South Central Ontario Orthophotography Project

Check out this Orthophoto partnership taking place in Ontario:

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/LIO/2ColumnSubPage/STDPROD_097693.html

Google Places API Developer Challenge

Hello Everyone,

Check out the list of submissions before December 31, 2013 in the Gallery section for many innovative ideas on the use of geospatial technology and vote on your favorite:

https://developers.google.com/places/challenge/gallery

Looks like we'll be forced to AGOL for Organisations...

Interesting, I got a note from an ESRI Canada rep on Friday reminding me to check out the AGOL for Organizations.  We discussed the idea of the credit system and how I was worried we might run out.  Then coincidenly (?) ESRI  releases changes to their AGOL terms of use.

Looks like we'll be forced to move over to the Organizations version as they’re taking away some key functions of the free version….the “share items privately or private groups”.

Ahh well, just hope the 10K credit sis enough for a year – should be. 

http://apb.directionsmag.com/entry/esri-updates-terms-of-use-on-free-personal-accounts-for-arcgis-online/296038

Storing personal information on US servers

Great article from Industry Canada about the do's and dont's regarding data storage on US servers.
The article is a bit dated, I can't confirm if things have changed since 2008 .

"Except in certain situations in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, Canadian Provincial Laws Do No Prohibit The Transfer Of Personal Information To The United States. Public sector bodies and their private sector service providers located in most Canadian provinces are not prohibited from transferring personal information outside of Canada......every other province's laws are clear that the transfer of personal information is permitted."

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ecic-ceac.nsf/eng/gv00508.html

Create Maps in Excel

ESRI is now advertising the ability of creating maps in Excel.  Has anyone done this?

Here is some of the information I have found on this.

Quickly Create Maps in Excel

Esri Maps for Office is a powerful add-in for Microsoft Office that brings the capabilities of Esri's mapping platform to Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint users. In mere seconds, it allows you to create a map of your spreadsheet data directly inside Excel. You can add the map to a PowerPoint presentation, include it in a Web page, or embed it in Web and mobile apps.

Best of all, if you're an ArcGIS Online subscriber, Esri Maps for Office is available for free.

Quickly and easily install Esri Maps for Office v1.1 simply by downloading and running the appropriate setup software available in one of nine languages: http://www.esri.com/software/esri-maps-for-office/download. Notes: To run Esri Maps for Office you need Microsoft Office 2010 or later. Before installing a language pack, ensure that both your operating system and Microsoft Office installation are in the desired language (you may need to install the Office language pack).

Town of Banff Launches Public GIS Portal

The Town of Banff has launched it's GIS portal providing access to over 20 applications and PDF maps.
The portal allows users to rate and review each service as well as submit their own Banff related maps for inclusion in the BanffMaps site.  This public submission of maps and applications will become more relevant as we role out our Open Data initiative.
Check our the new site - www.banffmaps.ca

How many credits for the ESRI embroidered throw cushions?

Finally a fairly decent Credit Overview page is available to estimate how many credits you'll need to implement ArcGIS Online for Organizations, and hopefully not be caught short when your services take off!

Service Credits Overview

GIS Specialist Opportunity

Environment & Sustainable Resource Development

Temporary Wage Position

(2 – 6 months)

GIS Specialist

(Technologies 6)

Prairies Area

$2,428.11-$3,188.38 biweekly ($63,373-$83,216 per annum)

Lethbridge -The Prairies Area is looking for a highly motivated individual with expertise in GIS technologies. Under the direction of a Team Leader, you will co-ordinate, develop and implement the Department's Geographic Information System (GIS) solutions through the “Resource Information Workplan”.

Your responsibilities will include providing GIS related support to strategic, operational and research projects, including the maintaining of data stores, analyzing data, displaying interactions, and generating requested GIS products. Facilitating training and trouble shooting capability to area agencies using GIS technologies, as well as providing advice on the application of GIS to improve decision making and resource management and information management are also job requirements. You will be required to work both within a team and independently and provide direction in all facets of GIS. You will require knowledge of natural resource science, geographic information systems, and computing systems, in combination with strong project management, communication, organizational and interpersonal skills. This is highly complex technical work requiring the integration of several disciplines within a work function and in-depth handling of complex natural resources data.

Qualifications:  Diploma in GIS or Geomatics plus 6 years related experience including using ESRI GIS software (ArcGIS and ArcInfo) and programming in VBA / VB.net is required. Experience in the use of DAT/EM Summit Evolution software and web development using JavaScript or HTML/DHTML would be an asset. Equivalencies may be considered. Candidates with lesser qualifications may be considered at a lower classification level and salary.

Send Resume to:

Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development

2^nd Floor, Provincial Building

200 – 5^th Ave. South

Lethbridge, AB  T1J 4L1

Attn:    Oriano Castelli

Or email to:

Oriano.castelli@gov.ab.ca

Illustrator and ArcGIS

In my search for good documentation on how to export and work with ArcGIS maps in Illustrator, I came across this article. http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/gis/manual/illustrator/
Please share other web documentation you find regarding ArcGIS and Illustrator.

MISA Prairies - Mobility and BYOD Event

MISA Prairies is hosting a Mobility Workshop targeted to assist municipalities in deploying mobile strategies including bring your own device (BYOD).

