Tuesday, September 29. 2009

ESRI/NAVTEQ Make Commitment as part of 2009 Clinton Global Initiative

Among the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative environmental commitments (press release) is this one using geospatial technology:

ESRI and NAVTEQ, in partnership with the City of San Francisco, commit to implement a pilot program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from specific municipal vehicle fleets, and mobile work force vehicles in the city and county of San Francisco. By using fleet route optimization software, city workers will locate routes that minimize fuel consumption.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in ESRI, NAVTEQ at 08:59 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Recovery.gov Relaunched with ESRI Tech

You've likely seen elsewhere that the updated Recovery.gov is up and running. That's the site the federal government produced to show citizens worldwide (and in the U.S.) how we are spending our stimulus monies. The new version is built on ESRI technology and requires a Flash player.

What I found when exploring this topic:

Computerworld blogger Robert L Mitchell reports:

"While individual states have been experimenting with the use of GIS for tracking and reporting stimulus spending, the level of detail and the use of GIS to visually present the data for a spending program of this size is unprecedented." Perhaps this is unprecedented for the stimulus (itself unprecedented!), but certainly WebGIS has been used to show this much data, no?

When you leave the homepage map to "drill down" the site provides a pop-up titled "ALL ABOUT THE DATA" which addresses data sources and update information. There other nice features including download to KML and the ability to see a "text view" of the data. There are quite a lot of options; I fear those comfortable with Google Maps may feel a bit overwhelmed. Also interesting: there is no information on the source of the background street and imagery datasets, nor did I find a "help" or "about the maps" option. That latter is where I'd hope to find the data message I saw initially. I'm not sure how I'd find it again.

The main "How to Use the Maps" (below) explains "heat maps" (aka choropleth maps), legends and geocoding (with no street address, or ZIP Code, projects are placed at the state capitol address). It's eight minutes long and doesn't include discussions of all the features.



You may also be interested in looking at Recovery.com, a site run by a private data firm, Onvia, which offers similar, but real time data (the Federal site is waiting for reporting in from recipients until October) and the ability to comment. It offers Flash-based maps using Fusion Maps.

- NPR

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in ESRI at 06:34 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, September 22. 2009

Rich Spatial Flex Viewer

That's the title of browser window for the Allegany County Department of Economic Development shopping center app. Kevin Spradlin of the local paper calls it "a high-tech wonderland of business recruitment and retention information." "It’s so cutting-edge, so advanced, that the (software) company has featured it on its Web site,” said the man behind the raw data, David Nedved.

I'm still looking for ESRI Flex Apps that look different. This one looks like all the others I've seen. Readers?

- Cumberland Times-News

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in ESRI at 07:58 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0) |

Friday, September 18. 2009

Dangermond Donation Funds Palm Tree Relocation

In what's termed an "experiment" the City of Redlands has moved five fan palm trees that were in danger due to their growth under utility lines. The city, with an $11,000 donation from the Redlands Horticultural and Improvement Society (RHIS) funded by Jack Dangermond, moved the trees to safer location in a linear park. If the experiment works and the trees survive, the city may look at other relocations.

- Redlands Daily Facts

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in ESRI at 08:14 |

Thursday, September 17. 2009

ESRI Announces GeoDesign Summit

The event is scheduled for January 6-10 in Redlands and was introduced via a an ESRI employee written, but non-ESRI blog, GIS and Science.

Per the blog, "With geodesign, geographic analysis is brought into a design process early on, when initial design sketches are evaluated against spatial data." Per the event page, "The Summit will introduce the first generation of GeoDesign concepts, tools and technologies, drawing from a multitude of interdisciplinary experiences from around the world."

While the goal is to involve both academics and professionals, details on the content and costs are not yet available.

ESRI, The University of Redlands, and UC Santa Barbara (updated per ESRI and comment below) are sponsors.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in ESRI at 12:11 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, September 15. 2009

Podcast: The Gov 2.0 Summit and Geospatial

Last week's Government 2.0 Summit held in Washington DC put GIS front and center as a key tool is a vision of government as a platform for itself and for citizens to use. Why the fuss at this time over GIS, which has been a part of government at all levels for decades? What's new in this vision? What changes can we see in this new embrace of the technology?

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in ESRI, Microsoft, Conferences, Directions on the News Podcast at 01:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |