[ Ø ] Harsh's GIS Blog

“Six in 10 Americans regularly use the Internet for news.”

Related:
* Newseum (Map)
* Why the #iPad is not (and was not meant to be) ready for the public kiosk.

Back in the summer of 2010, as one of the million proud owners of iPhone 4, I noticed a certain setting to switch phone carrier. That setting then portended the change we will see tomorrow. But should you bite the bait? Assuming CDMA and GSM don’t matter, here’s part 1 of my guide:

There is a lot of spin around Apple’s flagship cash cow, or as we have come to know it- the iPhone, which only recently represented about 43% of its overall sales. Not all of the coverage is positive (remember Foxconn?). Apple’s growing pains also include a big lawsuit fight. But for those with out a blind searing faith in Steve Jobs, the genius patriarch, the iPhone may very well be suffocating. If true, could Jobs be repeating his original sin? And if so, should your phone follow his sin to the grave?

iOS works better than Android out-of-the-box. To better understand the genesis of its famed usability and cool minimalism, watch Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address. If you decide to switch, be prepared to shell out monies in cool apps and media. From a quick glance, I paid around $750 over 2 years. To Apple. Not AT&T (that averaged around $2,400 for the same time). And remember that MP3s from Amazon, somethings you can’t buy on your iPhone, tend to be less expensive and redownloadable – a big plus for some. And all that precious data would cost even more to put into MobileMe, Apple’s own cloud solution, never mind the naysayers. So more additions to your ever burgeoning monthly bill (Tethering, Personal Hotspot, …).

iPhone’s Mythical Advantage: Apps

Apple still disallows Adobe Flash (or Oracle Java) from iOS. It appears to be more a business decision than a technology constraint, designed to control the sprawl of Flash-based gaming mobile websites where you could buy outside of Apple’s walled-garden. How this affects HTML5 gaming websites is still unfolding, but it certainly helps the lagging QuickTime in the meantime. In any case, it goes against the customer’s best interests by taking away her choice to enjoy multimedia content in one of the industry’s most prolific formats. But Apple has you covered with the most commonly used app: the browser. Mobile Safari, hands down is the best mobile browser out there between the platforms that I tested, namely iOS, Android and Windows Mobile. For the GIS pros among you, Joben blogs about GIS apps for the iPhone. You can always find an increasing number at the App Store, like the iGIS.

Jailbreaking Folsom

So you switch and finally get that toy you were waiting for? Why jailbreak it? Jailbreaking the iPhone isn’t worth the effort, even if it is legal. And even if not upgrading to the latest and greatest release (something that iTunes would handle seamlessly for you, but something that you can’t always do with Cydia because Cydia often trots a step behind) is an acceptable risk, ask yourself if your precious data is too important to jailbreak. After all, you could brick your iPhone and quite possibly provide no way for iTunes to restore it. But if your phone data is not critical ahem, then you can add some developer functionalities by jailbreaking and escape the infamous iTunes bloat. Now jailbreaking could also introduce your spanking iOS to new viruses, but if you must, hope over to Cydia. If you need a copy of the old firmware during jailbreak, grab it from here. Once you jailbreak, remember to download a file browser or explorer, like iFunBox or iPhoneBrowser. You may also want to jailbreak if you want to install a phone firewall out of privacy concerns. After all, Apple did confess to collecting GPS data from iOS 3 and iOS 4 daily. Then again, if that is what propels you, why share your payment info with Cydia’s marketplace (just asking)?

Some quick notes on iFunBox or iPhoneBrowser – You can’t watch your uploaded pics or videos, or play your uploaded songs in their native app, even if you upload them to the folders that the iPhone looks under, say //var/mobile/Media/DCIM/100APPLE/. This is because the iPhone, much like the Android, extensively uses SQLite as its Swiss Army database, and all your uploads need to be first registered in the database, say //private/var/mobile/Media/PhotoData/Photos.sqlite which links your IMG_0001.JPG or IMG_0002.MOV. Now there are Cydia apps like iFile that help add your photos, but videos are still no go. But if you are brave enough to try, download the SQLite Manager add-on for Firefox and test your luck.

