H-K

iGPS - 1.0.7 - waypoint and route utility for Garmin GPS

www.johnpurins.net/iGPS/iGPS.html

iGPS is a utility for backing up, restoring and editing Garmin GPS waypoints and routes.

Developed for marine, aviation and professional navigation use, iGPS supports all Garmin GPS models that have a serial interface. Accuracy and reliability are the most important elements in the design of iGPS.

iGPS features the following capabilities:

• Transfer waypoints and routes to and from your Garmin GPS.
• Save waypoints and routes on your hard drive or other storage media.
• Restore waypoints and routes from your Mac to your GPS.
• Create and edit waypoints and routes on your computer.
• Automatically convert waypoint and route formats when uploading to different Garmin GPS models.
• Print waypoint and route reports or save them in PDF format.
• Use your waypoints and routes in other applications.
• Do searches to find all routes that use a specific waypoint.
• Determine the distance between any two waypoints in a route.
• Use metric, nautical or U.S. measurement units and configure iGPS for your requirements.

iGPS is a Mac OS X Universal application for use on Intel or PPC Macs. (shareware: $20.00; try free before you buy)

first published week of:   01/07/2008

Hong Kong Lands Department Chooses ESRI GIS for Its Upgraded Land Information System

www.esri.com

The Government of Hong Kong Lands Department (LandsD) recently awarded ESRI a US$4.9 million contract to replace its Computerized Land Information System (CLIS). CLIS contains up-to-date digital map data and land boundary records accessed by 450 users in LandsD. ESRI will replace the existing CLIS with an enterprise geographic information system (GIS), allowing users throughout the department to work with one central geodatabase instead of disparate silos of data. The new system will be more efficient and accurate through the sharing of data and will better support the business processes and workflows of LandsD as it administers land within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

CLIS was originally designed in 1989 by ESRI and is used to assist in valuation of land and property, land control and lease enforcement, maintenance of the geodetic control network, land boundary survey, aerial survey, and map production among other important tasks. While the existing system has served the organization well over the last two decades, upgrading to current technology and standards was necessary to continue supporting the department's many important tasks.

The new system incorporates ESRI’s ArcGIS Desktop software for creating and analyzing geospatial data. In addition, the advanced spatial data server functionality of ArcGIS Server acts as the database access engine to LandsD’s four terabytes of spatial data, its associated attributes, and metadata stored in an Oracle database. Citrix will be used for the GIS delivery infrastructure in 10 districts in the HKSAR.

first published week of:   06/30/2008

HoudahGeo: Photo geocoding for the Mac

www.houdah.com/houdahGeo

With HoudahGeo you may "pin" photos to the locations where they were taken. The thus created information may be exported to EXIF / XMP. This allows for further processing in a number of third party applications or web sites (iPhoto, Flickr, Panoramio, ...).HoudahGeo allows you to share your photos in Google Earth and can publish them to Flick!

Unlike a GPS camera, HoudahGeo allows you to export your photos directly to Google Earth or Flickr! More features, more flexibility, more control. Lower price tag.

first published week of:   06/09/2008

Humboldt County Planning Department Gives Public Fast Access to Land-Use and Zoning Information

www.esri.com

The Humboldt County, California, Community Development Services Department has released an extensive online geographic information system (GIS) portal that gives anyone with an Internet connection access to maps and land-use information. The department is responsible for building permit review and inspection, planning and development review and approval, and maintaining the county’s general plan. Created using ArcGIS Server and Freeance, the Web site was specifically designed for businesses, contractors, and landowners who need information about specific parcels, county zoning, land use, and other parcel-related data. The online GIS provides information and detailed data layers developed by local, state, and federal government agencies. Currently, the Humboldt County GIS portal features four Web mapping applications: Planning and Building, Economic Development Prospector, Hazard Mitigation, and Housing Inventory. Users can log in to the system and use the data overlay options in each of these applications to retrieve specific land-use information. Users can also search by parcel ID or address, zoom in and out, pan through the map, toggle layers, and generate and print custom maps. Displaying countywide parcels, roads, topography, and aerial photography as base layers, the Web site can provide vital, up-to-date information for Humboldt County residents, businesses, and government agencies.

Humboldt County chose ArcGIS Server because of its ability to deliver not just maps but complex geoprocessing services in different formats. Says Chinmaya Lewis, GIS coordinator for Humboldt County, “Beyond just pushing out maps in different formats like KML and WMS, which was also very exciting to us, what appealed to us was the ability of ArcGIS Server to publish geoprocessing services. This feature goes a long way in improving our service to customers, whose needs sometimes exceed map generation. With ArcGIS Server, we were also able to leverage a lot of our in-house desktop map work and publish our key ArcMap documents to the Internet.” ArcGIS Server software’s ability to cache images and provide fast rendering was another attractive feature in an age of ubiquitous broadband.

As Humboldt County expands its outreach, it will continue to develop the site to accommodate the growing user demand. “Currently, the site is a powerful local business and property owner tool to access planning department information and economic development, but it’s still a work in progress,” says Lewis. “Thanks to the scalability of ArcGIS Server, we can continue to add features and functionality as needed along the way without it being a costly and cumbersome process.”

To see Humboldt County’s interactive online GIS portal, visit gis.co.humboldt.ca.us.

first published week of:   02/18/2008

IBM Names ESRI a 2008 Public Sector Top Star

www.esri.com

For the second consecutive year, IBM Global Public Sector recognized ESRI as one of IBM’s Public Sector Top Star business partners. ESRI was one of only 17 partners to receive this honor during the 2008 IBM Business Partner Leadership Conference.

“IBM and ESRI are committed to improving the health, education, security, and prosperity of citizens and nations around the world,” said Pamela Kaplan, vice president of marketing, IBM Global Public Sector.“We are grateful to ESRI for the work they are doing. Together, we are making a difference in people’s lives by delivering innovative solutions to the world’s greatest challenges.”

IBM’s Public Sector channel sales teams and industry executives selected from nominations of business partners in government, education, and health care/life sciences who consistently demonstrate "best of the best" qualities that help ensure a successful partnership with IBM as well as success in the marketplace. Top Star partners have

• A unique, innovative solution
• Significant wins in 2007 that have been or can be replicated
• Demonstrated loyalty to IBM and strong adoption of IBM platforms and open architecture
• A commitment to partnership with IBM and significant involvement and help in closing strategic deals

A significant win that IBM and ESRI shared in 2007 was the award of the Data Access and Dissemination II contract from the United States Census Bureau.

“We have worked with IBM for more than 20 years to bring innovative and cost-effective GIS [geographic information system] solutions to the public sector,” said Jennifer McCarthy, ESRI’s Global Marketing Alliance representative for IBM. “It’s gratifying to work with a partner like IBM who recognizes the value of our geographic approach in helping government organizations meet the challenges of serving the public in the most effective ways. We are very pleased to be recognized as one of IBM’s Top Stars for these efforts.”

first published week of:   05/12/2008

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