1174. Wings of Spring (2013-04-04T20:45:11Z) in nature
I think this may be the last post in this series.
1173. Fiona 0.10 (2013-03-23T22:36:03Z) in the lab, python, data
Share and enjoy.
1172. PyCon (2013-03-11T23:11:13Z) in python, community
I hope to see you there.
1171. More Fiona (2013-03-07T17:32:04Z) in the lab, python, data
Version 0.9.1 of Fiona is now tagged and uploaded to PyPI.
1170. Fiona 0.9 (2013-03-07T04:37:01Z) in the lab, python, data
I'm excited to see creative and super productive programmers putting Fiona to work.
1168. Shapely 1.2.17 (2013-01-27T19:24:42Z) in the lab, python
Share and enjoy.
1166. Station Identification (2013-01-08T21:06:37Z) in blog
Since March 2005, this is the blog of Sean Gillies.
1165. Merry Christmas 2012 (2012-12-25T02:54:54Z) in life
Why didn't anybody tell me about Krampus earlier?!
1161. C programming, Python programming (2012-12-11T04:51:50Z) in python, programming
A boring post about my experiences in Python programming of no interest to anyone in GIS.
1160. Topojson.py (2012-11-27T00:23:39Z) in python, data
Share and enjoy.
1159. TopoJSON with Python (2012-11-21T06:19:54Z) in python, data
I learned a couple of new things about slicing along the way.
1158. Shapely Windows installers (2012-10-31T15:21:51Z) in the lab, python
And scores of other CPython extension package installers.
1156. The right profile (2012-10-19T17:12:26Z) in data, web, standards, http
Apologies to Joe Strummer.
1154. Feed parsing and mapping (2012-09-30T02:39:07Z) in python, the lab
GeoRSS feed entries become simple to operate on with
Shapely, descartes, or other software that understands the GeoJSON-like Python
geospatial interface.
1153. Python 3.3 (2012-09-29T16:40:22Z) in python
Python 3.3 is out.
1152. Putting it all together (2012-09-05T20:22:57Z) in programming
A basic choropleth map of world
population density in 4 lines of Python.
1151. Not as simple as it seems (2012-08-31T20:40:27Z) in programming, python, the lab, standards
Digging into simple, yet invalid polygons with GEOS, JTS, Clojure
1148. GeoServices REST RFC (2012-07-20T20:32:47Z) in standards
This is all another reminder of how standards are great, but standardisation is a really bad idea.
1144. Shapely 1.2.15 (2012-06-30T19:17:38Z) in the lab, python
This release is mostly concerned with helping packagers downstream.
1141. Gearing up for LAWDI (2012-05-15T16:58:42Z) in web, data, isaw, http
Resources, representations, HTTP, and verbs.
1140. Place and location (2012-04-05T19:12:33Z) in pleiades
I propose that 2 mounds are part of the same necropolis if you can plausibly eat lunch in the shade of one during a break in constructing the other.
1137. Pleiades software reuse (2012-03-26T17:19:43Z) in programming, community, digital humanities, software engineering
TL;DR Transcribe Bentham: congrats! My own horn: toot! toot!
1135. Reconsidering APIs (2012-03-21T17:23:44Z) in data
I'm still convinced that data is usually better than an API.
1134. Spatial for IPython HTML Notebook (2012-03-12T19:09:42Z) in python
I wonder how long until I'm able to clean data in a Notebook using Pandas instead of Google Refine?
1132. Mapping and reducing (2012-03-11T06:33:52Z) in python, the lab, programming
Making maps with reduce()
1131. Permission or Forgiveness (2012-03-10T01:53:45Z) in programming, python, community, standards
Just because it's easier to ask forgiveness doesn't make it always ethical or right to not ask permission instead.
1129. Feedparser and GeoRSS/GML (2012-03-06T19:34:25Z) in python
This is the only WONTFIX that has ever really gotten under my skin.
1127. Ongoing blog series (2012-02-24T00:10:59Z) in blog, python, the lab, programming, ironic
If you find these rubrics fun and/or pedagogical, jump on in.
1126. More learning from Haskell (2012-02-23T18:03:31Z) in programming, python, the lab
Now I'm going to take my example a little farther.
1123. Connecting many places (2012-02-08T04:17:40Z) in pleiades
The representation of Hadrian's Wall in Pleiades doesn't have
a published spatial extent of its own, but gets one by virtue of its connections to these other small places.
1122. Geoprocessing for humans: pygp (2012-02-05T16:45:23Z) in python, programming
I'm not the only one simplifying terrible Python APIs in the geospatial world.
1120. PyCon (2012-01-29T23:08:01Z) in python, community
I've just finished booking flights and hotel for my first ever PyCon.
1118. Notes on learning Clojure (2012-01-25T17:13:08Z) in programming
I assumed I'd have to write something like a Python C extension module to do this.
1117. Shapely 1.2.14 (2012-01-24T05:01:32Z) in the lab, python
Shapely 1.2.14 is up on PyPI.
1114. Home renovation 2012 (2012-01-08T03:54:57Z) in life
There have been a few surprises, but nothing terrible yet.
1113. Fiona 0.6.1 (2012-01-07T20:30:05Z) in the lab, python, programming
I think it's ready for wider testing.
1110. More Fiona and OGR benchmarks (2012-01-02T20:59:38Z) in the lab, python, programming
From a performance perspective, osgeo.ogr seems better suited to making small tweaks to data and Fiona better suited to pulling, bending, cutting, and hammering on all aspects of it.
1109. Station Identification (2012-01-01T18:09:25Z) in blog
Since March 2005, this is the blog of Sean Gillies.
1108. Shapely from the outside (2011-12-30T16:05:56Z) in the lab, python, programming
It's an interesting post, and the way it weighs a few different software packages is rare these days.
1105. Lessons learned from Zope (2011-12-21T16:21:39Z) in programming, python, zope
Shapely and Fiona are thoroughly steeped in them.
1104. Fiona's half-way mark (2011-12-21T05:38:58Z) in python, the lab, programming, data
Simpler + faster seems like a big win.
1102. Yours truly, Fiona (2011-12-09T23:06:14Z) in the lab, python, programming
Making a simple OGR wrapper API is almost entirely about saying no and throwing features out. And how I've thrown things out.
1100. Simple in theory (2011-11-18T17:31:45Z) in programming, web, rest, digital humanities
Simple is better than easy in theory
1099. GeoJSON wrap up (2011-11-14T18:05:26Z) in community, data, standards
The GeoJSON spec will remain at 1.0 with no changes planned at this time.
