Friday, November 6. 2009

Eight Year Old Voter Assignment Error to be Explored Using GIS

The error, found only this week, seems to date back 2001, when precincts in Scott County, Iowa were drawn by hand. This was apparently the first time a voter was turned away from the expected voting location to another. 39 individuals were mis-assigned. Only one of them voted in the recent election, which may explain why it took this long for the error to pop up.

Now, the plan is to review the rest of county, to be sure there are no other errors. The good news? The process can be automated:

Voter registration details from the auditor's office will be compared with computerized address and precinct mapping from the county's geographic information system, or GIS, to determine if any other areas were assigned improperly. The computerized analysis is expected to take about two weeks.

Tuesday, October 13. 2009

A satellite orbiting the earth could someday prevent an auto accident...

That's the word from Dr. Gerhard Schmidt, Ford’s chief technical officer. He's referring to GPS satellites, so of course, he really means that data from them could be used with other tech to prevent accidents. The somewhat misleading discussion at USA Today explains:

Ford and Auburn are trying to see if GPS satellites can act as an early warning system that detects when a vehicle is about to lose control and communicate with the vehicle’s stability control systems and other safety features to prevent a rollover or other serious accident.

Thursday, October 8. 2009

Quote of the Week

"You want a perfect system, but until we got this higher technology, we did not have a perfect system. The new GIS system made it much more easier to locate errors."

Peoria City Election Commission Executive Director Tom Bride on some coding errors that put some voters in the wrong district.

- Peoria Journal Star

Monday, August 31. 2009

Virginia's New Wind Farm in W. Virginia?

That's the assertion of Pocahontas County Commission (WV) President Martin Saffer. He says the state boundary shown on Highland New Wind Development's maps doesn't match U.S. Geological Survey maps. That would put one or two of proposed turbines in West Virginia.

The company says it used GPS to determine the bounary. Work on the wind farm started in August of this year.

- AP

Friday, June 12. 2009

GPS (not address) Gets Demolition Location Wrong

Bottom line: a demolition team which used GPS coordinates to locate the target house in Carroll, Georgia, erred and knocked down the wrong building.

UPI

Thursday, June 11. 2009

GIS in Lagos

GIS is coming to Lagos, Nigeria. Governor Babatunde Fashola opened the second stakeholders’ forum on digital mapping, Geographic Information System (GIS) in the state this week. I suspect something went wrong with a translation regarding GIS capabilities.

Fashola, who led other members of the State Executive Council at the forum held at the state Secretariat Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja, described GIS as a total life change that is capable of confronting the challenges of emerging planets.