The ENTCHEV GIS Blog

Developers and users: Divided by a common language

2013-05-10T19:39:20Z

Back in February I was invited to keynote the Esri developer meetup in Philadelphia. It was a well-attended event at a very nice venue, hosted by Jim Barry and Amy Niessen. I saw many old friends, made new ones, and learned quite a bit.

Below is my presentation "Developers and users: Divided by a common language". The jokes were much funnier at the time of delivery.

Google Crisis Response Team Hurricane Sandy response

2013-03-07T17:42:01Z

The Google Crisis Response Team gave a presentation on their Hurricane Sandy response for the New York State GIS Association on Feb 19, 2013 at the Google offices in New York City.

Presenter Vanessa Schneider talks about crowdsourcing efforts, including my involvement and contribution (beginning around 23:20), and Dr. Wansoo Im's high school student volunteers.

See below video of full presentation.

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Is there a cat in the room?

2013-01-13T00:07:45Z

UPDATE January 16, 2013 5:24 PM: Yesterday Facebook announced its upcoming Graph Search. While I haven't tried it yet, the Graph Search is clearly targeted at providing near-real-time search results -- something Google and Bing sorely lack. This includes up-to-date local business location information, the subject of my original post.

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"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat." --Confucius (attributed)

"Digitally mapping the world" appears to be the new digital gold rush, and the Internet mapping giants -- Google, Apple, Nokia -- are the new prospectors. But is there gold to be found? Is there a cat in that dark room?

Farhad Manjoo speculates in a curiously disappearing Fast Company article (cached copy) that the answer is unknown. I submit that there is a cat, but it can't be found with the methods these three are using.

Why are these giant companies so obsessed with the pursuit of "the map"? How will they monetize "the map"? By selling advertisements for local merchants, of course. So the local merchant data layer -- accurate and current -- is the gold. The local merchant data layer -- not the highways or parks or stadiums -- is the cat that needs to be found and caught.

Ay, there's the rub! Can Google et al. catch the cat? The answer is no because the shelf life of the most important map data layer is shorter than the duration of the mappers' vetting process. By the time the map data is collected, processed, vetted, and QA/QCd, it is already outdated. This problem is not limited to locations of merchants of consumer goods and services, but is most pronounced there.

The billion dollar question is how to collect and maintain data that is both authoritative and current. Or, to put it differently, how to reduce the vetting time to zero. Foursquare, Gowalla (now incorporated into Facebook), Waze, and Groupon (which just acquired Glassmap) are all working to solve this problem -- by using consumers as mapping sensors.

Will any of them succeed? "He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions."

PS There is no money in gold prospecting, but there is money in making shovels and selling them to prospectors.

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"Mapping is a thankless job"

2013-01-10T20:35:48Z

UPDATE January 15, 2013 5:54 PM: The Fast Company article is back online, dated today (January 15, 2013). Thanks to Adena Schutzberg for the discovery. She thinks the article was published early by accident.

UPDATE January 11, 2013 10:53 AM: "Mapping is a thankless endeavor" is the correct quote. The original Fast Company article is still unavailable, but blog reader and commenter Kevin M pointed me to a cached copy (which was unavailable yesterday). Thank you, Kevin!

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"Mapping is a thankless job."* So wrote Farhad Manjoo in "Google, Apple, Nokia, And The Quest For The Perfect Map" -- a great piece on the escalating mapping war between the Internet giants, published by Fast Company yesterday. I decided to blog about it. But when I went to the article's URL today, I was greeted by "Access denied | You are not authorized to access this page."

The article discussed the "unknowable promise" of digital mapping -- a concept I can relate to, and upon which I wanted to expound in my blog post. Somewhat ironically, the article itself is now gone.

I hope this is a temporary glitch, and the article will be back online soon. If and when it does I'll be back with more commentary. (related new post January 12, 2013 7:09 PM)

Adena Schutzberg from Directions Media (@adenas) is investigating the article's disappearance.

* Quoting from memory

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Happy holidays!

2012-12-22T00:15:24Z

We wish you happy holidays and a prosperous 2013!

Hurricane Sandy storm surge data for New Jersey available from FEMA

2012-12-18T19:31:10Z

UPDATE January 2, 2013: Google has added the storm surge data to their Sandy crisis maps (Superstorm Sandy: NYC, Superstorm Sandy). HT Pete Giencke from the Google Crisis Response Team

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Hurricane Sandy storm surge data for New Jersey are now available for download from FEMA, as per note from NJ Office of GIS Director Andy Rowan sent to the New Jersey Geospatial Forum (NJGF) email listserv.

Below is an excerpt from the original announcement made by the FEMA Region II Geospatial Coordinator. The URL points to a 990 MB zip file (which unzips to 13.9 GB ).

