Comments for James Fee GIS Blog http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com Geospatial Technology, Web Mapping and Spatial Services Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:24:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 Comment on Microsoft Whitepaper - Introduction to Spatial Coordinate Systems: Flat Maps for a Round Planet by Lichanos http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/17/microsoft-whitepaper-introduction-to-spatial-coordinate-systems-flat-maps-for-a-round-planet/#comment-35359 Lichanos Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:42:49 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1917#comment-35359 Hi, I'm just wondering these days about what IS spatial data. I'd be interested in your comments on the page at the URL I've posted here. Hi,

I’m just wondering these days about what IS spatial data. I’d be interested in your comments on the page at the URL I’ve posted here.

]]> Comment on WeoGeo Helps Safe Software Into the Cloud by James Fee http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/18/weogeo-helps-safe-software-into-the-cloud/#comment-35358 James Fee Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:25:06 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1921#comment-35358 I am not going. My son's first day of Kindergarten is that Monday and I'm not missing that. August just doesn't work for me for conferences. The future looks better where mid July seems to be the "standard". http://blogs.esri.com/Info/blogs/ucblog/archive/2008/01/31/future-conference-dates.aspx I am not going. My son’s first day of Kindergarten is that Monday and I’m not missing that. August just doesn’t work for me for conferences.

The future looks better where mid July seems to be the “standard”. http://blogs.esri.com/Info/blogs/ucblog/archive/2008/01/31/future-conference-dates.aspx

]]> Comment on WeoGeo Helps Safe Software Into the Cloud by Roland http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/18/weogeo-helps-safe-software-into-the-cloud/#comment-35354 Roland Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:40:09 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1921#comment-35354 Hi James - Are you going to the ESRI conference in San Diego August 2nd? They will probably be showcasing this new software there. They expect a crowd of 12,000 - Do you know if anyone else is going? I found it listed here <a href="http://www.californiaresortlife.com/sandiego/convention_center.htm" rel="nofollow">Convention Center</a> Hi James -

Are you going to the ESRI conference in San Diego August 2nd?

They will probably be showcasing this new software there.

They expect a crowd of 12,000 - Do you know if anyone else is going?

I found it listed here
Convention Center

]]> Comment on GIS Analysis for the Masses by “Real” GIS For Everyone « GIS Maps and Musings http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2007/10/10/gis-analysis-for-the-masses/#comment-35351 “Real” GIS For Everyone « GIS Maps and Musings Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:20:08 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2007/10/10/gis-analysis-for-the-masses/#comment-35351 [...] I’ve always thought so, and there’s a great discussion of this topic in this James Fee GIS Blog post. James shows an example of a web-based geoprocessing application, and surmises, as I do, that this [...] [...] I’ve always thought so, and there’s a great discussion of this topic in this James Fee GIS Blog post. James shows an example of a web-based geoprocessing application, and surmises, as I do, that this [...]

]]> Comment on Simple Layer List From the ArcGIS Server Using the JavaScript API by ChrisW http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/16/simple-layer-list-from-the-arcgis-server-using-the-javascript-api/#comment-35350 ChrisW Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:53:54 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1903#comment-35350 Re. Javascript IDEs - yes, coding and debugging JS is a real pain. However, you could try one of the plugins for Eclipse IDE to see if they're any good. For example, the Standard version of MyEclipse (http://www.myeclipseide.com/) includes JS IDE plugins, and the Professional version claims to have a JS debugger too. I haven't used these JS tools, but I've used MyEclipse from time to time for Java work and it's not bad. It's a subscription based bundle of Eclipse + lots of (mainly Java oriented) plug-ins. You pay around $30 a year for the Standard version, and $60 for the Professional version, and the subscription covers all the upgrades in that period. And you can still use any other third-party Eclipse plug-ins e.g. for Python etc. Re. Javascript IDEs - yes, coding and debugging JS is a real pain. However, you could try one of the plugins for Eclipse IDE to see if they’re any good. For example, the Standard version of MyEclipse (http://www.myeclipseide.com/) includes JS IDE plugins, and the Professional version claims to have a JS debugger too. I haven’t used these JS tools, but I’ve used MyEclipse from time to time for Java work and it’s not bad. It’s a subscription based bundle of Eclipse + lots of (mainly Java oriented) plug-ins. You pay around $30 a year for the Standard version, and $60 for the Professional version, and the subscription covers all the upgrades in that period. And you can still use any other third-party Eclipse plug-ins e.g. for Python etc.

