GIS Pathway... » Websites

The National Geospatial Technology Center of Excellence

Timothy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:05:00 +0000

A website and technology center that I found a year ago or so through VerySpatial is the GeoTech Center. This is a great resource for those wanting to learn more about geospatial technology. There are some valuable resources for educators, students, and industries. The center (main location at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, TX) is focused on geospatial technology awareness. They are represented across the county by several community colleges which all focus on this awareness.

The GeoTech Center’s purpose:

In 2008, the National Science Foundation funded the National Geospatial Technology Center of Excellence to support two-year college geospatial technology programs. The GeoTech Center is a collaborative effort between colleges, universities, and industry to expand the geospatial workforce. The partners of the Center work together to provide professional development, teaching and curriculum resources, career pathways and model core competencies for geospatial technicians.

The website has a variety of information. The website is broken down into three areas: Educators, Students and Industry. You can see the additional areas of focus below.

Educators
- Development
- Curriculum Materials
- Teaching Resources
- Latest Research
- GIS in Administration
- GIS in Classroom
Students
- Career Pathway
- Certification
- Locate Programs
- Internships
- Jobs
- Social Networking
Industry
- Training Opportunities
- Internship Information

The website also has a really awesome interactive map of two-year college geospatial education programs.

The GeoTech Center is a valuable resource for anyone looking to find more about geospatial technology and the available education programs. Take some time and check it out!

Google Helps Educate Spatially

Timothy — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:46:29 +0000

Google has provided some great resources for exploring the Geo World. There is an overview page that describes four main products that they provide. These products are Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Sky, and Google SketchUp. Although this site focuses on education and teaching GIS in the classroom, these areas can be a great benefit to the individual as well.

http://www.google.com/educators/geo.html

Google Earth

With this product, the world is at your fingertips. You have the ability to travel to France, Australia, and Brazil. With the added search functionality, this combines a search engine with the world.

Google Maps

This mapping software provides more than just directions. There is the ability to study various regions. The subjects that can studied are Art History, Climatology, Earth Science, Environmental Science, History, and Physics.

Google Sky

This product is fairly new. It provide a fascinating view of outer space. With Google Sky, telescopes are a thing of the past. You have the ability to study the stars, planets, galaxies, and even mythology.

Google SketchUp

This is a 3D modeling software. You can model furniture, cars, and buildings. There is even the capability to place these object spatially in Google Earth.

http://www.google.com/educators/geo.html

Other Google Products

Google Moon and Google Mars

iPhone in Education: Google Earth now available on iPhone and iPod Touch!

GIS workshop teaches new technology skills

Geophysics vs. Geography: Divergent Viewpoints on the GeoWeb

VBA Code Resources

Timothy — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:01:38 +0000

Finding resources for programming with VBA in GIS is a challenging task. I have search high and low, and still I have found very little resources. Here is what I have found so far:

1. ArcScripts

This the best place to find code. Since it is maintained by ESRI, there is no larger collected anywhere online. The GIS community uplaods various scripts and the site puts them in an easy to search format. Many programming languages are available.

Here are a few of my favorite:

Spell Check

Add Text Elements to Layout

2. ESRI Support Center User Forums

The ESRI Support Center User Forums has some great coding resources. Users post their coding problems and other users respond to their problems. Usually, the final output is a completed block of code that anyone can use. This link takes you to the most recent posts for VBA. You can also search the forums for the code that you need. Including VBA will provide you with better returns.

3. Customizing ArcGIS Desktop with VBA

The ESRI Resource Center is great site to find a good bit of information for programming with VBA. Although it corresponds with the ArcGIS 9.3 release, there are some excellent benefits that apply to earlier versions.

4. Utah GIS Portal

The Utah GIS Partal is a hidden wealth of information. Although it does not provide the smae number of scripts the the ESRI website does, it does have some good samples. In addition to VBA, it also provides code for Python and C#. Search the other areas of this site to find more GIS resources.

If you know of any good sites, please let me know so that I can update this list.

Teaching Kids the World of GIS

Timothy — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:00:19 +0000

Kids are like sponges. They will soak up anything. It is up to us to help provide children with quality material that they will be able to use for a life time. Here are some good websites, books, and games that teach kids about GIS.

Websites

Books

Games

Compare Vehicle MPG by Map

Timothy — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:26:03 +0000

A new website produced by ESRI will map the distance that your car will be able to travel as compared to an another vehicle of your choosing base on one gallon of gas. The site, http://mapmpg.com, allows you to select a vehicles by year, make, and model. A distance polygon is calculated for each vehicle and then routed based upon the location that you select.

Although this is pretty neat feature, ESRI is using this site to promote its BusinessMap software. This software uses tools to help businesses run extensive analysis.

Other than the BusinessMap motive, this site is pretty cool!

WebDiet™ – GPS and Meal Planning

Timothy — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:51:28 +0000

I just found this website that is integrating dieting and GPS. At first I did not know how in the world the two even related, but after reviewing the website I have found how the two work together.

The basic idea is that you have access to WebDiet™ on your phone and you can us GPS to locate restaurant near you. The program searches these restaurants and creates a healthy meal plan based upon your diet requirements. You can even place your order on your phone if you are on the go.

I believe that this is a crazy, but great idea. Who would have ever thought that GPS and Dieting would go together? I know that I will not be using it because I am not the dieting type. However, I use Live Search on a regular basis from my phone to locate restaurants near my location. I believe that WebDiet™ could be big. This just goes to show you that using GIS and GPS can go as far as your imagination will allow.

Check it out and form your own opinion….WebDiet™

Open Source Mapping Tools

Timothy — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 04:02:46 +0000

I just stumbled upon a really great website for those who are looking for a great open source mapping resource. MapTools.org provides a variety of open source software and tools for GIS. The areas included in this site are:

Web Tools
Desktop Tools
Utilities
Other Open Source Links

Although I mainly use ESRI software, open source is becoming a growing thing. Providing the GIS industry with a free option for mapping is a win-win situation. I am eagerly looking to learn more about this growing phenomenon. I could go into more details about this site, but you check it out for yourself. MapTools.org