If you need only the data for New Jersey, then use this file:

http://184.72.33.183/GISData/MOTF/NJ_Nov11Interim3mSurgeData.zip

If you need the other states, look in the MOTF FTP link for similar file names with different state abbreviations. Contained in that zip file are a vector shapefile of the estimated storm surge extent based on field observation data collected through November 11, and there is a depth grid (ESRI raster) at 3-meter resolution as well. These files were created by interpolating the high water marks (collected by USGS under FEMA mission assignment) into a water surface elevation grid, and then subtracting the ground elevation (3-meter DEM) from the water surface elevations in order to provide estimated water depth over land (inundation).

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IMPORTANT New Jersey Geospatial Forum (NJGF) 2012 winter meeting announcement

2012-11-30T15:44:55Z

The New Jersey Geospatial Forum (NJGF) 2012 winter meeting has been RESCHEDULED. See below announcement from the New Jersey Office of Information Technology (NJOIT):

The next meeting of the NJ Geospatial Forum will be Friday, December 14th, NOT December 7th. The Forum will be held at 10 a.m. in the ITC Room, 300 Riverview Plaza, Trenton, NJ 08611. All are welcome to attend.

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New Brunswick land assessment map

2012-11-20T00:33:37Z

I have been itching to map something local. After briefly considering The New Brunswick Homicide Map, I was talked out of it by someone more sensible than me. So I present to you this New Brunswick Land Assessment Map in Google Maps.

The map uses data from the New Jersey Geographic Information Network (NJGIN). The parcel polygons are rendered based on a "Score" I derived from assessed land value normalized by parcel area. All 7,807 parcels were classified in six classes using the quantile method. The darker the shading, the higher the score.

The map is far from perfect, and so is probably my method. One thing that surprises me is how big the variance is among properties within a single block, particularly in the downtown area.

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Map of operational New Jersey gas stations after hurricane Sandy -- November 1, 2012

2012-11-01T22:51:01Z

[UPDATE Monday, November 5, 2012, 5:25 PM] We keep adding open gas station locations as they are being submitted to us (except when we sleep (we do sleep)). The map is maintained continuously otherwise.

[UPDATE Sunday, November 4, 2012, 11:27 AM] I am updating the map with user-submitted information. Green markers are user-submitted operational locations. I am removing red markers for gas stations that are reported to be closed. Send your feedback to info@entchev.com. More info below the map. Data source is here (Google Fusion Table).

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[UPDATE Saturday, November 3, 2012, 2:02 PM] I created a few more GIS data layers from the NJOEM lists, in addition to the gas stations -- open hotels, pharmacies, and fast food places. Instead of just publishing the maps on my blog, I decided to contribute the layers to the official Google Crisis Map. I intend to continue to work with Google and NJOEM to keep the data up-to-date.

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[UPDATE Friday, November 2, 2012, 11:14 AM] The interest in this map has been overwhelming. Thank you all for the kind words and feedback.

I know that the map is not perfect, and have been thinking of ways to keep it current. It's not that simple. I have decided to keep the map as is, with map data sourced exclusively from the NJ Office of Emergency Management (NJOEM). The NJOEM is updating their database constantly from information sent to them by email. I encourage you to send your updates to the NJOEM; I will update this map when the NJOEM publishes an updated list.

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The New Jersey Office of Emergency Management (NJ OEM) published a list of resources at 4:45 pm on Thursday, Nov 1, 2012. The list includes operational gas stations, hotels, pharmacies, and food stores. The list of gas stations has coordinates. So I put together a quick Google map based on the NJ OEM list.

New Jersey Geospatial Forum (NJGF) 2012 fall meeting summary

2012-10-24T20:09:58Z

I could not attend today’s New Jersey Geospatial Forum (NJGF) 2012 fall meeting in Atlantic City, but here is a summary of the major announcements, as tweeted by NJGF Executive Committee member John Reiser (@johnjreiser on Twitter):

Processing of the 2012 NJ orthos is underway. Should be available in Feb/Mar 2013.
NJ Road Centerline data is moving towards a maintenance phase; will be supported with a web map editor interface.
Today's NJGF talk is by Bill Dollins on FOSS software focusing on PostGIS, GDAL/OGR, and MapBox TileMill.

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Mapping balloon over Atlantic City (video, 3:32)

2012-10-24T14:39:06Z

A bunch of guys got up early Monday morning to launch a mapping balloon and a GoPro camera over Atlantic City, New Jersey before the 2012 MAC URISA conference. They made a video. In my book, they also made art.

Sean McGinnis, Kyle Crawford, John Reiser

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New Jersey Geospatial Forum (NJGF) fall 2012 meeting announcement

2012-10-05T18:38:14Z

The regular quarterly New Jersey Geospatial Forum (NJGF) fall 2012 meeting will coincide with the 2012 MAC URISA conference. The meeting will be held at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012, at the Golden Nugget hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Guest speaker will be Bill Dollins, Senior Vice President of Zekiah Technologies in La Plata, Maryland.