PS: More

OK, so tested Google, Bing, Yahoo, ESRI, Openlayers and MapServer mashups on the iPad, and much like on the iPhone, the slippy drag-and-droll interface doesn’t work. Except for one mashup. Take a guess?

Related:
* Safari
* WebKit

Mobile Webinar

Related:
* Mash-ups as Planning Tools
* GISP and AICP
* Technology Division of the American Planning Association (APA) Webinar Series – TECH 101: Mashups for Planning
* APA Technology Division: Education
* APA Technology Division Webinar Series: Event

Category 1: The award for the ‘Best Use of Technology to Improve a Plan or Planning Process’ goes to Marc Schlossberg‘s (University of Oregon) ‘Engaging Citizens in Active Transportation Planning with Mobile GIS‘ for its creative use of technology in improving planning processes.

Category 2: The award for the ‘Best Use of Technology for Public Participation’ goes to Michael Baker Jr.‘s ‘More For 1604 Social Media Program‘ for its good use of technology to enhance public involvement and participation in planning and decision making processes.

Category 3: The award for the ‘Best Use of Technology for a University Urban and Regional Planning Program’ goes to the School of Policy Planning and Development‘s (University of Southern California) ‘Multimedia Boot Camps‘ for its effective use of teaching with technology in preparing future planners for professional work.

Our Award Committee comprised of elected members from the Division Leadership, namely Jennifer Evans-Cowley, Amiy Varma and yours truly. Join us at the award distribution ceremony at our Division Business meeting (National Planning Conference) on Monday, April the 12th (7 AM) in the Hilton New Orleans Trafalgar Room. Congratulations again to all our award winners!

Related:
* Technology Division of APA
* Planning & Technology Today

* Part 1
* Part 2
Interviewed by Carl Williams.

Related:
2009
* Technology Division of the American Planning Association (APA) Webinar Series – TECH 101: Mashups for Planning
2008
* GISP and AICP
2007
* Mash-ups as Planning Tools
* Neogeography 101: Word Association
* Elite Systems Research Institute, Inc. [ESRI] et al
* Google Earth [GE] @ Work
2006
* ESRI Ketchup!
* Why do you like Geography?
2005
* A Rose by Any Other Name
2004
* Graphic Software
* Map Viewer and Google
* Brevity is the soul of wit

Question:
‘Genre Books’ is to ‘Writer’
as
‘Web Maps’ is to …?

Choices:
• [a] iPhone [...since the buzz is about it- the Paris Hilton of the technorati]
• [b] Paris Hilton [...since the buzz is about her- the iPhone of the glitterati]
• [c] Geographer [...since ESRI Press said so]
• [d] Programmer/Developer

Answer:
• If you answered [c], you have spent a lot of time around ESRI-championed web maps with 8 direction tags, a dogged insistence on not exploiting browser cache and a ridiculous north arrow on every map- never mind that so far no one has turned a browser upside down.

–π

Related:
• A Rose by Any Other Name
• Web Mapping
• The New Yorker

An impressive summary of presentations, but my professional favorite would be ‘IBM DB2 Express-C: A Free Database for Open Source Spatial and XML Development’. Although something tells me that something else might be the crowd favorite.

On DB2 Express-C: It went free soon after its counter-weights Oracle XE and SQL Server XE last year, but its press “news” release has not found its way into major SIS publications. DB2′s continued advancements in the free spatial database market could only make things tighter for PostgreSQL+PostGIS.

–π

Related:
• Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial [FOSS4G] 2007
• ‘DB2 Express-C, the developer-friendly alternative’
• ‘Oracle XE and Geospatial Information Systems: An Interview with
Dennis Wuthrich of Farallon Geographics’

This GCN article titled ‘Geospatial and the elite: Old-school geographic information systems still dig deep on mapping and analyses’ points to a tortuous debate within the traditional GIS industry, and the new industry push to remodel itself as solely an “enterprise class” industry while it continues to loose ground to an increasing domestication or democratization of GIS services.

ESRI: Elitist or Commonplace?

But this new industry push is not without some strategy confusion as old-school GIS faces its mid-life identity crisis without the “cool factor” spouse.

