Bing Maps News

For those of you familiar with Google Street View, Microsoft has their own version of a similar concept but with some variations. Check it out:

http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/maps/archive/2009/12/02/bing-maps-adds-streetside-enhanced-bird-s-eye-photosynth-and-more.aspx

For some more techy info if you use Bing maps read this:

http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/MainFeed.aspx

ArcGIS Online moving to Google / Bing tiling scheme

As some of you are working more with internet technologies and planning to integrate with Google and Microsoft Apps, this blog post may be of interest to you:

http://blogs.esri.com/Dev/blogs/arcgisserver/archive/2009/11/20/ArcGIS-Online-moving-to-Google-_2F00_-Bing-tiling-scheme_3A00_-What-does-this-mean-for-you_3F00_.aspx

AB- Environmental Site Assessment Repository

Hi All,
You might find this link interesting:
http://environment.alberta.ca/2948.html

ESRI System Design Strategies 2009

ESRI has updated their system design strategies white paper as of August of 2009. This document addresses many of the technical issues of GIS systems and is a great reference

Link to White Paper

Google Place Pages

Some discussion about Google's Place Pages that those of you invloved in web applications would find interesting (courtesy of Jason Birch's Blog, City of Naniamo):

http://feeds.feedburner.com/RandomNodes

Right-of-Way Information

Based on our discussion on Right-of-Way access at our July meeting I approached our Engineering department here in Airdrie. Here is what they had to say:

Utility companies are required to apply for line assignments within City rights of way (i.e.: roads, parks, etc.) They are granted an alignment at which time they typically state on the plans the depth they are going (typically 1 meter deep). I do not receive as-builts from these companies. Most companies do not provide as-built depths because they are reluctant to say they are 3 feet deep when someone may have changed the grades and they are actually only 1.5 feet deep.

Free Data from the City of Vancouver

Greetings Everyone,

You might find this interesting. The City of Vancouver has begun making some of their data available for free. Check it out:

http://data.vancouver.ca/

You can also provide your suggestions for additional data if you want.

New Hydrological Data from AGS

Hi everyone;

As discussed at our last meeting, I am posting a link to the Alberta Geological Survey's free downloadable data holdings:

http://www.ags.gov.ab.ca/publications/pubs.aspx?series=dig

The catalog is searchable, and there are a lot of potentially useful data available - lots related to geology (predictably), but also some good resources for hydrological data, which is something that seems to be lacking for many regions of our province.

Have a terrific day,
greg

Free ESRI Tools

Some of you might find these free ArcGIS tools useful:

http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/extensions/arcsketch/index.html

http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/extensions/gdbt/index.html

Free VB Editor

Here is a link to a free VB script editor from Microsoft

www.microsoft.com/express/vb/default.aspx

CAD - GIS Integration

Hope you're all enjoying the summer.

Some of you might find this article interesting.

http://www.esri.com/news/arcwatch/0809/surprise-arizona.html

Cheers,

Stefan

Government Data

I came across this blog from Jason Birch of the City of Naniamo, BC talking about Government data and acccess. Since some of our discussions surround this topic, perhaps some of you might find his perspective thought provoking?

http://www.jasonbirch.com/nodes/2009/08/03/312/do-you-see-spiders-making-government-data-truly-open/

Cheers,

Stefan

Google Bring Water Data to Life

Some of you might find this interesting.

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2009/world/google-brings-water-data-to-life/

Cheers,

Stefan

E-Government Services

Hello Members,

In the spirit of sharing and keeping the blog alive, I've come across a couple of interesting articles about E-Gov Services that you might find interesting.

Because I can't attach them here, if you're intrested send me a quick e-mail and I'll forward them to you.

Hope you're all enjoying the summer.

Cheers,

Stefan

ESRI User Conference Experience

Sitting at the ESRI User Conference on monday the presentation on ArcGIS 9.4 was truely amazing. Jack Dangermond and the ESRI Inc staff did an excellent job of impressing my and exceeding my expectations the moment I entered the session. Imagine 10,000 delegates in one room!!

The functionality that they are beginning to make possible in this next version will enable a transition for GIS from desktop editing to web enabled editing. There were so many principles that will make this next version one to leverage for government business and citizen engagement.

