The ENTCHEV GIS Blog

Geospatial Pipe


I recently found this geospatial pipe built by Adam Estrada (@GeoDAWG). Add it to your bookmarks, or RSS feed, or whatever you use to keep up to speed with geospatial happenings.

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Introductions

Greetings fellow spatially oriented colleagues. Before I begin blogging about various subjects related to the G in GIS I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Mike Popoloski and I am currently president of Mapco Mapping & Positioning Company Inc. I am a New York state licensed land surveyor and a certified GPS mapping instructor.

I started my location-based career about (23) years ago quite by accident. About (1) year out of high school I was working as a mechanical drafter/designer at a local military contractor and I had quickly figured out that I was not cut-out for sitting behind a desk every day. While I was trying to figure out what to try next I bumped into my old guidance counselor from high school. He suggested that I apply for an entry-level land surveying position that had recently opened up in the area.

I had no idea what land surveying was but he said I would be outside much of the time. I have always enjoyed outdoor activities so that sounded good to me. I won the job and started on the ground-floor as a rodman. Over the next few years I learned the value of a good pair of boots, clear and accurate field notes, proper clothing, fully charged batteries, and a sharp machete.

Regardless of most weather conditions we spent each day measuring and recording the locations of everything from natural features such as trees, wetlands, and topography to man-made features such as property markers, buildings, roads, fences, utilities, etc. At that time the terms GIS and GPS were not in our vocabulary, or almost anyone else’s for that matter, but the work we were doing established a great foundation for my acceptance and understanding of these technologies that were to come.

Small-town surveyors like us were mainly working in assumed coordinate systems that we created for each job. But there were a few occasions when we had to establish geodetic values for a large project. We would often spend days on these projects running latitude/longitude and/or NAVD-29 elevations from a local National Geodetic Survey benchmark or baseline to our site.

Well in 1990 the company I was working for acquired the new "magic-box". A Global Positioning System receiver that utilized satellite signals to calculate latitude, longitude, and elevation in minutes instead of days. My boss put the box on my desk and I was tasked with testing this new technology to see if it was telling the "truth". As a licensed surveyor he wanted to make sure we really knew what the accuracy of this new technology was before he affixed his name and personal liability to the project.

This was the beginning of my path on GPS testing, measurement analysis, coordinate quality reporting, and GIS data collection. Since then I have evaluated dozens of different devices, located tens of thousands of GIS features, conducted hundreds of classes and seminars, and set hundreds of high accuracy geodetic control points.

It is my hope that I can contribute to this blog by sharing my land surveying perspective as it relates to the "G" in GIS. If anyone has general questions related to these subjects feel free to share them. I expect to make my first post shortly on the topic of GIS data accuracy.

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Welcome to new blogger Mike Popoloski


The ENTCHEV GIS Blog is pleased to welcome Mike Popoloski as a guest blogger. Mike is a GPS expert and a licensed land surveyor, and will offer his unique insight into GIS/GPS interaction, integration and interdependability.

I have known Mike for over ten years. Much of what I know about GPS comes by way of training from his company, Mapco Mapping & Positioning Company in West Milford, New Jersey. Mike is the most knowledgeable person about GPS I have ever met. I am certain this blog’s readers can learn a lot from Mike as well.

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Apple’s Steve Jobs: Adobe is lazy. No Flash on the iPad


First the iPhone and now the iPad shun Flash. Steve Jobs says it’s because Flash is buggy, and the world is moving to HTML5 anyway.

What does this have to do with GIS? If, like me, you believe Jobs is right, then a lot. Flash front ends have been gaining popularity with web GIS developers. Flash (and Microsoft’s Flash counterpart – Silverlight) have thrown many a GIS shop into costly detours. Fancy Flash interfaces have taken countless hours to build, only to subsequently annoy countless users. If Jobs is right, all this may be for naught.

Self-described geonerd Michael Weisman (@mweisman) tweets: "Does Adobe not understand that no Flash is a feature?" Just like a child once cried out: "The king has no clothes!"

[UPDATE 01/31/2010 3:38 PM EST] Michael Weisman's original ire was directed at TheFlashBlog for implying that without Flash support the web would be broken. Michael just sent me a link to a follow-up to the original TheFlashBlog post, showing that all but two of the showcased sites already have H.264/HTML5 versions.

[UPDATE 02/03/2010] Sean Gillies concurs.

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Have architects perfected the procurement process?


Structural architects have gotten closer than GIS architects, for sure.

Regular readers of this blog know that I am an avid proponent of using the construction industry procurement process as a model in GIS procurement. Now a BusinessWeek article on crowdsourcing and how to fix it evokes an architectural analogy as well:

“For large buildings, anywhere from 3 to 12 architects are selected to propose a rough set of plans for the building based on the quality of their previous work. Each one is compensated with a submission payment that helps to cover their costs, with the full fee for the project going to the architect ultimately selected. Why not do the same when engaging other types of creative experts?”

It seems that the construction industry has got it right, through centuries of experience, no doubt. Instead of reinventing the wheel, our young industry should take a page out of our construction brethrens’ playbook.

HT to Peter Bilton for the EW article.

