A City of Cornwall employee has been recognized for his efforts in creating a unique on-line mapping site for the City.
GIS Applications Specialist Denis Lalonde of the City of Cornwall (Ontario, CA) received the gold medal prize in the Best Web GIS category of the Best Geographic Information System Challenge Awards from the Ontario URISA chapter.. The awards are organized by the Ontario chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA).The app is built on MapGuide and includes city businesses, transit routes and times, property lines, addresses, subdivision plans, zoning, municipal utilities, points of interest, historical air photos.
- Cornwall Seaway News
Open-source development, because of its collaborative nature, moves faster. One dude writes it, another improves upon it. ESRI, a vendor of proprietary geographic information systems, and Microsoft, our database vendor, don't offer some of the advanced features my staff has created for a location-based business app using open-source tools PostgreSQL and PostGIS.
Because of the speed of innovation and advanced features of open-source products, we were able to create an app with a far faster end user response time than if we had relied on the two proprietary vendors. I'll take the agility any day, even though the skeptics have warned me of the dire consequences of using an open-source database.
- Jonathan Feldman, contributing editor for InformationWeek and director of IT services for a rapidly growing city in North Carolina writing in a commentary titled Open Source: Why Are You Still Waiting? at InformationWeek.
Although some of the proprietary vendors such as ESRI were demonstrating at the [FOSS4GNA] conference, it's unclear what unique capabilities they can continue to provide given all the open source choices.
- From a recap of FOSS4GNA by Jim Collinsworth (published May 22 - not sure why) on the BreakThrough Technologies blog
by Adena Schutzberg on 05/23 at 03:00 AM |
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I've been moderating sessions today at the Location Intelligence Conference. I'm very pleased all my speakers have stayed within their time; it makes my life so much easier. It also means we have time for a good number of questions. The session on Embedded Geospatial Capabilities in Enterprise Computing and BI Solutions included presentations on how the FCC implemented its enterprise solution, how the Dept of Defenses is working with open source geospatial in the imagery arena, a new international geocoding offering and well, one speaker who simply wrapped up what the others said. When we got to the Q & A part of the session I could not imagine where things might go... but go they did!
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We talked about the challeges of geocoding in Turkey - which renamed all of its streets and hence has two different geocoding data sets.
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We talked about the challenges of geocoding in Russia - where municipalities and regions use different coordinate systems.
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We talked about if its possible to provide a confidence level for geocoding in different parts of the world.
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We talked about what happens when open source software gives you the "wrong" answer.
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We talked about if you should start with open source or non-open source software if you expect to have a hybrid solution in the end.
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We talked about the open source sofware in the iPhone (look it up if you don't know)
Two things stood out for me when the questions started popping:
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Several were from our student volunteers (go students!!!)
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Presenters who focused on other topics in their presentations, took up and addressed questions outside their realms and added greatly to the conversation.
Sometimes the presentations do not forshadow the fun and excitement to be had in the interactive part of the session.
by Adena Schutzberg on 05/22 at 10:42 AM |
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The Associated Press is leaving other mapping systems and Flash behind with a new HTML based map to be used for its interactive media offerings.
Among the tools used are TileMill (to make the map tiles) and Leaflet (for the JavaScript interaction) according to Michelle Minkoff, Interactive Producer for the Associated Press. She notes its first use:
Our first project with it locates all active nuclear sites, and the 50-mile evacuation zones around them, providing population data and plant information, etc. Check it out, I’ll wait!
- Media Bistro
- Michelle Minkoff Blog
by Adena Schutzberg on 05/17 at 03:48 AM |
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There are many innovative and interesting people in the list of 15 people in the 2012 class of Emerging Explorers (11 men, 4 women for those counting). Each receives a $10,000 grant from National Geographic. I was happy to recognize two names with which I've become very familiar.
Patrick Meier (Ph.D.) pioneers the lifesaving new field of crisis mapping and makes it available, accessible and free to humanitarian organizations and volunteers across the globe. As director of crisis mapping at the nonprofit technology company Ushahidi and co-founder of the Standby Volunteer Task Force (SBTF), he is helping revolutionize the effectiveness of relief efforts worldwide. He is bringing the worlds of technology and humanitarian response together for the first time, connecting social media and satellite imagery with the U.N., U.S. Marines and Coast Guard, World Health Organization, Amnesty International and other groups that can mobilize help when the worst crises hit. When crises occur, the SBTF gathers messages, photos, video, and high-resolution satellite imagery and integrates them on a live Ushahidi map, reflecting what is happening, what is most urgently needed and precisely where. The global network has mobilized aid response in Haiti, Japan, Libya and many other countries.
Guerrilla geographer Daniel Raven-Ellison brings the spirit of adventure to geographic education, allowing people to see the world — and the field of geography — in new and surprising ways. Guerrilla geography challenges people, especially children, to explore the world around them, engaging in creative play, making new discoveries and forming community connections. Through technologies that allow users to share their experiences digitally, guerrilla geography not only educates but also inspires young people to explore their world in ways that stretch their minds and bodies, and motivates them to educate others and take action in their own communities. His Urban Earth films demonstrate guerrilla geography in action. He has walked across 13 cities, taking photographs every eights steps and editing them to create films to reveal new perspectives on how to experience cities. His program/website, Mission:Explore, and a series of award-winning kids' books of the same name encourage youth to go on adventures to learn about the world.
Amber Case (Geoloqi) is in the list too, but I'm still learning who she is and what she does.
- press release
- website
by Adena Schutzberg on 05/15 at 12:12 PM |
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April 25 is World Malaria Day. What' new?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has a new initiative in combating malaria called ‘T3: Test, Treat, Track’, which urges malaria-endemic countries and donors to “move towards universal access to diagnostic testing and antimalarial treatment, and to build robust malaria surveillance systems.”
Surveillance via tracking and mapping should mean more use of GIS to fight the disease.
- Africa Business Review
Not news to me, but I guess someone had to write it down:
The developed application shows that by using solely Open Source software it was possible to develop a customisable web based GIS application that provides functions necessary to convey health and environmental data to experts and non-experts alike without the requirement of proprietary software.
- International Journal of Health Geographics
Ireland is looking for contractor for its online health atlas.
The HSE is seeking to set up a framework agreement for the development of its Health Intelligence Ireland system, a web application portal supporting health service planning and monitoring — including the National Quality Assurance Information System (NQAIS) and a health system ‘service directory’, Irish Medical Times reports.
The Executive has changed the name of its award-winning Health Atlas Ireland to the Health Intelligence Ireland system. It is an open-source mapping, database and statistical system, integrating GIS, database and statistical components with a user-friendly interface that supports web-enabled access across the Irish health sector and collaborating agencies.
- Irish Medical Times (i had to say I was a health professional to read it. I lied.)
by Adena Schutzberg on 04/26 at 03:25 AM |
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