New Brunswick bike lanes on Google Maps

2012-09-21T21:53:53Z

New Brunswick, my current hometown, is about to install bike lanes throughout town. As a cyclist I can’t be more excited (I bike to my New Brunswick office every day). As a map geek I had to put the bike lane routes on Google Maps for the world to see. So here it is. Click on a lane to display its type and name/location. Pan. Zoom.

Kudos to the City of New Brunswick for providing the bike lanes data following a very efficient data release process.

Blog advertisers

2012-09-15T16:34:00Z

We welcome advertisers to the blog. Here are the terms and conditions:

We run one advertising campaign at a time.
The ad will display in the Blog Sponsor section in the left column.
Advertisers submit an image (230 px by 230 px) in JPG or PNG format.
Advertisers submit a target URL (ad link).
All content and target URL subject to approval.
Ads run in monthly cycles.
Contact atanas@entchev.com for ad pricing.

Maps are like pizza - imagery is the crust, vectors are the toppings

2012-09-10T16:16:10Z

One way to explain map layers in GIS: "Maps are like pizza - imagery is the crust, vectors are the toppings." -- tweet from Jacob Mundt, "GIS Coordinator for the Cowboy State". Source attributed to one Bob Austin.

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Circumnavigate the globe without instruments? Check.

2012-09-08T17:19:15Z

We are rapidly approaching the day when everyone will need GPS to find their house after work. Or their mailbox on a Saturday morning. Developing, maintaining and enhancing awareness of one’s environment has been outsourced to an electronic gizmo.

In that context, the accomplishment of Dr. Marvin Creamer is infinitely more admirable. Creamer and the crew of his 36' boat Globe Star circumnavigated the globe without navigational instruments, not even a compass or watch (Wikipedia).

Dr. Creamer – still an active sailor at 96 – will give a talk about his historic journey on Thursday, September 20th, 2012 at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. Join me there to hear his story from the man himself.

The North-South Jersey debate just got real

2012-08-12T15:02:37Z

Many have written about the North-South Jersey divide, including yours truly. Up until now most “studies” have been lighthearted, going for the amusement factor first and foremost. This is about to change with Carl Peters joining the debate.

My friend Carl Peters is a civil engineer, a planner, and a land surveyor. He went to Rutgers, and spent his entire professional career in New Jersey. Even though he grew up and still lives in Staten Island, NY (which should be part of New Jersey, but I digress), Carl has a keen interest in the North-South-(Central?) Jersey debate. What Carl also has is the expertise and determination to leave no stone unturned in his quest to resolve this issue once and for all.

Carl has begun to publish his North-South Jersey research on his website. Check out “Where am I – North Jersey, South Jersey, or Possibly even Central Jersey?” (take the poll at the bottom of the article), “The North South Central Jersey Debate – How I got interested”, and “The North/South/Central Jersey Debate – What Other Guys are Saying”. Carl assures that more installments are on the way, so check back again later.

Although I live and work in what many would call “Central Jersey” (New Brunswick), I consider myself a North Jerseyan. In my mind “North” and “South” expand until they meet; they leave no room for “Central”.

pcARC/INFO requires 640K of RAM

2012-07-29T21:18:48Z

Going through some old papers, I ran into an article published in the Computer Report section of the 1989 Spring Edition of The Journal of the American Planning Association (APA). The article, authored by Jonathan Levine and John D. Landis, is titled “Geographic Information Systems for Local Planning” and reviews four mapping and geographic analysis packages for IBM-compatible microcomputers: Atlas*Graphics, LandTrak, MapInfo, and pcARC/INFO.

A few takeaways form the article:

Of the four reviewed vendors, only Esri is still in the business of developing GIS software (CORRECTION: MapInfo is still in business as Pitney Bowes. Thank you, Peter Batty, for setting me straight!)
pcARC/INFO needed 640K of RAM and DOS 3.2 or greater
Hardware cost range in 1989: “$3,000-$10,000”, or pretty much the same as today (UPDATE: Andrew Zolnai correctly observes that "in real dollars PCs were extraordinarily more expensive, as in reverse Moore's law." See his chart "PCs price performance over 20 years".)

I enjoy bashing Esri as much as the next guy, but this article gave me perspective and pause. As a GIS user, and especially as a business owner, I can’t but respect and admire what Jack has done. Love him or hate him, he has won the GIS Olympics.

New Jersey's updated road centerlines are available for download

2012-06-29T14:49:10Z

New Jersey's updated road centerlines are available for download, in file geodatabase and shapefile formats. You can find the data on the New Jersey Geographic Information Network (NJGIN (pronounced "engine", get it?)).

Sean McGinnis from the New Jersey Office of GIS (NJOGIS) tweeted the announcement at 7:13 AM this morning.

2012 NJ aerial photography acquired (NJGF)

2012-06-08T14:55:46Z

2012 NJ aerial photography acquired. Will be available in 2013.

Source: John Reiser live-tweeting the New Jersey Geospatial Forum (NJGF) meeting from Trenton.

Follow me on Twitter @atanas