Wednesday, May 27. 2009

Update 2: ACSM 2011 to be held in Conjunction with ESRI Survey and GIS Event/UC

Update: [This update is updated 5/28/09 to include Mr. Sumner's complete statement. Only a part of it was included originally. My apologies for any further confusion.] Curt Sumner, executive director of ACSM confirms:

Sorry for the confusion. ACSM and ESRI have agreed in principle that it is a good idea for ACSM to hold its 2011 (and possibly beyond) conference in conjunction with the ESRI conference.

We have not made any official announcements because we are still working through the logistics and financial issues to make sure that each organization benefits from such a collaboration, before finalizing an agreement.

The meeting planners at ESRI are currently working through the information we have provided in order to get a handle on how our conference works.

I am hopeful that everything will be worked soon so that we can make an official announcement. I am just wary of announcing anything related to proposed activities of any kind until I know that it is actually going to happen.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in ESRI, Surveying at 09:26 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, May 26. 2009

Census Shape files to KML (and more)

This from Bruce [corrected from Brian] Ralston, Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee:

I have released a program called AFF Mapper. This is a Windows based package that was specifically designed for creating KML based mapping files from TIGER shapes and tables available from the Census Bureau's American FactFinder web page. While it was designed for these files, it can be used to create KML files for other shapes (that are in decimal degrees with NAD83 or WGS 84) and external attribute files. The resulting KML files can be viewed in several free mapping packages such as Google Earth and ArcGIS Explorer.

To download a copy of the program and the user manual [visit this page].

This is freeware, copy till you drop.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, ESRI, Standards at 13:10 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, May 21. 2009

Google Docs, ESRI Technology for Colorado Middle Schoolers

Deb Hooker who works for the Poudre School District in Colorado writes in the Coloradoan about the new computer curriculum the be launched next year.

Beginning with the 2009-10 school year, most sixth-graders will take a new nine-week Web 2.0 technology course that includes units on researching on the Web; Internet safety (appropriate use and ethics); data analysis; introduction to programming; Web site design; geographic information systems, or GIS; and Google Docs (collaborative Web-based office tools).

Seventh-graders may also choose to take an additional 18-week computer gaming and digital technology class that expands on the sixth-grade class, including units such as digital video production and video game programming.

The new courses involve using free, open-sourced software available on the Internet. Recently, representatives from Google and the Environmental Systems Research Institute, or ESRI, trained PSD middle school teachers and school technology coordinators on how to use tools such as Google Docs and GIS software.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, ESRI, Open Source, Oops, Education at 07:50 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, May 18. 2009

Found in the Wild: ArcGIS API for Flex

The website HealthLandscape.org uses ESRI's ArGIS API for Flex to populate maps by county of various medical issues, including a map of confirmed cases of H1N1 virus in the U.S. The interesting part? When I right clicked expecting to see just the Adobe plug-in commands, I was pleased to see: About ESRI ArcGIS API for Flex and could find the build number. I see now, but don't recall if I did before, the same thing in the Morris County NJ site.

I don't know if this is something new from Adobe that allows such information to be put in the right click menu, or if this is simply something ESRI or the developer chose to implement for this app. In any case, this is effective branding, especially for map geeks who always want to know about the underlying technology!

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in ESRI at 06:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Friday, May 1. 2009

GovTech Interviews Dangermond

Chad Vander Veen at Government Technology offers a "rare" interview with Jack Dangermond.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in ESRI at 06:30 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0) |