Yes indeed… another Friday and that means time for another list of 5 cool things via my 5 Things on Friday series… enjoy!
Free E-book… Online GIS (onlinegis.com)
This free resource comes from Christopher Brown, CEO at MangoMap – an open, cloud-based map publishing solution. Christopher wanted to share with readers a resource that covers off some of the most popular open source webmap solutions – enter Online GIS. In this first e-publication from Chris he looks at several popular, open solutions including ArcGIS Online, CartoDB, CloudGIS, GeoCommons, MangoMap, and MapBox. The resource provides the following about each of these solutions:
ArcGIS Online: Comprehensive feature list. Jack of all trades, master of none. Confusing pricing. Card carrying ESRI users will love it.
CartoDB: A GIS programmers wet dream. The power of PostGIS and Mapnik but none of the setup headache, all wrapped in attractive packaging.
CloudGIS: Online alternative to traditional client/server GIS setup. Many features but hampered by a frustrating user interface.
GeoCommons: The place to share your data and use the data of others. No coding required. Slick UI, great visualisation tools.
MangoMap: The quickest way for GIS users to publish web maps. No coding required. Lots of map features, slick UI that’s geared towards simplicity.
MapBox: Making maps sexy again. Programmer focused. Great for maps that need to fit a brand and be able to scale for high traffic.
Register to receive the free [PDF] E-Book HERE {link fixed!}
Where does Water Flow?
Here’s an interesting resource from Pierce County Washington State. The County wanted to have a WMS that enabled locals to go online, query a point on the map and have the resulting path of water delineated on the map. The site was designed to promote awareness about stormwater runoff and how pollutants can impact Puget Sound and our natural waterways. Trace a route on the map HERE
Province of B.C, Canada forges ahead with OpenData initiatives
This week a special Open Data Summit took place in Vancouver, B.C where about 120 government folk and stakeholders took part in the discussion around the topic of OpenGov and Open Data. In a report from the event, it was good to see that the topic of standards was quite important and discussed from the get go, also citing the success of the Google open transit feed data spec in helping to open and share data with the public. To follow up, a number of local communities are hosting open data events and hackathons this week-end – these as part of the International Open data Day http://opendataday.org/. Of note, the city of Victoria have just released new OpenData Catalog and the Province of BC has redesigned their OpenData resource at http://www.data.gov.bc.ca/.
Photo sharing is likely THE most highly used thing that most smartphone users do. For the iPhone user Flickr is a fabulous resource and the Flickr app for iPhone just got even better. In this latest release the app provides the following improvements and enhancements:
– Faster uploading
– Easily save photos from your Photostream to your camera roll
– Automatically saves your original, pre-filter photos to your camera roll
– Quickly tag your contacts in photo comments and description by simply typing @screename
– Get notified when your contacts mention you
– Higher resolution photo display in lightbox view so your photos look even more stunning
– Take photos in a snap using your iPhone’s volume up button
See more at http://www.flickr.com/iphone
Mapping Fun! 30+ Maps You Thought You’d Never Need
It’s always fun to see maps and map related articles featured in the mainstream and this ween Buzzfeed has delivered a fun treat in a piece that looks at loads of maps that you thought you’d never need! The article shows off some cool works of cartographic science and weirdness to reveal some interesting findings like: The World if land masses and oceans were reversed, The Great Lakes if they were in Europe, and a map showing everything in New York that people call 311 to complain about! My personal favorite might just be the Arctic Time Zone map although the Super Mario Brothers World Map (below) comes a close second!