1095. Fiona (2011-09-21T19:25:21Z) in python, programming, data
Fiona is OGR's neater (or nicer/nimble/no-nonsense) API
1093. Trail Ridge (2011-08-23T17:47:23Z) in recreation
Rambling on the tundra.
1092. Closing down the Lab (2011-08-19T19:07:26Z) in the lab, programming, open source
I hope you'll stick with the projects through the move and beyond.
1090. Plus Me (2011-07-09T20:40:01Z) in web
I'm plenty curious about the UI and design.
1089. Shapely on PyPy (2011-07-08T17:44:55Z) in python, the lab
Thanks to work by Oliver Tonhofer, Shapely works on PyPy.
1088. Connecting places (2011-06-30T17:33:45Z) in geography, web, data, pleiades, architecture
Rather than twist lines and polygons beyond the limits of certainty and relevance to make them snap and connect, we can simply encode the most immediate relationships directly in structured data about the places.
1086. Inside the Pleiades maps (2011-06-14T17:45:26Z) in web, pleiades, architecture
I'm not saying this is the one true style of web mapping, but it's a style that I find very intriguing right now.
1084. Open source soil (2011-05-28T20:02:52Z) in nature
Despite the cool weather, it's been cooking well.
1083. Doing Web 1.0 better (2011-05-26T05:25:57Z) in web
It's tempting to jump directly from not-Web to "Web 2.0", but there's still heaps of value in the good old Web of links and HTTP.
1082. Ancient world base map tiles (2011-05-26T04:40:50Z) in geography, pleiades
Eventually, we'll need a base map with more favorable terms of use and fewer modern artefacts.
1080. REST in six lines? (2011-05-09T15:38:34Z) in rest, web, architecture
I still think that get our heads around REST is the most difficult (and largely unaccomplished) part.
1079. New KML for Pleiades (2011-04-06T19:57:38Z) in pleiades, web, data, geography
Last, but not least, we've turned our old representations of roughly located places inside-out.
1074. DH/Geo/LOD Workshop March 24, London (2011-03-09T17:32:22Z) in digital humanities, web, geography
An upcoming workshop that I'd previously mentioned now has a page for signup.
1072. Python and WFS? (2011-03-02T17:00:08Z) in python
we don't see much of this in action.
1071. Is Pleiades a content farm? (2011-02-28T17:53:06Z) in pleiades, web, media
More importantly, is Pleiades adequately distinguishable from a content farm?
1070. Command line JSON (2011-02-24T16:54:04Z) in python
Would it be worth adding such a tool to the geojson module?
1069. Upcoming (2011-02-21T21:35:11Z) in pleiades, geography, digital humanities
I'll be somewhat out of my element at each of these.
1068. Links (2011-02-13T20:23:06Z) in food and drink
Because the web needs more links.
1067. Get with it (2011-02-01T17:45:06Z) in python, programming
Implementing PEP 343 for make better your Python API.
1066. XYZ (2011-01-13T19:26:05Z) in python
Examine your zipper.
1062. For 2011 (2011-01-02T21:02:46Z) in life
A few of my goals, not resolutions, for 2011.
1061. Versioning in Pleiades scripts (2010-12-30T22:41:30Z) in pleiades, plone, zope
I found out before the holiday that a Plone developer (Pleiades uses Plone 3.2, and your mileage may vary) has to take a few extra steps to setup supporting utilities for the repository tool in the case of an offline script.
1059. Copywriting run amuck? (2010-12-21T18:13:48Z) in community, open source
What the hell is up with the scare quotes and the impractical, ideology-driven, early adopter strawman?
1058. XML vs the "GeoWeb" (2010-11-30T16:36:26Z) in web, data, architecture
This isn't JSON triumphalism.
1057. Post-GIS Day 2010 (2010-11-17T16:34:34Z) in community, python, programming
For extra adventure, I'm going to attempt something I've never done before.
1056. Explaining Pleiades (2010-11-15T23:53:49Z) in pleiades, geography
Are you familiar with "Google Places"?
1055. What's an Un-GIS? (2010-11-01T19:58:06Z) in pleiades, web, geography
Here are a few qualities that I think distinguish Pleiades from a typical geographic information system or spatial
data infrastructure.
1054. RFC 5988 (2010-10-31T16:21:32Z) in web, standards, architecture, http
Web Linking is RFC 5988.
1052. Grading REST (2010-10-22T19:44:43Z) in rest, web, standards, architecture
I'm not sure grading OGC services benefits anybody.
1051. Related blogs and feeds (2010-10-13T05:13:16Z) in media, the lab, pleiades
My announcement of the Shapely 1.2.4 release was the last such regular release announcement on this blog.
1050. Visualizing Pleiades imports (2010-10-10T03:18:43Z) in pleiades, data
Like Pleiades and the R-Tree server I'm writing, Polymaps speaks GeoJSON, the little format that could.
1049. GDAL Web driver (2010-10-04T16:01:33Z) in data, web, http
Network file systems or web services got you down?
1048. In Rtree news (2010-09-16T22:56:49Z) in the lab, python, open source
After a long time away I'm using Rtree (0.6) in anger this week.
1047. Shapely 1.2.4 (2010-09-16T18:54:15Z) in the lab, python
This releases fixes bugs involved with loading the libgeos_c DLL/SO and generally improves the user
experience in the case of not being able to load them, if you can believe that.
1046. At the market (2010-09-11T15:36:23Z) in food and drink, geography
Peaches from Colorado's Western Slope are unrivaled.
1045. Why not GeoJSON? (2010-09-09T17:20:58Z) in standards, web
ESRI JSON features look a lot like GeoJSON features, too.
1043. Shapely 1.2.3 (2010-08-19T22:43:19Z) in the lab, python
Mappings of geometric objects and a big bug fix.
1041. Bye bye (2010-07-26T20:33:27Z) in life
Au revoir, Montpellier.
1040. Shapely recipes (2010-07-06T09:59:38Z) in the lab, python
Shapely isn't ketchup, it's the ripe tomato.
1039. HTTP FTW (2010-07-01T12:26:37Z) in web, standards, architecture
Use of http:// URIs is axiomatic for "linked data". This begins to make OGC stuff relevant to the web.
1038. Pleiades and DARMC (2010-06-29T10:56:44Z) in digital humanities
Here's the ISAW lead on digital projects (my boss), Tom Elliot, on collaboration between Pleiades and DARMC.
1034. Representing rough locations in KML (3) (2010-06-17T14:24:09Z) in architecture, web, data, geography, pleiades, standards
In the example below, I show collections of relations that form a 3-piece concentric partition of space.
1033. Shape of things to come? (2010-06-17T10:13:23Z) in recreation, geography
Can you identify the spatial object having this footprint?
