error is a bit misleading because “Variable x” is actually a class that when integrated in to the FlexViewer framework get pushed out of scope or what some call, “Optimized out”. To get your code running in FlexViewer, you can’t just declare each variable/class as public! You have to declare each of them in Index.mxml which is the Application root. Please stick with the following syntax in order for your code to work properly.

^?View Code ACTIONSCRIPT3

1	public var d:services.distributionlist.RegionUser = new services.distributionlist.RegionUser();

Doing this in Index.mxml will make your class public enough to be used throughout the entire application and you won’t get the #1065 error any longer. I certainly can’t take all the credit for this. I have to Google the crap out of this and came across Simon’s post here. Hats off to you Simon for helping me out!!!

How to copy music from your iPod to your iPhone

Adam Estrada — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:54:54 +0000

iLinkPod

A couple weeks ago, we got Allison an iPhone and put her on my AT&T account. She also has an iPod that was originally synced up with an older PC and I found that there was no easy way to move files from the iPod to the iPhone without erasing everything on the iPod. I did a little Googling and came across iLinkPod which worked wonderfully and for free too! So how does it work??? Easy, it creates a shortcut folder on the desktop pointing to your iPod so that you can add files to your personal iTunes Library.

Step 1: Download the application! Get it here…

Step 2: Hook up your iPod (DO NOT SELECT THE ERASE AND SYNC OPTION in iTunes) and then launch iLinkPod. Select the first button to “Select your iPod”

Select you iPod

Step 3: Click the button that says, “iLinkPod!” and review the console to make sure it successfully connected and retrieved your files.

Creating folder iLinkPodFolder on your desktop…OK

YOUR FILE LIST

…done…that’s all!

Step 4: Now open iTunes and browse to File | Add to Library…

Add Files from iPod

And that’s it! Now your iPod songs are on your computer and can be synced with your iPhone the next time you plug it in!

ESRI Flex Training

Adam Estrada — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:13:16 +0000

Flex Training?

Bill asked the question the other day and it dawned on me that it would really behoove ESRI to provide training for their Flex and Silverlight API’s. They have done an excellent job putting together the backend achitecture for both frameworks so why not train their users on how to properly use them? I for one, have used the Sample Flex Viewer on several occasions but there is still sooo much that I don’t know about it or what it can do. So, I want to ask the general public what they would want to learn more about in regards to the ESRI Flex Framework. Would you want instructor lead training or would an online tutorial work for you? Are you more interested in how to code in Actionscript or do you really just need to know how to implement all the bells and whistles for the framework. What about the Sample Flex Viewer? Would you like a training class that is designed to demonstrate specifically how to extend that? There are a ton of options here and I am very interested to learn what other people are doing with this technology and what they might need to make the most of it. Please feel free to post a comment on what you would want to see from ESRI in a Flex training class!

Jack Dangermond Facts…

Adam Estrada — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:41:43 +0000

A little GIS humor…

If you have five dollars and Jack Dangermond has five dollars, Jack Dangermond has more money than you.
There is no ‘ctrl’ button on Jack Dangermond’s computer. Jack Dangermond is always in control.
Apple pays Jack Dangermond 99 cents every time he listens to a song.
Jack Dangermond can sneeze with his eyes open.
Jack Dangermond can eat just one Lay’s potato chip.
Jack Dangermond is suing Myspace for taking the name of what he calls everything around you.
Jack Dangermond destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise.
Jack Dangermond can kill two stones with one bird.
When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Jack Dangermond.
Jack Dangermond doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Jack Dangermond has allowed to live.
Outer space exists because it’s afraid to be on the same planet with Jack Dangermond.
Jack Dangermond does not sleep. He waits.
Jack Dangermond is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.
Jack Dangermond is the reason why Waldo is hiding.
Jack Dangermond counted to infinity – twice.
There is no chin behind Jack Dangermond’ beard. There is only another fist.
When Jack Dangermond does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.
Jack Dangermond is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.
Jack Dangermond’s hand is the only hand that can beat a Royal Flush.
Jack Dangermond can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.
Jack Dangermond doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.
Jack Dangermond can slam a revolving door.
Jack Dangermond does not get frostbite. Jack Dangermond bites frost
Jack Dangermond can divide by zero.

