Spatially Adjusted

Author: James

  • Using the Esri ArcGIS Server Cloud Builder

    I’ve been playing with ArcGIS for Server 10.3.1 at Matrix and we’re all about running things with hosted services.  So rather than spec out some hardware and install ArcGIS for Server on local legacy machines, we’re doing it all in the cloud.  Because I’m new here there wasn’t any legacy AWS use so I was able to pick Azure for deployment.  My logic:

    • While I’m experienced with AWS, Azure is mostly an unknown world to me.  Given we’re running Windows servers with SQL Server, why not go native.
    • I really want to give SQL Azure a spin.
    • The portal for Azure is much nicer than AWS.  They have those stupid panels in places1 but mostly it makes logical sense.
    • Esri has Cloud Builder to simplify installation which I though would be great for starting up prototypes quickly.

    So logical, no?  Well late yesterday this tweet went out by me.

    I was stuck here:

    You can literally hear the sad trombone sound.  Now Sam Libby was helping troubleshoot but things were still a bit weird.  Basically as you can see in the error above, I needed to accept an EULA.  Now of course I went into the the Azure Marketplace and followed the instructions to allow the Esri VM to be deployed programmatically which is what Cloud Builder requires.  But each time it errored out the same way.

    Sam offered this:

    Basically he hit upon it.  Microsoft did something with the marketplace and for whatever reason the Cloud Builder app won’t install an Esri ArcGIS for Server VM until you actually install it first yourself.

    The workaround to get the Cloud Builder app to run is actually just create a VM using the Azure Portal then delete it.

    After that, the Esri Cloud Builder app runs perfectly without trouble.

    Philip Heede basically confirms everything.

    https://twitter.com/pheede/status/662480497788891136

    So the ArcGIS for Server Cloud Builder2 works great.  While I don’t like wizards in general, it automates the processes that take time and let’s you focus on the settings for ArcGIS for Server you want to change.  I honestly haven’t installed ArcGIS for Server since it was ArcGIS Server (without the for) 9.3.1 and it was interesting to see how things have changed and how little has actually changed.

    1. Is that what they’re called? ↩

    2. Seriously, why no “for” in the title, consistency folks! ↩

  • Apple Gets Ready to Release Indoor Positioning Service

    Over the weekend Apple apparently pushed out an indoor positioning app ‘Indoor Survey’ into the iOS App Store.

    “By dropping ‘points’ on a map within the Survey App, you indicate your position within the venue as you walk through,” reads the app description. “As you do so, the indoor Survey App measures the radio frequency (RF) signal data and combines it with an iPhone’s sensor data. The end result is indoor positioning without the need to install special hardware.”

    Interesting in the sense it appears to be an app that stores can use to map their interiors with iOS devices.  It’s not a crowd sourced indoor mapping application.  This dovetails nicely with the other announcement this morning about their new Maps Indoor service.

    For now, Apple is focusing its efforts on a handful of venues that meet specific criteria. These requirements include:

    • The venue must be accessible to the general public
    • Only locations that draw more than a million visitors per year
    • Apple requires “complete, accurate, and scaled reference maps” for consideration
    • The venue must have Wi-Fi throughout, and an official app available on the App Store

    The groundwork is set for Apple to start mapping interiors of these large open venues.  But with an app and an iPhone, clearly Apple is planning to scale this out to just about every indoor location.  I suspect we’ll see stadiums, amusement parks and other entertainment venues appear first over the next year.

  • Ask Me Anything – Next Week

    So I was invited on the Spatial Community to give an AMA next week.  It will be Tuesday November 3rd at 11am PST.  You can literally ask me anything (duh) and I’ll try and respond to everything.

  • What’s Next? Matrix New World Engineering

    So you may have seen last week that I resigned from AECOM.

    Well I’ve ended up at Matrix New World Engineering as the National Practice Leader for GIS and Geospatial Services.  I’m going to miss the guys at AECOM and working as Project Manager on the BLM Navigator1 data sharing portal but the opportunity with Matrix is something I could not pass up.  In a twist, I will be working more closely with Esri technology.  That means you’ll see me blogging more about Esri again.  That said the first program I bought at Matrix was Safe FME Desktop so you can see my overall goals aren’t changing.

    Tied in with this is ArcGIS for Server on Azure.  I’m jumping in with two feet it appears.  But don’t worry, you won’t be seeing any ArcObjects or Dojo posts from me.  It’s interesting to try to get back on where Esri server software has gone over the past 5 years I’ve ignored it.  Google searches of course make me laugh a bit.

    The bottom goals don’t change though.  Sharing data and liberating data from silos.  Making smart choices with open source technology and embracing Python and JavaScript over Java and .NET.  My Esri account is locked out of ArcGIS Online (who even knows how to get that fixed) so step one is cleaning out the garage2 in my mind.

