An online discussion forum for members of the Calgary Regional Partenership (CRP) Regional GIS Technical Committee and anyone else interested in regional GIS.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Bing Maps News
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
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
ArcGIS Online moving to Google / Bing tiling scheme
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
Friday, November 6, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
ESRI System Design Strategies 2009
Link to White Paper
Monday, October 5, 2009
Google Place Pages
http://feeds.feedburner.com/RandomNodes
Friday, September 25, 2009
Right-of-Way Information
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.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Free Data from the City of Vancouver
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.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
New Hydrological Data from AGS
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
Friday, September 4, 2009
Free ESRI Tools
http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/extensions/arcsketch/index.html
http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/extensions/gdbt/index.html
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
CAD - GIS Integration
Some of you might find this article interesting.
http://www.esri.com/news/arcwatch/0809/surprise-arizona.html
Cheers,
Stefan
Friday, August 7, 2009
Government Data
http://www.jasonbirch.com/nodes/2009/08/03/312/do-you-see-spiders-making-government-data-truly-open/
Cheers,
Stefan
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Google Bring Water Data to Life
http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2009/world/google-brings-water-data-to-life/
Cheers,
Stefan
Thursday, July 30, 2009
E-Government Services
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
Thursday, July 16, 2009
ESRI User Conference Experience
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
Monday, July 13, 2009
GISVM - Free Open-Source GIS Server
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?
greg
Monday, June 22, 2009
Free Screen Recording Software
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
Friday, June 12, 2009
Update on Utility Data Sharing
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
Monday, May 25, 2009
BC Data Sharing Example
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,
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Zotero - web-based reference management system
Hi everyone – I just got a notice through applied gis-rs list about this firefox plug-in:
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.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Three Tab Metadata Editor
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
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
GIS in Government
Some of you might find this article interesting.
http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/dailynews/2009/mar/19/news6.html
Cheers,
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
FME Conversion Software
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,
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
City of Airdrie Offers Online Census Hosting
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
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
Monday, March 2, 2009
Common CRP Projections
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
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Digital Data Standards (CAD)
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,
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Training
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
Monday, February 9, 2009
Google's Imagery Partner Program
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
These papers might be of interest to some of you.
http://www.gita.org/ciper/white.asp
Cheers,
Stefan
Monday, January 12, 2009
New Document - Best Practices for Data Licensing
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