Read more of this story at Slashgeo.
Archive for the ‘webmapping’ Category
Embed OpenStreetMap Maps on Your Website
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
An easy and quick tip, but still an interesting alternative to proprietary offers: embedding OpenStreetMap maps on any webpage. From the entry: "1. Simply browse the map, check if your resort is there. Zoom in to the approximate area of your resort. 2. Select the export tab. [...] In the format to export, select “Embeddable HTML”." Some related stories copied below.
Suggestions to Online News Map Producers
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009As reported by our friends at the All Points Blog
Dear Charlotte Observer,Today I found, via a search, your map of the homicides in Charlotte in 2008. I applaud the use of interactive map in news coverage.
I was a bit "lost" when contemplating this map because there was:
- no article to which it was linked
- no legend
- no link for information on the map itself (who made it, why, source information, etc.)
With some effort, I did find the article in the Sunday edition that linked to the map. It was sadly about the first homicide of 2009. The article did reference the map, but alas didn't provide any further information.
I did find, quite by accident that clicking the "view larger map" took me to the MyMaps source of this smaller map. There I found a descriptive legend (what the blue and yellow teardrops meant and what pushpins meant) and more about the source information.
My suggestions:
- If a map is on a stand-alone page, consider adding a "stories that link to this map" list. Remember many readers will come to this map from outside the paper thus have "no context."
- Perhaps rename the "view larger map" link to state that more information is available there, too. That link might made more prominent, too.
- Include a legend if at all possible with the embedded map.
Thanks for your time.
Adena
Camden Complaint Map Causes….Complaints
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009As reported by our friends at the All Points Blog
It seems the issue with the "interactive map of the city allowing anyone to post anonymous concerns" is that it's not being updated, leaving resident to feel their concerns are not being addressed. Hopeworks 'N Camden designed the map at the direction of the Camden District Council Collaborative Boards.So far, 1,092 concerns have been filed. As of Friday, the average acknowledgment for an abandoned home was 200.5 days. Graffiti isn't far behind at 184.5 days. The site lists 378 reports -- more than one in three issues -- as outdated.
The issue seems to be interoperability, though the local paper doesn't use that term.
The problem has been software, city officials said. The city uses an internal program to monitor constituent complaints called Contact Camden. As complaints from the Web site are filed, each must be transferred into the system individually. In order to respond to both types of concerns, the city is considering updating the map to integrate it with the other software.
Alas the person working on connecting the systems was let go due to budget issues. I have to agree with Rev. Jeff Putthoff, a DCCB member and executive director of Hopeworks, who points out the map is more than a luxury, but rather shoes transparency of government. Meetings are planned to try to update the process and thus the map.
OpenLayers Case Studies and Integration with the ESRI RESTful API
Monday, January 5th, 2009
The OpenLayers blog announced the beginning of a list of OpenLayers case studies: "Currently, the number of case studies is small, but we’re working on growing these case studies so that for any particular application, there is an example of someone who has used OpenLayers to do something similar." Meanwhile, Spatially Adjusted discusses the integration of OpenLayers with ESRI's ArcGIS suite: "As more people start using OpenLayers with the ESRI ArcGIS Server we’ll hopefully get it integrated into the OpenLayer code. For now you can grab some of the code from the OpenLayer Wiki and start using OpenLayers with your ArcGIS Server applications. People are doing amazing things with OpenLayers including this example with ArcGIS Server (which doesn’t use the REST API, but it is still wonderful) from the Long Island Index." The latest was mentioned on Slashgeo a month ago. See also related stories below.
Read more of this story at Slashgeo.
DC Gov Drops Daily Crime E-mail, Users Unhappy with alternative, a Map
Monday, January 5th, 2009As reported by our friends at the All Points Blog
The daily crime e-mail had been sent out by the D.C. police to the public via e-mail. It included all crimes in each of the department's districts, broken down by Police Service Area. The e-mails have been dropped per Assistant Police Chief Diane Groomes because they often included information that may have jeopardized police work. Instead, the DC police offer a map built on the acclaimed DC Atlas.That app is quite complex, allowing search near an address, searching on a specific crime, etc. GIS may love it but some, like the Georgetown Metropolitan Blog (GMT) finds it wanting compared to the sleek text listing. (Full review from the blog including what are suggested as better alternatives: below is a summary.)
...its terrible. Its based on inferior mapping software, its difficult to use, and it doesnt allow you to actually find out any information on each crime. For crime maps, there are better options out there. But a crime map is not a satisfactory replacement for a daily list. MPD has offered the crime map for years, why does it all of the sudden think that its a better option than daily blotters?
The response of both NBC and GMT sounds rational: find a way not to include the information that shouldn't be included and keep the e-mails coming!
- NBC Washington
ArcGIS Server, foundation for Web GIS
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008As reported by our friends at the ESRI News Feed
As Web GIS emerges as a platform for both social and business, organizations are finding they can leverage that architecture to mash up content to deliver information to a much broader audience.Public Integrity Cites Map-enabled Investigative Journalism
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008As reported by our friends at the All Points Blog
The year end list includes:
Mexico Under Siege Los Angeles Times in-depth coverage of Mexicos drug war and how the United States is indirectly involved. Interactive map and tons of stories you can sort by location and subject.
Also on the list, but not necessarily mappy, is longtime friend of Directions Media Gary Price's
Docuticker described as "An invaluable daily update summarizing new reports from government agencies, nonprofits, think tanks, and more."
- Center for Public Integrity blog
The History of NORAD Tracking Santa
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008As reported by our friends at the All Points Blog
CityNews in Canada tells the 50 year old story of a wrong number posted in a paper and how the recipient (who worked for what would become NORAD) did the rest. (Some audio.) You can also read up on the Google side from a Google Elf.Africa: Free Geodata, AfricaMap and Ushahidi
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
Here's a few recent Africa-related geostories: there's APB mentions a BBC article about Ushahidi, an open source crowdsourcing crisis information software with evident geospatial components. Then there's V1 reporting a new source of free geodata for Africa, provided by the Southern African Human-development Information Management Network for Coordinated Humanitarian Development Action (SAHIMS). Then OE and APB that links to conflicts early warning and crisis mapping and AfricaMap [article] [the map]. Also interesting: "AfricaMap makes use of OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) compliant web services such as WMS (Web Map Service), emerging open standards such as WMS-C (cached WMS), and standards-based metadata formats, to enable AfricaMap data layers to be inserted into existing data infrastructures." We obviously have a lot of previous Africa geonews items, see also selected related stories below.
Read more of this story at Slashgeo.
Tele Atlas and CADTECH Deliver First Navigable Digital Maps of Morocco
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008As reported by our friends at the GIS Cafe
CASABLANCA, Morocco & GENT, Belgium—(BUSINESS WIRE)—December 16, 2008— .bwtextaligncenter {text-align: center} Tele
