Well Hangouts with James Fee is back in Podcast form. As is typical, Ian White is my first guest and we get into many things from his transition from Urban Mapping to the business of spatial and a new segment called “Where are they now?” where we remember all those leaders who have moved on to new jobs in 2017. You can listen below or subscribe in iTunes or Google Play. I hope you enjoy the new format and if you have any suggestions please email me.
Next week Bill Dollins joins so stay tuned.
I’ve had many a Google Hangout in the past and we’ve had a great time putting them together. Google Hangouts are fun but they are hard to listen to while commuting, working out or just resting at night. I’ve thought about a podcast many times before but never until now have I put things in motion.
Starting next week, I will record my first Hangouts with James Fee podcast with Ian White. We’ll follow that with Steve Pousty and Bill Dollins. I’ll post here more when I have the podcast feed available and links to iTunes and Google Play. My hope is if everything goes well that we’ll have our first podcast linked up by the 29th of March. Stay tuned!
When we think of Esri scripting and authoring languages, we think Python. Esri jumped in with two feet with Python and we were all much better off for it. But alas, as awesome as Python is, it isn’t as portable across the Esri ecosystem as they would like. To solve the problem either you choose another language to use that is more portable (JavaScript) or you write your own expression language and make is appear like Python and JavaScript had a baby.
Well that’s what Esri did, take Python, take JavaScript and a new expression language. Now in an open world this would be great because anything I wrote in Arcade would be usable anywhere else. But this is an Esri only solution as I can’t imagine other companies jumping in on it. But in Esriland, that’s OK because the ecosytem is large enough to support learning a proprietary language.
I don’t use Esri software anymore so I can’t play with it but it is a logical solution to their problem of having to write code to work with data in different platforms. Theoretically one can now use Arcade to author and render maps and let the Esri software handle the rest. I’d wait to see what happens with Arcade and the eventual 1.x release. It’s the Esri Web ADF talking but…
So another proprietary scripting language…
If you ever thought it was difficult to work with GIS file formats, you haven’t explored the world of BIM. With Cityzenith I’m getting back into converting BIM and it’s making me nogstagic for Esri’s File Geodatabase or LIDAR formats. One of our core features at Cityzenith is drag and drop BIM model import. We’re supporting COLLADA, FBX, IFC, OBJ and CityGML for now but it seems every time I talk with a user they want to import some very proprietary BIM format. I won’t even get into the issues with importing Autodesk’s Revit but look how hard it is for even Safe FME.
The great thing about most of these 3D formats (beyond Revit) is they are relitively open and there are many tools for reading and writing them. But the sheer amount of formats means that you’ve got to plan for these in your software workflows. IFC and FBX do a great job of saving a lot of the BIM data on export while formats such as COLLADA basically drop everything except the structure. Most of the time this isn’t an issue because BIM files have so much data in them that really isn’t important for a planning and development tool such as Cityzenith, but we want to grab much of this to allow our users to perform analysis on building information.
We also want to grab floors of the building and basic structure beyond just the building shell. When we’re integrating IoT feeds into buildings, having the floors or rooms is critically important. IFC is the hope and the failure of openBIM. In an attempt to be everything to everyone, you end up with a bloated format but one that will address all your needs. Being able to programatically pull out floors and rooms of a BIM model requires a ontology for us to work with and IFC sticks to one that we can work with.
But any consultant will tell you, each user(client) has their own unique ontology that you have to work with. Safe Software has been dealing with this for years and has done an amazing job of working with these little idiosyncrasies that enter not only file formats but the models that humans create in them. It’s been really fun getting back into BIM and BIM file formats full time. BIM to GIS (or GIS to BIM) is hard but that challenge and making it simple and repeatable for all users is going to make it very exciting.
Well today is a big day at Cityzenith, we are announcing our beta program.
Cityzenith’s 5D Smart World™, the focus of the BETA User Program, is a complete, web-based Software-as-a-Service platform designed to help AEC firms and Real Estate companies transform their existing investments in BIM and other technologies into valuable tools for aggregating, searching, managing, analyzing, and reusing project information. Designed to help Smart Cities manage the massive amounts of data generated in today’s cities, the platform has been modified and adapted for this Beta Program to suit the specific needs of the professional AEC and CRE communities who design, build, own, and operate Smart Cities, Smart Campuses, and Smart Buildings the world over.
