In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

This is my tentative to catch up the geonews since my mid-August holidays. Here they are!

On the open source / open data front:

• UDig 1.3.2 has been released with several new features and supports Axios spatial editing tools again
• Since 2008 the USGS provides the Landsat archive, but this entry mentions that a substantial part of the Landsat archive is available on the fast and reliable public Google Earth Engine cloud storage

On the Esri front:

• The free plugin ArcGIS for AutoCAD version 300 is now available
• There's now an ArcGIS Runtime for iOS for ArcGIS.com WebMaps

On the Google front:

• Google made a few Google Maps announcements, including voice guided directions in India, Map Maker in New Zealand and new Street View in 150 university campuses
• In another entry, Google offers a roundup of their August Google Maps related news, most news we already shared with our users
• Nothing surprising, new imagery released on September 1

On the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft shares an entry on overlaying Esri shapefiles in BIng Maps
• Microsoft's Global Ortho Project is complete for the United States, meaning there's high resolution 30cm imagery everywhere in the country
• There's a new Bing Get Me There App for iOS for London, UK
• An entry on Bing Maps V7 AJAX Highlights

In the everything else category:

• James shares a must-read short entry named '80% of Data Is Not Spatial So Stop Claiming It Is', read the comments for insights
• Here's a pertinent entry related to a UN paper, Criticism - Future Trends in Geospatial Information Management: The Five to Ten Year Vision
• Here's an update on the OGC standards and the semantic web (aka Linked Data)
• APB informs us that 22 companies formed the In-Location Alliance to Enhance Indoor Positioning
• O'Reilly links to an article on Yelp Checkins to Measure Geopositioning Accuracy Across Phones
• Slashdot discuss the Location Privacy Act Approved By California Legislature
• Other stories at Slashdot, The Rapid Rise of License Plate Readers and UK License Plate Cameras Have "Gaps In Coverage"
• Big numbers, APB indicates that the GIS market will soon reach between 3.7 - 10.6 Billions, depending on who you ask

In the maps category:

• On APoD, there's a pretty interesting map of hurricane and tropical storms paths (screenshot below)
• An interesting map of the Global Decline in Religiosity
• Some London Olympics 2012 maps: The politics of London 2012 Olympic medal counts

Here's the recent Esri-related geonews. Last week was the 2012 Esri International User Conference, we already mentioned the launch of Esri Maps for Microsoft Office.

• Prior to the conference, Esri shared a very long list of Q&A: "We do this every year to keep you informed on our efforts in software development, products, education, and support; future plans in these areas; and thoughts on GIS and the industry as a whole." Since the document is very long, APB graciously shared a useful entry named Digging into the Esri UC 2012 Q & A. James took the challenge of providing funny answers.

• The Esri UC 2012 Plenary Session Videos are already available

• Mandown provided several related entries:
  • The Top 10 Productivity Improvements In ArcGIS 10.1, the first 3: Sharing, Improved Server Functionality and Performance Improvements

  • Esri And Microsoft To Provide Online Maps And Applications During Disasters

  • ArcGIS For Local Government 10.1 Now Available

• Directions Magazine also share several related entries:
  • A list of pre-conference summits links
  • Nokia Location & Commerce and Esri completed a deal for Location Intelligence
  • An APB entry named ArcGIS Online is Not the Answer to Every Question, James has a related entry I still don't know what ArcGIS Online is
  • An informative entry named Takeaways from Esri UC 2012
  • Here's a summary of Dangermond on Executives Empowering Executives
• It was published as a press release (but it's not one), information on the Advanced Utility Network Analyst (AUNA) extension

Advanced Utility Network Analyst (AUNA) is an extension for ESRI Utility Network Analyst tracing toolbar, Create, save and publish trace tasks with no code at all.

http://musashisoft.com/

You can watch a full video about the tool here

I subscribed to the private beta but I still didn't recieve the download.

