Open Source Update Friday

September 30, 2011 1 Comment

Everybody’s working for the weekend, especially on Friday.  But there is good news for those who like to install updates to software on their Friday; QGIS 1.7.1 and OpenLayers 2.11 are available.

  • QGIS 1.7.1 was released this week.  This is a bug fix release so there isn’t much new there other than cleaning up issues.  Check out those release notes to see what was updated.
  • OpenLayers 2.11 also was released this week.  Don’t let the .01 update fool you, this is huge.  Specifically “native” support for touch devices (you know, like that thing called an iPad) and some big performance updates.  Clearly this is an update all who are running OpenLayers 2.10 should look at very closely.
  • Esri Canvas Maps are now available in ArcGIS.com (er ArcGIS Online).  Now your paleo maps can have a little neo map flavor.  Everyone is a winner!  Yea that’s not really open source, but you can use it in OpenLayers so that’s a win for libre.

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LBS and Fusion Tables and Vector Tiling, Oh My!

March 4, 2011 15 Comments

Another week has passed and we are all still alive and kicking. Humanity never fails to surprise me. Anyway, Geo[ref]That is “Geo” with a big “G” vs “geo” with a little “g”.[/ref] continues to roll on and keep us excited.

  • Skyhook Wireless and Sony are hooking up to give the next generation PSP some location capabilities.  Good news for Skyhook, but aren’t devices like the PSP and Nintendo DS on their way out?  I guess we’ll see this summer when everyone is playing the latest EA games on their iOS devices.
  • Work with R?  Check out RStudio!  IDEs are usually hit and miss with me but this has enough awesome to warrant a download. (HT: PHXGeo)
  • Protected Maps in Google Fusion Tables?  Yes please!  2011 may be the year of Google Fusion Tables[ref]oh and the iPad 2, right?[/ref]
  • Google Maps labels look better, but why?  Justin again analyses how Google does this and compares it to Bing and Yahoo!.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you’ve got to be following Justin’s blog!
  • IBM puts out a weird blog series on the “The Case Against Google Maps in IBM Cognos Reports” (parts two and three).  To me I’m left wondering where the content is on that case to use Esri map services.  They sum it up this way, “In solid Boolean logic: NOT Cognos BI AND Google Maps.”  Say whaaat?
  • Lastly, Matt Kenny brings us the awesome that is TileStache.  Seriously now, why are we still using WxS and Esri ArcGIS Services?[ref]Sure, you can give me thousands of edge cases where such overhead is needed, but rarely does one need such things.  We need to break out of our bad practices and embrace the future.[/ref].  Read Matt’s blog and get cracking.  Bonus points for rolling TileMill and TileStache together!

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iExtMap for iOS

August 19, 2010 5 Comments

I reviewed ArcGIS for iOS a couple weeks back and liked what I saw.  One of my biggest disappointments was the lack of OGC support.  ESRI says it is coming, but in the meantime I took it upon myself to try out other iOS mapping clients.  One that has caught my eye is iExtMap.  You may recall Alper Dincer from the 2009 ESRI Dev Summit Challenge where his ExtMap took first place.  While not built upon ExtMap, Alper has released iExtMap for iOS.

So what does iExtMap bring to the table?

  • Google Maps Base Maps
  • Blank Base Map for your own base map
  • Displaying ArcGIS Server Dynamic and Tiled Services
  • Displaying WMS as Tiles
  • Displaying KML/GeoRSS files
  • Displaying static tiles (for Arc2Earth users)
  • Bookmarking
  • Geolocation
  • Identify (in next release)
  • Query (in next release)
  • Measurement (in next release)
  • Open Street Maps (in next release)
  • WMS improments (in next release)

So let us look at iExtMap in detail.

The iExtMap Splash Screen

The first screen you see when you start up iExtMap is the Maps window.  From here you can navigate whatever maps you have added to iExtMap.  Google is the default background map and in the Base Maps screen you can see how you can choose which “base map” you wish to have in your background.


The Map Tab on iExtMap

Choose your Base Map

After choosing your background base map, you go to the Layers tab to add layers.  The first thing I tried to add was a KML out of WeoGeo Market.  This was easy to add and actually looked pretty good on the iExtMap screen on my iPhone.  Just grab the URL to the KML and like that it is added.  Adding ArcGIS Server services and WMS is also as easy as copying a URL and pasting.  The only issue I ran into was that WMS needs to be in EPSG:900913 making your choice of WMS smaller than it should be.  This is a know issue and an update is planned in the future to address it.

