This Week’s Project I decided it was time to take the GeoSandbox to the next level. As usual, I had multiple goals in mind for this project. Primarily, I wanted to learn how to use and write JavaScript. It’s been a long time since I’ve tried to write any kind of meaningful code, but I figured if I wanted to keep up with the big kids, it was time to take the plunge. I also wanted to get my map viewer into a state where I could make it useful enough to display my GIS projects, and help promote my…
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Mapping My Twitter Followers – No Code Needed
The Challenge I’ve been pondering what new data sets to add to the GeoSandbox for a while now. It’s been a couple of weeks since the last addition, and I felt things were getting a little stale. Once again, a single tweet set my mind in motion. This time it was @briantimoney who said “2011 is the year tweet maps replace coffeeshop-finding as the go-to demo scenario in geo.” An RT by @billdollins cemented the statement in my head, and there was no going back after that. Obviously if the GeoSandbox is to remain the cutting-edge tool that it is,…
GeoSandbox grows up to be a “Real boy”
A quick update on the status of my little experiment. This morning I got it in my head that I wanted to access my GeoSandbox in ArcMap through WMS, and allow others access to it through the same mechanism. Through much trial and error, and some timely help from @mcbride_bryan, I was able to accomplish my goal. If you want to try loading any of the data on my GeoSandbox into your GIS client of choice, you should be able to do so through this URL: http://donmeltz.dyndns.org:8080/geoserver/wms?service=wms&version=1.1.1&request=GetCapabilities Here’s a screen-shot with all the current layers loaded: Thanks also to @tpstigers…
Setting up my GeoSandbox
It’s been 3 weeks since I set up my little GeoServer experiment and started populating it with various datasets. I thought I’d outline the things I’ve been working on, and what I plan on looking at next. I couldn’t have come as far as I have without the generous help of some of my Twitter friends. I’ve noted below each section those who’ve helped me out. I apologize if I’ve overlooked anyone. Workspace > Store > Layer My initial step in getting a useful map up and running was to load some vector data. The first thing I’m sure every…
Serving Maps for Free
The Goal This weekend I started down the road to fulfilling one of my New Year Resolutions: Get some maps online. And by maps online, I don’t mean posting links to KML files, screen shots, or PDF exports from ArcGIS. I mean full-fledged interactive maps viewable by anyone with a browser. On top of that, I had one more goal. I wanted to do this with as little extra cost to me as possible. This is going to be a learning experience for me, not a paying job. The Map Server I’ve put a lot of thought into this. It’s…
GISP? We Don’t Need No GISP!
Or do we? Or better yet, what I’d really like to know – Do I? Over the last few weeks I’ve been organizing and filling out the applications for a couple of professional certifications: the APA’s American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and the GIS Certification Institute’s Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP). I have been working as an independent planning consultant specializing in the use of GIS for the past eight years, and thought it was time I got around to doing this. What’s been holding me up so far has not been that I did not qualify for either…
GIS is Dead – Long Live GIS
What is the state of GIS, and where is it going? Wow, is it even possible to answer that? It seems to be the perpetual question asked at every GIS conference, and embedded into every keynote address given at them. In an attempt to describe the state of GIS, some (many?) are using the terms Paleo and Neo in an attempt to describe past and future tenses of all things geo/gis-related. I’m still not sure these are the correct words to use ( See my blog post titled “My Latest Lesson in GIS”), but they have become a part of the GIS…
My latest lesson in GIS
My latest lesson in GIS came from Twitter More difficult than deciding what to write about in my first blog post, has been deciding what to write about in my second. I want to keep some sense of continuity in my writing, and briefly thought about describing my learning progress and work experience through the years. However, I also want to keep the topics here current. So, I’ve decided to skip ahead (way ahead) to where I am today. What have I learned most recently about the use of GIS in the planning field? I have been spending an extraordinary…
My first lesson in GIS
My first lesson in GIS came from the back of an album cover I can imagine one question runs through any persons mind once the decision is made to start a blog: “What do I say in my first blog post?” My goal for this blog is to talk about the use of GIS in urban and regional planning. I do not want to make it a personal/family blog, but a more personal and timely version of my business’s website. So, where to start? Why not begin with my very first exposure to GIS and its application to planning. You…