1030. Fuzzy and relative places in KML 2 (2010-05-28T12:50:27Z) in web, data, geography
I'm going to continue to think aloud about this for a while. Good ideas and good-natured heckling are welcome.
1029. Python and GeoJSON (2010-05-27T09:22:16Z) in python, web, data, geography
Is GeoJSON (as a ``dict``) a new lingua franca for Python GIS?
1028. Shapely 1.2 (2010-05-27T07:49:12Z) in the lab, python
Share and enjoy.
1026. Spring snow (2010-05-18T10:19:27Z) in nature, recreation
That's more than one thousand meters from the starting zone to the base of the cirque. Kaboom!
1023. Descartes 1.0 (2010-04-27T09:05:40Z) in python
I heart JTS too.
1021. No end-points (2010-04-22T07:46:16Z) in web, rest
NoEndpoints, anyone?
1020. Geo-annotating tweets (2010-04-18T07:34:30Z) in web
Agree on a key, use a URI that resolves to a map or KML, and you're on the map.
1018. Geographic OData (2010-04-15T08:31:31Z) in atom, web
It seems clear to me that data, especially standard stuff like geographic location, is more visible outside the payload.
1017. Rtree 0.6 (2010-04-13T20:16:17Z) in the lab, python
Version 0.6 of Rtree, the N-dimensional R-tree package for Python, is ready.
1016. Spatialindex 1.5.0 (2010-04-13T08:01:04Z) in the lab
New C API and 64-bit support for the N-dimensional R/MVR/TPR-tree library.
1015. Shapely 1.2b5 (2010-04-09T09:47:54Z) in the lab, python, digital humanities
Shapely 1.2b5 is uploaded to http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Shapely and http://gispython.org/dist/.
1014. Descartes (2010-04-07T10:06:11Z) in python, the lab
See http://bitbucket.org/sgillies/descartes/ for code and more examples.
1012. Bootstrapping a Python project (2010-04-01T09:54:44Z) in python, programming
Here are my notes on starting a brand new, versioned, readily distributed Python project.
1011. de9im: DE-9IM utilities (2010-03-31T08:30:57Z) in python, programming, standards
The de9im package is 100% tested, which gives me a good starting point for experimenting with more optimal implementations.
1008. Sensors, things, and the Web (2010-03-15T09:41:14Z) in web, rest, architecture
A "Web of Things" presentation (via "This week in REST")
1007. ISAW Visit (2010-03-09T12:21:32Z) in isaw
The workshop went well, too. More about that later after I push new code up to our site.
1006. Prunus dulcis (2010-02-28T14:46:40Z) in nature
Normally, turkey vultures inform me of Spring's arrival.
1005. PyCon interview with Sanjiv Singh (2010-02-28T12:27:36Z) in python, open source
Here's an interview with Sanjiv Singh (TurboGears, GeoAlchemy) in The Bitsource.
1004. Saving bandwidth takes two (2010-02-18T22:19:19Z) in web, standards
The organization running the server has to want to help you save bandwidth.
1002. Bags of bits (2010-02-18T11:41:43Z) in web, data, standards
How does Google Earth deal with ordering of resources? Is it as serious an issue there as Notingham suggests it is in the browser?
1001. Shapely 1.2b1 (2010-02-18T11:17:43Z) in the lab, python
This is the first 1.2 release uploaded to PyPI.
1000. Geospatial Jython (2010-02-16T20:40:24Z) in python
A little bit of its Java-ness leaks through, but at least one is spared the getters and setters.
999. Future of Flash in GIS (2010-02-15T10:32:31Z) in web, standards
I'm almost certain that Apple will eventually win this game of chicken and relent.
996. Below the buzz (2010-02-12T10:58:17Z) in web, standards
I just stumbled onto this post at ReadWriteWeb.
995. Plotting GIS shapes (2010-02-11T10:20:27Z) in python, the lab, programming
With Shapely, I've deliberately made it *hard* to do it in more than two lines.
991. GeoWeb blues (2010-02-03T11:20:37Z) in web
Apparently, a lot of the "GeoWeb" is made of blue legos.
990. More web linking (2010-02-01T14:26:18Z) in web
They are written for different audiences, but ones that overlap a bit, and go pretty well together.
989. In which we go into the weeds for some REST (2010-01-29T11:39:43Z) in rest, web, standards
On the descending portion of the hype cycle now it seems that, like the guy in the "Rock Star" t-shirt, a "REST API" most likely isn't.
987. Linking UK data (2010-01-28T09:49:57Z) in web, data, rest, standards, architecture, government
Read it and check out the links to tutorials about creating linked data.
984. Shapely 1.2a1 (2010-01-20T11:31:18Z) in the lab, python
Credit 1.2 to Aron Bierbaum.
983. GIS on Python Package Index (2010-01-19T12:51:35Z) in python
Python does a lot more for GIS programmers and analysts than just replace Avenue.
982. Dotted JSON namespaces (2010-01-18T09:28:34Z) in standards, web, data
JSON is less abstracted than XML, closer to code, and dotted namespaces seem like a win to me.
981. Magnificent seven plus two (2010-01-14T11:10:18Z) in web
For the sake of carrying geographic information on the web, we'll need two additional primitives.
980. WS-REST 2010 (2010-01-05T09:24:18Z) in rest, web, standards, architecture
To be held at WWW 2010 in Raleigh, North Carolina next 26 April 2010.
978. Adieu, 2009 (2009-12-31T16:36:25Z) in life
I've never had a year like 2009.
977. WMS and URI addressability (2009-12-30T10:05:39Z) in web, standards
More precisely, the saving grace of WMS is that its protocol parameterization doesn't obstruct URI addressability.
976. La volaille (2009-12-29T16:28:38Z) in food and drink
Even supermarket chicken seems years fresher than its American counterpart.
975. Least power (2009-12-21T14:00:16Z) in architecture, web
To me, this design acknowledges something like a Rule of Least Power for GIS interfaces.
974. Sweeping your front door (2009-12-19T15:56:50Z) in architecture
Before you agonize about how RESTful your back-end management protocol is, how about you make sure that your management application (the user front-end) is a decent Web application?
973. Last market before Christmas (2009-12-19T15:38:10Z) in food and drink
It was frosty this morning at the market, but just as busy as ever.
972. Simple and reusable spatial queries (2009-12-18T10:46:18Z) in software engineering, web, architecture
Simple indexed search is the initial boost to more interesting queries.
970. DDOS on climate science? (2009-12-16T11:01:57Z) in science, data, politics
A potential problem for science, and scientific consensus, in a brave new world where we are all now climate scientists, is the ramping up of the social denial of service attacks.