    Now I had promised Hangouts with James Fee starting back mid-October.  Well given my job change it was difficult to get that started back up.  It’s being pushed back to November and my first guest will be the always interesting Ian White.  Stay tuned for the schedule.

    1. Replacing the busted old BLM Communicator ↩

    2. Or is that gutter? ↩

  • Hangouts with James Fee: Special Guest Steve Pousty

    Hangouts with James Fee Season 4 starts soon.  We’re going to continue as a podcast so make sure you stay tuned for the guests.  I figure it is fitting that the last video hangout I had with Steve be posted as the “first” podcast.  Enjoy and I’ll see you all after my honeymoon.

  • Coming in October: HWJF the Podcast

    I’m getting married next week so I’m going off the grid but when I get back Hangouts with James Fee returns for Season 4.  The big change?  It’s a podcast.

  • CartoDB is the Next Spatial Startup to Get Funding

    Back in June, Mapbox received their Series B round of $52.55M.  With that, Mapbox has turned up their development on just about everything and had a grand old-time at the Esri UC buying just about every advertising space outside the San Diego Convention Center.  At the time Eric said:

    We’re creating the building blocks for a complete mapping stack. This extends way beyond a map.

    Today CartoDB has announced their Series B:

    We are excited to announce the close of $23 million in Series B financing to expand CartoDB’s mission, enabling anyone to map their world’s data and leverage the power of location.

    This moment is truly important because it sends a strong message about the location intelligence revolution as renowned investors validate our position and direction in this growing market. I would like to acknowledge the hard work done by many people in the company in the process — you guys rock!

    Spatial IT is hot stuff right now.  That’s about $75M in Series B funding in little over 2 months.  Bubble?  Probably not as you can’t really say either company hasn’t developed a business and has important clients.  5 years ago there were much more spatial startups running around trying to get money, from GeoIQ and SimpleGeo to WeoGeo1 and Geoloqi all received some funding but ended up being acquired mostly for staff or client lists.  CartoDB and Mapbox are of a different beast and their sustainability has been rewarded by large investments.

    So what’s going on with CartoDB now?  It appears they’re going to continue investing in the core product and make it bigger and easier to work with.  I’m excited for them, the elephant is going for a ride!

    1. Good times ↩

  • 10 Years Ago on Spatially Adjusted – “Ron Lake – What is KML?”

    10 years ago, Google Earth was still somewhat unknown.  It had its big coming out party with a natural disaster1 and people started doing amazing things with it.  If there was one person back in 2005 that knew XML spatial formats, it was Ron Lake.  He wrote a commentary on KML 10 years ago this week.  I for one read his article with 10 years of time to think about they implications of KML and see why from his perspective KML was not able to handle his needs.

    Back then we all thought KML was the future and there wasn’t much that couldn’t be done.  I think now we all realize that KML is the new PDF except we knew that 10 years ago.  XML of course is never the answer…

    1. Katrina ↩

  • The Death of GeoGig Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

    GeoGig is not dead.

    In light of some recent questions, I would like to take to a moment to discuss what the GeoGig team is up to and what additional steps are being taken to prepare for GeoGig 1.0. To frame this discussion I will highlight two steps (rebase and tag) that are used to prepare a data product for release in GeoGig.

    I wrote this article last week about version control and GIS and noted that I thought that GeoGig is not dead.  Clearly that isn’t the case and it appears that development is ongoing, just not on GitHub directly which I believe is some of the confusion.  We’ll all keep an eye out.

  • The GIS Superhero Meme

    Who can go to a spatial conference and not see the GIS superhero t-shirts, the presentations with superhero references and job ads claiming that if you work for them, you’ll be a GIS superhero.  It’s awkward right?

    https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5200/8412303424_e3e5f88e70.jpg

    But where did this superhero meme come from?  I’ve been trying to determine what set this all off and I think the first modern (I’m sounding like a history professor here) reference to a GIS superhero was Safe Software back in 2011.

    I’m guessing this showed up because of the FME 2011 beta screen.

    If you search FME mailing lists you’ll find references to “FME Superhero” back as far as 2007.  It was all in jest or at least had the feeling that it was a bit of a joke.

    But this all turned crazy when in 2012 at the ESRI UC, MapMan arrived apparently created by Daniel Gill.  After that moment, Esri conferences and meetups all had MapMan/MapGirl swag to buy or give away.  And with that GIS people started referring to themselves as superheros, hiring superheros and the rest.  I would have though this meme would die a quick death because it’s a bit ridiculous but if there is one thing GIS people love to do is oversell themselves.  Just use hashtag #mapman to see it all on your favorite social media network.

    The GeoMonkey never had a meme. You left him behind.