Author: James

Most of you already know this is Geography Awareness Week. There are many ways to help promote geography this week, but I’ve come up with my own. I’m taking the family to Disneyland.

I’ll be back on Monday, have a great week guys.

I’m sure many of us on the MapDotNet email list got the news that full support for SQL Server 2008 Spatial is right around the corner.

MapDotNet Server 6.5 is currently undergoing beta testing and will be released in November 2007. In addition to support for SQL Server 2008, it will provide support for the new features in Microsoft Virtual Earth 6.0, and will include upgraded map rendering capabilities, support for Windows Communication Foundation, profiling, event logging, and improved diagnostics.

Was there some sort of planned “event” for SQL Server 2008 today because both Manifold and Safe Software also announced SQL Server 2008 Spatial support.

This is clear to me:

FeatureServer + ArcSDE Data Store = Holy Grail

Being able to store data in ArcSDE, but still access it freely across any and all platforms. ArcGIS clients can hit ArcSDE and everyone else can enjoy data served by FeatureServer. But deep down this is even bigger than FeatureServer because really what I’m talking about is GDAL/OGR ArcSDE Vector Write Support. That opens up loads of open source projects to ArcSDE users and gives them the best of all worlds. ArcGIS Desktop/Server users can continue using ArcSDE they way they always have and open source solutions can come right in the front door and coexist with existing workflows. The benefit will be realized by users who will be able to get products that work best for them.

If I have to sell Amway door to door, I will get this project funded.

The gatekeeper will no longer be able to stop users from writing to ArcSDE from OGR.

We knew about this back in July, but ESRI has posted an announcement about Service Pack 4. Nothing about ArcGIS Server yet and that should be a big list because ESRI puts new features in their Service Packs. What is missing is the Vista support that was promised. I’m not sure why that isn’t listed (at least I don’t see it). Does that mean we won’t be seeing Vista support for ArcGIS until 9.3?

Lets make this simple. If you have experience with:

• Python
• PostgreSQL
• PostGIS
• GDAL/OGR
• OpenLayers

and at least some knowledge of:

• GeoJSON
• FeatureServer
• GML
• KML
• dealing with the above on Windows (Linux may come down the line)

and live in either Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, or New Mexico; email me

james.fee at gmail.com

Position can be contract or full time work.

There has been some discussion on my blog about the ArcGIS Online Data Appliance. Most ESRI users already know what is on the thing because they have had access to the ArcGIS Online Beta.

The ArcGIS Appliance provides terabytes of pre-rendered U.S. nationwide and worldwide data that you can host on your own secure server. This data consists of 2D maps and 3D globes that are optimized for publishing with ArcGIS Server and includes worldwide imagery, street map, shaded relief, and elevation data.

So, does this excite anyone? Google of course has their own product and I know I’ve heard other companies getting ready to offer such products using ArcGIS Server and/or ArcGIS Image Server. Personally I have to think this will be a huge hit with companies that are tied to the ESRI stack (which is probably its target marketplace).

If you want to see the costs of this product, the online PDF is here.

I’ve been so busy working on a 3D modeling job for the Navy that I haven’t had a second to blog. I’m usually pretty good about posting fast (if you can’t figured out, I can type faster than I can think), but these last few weeks have been tough.

I’ve been thinking about how to bring FeatureServer into workflows that require ArcGIS. Because ESRI refuses to support KML or GML complex GML out of the box, I need to think about how best to get datasets into ArcMap in a way that users can interact with it. No easy task given the requirements on my desk. We are trying to get as lightweight on the server side as we can given the budget constraints some of our clients are facing these days. FeatureServer + OpenLayers just fits that bill nicely.

I see Steve got the deCarta devZone up and running. If a banner ad with a magician can’t get people on the deCarta bandwagon, I’m not sure what can. Seriously though, if you saw the previous deCarta developer site, you can see they have something nice building there.

Well I’m sick from eating all my sons Halloween candy so I’m heading for bed. I’ve got to get some rest before fighting ArcScene and Google SketchUp tomorrow.

Oh, loneliness and leftover halloween candy are a dangerous mix.

I’ve been doing the traveling and then getting sick routine this week, but at least today when I got into work I saw that the GIS for Web Developers book showed up on my desk. I probably won’t be able to start reading it until next week because I have a couple friends coming in from Portola Hills, Orange County who narrowly avoided the Santiago Fire. They are Berkeley alumni so we are all going to go to the ASU-Cal game this weekend.

I get tons of emails from people asking where they can get free ArcView licenses for home use. People really want to work with GIS at home as well as at work which makes sense to me. I’ve always pointed folks to QGIS and other tools, but Matt Perry has a wonderful and easy way to most of the important open source GIS tools on Ubuntu with just a couple of commands.

just keeps getting easier and easier to get a fully functional open source GIS workstation up and running thanks to Ubuntu. The following instructions will take your vanilla installation of Ubuntu 7.10 and add the following top-notch desktop GIS applications:

Postgresql/PostGIS : a relational database with vector spatial data handling
GRASS : A full blown GIS analysis toolset
Quantum GIS: A user-friendly graphical GIS application
GDAL, Proj, Geos : Libraries and utilities for processing spatial data
Mapserver : web mapping program and utilites
Python bindings for QGIS, mapserver and GDAL
GPSBabel : for converting between various GPS formats
R : a high-end statistics package with spatial capabilities
GMT : the Generic Mapping Tools for automated high-quality map output

Download Ubuntu, install, run a simple command, enjoy GIS for free. Seems like a great solution to me!

Dan emailed me a link to these maps that Disney has up for their ”Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 13K” run. Take a look at the 13k and the 6.5k maps. They are both really horrible, but take a look at this part of the 13k map.

I’m not sure what happens under that hat with the route, but I’m sure it is magic! I’ve tried to piece together the route from both runs, but I’m at a loss.