Building your Open Source Infrastructure

Adam Estrada — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:21:29 +0000

There are countless free and/or open source applications that can be installed on just about any platform. The hardest part about dealing with a lot of different applications is getting them configured to run properly. For example, I recently evaluated a lot of different bug tracking applications that would also integrate nicely with VisualSVN. In case you don’t already know, VisualSVN server is a stack that installs and configures the SVN source control tools for you. And, it does it all without any thinking on your part which is huge when you are in a hurry. From the VisualSVN Website:

VisualSVN Server is a package that contains everything you need to install, configure and manage Subversion server for your team on Windows platform. It includes Subversion, Apache and a management console.

So now you’ve got source control! Next you’ll need a bug tracking system that integrates nicely with SVN. I went through this list and pretty much determined that they are all either too expensive or too much for what me and my small team need. I came across Redmine after getting a heads up from Bill Dollins. I gotta say that the features that this software has right out of the box are amazing! Check out their website for how they integrate with SVN too!

The problem I had was that it was really difficult to get it configured because 1. I am not all that familiar with a Ruby on Rails application and 2. SVN installs on an entirely different server (Apache) which I thought might be an issue. Wrong! I came across Bitnami.org which is a group that specializes in Open Source Software stack dissemination. After a quick download and an even faster install, I had Ruby on Rails, Redmine, Mongrel and MySQL set up and ready to go! Note how many stacks the Bitnami group gives you…there is something for everyone! I am having issues getting Redmine without SSL to play nicely with VisualSVN with SSL so when I figure it out I will post how I fixed it.

GeoDC Kickoff…

Adam Estrada — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:20:52 +0000

It looks like GeoDC is going to take place on random Thursdays for now on. Thanks to Kate and the FortiusOne folks for putting it all together! If you live in the DC area and are in to Geospatial Technology, I encourage you to register at the Ning group. It’s a great way to connect with other GeoNerds in the area and learn about all the cool stuff they are working on. There seems to be a lot of influence from the open source crowd which in this day and age is just what the doctor ordered. I’ve gotten in to OSM since my first OSM Mapping Party last month so I’m glad to see the start of a semi-active group in the area.

C# KML Generator

Adam Estrada — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:40:55 +0000

If you’re anything like me, you probably generate a ton of KML so I wanted to pass along a quick little method that generates a KML file from data in a C# DataSet. The real cool part about this is that it never writes anything to disc and it will always generate a unique file (based on a GUID). It’s also important to note that the icon path is set in the web.config file so it can be configured after the application is deployed.

^?View Code CSHARP

 public void kmlFile()
        {
 
            DataTable tbl = (DataTable)Session["DataTable"];
 
            // Create a temporary file name using a GUID and start writing the File
            object tempGUID = System.Guid.NewGuid();
 
            // Grab the icon path in the web.confg file.
            object iconPath;
            iconPath = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["kmlIcon"];
 
            // Start writing the KML    
            Response.Write("\"http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2\">\n");
            Response.Write("\n");
            Response.Write("My KML\n");
            Response.Write("\n");
            Response.Write("\n");
            Response.Write("-96.1501026686213\n");
            Response.Write("37.95371359340249\n");
            Response.Write("0\n");
            Response.Write("4429395.882870826\n");
            Response.Write("0\n");
            Response.Write("\n");
 
            // Loop through the dataset and populate the placemarks.
            string Name = string.Empty;
            string owner = string.Empty;
            string class = string.Empty;
 
            foreach (DataRow dr in tbl.Rows)
            {
 
                // Replace bad characters with good ones.
                Name = dr["Name"].ToString();
                Name = Name.Replace("&", "&");
                Name = Name.Replace("\\", """);
                Name = Name.Replace("<", "<");
                Name = Name.Replace(">", ">");
                owner = dr["Owner"].ToString();
                owner = owner.Replace("&", "&");
                owner = owner.Replace("\\", """);
                owner = owner.Replace("<", "<");
                owner = owner.Replace(">", ">");
 