–π

Related:
• More

This week I had the opportunity to listen to the Google Guys. Having earlier missed a similar opportunity for Jack Dangermond due to schedule conflicts, I made sure I was present at this seminar.

On display were the GE Enterprise solutions- Fusion, Server and Enterprise Client. With GE Enterprise, you can sign into multiple servers, grab the most accurate data from each and roll everything into one seamless experience. You may even squeeze your private globe onto a pocket-sized device and strut it out on a field. For a private domain, GE Enterprise can scale upto a healthy 250 concurrent users, or a little less than those supported by a default PostgreSQL 8.X on Windows.

One astounding statistic quoted was the vast number of users GE has been able to accumulate over its short life- approximately 200 million; reportedly many more than those by Google Maps, with nearly 80% for casual uses. And a surprising number, or so we are told, falls in the 45+ age group.

Approximations aside, here’s my take:

When you try to fathom the 200 million number, you are reminded yet again how ESRI, Intergraph, MapInfo, Autodesk et al, poorly missed the globe software bandwagon. And the traditional SIS companies still do not have a clear winner when it comes to 3D buildings and surface textures, despite counting 3DS Max and Maya. All that information is what users now expect from any cutting-edge globe software.

From the looks of it and the high-end price tag of over $100,000, Google has smelled blood- the fat inside some governments; ESRI and Intergraph can attest to that. If Google succeeds in this aggressive push, the traditional SIS companies will cede further into the background on data visualization; they are anyway planted firmly in the backseat with regards to a lot of casual uses.

So when you combine this push with GE user groups, the KML offer to OGC, KML-based searches and other enterprise solutions, then you can see why some traditions may be feeling nervous. Add to that the general perception about Google’s speed-of-innovation- ‘when you use a Google product, Google would innovate faster than the traditional SIS companies to support it’.

As I see it, that growing perception should be the biggest reason for the traditional industry’s nervousness.

–π

Related:
• Application: PortlandMaps
• Ogle Earth
• More

Following on the heels of E2, Google recently consolidated GE’s usergroups through some interesting collaborations with Wikipedia and Panoramio. These follow earlier deals with UNEP, NASA, USGS, ESA, Discovery, National Geographic et al.

These steps slowly push one other software- ESRI’s ArcGlobe, part of the ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension, further away from all that is important. ArcGlobe was useful in that it eventually led to E2, but ESRI had much bigger plans- it was promoted to become widely adopted for 3D data mapping and visualization.

Then Google came along, and ArcGlobe and all the shabby flyby animations and painstaking multipatches in ArcScene, also part of 3D Analyst, suddenly became embarrassing.

That leads me to my prediction of the week: all this will force ESRI to either lower the inflation-adjusted cost of its pricey 3D Analyst- currently marked at $2500, or absorb some of it into E2 or the desktop. Note that Google Earth Pro today costs a fraction at $400.

Fortius One‘s GeoIQ: A free simple Spatial Analyst?

–π

Related:
• ArcGIS Extensions
• More via Google Earth Links
• More

After months of wild speculations and foot-dragging, ESRI finally released ArcGIS Explorer- twice as big as Google Earth and a shade shy. Here is why:

Google Earth [googleearth.exe]
+ Searches better
- Does not offer native support for popular spatial data types

ESRI ArcGIS Explorer [E2.exe]
+ Offers native support for popular spatial data types
- Clunkier navigation and interface

• Both show comparable spatial data displays and memory usages. I am pleasantly surprised by how consenting NASA of World Wind fame, has been to all such uses, given the murky legal waters of the future when others start using this precedent to demand equal treatment.

ESRI ArcGIS Explorer: Adding content

Being true to the misplaced compulsions of most commercial companies, ESRI only lets you export your layers in E2′s markup language [*.nmf]. However, to piggy-back on the growing user community around GE and because ESRI has no current alternative to Google SketchUp, E2 allows you to import *.kml and *.kmz files. GE, on the other hand, also imports *.gpz and *.loc GPS files in its commerical flavor.

E2 can also create geoprocessing tasks, and styles and symbologies; export identification results; display attribute tables.