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

On the open source and open data front:

• This entry introduces iD, a new open source friendly editor for OpenStreetMap, which uses only javascript (no plugin required like Potlatch)
• If you want to try a full-featured OpenStreetMap maps display, try this version by skobbler

• Here's what's coming to the next QGIS: Better date and time support in QGIS expressions and styles
• Here's an entry on MapGuide Open Source scalability
• In Canada, the Province of Quebec now has its open data portal, a lot of it being geospatial [site in French]

On the Esri front:

• Big news, GeoIQ, which runs GeoCommons, has been acquired by Esri, several bloggers see this move as a reduction of competition, from GeoIQ: "GeoCommons and GeoIQ customers will continue to be supported as we integrate the capabilities of ArcGIS Online and GeoIQ into a next generation platform."
• The ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 5 is now available

In the drones category:

• UAS can stay in the air for a long period of time now, Slashdot discussed a story named Laser Powers Lockheed Martin's Stalker Drone For 48 Hours
• However, another story goes like this; GPS Spoofing Attack Hacks Drones

In the car navigation category:

• Slashdot discussed a story named Ford Predicts Self-Driving, Traffic-Reducing Cars By 2017
• And another one named Boston Using IBM Engineers To Solve Traffic Problems

In the everything else category:

• Certainly using the momentum against Google that is limiting the free use of their Google Maps API, MapQuest shared an entry named Unlimited Free Maps with MapQuest API Community Edition, and whle they do use OpenStreetMap data, MapQuest selected TomTom Maps to power its mobile application
• Direction Mag offers an Overview of Pitney Bowes Software’s Server and Web Technology for Geospatial Applications
• Slashdot discussed a story named MIT Develops Holographic, Glasses-Free 3D TV
• Still want more on Google's Project Glass before it hits the road? Sergey Brin Shows Project Glass Glasses to Journalists (Video)
• APB shares an entry named Algorithm Uses Your and Friends Locations to Predict Your Future Location (within 20 meters!)
• James shares an short entry named Autodesk on the Future of Design
• APB links to the top world cities to live in, based on the Spatially Adjusted Livability Index

In the maps category:

• Ogle Earth has detailed entries named Apple censors iPad Maps app over South Korea and Constraining online maps: The case of South Korea
• It's hot over there? Here's a map of continental US climate changes, 1895-2012
• Two related entries, Renewable Electricity Production Mapped and Mapping Renewable Electricity Generation
• Here's Misleading Language Maps on the Internet and from the same source, Mapping International Languages

• Here's a map of Global Earthquakes since 1898

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

On the open source front:

• Thanks to reverse engineering, GDAL/OGR can now use the Shapefile native .sbn spatial index, to understand the context: "The Shapefile format had been documented since 1998, but the documentation was limited to the minimum core, that is to say the .shp file that contains the geometries and the .shx that is an index to the geometries. However the format of the .sbn file, that was known to contain spatial index (aimed at speeding up spatial filters), has never been published."
• Another entry on the visions for OpenLayers 3
• Here's an entry on QGIS Cloud, a hosting service for QGIS Server and still on the QGIS topic, Styling temporal (time) data in QGIS

On the Esri front:

• APB shares their thoughts on Just What is ArcGIS Online for Organizations?: "It’s a cloud hosted platform for a GIS intranet for an organization."

On the web mapping front:

• Microsoft added thousands of international shopping malls to Bing Maps
• Styles Maps in the Google Maps API just got improved

In the miscellaneous category:

• APB shares a interesting new App called Mapfia that "lets users make free "map calls" to see each other's real time location"
• Even geospatial files are prone to virus, AutoCAD Worm Medre.A Stealing Designs, Blueprints
• On a more positive note for Autodesk, James mentions Project Artoo "that allows AutoCAD Map 3D users to perform geometry cleanup operations on geospatial data"
• Also from Slashdot, here's what can happen when you map someone else's data, PadMapper Gets C&D From Craigslist Over Apartment Listing Maps
• Via OGD, with Map Compare, you can now compare side-by-side 35 basemaps from OpenStreetMap versions to Google Maps versions and Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple and more

In the maps category:

• That's an interesting and probably sad map in an entry named The Great Indoors, or Childhood's End?, showing how much less we allow our children to go away from the house over the last decades
• The annual map of the Tour de France in Google Earth

• Here's an entry on the On-Going Japan Sea/East Sea Naming Controversy

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode, covering the last few weeks (which have been crazy to me).

From the Esri front:

• Mandown reminds us that ArcGIS 10.1 is coming this June and the ArcGIS 10.0 SP5 is coming in July

• You can access and edit Esri maps even on the Kindle Fire

From the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft announced that Bing Maps is now using Nokia backend services for Traffic and Geocoding
• There's an official entry named Integrating Bing Maps With WPF
• And there's new Bird’s Eye Imagery & Streetside Coverage on Bing Maps

Discussed over Slashdot:

• Russian Satellite Takes Most Detailed 121-Megapixel Image of Earth Yet
• DEA Wants To Install License Plate Scanners and Retain Data for Two Years

• Senator Seeks More Info On DOJ Location Tracking Practices
• Modeling People and Places With Internet Photo Collections

• NASA's Interactive Flood Maps

• LightSquared Files For Bankruptcy

Directions Mag articles:

• Here's about what’s new in both the software and the use of GeoPDF
• Another one named Can Geofeedia Provide Location-based Citizen Input to Journalists?

