All Points Blog

DigitalGlobe, AEgis Supply NBC with 3D Models of Olympic Venues

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Fri, 8 Aug 2008 12:19:44 -0500

DigitalGlobe, using their 0.6 meter satellite imagery and AEgis Technologies, using both COTS and propriety software, have supplied 3D models of Olympic venues to NBC TV. The models are being used during broadcasts of the Olympics. According to both companies, the project was originally developed for the NGA to support the security efforts of the U.S. athletes. However, Chuck Herring of DigitalGlobe said it was a fantastic opportunity to display, in a more public forum, the work that sometimes unreported due to the sensitivity of most of their government projects. DigitalGlobe supplied a mosaic of a large area in Beijing to AEgis that then combined the imagery with their simulation software and using recent photos of the venues, were able to produce highly accurate 3D building models. NBC does not have some of the more detailed 3D models that are being used by the NGA. DigitalGlobe and AEgis have set up a separate website with models that will be used by NBC. More later next week when I have an opportunity to visit AEgis for a deeper dive into their technology.

UI Design = Thumbs Down, Academic Collaboration = Thumbs Up

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 8 Aug 2008 08:57:36 -0500

I sat in on two "non-technical workshops" during the week. As many people pointed out, session quality varies quite a lot at the ESRI User Conference and the two sessions offered that stark contrast.
Continue reading "UI Design = Thumbs Down, Academic Collaboration = Thumbs Up"

Observations on Major IT & Geospatial Players from ESRI UC

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Thu, 7 Aug 2008 16:24:47 -0500

It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway), that the ESRI UC gathers just about everyone in the GIS ecosystem but certain observations can be gleaned from talking to some of the major players. I offer these comments:

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Off Topic: ESRI UC 5K

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 6 Aug 2008 13:03:35 -0500

I was relegated to giving out water this year, but there was a good crowd at 7 am near the convention center. I saw lots of ESRI folks in the mix. The top man came in at 16:23, Robert Berger. Alexandra Gazewski led the women at 19:03.

A few nods to "friends of Directions" who take home age group medals:

Ben Yetman - Pen Bay Media (3)
Jeff Jackson - ESRI (2)
Mark Newell - USGS (2)
Karen Capria - ESRI (2)
Joe Francica - Directions (2)

And, a special shout out to the nice woman I met who was running her very first road race here in San Diego today. Welcome aboard fellow runner!

ESRI UC Multi-model 3D Convention Center and Attendee Map

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 6 Aug 2008 12:56:25 -0500

I was just in the press room trying to finish up some articles for tomorrow's newsletter and got the tug from ESRI's Clem Henrickson. "You need to see this!" He showed me two maps just posted to the ESRI UC website.

First off a 3D router to get between rooms in the convention center and/or the Marriott next door. It's multi-modal since you take stairs, escalators, elevators. Further it provides distance and expected time to reach the destination. Oh, yes, and the interface is built using Flex.

Second, is a map of attendees. He noted everyone was busy prepping for UC so it's not as slick as it might be with more support. Still, I learned there are seven people here from my City of Somerville. I had no idea!

The Street to Garmin: Keep it Simple

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 6 Aug 2008 11:02:23 -0500

"Most experts say the maker of GPS-based navigation systems has been confusing customers, lowering buyer satisfaction and taxing the company's operations by offering 30 models of its "Nuvi" car navigation systems that range from $200 to $1,000 in price."

- The Street

National Geospatial Advisory Committee Endorses IFTN, Looks for Input

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 6 Aug 2008 10:00:17 -0500

The National Geospatial Advisory Committee, NGAC, held a meeting at the ESRI conference on Tuesday night. Many of the 28 members were in attendance. NGAC is tasked with providing advice and recommendation on federal GIS efforts and policy representing non-federal interests and stakeholders. Anne Hale Miglarese chaired the meeting and outlined the current activities. Most interesting were the questions and suggestions to the committee.