For all event details please go to http://prairies.eventbrite.ca/

Explore Calgary Region Site

The CRP's new Explore Calgary Region (ECR) site is finally up and running! The URL is www.explorecalgaryregion.ca and it is evolving everyday. As of now, there are only a handful of properties listed but that number is increasing all the time, and eventually, we are hoping to have CREB's data on the site which will increase our property numbers immensely! Please check out the new site and provide the team with any questions, comments or ideas for the future use of the site you may have at ecr@calgaryregion,.ca.

British Columbia Receives Special Award

Check out the data in their Geographic Warehouse...

http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/dailynews/2012/jul/26/news5.html

Google Maps vs Apple Maps

Still a lot that is unknown...

http://blog.gisuser.com/2012/06/21/google-maps-vs-apple-maps/

ESRI: New Maps for the Fire Service

Some of you might find this info useful, especially the part about Street Map Indexing...

http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2012/06/25/new-maps-for-the-fire-service/

Alberta Highway Symbols

I've just spent most of my morning creating Alberta Highway Symbol Icons for ArcMap. If anyone is interested in getting a particular highway symbol, or all of them, let me know and I can send them over for you.

Canada Post Files Copyright Lawsuit Over Crowd-sourced Postal Code Database

Something you might want to read about...

http://slashgeo.org/2012/04/15/Canada-Post-Files-Copyright-Lawsuit-Over-Crowd-sourced-Postal-Code-Database

MISA BC 2012 Fall Conference and Trade Show

Here's the link for the MISA BC Fall conference.

http://www.misa2012.ca/

Is anyone interested in attending since there has been a special invite for GIS people?

http://www.misa2012.ca/registration/gis/

What is the role of government in the geospatial sector?

http://geospatial.blogs.com/geospatial/2012/04/geospatial-world-forum-what-is-the-role-of-government-in-the-geospatial-sector-.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fzeissg%2Fgeospatial+%28Between+the+Poles%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

Towards a global licensing framework for geospatial data

Worth a read:

http://geospatial.blogs.com/geospatial/2012/05/towards-a-global-licensing-framework-for-geospatial-data.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fzeissg%2Fgeospatial+%28Between+the+Poles%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

ArcGIS parcel editing solution

For any of you considering or currently managing your own parcel data this might be of interest to you:

http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2012/05/16/new-video-series-helps-users-deploy-the-arcgis-parcel-editing-solution/

New Hampshire Law Promotes Open Source Software (VIDEO)

Open Data Standards are being put into law in US States such as New Hampshire:

http://www.govtech.com/pcio/New-Hampshire-Law-Promotes-Open-Source-Software-VIDEO.html

The Cost of Open Data: A Canadian Lawyer's Analysis

Worth a read...

http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/the-cost-of-open-data-a-canadian-lawyers-analysis/145426?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitterfeed&goback=%2Egde_43546_member_115539396

Disaster Field Data Collection Webinar

Stefan brought the following webinar to my attention and it looks like it could be interesting for some of you:

GeoJot, is an app that converts your smartphone or tablet into a photo-based field data collection tool for disaster response. GeoJot allows users to enter attribute descriptions (name, condition, value, etc) and attach them to photographs as they are taken and then wirelessly upload the data to the office for processing through GPS-Photo Link. 

The webinar is on Wednesday, May 2 at 1 p.m. 

Click on the link for more details.

http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=111676671&gid=2065062&commentID=-1&trk=view_disc&ut=1geidTJfH5JRc1

Canada's Open Government Action Plan

Some more info on the Fed's plan around Open Data:

http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/26458/2/

http://www.data.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=F9B7A1E3-1

The Open Data Pilot

Looks like the Government of Canada is considering Open Data:

http://blog.gisuser.com/2012/03/06/the-open-data-pilot-canada-opengov/

Free App Enables Multi-Floor Interior GIS

We've talked about this topic in past meetings. This free download (Building Navigator Widget) might be worth looking into for some of you. I've downloaded it and plan to check it out. It's also available on ArcGIS.com

http://penbaysolutions.com/bnwidget

New York City Council Passes Landmark Open Data Legislation

Another Open Data Story:

http://techpresident.com/news/21849/new-york-city-passes-landmark-open-data-legislation

North Carolina Aerial Photography to Improve 911 Service in 100 Counties

Now this is a fairly large orthophoto project:

http://m.govtech.com/a/Aerial-Photography-911-Service-100-Counties-119289344.html

Oregon, Montana, Utah and Colorado Partner to Share GIS Data in the Cloud

Here's an interesting example of several US States working together to share GIS data in the Cloud:

http://m.govtech.com/a/Oregon-Montana-Utah-and-Colorado-Partner-to-Share-GIS-Data-in-the-Cloud-134834123.html

Make Open Data Happen

For those considering an Open Data policy, the following article from Vancouver's perspective could provide some helpful guidelines:

http://www.geoplace.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=MultiPublishing&mod=PublishingTitles&mid=13B2F0D0AFA04476A2ACC02ED28A405F&tier=4&id=F213086858824D0096F05B483DF6AA30

OpenID

This concept might be something your organization would consider:

http://openid.net/get-an-openid/what-is-openid/

Two Open Source Extensions for ArcGIS

Users with the ArcView level of ArcGIS might find these tools useful. The one tool permits functionality that normally requires ArcSDE and other expensive applications to connect to a spatial database.

http://www.terragis.net/2012/02/01/spatialkit-and-sextante-for-arcgis-desktop/

Future Proof Your Web Map Service Choice

Recently Google announced changes in the way Google Maps can be used by organizations. Here's one perspective:

http://spatiallyadjusted.com/2012/01/13/best-way-to-future-proof-your-web-map-service-choice-could-be-mapstraction/