Simply GIS
I had some endpoints of a lines that I needed to convert to GeoJSON today. Before I started I do what every GIS professional does, take inventory of the multitude of ways to actually accomplish this. I mentally jotted down the following:
- Esri ArcGIS
- QGIS
- Online tools (csv -> json)
- R
- Python
I started to realize that these are all pretty heavy tools to just accomplish something as simple as a line string to line. We literally pull out a chainsaw when all we want it to trim a little piece of paper. Nothing simple about converting some coordinates into JSON. Enter Turf.js.
turf.linestring - Creates a LineString based on a coordinate array. Properties can be added optionally.
https://gist.github.com/cageyjames/400f050b24db613f83a3.js
So simple, plus it’s JavaScript already. Honestly I need to keep coming back to Turf.js, the docs cover easily 90% of what we mostly do with GIS every day. I just run Turf.js on my laptop and now I don’t even have to open up QGIS to get my work done. The best part, all JavaScript! So who is writing the Turf.js book right now?
Python and Visual Studio
I posted this a while back on twitter but someone asked me about it this morning and I thought I’d share it here on the blog. The Visual Studio Blog has and article out on Why write Python in Visual Studio? which is worth reading for everyone writing Python on Windows.
Recently, Visual Studio 2015 was released with support for Python. Python Tools for Visual Studio (PTVS) are available to help throughout Visual Studio in all the places you’d expect, from editing and IntelliSense, to debugging, profiling, and publishing to Azure. You can find all the details and some video walkthroughs, documentation, and other resources on visualstudio.com, and the post announcing Python Tools 2.1 and Python Tools 2.2 beta.
The post is a great read into the choices the Visual Studio team made on how to integrate IntelliSense with Python. Honestly when VS 2015 came out I’ve started using it for all Python development on Windows and when I switch over to my Mac I really miss the features. GIS users have embraced Python and having a real IDE to help them is a huge plus. In the past I’ve avoided IDEs where I didn’t need them but with Python projects getting larger and more important, it really makes sense to organize them better.
Python and Visual Studio
I posted this a while back on twitter but someone asked me about it this morning and I thought I’d share it here on the blog. The Visual Studio Blog has and article out on Why write Python in Visual Studio? which is worth reading for everyone writing Python on Windows.
Recently, Visual Studio 2015 was released with support for Python. Python Tools for Visual Studio (PTVS) are available to help throughout Visual Studio in all the places you’d expect, from editing and IntelliSense, to debugging, profiling, and publishing to Azure. You can find all the details and some video walkthroughs, documentation, and other resources on visualstudio.com, and the post announcing Python Tools 2.1 and Python Tools 2.2 beta.
The post is a great read into the choices the Visual Studio team made on how to integrate IntelliSense with Python. Honestly when VS 2015 came out I’ve started using it for all Python development on Windows and when I switch over to my Mac I really miss the features. GIS users have embraced Python and having a real IDE to help them is a huge plus. In the past I’ve avoided IDEs where I didn’t need them but with Python projects getting larger and more important, it really makes sense to organize them better.
The Story Behind Google Buying Waze
Waze cofounder tells us how his company’s $1 billion sale to Google really went down
The sale was a milestone for Israel’s young but huge startup community: The first Israeli consumer-app company to be bought for over $1 billion. In an instant, the whole “Startup Nation” decided to quit aiming for fast exits and build billion-dollar companies instead.
When Google bought Waze we were all amazed they paid $1B. Not so much in that we didn’t think Waze was going to sell for $1B1 but that Google needed them. In the end it was simple for Waze:
What made Google pretty attractive for us that No. 1, the company stayed in Israel. No. 2, we remained with our mission, to help drivers avoid traffic jams.
Well and that $1B was pretty attractive too. I’m honestly not sure what is going to happen to Waze moving forward. I still use it daily on my commute. Waze is partnering with cities to improve traffic results and I know millions of others rely on it for better traffic results than Google Maps or Apple Maps. But that’s the kicker right? Questions that come to mind to me are:
- What’s the incentive to innovate beyond improving traffic results?
- What’s the status of the maps behind the application, are they being updated?
- Does Google plan to shut Waze down and “integrate” traffic into Google Maps?
- Is Waze just another example of supporting a proprietary map only to see it be pulled away from the community?
Google bought Waze over 2 years ago. We haven’t seen anything new from Waze beyond these “partnering” programs2. I’ll continue to use Waze for my commuting because it is such a time save but the end game of Waze is probably not benefiting me.
The Story Behind Google Buying Waze
Waze cofounder tells us how his company’s $1 billion sale to Google really went down
The sale was a milestone for Israel’s young but huge startup community: The first Israeli consumer-app company to be bought for over $1 billion. In an instant, the whole “Startup Nation” decided to quit aiming for fast exits and build billion-dollar companies instead.
When Google bought Waze we were all amazed they paid $1B. Not so much in that we didn’t think Waze was going to sell for $1B1 but that Google needed them. In the end it was simple for Waze:
What made Google pretty attractive for us that No. 1, the company stayed in Israel. No. 2, we remained with our mission, to help drivers avoid traffic jams.
Well and that $1B was pretty attractive too. I’m honestly not sure what is going to happen to Waze moving forward. I still use it daily on my commute. Waze is partnering with cities to improve traffic results and I know millions of others rely on it for better traffic results than Google Maps or Apple Maps. But that’s the kicker right? Questions that come to mind to me are:
- What’s the incentive to innovate beyond improving traffic results?
- What’s the status of the maps behind the application, are they being updated?
- Does Google plan to shut Waze down and “integrate” traffic into Google Maps?
- Is Waze just another example of supporting a proprietary map only to see it be pulled away from the community?
Google bought Waze over 2 years ago. We haven’t seen anything new from Waze beyond these “partnering” programs2. I’ll continue to use Waze for my commuting because it is such a time save but the end game of Waze is probably not benefiting me.
The GIS Workflow
If there is one thing I’ve learned over the years it is that workflows are critical to creating a repeatable, defensible process. The thing with GIS is that we’ve got to use so many different file formats and systems1. I’ve been working on a relatively simple workflow, one that must be automated. The whole process is stuck on a proprietary format by a vendor who makes Esri look like an open book. Workflows generally are very easy to automate because so much of what we do in GIS is based upon APIs. Heck we were using APIs before we know what we were working with was an API2. But too much of what we do is based upon needing a license to export a binary format into an open one.
We can talk all we want about open data formats, LAS battles and every other GIS format war we want to argue about, but in the end we are usually up against a format that can’t be cracked, can’t be avoided or contractually is required. The binary format industrial complex is strong but I refuse to be backed into these corners anymore. Time to pivot into taking down this one.
Run away from the binary file industrial complex!