Adding a KML to iExtMap is very simple.

After adding the layer, put a check next to each one you want to view on your iExtMap Map.

And here is that KML - viewed on the iExtMap Map.

The bookmarks are very strait-forward.  You either bookmark a view on the Map or manually input the coordinates.

Manually creating a bookmark in iExtMap

The Bookmarks tab in iExtMap

One actually fatal issue of iExtMap is that you can get caught in an info box and have no way to break back out.  Make sure when you are on the Map tab, not to click on the links at the bottom of the view (I’m assuming these are the credit links).  If you do you get stuck on the “about Google Maps” page with no way to get back to the map unless you exit the app.  Hopefully this flaw will be fixed very quickly.

DO NOT CLICK!

Don't get me wrong, the about page is very nice. You are just stuck on it if you get here - yikes!

Overall though, I think there is a ton to like about iExtMap.  Out of the box you have OGC support (KML and WMS) which I really think is critically important.  Support for ArcGIS.com (ArcGIS Online) layers is there as well so you have an iOS app that can work across OGC and proprietary services.  Alper should be commended on his efforts and I can see myself using this quite a bit to work with OGC services.

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ArcGIS for iOS Release

July 6, 2010 30 Comments

Over the holiday weekend, ESRI’s new ArcGIS for iOS went live on the Apple iTunes Store.

ArcGIS for iOS (iPhone) Splash Screen

ESRI lists the following as “features”:

  • Navigate map galleries in just a few taps
  • Use maps authored in ArcGIS.com
  • Access your own GIS data
  • Display and zoom to current location
  • Perform linear and area measurements based on your current location or by interacting with the map.
  • Retrieve detailed map metadata
  • View feature attribute information
  • Perform keyword search and get access to relevant information
  • Execute predefined searches
  • Change the visibility of layers
  • Access popular maps faster by adding them to your favorites list
  • Share maps with other iPhone/iPad users

Now the app is quite impressive. The functionality and the ease of use stand out to me on my quick look this morning.  The UI is simple and puts both the map and search functionality front and center.  There is also a “Find Maps” button that takes you to what is essentially ArcGIS Online, where you can view many maps that are available in that service as well as add your own web mapping service.  The only issue I have with this is that currently you can only add ArcGIS Server web services, not any OGC services.  In an ESRI centric environment, that might not be an issue, but it does limit its use outside of an “ESRI shop”.  You also can’t consume CSW services to discover web content, you can only use ArcGIS.com.

The simple UI for ArcGIS for iOS on the iPhone

ArcGIS for iOS Find Maps Screen

ArcGIS for iOS Browse Maps Screen

The ArcGIS for iOS OpenStreetMap Service

ArcGIS for iOS uses ESRI Web Services Only

The search works well in that you can find not only places, but companies and other useful points of interest.

Isn't it nice how the search for ESRI puts you right at the front door of the Q Building?

The Map Tools are accessible via the wrench in the upper right Map screen and give you Identify and Measure (Area and Distance).  The Identify has a reverse geocoder to give you the address of a location as well as its coordinate and any features available.

The map tools available for ArcGIS for iOS

The identify function of ArcGIS for iOS

ArcGIS for iOS is a very impressive mobile mapping app.  It really shows the attention to detail ESRI has put into their new ArcGIS Mobile apps.  Compared to the old Windows CE and Windows Mobile crap they used to put out, this was easily used by my son without any direction.  Having all those ESRI web services (from the wonderful Topological Map, to the Bing Maps) at your finger tips is great (plus adding in OSM is just icing on the cake).

ArcGIS Golf Oil Spill Forecast Map

As I said above, my biggest disappointment is lack of OGC standards support.  WMS and CSW support is really needed to make this application valuable outside of ESRI centric workflows.  That said, watching my 7 year old son move around the application with ease gives me new hope what we GIS folks can actually make usable GIS apps for public consumption.  We’ll just have to see how open they can get.

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ESRI iPhone SDK Public Beta is Now Available

May 5, 2010 17 Comments

ESRI has been pushing their iPhone SDK quite a bit this year and everyone finally has access to it. I personally still think that web apps are the better choice on mobile devices, but for those who want to jump into Objective-C, check out James Richards blog post on developing with the new SDK.

All those folks below in that line waiting to get their iPhones must be totally ready to get your GIS app.