                // Continue writing the KML
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("" + Name + "\n");
                Response.Write("#pushpin\n");
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("My KML\n");
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("\"center\">\"#FF0000\">" + class + "
\n");
                Response.Write("
\n");
                Response.Write("Name: " + dr["Name"] + "");
                Response.Write("
");
                Response.Write("Owner: " + owner + "");
                Response.Write("
");
                Response.Write("Latitude: " + dr["Latitude"] + "");
                Response.Write("
");
                Response.Write("Longitide: " + dr["Longitude"] + "");
                Response.Write("
");
                Response.Write("
");
                Response.Write("\"center\">\"#FF0000\">" + class + "
\n");
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("]]>");
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("" + dr["Longitude"] + ", " + dr["Latitude"] + "\n");
                Response.Write("\n");
                Response.Write("\n");
 
            }
 
            Response.Write("");
            Response.Write("\n");
 
            // Response.Write the data with the Encoding "KML". This will force the default KML
            // reader to launch when the file is done writing.
            Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=" + tempGUID + ".kml"); 
            Response.ContentType = "application/kml";
            Response.AppendHeader("Content-Encoding", "kml");      
        }
 
    }

Enjoy!

Open Street Map (take 1)

Adam Estrada — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:26:53 +0000

CloudMade/OSM

I went to my first Open Street Map mapping party this past weekend and gotta say that I am impressed with the effort the Cloudmade/OSM folks are putting forth to making a better Geoweb. I didn’t really know all that much about OSM prior to this weekend’s event other than it being another “slippy” map that folks can use as a backdrop in their mapping applications. It is true that it is another slippy map but it’s much more than that to the untrained eye. I automatically see the potential in OSM in that anyone with the proper know-how can edit it with their own data to make it better. For example, if I am forester working in a remote location in Alaska and need to reference a map to help me make better decisions the chances of there being quality data already available is slim. I can, however, collect data from my hand held GPS device while out in the field and then upload it to OSM at the end of the day.

This does several things for us.

Provides quality base data that is as accurate as our GPS device.
Permanently archives the road network for that area so that others can use it.

The cool thing about OSM is that it’s completely free and open to use where as Google and Microsoft have restrictions that might prohibit the widespread use of their data. In fact, Cloudmade/OSM encourages that everyone use their data in hopes of getting people to create more of it. The idea behind Cloudmade is simple and really pretty cool…

CloudMade helps you make the most of map data. We source our maps from OpenStreetMap, the community mapping project which is making a free map of the world. Our aim is to continue the democratization of geo data and to expand access to open geo data through a range of simple yet powerful tools and APIs.

Our tools and APIs allow developers to create rich interactive experiences on the web and mobile.

I think that one of the things that bothers me the most about the Googles and Microsofts of the world is that you can’t take their data with you unless you’ve got some serious $$$. With Open Street Map you can literally download a snapshot of the available OSM Planet and use it completely disconnected from the world wide web if needbe.

The thing I liked the most about the Mapping Party was the fact that Russ took the time to show us how to make edits to the map. There are a few ways to do this and I am going to use my personal blog as a way to share with other folks how to do it! Please stay tuned for more posts on how to do this!!!

GeoNames and GeoRSS

Adam Estrada — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:47:09 +0000

I don’t know how many of you are aware of this, but GeoNames.org has a pretty killer way of geocoding your RSS feed! This is particularly useful for converting your RSS feed to GeoRSS to be used in other products.

The way they do it is clever and very simple. Pass your feed’s URL in as a parameter to theirs and specify what type of output you want.

feedUrl string (required) The url of the RSS feed to search locations for and to convert to GeoRSS. The feed has to be syntactically correct, i.e. wellformed xml and valid rss/atom.
Note : the feed url needs to be ‘url encoded‘.

feedLanguage string (optional) en,de,fr,it,es The language of the feed, this information is needed by the geonames search engine to find relevant locations. Default : No value = automatic language detection.

type string (optional) rss_0.9, rss_0.91, rss_0.92, rss_0.93, rss_0.94, rss_1.0, rss_2.0, atom_0.3, atom_1.0kml The output RSS dialect of the conversion. Default : same RSS dialect as input feed.With type=kml the output will be in GoogleEarth kml format.

geoRSS string simple,gml,w3cGeo (optional) The GeoRSS output encoding used for lat/lng. See www.georss.org for details. Default is w3cGeo.

addUngeocodedItems true Items that could not be geocoded are removed from the response document. Setting the parameter addUngeocodedItems=true will include the ungeocoded items in the response.

country string (optional) two-letter iso country code Restrict geocoding to a given country. This parameter may improve the results of the geocoder for feeds focusing on a single country.