]]> Comment on WeoGeo Helps Safe Software Into the Cloud by James Fee http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/18/weogeo-helps-safe-software-into-the-cloud/#comment-35348 James Fee Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:36:00 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1921#comment-35348 Andrew K: I pretty much said what the cloud was above. I run my applications in a "data center" owned by someone else. I don't have the time or energy or money or smarts to compete against Google's data farms, so I'll pay them pennies to use it. I <a href="http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2007/06/29/how-can-i-compete-against-google/" rel="nofollow">talked about this concept</a> about a year ago. If the idea of running Safe FME Server on Amazon Web Services and not having to worry about how to make it run, how to keep it running or how to do it all cheaper than you could yourself, then this is a huge deal. The idea is I no longer have to buy ArcInfo if I don't use all the features all the time. Where this is going is that I'll run little old ArcView, and when I need some complex ArcInfo license geoprocessing tool, I'll just go out and pay someone the rights to use it once, by subscription or in some sort of combination. Or how about this, you want to run some raster analysis. You computer keeps crashing because you aren't as smart as those Manifold folks and run 32-bit Windows XP. Well how about offloading that processing to Google or Amazon and move on to something else. When it is done you get an email, GeoRSS or some other sort of alert telling you that your processing is done. This isn't about downloading data and converting it, is about moving your processing out from under you underpowered and overworked workstations and servers and into data centers that have more power than you could ever how to even look at, and are up 24/7. Hey I enjoy performing GIS analysis, not managing the services. Why not let Safe and WeoGeo worry about all that and focus on the things that make us enjoy being GIS professionals? Is the cloud a buzz word? Considering Amazon <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=201590011" rel="nofollow">considers it their product</a> (the second C in EC2), I'd fall on the side of no. Call it cloud computing, grid computing, whatever. And I don't know about you, but I'm desperate for something that gives me the power of a server product, but sells it as a service. Lets think of the ESRI world for a second. Maybe I use Network Analyst twice a year. I either pay for it and it sits there and 363 days a year doing nothing, or I don't pay for it and I work around it. I would wager ESRI would make more money offering Network Analyst as a service you can use in ArcToolbox than they would by selling maintenance on it. More people would be apt to us it and thus more revenue to ESRI. Andrew K: I pretty much said what the cloud was above. I run my applications in a “data center” owned by someone else. I don’t have the time or energy or money or smarts to compete against Google’s data farms, so I’ll pay them pennies to use it. I talked about this concept about a year ago.

If the idea of running Safe FME Server on Amazon Web Services and not having to worry about how to make it run, how to keep it running or how to do it all cheaper than you could yourself, then this is a huge deal.

The idea is I no longer have to buy ArcInfo if I don’t use all the features all the time. Where this is going is that I’ll run little old ArcView, and when I need some complex ArcInfo license geoprocessing tool, I’ll just go out and pay someone the rights to use it once, by subscription or in some sort of combination.

Or how about this, you want to run some raster analysis. You computer keeps crashing because you aren’t as smart as those Manifold folks and run 32-bit Windows XP. Well how about offloading that processing to Google or Amazon and move on to something else. When it is done you get an email, GeoRSS or some other sort of alert telling you that your processing is done.

This isn’t about downloading data and converting it, is about moving your processing out from under you underpowered and overworked workstations and servers and into data centers that have more power than you could ever how to even look at, and are up 24/7.

Hey I enjoy performing GIS analysis, not managing the services. Why not let Safe and WeoGeo worry about all that and focus on the things that make us enjoy being GIS professionals?

