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Blog: Chris Harlow on ITSearch The Harlow Report Archives
Building on past field investigations where I studied the spatial accuracy of GPS receivers and smartphone location apps, I recently compared the spatial accuracy of two location apps on a smartphone. My goals were twofold: (1) To determine which of two location apps was more spatially accurate in varied terrain and conditions; and (2) To model a field activity that integrates geography, science, and mathematics that students can engage in easily and effectively.
On a hike in the chaparral hills of Southern California, I used my smartphone to collect my tracks using two apps–Motion X GPS and RunKeeper–at the same time. Once the hike was done, I then exported the track lines and points as GPX files and uploaded them into ArcGIS Online. The results, shown below, indicate that the two tracks were quite similar; within 1 meter of each other. I was pleased with the spatial accuracy of both, despite the very steep terrain and considering that the phone was in my pocket most of the time rather than held up high to capture a theoretically stronger set of GPS and cell tower signals. continued…
first published week of: 01/19/2015
Washington County has received requests from citizens and law enforcement to have names blocked from its new geographic information systems (GIS) website, but it is unclear if it is legal to do so.
Sheriff Mike Robinson has provided the assessor's office with names of law enforcement employees he wants removed from the website for security reasons. Those who search for those homes by address or parcel number will see the name blocked. That property information, however, can still be accessed by request at the assessor's office.
County supervisor Carl Lorenzen, District 4-Blair, told the county board Nov. 24 that citizens in the witness protection program and members of the military are especially in need of security. He said there are "a lot of us at risk" because of National Security Agency monitoring. continued…
first published week of: 12/14/2015
Newly released US Topo maps for Wyoming now feature more trails using data provided by the U.S. Forest Service such as the recreational trails in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
“The USGS has expanded an excellent working relationship with the U.S. Forest Service to include adding their recreational trails to the data being integrated into The National Map and on our US Topo maps,” said Kari Craun, director of the USGS National Geospatial Technical Operations Center. “The value of adding trails in areas like Bridger-Teton is high because of the number of people using the trails. We are very excited about taking this first step toward incorporating U.S. Forest Service trails information on US Topo maps nationwide.”
The U.S. Forest Service has provided boundary and road data for the US Topo map series for the past five years, and is now working on a national dataset of recreational trails.
Also, a number of the new Wyoming maps contain segments of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (CDNST) and other selected public trails. Further substantial upgrades to the new quadrangles include map symbol redesign, enhanced railroad information and new road source data. Some of the data for the trails is provided to the USGS through a nationwide “crowdsourcing” project managed by the International Mountain Biking Association.
The 3,100-mile long CDNST runs from Canada to Mexico through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Crossing the spine of the North American continent numerous times, it traverses some of America's most spectacular and isolated scenery, offering views unlike any other trail in the world.
In Wyoming, the trail passes through Yellowstone National Park; the Bridger/Teton, Shoshone, and Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests; and public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
This NST joins the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail the North Country National Scenic Trail, the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, the Arizona National Scenic Trail, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail and the New England National Scenic Trail as being featured on the new US Topo quads. The USGS hopes to eventually include all National Scenic Trails in The National Map products.
Additionally, the new Wyoming US Topo maps will continue the inclusion and improvement of Public Land Survey System data. Wyoming was one of the first states to display this topographic layer several years ago. PLSS is a way of subdividing and describing land in the US. All lands in the public domain are subject to subdivision by this rectangular system of surveys, which is regulated by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
first published week of: 08/24/2015
I don’t know about you, but in my line of work, I often find myself off the beaten path in the middle of nowhere. In times like these it’s super helpful to have maps that I can still reference, even without an active internet connection. For the most part, if you don’t already have the poor coverage area pre-loaded in your map program, you won’t have the ability to interact with the map. This can be a huge inconvenience when I am trying to pin-point specific particular lat & long coordinates.
I really wanted to be able to accomplish this in Apple Maps. However, after some searching around, I just couldn’t figure out how to make it happen, nor could I determine if it is even a possibility. No worries, though, Google Maps is a perfectly good alternative, and even a preference for many iPad users. Just in case it’s not already obvious, though, you will need to have an iPad capable of connecting to a data service (LTE + Wi-fi) in order to track your location on a saved offline map, since the Wi-fi only versions do not have built in GPS. continued…
first published week of: 03/16/2015
Google Maps is a powerful and widely used web mapping service provided by Google. With this service, you can easily find locations and places around the world with a few clicks.
If you want to search for satellite images, street maps, street views, hotels, public services, and much more then this is the best tool to use. With Google maps, you can easily browse and find your location using the map or GPS on your smartphone or other mobile devices.
Let’s say you have a restaurant and a website, of course, you want your customers to easily find your restaurant. Sometimes an address, is not enough, you need a map as well. But how do you add a location with Google maps into WordPress?
Well, there are different ways to add a map to your website. You can choose to add Google maps to your website or embed a map with Google’s help. You can also choose from hundreds of free plugins in the WordPress plugin directory. But it’s not that easy to choose which one works well or not! Today I review a new plugin Hero Maps Pro which is a simple-to-use plugin. continued…
first published week of: 02/16/2015
One of the best things about having an online business is that you can reach customers all over the world. Of course this creates unique complications, as users in different countries and regions have specific needs, and are subject to different laws. For eCommerce sites, knowledge of your site’s visitors is especially important for calculating tax rates. In addition, it’s also important to consider if you are selling something that could be illegal in certain regions.
For this, geolocation awareness — i.e., the ability to programmatically be aware of a visitor’s location, by country, region, or even longitude and latitude — can play a huge role. It is most commonly done using the GeoIP database by Maxmind, a free database used to translate an IP address into location data.
There are several WordPress plugins that incorporate this database to do interesting things. For example, there’s a plugin to automatically switch to a translated version of the site if one is available via WPML, based on a user’s region. There is even a WooCommerce extension for setting different prices based on the visitor’s location.
GeoIP is a very useful technology for all sorts of applications. Calculating sales tax based on location has become more important due to changes in VAT laws in the EU. Other applications include showing location-specific ads, and blocking sales of certain products in specific markets. continued…
first published week of: 03/02/2015