We are excited to be working with some of the biggest names in the AEC and Real Estate industries including; AECOM, WSP-Parsons Brinkerhoff, Gensler, SOM, Microsoft, RMW, Accenture, Surbana Jurong, UI Labs City Digital and the GSA.
If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to me or sign up for our beta. We expect to have our public beta in the next couple months so be ready!
Bosch ConnctedWorld 2016 — ChicagoNext week I’ll be at Bosch ConnectedWorld Chicago talking on a panel about Connected Smart Cities. I haven’t been talking much about my new company, Cityzenith as we’ve been working hard on releasing our beta but that happens very soon so expect to read much more about Smart Cities, IoT, BIM, Cesium.js and open data. If you’re attending, let me know and we can meet up.
Last week we were in front of Mayor Emanuel of Chicago, IL and Mayor Khan of London, UK. You can see underground model inside our cesium.js world.
[vimeo 183060781 w=640 h=360]
Chicago CIO Brenna Berman Presents Cityzenith 5D Smart World to Mayor Emmanuel and Mayor Khan from Cityzenith on Vimeo.
Serious though, right? GIS has been defined by those who create much of it at “Scientific Software”. Because of such, it needs to be:
Professional GIS*
GIS software is literally the kitchen sink. Most GIS software started out as a project for some company and then morphed into a product. They are a collection of tools created for specific projects duct taped together and sold as a subscription. We’ve talked about re-imagining how we work with spatial data but we rarely turn the page. The GIS Industrial Complex (open source and proprietary, everything is awful) is built upon making things hard to do. There has been attempts to solve the problem but then in themselves are usually built for a project rather than a product. Somewhat cynical but you have to wonder if this is true.
Tools such as Tableau are the future and as they add more spatial capability GIS Specialists will be out of a job. Being a button pusher seems more and more like a dead end job.
I think you can usually tell when a GIS Professional learned GIS by how they use their keyboard. Those who learned either on UNIX command line programs such as ArcInfo or GDAL seem to go out of their way to type commands either through keystrokes or scripting while those who learned in the GUI era, either ArcView 3.x or ArcGIS Desktop prefer to use a mouse. Now generalizing is always dangerous but it highlights things about how GIS analysis is done.
GUI GIS
I almost feel like Yakov Smirnoff saying “What a country!” when you realize that most of the complicated scripting commands of the 90s are completed almost perfectly by dropping a couple GIS layers on a wizard and keep clicking next. Esri should be commended for making these tools drop-dead simple to use. But it brings up the issue of does anyone under stand what is going on with these tools when they run them? Let’s take a simple example for Intersect.
Esri Intersect Tool
So simple right? You just take your input features, choose where the output feature goes and hit OK. Done. But what about those optional items below. How many people actually ever set those? Not many of course and many times you don’t need to set them but not understanding why they are options makes it dangerous that you might not perform your analysis correctly. I’ll say you don’t understand how to run a GIS command unless you understand not only what the command does but all the options.
You don’t have to learn Python to be a GIS Analyst, running Model Builder or just the tools from ArcCatalog is good enough. But if you find yourself not even seeing these options on the bottom, let alone understand what they are and why they are used, you aren’t anything more than a button pusher. And button pushers are easily replaced. The Esri Intersect Tool has many options and using it like below will only give you minimum power and understanding of how GIS works.
Esri Intersect Tool with blinders on.
In the old days of keyboards, you have to type commands out and know what each one did. In fact many commands wouldn’t run unless you put an option in. Part of it is when you type the words “fuzzy_tollerance” enough times you want to know what they heck it is. I think keyboard GIS connected users to the commands and concepts of GIS more than wizards do. Much like working with your hands connects people to woodworking, working with your keyboard connects people to GIS.
Ever since GIS was created in a dark damp room in Canada, Jack has answered your questions. In the past this was a secret Q&A that only registered Esri users going to the UC could see but for the past 10 years or so Esri has posted it online. I’ve read through most of it and I think the part that has me most excited is the Python Web API. Just think about that for a bit, some amazing opportunities. 10.5 is on it’s way. We should take bets to see how far the 10.x releases get before they go into maintenance mode. I’m going with 10.8.
That said, the problem with the list is it’s so damn hard to read so as a service I’m pulling out what I view as the important questions and what Jack answered.
Q1: What is the meaning of this year’s User Conference Theme: GIS — Enabling a Smarter World?
