Tuesday, October 20. 2009

Update: ESRI Invites You to "Make a Map"

Update: The site and app are now out of beta. Besides links to APIs, there's data for ArcGIS Explorer and a link to a forum.

- PR

Monday, October 19. 2009

Wacom Looking for ArcGIS Beta Testers

I saw the of the interface of the pen-based solution at the ESRI UC. (APB post) @wacomgeo is looking for testers.

Thursday, October 15. 2009

Louisville, KY Stimulus Map

Best I can tell this an ESRI ADF based app. I wonder why the city didn't use Flex like most other ESRI stimulus maps?

Also interesting: the map says (C) 2009 but not to whom the data is copyright. I do believe the info on the projects is public domain, from the federal government. Full details on projects send you to PDFs on city website.

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.

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

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