969. Montpellier street art (2009-12-12T15:59:04Z) in recreation
There is some inspired street art in Montpellier, the likes of which I've never seen in the uptight places I've previously called home.
968. Judgement matters (2009-12-11T09:52:48Z) in web, politics, government
How do we keep the tyranny implied in that statement out of the "GeoWeb"?
967. GeoWeb: utopia or dystopia? (2009-12-07T10:54:37Z) in life, community, industry, politics, government
I suspect it's going to be constant struggle to keep the "Wisdom of the Earth" from being rigged against civil liberties.
966. Punk (2009-12-06T14:23:22Z) in life, media
This piece by David Rees is the best piece of rock and roll fan writing of all time.
965. Idiomatic programming (2009-12-01T10:07:58Z) in programming, python
I'd prefer to have been taught, and to have taught others, idiomatic Python.
963. Ima let you finish (2009-11-11T13:04:39Z) in media
Back channel #geocom chatter inspired me to make this cartoon dedicated to "GeoWeb evangelists everywhere.
962. Design gap (2009-11-10T12:29:12Z) in architecture
Buttons vs. gestures. A multitude of complex, specialized, rigid protocols vs. one dumb protocol that can channel different, complex, emergent interactions.
960. Itertools to the rescue (2009-11-10T09:40:15Z) in python, programming
Without having to think hard at all, I can get a list of locally unique pairs of numbers.
959. Can't happen here (2009-11-05T12:48:12Z) in digital humanities, ironic
Thank the gods that Digital Classicism isn't GIS. It can't happen here.
958. GeoJSON Data URIs (2009-11-05T10:20:28Z) in web, standards
One can encode location directly in a URI using escaped GeoJSON.
957. Atom threading (2009-10-30T17:21:16Z) in atom, web
I'd suggested that you might arrange for an app to walk your posts and leave geographic annotation in comments using the same Atom extension.
956. Lessons of standardization (2009-10-30T10:10:41Z) in standards, industry
Bosworth goes into each of these in detail, I've only reproduced the first sentence.
955. Python GIS features (2009-10-28T11:02:05Z) in python, programming
How do you access the attributes and geometry of features in your favorite Python and GIS environment?
954. Why learn to program? (2009-10-26T09:28:14Z) in programming, geography
Why would a geographer need to learn to program?
953. Iterators, again (2009-10-25T10:22:45Z) in python, programming
If your favorite Python GIS environment doesn't provide iterators, you can easily implement wrappers like these.
952. Iterators (2009-10-23T20:37:29Z) in python, programming
How do you get a GIS feature from a Python collection/layer/provider/thingy?
951. Python idioms for GIS Education (2009-10-20T22:12:08Z) in python, programming
Utah State's GIS Programming with Python can be easily tuned up to teach even better Python GIS programming skills.
950. Unwords (2009-10-20T09:00:59Z) in media
The level of negative meaning in "REST API" is almost as high.
948. Working and playing at CBGP (2009-10-16T09:45:38Z) in geography, recreation
I've alluded to how pleasant it is out here and recently took a camera on my run to try to capture the feeling.
947. Shapely, map, and reduce (2009-10-15T13:03:34Z) in the lab, python, programming
Waiting on something else this afternoon and just want to write this modestly neat code down for myself.
946. Python and GIS 101 (2009-10-14T12:42:03Z) in python, programming
All those nested loops one uses to loop over the elements of rasters? There's a Python function for that.
945. Shapely 1.0.14 released (2009-10-06T09:59:43Z) in the lab, python
This release fixes a bug in writing out WKB on 64-bit systems.
942. Unofficial Python GIS SIG (2009-09-30T09:35:06Z) in python, community, programming, software engineering, architecture
There ought to be a discussion group that helps developers communicate across projects.
941. Neo-paleo-geo (2009-09-30T07:52:19Z) in community
Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting Geography. Please.
939. Geography of dégustation: Saint-Christol (2009-09-28T09:01:41Z) in food and drink, geography
From the top of Luc and Elisabeth Moynier's Villafranchian limestone hill one has great views in all directions.
938. For spork's sake no (2009-09-22T13:43:15Z) in rest
REST and RPC are different styles of solutions for different types of problems. Wanting them to be exactly the same misses the point entirely.
937. NASA SPG REST and SOAP (2009-09-21T12:29:35Z) in architecture, web, rest, standards
I don't interpret the blue border between "SOAP" and "REST" literally as my firewall, but as a horizon of trade-offs involving scalability.
936. Another Shapely sighting (2009-09-21T09:09:02Z) in the lab, python
Via Volker Mische, I'm pleased to see that GeoCouch is using Shapely.
934. Updates to the Shapely roadmap (2009-09-16T09:43:27Z) in the lab, python
Speaking of great Python packages for geoprocessing: the Shapely roadmap has updates.
933. Redefining open source? (2009-09-11T08:29:35Z) in open source, community
Is there more to open source than an OSI license?
932. Where's the book? (2009-09-09T08:46:07Z) in python
Seriously, it's a more formidable task than it appears.
931. On web sanity (2009-09-07T08:26:45Z) in web, software engineering, architecture
I think this goes for the "GeoWeb" too. We're delivering too much desktop GIS over the web. It's a point made also by Brian Noyle, though I see Flex, Silverlight, .NET, and MVC as parts of the problem, not the solution.
928. GeoAlchemy (2009-08-16T14:09:24Z) in python
Looks like something that could become very useful for Python and GIS programmers who work with a spatial RDBMS.
927. Evolvability (2009-08-12T15:45:58Z) in architecture, web, standards
Andrew Turner quoted me yesterday. The missing context of the quote, which I've linked to several times, is Clay Shirky's essay in praise of evolvable systems.
926. Data blogging (2009-08-10T14:51:20Z) in architecture, web, data, standards, atom, science
A sensor is just a little robo-blogger, right? Let's connect them to the web with blog technology.
925. Saint-Guillaume-le-Désert (2009-08-10T12:07:33Z) in geography
Sunday, we spent the entire day out and about in the neighborhood of Saint Guillaume-le-Désert.
924. Rtree 0.5.0 (2009-08-06T15:24:09Z) in the lab, python
See Howard Butler's release note for details.
923. It's the imagery, stupid (2009-08-05T18:51:07Z) in standards
It's all about the free-ish imagery on the KML platform.
922. 5 years (2009-08-04T21:25:37Z) in web, rest, standards, architecture
Finally done?
921. Place de la Canourgue (2009-07-31T21:34:14Z) in geography
This little place is a gem, and its immediate environs the most pleasant spot we've found in Montpellier.
920. KML and links (2009-07-31T09:07:08Z) in web, data, architecture
What do the people pushing "GeoWeb" at Google, a company founded on links, think about geographic data and web architecture?