I did a quick test using FEMA data and was able to display the data over a Google Map. The URL I passed in to Google is as follows.

http://ws.geonames.org/rssToGeoRSS?feedUrl=http://www.fema.gov/news/disasters_rss.fema&type=rss_2.0

Note that all I did was pass my feed URL in and then assign it as type rss_2.0. GeoNames geocoded everything for me and produced a valid GeoRSS feed that Google Maps understands. Piece of cake!

View Larger Map

jQuery Cascading Dropdown Menus

Adam Estrada — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:40:36 +0000

One of the trickiest things to do gracefully on a website is create drop-down menus that are dependent on each other (also called cascading drop down menus). There are several ways to do this, of course, but I’ve seen that the most elegant/Web 2.0ish way to go about it is using AJAX calls to a web service or other exterior files. Ajax is a great way to grab data off your server because you DO NOT have to refresh the page once it’s loaded. I stumbled across this script on the jQuery examples page and expanded upon it to make it work the way I needed it to. Note the different types of cascading drop down menus on that site. The idea here is that a particular value in the first menu is selected and the script calls data sitting on the server and does an ad-hoc query to find related items from the JSON-formatted list.

^?View Code JAVASCRIPT

1	[{"When":"Level_1","Value":"Level_2","Text":"Level_2"}]

Note how “Level_2″ is only activated when “Level_1″ is selected in the main script.

^?View Code JAVASCRIPT




 
<script type="text/javascript">
        jQuery(document).ready(function()
        {   
	     jQuery("#level_2").cascade("#level_1",{                   
                ajax: {url: 'js/level_2.js' }, 
                template: commonTemplate,
                match: commonMatch, 
			timeout: 250 //just to show loading indicator
            });
            jQuery("#level_3").cascade("#level_2",{                   
                ajax: {url: 'js/level_3.js' }, 
                template: commonTemplate,
                match: commonMatch, 
	        timeout: 250 //just to show loading indicator
            });
        });
script>

In the above example, you’ll note that “Level_3″ is dependent on “Level_2 and “Level_2″ is dependent on “Level_1″ which is the cascading effect we were going for. It doesn’t get much easier than that! As long as the JSON formatted string reflects what you are querying for, i.e. “Level_2″ is dependent on “Level_1″ you’ll be good to go and this script will work like a charm. I’ve managed to get it to work on 6 different cascading levels without any problems at all. The author even added a cool little graphic that displays while the script is loading.

^?View Code CSS

feedUrl	string (required)	The url of the RSS feed to search locations for and to convert to GeoRSS. The feed has to be syntactically correct, i.e. wellformed xml and valid rss/atom. Note : the feed url needs to be ‘url encoded‘.
feedLanguage	string (optional) en,de,fr,it,es	The language of the feed, this information is needed by the geonames search engine to find relevant locations. Default : No value = automatic language detection.
type	string (optional) rss_0.9, rss_0.91, rss_0.92, rss_0.93, rss_0.94, rss_1.0, rss_2.0, atom_0.3, atom_1.0kml	The output RSS dialect of the conversion. Default : same RSS dialect as input feed.With type=kml the output will be in GoogleEarth kml format.
geoRSS	string simple,gml,w3cGeo (optional)	The GeoRSS output encoding used for lat/lng. See www.georss.org for details. Default is w3cGeo.
addUngeocodedItems	true	Items that could not be geocoded are removed from the response document. Setting the parameter addUngeocodedItems=true will include the ungeocoded items in the response.
country	string (optional) two-letter iso country code	Restrict geocoding to a given country. This parameter may improve the results of the geocoder for feeds focusing on a single country.