A1: GIS is so smart that they’ve named whole industries after it. Smart Cities, Smart Homes, Smart Cars and Smart & Final. You can put Smart in front of anything and you sound smart. So in the spirit of Smart being smarter, we are using the power word, “Enabling” with Smart + World. You’d better believe we’ll also be mentioning Smart Maps later.
Q2: How does the Internet of Things (IoT) work and how does it connect and integrate with GIS?
A2: IoT is the new hotness. We looked at the Gartner Hype Cycle and saw that much of our previous GIS integration buzz words were dropping off. IoT should be on the Hype Cycle for years to come so it’s safe. Basically we’ll show you how to connect to things that you don’t care about with APIs that are difficult to use. It will be a fun time. Your Washing Machine is so in need of being a dot on a map.
Q3: What is the Esri Map Book and how should I use it?
A3: The Map Book is something we’ve given out every year for just about forever. You put the book in your suitcase where it gets bent during transport back to your GIS cube. Then you stick it on your shelf where it sits next to all your other Map Books as a badge of honor to show your peers that you collect Esri Map Books.
Q4: Is ArcGIS too complicated for a small nonprofit to understand and use?
A4: Yes of course. It’s too complicated for GIS users to understand and use. That is the whole point. If it was easy, then you wouldn’t feel like you’re getting value out of it. Super Mario Bros. was hard to beat, but you kept at it. Same with ArcGIS. Get that perfect score folks! This isn’t consumer software, it’s scientific.
Q5: What is a GIS Hub?
Q5: Our latest attempt to try and find ways to convince you to use ArcGIS Online. Rather than refine the message, we’re of the mindset to create new products and terms that confuse users. We call it the GIS Industrial Complex. GIS Hubs are collections of data on the web that don’t get updated very often.
Q6: How is Esri doing?
A6: Doing great thanks!
Q7: What is the big idea with Web GIS?
A7: What is the big idea with all these stupid questions?
Q8: What does the future hold for GIS?
A8: Lots of Microsoft Excel, DBF management and data silos.
Q9: What are some of the important innovations for ArcGIS 10.5?
A9: First, we’ll drop some big data terms on you. Second, we’ll create something called Insights which sounds cool because it’s “intuitive enterprise charting”. Third, we are reminding you we have a product called CityEngine. Fourth, we’ll introduce more wizard based tools that require no understanding of why you’re clicking next. Fifth, we have another Python library because that’s what you all want.
Q10: Can you explain what a Web GIS is?
A10: Um, GIS on the Web stupid.
Q11: What is ArcGIS Open Data?
A11: Something the boys in the lab cooked up. Allows both Esri and our business partners to check a box on responses to RFPs. You’re welcome…
Q12: What is the best way to give feedback to Esri about software issues?
A12: Complain on Twitter.
Q13: What is smart mapping?
A13: I swear to god that nobody asked this question.
Q14: Why does Esri have two desktop solutions?
A14: Because through feedback you let us know you liked it when we had ArcView 3.2a and ArcGIS Desktop 8.0.1 at the same time. We know you want something new but new sucks because it’s so different. So we’ll have two paths you’ll have to navigate. Keeps you busy doesn’t it? Think back to your old APRs and how much fun you had migrating them to MXDs. We have wizards that will simplify this but you still know it will be a nightmare. So enjoy ArcGIS for Desktop, we’re keeping it around for a long time.
Q15: Will ArcMap be deprecated anytime soon?
A15: Nope, it will be around for a long time, you’re still using ArcView 3.x on that WinXP computer aren’t you? Make a VM with Widows 10 and ArcGIS for Desktop 10.5 stand alone. You’ll be safe for a long time.
Q16: What are the new capabilities coming with the summer release, ArcGIS Pro 1.3?
A16: We’re getting close to having 15% of the functionality of ArcGIS Desktop. It takes time to migrate the kitchen sink.
Q17: How would you describe ArcGIS for Server today?
A17: Expensive
Q18: What is ArcGIS Online?
Q18: We’re still trying to figure that out. The plan is to eventually move everyone to ArcGIS Online named users for licensing. Be ready and embrace your new GIS Hub.
If you missed todays Hangout with Mapbox, you can watch it anytime on YouTube. Thanks to Eric Gundersen, Tom MacWright and Lyzi Diamond for joining me.