A geospatial career journey
A while back, I wrote a post about using Python to generate triggered notifications in PostGIS. The approach described in that post is somewhat fraught with peril and I’ve learned a little bit more since then, so I have a different approach, using PostgreSQL NOTIFY and LISTEN, which I’ll describe here.
Consulting is enjoyable due to the variety, but it would be fun to help build a platform. — Bill Dollins (@billdollins) May 2, 2016 Earlier this week, I posted the above tweet. To explain the variety I referred to, here is a partial list, in no particular order, of the tools I’ve worked with in the … Continue reading A Week in the Life of a Geotech Omnivore
I finally had a little time to play with some of the data available through the HIFLD Open site. For my first pass, I decided to have a little fun by estimating how much of the United States a driver could cover in an electric vehicle while remaining in range of a charging station. For … Continue reading Working with HIFLD Open Data
Java is my “Groundhog Day” language. It’s one that I use just infrequently enough to feel like I’m starting over every time a new requirement pops up. As a result of planning the system migration I discussed in my last post, I’ve been doing some work with it, which is my first sustained Java work since … Continue reading Extending Hibernate Spatial
I saw this tweet today from Lyzi Diamond and I found the question intriguing. My answer was reference back to one of her posts, concerning the use of link relations to add GeoJSON data to Leaflet. What has been your biggest “a-ha!” moment while learning mapping technology? What resource gave it to you? #gistribe — … Continue reading Do I Need a Map Server?
There’s been a lot of attention paid lately to choropleth cartograms using alternate geometries such as squares or hexagons, with good reason. I’m not referring to hex binning per se, although it certainly falls under that umbrella. I am referring to geometric binning such as this, published by the Washington Post: This visualization appeals to me … Continue reading Square States, PostGIS, and D3
The convoluted user interfaces of most desktop GIS software is something I revisit from time to time. James’ most recent issue of his SpatialTau newsletter got me thinking about it again. A while back, I got caught up in a Twitter discussion about it. Tools like geojson.io and TileMill have fantastic interfaces, but they also … Continue reading Toolbars
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to get back in touch with GeoServer. It used to figure more prominently in my toolbox but I got away from it because it simply didn’t factor into most of my project work. Time being a limited resource, it had to go on a shelf. I’m … Continue reading Getting Reacquainted With GeoServer
If you’re about to embark on a requirements drill or needs assessment focused on “web GIS,” it is important to be sure to answer one question as you proceed: Do you actually need any specialized mapping server at all? If “none” isn’t one of the choices in your analysis of alternatives, then you are doing … Continue reading Ask the Right Questions
GovWin, the procurement research service of DelTek, Inc. recently released a report titled “Federal Prime Spending in DC, MD, and VA” (PDF, registration required) which analyzed federal spending patterns in those areas. The report included the top 20 counties, by total spending from FY10 to FY14. With permission from the GovWin research team, I made … Continue reading GovWin Analyzes Federal Spending in the DC Area