What can ArcGIS.com and ArcGIS iOS do for me?
Jul 6, 2010 @ 9:58 AM by Kumiko Yamazaki -- esri gis ipad iphone
In recent weeks, ESRI has revealed ArcGIS.com, ArcGIS Explorer Online, a new logo, and now an iPhone/iPad app, all in time for next week’s mega User Conference in San Diego.
Naturally, I was curious to see what it can do for me. I have ArcView on my computer but it’s installed on Vista via Boot Camp on my Mac. It’s not ideal and is a pain having to restart the machine in order to switch operating systems. So how can ArcGIS.com help me, the lazy Mac user?
It can’t.
I had a CSV file of local brewpubs I wanted to plot (yummy!), and ArcGIS.com won’t accept it. A CSV file.. one of the simplest, most common file formats EVER. Instead, it only supports:
“ArcGIS map files (mxd, nmf, 3dd, sxd, ncfg, mpk, wmpk and pmf), ArcGIS layer files (lyr, lpk, and nmc), and ArcGIS tools (eaz, and esriaddin).”
Wrong wrong wrong. ArcGIS.com is hardly useful for the average user who doesn’t already have access to pricey ESRI products. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the potential was there and ESRI screwed it up.
This is all unfortunate considering they had the resources to develop a tremendous product that runs seamlessly across the web and mobile applications, and the ability to create and share the results. Their free app, especially the iPad app, is beautiful. You can browse through everyone’s maps or simply log into your account and bring up your own.
ESRI users are undoubtedly excited over these new developments but the rest of the world, which happens to be quite large, has been shafted.
Vancouver Interactive Digital Week
Jun 15, 2010 @ 7:32 PM by Britta Ricker -- game ipad iphone location: conferenceMapkist was fortunate enough to attend Vancouver Interactive Digital Week (VIDWeek) organized by Digi BC. (I am late blogging about it but this is definitely an event worth blogging about). I was the moderator for a panel in the Wireless Business & Innovation Track: You are Your Location - location and enhanced experience.
We had a stacked panel that led to a rich discussion covering topics related to location-based gaming and services.
Let’s meet the panel…
Jereon Mol, Co-Founder, buzzAR (Holland)
buzzAR is a Dutch company that has developed a new visual search platform and an augmented reality tool for smartphones. Jereon offered a unique perspective on “location-aware” search and devices because his apps use image recognition and are not bound by location. buzzAR is taking a context aware approach to Augmented Reality, not just location aware.
Dan Walton, Co-Founder, Retronyms
Retronyms – GeoSeek; games in the great outdoors. These guys make really cool apps for multiple platforms. They are specifically skilled in developing location-based games and music apps. Their coolest game is Seek ‘n Spell…think location based scrabble where you have to run to collect the pieces you need to form a word. Super fun. They also develop musical apps for the iPad. All of our lunch buddies got a kick out of these apps. Highly entertaining.
Ben Hesketh, Founder, Compass Engine
Compass Engine and Ben are currently working on an app called Catch the Canary. Ben invited me to come visit him at work in beautiful Gastown in Vancouver last week. It was really cool to get to preview his location-based game that will be launched soon… I will likely blog about it when it is ready.
Vladimir Savchenko, Founder, Sound of Motion
Sound of Motion - creators of an app (VeloComputer) that transforms mobile devices into cycling computers that can track speed; lap and trip distance; acceleration and altitude. It also records trip data on the phone in CSV files and can be uploaded to a spreadsheet for training analysis or Google Earth for tracking. This computer can be used for more than just biking too!
Here we are!
If you have any questions about this panel session and what was discussed… give us a shout or comment below… would love to keep the dialogue going!
iPad assessment by a Geographer who does not have one
May 10, 2010 @ 7:33 PM by Britta Ricker -- apps atlas ipad iphone review
My feelings about the iPad have been evolving. I am sure a lot of you feel that way. When it first came out and I heard no camera and no GPS (I now hear the 3G does have a GPS) I was selfishly disappointed since my research is going in the direction of mobile augmented reality and location based services. The lack of these sensors really highlighted the point that This Week in Tech host Leo Laporte makes in that this device is for consuming information not producing and sharing information. I then started to accept the iPad for what it is. It is a map viewer not a map producer or manipulator.
This NPR article brings up the dangers of “Moving from Maps to Apps.” They point out that the demand for printed road atlases is on the decline. In the article Victoria Lawson (if you are doing a google search-the Professor of Geography not the porn star) is quoted saying “I get the impression that we are losing other abilities to navigate by the shape of the land, the orientation of mountains and rivers as we stare at a tiny screen.” I would like to point out that according to her website Dr. Lawson’s “work is concerned with the social and economic effects of global economic restructuring in the Americas and with articulating critical alternative conceptions of processes of impoverishment.” She is not an interface design expert or even a cartographer or critical GIS prof. However her point still made me think of the iPad.
GPS devices and smart phones have tiny screens that are best suited to reveal micro scale location based information. Viewing wide distributions of spatially related information is not optimal on the small screens. However the iPad… The iPad screen is about the same dimension as the medium sized paper atlas that I would stare at for hours during summer car trips with my family. An atlas is great for showing spatial distribution and relationships. An atlas on an iPad could be interactive and allow the user to inquire about specific information that he or she may be interested in on the fly.
The size of the screen is not the only unique feature of the iPad, from the limited exposure time I had with the device, I noticed that interface design for the iPad is like no other. It is not just a large iPhone, or maybe it is but the larger touch screen surface area make the apps seem much different. What this will mean for location based services and other geography related apps is yet to be seen I think.
I would be totally excited to see an app for the iPad to explore the new 3-D data sets of New York City collected by the twin-engine Shrike Commander! Or information from the oil balloon!
Google Earth iPhone app
Oct 31, 2008 @ 6:16 AM by Kumiko Yamazaki -- google earth iphone reviewSeveral days late but I finally got around to downloading the Google Earth iPhone app.
First thing to note is that it takes about 5 seconds to fully launch. However, once I got to panning and zooming, the images rendered rather quickly and was responsive to all my touching and pinching and tilting. (This was on my home wi-fi.. trying to use Google Earth on the Edge network will more than likely be painfully slow. Don’t bother.)
The app as we all know is free, and comes with both the Wikipedia and Panoramio layers in addition to the standard borders and labels. Currently there’s no way to overlay any other additional features but surely it’s only a matter of time.
Here’s an amateur video of me trying to use the Google Earth app very early on. You’d think I’m an iPhone noob after seeing me struggle to click on a Wikipedia article. My excuse: the iPhone accelerometer is too sensitive!
Google Earth iPhone app from kumiko on Vimeo.
Kumiko Yamazaki: kyamazaki@mapkist.com