Weary Mappers

http://hint.fm/wind/index.html

 

 

In the mashups lab, I teach students about using "View Source" to look for clues to deciphering tech. choices...

If you saw this today from XKCD

and asked 'How'd they do that?', a quick peek would point to PanoJS - a former Googlecode project, now proudly standing out on it's own...

 

In other dynamic-spatial-not-necessarily-geospatial tech. topics, some of you may have seen one non-traditional (panning/zooming) presentation at GIS Day (I did not)

for which I heard at least one reaction to the software used... from the description I imagine it's the same software I watched my son Sam use to do a collaboratively-edited (simultaneously) slideshow for his Science class the other night - Prezi

I'm as guilty as anyone (falling back on ppt) but maybe we should try out Prezi?

http://prezi.com/

because powerpoints just (still) aren't that impressive.

 

A few weeks ago, I pointed out for discussion Ron Bruder's article in Eau Claire-based ADC's GeoWire newsletter on "Navigating Shifts in Technology" with reference to their decidedly un-plugged (as in no-plug-in) approach to application development... for discussion.

Yesterday, I found myself in a staff discussion on a similar topic, so I found it timely that this morning, Direction's Magazine delivered a podcast on GIS Goes HTML5 .

In addition, from the comments section - we find AppGeo's Mike Terner delivering a similar food-for-thought presentation this week - with slides provided.

As Adena and Joe point out in the podcast, it's not like we're going to see all the Flash/Flex and Silverlight sites disappear overnight.  And it is true that this discussion has been amplified by recent announcements by Adobe and Microsoft with regard to the future of these plug-in based technologies on mobile devices - leaving the question "If you're starting to develop a brand-new application today - which technology choices will you make and what's the projected lifecycle?"

Some companies are already betting what your choice will be... or better, yet are asking their developers what they want next in packaged tools...

Came across this on the OpenLayers list, thought I'd share:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_maps_api_paid_no_longer_free.php

http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2011/10/introduction-of-usage-limits-to-maps.html

Haters gonna hate, but free can't always be free forever if it isn't sustainable. 

 

Anyone weary tonight?

Weary mappers are on... and we may even have a special guest in a former National Geographic cartographer who stuck around after NACIS and WhereCampMSN.  Those who attended those 2 events will be happy to discuss... bring your design questions too!

Short on time today but Mapper Json was kind enough to lend his scribbled notes from WhereCamp on Sunday... for your further investigation:

Random notes for further research:

mapbox:  map style sheets (.mss), mbtiles

leaflet

UTF grid: mapbox.com/demo/visiblemap/

Raphael JS (javascript graphics)

Code mirror (view source link on page, editable)

Douglas Crockfield (javascript videos)

browsershots.org

delicious.com/apoc_metal/javascript (Alex Yule's JS bookmarks)

colourlovers / kuler theft (colors)

ArcGIS Server supporting vector generalization  (using MaxOffset?)

Reminders:

• , @ Bridgewood Resort in Neenah, WI is the WLIA Fall Regional Mtg. titled
• Wed/Thurs, Nov. 9-10, the ESRI Wisconsin Users' Group (EWUG) Annual Meeting will be held in Green Bay.  Abstract deadline just passed Friday so you may be able to sneak one in.  Registration open. See: http://www.ewug.org/
• Finally, on Wed., Nov. 16, the local bi-annual GIS Day Expo 2011 will be held at the Memorial Union on the UW-Madison campus.  Currently taking submission for exhibitors, talks and more!  This is a great local opportunity for networking and showcasing your accomplishments.  See:  http://geoalliance.wisc.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=194&Itemid=107

Are you weary?

 

 

There are lots of map-tastic opportunities this Fall and I wanted to share a brief run-down with y'all.
Further discussion tonight:
Where: Weary Traveler Free House (http://www.wearytravelerfreehouse.com/)
When: starting about 5:30 this eve. (Tues. 9/27)

+ if others haven't yet, perhaps we can discuss potential mapper visit to the Treinen Farm Corn Maze which has some nice mathematical/geometrically-embedded emblems this year:  See:  Math.Corn.Fun.2011 - http://www.treinenfarm.com/index.htm?id=19347&sid=3352

In timeline fashion:

• This Friday, Sept. 30 @ 3:30 pm in 180 Science Hall, this week's Yi-Fu Tuan Lecture is by Prof. Jeremy Crampton (U.Ky - Geog. Dept) entitled "Arthur Robinson and the Creation of America's First Spy Agency" -   More info:  http://www.geography.wisc.edu/news/index.php#58
• Next Tuesday, Oct. 4 @ ~ 5:30, a WearyMappers FOSS4G Special - hopefully joined by colleague Levi Felling of ADC in Eau Claire, we'll offer current open source s/w discussion, limited copies of the latest OSGeoLive DVD & anything else we can think of.... bring your questions and suggestions.
• Also, next Tues., Oct 4 @ 7:00 pm, The Map Society of Wisconsin will host a presentation by Dr. Bruce Fetter and Douglas Stone on "Conserving our Cartographic Heritage" at the AGSL Library at UW-Milwaukee.  More info:  http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/AGSL/Fetter&Stone%20Oct2011.pdf
• Next Friday, Oct. 7 @ 2:00 pm in the Map Library, there will be a short presentation of the Governor's Award for Archival Innovation for the "Changing Landscapes of Wisconsin" project prior to the Yi-Fu Tuan Seminar.     Background: http://www.sco.wisc.edu/news/whaifinder-award.html
• Wed-Fri, Oct. 12-14 is the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) 2011 Annual Meeting will be held in downtown Madison at the Concourse Hotel.  Loads of good stuff with details at:  http://nacis.org/index.cfm?x=2
• Sunday, Oct. 16, 9am-5pm, WhereCamp MSN will be held at the Great Hall in Memorial Union on the UW-Madison campus.  This is a regional version of WhereCamp - an unconference for the spatially inclined.  Free individual registration as well as Sponsorship opportunities still available.  More: http://www.wherecampmsn.org/
• Oct. 27-28, @ Bridgewood Resort in Neenah, WI is the WLIA Fall Regional Mtg. titled "Using GIS to Benefit Economic Development" See:  http://www.wlia.org/displayconvention.cfm
• Wed/Thurs, Nov. 9-10, the ESRI Wisconsin Users' Group (EWUG) Annual Meeting will be held in Green Bay.  Abstract deadline just passed Friday so you may be able to sneak one in.  Registration open. See: http://www.ewug.org/
• Finally, on Wed., Nov. 16, the local bi-annual GIS Day Expo 2011 will be held at the Memorial Union on the UW-Madison campus.  Currently taking submission for exhibitors, talks and more!  This is a great local opportunity for networking and showcasing your accomplishments.  See:  http://geoalliance.wisc.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=194&Itemid=107
• If that isn't enough, Minnesota and Illinois are also holding conferences in the next month nearby.... See:  http://www.mngislis.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=651 and                             http://www.ilgisa.org/Events/Upcoming%20Conference/registration.aspx