Is the cloud a buzz word? Considering Amazon considers it their product (the second C in EC2), I’d fall on the side of no. Call it cloud computing, grid computing, whatever.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m desperate for something that gives me the power of a server product, but sells it as a service. Lets think of the ESRI world for a second. Maybe I use Network Analyst twice a year. I either pay for it and it sits there and 363 days a year doing nothing, or I don’t pay for it and I work around it. I would wager ESRI would make more money offering Network Analyst as a service you can use in ArcToolbox than they would by selling maintenance on it. More people would be apt to us it and thus more revenue to ESRI.

]]> Comment on WeoGeo Helps Safe Software Into the Cloud by Andrew K http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/18/weogeo-helps-safe-software-into-the-cloud/#comment-35347 Andrew K Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:04:56 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1921#comment-35347 You guys are using the term 'the cloud' like its a new buzzword...but it doesn't mean anything to anyone (other than Adena and i'm sure your not taking lessons from her...or are you?)...so get out of your cloud and describe it for what it is...make it real guys...make it mean something to the average user. As for this announcement...i don't see the benefit...so now you can do a coordinate transformation on the fly when you order a data product from a website...what's the big deal? Either we are desperate for something new and are blowing this totally out of proportion or have never see the capability to find a dataset, order it and get it delivered in a new format and new projection...what a novel idea! You guys are using the term ‘the cloud’ like its a new buzzword…but it doesn’t mean anything to anyone (other than Adena and i’m sure your not taking lessons from her…or are you?)…so get out of your cloud and describe it for what it is…make it real guys…make it mean something to the average user. As for this announcement…i don’t see the benefit…so now you can do a coordinate transformation on the fly when you order a data product from a website…what’s the big deal? Either we are desperate for something new and are blowing this totally out of proportion or have never see the capability to find a dataset, order it and get it delivered in a new format and new projection…what a novel idea!

]]> Comment on ESRI’s EDN Site’s “Purpose” by Chris M http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/17/esris-edn-sites-purpose/#comment-35343 Chris M Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:55:12 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1910#comment-35343 @James: I think the searches are interlinked between the sites as a query from the Resource Center did send me to some support pages the other day. But I do agree that one site with all the answers (well ok info) would be better if it was well organized. @James: I think the searches are interlinked between the sites as a query from the Resource Center did send me to some support pages the other day. But I do agree that one site with all the answers (well ok info) would be better if it was well organized.

]]> Comment on ESRI’s EDN Site’s “Purpose” by Ray Saunders http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/17/esris-edn-sites-purpose/#comment-35342 Ray Saunders Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:01:21 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1910#comment-35342 I have 45+ years working on mainframes, but GIS is all Greek to me. I find I lack the basic terminology and concepts. Any suggestions or books recommended to bring me up to speed so I start using something like Global Mapper? I have 45+ years working on mainframes, but GIS is all Greek to me. I find I lack the basic terminology and concepts. Any suggestions or books recommended to bring me up to speed so I start using something like Global Mapper?

]]> Comment on ESRI’s EDN Site’s “Purpose” by James Fee http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/17/esris-edn-sites-purpose/#comment-35341 James Fee Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:29:23 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1910#comment-35341 @Buggy: Why can't they invest in the existing EDN for developers and ESRI support sites? A third site spreads their efforts thin and means we can't always be sure where to look. If I go to <a href="http://support.esri.com" rel="nofollow">http://support.esri.com</a> and search for something, will it return information in EDN and the Resources sections? Why not one support site where everyone knows where to go and where to search? While I do like the new Resource Centers, I wonder if they will be updated better than EDN has been. I really hope so. @Buggy: Why can’t they invest in the existing EDN for developers and ESRI support sites? A third site spreads their efforts thin and means we can’t always be sure where to look.

If I go to http://support.esri.com and search for something, will it return information in EDN and the Resources sections? Why not one support site where everyone knows where to go and where to search?

While I do like the new Resource Centers, I wonder if they will be updated better than EDN has been. I really hope so.

]]> Comment on ESRI’s EDN Site’s “Purpose” by Buggy http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/17/esris-edn-sites-purpose/#comment-35340 Buggy Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:41:45 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1910#comment-35340 James, why are you down on ESRI? James, why are you down on ESRI?

