Esri Offers Social Media Map of Boulder Fire

It’s quite like all the other social media maps. I wonder how this resource is used?

Local GIS Tidbits

So, what’s the price for Woolpert implemented City Works (sic)? Columbia County, Georgia got a “great deal.”

According to Deputy Administrator Scott Johnson, the county was interested in the same program in 2001, but declined because of cost. Now, nine years later, the same program is available at a savings of more than $50,000.

Development Services Director Richard Harmon said the system was budgeted for $120,000, but they found an Atlanta vendor, Woolpert, that was able to provide the system, including 25 licenses and training, for $49,500.

Another interesting feature, Howard said, is a unique public access component they can add later, where people can use smart phones to upload problems they see in the field, then follow up on the progress through dedicated links.

“It’s just something we’ve wanted and really needed for a while,” Howard said, “and we got a great deal on it.”

- Metro Spirit

Linn County, KS approved service charges for GIS services. It:

Approved new labor rates for the GIS/Mapping service to charge for services. The rates will be five cents per point and 10 cents per line segment.

- Graphic Online

GIS is getting the nod as a resource as Virginia preps for the latest hurricane.

- Suffolk News Herald

Boone County updated its website; it’s not clear if the mapping was updated. Still the mapping options represent something I’m seeing more and more: a Google Map to start, then a custom in-house or hosted custom app for details. In Boone County you start here with Google, then are sent to a page to view a free or paid version of the IMS. There’s also a link for downloadable maps (pdf). There’s a warning on those: “Please be aware, that while we make every attempt to keep these maps up to date, many of them go out of date monthly.”

- Rockford Register Star

Ripley, in Brown County, Ohio now has “a complete Geographical Informational System scan performed by the Operator Training Committee of Ohio, which is based in Columbus.” I’m not sure what a “scan” is but it sounds like the company did data collection using GPS. “According to [Executive Director] Truss, in order to scan each point, workers use small, hand-held Trimble XT computer units to accurately pinpoint a location through a satellite hook up as well as provide a digital picture of residences and businesses. ” The team “scanned 117 hydrants, 999 meters, 233 manholes, 144 valves and four lift stations.” The $120,000 four week project was done for $25,000 in seven days.

- New Democrat

Simpcw First Nation (British Columbia, CA) is developing a land use plan that will cover its entire traditional territory, band councilor Fred Fortier. “There are pithouses all over. We are going to GIS (geographic information system) layer everything we know about our territory.” However, the band does not plan to consult with local communities. A similar approach was used by the Squamish, but the local paper notes those ended up being too costly: $500,000 to $1 million.

- BC Local News

New Online Maps

The Kentucky Geologic Survey launched: “Kentucky Coal Infrastructure on August 25. It’s “An interactive map (powered by ArcGIS Server) that provides coal infrastructure data for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.” It says that in the source code.

- press release

The development of the Global Sustainability Map by the Honolulu architecture and design firm Group 70 International stands to make it a lot easier. The company believes that, based on its market research, its site is the first of its kind — a map-based, online catalogue of sustainable products, service providers and resources.

Using GIS mapping technology, the website, set to launch in early September, will serve as a major resource for the “green” industry.

The business model is freemium: base listings for businesses are free, then paid ones, with more info run at three price points from $19/month to $500/month. I wonder if that “paid directory” model works anymore.

- Pacific Business News (Honolulu)

The New York State Archives Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund program (longest name ever!) provided funding for the East Aurora GIS. It includes a public and city use only version with more data. No tax dollars were required for the implementation. A Google map of village offices is on the intro page, but the app itself is hosted by the consultants who built it. It was either down or does not run in Safari when I visited. Reports the local paper:

Municipalities across the United States are implementing this new technology as a way of managing their assets and improving their response time for maintenance and repairs as well as providing helpful information to citizens of their towns and villages.

- East Aurora Advertiser

Over at Greater Greater Washington is a discussion about combining the Metro and Circulator (bus) routes. Should they be combined? Put on the back and front of a paper map? The reason for the conversation? The Circulator Map only notes stops, not routes. And, “the two maps don’t work together well.”

- Greater Greater Washington

Fort Collins, CO, now offers new street sweeping maps every Monday in PDF format. Here’s the latest one. My city taps into a system you can sign up for that sends an e-mail to warn you about sweeping on your street so you can remember to move your car.

via The Coloradoan

Podcast: A Changing LBS Ecosystem, An Executive One-on-One Interview with Kanwar Chadha, CSR plc

Directions Magazine’s editor in chief, Joe Francica, speaks to Kanwar Chadha, a pioneer in location-based services as one who founded SiRF Technologies, a GPS chipset manufacturer which merged with CSR plc in February 2009. Mr. Chadha, now the chief marketing officer of CSR, has appeared as a keynoter at Directions Media’s Location Intelligence conference. Francica spoke with him to get his take on how the LBS landscape has changed for social networking as well as anticipated new developments in new electronics going into smaller and smaller form factors. They also discuss the Location and Beyond Executive Summit upcoming October 6th at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco, as well as a new endeavor that Directions will be supporting called PointThinkTank, a place for discussing new ideas and concepts in the LBS ecosystem.

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