Continue reading "National Geospatial Advisory Committee Endorses IFTN, Looks for Input"

Penfield, NY Goes 3D with Skyline

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 6 Aug 2008 07:34:14 -0500

I've not heard from Skyline for a while, so it was nice to see a "3D GIS for our town" article today. The implementation is from Albany-based IAGT (The Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology) and was done for free as a pilot. I met the IAGT folks at the NY GIS/SIG earlier this year. Also of note: the 3D data builds on some LiDAR from Pictometry.

- MPNNow.com

COGO Exists!

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 6 Aug 2008 06:00:00 -0500

The new organization of geo organizations, Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO) voted itself into existence at a meeting held here in San Diego. The news comes via the NSGIC blog, via BlinkGeo and its "feed blend." Hopefully, the new organization will have its own communications solution in the coming weeks.

The officers are:

Chair: Cy Smith (NSGIC)
Chair-Elect: Curt Sumner (ACSM)
Secretary: George Donatello (IAAO) - International Association of Assessing Officers

The vote confirms that acclamation is required for actions to proceed that is, everyone must vote yes. "COGO shall undertake legal or advocacy action only through unanimous agreement of all of the Delegates in accordance with its purposes on behalf of the Member Organizations." There was some skepticism about that at last night's NGAC meeting. We'll have to see how that works out.

New Apple Tagging Patent App - Includes LBS Ad Implementation

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 5 Aug 2008 07:52:20 -0500

The application is for a patent titled "Tagging Media Assets, Locations, and Advertisements" and seems to relate to tagging content (music, video) on portable media devices (think iPod). Per Pallaxo:

Apples latest patent filing seeks to expand this tagging feature with targeted location based advertisements, while at the same time incorporating this type of technology into the mainstream use by allowing iPod and iPhone users to take advantage of the tagging feature when listening to the radio, watching videos, or even renting movies on their portable media devices.

Contest is On! Win an iPod Touch for sharing your thoughts on ESRI UC

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 5 Aug 2008 06:00:00 -0500

We started our contest, one a bit different from most others at this year's event. We want you to use your powers of observation and communication skills to help us cover the massive ESRI user conference. In return, the contributor of the best offering, will receive an iPod touch.

Here's how:

Text: Send up to 300 words via text message or e-mail to editors@directionsmag.com. Include your name (first only is ok) and where you are from, as well as an e-mail address (not for publication).

Audio: Call our comment hotline at 206-984-4409 (Why not store it in your cell phone now?) and leave a 2 minute message. Include your name (first name is ok) and where you are from, as well as an e-mail address (not for publication).

We'll take the best contributed audio and messages and include them (edited and credited) in our coverage in Directions Magazine, All Points Blog or the Directions Media Podcasts. Well be accepting submissions between Saturday August 2 and Wednesday August 13, 2008. We encourage you to submit during the event so you dont forget that great tip, trick or thought!

Faneuil Media Closes up Shop

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 5 Aug 2008 06:00:00 -0500

I'm a fan of underdogs, of folks who try out their idea with their own money and try to make it work. Sometimes, it doesn't. The Faneuil Media guys gained fame with some great interactive Google Maps mashups for the New York Times and Boston.com. But their vision for local media tools didn't play out. Rick Burns, with whom I had a pleasant lunch last year in Cambridge, explains why the effort failed and what they learned. Some good insights on Google, the marketplace and more. Both he and the other founder have new gigs as they shut down in the coming weeks.

Podcast: ESRI UC Morning Plenary - Our Take

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 5 Aug 2008 01:00:00 -0500

Our editors review the morning plenary at the 2008 ESRI User Conference. The main focus included enhancements in ArcGIS 9.3; 3D, imagery and announcements from Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of Interior stole the show.

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Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index with all the info.

