Article from Sat. March 16, 2013 Globe and Mail news section. I’m optimistic the fed’s acknowledgement of underfunding for municipalities will trigger a wave of investment for our crumbling cities.
The first thing that municipalities must do is create a detailed inventory of their infrastructure assets (pipes, hydrants, etc). This is done with a combination of CAD and Geographic Information Systems.
Creating an inventory is just the first step not a complete system. Municipalities also need the purchasing, work order and maintenance components to manage their infrastructure.
Systems such as Maintenance Connection, provide GIS/CAD inventory in conjunction with the entire asset management system.
Arrow Geomatics Inc. have teamed up with Maintenance Connection Canada to build a complete package of GIS (inventory) and Asset Management.
Contact:
Gordon Luckett contact@arrowgeo.com
Perils of Monolithic Map Layers
Now there is the ability to add all our layers for your organization in a single map,
does not mean we should.
The maps we put online tend to have every tool imaginable and every last layer of information any one could ever want. It may check every box on the requirements for the proposal or project but it is like having a swiss army knife with a thousand tools. Un-usable.
Solution?
We should start making maps and interfaces customized for various users. In the same way that some users need an Austin Mini and some need a Peterbuilt Transport Truck, we need to make simpler maps and interfaces based on what the user needs. Lets stop putting 600 layers in our maps, and choosing the layers for the need.
For example, rather than having a “City Map”, break it down into Business Development map, Utilities Map, Transportation Map, etc.
Remember, sometimes, the simpler the better:
You may even find simpler maps (< 10 layers) would be very effective for mobile platforms.
SQL Server Spatial in ArcMap 10
In my last post, I showed how to load geospatial data into SQL Server. I want to continue that post with how to show that data in ArcMap 10.
We are going to use that same data to render it in ArcMap.
- In the File menu, choose Add Data > Add Query Layer.
- In the New Query Layer dialog box, click Connections.
- In the Manage Connection(s) dialog box, click New.
- In the Database Connection dialog box:
- For DBMS Client choose sqlserver
- For Data Source, enter you SQL Server (i.e. HOGWARTS\SQLEXPRESS)
- For Data Base, enter the database name (i.e. WORLD)
- For Authentication, choose OS Authentication.
- Click OK.
- In the Manage Connection(s) dialog box, click OK.
- In the New Query Layer dialog box, double click the table that contains the spatial data.
- For Name enter the of the query (i.e. Major Highways)
- Click Finish.
Unfortunately, this is READ ONLY. If you want to see how to EDIT this data, stay tuned for the next Post.
If you own SQL Server 2008 or higher (even the free Express version) you have the essentials of a GIS.
But how to put GIS data into SQL Server? I cover 2 simple ways to get data into SQL Server:
- SharpGIS’s SQL Server Spatial Tools http://www.sharpgis.net/page/sql-server-2008-spatial-tools.aspx
- OGR2OGR as part of the GDAL Suite at http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/DownloadingGdalBinaries
If you downloads SharpGIS’s tool, you can load a ShapeFile (actually it is series of files such as Road.shp, Road.dbf, Road.idx..) into SQL Server.
In the Configure Dialog dialog box, you need to log into SQL Server, enter the SQL Server name and choose the database.
If you shapefile has a coordinate system that is projected, such as State Plane or UTM, you should use the Geometry, otherwise choose Geography (Latitude and Longitude).
Also, I recommend not to create the Spatial Index right away as I find this often causes errors during load with this tool.
Leave the default Table Name, Geometry Name and Key Name and click Upload to Database.
To view the data, open the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and expand the Databases to your current database.
Right-click On your Table and choose Select Top 1000 Rows to see the SHP you just loaded.
Now, to load the same SHP File, you will have to use the Command Prompt with the OGR2OGR Tool.
To create a BAT or batch file, simply create a text file and save it with a .bat extension.
In the *.bat file, first add the path of the OGR2OGR.exe:
“C:\Program Files\GDAL\ogr2ogr.exe”
Then add the -f MSSQLSpatial switch to import into SQL Server.
Next, add the connection to SQL Server:
“MSSQL:server=HOGWARTS\SQLEXPRESS;database=WORLD;trusted_connection=yes”
Finally, add the path of where the Shapefile is:
D:\Projects\DMTI\SHP\RAIL75.shp
Full entry:
“C:\Program Files\GDAL\ogr2ogr.exe” -f MSSQLSpatial “MSSQL:server=HOGWARTS\SQLEXPRESS;database=WORLD;trusted_connection=yes” D:\Projects\DMTI\SHP\RAIL75.shp
Finally, double-click on the ogr.bat file or whatever you named it, and the SHP file will be loaded into SQL Server.
To view the data, open the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and expand the Databases to your current database.
The additional dbo.geometry_columns and dbo.spatial_ref_sys are used by Open Source GISs such as QGIS to determine the spatial data columns and their coordinate system. QGIS can render the data without these support tables however, so they are not required.
Like many people yesterday, I noticed all my MapGuide/AIMS sites suddenly had a “Map Data” popup in the middle of my map.
Why is this here today?
So how to fix it?
Opent the file:
C:\Program Files\OSGeo\MapGuide\Web\www\fusion\lib\OpenLayers\theme\default\style.css
and add the following around line 30:
.olLayerGoogleV3.olLayerGooglePoweredBy {
visibility:hidden !important;
bottom: 15px !important;
}
.olLayerGooglePoweredBy.olLayerGoogleV3.gmnoprint {
visibility:hidden !important;
}
What is a ContourGPS camera?
A small light full HD video camera with GPS capabilities. The GPS adds speed, location and elevation to the picture. The GPS receiver automaps the three essentials up to four times per second. The GPS synchronizes with your video and displays a second by second replay via Google Maps, Bing or OpenStreetMaps. All within the MapGuide/AIMS 2012 environment.
1. Upload Video and Associated GPS file to web server (code loads the GPS points into SQL Server and creates path in map).
2. Video list in Interface and choose video to watch.
3. Video plays and animated point follows the path in sync with the video.