So what is the bottom-line: GE is better suited for consumers of spatial data, while E2 is targeted more at the creators and editors. And how close does E2 come to following the “if you are late, you better be better” mantra? Not quite, but then again, it is just a beta.

Now the waiting game begins for arguably the most innovative internet company in recent times, notwithstanding the acquired nature of GE and SketchUp- Google, to hit back after losing ground to Yahoo Maps- better driving directions planning, and Microsoft Virtual Earth- ability to add and save shapes, and browser-based GE-esque 3D and street level views.

–π

PS:
•
I wonder how the good folks at Arc2Earth and Shape2Earth would maintain their rates of innovation in response?

Related:
• ArcGIS Explorer Overview Podcast
• ArcGIS Online Services
• Server Object Manager [SOM] Setup
• Sample *.nmf containing 1 point feature derived from feature class [e2.shp] in GCS_North_American_1983 coordinate system
• TerrainView
• Follow Up [4]: Graphic Software
• Follow Up [2]: Map Viewer and Google

Yet more evidence of acceptance of Google Maps and through it, of spatial relevance, by established publications:

• A Guide to Commuting and Readers’ Stories
• How Much Is Gas In Jersey?

In a related development, Microsoft continues to play catch-up with Google by acquiring GeoTango. However, with its “3D Internet Visualization- a truly open and web services-oriented solution”, GeoTango may just be the partner Microsoft needs for a tango.

–π

Related:
• ESRI ArcWeb Services
• NASA World Wind

It’s time to move these to del.icio.us:

• http://labs.google.com/ Google’s showcase
• http://next.yahoo.com/ Yahoo’s showcase
• http://research.microsoft.com/ Microsoft Research

• http://geoportal.kgs.ku.edu/googlemaps/ks_gm.cfm SDE+GMap
• http://traffic.poly9.com/ Traffic, weather and news glues for Google Maps

• http://opensource.nokia.com/ Nokia in opensource WAP

• http://www.webstyleguide.com/ Web style guide
• http://jibbering.com/faq/ comp.lang.javascript FAQ

• http://robin.sourceforge.net/ Browser-based desktop
• http://www.writely.com/ Browser-based word processor
• http://www.ktdms.com/ Document management system
• http://www.openfiler.org/ Browser-based network storage software distribution
• http://www.debugmode.com/wink/ Tutorial and presentation creation software

• http://www.lexisnexis.com/sourcelists/ Legal and public records
• http://www.issues2000.org/ Candidates on issues

• http://senseable.mit.edu/grazrealtime/ Mobile Landscape
• http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/08/tech/main927858.shtml “Could cell phones stop traffic?”

–π

This week Yahoo released its own take on online mapping. Its new service includes both Flash and AJAX APIs coupled with the ability to geocode.

If you think about it, sooner or later this had to happen- developers finally mustering the courage to embrace arty Macromedia Flash for distributing spatial information in a big way, like Geocentric. Actually, Google has been using Flash for a different distribution for quite some time now. But this release by Yahoo and its under-1000 dollar price-tag should help Flash emerge as a more visible player in the online mapping game.

Did the earlier musings portend this?

–π

Related:
• Yahoo Developer Network
• GeoCool! Tutorial
• Google Local, MSN Virtual Earth, Amazon A9, AOL MapQuest
• Application: Google Earth
• Discussion Forum

The definition of GIS has evolved from ‘Geographic Information System’ to ‘Geospatial Information System’. It is time that it takes the next logical step to ‘Spatial Information System’. My earlier post wrestled, well not quiet, for a truer understanding of “GIS” given the advent of non-traditional spatial software. Since then I have been convinced that spatial information is better understood by snapping links that tie, and thus confine, it to geography.

Inside Space- An Unventured “GIS” Frontier: Magnetic Resonance Image [MRI] of my right-wrist

It is therefore disappointing that professionals continue to look at spatial information from behind the narrow screens of geography. Hopefully, with the entry of non-traditional market forces, this viewpoint will be shaken to the point of abandonment. A truer appreciation of spatial information will require a visual mindset where all spatial components to information are addressed.