There are so many presentations that really amazed me and will drive the way forward for the City of Airdrie such as strategic planning for GIS, Automatic addressing updates, and demonstrating ROI for GIS. From technical and paper presentations, this conference is one that I feel has provided me the most value to date and I highly recommend attending. The great thing to consider is that the sessions are structured for the lay person all the way up to the hardcore programmers. Everyone is open to discuss their experiences and learn from each other.

The scale of this event is one that is difficult to explain without you actually being here!

I hope to bring a couple of the presentations that I feel will be of most value to the CRP meeting in September.

Cheers from San Diego!

Corey

GISVM - Free Open-Source GIS Server

Hi everyone;

This was just posted on the Applied GIS/RS listserve - it looks like it could be a great option for those of you looking for a fully functional, cost efficient (like FREE) GIS server:

http://www.gisvm.com/index.html

There's lots of interesting info on the blog section of the GISVM site.

I'd be keen to hear anyone's thoughts on this option:

• Is this something you would consider for your organization? Why or why not?
• Does the open-source-ness of this software make it more or less attractive?
• Have you heard anything about this software prior to this post?

Blog on,
greg

Free Screen Recording Software

Hello Members,

Some of you who could use a way of producing tutorials or more interesting backups to presentations might find this free software interesting.

Audio is also supported. I've used it if you have questions.

http://camstudio.org/

Cheers,

Stefan

Update on Utility Data Sharing

Hello Members,

In speaking with Atco Gas today they said for all members who subscribe to AltaLIS they could include parcels with their infrastructure data. This would simplify the alignment of that data within your existing base data.

For those who do not subcribe, it would mean you'd have to try and align the data yourself.

If you have any questions about this let me know.

Cheers,

Stefan

BC Data Sharing Example

Hello Everyone,

You may find this interesting (not so much the award) but the establishment of this provincial data sharing arrangement.

http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/dailynews/2009/may/21/news4.html

Cheers,

Zotero - web-based reference management system

Hi everyone – I just got a notice through applied gis-rs list about this firefox plug-in:

http://www.zotero.org/

It’s free and looks like it might be a more intuitive option for cataloguing/citing/sharing references (well, web-based ones anyway) than some of the alternatives. It requires you to use firefox, but in my mind this is just another good reason for you to "cross over"!

They just started a GIS group too!

http://www.zotero.org/groups/gis

I don't know how many of you would find this useful, but thought I would pass it on anyway, if for no other reason that to revive the blog.

Corey, Patricia, Jeff and I are meeting this afternoon to draft the As-Built Standards Project Charter - so look for some product from that shortly.

I hope you're having a good May, and enduring the not-so-spring-like spring.

Three Tab Metadata Editor

Hello all. One of my tasks for the end of this year was to take a look at how much it would cost to create a CRP specific metadata editor that will work in ArcCatalog, in line with applications created by the US/CAN National Park Service, US Environmental Protection Association, etc. As well what it would cost to build an application that would automatically generate field information from the spatial file for the metadata record.

While I was going through my ArcObjects books, mucking with different source codes and examples, and googling I found an application that does both of the above in one and had the source code available for me to look at. It is called the Three Tab Metadata Editor and can be found here.

Yes it has 4 tabs, the 4th is actually for indexing the spatial file to generate field information. I have requested permission to adapt and distribute this program for CRP use as it will be a lot easier then starting from scratch. Have a look, feel free to download and install in your ArcGIS applications and give it a run if you like. Let me know what you think.

Ken

GIS in Government

Hello All,

Some of you might find this article interesting.

http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/dailynews/2009/mar/19/news6.html

Cheers,

FME Conversion Software

Hello Everyone,

As per request, here is the link to FME (Feature Manipulation Engine) that allows for conversion of approximately 225 different file formats.

Check it out:
http://www.safe.com/

Cheers,

City of Airdrie Offers Online Census Hosting

The City of Airdrie, based on our award winning development, is now offering to host online census services to municipalities. Beginning in 2009 municipalities who are interested in enabling their residents to respond to their municipal census online now have a method in which they can deliver this service. The City of Airdrie highly recommends this level of service as we have found that 55% of our residents responded online in 2008. This has significantly reduced our costs to conduct a census while getting great reviews from our residents for using technology effectively. We already have 2 municipalities signed on for the hosting this year and we have the capacity to host many more.