In the miscellaneous category:

• An interesting Ogle Earth entry named Why do Panasonic, Leica, FujiFilm, Samsung and Nikon censor their GPS cameras?, short answer: China laws

• Learning Geography skills through a Zombie Apocalypse Narrative?, yes, nothing less
• While I found nothing surprising in there, it's still interesting to read the United Nations Five to Ten Year Vision on Geospatial Information Management (via)
• We heard this before, New Report Warns About Decline in U.S. Earth Observation Capabilities
• Meanwhile, India launched its first EO satellite, RISAT-1, with SAR capabilities

In the maps category:

• Strange Maps shares a map of Population by Latitude and Population by Longitude
• TMR shares a map of U.S. Life Expectancy by County

• It was submitted as a press release but deserves more attention, UrbMet.org, interactive web map for the urban metabolism of cities, the same tool was later featured on the O'Reilly Radar

• Here's Climascope, an interactive web map to explore climate change
• The Earth is mostly (70%) covered by water, but there isn't that much in terms of volume
• Mapperz mentions MapofLife.org, mapping geographic distributions for any terrestrial vertebrate species
• At the other end of the spectrum, FearSquare.com, crime around you (UK only)

Ah... it feels good to be current on geonews once again!

May 2012 - uismedia announces the release of a new version of Mappetizer for ArcGIS.

The software enables you to create high sophisticated, interactive and dynamic web mapping solutions in a fast and easy way.

Right from the beginning uismedia focuses on using open standards for the World Wide Web and is successful with that. Mappetizer's straight web technology approach with HTML, SVG, XML and JavaScript makes you free of specific and possibly expensive hard- and software technologies.

Mapping projects created with Mappeitzer can be published on all web servers, on your local network, on your hard disk, on CD-ROM or DVD, so you don't need specific GIS servers. The web map applications are supported natively within all browsers, so the user do not have to install any plug-ins. Now they also can be viewed on mobiles: just within the browser, so no app is needed!

Mappetizer is an "out of the box solution". That means you make high quality interactive web mapping projects, without having to know anything about web server technology or having to need any skills in programming. Nevertheless we want you to have as less restrictions as possible, so you can make individual GIS Mapping projects, no "one fits all" solutions.

There are many new features with Mappetizer for ArcGIS 10.1:

• Tiling of images: Images are now automatically tiled. We use the Deep Zoom technology for this. So all your images are displayed in good quality and are loaded very fast.
• Tiling of polygons: Beside the tiling of point and line layers we also offer now the tiling of polygon layers. Displaying of such layers after initial loading is very fast.
• New chart library: We completely redesigned the charts module and now use the Dojox.charting library. Great looking and functional dynamic charts and graphs can be created now within your web mapping application.
• Cluster maps: Intelligent point clustering cleans up your map.
• Mappetizer goes Mobile: Now our web mapping applications are also visible on smartphones: just within the browser (Opera, Safari, Firefox for Mobile), so no app is needed!

Mappetizer is available as an extension for ArcGIS 9.x and 10.x and also as a standalone software with no need of a GIS system (with less functionality).

Find more information about Mappetizer (examples, download of a trial version) on our homepage http://www.mappetizer.de.

I wrote a previous post about ArcGIS server performance part1 where I focused on the development reasons of why ArcGIS Server Performance is degrading. In this post though I'm going to list a quick methods I usually use to boost the performance.

Here I compile 6 ways to optimize ArcGIS Server

Optimizing ArcGIS Server
In my experience, ArcGIS Server performance degrade is mostly due to the "bad" customization of the product and adding some tools that just don't work in harmony with ArcGIS Server's black boxes. I already talked about this in the first post.

I would try these tips to increase the performance

1. Clear logs
The larger the log file get the more time it requires to update, so cleaning it from time to time slightly increase the performance. Remember those files don't contain errors only they contain every single context releasing and creation story.

2. Schedule a service to restart the SOM
Create a batch file to restart the Server Object Manager service every 4 hours or so to release any hanging server contexts.

