So yea, link bait title, sue me. But I felt like it needed to be there. But before I go into what that all means, I’m going to continue blogging over on Medium but with a new focus. The RSS feed, email blasts, and Twitter account will cease to produce original content.
So why is there an end to anything? I’ve been working toward this end for some time, the focus has been to move away from proprietary stacks and toward open source. But there is a more significant theme to this. Pivoting away from specialized software that is good at one thing, towards libraries to get things done. Regardless I’m now working at a company that specializes in aggregating, analyzing and visualizing 3D data. GIS has been useful at many things, but 3D was never one of it.
The start of Spatially Adjusted happened over the course of a family vacation to my wife at the time’s in-laws in rural Texas. I can’t recall exactly what made me start, but it was the intersection of Esri and Open Source. This was pre-OSGeo, things in my life were still ArcGIS and mostly ArcIMS. There was a ton about me being excited about EDN when that first arrived and unboxing ArcGIS 9.1. But I was getting into open source. In fact, the first time I blogged about PostGIS, Sean Gillies was quick to put me in my place. Because of course I was a big Esri supporter, and all he saw was someone complaining about the quality of the software.
My blog has a big story arc in it. I go from “Esri blogger” to “Esri hater.” Early on I used to get Esri passing me info to get the word out. The reality of this was there was no Twitter or Facebook yet, so the only place people could be open was my comments on my blog posts. But over the years I grew bitter about the software. I grew tired of competing against Esri on contracts. I became angry at software being half-baked and having to rewrite things every few years. Look, there was a ton to like about the Esri Web ADF… No wait, there wasn’t. I’m sure people worked very hard on it, and they probably take it personally when I call it a POS but it was. Engineers aren’t at fault for creating the Web ADF, Esri marketing is at fault for choosing to push it.
I honestly could write pages on why I dislike things about Esri but I won’t. I’m honestly over it. I look back at ArcObjects, MapObjects, Web ADF and the rest and I feel like it was a different person. I cannot picture myself doing that work anymore, and that’s OK, we all grow up and grow into what we enjoy. That’s the big picture through this journey, being open to change. The “threat” of Google Earth, the “threat” of open source, the “threat” of the ELA. All irrelevant in the end. The most prominent part of our professional lives is our ability to handle change. Don’t assume anything, just look for ways to improve your workflows, provide better service toward others and be proud of your career.
Throughout this journey, there have been a couple people who have affected great change in me. Early on I can only think of two people; Howard Butler and Sean Gillies. Both forced me to look at how I perceived open tools such as GDAL, UMN MapServer, and PostGIS. Sean more than anyone called out my proprietary bullshit and while I didn’t agree with everything he said, it did open my eyes. Later on, blogging brought me into contact with more developers. People such as Bill Dollins, Dave Bouwman, and Brian Flood. The work they were doing, even in the Esri ecosystem really helped me grow. Even inside Esri, the creation of EDN and the DevSummit introduced me to Brian Goldin, Steve Pousty and Rob Elkins who basically made the first DevSummit my Woodstock.
I also can’t stress enough how many people I’ve met over the years because of this blog. Not a conference goes by where someone introduces themselves to me and tells me they follow me. That means a ton as personal networks is what drives us all. It has been those who introduce me to the fantastic stuff they are working on that inspires my passion. But that is why I think my story arc went from “Esri blogger” to the intersection of 3D BIM and GIS.
I really can’t think of anyone I’ve met over these years I don’t have a ton of respect for. From Art Haddad pushing ArcGIS Server to be something more than a hacked together project to Jim Barry always making sure I could find the right documentation or developer help, I’ve always been lucky enough to find the right person to help out. I really could go, but everyone should know what a great asset you are and still will be.
So what now for me? At Cityzenith I’m focused on building the platform that the real estate and AEC industries can use to make a better world. This blog has been on so many different platforms over the years. Best I can recall the progress went; Blogger -> MovableType -> WordPress -> Octopress -> WordPress -> Github Pages -> WordPress and rather than port it over to yet another platform I think it has earned the right to relax. Just like PlanetGS.com got to retire in dignity, so will Spatially Adjusted.
So follow me over at Medium where I’ll be talking about Elastic, Unity, Mapbox, Turf.js, Tippecanoe, Safe FME, 3D formats, AWS (including Lex, Lambda and Comprehend) and using Unity inside web browsers and mobile devices. Should be a blast!
So I think I’ll just leave this here because it is how I feel.
