Spatially Adjusted

Blog

  • Portland Maps search now supports Google Earth

    I had posted about the Portland Maps Advanced Search last week and how it integrated Google Maps into the user interface to allow users to see where their results were located before going to more detailed mapping of each site. Richard Davies just posted to let us know that he’s gotten the export to Google Earth working and now your results can be view in the Google Earth application. Go ahead and search using the Portland Maps Advanced Search tool. When the results are return, you’ll see a little Google Earth KML icon in the lower left portion of the page.

    Portlandmaps ge export

    Just click on that to download the KML file into your Google Earth.

    Portlandmaps ge

    This is really slick, compared to most municipal web mapping sites, Portland really has their ducks in a row with the latest technology. Great job guys!

  • Finding a Giant Squid with the ESRI Hurricane Disaster Viewer?

    Link – My giant squid

    OK, its not really a giant squid, but frankly I can’t really tell what it is either. JM has a couple ideas and any of them could be it. My choice is that it is a Navy CH-46, but I’m not going to bet any money on that.

    Esri arcweb squid

  • More About Google Earth the Data Shift

    I’ve been working with Brian Flood to determine how and why the data won’t line up in Google Earth when exported out of ArcGIS into a KML/KMZ file. Brian figured out the following:

    there definitely seems to be a shift in GE’s aerials in some places (e.g. none in NJ, mild in Nevada, somewhat severe in your area). However, it looks like the WGS cords returned by GE are correct, so its overlaying your data correctly, its just its other base data is slightly shifted. I suspect this is QA/QC issue for GE

    For the next build, I added a xy shift variable that can be controlled by the user, essentially making up for the GE base data errors.

    Not a great story but if GE is used purely as a viewer it works. I also will mark the KML with comments so the shift can be undone at a later date (or simply re-exported)

    This isn’t good/bad news really as one can manually adjust the x/y shift, but it adds a step to the export that shouldn’t be there and this is compounded by the fact that the shift isn’t constant across the globe. At least now we know what the issue is and hopefully all ArcMap to KML extensions will add the ability to adjust the x/y shift soon.

  • ArcExplorer’s “ace in the hole”

    If I was the Program Manager of ArcExplorer, I would be calling CNN/MSNBC/Fox News/ABC News/CBS News/etc right now and show them a demo of ArcExplorer with some of the great ArcWeb services ESRI has. ArcWeb has better imagery, better weather layers and better road network than Google Earth has and I’m sure many of these news organizations would love to have all this out of the box, rather than rely on a KML/KMZ file from some server in Russia for their hurricane tracking. I would do just about anything to get the ESRI logo in the lower right corner of the TV screens while people are amazed both ArcExplorer and the ArcWeb services on top of that. ESRI only has to point to the years of experience serving up ArcWeb as to how valuable it can be to news organizations.

    If leveraged correctly, ArcWeb will be the reason why ArcExplorer will be a success. It won’t be easy, but the choice of services from ESRI has got to be a great marketing tool.

  • NOAA Releases Post-Rita Aerial Images

    Link – Hurricane Rita Base Map Index Page – via PubSub

    NOAA just completed an aerial survey areas affected by Hurricane Rita. The areas were photographed on Sunday covered the coastal regions of Louisiana and Texas. They were flown last Sunday right after the hurricane hit. One hates to make comparisons with natural disasters, but these images look very similar to the ones from the tsunami that hit SE Asia last year.

    Update – Go here if you want to get information about georeferencing the images for use in GIS.

    Rita cameron

  • SlashGISRS – Slashdot for the GIS World

    Link – SlashGISRS: In+ersec+ion for Spatial People – via perrygeo.net

    I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve tried to not pay attention to anything MapInfo as I hated using it 10 years ago. I’m sure things have changed, but I haven’t. Anyway if you enjoy using other software packages, SlashGISRS might be the place to go as they focus on all the flavors of GIS. I’m subscribed.

  • Andrew Hallam Stops KML Related Development

    Link – KML Related Development on Hold

    Previous posts on this blog suggest that I’ve been playing around with software that generates KML. ‘Tis true, but I’ve decided to put the development of those tools on hold…

    I’ve noticed the same issue with vector alignment on Google Earth with my datasets also. We are usually working with small areas so these are the ones that are most affected by this shift that happens when importing vector layers into Google Earth. There are projects that aren’t affected as the area of concern is large enough that you don’t notice the x/y shift, but we too have decided that Google Earth is not going to be right for many of our clients. Hopefully there will be a work around or Google will fix this problem in the near future.

  • EDN Search Improved

    Link – EDN Search gets a tune-up

    Brian says that EDN search has been improved. Honestly though, I can’t recall how the old search worked because I’ve never used it (I just don’t like the interface at ESRI’s support site). As a developer though I’m glad they have gotten this working because anything that causes me to go to EDN is a good thing as the only value to EDN right now is the software. If you work for a company that already has all the licenses, EDN doesn’t give you anything more than you already have. Now that the search is working, maybe we’ll see some more enhancements such as an improved ArcScripts and maybe more ESRI posted code samples to play with.

     

    New edn search

  • Google Maps .NET Control

    Links:

    Implementing the Google Maps API into your .NET web applications isn’t too hard, but its gotten much easier now with this Google Maps .NET control. As PortlandMaps.com shows us, integrating Google Maps into your applications can add so much value.

  • Reading Material for a GIS Professional

    Just a little something for me to read while traveling back east next week, twice…

    Uc2005 cd