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Blog: Chris Harlow on ITSearch The Harlow Report Archives
Steering committees, distributed models and named user licensing are catching on.
Geographic information system steering committees are only just beginning to catch on in various states and localities, but they’re great for getting executive buy-in on projects with geospatial elements.
The Enterprise GIS Steering Committee in Pinellas County, Florida, formed in 2010 under the leadership of the GIS and county managers. Its members include elected officials and other executives who understand project workflows.
Similarly, Alabama established a State Geographic Program Office in 2017 featuring all 24 agency directors appointed by the governor—not your traditional GIS aficionados.
Read full story at RouteFifty…
first published week of: 04/20/2020
From the prevalence of meth labs to the real size of Alaska, we look at fascinating maps that uncover the United States of America.
For every historian who disputes the reasons why a certain war broke out or how a particular president’s decision changed the fate of America, there’s a map which lays hard data bare and allows for the viewer’s own interpretation.
Read full story at ATI…
first published week of: 05/18/2020
Multi-use image of Addis Ababa, combining Points of Interest & Landcover, Raw Imagery, and Wealth Index from top left to bottom right
( Copyright: 4EI, Mapbox, OpenStreetMap )
Earth observation company 4 Earth Intelligence (4EI) has launched a suite of data layers providing an insight into a country’s wealth, demographics and transportation links. Derived from satellite imagery and other reputable resources, including the World Bank, Open Street Map, census records and historical archives, the Country Intelligence data suite has been created to support economic analysis, policy making and SMART Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reporting.
“Satellite imagery records what is happening on the planet rather than what is being reported and so is the perfect resource, when combined with multiple, validated data sources, to provide off the shelf resources for countrywide intelligence on economic and societal health,” commented David Critchley, Chief Executive Officer of 4 Earth Intelligence. “Whilst each layer has enormous potential to inform the creation of adaption strategies, including the delivery of SDGs, and emergency responses the true potential of the Country Intelligence suite is released when the layers are used in combination.
“Combinations of the data can reveal powerful insights which early adopters are already using for sustainable development baselining, reporting and verification as well as gap reporting, intervention planning and impact assessment,” he continued. “Other applications include situational awareness and investment targeting, such as for new infrastructure and corporate investment opportunities.”
The 4EI Country Intelligence suite includes six distinct layers that are provided as a mixture of point, line and polygon features ready for use in desktop mapping software and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The layers; Demographics, Land Cover, Points of Interest, Significant Events, Transport and Wealth Index, have all been created using satellite imagery in combination with other geospatial and archival resources. The data is already available, off the shelf, for a number of countries across the Middle East and Africa and other areas can be produced on request.
Read full story at 4 Earth Intelligence…
first published week of: 09/21/2020
We are not epidemiologists—we are the design, engineering, and support teams at a mapping company. Just as we don’t spend every moment thinking about how to track and slow the spread of infectious disease, most public health teams we work with are not experts in spatial data visualization.
In the environment of a growing epidemic, maps have a way of spreading fast, too — making it imperative that they are accurate, informative, and thoughtfully designed. To answer common questions and help our partners make thoughtful design decisions while mapping this and other health crises, we have put together a number of best practices and common pitfalls to avoid.
Appropriate color choice
Avoid the alarmist color palette: There are many colors besides red on the spectrum. Think about the intent of your map when choosing colors: are you trying to inform or scare your readers? Bright reds are both eye-catching and panic-inducing for most people. This color picker tool is great for identifying other color options.
Read full story at MapBox…
first published week of: 03/30/2020
It’s called BeiDou, and it’s key for the military, tech industry, and more.
On March 9, China moved into the end run of a decades-long project to build its own global navigation satellite system, a project that will make it independent of foreign rivals when it comes to a network that undergirds modern tech, business, and the military. It’s called BeiDou.
The latest satellite in the navigation system, a third-gen craft (known as BeiDou-3) now in a geostationary orbit, lifted off earlier this month from the Xichang Center in southwestern China. The system’s final satellite, scheduled for launch in May, will give it full global capability. At that point, China’s completed system will rival America’s GPS, Russia’s GLONASS, and Europe’s Galileo.
BeiDou is representative of China’s push to build and offer commercial alternatives to Western tech platforms, from servers and 5G equipment from Huawei, for example, to satellites. The system is meant to provide highly-accurate global positioning services, as well as a means to transfer limited amounts of data, for commercial and military users.
Read full story at Popular Science…
first published week of: 04/06/2020
UMass Amherst GIS degree program director and team compare methods, report user feedback
In a new paper this week, geographer Forrest Bowlick at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues at Texas A&M offer first-hand accounts of what is required for GIS instructors and IT administrators to set up virtual computing specifically for providing state-of-the-art geographic information systems (GIS) instruction.
Bowlick says, "Our research is very applicable in the current remote learning era that we're working through, because it provides expertly driven insight into how to set up a virtual computing environment in different modes: with hardware and with software in the cloud. While tailored to those needing GIS support, it is also very applicable for other high-performance software needs."
"By capturing the experiences of both setting up the system and of students using the system, we provide an important resource for others needing to make this investment of time, equipment and energy," he adds. Such technical practice is becoming required for GIS and other instruction, he points out.
Read full story at Science Daily…
first published week of: 08/31/2020