917. Geo-grandiosity (2009-07-27T09:38:19Z) in geography, science
Do GIS paradigms and processes scale infinitely inward and outward?
916. Collections, queries, and REST (2009-07-24T08:34:45Z) in web, rest, architecture
Create a new resource for each user collection that exposes a list of the most recent editions of each book, along with links to the new and currently held editions, formatted using Atom so that you can track updates in a feed reader, and you're all set.
915. Ambrussum (2009-07-20T12:23:59Z) in recreation, geography
I took our highly energetic older daughter on an expedition to find the Gallo-Roman site of Ambrussum yesterday.
914. JTS on App Engine (2009-07-10T12:24:01Z) in web
That didn't take long: http://giscloud.appspot.com/.
913. Nous sommes arrivés à Montpellier (2009-07-06T23:27:11Z) in geography, life
We're in the quartier Les Cévennes which rather reminds me of some Albuquerque neighborhoods.
912. We're hosting the Tour (2009-07-06T21:39:36Z) in recreation
We'll try to reproduce these shots during the race tomorrow afternoon.
911. Geo interface and Python 2.6 (2009-06-25T15:49:07Z) in the lab, python
The geojson module does this for you, and more, but clearly needs to work with json from 2.6 as well as simplejson.
910. Showing support for GIS-Python software (2009-06-22T19:01:41Z) in the lab, community, open source, pleiades
Are these packages important to you and your company or organization? Do you appreciate them?
909. Rtree 0.4.3 (2009-06-05T23:17:45Z) in the lab, python
No need to upgrade the spatialindex lib.
908. Dissecting recovery.gov (2009-06-05T15:14:37Z) in architecture, web, data, standards, government
Erik Wilde has been digging into recovery.gov from the start and has some excellent recommendations for open, transparent architecture.
907. OpenLayers Atom (2009-06-03T22:51:02Z) in web, data, rest, atom
I've overhauled some older code so that it conforms almost completely to RFC 4287 and submitted a patch for OpenLayers: #1366.
905. Buildout, Django, Solr (2009-06-01T12:38:48Z) in web, python
More interesting to my readers, I suspect, is Bertrand Mathieu's configuration for building out Django, Solr, and supervisord.
904. Rtree 0.4.2 (2009-05-28T22:37:33Z) in the lab, python
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Rtree/0.4.2.
903. Jack Camel (2009-05-21T18:40:22Z) in industry, python, media, community, programming
Owning the GIS curriculum in US colleges isn't locking in future revenue streams enough already?
902. Reactions (2009-05-20T19:46:05Z) in web, data, rest, standards, atom
Some reactions on the web to the Google Maps Data API announcement.
901. Geo + AtomPub (2009-05-20T17:43:41Z) in atom
Google Maps Data API. We have been telling you AtomPub would be a big deal.
900. Diving into Shapely 1.1 (2009-05-18T21:53:10Z) in the lab, python, programming
It's not been tested on Windows at all, but might work with some coaxing.
898. Look what I found in KML (2009-05-12T17:03:59Z) in rest, web, standards, architecture
A neat find because we need more working examples of service descriptions.
896. Philosopher's Stone (2009-04-23T18:07:32Z) in web, industry, rest, standards, atom
Jeff Harrison tries to flip the alchemist label back onto the web wonks.
895. Generic geometry library (2009-04-13T14:34:37Z) in open source, the lab
The Generic Geometry Library (via Mateusz Loskot) looks interesting.
894. Shapely 1.0.12 (2009-04-09T22:14:38Z) in the lab
This release fixes a reference counting bug.
893. GeoRSS media type? (2009-04-08T17:11:45Z) in web, data, atom
Is there anything to be gained by having a special GeoRSS media type that overrode the Atom or RSS media types?
892. REST vs SOAP at ESRI DevSummit (2009-04-08T16:44:28Z) in rest, web, media, industry
Before his presentation becomes canon in the ESRI user community, I'd like folks to consider:
891. Keytree 0.2.1 (2009-04-05T04:51:12Z) in python, data, pleiades
Now, I'm trying to decide if something similar would be useful for Atom with GeoRSS.
890. Sensible observation services, part 2 (2009-04-03T16:31:58Z) in rest, web, data, atom
SOA didn't say how to spatially or temporally slice data. SOA said "have services". Services with well-defined interfaces. It's up to communities to define those interfaces. It's the same for RESTful architectures.
889. REST in reality (2009-04-02T22:20:23Z) in rest, industry, data
This isn't finance. Sometimes non-transactional is more honest.
888. OpenLayers constrained by hypertext (2009-03-31T22:50:45Z) in web, programming, rest
All data the OpenLayers code needs to render a map of the place is now discoverable through HTML links without having to go out of band.
887. Spring is officially here (2009-03-25T15:50:57Z) in nature
You know Spring has really returned to Fort Collins when the turkey vultures show up.
886. Good because it's good (2009-03-21T04:03:29Z) in rest, web, standards
REST isn't good because it's trendy, it's good because it's good. Loose coupling. Scalability. Evolvability. Serendipitous reuse. A real alternative to RPC.
885. Implications of WMTS for S3 tiles (2009-03-19T18:27:41Z) in web, rest, standards, architecture
Check out this interesting post by Randy George concerning S3 map tiles for DeepEarth: Theproject also includes an example showing how to set up a local tile set. The example uses256×256 tiles but not in the OSGeo TMS directory structure. Here is a...
884. Commenting on OGC WMTS (2009-03-19T15:54:52Z) in rest, web, standards
Meanwhile, I've started a discussion on geo-web-rest by posting my comment verbatim, and will write a bit more about the candidate standard here.
883. Sensible observation services (2009-03-16T23:32:22Z) in web, data, atom
What is an ASOS station or a data buoy if not a very dedicated non-human blogger?
882. Behind the curtain (2009-03-08T23:21:56Z) in web, rest
Does it matter to a RESTful zealot that ESRI?s REST API is a cover for SOAP?
881. Unbearable liteness (2009-03-06T17:25:19Z) in architecture, web, rest
Lets you achieve simple goals simply, but not itself a simple thing -- is this too wonky a notion to get across?
880. Transliterating from Greek and Latin (2009-03-04T21:02:27Z) in pleiades, python
The code we use to transliterate names from Greek and Latin writing systems in the style of the Barrington Atlas is now available from our package index.
878. Give it a REST (2009-02-23T17:25:51Z) in rest, web
I'd like to see more GIS developers follow the lead of CloudMade and tout HTTP APIs.
