Quote of the Week

Sam Billingsly, managing partner, Geophysical Data Management, a third-generation surveying and GIS data firm spoke at SPAR, the event focusing on 3D and laser scanning.

On the value of accurate GIS and spatial data for augmented reality: “It’s like the Internet but each web page, instead of being in a sequential system, only exists in the spatial space.”

On using off the shelf technology: “For the first time we’re able to give this information, this cheap GIS information, to something our customers are already using, maybe a phone or a tablet. Compare the cost of the average tablet to the cost of a survey grade GIS handheld device. We can leverage the fact that the marketplace is supporting something that we can use."

- Spar Point Group

Education GIS Tidbits

The Big Ten Network is running a sweepstakes that you enter by locating yourself and the team you root for on a map. Doesn't that seem so old fashioned? I'm thinking this will not be a great database for building fan sheds. That said, it's a probably good enough gather data for the network to use in marketing! (And, the answer is Penn State, if you wondered.)

- press release

Passaic Valley Regional High School (NJ) recently received a Toshiba American Foundation grant in the amount of $4,650. The purpose of the grant is to enable students to study their local ecosystem. Students will do a local study of animals and water quality and use GPS and GIS.

- NJ.com

Consider this discussion of efforts to clean up a cemetery in Hernando, MS:

The sign and beautification project are part of a larger restoration project at the Spring Hill Cemetery spearheaded by Tom Ferguson of Hernando and archaeologist Mary Evelyn Starr of Sledge. Starr got her classmates in Tommy Watson’s advanced surveying class at Northwest involved with the project by mapping the cemetery.

“We did a complete survey so that if and when the city wants to add on to the site or do construction, they will have the information they need. The second part of our work was doing artifact identification,” said Watson. “We identified every grave marker, tree, fence, etc. In earlier years, animals grazed at this location, so many markers had been knocked over. We mapped them where they lay. We mapped the markers by using Mississippi West State Plane Coordinates, by name, date and by affiliation, such as Masonic affiliation, and created a spread sheet.”

The next phase of the project will involve Watson’s students in his fundamentals of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) class formatting the information gathered.

I think this is a great community project. I just wonder if it's possible to get the advanced surveying class to work with this the fundamentals of GIS class so the two technologies (and groups!) are more integrated.

- Desoto Times Gazette

Local GIS (Town/City/State) Tidbits

The Moffat County, Colordo Surveyor, a dual US/Canadian citizen is setting up the county's first real GIS. This is an interesting story of a how the now 62 year old come to and expanded his surveying experience.

He hopes that goal will take shape in the form of a geographical information system, also called GIS mapping, available to county residents on the Internet.

Epp plans to take the more than 700 plats from the county he has and enter them into a digital system. He would then be able to tie any sort of information into that system like real estate transactions and property and mineral owners, among others.

“You can have it as an interactive map where you could bring up Moffat County and it would show roads and other features on there that you could identify and you could say, ‘Oh, I want to know about this property,’” he said. “You could double-click on it and it would zoom in and as you get closer, you can find out more and more information.”

Epp said the county has a rudimentary GIS system, but it is not assessable to the public. In the end, the project comes with a high cost, but Epp thinks if things go right, the GIS would streamline information gathering for users and reduce foot traffic in the Moffat County Courthouse.

- Craig Daily Press

Started in 2002, ecitygov.net is hosted on a private cloud and managed by the City of Bellevue, a rapidly growing city with a current estimated population of 126,000.

It uses it to among other things, host GIS apps. Oh, and it shares the cloud with others locals communities.

- FutureGov Asia

"Wellington City Council [NZ] has released a significant amount of useful geospatial information to the public, either free of charge or at very low cost."

- press release

Texas Governor Looks to Save Money by Suspending Funding for Board of Professional Land Surveying

The proposed cuts announced by Gov. Rick Perry in his State of the State address on Tuesday include suspending budgets for the Texas Historical Commission, the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Board of Professional Geoscientists, too. The Board of Professional Land Surveying (TBPLS) oversees licensing requirements for people in those professions. PBLS and the Board of Professional Geoscientists received about $2.4 million to spend in the current budget. The plan also calls for consolidation for many other agencies. All totaled the cuts would save about $50 million, just a bit of the multi-billion dollar gap.

- Houston Chronicle (1, 2)

The Texas Society of Professional Surveyors is working on a response plan.

- TSPS

A post at Land Surveyors United offers an explanation for the move.

- LSU

via @DruidSmith

Local GIS Tidbits

Pike County, IL will get new aerial imagery after the board approved a $99,000 contract with Sidwell Corporation. Not big news, but this is interesting: “A $25 GIS document fee should generate enough to cover the contract cost within 18 months. Board members approved the fee, but still need to adopt an ordinance to put the fee in place.” That may not be a bad idea as the GIS folks suggested imagery be taken every four years. The last imagery was taken in 1998! Or, maybe that’s another reason for Imagery for the Nation?

- Quincy Herald

York County, NY was looking for a surveyor, typically an elected position. But no one ran. So, they put the part time job up for bid and received eight proposals including one from the current surveyor. Some members of the board felt it best to stay with the same person, but the other firm reps raised some interesting responses:

Marsh, representing Kirkham Michael, was in attendance and asked to address the board.

“I want to remind you that Kirkham Michael is in business in York County, we have an office in York,” Marsh said. “Surveying and engineering is our business, we don’t do it on the side. Our people work in York County, our vehicles are serviced in York County. Maybe the cost is a little higher but that’s also because we carry liability insurance. This isn’t a part-time job for us.”

“I think that Rex (Heiden) [current surveyor] has done a good job over the years,” Bolte said, “but I also see the face of surveying changing,” with the use of more complex mapping, technology, use of GIS, etc. “Also, how are you handling liability issues now?”

No immediate selection was made.

- York News Times

On Wednesday, the city of Lawrence, KS launched a beta of its interactive map to extend access to data to the public. But how does the ArcGIS Server powered site compare to Google Maps?

“If you need to get driving (or) transit directions, or the location of a particular business, stick with Google or Bing maps,” said Micah Seybold, the city’s GIS coordinator, in a blog posted at the city’s website, LawrenceKS.org. “The city map is going to have city of Lawrence information too detailed and specific for the big commercial maps.

- Lawrence Journal World

The Janesville Wisconsin Police Department is launching a website, with a map, that publicly identifies repeat drunken drivers (five or more convictions) in Janesville. Right now there are 192 dots on the map. “The department said it’s the first agency in the United States to launch Project Sober Streets.” The idea is that mapping the offenders will help stop drunk driving. The data in use is all public. The technology? GeoCortex. My experience: “Geocortex Essentials Application Error The ArcGIS Server Local map service ‘OverviewMap’ with definition ‘(default)@OVMap’ is invalid or currently unavailable. Underlying cause: Exception of type ‘System.OutOfMemoryException’ was thrown.”

- WISC