If you are interested in seeing what our census has to offer please go to www.airdrie.ca/census. Click on the enumerator link at the bottom of the screen and use the username: demo and password: demo to see the complete application in action. There is other administrative functionality that makes this application easy to support by YOUR city clerks or like department.

If your municipality is interested in the online census please contact me for more information and I would be more than happy to discuss the detail with you.

2009 ESRI Regional User Conference - Calgary

Hello Everyone,

In case you're interested, here are the details:

http://www.esricanada.com/english/Event.asp?Eventcode=E_1974&search=eventtype&eventtype=RUC&eventyear=&condition=field=DateFrom,+DateTo,+EventName,+location,+EventVenue&order=ASC&pageno=1&utm_source=Calgary_email_STD09&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button&utm_campaign=Calgary+ERUC+09

Common CRP Projections

Hi everyone;

Following up on one of my action items from last meeting, I am submitting parameters for the most common projections/coordinate systems used by CRP members.

Johanna canvassed the membership and heard back from Strathmore, Airdrie, Canmore, Cochrane, Calgary, MD Foothills, and MD Rockyview. Without exception, all reporting members principally use 3TM as their main projection. Here are the parameters:

Projection: 3TM (Transverse Mercator)
False Easting: 0
False Northing: 0
Central Meridian: -114.0 (114 deg W longitude)
Scale factor: 0.9999
Latitude of Origin: 0
Linear Unit: Meter (1.000000)

Coordinate System: GCS_WGS_1984
Angular Unit: Degree (0.017453292519943295)
Prime Meridian: Greenwich (0.000000000000000000)
Datum: D_WGS_1984
Spheroid: WGS_1984
Semimajor Axis: 6378137.000000000000000000
Semiminor Axis: 6356752.314245179300000000
Inverse Flattening: 298.257223563000030000

The parameters above represent the most common ones stipulated by respondents to Johanna - they are presented here as a starting point for further discussion if that's what necessary to arrive at a common understanding.

Because it's also commonly used in Alberta, especially with government folks, here are the suggested parameters for Alberta 10TM projection as well:

Projection: Alberta 10TM (Transverse Mercator)
False_Easting: 500000.000000
False_Northing: 0.000000
Central_Meridian: -115.000000
Scale_Factor: 0.999200
Latitude_Of_Origin: 0.000000
Linear Unit: Meter (1.000000)

Geographic Coordinate System: GCS_North_American_1983
Angular Unit: Degree (0.017453292519943299)
Prime Meridian: Greenwich (0.000000000000000000)
Datum: D_North_American_1983
Spheroid: GRS_1980
Semimajor Axis: 6378137.000000000000000000
Semiminor Axis: 6356752.314140356100000000
Inverse Flattening: 298.257222101000020000

Thanks to Johanna and Ken for compiling this information and passing it along. Hope to see you all tomorrow,

greg

GeoWeb 2009

Hello Everyone,

This event may be of interest to some:

http://geowebconference.org/

Cheers,

Digital Data Standards (CAD)

Hello All,

Here is an example of what can be done to offer developers a solution with regards to CAD standards:

http://www.geoweb.dnv.org/Education/standardsframe.html

Cheers,

Training

Hi there,

I am looking for any info on any courses to take to learn how to set-up GIS datasets, (on-line or in classroom). As you may know, I know very little about GIS and am learning as I go.
Thanks
Rob

Google's Imagery Partner Program

Hello Everyone,

This program will be of interest to many of you. It would allow you to display your imagery in Google Earth.

See link for details:

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/02/taking-in-view-introducing-googles.html

Cheers,

Stefan

GITA - Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Response white papers

Hi All,

These papers might be of interest to some of you.

http://www.gita.org/ciper/white.asp

Cheers,

Stefan

New Document - Best Practices for Data Licensing

Hi everyone;

Happy New Year!

A new document has been posted on GeoConnections, describing best practices for data sharing and licensing in Canada. I thought it might be of general interest to the group, and also that it might help to inform some of the ongoing discussions between the CRP and other parties.

So, for your information, here are links to the Executive Summary (pretty jargon-heavy and sure to glaze over the eyes of most executives I know!), and here is the link to the full document.

Thanks to Ken for bringing this to my attention.

Hope to see you all Thursday,
greg