]]> Comment on Microsoft Whitepaper - Introduction to Spatial Coordinate Systems: Flat Maps for a Round Planet by TedC http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/17/microsoft-whitepaper-introduction-to-spatial-coordinate-systems-flat-maps-for-a-round-planet/#comment-35339 TedC Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:09:40 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1917#comment-35339 He looks like he is stoned. He looks like he is stoned.

]]> Comment on WeoGeo Helps Safe Software Into the Cloud by James Fee http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/18/weogeo-helps-safe-software-into-the-cloud/#comment-35338 James Fee Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:11:26 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1921#comment-35338 Johnny: I'm not a systems admin and my company can't afford to pay the kind of money that is required to run web services ourselves at the speed and uptime that is really required. If I can have Amazon or Google "run" my servers for me and then scale the process to meet the needs of my clients. For example remember Katrina? Extreme case, but if I had a web mapping site running MapServer or ArcIMS that had relevant information before, during and after the disaster, it was probably overwhelmed (and if it was located in NOLA it probably went down). If that map service was running in the cloud, it would have withstood the spike and kept running. The other thing is as time goes on, maybe that map service becomes less "popular" and if I had invested in hardware/people to maintain the traffic spike, I'd have to worry about how to pay for that moving foward. With the cloud, traffic goes up, I pay more, traffic goes down, I pay less. As Brian was saying above, we are talking about pennies here, rather than thousands of dollars. Plus the cloud doesn't care if you have a PC/Mac/Linux. It is OS and database agnostic. Heck, the idea you can run FME on your iPhone is a pretty powerful though. Johnny: I’m not a systems admin and my company can’t afford to pay the kind of money that is required to run web services ourselves at the speed and uptime that is really required.

If I can have Amazon or Google “run” my servers for me and then scale the process to meet the needs of my clients. For example remember Katrina? Extreme case, but if I had a web mapping site running MapServer or ArcIMS that had relevant information before, during and after the disaster, it was probably overwhelmed (and if it was located in NOLA it probably went down). If that map service was running in the cloud, it would have withstood the spike and kept running.

The other thing is as time goes on, maybe that map service becomes less “popular” and if I had invested in hardware/people to maintain the traffic spike, I’d have to worry about how to pay for that moving foward. With the cloud, traffic goes up, I pay more, traffic goes down, I pay less. As Brian was saying above, we are talking about pennies here, rather than thousands of dollars.

Plus the cloud doesn’t care if you have a PC/Mac/Linux. It is OS and database agnostic. Heck, the idea you can run FME on your iPhone is a pretty powerful though.

]]> Comment on WeoGeo Helps Safe Software Into the Cloud by Johnny http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/18/weogeo-helps-safe-software-into-the-cloud/#comment-35337 Johnny Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:02:28 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1921#comment-35337 Maybe I don't get it, but why is this good news? What does "putting it in the cloud" mean to me, Joe GIS Guy? Maybe I don’t get it, but why is this good news? What does “putting it in the cloud” mean to me, Joe GIS Guy?

]]> Comment on zigGIS 2.0 - View Edit PostGIS and SQL Server 2008 From ArcGIS Desktop by Kyle Lyons http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/01/07/ziggis-20-view-edit-postgis-and-sql-server-2008-from-arcgis-desktop/#comment-35336 Kyle Lyons Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:40:05 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/01/07/ziggis-20-view-edit-postgis-and-sql-server-2008-from-arcgis-desktop/#comment-35336 This is great news! I am an undergraduate student working on a GIS project and we are using PostGIS for our storage database, mainly because we are using linux for visualizations in OpenGL and need access to GIS data for it. Supplying data from ArcGIS to PostGIS is a long and arduous task when using the shape uploader which involves me converting geo-database to shape, scping the file through a VM to a linux box then using the shp2psql tool to upload to the database. Having a direct connection to my PostGIS database would be awesome and make my life a lot easier! This is great news! I am an undergraduate student working on a GIS project and we are using PostGIS for our storage database, mainly because we are using linux for visualizations in OpenGL and need access to GIS data for it. Supplying data from ArcGIS to PostGIS is a long and arduous task when using the shape uploader which involves me converting geo-database to shape, scping the file through a VM to a linux box then using the shp2psql tool to upload to the database.

