Geo-Tee — GIS T-Shirts
Scott Gregory wanted me to share something he is working on. From the website:
Here at?geo-tee.com we strive to serve up the funny. We dive deep to dig up the humor buried in the world of GIS. We supply apparel for the seasoned old-school GIS’r that was doing GIS with punch cards, to the newbie who just figured out the difference between a datum and a projection. We have a wide range of threads that will be sure to not disappoint. So whether you have been in the game for a while, or just now getting your map on, we have got the goods for you. Enjoy!
So if you’ve been looking for some geo-shirts and stickers you’ve got another resource.
Walk & Ride by United Maps
United Maps has a video up on YouTube showcasing their upcoming Walk & Ride app for the iPhone.
What I find interesting is that United Maps is rendering vectors directly on the iPhone. I’ve always though rasterizing vectors causes you to lose the power of vector datasets. All I can say is those lucky Euros are going to be having fun with this app. I really need to get my rear over there soon.
Walk & Ride by United Maps
United Maps has a video up on YouTube showcasing their upcoming Walk & Ride app for the iPhone.
What I find interesting is that United Maps is rendering vectors directly on the iPhone. I’ve always though rasterizing vectors causes you to lose the power of vector datasets. All I can say is those lucky Euros are going to be having fun with this app. I really need to get my rear over there soon.
Tempe, AZ GIS Data - It will cost ya!
Boy, all I wanted to do is get some GIS data for GIS Day 2009. Little did I know my own hometown is one of the worst offenders of locking up GIS Data.
City of Tempe - Sale of Engineering & GIS Records
Take a look, “$568.70 for each quarter section or 1/4 mile area”. For your own information, Tempe is 40 sq miles in size so do the math. Simply nuts! Plus take a look at their “conditions”:
Conditions and Restrictions
- All commercial orders and digital data orders will be required to document purpose of use.
- Plotting orders in excess of $25.00 and all digital data orders will require full pre- payment before order is processed.
- Digital data will be provided on city-issued media only.
- All orders and payments must be done in-person only.
I mean really, not only do they “share” it in Microstation, but you have to document the purpose of public data, you have to get the data on “city-issued” media and orders must be made in person. My jaw is still on the floor a week after I looked that this. Time for a little geo-revolution in Arizona. Don’t you think? Prepare to get very tired of my “struggle” against the City of Tempe for their data.
Time to call in the troops, free public data!
Time to call in the troops, free public data!
Update: Andrew Turner provides a great link to put this in perspective as well as the issues with data licenses on local geodata.
Update 12/01/2009: I just received this from the city:
Hello Mr. Fee,
Thank you for bringing your concerns to the city’s attention. We will review this practice/policy with the City Attorney’s Office and I will get back to you with more information as soon as possible.
Regards, Nikki
Nikki Ripley City of Tempe Communication and Media Relations Director
At least it is a response. Maybe other organizations who have more power in this valley might be able to get some results. I’m still hopeful though…
Tempe, AZ GIS Data - It will cost ya!
Boy, all I wanted to do is get some GIS data for GIS Day 2009. Little did I know my own hometown is one of the worst offenders of locking up GIS Data.
City of Tempe - Sale of Engineering & GIS Records
Take a look, “$568.70 for each quarter section or 1/4 mile area”. For your own information, Tempe is 40 sq miles in size so do the math. Simply nuts! Plus take a look at their “conditions”:
Conditions and Restrictions
- All commercial orders and digital data orders will be required to document purpose of use.
- Plotting orders in excess of $25.00 and all digital data orders will require full pre- payment before order is processed.
- Digital data will be provided on city-issued media only.
- All orders and payments must be done in-person only.
I mean really, not only do they “share” it in Microstation, but you have to document the purpose of public data, you have to get the data on “city-issued” media and orders must be made in person. My jaw is still on the floor a week after I looked that this. Time for a little geo-revolution in Arizona. Don’t you think? Prepare to get very tired of my “struggle” against the City of Tempe for their data.
Time to call in the troops, free public data!
Time to call in the troops, free public data!
Update: Andrew Turner provides a great link to put this in perspective as well as the issues with data licenses on local geodata.
Update 12/01/2009: I just received this from the city:
Hello Mr. Fee,
Thank you for bringing your concerns to the city’s attention. We will review this practice/policy with the City Attorney’s Office and I will get back to you with more information as soon as possible.
Regards, Nikki
Nikki Ripley City of Tempe Communication and Media Relations Director
At least it is a response. Maybe other organizations who have more power in this valley might be able to get some results. I’m still hopeful though…
ArcGIS Online Moves to Standard Web Map Tiling Scheme - That’s the Way I Like It!
ESRI has been talking about this for months (and haphazardly blogged about on the ArcGIS Online blog last week), but they’ve now got a post up on their ArcGIS Server Blog outlining the changes coming to ESRI’s ArcGIS Online web services. (Side note, wouldn’t be nice if ESRI sort of planned their blog posts better for a common message?)
Since the release of ArcGIS Online three years ago, the 2D services have used the WGS 1984 geographic coordinate system and a 512 x 512 pixel tile size. Google and Bing, in contrast, use a modified Mercator projection and a 256 x 256 tile size. The scale sets used by both tiling schemes are similar, but not equivalent.
Make sure you read the whole ArcGIS Server blog post to understand what you have to do and when. From the ArcGIS Online blog:
The existing services in the?ArcGIS Online tiling scheme will remain available for at least six months and, depending on demand, may remain available longer. Although the services will remain available, the content in these services will no longer be updated.