Reading:
Related to the GIS Day Expo which is themed "Mapping the Wisconsin Idea", the UW-Madison campus has named the 2011/2012 academic year as the Year of the Wisconsin Idea, recognizing 100 years since the term was coined, elevated and synonimized with early Wisconsin progress.  I've been studying this idea over the past year and recently found this paper which some of you might find interesting:  http://www.med.wisc.edu/files/smph/docs/education/community_service/wi-idea-history-intro-summary-essay.pdf (with thanks to the UW CPO Outreach Network for posting.)

On the map-side, please check out the latest (and perhaps one of the last in this format) NACIS' Cartographic Perspectives - http://www.nacis.org/index.cfm?x=42 with many, many current and formerly local contributors.  Check out the "Search for a Radical Cartography" as well as other sections that are developing as the journal prepares to go all digital.

So much more to share but will have to spread it out temporally...

Brothers and sisters,
Are you weary?

From FOSS4G 2011 in Denver...

Everyone's a mapper in their own way from Peter Batty on Vimeo.

Weary Mappers are on tonight ...
Where:  Weary Traveler Free House
When:  about 5:30
come hear an in-person post-Weary Mapper Canoe Trip VI re-cap.
We had singing, late-night-light-up frisbee on a sandbar, close-ups of bald eagles and sandhill cranes and an all-around good time on the Wisconsin River!

In the meantime, I've got a lot of writing to catch up on in the next few months and need to clear my head of some of the map chatter before I focus on a few key topics.

To that end, here's a bit of the old-style Mapper e-mails for your Tuesday enjoyment:

I'm in the midst of writing for the WLIA newsletter/website and have had a chance to ponder a few more philosophical vantage points on collaborative progress in the field including What Does It Mean to Be a GIS 'Champion'? and Do the “Hot Topics” in Geospatial Unite or Divide Us? I'd be interested in your thoughts.

It's August already and there's plenty of app development work to get done before the Fall Outreach season gets in full swing.... of particular note is the 2011 FOSS4G conference - Sept 12-16 in Denver - back in the US after 5 years!  We had a thread on the wearymappers site with some interest earlier this year.  I've recently gotten permission to attend and would be interested in knowing who else from Wisconsin may go for potential room-sharing etc.  And here's FOSS4G's own Top 10 List on why YOU should attend.

On the topic of international, last week we saw that the UN Economic and Social Council has set up a specific committee on global geospatial information indicating it's time to get serious about taking advantage of geospatial for international issues.

But we all know that any international or smaller scale integration should feed from best available source information for which Municipalities are really the growth sector in transitioning from a traditional facilities/engineering approach to incorporating enterprise geospatial for wider application of the city's information.
//
While Leica just released their Cyclone software for better management of point-cloud data, I'm as interested in what collaborative groups are doing with remotely-sensed information particularly as our sensors become more local and high-res - take for example the Public Laboratory.
//
On the programming beat, we (various mappers) have been making quite a bit of use of the Jquery library in apps lately... for which the gmap3 Jquery plugin for Google Maps may be of interest to some of you...
//
On the commercial data side, we've all heard and followed the growing collections of Google and Bing (Microsoft) as well as ESRI Community Maps etc. not to mention the sub-providers like NAVTEQ and TeleAtlas but where will players like WeoGeo and Nokia Maps fall into the mix as we see movement toward capturing part of the base map market on mobile devices.
//
So much more going on... but I'll save some for next week.

Parting shots -
Thanks to Jamon for pointing out the Rorschmap
You know geospatial is getting more mainstream when we see celebrities' names attached to spatial initiatives - right ; ? )
I've yet to understand the true utility but there's always room for another 2-D/3-D hot spot viewer that knows Jack eh?
And finally, whether you're from the open source world or just an GISer who likes to Google answers, we like folks who share their experience.  So I was pleased to see this article by the News app team from the Chicago Tribune on their experience with Making Maps - particularly high-speed tile rendering and deployment.

My dear friends.
Are you weary?

Great Weary Mappers Canoe trip this week. If you missed it, start planning for next year! Thanks to Jason for organizing. And thanks to Bill for bringing the awesome venison goulash.

In a note on facebook, Joseph Skulan, estimates the size of the crowd at the capital last Saturday to be around 180,000. Mappers, with access to local data, what do you think?