Maker! It’s Coming!

Sep 30, 2008 @ 8:20 PM by Kumiko Yamazaki -- apps geoweb:

It’s the GeoWeb application I’ve been waiting for — Maker!  GISuser has teased us with screenshots of his first test drive with it.  They look great - Google Terrain always helps - but I’m looking forward to some experimentation of my own.

Does it support Macs??  How well does it handle large amounts of data?  Can I embed the map on my own webpage?  In the pop-up info/attribute window, is it possible to only show certain fields or do I need to upload a ‘cleaner’ data set?? Are there any mouseover effects included with Maker!? How much longer do I have to wait?? I need answers : )

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Like Blogs

Sep 15, 2008 @ 9:17 PM by Kumiko Yamazaki -- geoweb

This is the post where I admit my cartographic knowledge is being influenced by what is generally defined as neogeography.

Neogeographers may or may not be experts in geography or cartography but they are fast. New data comes along and they (we?) race to produce the first map. Competition is good but unfortunately many of these maps are ugly as sin.

The web is filled with such awful maps. They can range anywhere from having the absolute wrong color scheme to a mashup that serves zero purpose. This constant exposure lowers people’s standards for web mapping but I also understand that writers and editors felt similar outrage when the blogging world took off. Suddenly everyone had a blog whether they had any writing skills or TypEd LiKe THis.  But blogs now are being embraced by people all over.

I suppose the lesson here is to embrace the GeoWeb and appreciate the efforts of neogeographers, but like any other field, just ignore what you don’t like.

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Compiling Ike Data

Sep 13, 2008 @ 10:47 AM by Kumiko Yamazaki -- map:

When you subscribe to over a dozen map blogs, you learn a few things. Yesterday I learned from FortiusOne that NOAA provides updated GIS data (Hurricane Ike) free to the public.

So the morning was spent compiling some of the data and creating my own simple map of Ike. It took a couple hours but this was due to my indecisions regarding uDig vs. Quantum GIS.

The map shows the possible hurricane track over the next 3 days and also storm force wind speed probabilities down south. Also added were some urban areas seen in yellow and major cities.

Looking back I should have included cities such as St. Louis and Indianapolis that are in direct path of the storm’s track but all I did was a search query based on population data. Darn computers can’t do it all!

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OpenOffice 3.0

Sep 9, 2008 @ 7:21 PM by Kumiko Yamazaki -- apps:

I may have mentioned this earlier but an essential for any home computer, or at work, is OpenOffice. It includes everything I’ve ever used in Excel (and more!).

There’s an excellent overview of version 3.0 at Lifehacker so I won’t repeat any of it here.. except the mention of one absolutely significant improvement.. if you’re on a Mac, you must have noticed its predecessor had a bit of an identity crisis with its ctrl+C and ctrl+V copy/paste keyboard shortcut. But no more! It’s been rightfully corrected to cmd+C and cmd+V. I’ll say that’s worthy of the upgrade right there.

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Props to Veloroutes

Sep 8, 2008 @ 10:54 PM by Kumiko Yamazaki -- google maps:

Finally I have a bike ride good enough for veloroutes.org. 159.1 miles through the Adirondacks in the blazing sun!

Veloroutes is constantly being updated with new features, not to mention all the bike routes everyone’s been submitting so it’s worth checking out if you haven’t already. Little ol’ Lancaster, PA, even has over 40 routes.

My favorite feature still has to be the elevation profile it provides along with all the calculated data — total distance, total gain, max % grade, etc.

Check out the first hill we walked biked up.

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