Welcome to Spatial Media's GISuser.com A leading GIS, Geospatial, & Geo-technology news resource for GIS Technology users & mapping professionals - We provide the latest tips and updates on GIS, maps, webmapping, mashups, location services, social location, GPS, and the GeoWeb. MUST See resources include our iPhone map zone, Career Center, Social Media Tips, Geo Stimulus news, and Geo Tech Articles and Features - see also our Geospatial Clearinghouse Director
Mobile Geo
The second annual GIS on Blackberry Award winners were announced in a special session held at the 2010 ESRIUC. In the video
Geo Hardware Watch as JAVAD GNSS CEO Javad Ashjaee introduces three new revolutionary products at a special event held in San Jose, CA
Social Media
A Look at Twitter Stats From the International Esri User Conference
GISUSER FEATURE... - The Super-Information Highway - Virginia Tech acquires new data-collection technology - The fact that state budgets are being squeezed by declining tax revenues does not make this labor-intensive task any easier to justify. Through a partnership with Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., which is utilizing powerful new roadside asset-gathering technology and beginning to build a mobile condition assessment system for monitoring the assets, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is trying to do something about this.
10 Things A Company Should Consider when starting their Twitter social media presence
Written by Glenn Letham (@gletham)
01 June 2009
Many of us on Twitter take it for granted that getting up and running is a breeze, however, many potential corporate users are still craving more information on how/where they should start. Here's a basic introduction for corporate Twitter users with 10 useful tips on getting started.
First - grab a good Twitter name (just park it if you have no immediate need) - more often I'm seeing companies losing out on securing their name for a Twitter account - act fast if its already not too late!
Once you create a Twitter account, be sure to apply a logical logo/image (don't simply use the default icon) and provide a short, useful description and a url to your website. Start following your competition and your customers and clients
Once ready to start tweeting, determine if your Twitter account will simply be a corporate twitter account that pulls feeds of your news or if there's to be a person or team of people manning the account to provide useful updates. Consider adding secondary Twitter accounts that target a specific topic (i.e. technical support, developer network, marketing etc...) As an example, I use @gletham for a mix of Geo Technology and personal Twitter posts (this is my most widely used Twitter account and has my face associated with the account), although I also manage @gisuser for GISuser.com specific topics (news and job postings with GISuser logo as icon) @lbszone.com for LBS related news topics etc... Each account has been designed in a way that it is quite clear to potential followers what kind of updates they will be getting when following.
Consider using real people to manage your social media accounts. A Twitter account managed by real people will get you more attention than a "robot". Don't be afraid to let your "Tweeple" mix a little personal information with business (Twitter users accept this and enjoy it) although some discretion should be used. Companies should consider creating a formal policy on what's cool/not cool for people to do with Twitter and other social media outlets.
Assign a person to monitor activity on Twitter to see who's saying good or not so good things about your company, your products, or services - hearing the gripes and complaints is very valuable information! Search.Twitter.com is very useful and is very easy to use and create RSS feeds of posts that mention your company.
If you have multiple Twitter accounts to manage, consider using an application like HootSuite (currently in R2 Beta) or Seesmic (I suggest this one), enabling rapid and effective management of multiple accounts.
Encourage your social media "experts" to also learn how to Tweet via mobile. This is very useful when attending conferences, trade shows, training events and other events outside of the office. your customers and potential clients will appreciate live updates from events with useful information - it also makes you look more like a "Twitter Pro"!
Consider sharing other media, like photos and videos with your Twitter followers. Several excellent media sharing applications are easy to use and very effective for sharing multi-media and will automatically "Tweet" when you make updates. To start I suggest the following mobile applications: Shozu (for data crunching and sharing); Qik.com or Flixwagon.com for live video streaming/sharing; Flickr and YouTube are very useful for hosting and sharing your product demonstration videos, product images etc... Finally, become familiar with Twitpic and TweetPhoto are very useful for sharing photos with your Twitter accounts.
Finally, share your Twitter name and address with your clients, colleagues, and anyone else who is listening. Mention your Twittername in press releases (most companies never do this) , have employees add it to their email signature, post it on your website and blog (Twitter has some great widgets) and spread the word!
For more information on the corporate Twitter environment I suggest you follow a few of my favorite Tweeple with useful social media tips: @mashable and @joelcomm @chrisbrogan @guykawasaki @mattsingley @quiverandquill @gypsybandito. There's also loads of self-proclaimed "Social Media Experts" out there who maintain useful blogs with tons of goodies. Once comfortable, be sure to investigate some of the many fine 3rd party add-ons that will make your Twitter experience more valuable and fun!
A Look at Twitter Stats From the International #ESRIUC - Twitter once again played a huge role in the ESRI user conference, with many attendees, Esri staffers, and exhibitors using the social service to communicate with attendees and those watching from a distance. We take a look at some of the stats that resulted from all the Tweeting.
ESRIUC Video - A Look at Geospatial PDFs for Apple iOS from Avenza - A visit with Ted Florence, President of Avenza Systems Inc on the exhibition hall floor at the Esri User Conference gives us a look at the company's new, free app for the iOS. This is the first and only geospatial PDF application for Apple iOS devices including the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch platforms.
ITT Visual Information Solutions + Esri Partnership and the ArcGIS image analysis toolbox #ESRIUC
At a special PR event held in San Diego at the ESRIUC, Richard Cooke, President of ITT Visual Information Solutions, and Lawrie Jordan, Director of Imagery Enterprise Solutions for Esri both made statements and and addressed a room of journalists to provide the latest about ITT geospatial solution offering.
ESRIUC VIDEO First Look Technology Video from ESRIUC - Ashtech Mobile Mapper 100 - Designed for GIS data collection and mapping, the MobileMapper 100 integrates an open operating system, built-in communications and Ashtech's powerful BLADE technology. BLADE allows the MobileMapper 100 to deliver the high accuracies desired by GIS professionals, even in extreme GNSS environments, including urban and rural canyons and under dense canopies.
Drive and Ride With Topcon for fast 3D Mobile Mapping and data collection at ESRIUC - At the ESRIUC we had the pleasure of connecting with the team from Topcon who graciously took me on an interesting 3D Mobile Mapping ride & drive, giving us a first-hand look at how the company collects accurate, 3D mapping data "simply" by driving the streets in a vehicle equipped with some pretty impressive hardware!
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.
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.
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.
MORE ARTICLES- Check out all the GISuser articles in the archive, stored by category
Featured Events
Location Business Summit 2010 - The Location Business Summit USA brings together key companies from across the ecosystem, with over 30 top speakers, 200 hundred plus attendees and a highly focused agenda which gets to the core of local search, optimizing content, monetizing context and harnessing the hype behind Location Based Advertising and the `Check-in'.
International Lidar Mapping Forum 2011 - ILMF 2011 will be held at the Astor Crowne Plaza in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 7 -9, 2011. The eleventh in the series that has long established itself as the premier LIDAR event, attracting professionals from around the world with one focused objective of sharing information on LIDAR technology and mobile mapping applications.
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