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Don’t ask me what I think about your online GIS *after* you bought it


I am such a friendly guy. Well-respected, too, apparently. A lot of people know me and value my opinion and expertise. Decision-makers, with budgets.

So it comes as no surprise that every once in a while people ask me GIS-related questions. Such as: “Hey, we just launched our online GIS. What do you think?” Or: “Hey, we just had our tax maps digitized, what should we do with them?”

It is nice to have one’s opinion so highly valued, but it is an honour that I dream not of (to quote Juliet). I would much rather folks call me *before* they go on a GIS services shopping spree. It would then make sense to point out that launching an online GIS that only works in Internet Explorer in 2010 is asinine, no matter how good the deal. No point mentioning this now.

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Building a Brand


I wrote this article five years ago. It was edited by Adena Schutzberg, and appeared in print in Earth Observation Magazine in April January 2005 -- that publication's last print issue. (EOM continued as an online publication until August of 2005). (Web archive copy).

I am republishing this piece on my blog in 2010 because I think all raised issues are still very valid. I find that I am not the only one wondering about the value of the acronyms after their names (I became an AICP in 1993, a GISP in 2007). I will share more of my current thinking in a follow-up to this post.



I work out with a trainer at a local gym. I like James -- he knows his stuff and pushes me hard. The other day I asked James what he thought about professional certification. "It is very important," he said. He added that his national certification from the XYZ fitness authority helps him acquire and keep clients like me. James was obviously unaware that I did not know that he held a certification. I liked him for his work.

As I was looking for an accountant recently, I opened the phone book and found several dozen listings for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). There were no listings for non-certified accountants. I called the CPA closest to my home.

In both of these examples certification had seemingly nothing to do with my selection of services. But maybe it did. Maybe the gym only hired James because of his certification. Maybe non-certified accountants don't even bother to get listed in the phone book because of all the competition from the CPAs? Or maybe all accountants are already certified?

I am leading, of course, to the subject of GIS professional certification, much debated in our industry. A lot of questions have been running through my mind since the launch of the GIS Certification Program, administered through the GIS Certification Institute (GISCI). Questions like: Would you rather trust your GIS project to a GISP (a Certified GIS Professional) than to an acronym-deprived Ms. Jane Doe? Would you pay extra for the GISP's services? How much more? Why? Also: Whom is certification designed for? Whom does it serve -- the certified professional, the public, or someone else?

Certification and Branding

These days the word "branding" has a highly commercialized connotation. Interestingly, branding was originally implemented to protect the consumer. For that reason, branding enjoys the protection of the law. However, over the years, branding has "evolved" to a state in which it protects mainly the interests of the brand owner. Branding is now a marketing technique.

I submit that professional certification is not much different from branding. Certification implies recognition by one's peers, which branding does not. But the differences end there. The similarities are more profound, the major one being that both systems seem to exist primarily to promote the sales of services to the public, and to promote the brand itself.

The following analogy needs no explanation:
  • certifier . . . certificate holder . . . public
  • brand owner . . . brand distributor . . . public
  • franchisor . . . franchisee . . . public

Certification and Licensing

I am a planner by education, and hold a national certification from the relevant certifying authority. The certification makes me more recognizable to the lay person, thus generally assisting the public in their selection of professionals (or so the theory goes). The certification does not allow me to practice planning in my home state of New Jersey, though. For that I need a license from the state (as does a barber in order to cut my hair and a plumber in order to fix my drain).

An interesting thing is happening within the planning profession in New Jersey right now. Planning professionals, who have qualified for national certification as part of their Professional Planner (PP) licensing process, choose not to pursue the certification. They only pursue the planning license. In marketing terms, it appears that the value of the certifying brand is eroding.

Which brings me to more questions about our own industry: Is the GISCI certification program trying to fill the state licensing void by creating a national GIS certification system? Do we know how close individual states are to implementing their own programs for licensing GIS professionals? Will those programs interplay with the current GISCI program? Will there be direct credit transfers, for example? With the implementation of state GIS licensing, will the GISP brand gain or lose value over time?

To Certify, or Not to Certify?

GISP has a nice ring to it. I think I will pass, though. Until the day the state begins to regulate my services. Then, if I am not retired, I will apply for a license.

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Directions magazine publishes my GIS architecture article


Directions magazine, the premier English language GIS publication, published my GIS architecture article. The article is based on my Design-Build GIS post.

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GeoDesign 2010 and Beyond


As I watch James Fee (@cageyjames) tweet the ESRI 2010 GeoDesign Summit, I realize that “geodesign” is a smart strategic shift from “what is” to “what will be.” Smart, because without such a shift the GIS industry will eventually cannibalize itself, running out of things to map.

The problem with “geodesign” is that it has been known as “architecture” and “urban planning” for quite some time now. I doubt that architects and urban planners will just sit and watch as GIS folks enter and try to take over the design space.

Interesting times.

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GIS architect job posting in the wild


[UPDATE 01/08/2010] Brian Timoney (@briantimoney) alerted me to yet another GIS Architect job opening ("Sr" at that!).

Be still my heart. A California organization, MARRS Services (I am not familiar with them) has posted a job opening for a GIS architect on the GIS Jobs Clearinghouse. Could it be that the days of "What is a GIS architect?" are over?

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