GIS Day recap from City of Loveland, CO and 2nd graders visit at Green School
Written by Glenn Letham
20 November 2008
Loads of excitement during this geography awareness week - I spent Tuesday at an ASPRS event in Denver where much of the focus of discussion was on Landsat, and in particular, the future of Landsat and the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM).
No doubt it will be interesting to see how this topic is managed by the new administration, although with such dramatic changes in our physical environment taking place there’s little doubt in my mind that this important resource will continue to be expanded enabling us to get a grip on some of the problems facing all of us. See more on LDCM at ldcm.nasa.gov. Recall, it wasn’t too long ago that a major, major announcement was made with Landsat 7 ETM+ Data Now being made available to users at No Charge (see http://glovis.usgs.gov/ or http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/EarthExplorer/).
Yesterday, to celebrate GIS Day, I took a trip over to the City of Loveland where the city’s GIS staff and some partners hosted a great event. Hourly presentations provided attendees with a glimpse at how the city is using GIS to manage their resources and facilities. Demos from the City Police Department revealed how residents can view and report crimes; an internal application enables planners to monitor and manage fleets of buses, snow plows, and other city vehicles; a project with wildlife biologists is studying patterns and migration routes of birds (this is bird haven around here) and how they are interacting with local air traffic at Loveland Airport. The team also gave an overview of the LOGIC system, the city’s online webmapping system which is today going live with a new version migrated to ArcGIS Server. LOGIC provides access to address and parcel data, and information on city parks, recreational facilities, and government assets. The City of Loveland has worked with ESRI to develop a Local Government Data Model - LOGIC being the real-life test-bed / result of this effort… congrats! You can fire up the Loveland LOGIC System here.
City of Loveland, CO new LOGIC webmap
GIS Day at City of Loveland, CO
The city has an internal web app for managing fleets. This sytem monitors bus movements in real-time
A special "geo" bag of maps and GIS goodies used by Loveland, CO SWAT units for emergency response
After leaving the City’s GIS Day I event I proceeded over to my daughter’s second grade class where I gave a 30 minute session on intro to GIS, discussed the shrinking polar ice, provided a list of local GIS users, and looked at loads of cool maps and "Geo-art" on some cool posters courtesy of NASA and the ESRI Press Map Books. I left the class with some cool GIS Day goodies (thanks GIS Day team!), and several wall posters for the brand new, gold certified LEED [green] school. The Globe chocolates were a huge hit! Also way cool for the kids was the Getac rugged handheld device which in addition to running ArcPad GIS, can run the cool Bubbles Game! Loads of fun… I hope you had just as much fun on your GIS Day.
Top iPhone related GIS and Geo Tech news stories from 2009 - At the end of the year its always interesting for us to look at some of the stats and results to identify trends and more important, to see what our readers think is hot! In the "news" category it seems that iPhone related geo tech items were extremely popular.
Geo Social Location Checkin to Twitter from iPhone - With the cool SXSW event taking place Austin, TX, everyone who's anyone in social and social location seems to have rolled out updates this week, making your choice for how to check-in to your social media bookmarks even tougher to decide on!
10 Awesome GIS and Mapping apps for the iPhone - I recall last year at the ESRI UC when an iPhone was on stage showing a prototype app (think ArcPad on iPhone). It was then that I realized the iPhone platform is going to be BIG in mapping and there's a ton of opportunity for developers.
Nokia Booklet 3G, unboxing video and image gallery... Those of you in the USA who pop in to BestBuy occasionally, you may have seen a stand showing off the Nokia Booklet 3G. A sleek, 3G enabled, SIM slot (AT&T) sporting netbook.
Interesting Tweeple - 10 Geo Technology & Geo-Social Women of Twitter - given the growing love for geospatial and location-aware technologies, I’ve decided to hype 10 women that I feel make a significant contribution to the Geo-Twittersphere. If you’d like to add 10 knowledgeable and useful Twitter contacts to your Geo following list I highly suggest the following: (in no particular order)
10 Geo Social Location-Aware Apps Making Waves... With Twitter's opening of their location API to developers there's going to be a ton of third party apps that will enable Twitter users to share location-aware information via their Twitter accounts.
Signs that indicate you may be a GeoGeek (aka. GeoNerd) and some suggested Geo blogs - Chances are good that if you are a Geo Geek then you already know it and likely refer to yourself as one. However, there’s many of you out there that may be on the fence and wondering… “am I a Geo Geek?" Read on for a comprehensive list of signs you might be a GeoGeek followed up by some suggested Geoblog reading.
Real-time GPS Mapping and GIS Solution Aids Efficient Disaster Management - Saturday, February 7, 2009 will forever be known as Black Saturday in the State of Victoria, Australia. In the midst of a 10-year drought, a record breaking heat wave descended upon the state, with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees C (110-120 deg F), breaking all-time record highs in some cities - Victoria Police Use Trimble Juno SC Handhelds to Speed Assessment of Damage Caused by Bush Fires.
2010 ESRI Federal User Conference February 17-19, 2010, Washington D.C. Walter E. Washington Convention Center - The FedUC is the largest geospatial conference for federal agencies. Connect with other leaders, decision makers, and GIS professionals.
The International LiDAR Mapping Forum 2010 - Tenth Anniversary Event! ILMF 2010 will be held from March 3 - 5, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency in Denver at Colorado Convention Center.
The NAVTEQ 2010 Global LBS Challenge Awards Ceremony will be held during Ignite at O'Reilly Where 2.0. Be among the first to hear as NAVTEQ announces the winners for the North America region. Participants will be competing for a global prize pool of $10 million and growing by showcasing pre-commercial location-enabled apps using NAVTEQ map data & products. March 30, 2010, during Ignite Where, 7:30pm - 9:00pm, at the Marriott San Jose, CA
WHERE2.0 2010 - Now in its sixth year, the Where 2.0 Conference is where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location-aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. For 15% use Discount Code: whr10lbs
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