877. Plugins for Shapely (2009-02-19T16:26:03Z) in the lab, python, software engineering
In theory, this makes it possible to a write an application using Shapely that can run on either C Python, Jython, or IronPython. In practice, the plugin framework is helping to improve the testability and quality of Shapely's code.
876. Critique of WxS, en Français (2009-02-14T21:31:19Z) in web, standards, architecture
I think this is the first time I've been translated.
875. Making data more citable (2009-02-13T15:33:02Z) in web, data, science
Shorter Kurt Schwehr: your data needs a cool URI.
873. What's the beef? (2009-02-04T17:45:38Z) in web, community, industry, open source, rest, standards
The answer requires a few more than 140 characters.
872. Busting RESTful GIS myths (2009-02-02T19:44:36Z) in web, rest, standards, architecture
I'm going to use the announcement of Nanaimo's "authentic Web" GIS as an occasion to debunk some myths about REST and the Web, and their fitness for designing alternatives to the OGC's service architecture, that surfaced on Twitter last week.
871. Nanaimo's RESTful GIS (2009-02-01T19:27:18Z) in web, rest, government
Webarch, REST, and GIS for "the town that Google Earth ate", Nanaimo, BC. Very nice.
870. A more perfect union, continued (2009-01-27T21:38:36Z) in the lab, python
Shapely never had the power to dissolve adjacent polygons in a collection before, or at least not over large collections of real-world data. GEOS 3.1's cascaded unions are a big help.
867. Services and web resources (2009-01-21T21:12:07Z) in web
Are these OGC web services not web resources at all, or just broken ones that might be patched up with appropriate representations and HTTP status codes?
866. KML and atom:link (2009-01-21T13:41:29Z) in standards, web, atom
Jason Birch is right in wanting to use rel="alternate" in his KML atom:link, and the OGC KML spec is wrong in limiting us to "rel=related".
865. Mocking GEOS (2009-01-20T18:21:02Z) in programming, python, the lab, software engineering
My use of mocks isn't as sophisticated as Dave's, perhaps, but I stumbled onto a simple testing pattern that might be useful to other Python geospatial/GIS developers who are wrapping C libs using ctypes.
864. Toward Shapely 1.1 (2009-01-20T16:10:52Z) in the lab, python
Feel free to grab the new code from its Subversion repository.
863. Open access to National GIS data (2009-01-16T16:20:04Z) in data, government
I believe I will write my new Senator, Mark Udall (do I ever love typing that phrase!), and see if he's interested in doing something about it.
862. Links in content (2009-01-15T20:13:48Z) in web, rest
If your services aspire to the level of infrastructure, links in content is a better architectural style than one where all clients break when the API changes, or that demand a client upgrade to get access to any new capabilities.
860. OpenLayers and Djatoka imagery (2009-01-04T17:51:10Z) in imagery, open source, library
Hugh Cayless has written an OpenURL image layer for OpenLayers that pulls imagery from Djakota.
859. More decoration (2009-01-02T18:03:01Z) in python
Are decorators merely cosmetic? I'm of the opinion that some syntaxes are better than others.
858. How to decorate Python GIS code (2008-12-30T19:42:20Z) in python
Last month I blogged about Python logging and how to avoid using print statements in geoprocessing code. But your crufty old code isn't going to rewrite itself, and you're overworked already.
856. I can has Python and GIS environments? (2008-12-23T23:45:39Z) in the lab, python, software engineering
I've spent this short week tuning up my new laptop's development environment, and a side effect of this work is a new build system for replicable, isolated Python, GIS, and image/raster processing environments.
854. Geojson 1.0.1 (2008-12-21T04:10:05Z) in the lab, python
Geojson 1.0.1 fixes a bug in serialization of features with no geometry.
852. My new project (2008-12-17T21:03:31Z) in life
Born Saturday, a few days early.
851. Semantic web at CAA 2009 (2008-12-12T15:56:06Z) in digital humanities, web
There will be a semantic web session at CAA 2009.
849. Why not CIDOC CRM at this time (2008-12-10T18:03:38Z) in web, pleiades, standards
Our decision to defer use of properties of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) is explained in this memo.
848. Surging! (2008-12-09T15:21:33Z) in industry, standards
Some say the "Geo-Gopher" is surging, and it may well be. Any numbers?
847. Get your Python 3000 geometries on (2008-12-04T22:11:06Z) in the lab, python
Python 3.0 is final and I've pushed my port of Shapely to GitHub: http://github.com/sgillies/shapely-3k/tree/master.
844. The beds we make (2008-12-01T15:50:03Z) in standards
To the extent that INSPIRE is guided by the OGC, how could it have chosen anything but SOAP?
843. REST solutions (2008-11-26T16:54:15Z) in rest, web
"Resources derive from the solution domain, not part of the problem domain.".
840. Why not Atom-powered repositories? (2008-11-21T23:14:24Z) in atom, web
Less like EPrints, DSpace, or Fedora; more like Google's data APIs, more like what Peter Keane is doing with DASe.
839. Shapely 1.0.11 and onward (2008-11-20T16:47:20Z) in the lab, python
If I were superstitious, I wouldn't post a link to http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Shapely/1.0.11. Tests pass, the release candidate checked out, it's good to go.
838. HTTP caching explained (2008-11-19T17:43:40Z) in web
Even if you already know, you'll likely appreciate Ryan Tomayko's explanation of the things caches do.
837. Maps, France 1944 (2008-11-18T17:34:31Z) in cartography, life
Yesterday, I received in the mail my grandfather's cloth escape maps of France, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany.
836. Shapely 1.0.10 (2008-11-18T04:07:47Z) in the lab
Somewhere along the way I became too lax about testing compatibility with GEOS 2.2.3, and it was broken in the 1.0.8 release.
835. Shapely 1.0.9 (2008-11-17T03:43:10Z) in the lab
Shapely 1.0.9 works with a MacPorts libgeos. No need to upgrade otherwise.
834. GeoJSON is not hypermedia (2008-11-13T23:36:17Z) in web, data, rest
In conclusion, GeoJSON 1.0 is not a hypermedia format. Without links there are no levers of application state to be seized, no hypertext constraint, and therefore no REST.
833. Nearest book (2008-11-13T22:56:24Z) in recreation
A book excerpt meme is propagating through Python blogs. Why not?
832. Python logging (2008-11-11T19:00:42Z) in python, programming
Today's tip: excellent application logging and how to avoid using print statements in your production code.
830. Change (2008-11-03T04:43:33Z) in politics, life
After 7 disastrous years of mal-intent and incompetence, let's give the hopeful and serious a chance. It's time for a change.
829. Shapely 1.0.8 (2008-11-01T18:22:30Z) in the lab, zope
An upgrade is recommended if you're using Zope or a similar framework.