UC Plenary Afternoon Session - ArcGIS 9.4 Teases and a call to Biodiversity Action

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 4 Aug 2008 19:24:49 -0500

In the afternoon session of the opening plenary, Jack Dangermond stated the company would do something it had never done before: preview a new release. I'm not sure that was something new, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. The preview included:

- A brief video of Scott Morehouse, director of software development highlighting streamlining and simplification of workflows and sharing on the desktop, successful enterprise implementations on server and rich clients on the Web. He noted that "chasing technology" is not the best way forward, rather he noted looking to help users do their jobs will bring out the best products.

- A team of 9.4 developers showing off (1) the new, fully colored icons in the interface in desktop, dockable widows including a preview of where they'll "sit" when moved, hiding of widows, smooth panning from an enhanced rendering engine, desktop search for data, e-mail tools to send MXDs from ArcGIS (2) new editing tools in desktop including "pick and draw" to create new features, context sensitive "mini-toolbars," the ability to select features in a single location (which may be on top of one another) from a list, show/edit just attributes of interest (3) new publishing tools for publishing from desktop to server that "check" all is well for publishing, and (4) enhancements in server, including quicker rendering. Those last two, if I understood right, will be in a service pack in Q1 next year.

- Demo of ArcGIS Explorer 600 including a new ribbon interface, the availability of different tools based on the current situation, and a 2D/3D visualization option. That last thing will appear in ArcMap, per Jack Dangermond. My sense: if you want to know what ArcGIS might look like: check out ArcGIS Explorer.

After a demo of from a 6th grade graduate of her research into the "dividedness" of her town racially, educationally and in other ways, Dr. Peter Raven and colleague Dr. Trish Consiglio showed off their vision and work at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Dr. Raven shared his passion for biodiversity, sustainability and issued a 45 minute call to action, is his quiet, reserved way. It was a most enjoyable and energizing discussion from someone who has clearly thought about these issues for many years. Consiglio showed the power of weighted regression in her work predicting biodiversity based on limited data. I am pleased to say, I understood the whole process. More on UC blog.

ESRI UC Plenary: A Breather

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 4 Aug 2008 15:02:57 -0500

At the lunch break of the first day of plenary sessions at the ESRI UC, I would describe the morning as "a breather." It's as though ESRI has gotten a bit too far ahead of the users and this is a chance for them to catch up. Much of the content was not "new" but rather reinforced ideas and products already introduced or available. That's perhaps a good strategy: in my informal survey only 1/2 the people I spoke to had installed ArcGIS 9.3.

Some "new" items and observations of note:

- Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of Interior, and winner of a "Making a Difference" Award re-announced the availability of Landsat data free on the Web by end of year. He also announced a GIO would be appointed for DOI (originally, in error said USGS). A second award went to the Perezs of Grupo ESRI de Venezuela for their work with GIS on poverty. (More on their work in ArcNews 2003 and their book in this press release.) Mr. Perez is the president of ESRI Venezuela.

- John Calkins rattled of the top 10 productivity enhancements for ArcGIS Desktop 9.3. ESRI UC blog has all the details. I guess this is becoming a standard part of the Day One offerings.

- Web mapping was not mentioned; Web GIS was, quite a bit. GeoWeb? Not that I recall.

- Microsoft got more mentions than Google, specifically on the provision of Virtual Earth via ArcGIS Online and Silverlight. Mentions of cloud computing: none.

- A list of 7 different demo "mashups" of services and data brought little response - until the data was shown on top of Virtual Earth and Google Maps. ESRI seems a bit late to the mashup party, though clearly there is interest in the integration via the new Javascript APIs.

- In a video, a rep from GeoEye was excited to use ArcGIS Server image services to support not just ESRI users, but "OGC users." An interesting term.

- A Flex interface to a Server demo (about what else, situational awareness after a toxic spill - sort of the "find me the nearest pizza place for data integration) was very sexy but I think took away from the core idea - real analysis was being done on the server.

- The ArcGIS Server/ArcGIS Mobile demo had actual people in the field around the Convention Center gathering and uploading GPS'ed data. Those in attendance are invited to test out the app. Details will be on the UC blog.