Having a direct connection to my PostGIS database would be awesome and make my life a lot easier!

]]> Comment on WeoGeo Helps Safe Software Into the Cloud by Brian Timoney http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/18/weogeo-helps-safe-software-into-the-cloud/#comment-35334 Brian Timoney Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:35:10 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1921#comment-35334 I look forward to the geoprocessing price wars: "Buy three buffering operations, and we'll throw in a Convex Hull calculation for free...". Seems to me with the shortage of technical folks able to help their organizations harness the potential of "Server GIS", a software-as-service option with a high usability factor might have a significant value proposition from the get-go. Looking forward to seeing it in Vancouver. BT I look forward to the geoprocessing price wars: “Buy three buffering operations, and we’ll throw in a Convex Hull calculation for free…”.

Seems to me with the shortage of technical folks able to help their organizations harness the potential of “Server GIS”, a software-as-service option with a high usability factor might have a significant value proposition from the get-go.

Looking forward to seeing it in Vancouver.

BT

]]> Comment on Microsoft Whitepaper - Introduction to Spatial Coordinate Systems: Flat Maps for a Round Planet by Matt http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/17/microsoft-whitepaper-introduction-to-spatial-coordinate-systems-flat-maps-for-a-round-planet/#comment-35329 Matt Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:56:57 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1917#comment-35329 Thanks for clarification JW! BTW, looks like an proto-version of the BSOD on the other monitor. ;-) Thanks for clarification JW! BTW, looks like an proto-version of the BSOD on the other monitor. ;-)

]]> Comment on Microsoft Whitepaper - Introduction to Spatial Coordinate Systems: Flat Maps for a Round Planet by JW http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/17/microsoft-whitepaper-introduction-to-spatial-coordinate-systems-flat-maps-for-a-round-planet/#comment-35328 JW Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:28:05 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1917#comment-35328 actually no it was a CP/M prompt that he was in the middle of ripping off. actually no it was a CP/M prompt that he was in the middle of ripping off.

]]> Comment on Microsoft Whitepaper - Introduction to Spatial Coordinate Systems: Flat Maps for a Round Planet by Matt http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/17/microsoft-whitepaper-introduction-to-spatial-coordinate-systems-flat-maps-for-a-round-planet/#comment-35324 Matt Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:45:57 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1917#comment-35324 Glad to see that Microsoft is paying attention (and homage) to the basic cartographic principles that mapmakers need to employ. I personally think that this is very well written and sounds almost identical to my first cartography textbook . Now that SQL 2008 supports spatial data, it makes perfect sense to educate future developers of map products to understand the fundamentals of projections, coordinates systems, etc. -Matt P.S. I agree that the Bill Gates pic is creepy. Nice touch of adding the ships to the monitor though (I think the orig was ASCII MS-DOS logo?) Sad that I know that... Glad to see that Microsoft is paying attention (and homage) to the basic cartographic principles that mapmakers need to employ. I personally think that this is very well written and sounds almost identical to my first cartography textbook . Now that SQL 2008 supports spatial data, it makes perfect sense to educate future developers of map products to understand the fundamentals of projections, coordinates systems, etc.
-Matt

P.S. I agree that the Bill Gates pic is creepy. Nice touch of adding the ships to the monitor though (I think the orig was ASCII MS-DOS logo?) Sad that I know that…

]]> Comment on Microsoft Whitepaper - Introduction to Spatial Coordinate Systems: Flat Maps for a Round Planet by JW http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2008/07/17/microsoft-whitepaper-introduction-to-spatial-coordinate-systems-flat-maps-for-a-round-planet/#comment-35323 JW Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:01:42 +0000 http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/?p=1917#comment-35323 That picture is creepy. I'd rather dine with Hannibal Lector than have to stare at that. That picture is creepy. I’d rather dine with Hannibal Lector than have to stare at that.

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