828. Multiprocessing with Rtree (2008-10-30T19:49:11Z) in python, the lab
I came up with an example of how Python's multiprocessing package could be used to set up a simple R-Tree index server:
827. Geo-enabling CouchDB (2008-10-29T15:55:01Z) in programming, python, the lab, data
I suggested in comments that GeoCouch might want to take advantage of the GeoJSON group's work, on geometry formatting at least.
826. Zotero Update (2008-10-29T14:47:05Z) in open source, community, industry, digital humanities
"CHNM announces that it has re-released the full functionality of Zotero 1.5 Sync Review to its users and the open source community.".
824. New blogs around OpenLayers and Python (2008-10-22T15:43:36Z) in media, open source
My Zope guru, Whit Morris, is writing on a new OpenGeo, and there are two new blogs related to MapFish by Cédric Moullet and Eric Lemoine.
822. ORE 1.0 (2008-10-21T15:13:52Z) in web, data, standards
The discussion around ORE opened minds all around: I was clued in to Linked Data and had my interest in RDF rekindled; the ORE authors came around to embracing the practices of the Atom community.
821. Long, lonely tail (2008-10-20T22:03:34Z) in web, media
This reminds of the geospatial/geoweb community's fascination with "top 25" lists and preference for popular blogs over idiosyncratic blogs.
818. Beers and Python GIS in Praha (2008-10-03T07:49:41Z) in community, python
One of the highlights of this trip was the chance to meet fellow Python and GIS programmer, and blogger, Jáchym ?epický.
816. OpenLayers and 900913 (2008-09-19T17:21:11Z) in pleiades
Thanks to some hand holding from Chris and Josh, Pleiades now has Spherical Mercator maps using the Google physical geography layer as a stand-in for our ideal ancient world base map.
815. Geojson and pyproj interop (2008-09-18T21:20:13Z) in the lab, python
I've just finished writing a module that supports projection of objects that provide the geometry part of the Lab's geo interface: proj.py.
814. Adding pyproj to a buildout (2008-09-18T16:11:54Z) in zope, python
Pyproj is Jeffrey Whitaker's Python interface to PROJ.4. It depends on Cython, which makes it a bit tricky to include in a buildout: you must install Cython into your buildout's python, not as an egg, and make the pyproj egg only after this step is finished.
813. kml:description considered harmful (2008-09-17T15:39:58Z) in data, standards, atom
Limitations of KML's description element and its ties to the original implementation hold us back. We need something better.
812. G(eo)nomes of Atlanta (2008-09-16T18:41:52Z) in industry, standards
Inside the "Open" Geospatial Consortium there are yet more inner circles?
811. Python packaging and builds (2008-09-15T18:15:05Z) in python, software engineering
Do read Teague's post to the django-developers list if you're new to the Python software ecosystem.
810. C-List and proud of it (2008-09-09T16:33:54Z) in media
Technorati is totally busted for doing this kind of analysis.
809. POST(a) and POST(p) (2008-09-08T16:52:15Z) in rest
It's great to see others like Vish continuing to write about REST in geospatial (I continue to stalk the term).
808. The other GeoWeb (2008-09-05T18:02:17Z) in data, web
I forgot to mention that there's a third "GeoWeb": the web of data that links to GeoNames, U.S. Census, etc.
807. Will the real "GeoWeb" please stand up? (2008-08-29T18:28:16Z) in industry, web
Is one of these the real "GeoWeb", or are they just two parts of the same elephant? Can anyone describe how such a beast works?
806. On the road (2008-08-29T16:05:53Z) in geography
I'd enjoy meeting up with open source GIS or classics programmers along my route.
805. Lex parsimoniae (2008-08-27T16:46:56Z) in media
See also Occam's Razor.
804. GIS-Python Lab website update (2008-08-27T16:16:25Z) in the lab, community
I've tuned up the http://gispython.org page; adding links to similar enterprises, highlighting the email list, and exposing project news items.
803. Friends don't let friends use Endnote (2008-08-26T04:05:17Z) in data, digital humanities
Kurt, I have in fact seen mapping integrated with Zotero. Shekhar Krishnan used the GeoNames database to locate items by their place of publication in a demo at THATCamp.
802. Shapely 1.0.7 (2008-08-23T03:41:47Z) in the lab, python
Version 1.0.7 fixes problems with polygon ring dimensions and reference cycles.
801. Mapping McCain's homes (2008-08-21T20:09:36Z) in politics, media, vulgar geography, cartography
Speaking of maps in the media, I like this one of John McCain's homes.
800. Easier (2008-08-21T16:53:24Z) in python, programming
Mateusz's post about marshaling geometries from hex-encoded WKB strings in C++ reminded me how easy this is in Python using built-in string methods and Shapely.
799. Better (2008-08-21T16:01:50Z) in python
This is better, as I was saying. It's nice to see Python catching on in my home state's GIS department.
798. REST and JSON (2008-08-19T21:16:53Z) in data, rest
The GeoJSON working group didn't target specification of an API, but I always imagined we'd be using something like this.
797. tg.ext.geo (2008-08-18T21:14:21Z) in python, the lab, community
TurboGears will join the ranks of geospatially-enabled Python frameworks with the addition of tg.ext.geo to tgtools.
796. The distinction between disciplined and simple (2008-08-16T20:55:36Z) in rest, web
If there's anything the GIS mainstream knows about REST, it's that REST is simpler and more lightweight than SOAP, "Web Services", or the OGC's service architecture. This notion is erroneous, and it's irresponsible to propagate it.
795. Down to earth (2008-08-15T18:05:43Z) in software engineering
if anybody can rescue the concept of geospatial cloud computing from the pundits, Kirk Kuykendall can.
794. Who is playing whom? (2008-08-14T20:12:13Z) in open source, community, industry
Sounds like FOSS4G 2008 is going to have an even stronger proprietary flavor than the 2007 edition.
793. Django on Jython (2008-08-14T16:14:19Z) in python
I could see Shapely or GeoDjango adapted to Jython to bring some geoprocessing power to the framework.
792. Rocky Mountain Rail Authority Study (2008-08-13T04:16:29Z) in geography
It's about damn time. I don't care if the study has to use the most paleo-proprietary software one can find, let's get this on.
791. "Web GIS" versus "GeoWeb" (2008-08-08T16:19:56Z) in web
The "GeoWeb" proposition repels me. Maybe it's a matter of taste, but I'd find discussion of MusicWebs, VideoWebs, and BookWebs equally unproductive.
790. Clouds and hypertext (2008-08-02T17:51:03Z) in web, rest, atom
There are some actual architectural constraints that make these "Cloud" applications feasible. One of them, and the one that has been almost entirely missing in so-called "GeoWeb" applications to date, is hypertext.