3. Use IPs instead of DNS for the SOC machines configurations
When you add SOC machines to the SOM, its is a always better to use the Network IP directly instead of the hostname. Locating the host name takes fraction of second each time a request is needed. Sum that up and you have an acceptable performance.

4. Server Object Parameters
This is the sexy part, those parameters are so important that If tweaked properly, they can tremendously increase your performance.
I loved this guide from ESRI site.

5. Minimize Number of "ON" layers
If you're creating your Server object from an MXD document make sure that you turn off all the layers by default and make only the major fast-loading layer on (if your client is ok with that).
Lets say you have 5 layers Water Distribution, Water Transmission, Electric Distribution, Electric Transmission and Landbase. I would turn all the layers off and enable the Landbase layer only, then save the MXD.

This will load the your document much faster.
5. Layer file Scale Dependency
It is really important to set the scalability of your layer files correctly, because this will tremendously boost your performance of your Web app. Just make the busy layers with a smaller scale so they will appear as you zoom in.

6. Enterprise SDE Optimization
If your MXD document is reading data from an enterprise SDE geodatabase, make sure that the SDE server name is saved with the IP instead of the hostname. SOC machines will suffer trying to resolve the hostname to an IP each time they want to connect to the SDE.

Hope those were useful.

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. My challenge in life is to find out what not to do - too much enthusiasm impacts focus. But don't worry, I'm not dropping Slashgeo just yet ;-)

From the open source and open data front:

• Here's an open source Kinect hack named Depthcam, doing live streaming of 3D points cloud via your webcam
• Via Simon, I was reminded about Graphserver, an open source multi-modal trip planner (we mentioned Graphserver in early 2009), on the same topic, here's OSM Explorer, for basic routing and spatial functions using OSM data on Windows (via OGD)
• MapQuest updated their OpenStreetMap tiles and mentions more OSM switchovers, such as FourSquare and in another entry, they updated MapQuest for Android
• Here's an entry on light styles for OSM layers in QGIS, making OSM great as a base map
• Quebec City is the latest city to open its data, with layers in shapefiles and kml, and here's an entry on Honolulu opening its data
• The OSGeo-Live DVD version 5.5 is now ready

From the Google front:

• Street View on Google Maps now available for Russia
• The GEB introduces Diorama, a presentation tool for Google Earth, helping you tell a story in Google Earth
• The same blog also look a the Power of Ten, the Google Earth version
• Google explains the enhanced search in Google Earth 6.2
• Here's an entry on the iNaturalist app and website using georeferenced pictures to document nature
• The GEB wonders if historical imagery is coming to Street View?
• And yes, there was fresh imagery released about two weeks ago and another round today

From the Esri front:

• Here's why ArcGIS 10.1 will be the “Biggest Release Ever”
• Here's Esri’s Federal GIS Conference Wrap Up
• Here's the recommended System Requirements For ArcGIS 10/10.1
• Mandown also shares an entry named Using ArcGIS.com For Quick Visualisation Of GPX Files

From the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft announced the Bing Maps and Nokia Release of a Unified Map Design

In the miscellaneous category:

• DM asks an interesting question, Should All GIS Users Learn to Code?
• While not all are geo-aware, this is an awesome categorized list of infographic tools and resources, because beauty matters when conveying information (via Thierry)
• The book "How Maps Change Things: A Conversation About the Maps We Choose and the World We Want" by Ward Kaiser is free in pdf for this month
• We previously mentioned that the world time zones database was in jeopardy, well, it's not anymore, EFF Wins Protection For Time Zone Database
• Here's an entry on OGC mobile case studies
• Here's a Product Review of BusinessWebMap by TexMobile
• Slashdot mentions the link between GPS navigation and in-car voice commands in Siri To Power Mercedes-Benz Car Systems
• APB informs us that DigitalGlobe published an image of damage to Homs, Syria

In the maps category:

• APB shares the map of sleep in the U.S.
• Slashdot discussed a story named LIDAR Map Shows Height of Earth's Forests
• Another story from the same source is named Need To Find a Hackerspace In Africa? Check This Map
• If your into astronomy, check this TMR entry on Moon maps
• Mapperz mentions Bristol's solar power hotspots map

​This batch mode edition is unusually long. It covers the past month and a bit more. Yes, that's way too much and I won't try to repeat the experience ;-) Here's what I considered pertinent enough to share with you. Exceptionally, in some cases I haven't gave attribution to the source of the news, thank you for your comprehension.

