As ESRI is making it’s move away from VB Script and towards Python, I’m also slowly updating my stash of code snippets along the way. One of those little pieces of code I use quite often is one that identifies duplicate field names in a layer’s attribute table. I find this particularly helpful when I’m cleaning up tax parcel data, looking for duplicate parcel-ID numbers or SBL strings. Since I’ve been working a lot with parcel data lately, I figured it was time to move this code over to Python, too. So, here it is in step-by-step fashion… 1 –…
Category: Geo/Planning
Blog posts related to GIS, spatial analysis, and other planning topics
Generating Vertical Buffers
One of the more popular analyses I’m asked to perform for my clients is a viewshed analysis. Beyond simply identifying what areas of a town are visible from roads or other public viewpoints, I’m often asked to help identify, and sometimes rank, areas that are most worthy of protection. One way to help a town identify and evaluate these high priority vistas, is to identify prominent ridgelines and the areas around them that are susceptible to inappropriate development. One way to mitigate the impact of development on highly visible ridgelines is to make sure new buildings do not break the…
Linux OpenGeo Apache Server–Tweaked
Over the past week I’ve probably generated enough material for a half-dozen blog posts. However, since I have to get some billable hours in and invoices sent out this week, I’ll just post a short update for now on one aspect of project “Linux OpenGeo Apache Server”. In my prior post I described the steps I took to get an Ubuntu based Apache/GeoServer up and running. Since then I’ve tweaked the process, and with a lot of help, been able to get everything in working order. One of the roadblocks I faced was how to get Apache/Tomcat and GeoServer working…
Linux OpenGeo Apache Server
Moving the GeoSandbox to Full OpenSource I’ve run into a couple of roadblocks recently, regarding my experiments with my GeoSandbox. I want to be able to play with some of of the JavaScript libraries available, so I can continue my education on those fronts. Some cross domain issues arose when I started putting JavaScript in my web pages as my website is on a different server than is my GeoServer. So, that means learning some more about setting up web servers and how proxy servers work. Also, my old Dell 600m is starting to feel the effects of the increased…
GeoSandbox 2.0
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…
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…