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Rolling Your Mapping Apps on the iPad (or the iPhone)

January 27, 2010 17 Comments

One thing that has become crystal clear is the preferred method of having a mapping application on the iPhone and by extension the new iPad is to create a native iPhone/iPad app.  That said, the noise sometimes causes people to miss some great web mapping app (as native web apps).  I’ve looked into using SVG and even OpenLayers in the past for mapping in the iPhone, but who is rolling their own web apps out there to accomplish what until 2 years ago required a browser on a laptop or desktop? I know there will most likely be a session at the ESRI DevSummit using OpenLayers, but is there a framework people are working with?

Can anyone find me some mobile web mapping applications to love?

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5 predictions Geo for 2010 and 5 things that won’t happen

December 31, 2009 59 Comments

Here are 5 predictions for Twenty Ten.

  1. The shapefile dies: SpatiaLite + ESRI’s File Geodatabase API finally put a dagger in the shapefile.
  2. GIS on iPhone/iSlate (Apple Tablet) and Android/Chrome OS: With Apple and Google owning the mobile space, we’ll see more proprietary and open source projects being ported to these platforms.  Microsoft Tablet PCs and Windows Mobile/CE begin to die off.
  3. 64-bit: There will be some holdouts (*cough* ESRI), but most of us will be running native 64-bit code on our desktops and servers.  Now to just get more RAM in this laptop.
  4. Mobile: If you aren’t running on the iPhone/Android/Blackberry you aren’t relevant.  Web mapping apps become mobile browser aware.   Those that aren’t were probably irrelevant anyway.
  5. Google: Google’s APIs continue to push the envelope and they continue to be the standard for everyone mapping on the interweb.  Google is able to throw so much money and manpower at “problems” and their solutions are coming faster than anyone else can match.

Here are 5 things that won’t happen:

  1. Augmented Reality: Much like the Nintendo Virtual Boy, it sounds great until you try and use it.
  2. OpenStreetMap Dominates: Between Google’s quick improving of their database and continued licensing issues OSM plateaus.  Companies will continue to try and figure out how to monetize OSM, but fail.
  3. ESRI + Microsoft: This was on the top 10 lists for many people in 2009, but I don’t think we’ll be seeing deeper integration.  ESRI will continue to support multiple platforms (Google, OSM, Microsoft, “other”) and not become a Microsoft shop.  As Google continues to erode away at SharePoint and Bing Maps, ESRI will make sure that they don’t get caught in Microsoft’s blind spot.
  4. Geolocation other than Twitter, Apple and Google (TAG): Foursquare, Brightkite, and others will fade as TAG rolls out new APIs and ensure their mobile devices are tagging everything you do.
  5. MySQL falls apart:  Despite the dire predictions of Oracle or Monty destroying the project, too many people have too much invested in the project to let it fail.  MySQL will be fine and LAMP will continue to power Badgers.

Hey, don’t worry…  It’s gonna be a bright, sun-shiny day!

 

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Walk & Ride by United Maps

November 30, 2009 Leave a Comment

United  Maps has a video up on YouTube showcasing their upcoming Walk & Ride app for the iPhone.

What I find interesting is that United Maps is rendering vectors directly on the iPhone. I’ve always though rasterizing vectors causes you to lose the power of vector datasets. All I can say is those lucky Euros are going to be having fun with this app. I really need to get my rear over there soon.

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More users looking at SpatiaLite

December 30, 2008 2 Comments

Bill Dollins likes SpatiaLite and he’s been blogging about it and he isn’t the only one either.   How long to someone gets this running on Android or the iPhone (which both already run SQLite)?

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ESRI’s Mobile Platform of Choice

December 16, 2008 25 Comments

Jack Dangermond was interviewed on CRBonline this week and there was one comment that caught my eye.  When Jack commented on ArcLogistics on mobile, the interviewer asked him this:

Q. Does it run on the iPhone/BlackBerry Storm/Windows Mobile/Google Android? If not, when will it?
A. We’ve standardised on Windows Mobile as a platform that gives us a level of device independence. We are looking at other platforms, but see Windows Mobile as a primary IT platform for professionals.

Yikes, I guess we and our clients won’t be running ArcGIS on their mobile devices in the coming year.

Maxwell Smart uses ArcGIS Server Mobile on the Windows Mobile Platform.

Maxwell Smart uses ArcGIS Server Mobile on the Windows Mobile Platform.

Of course I could be over analyzing Jack’s comments like others are.

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