On the geospatial open source front:

• I just recently became aware of PostGISonline, a site for testing and learning spatial SQL
• You can now create and manipulate SLD (the OGC Styled Layer Descriptor standard) in Python with python-sld
• Via the AGISRS list, I learned about OpenQuake.org, for calculating seismic hazard and risk at any scale, which of course ingest geospatial data and outputs maps
• Here's WherePost.ca, which crowdsources the location of mailboxes and post offices for Canada
• Here's the Switch2OSM website promoting OpenStreetMap, OpenStreetMap might go indoor too
• Still on the OSM topic, V1 shares an entry on the use of OpenStreetMap data in agriculture
• Here's an entry on the future of GeoCouch and CouchDB
• GeoServer gets database-level security
• There's now a plugin to run Python scripts in QGIS
• Here's about improvements to the QGIS rule-based rendering
• On a similar topic, here's a guide to beautiful reliefs in QGIS
• Did you know you can add Google Maps, OSM, and Bing Maps directly in QGIS? You can via the OpenLayers plugin - hey, there's even a Profile plugin
• There's an updated book published by Gary Sherman, now named The Geospatial Desktop , subtitled Open source GIS and mapping
• GEOS 3.3.2 has been released

On the Esri front:

• Mandown shares how to convert GPX files to Features using ArcGIS 10
• From the same source, Learn The Basics Of Working With The ArcGIS Runtime SDK For Android
• There were updates to ArcGIS for SharePoint, ArcGIS Mobile and to the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone
• James and SS talks about ArcGIS Online as the Esri Content Management System

On the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft announced a few new Bing Maps features, such as traffic incidents and find near route
• They announced the Bing Maps Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Control v1
• There's new Bing Maps V7 modules too along with a new routing engine
• James Fee shares an interesting entry named Bing Maps gets Nokia Brand and Possibly the Boot

On the remote sensing front:

• This is pretty interesting to many: SS shares an entry named USGS Now Offers OrbView-3 High-Resolution Images for Free, 180,000 scenes at 1m spatial resolution available
• China launched their first high-resolution remote sensing satellite, Ziyuan I-02C
• Slashdot discussed the newly released version of Blue Marble high definition (and beautiful) satellite image of the Earth from the Suomi NPP satellite
• Slashdot is running a story named Who's Flying Those Drones? FAA Won't Say and related, O'Reilly mentions OpenPilot, open source UAV with cameras
• And another named Launch Your Own Nanosatellite Into Space

On the GNSS / GPS front:

• It's coming, car makers are preparing for augmented reality driving
• Not exactly GPS but via radio-tagging, see the nice and short video of whale 3D paths in the ocean
• Slashdot is also discussing a story named New Mexico Is Stretching, GPS Reveals
• MapQuest launched an html5 app-like site for Android and iPhone for using MapQuest

In the miscellaneous category:

• The 7 geo predictions for 2012 of Cédric are interesting 
• Microsoft's Flight Simulator, renamed Flight, will be available for free next Spring, with paid extra content
• We never mentioned it before, but now Indiemapper is free, it "helps you make static, thematic maps from geographic data by bringing the best of traditional cartographic design to internet map-making."
• SS mentions the new alliance between Autodesk and Pitney Bowes, APB also discuss this new relationship
• SS also shares an entry named Safe Software’s Expanded Role as a Conduit Between Sensors and Systems
• The U.S. EPA in their Locations Challenge introduced a crowdsourcing project of georeferenced photos of environmental problems
• Slashdot ran a discussion on assembling your own 3D printer
• The OGC shared a summary of the Eye on Earth Summit held in December
• Another OGC entry was named Status of the OGC's Water Resource Activities
• DM shares an article named GIS Adoption and Use on College Campuses: An End-of-Year Review and Look Ahead to 2012
• The GEB mentions a new 3D San Francisco website
• I found interesting the possibility of a .data TLD
• A new free iPad app: GeoViewer from LizardTech, supports MrSID format and more
• It's been a while since we mentioned them, GISCorps were recently in 7 countries, including Libya

In the maps category:

• APB summarizes this: Comparing Maps of Obesity and Car Travel
• Here's an entry on cleanly using symbols on maps
• Here's U.S. routes as a subway map and the U.S. National Wind Energy Map
• Fox News shared a map with missing or wrongly placed countries
• TMR shares an obligatory animated map of rising global temperatures since 1880