–π

PS:
•
Front, Side and Top View: Construct two valid isometric projections

•

• Website
• Post
• Hacks
• Follow Up [1]: Map Viewer and Google

–π

Two companies whose product GUI I enjoy interfacing with- Adobe and Macromedia, announced their merger earlier this month.

Both their flagship products have become industry-standards in exchanging documents and creating experience-rich applications across platforms. The largely unused spatial potential within Macromedia Flash combined with the increasingly widespread use of Adobe PDF/SVG maps and the sprouting of some exciting derivatives like geoPDF, pstoedit and GSview, make this merger important to how spatial information is exchanged in the near future.

–π

A quick note on the happenings at Google: Yesterday, Google added satellite imagery to its mapping. For speedy displays, 256px*256px JPEG image-tiles scanned at different zoom-levels and each weighing around 30 KB, coupled with some nifty AJAX come handy.

Such a drag-and-drool tiling paradigm, although practised for some time now by website developers to load large images, when applied to internet mapping represents a refreshing out-of-the-box approach. The GET HTTP request method uses a cryptic naming convention to fetch these image-tiles from a preexisting pallette, like so:

http://kh.google.com/kh?v=1&t=TILE…

WHERE in one instance, TILE zooms closer from [tqtsqr] to [tqtsqrtssssrq] and still closer to [tqtsqrtssssrtrttr].

Unlike for its regular mapping where Google predictably uses GIF image-tiles each sized at 128px*128px, for its satellite imagery, Google’s preference for JPEG over another competitive format PNG, is worthy of a second glance: As is common knowledge, JPEG supports millions of colors, but is infamous for its lossy compression. PNG on the other hand, is lossless while supporting millions of colors. However, PNG is currently not supported by all browsers and depending on compression settings, may end-up weighing more.

–π

It is good to know that some professionals concur with the views expressed in my earlier post on the potential for graphic software, like Macromedia Flash. One comment links to an impressive demonstration of this largely untapped potential.

–π

The discussion “So …How About That Election Coverage?” at Directions Magazine makes you think about graphic software, like Macromedia Flash, that cater to small-time spatial needs.

Such graphic software, minus the topology and advanced query benefits, function well as basic spatial tools and comfortably serve data over the web with a “fair” amount of interactivity.

Does this make your overpriced IMS overhyped and overblown too?

[my comment]
“Macromedia Flash fills this niche quite well as demonstrated [here]. And as the market seems to indicate, it does that [while] satisfying more customers than what an overly fancy GIS would. [This] reminds me of the MapQuest survey when polled customers had expressed great contentment with their level of map detail, whereas cartographers were red with indignation. Akin to using an atomic clock to serve your wake-up call- not needed!”
[/my comment]

So is the complexity in Geospatial, better still Spatial, Information System or SIS overblown too? Much of SIS requires common-sense logic arranged linearly. If a person can drive her car in rush-hour traffic as she deciphers vague directions off a schematic map while trying to make sense of rain-washed road signs and maintain a semblance of conversation with her passenger, and still manage to engage the kid in the back-seat [read “multi-linear tasking”]; she can achieve a sound understanding of spatial databases with little persistence, except for the eye-for-details that comes with practice.

My point: SIS is non-complex and not at the cutting-edge of technological change, and there is ample room for non-traditional spatial software!

–π

PS:
• This rise of non-traditional spatial software challenges the accepted definition of SIS. If you were to follow the modernist’s approach to design where in the end you remove everything you can without taking away from the essence of your creation and apply it to defining a SIS, you wonder what such a conceptual SIS would be in its simplest stark-naked Spartan form?

Interesting web-based map viewer- very snazzy. Now only if the download was quicker.

In related news, Google acquires Keyhole: a company promising a similar 3D interface. Right now, if you google an address, Google provides links to its 2D maps from Yahoo!Maps and MapQuest. Google also provides possible address matches and map links if you type in a name, akin to what Switchboard does.

It would be better if you could click and drag on a map to limit the spatial extent for your search. Although that would clutter the clean interface of Google Local, which by the way, does show maps.

Note to self- invest in Google.

PS:

• Google acquires gbrowser.com, and moves into video search. And here‘s the Google Blog.