KEL Mapping

One challenge that I have faced over the past few years is building a base map that will work in the mobile environment. The problem I have run into is the need to have a map that will be legible during the day while sunlight is shining on the screen and at night when it is back lit. As such I have been experimenting with a gray color scheme and introduce colors slowly only when necessary. Here are two recent interactive maps I have run across which also are following the same ideas I have been working on.

• @oobr's London Bike Flows
• Esri Super Bowl FanMapl

Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle had an article, PG&E's computer system faulted for pipeline errors, about some findings regarding the San Bruno gas line explosion. One of the problems the article brings up is an inadequate GIS. Give the article a read and it helps drive home the point that doing quality work as a first priority should be a standard within our industry.

Esri has created an interactive map which allows users to specify what team they will be rooting for in the Super Bowl. To view the map and to vote you can go to http://thebiggame.esri.com/superbowl/index.html.

The other day police.uk launched new crime maps. One of the nice features about it is the data has been concatenated to centroid of the streets. This generalized point data helps protect the victims while still giving the map reader a general understanding of the distribution of crimes.

Another interesting component of the site is how large of an area it covers. There are many cities and even counties which have interactive crime maps, however this is spanning a large area and multiple jurisdictions.

Here are some interactive crime maps within the San Francisco Bay Area you can go to the Omega Groups CrimeMapping site.

In the latest edition of Esri's ArcUser publication there was an article called Upgrade Your GIS Skills. This article showed how easy it can be to keep up to date with the industry. I found the list of links to be helpful and will use them when wanting more information regarding Esri products and news. Of course to learn about the GIS industry as a whole other resources should also be used.

National Geographic promo video for their year focus on world population.