789. Geojson 1.0 (2008-08-02T04:09:38Z) in the lab, python, data
Share and enjoy.
788. High Country News and Plone (2008-07-24T17:39:10Z) in plone, media
I've read the print manifestation of High Country News for years and am delighted to find out today that the new http://hcn.org site is based on Plone. Congratulations Jon and ONE/Northwest.
787. Coda (2008-07-23T17:38:58Z) in web
See update to http://sgillies.net/blog/690/no-wms-in-google-static-maps-api.
786. Weak references (2008-07-23T17:23:44Z) in python, the lab, programming
I've been living off of them for years, but have finally found a use for Python's weak references in my own code.
785. Linking open geographic data (2008-07-21T18:27:31Z) in data, web
This graph of data has grown by leaps and bounds since we pitched Concordia. We didn't initially propose to join the Linked Data project, but I'd really like to see Ancient World datasets link themselves together in this way.
784. Blog hauling (2008-07-16T17:19:40Z) in media
I'm moving my blog to http://sgillies.net/blog/.
781. Shapely 1.0.6 (2008-07-10T05:03:01Z) in the lab, python
Shapely 1.0.6 is uploaded.
780. Get your Grand Tour on (2008-07-09T16:09:09Z) in recreation
My interest in pro cycling bottomed out last summer, but Get Your Grand Tour On has completely revived it. Inspired by David Rees's brilliant Get Your War On, brace yourself for sarcasm and obscenity.
779. Explain? (2008-07-07T23:17:52Z) in rest, standards
Except for very large values of "inconsistent" -- like "one or the other doesn't use HTTP" -- I think a little more explanation is needed to support this: "REST-based architectures are not inconsistent with the WFS specification.".
777. REST anti-patterns (2008-07-07T14:47:09Z) in rest, web
I've recommended a couple of Stefan Tilkov's articles before; his new one on REST anti-patterns is equally good. See if you can recognize the anti-patterns most commonly used in geospatial services.
776. Geojson 1.0 beta 1 (2008-07-02T17:14:07Z) in the lab, python
We've renamed our "GeoJSON" package to "geojson", uploaded the first beta release, and plan to finalize it within a couple weeks.
775. Fava time (2008-06-21T05:02:23Z) in food and drink, recreation
We had our first favas this evening, sautéed with garlic in olive oil. Pink Côtes de Provence, not Chianti, and ravioli, not liver.
774. Parallels (2008-06-17T17:46:44Z) in data, web, standards
Andy Powell's presentation on Web 2.0 and repositories is just as relevant a read for GIS designers as it is for archivists.
773. GeoJSON ships (2008-06-16T18:24:04Z) in standards, community, data
Congratulations, everyone.
772. Guerrilla SOA (2008-06-16T13:50:03Z) in web, rest
Those of you interested in applying Agile software development methodology to geographic or GIS Web services may be interested in this talk by a couple of ThoughtWorks gurus: Does my bus look big in this?. In the second half, Martin Fowler and Jim Webber make analogies from Agile development practices and benefits to using the Web/REST for agile deployment and integration.
771. Feature query languages (2008-06-13T19:35:09Z) in programming, data
What concerns me right now as I face this WorldMill patch is that SQL may not be the right model at all for this sort of domain specific language.
770. Penstemonium (2008-06-12T23:51:05Z) in nature, life
This is P. Strictus, perhaps the most beautiful perennial wildflower of the Mountain West, just beginning to bloom today.
769. XML mapfile (2008-06-11T19:38:49Z) in mapserver
Heh. I think "XML mapfile" is a stage that many people (myself included) just have to go through on their way to enlightenment. See also bargaining.
766. THATCamp (2008-06-02T23:33:18Z) in digital humanities
Dear Jeremy, Dave, Tom, Dan, and the CHNM crew, thank you for having me out for the inaugural THATCamp!
765. Everyone's a historian now (2008-05-30T04:47:56Z) in digital humanities, web
Stephen Mihm's article in the Boston Globe highlights several different projects using the Internet and its communities to examine American History in new ways.
763. xISBN and REST (2008-05-28T06:39:29Z) in web, data
Looking at the xISBN service docs tonight while running Pleiades data import tests, I see that there is support for "REST-ful" short URLs in version 1 and cool URIs in version 2.
762. Planet Geospatial (2008-05-27T18:47:16Z) in media, community
It's weird what an influence his site has on the informal discourse of the GIS business.
761. Public Service, Public Data, and the Web (2008-05-27T17:35:26Z) in web, industry, data, standards
Next time I speak to a non-technical audience about the "GeoWeb", I'm going to lean heavily on Paul Ramsey's clever and informative talk (click through for the PDF).
760. Tilt! (2008-05-21T18:09:54Z) in data
Placebase's Pushpin API provides a format they call "GeoJSON", which should be good except that it has the wrong coordinate order.
759. GeoHash and BigTable (2008-05-21T17:58:01Z) in python
A while ago I wrote about cool stuff that could start to happen when Google's AppEngine supported bounding box searches for geo data.
758. Barrington Atlas Feature IDs and Unicode Normalization (2008-05-21T17:22:06Z) in python, web, pleiades, digital humanities
pleiades.normalizer reduces Barrington Atlas labels which may contain annotation and non-ASCII characters to ASCII strings suitable for use in URI templates.
757. Shapely 1.0.5 (2008-05-20T14:40:54Z) in the lab, python
Shapely 1.0.5 now includes a flexible polygonizer, documented in section 2.5.1 of the updated manual, and makes it harder to create a particular class of broken geometries.
756. Dark Matter of the "GeoWeb" (2008-05-14T13:12:53Z) in web
Hanke wasn't referring just to ESRI silos, but also to the data stuck behind WMS and GetFeatureInfo(), WFS and GetFeature().
755. OWSLib 0.3 (2008-05-08T19:34:20Z) in the lab, python, data, standards
OWSLib 0.3 adds preliminary support for coverage services, contributed by Dominic Lowe.
754. Shapely Debs (2008-05-08T19:00:24Z) in the lab
I'm a big fan of the Debian GIS project and pleased to see that Shapely is getting some of its attention.
753. Line Simplification (2008-05-06T19:31:41Z) in python, the lab
I just want to point out how well Schuyler Erle's implementation of Douglas-Peucker line simplification works with Shapely.
752. The Programming Historian (2008-05-05T15:08:16Z) in digital humanities, python, programming
The Programming Historian looks great to me. It covers HTML parsing (with Beautiful Soup), regular expressions, Unicode, and link traversing, with more to come.
751. Shapely 1.0.4 (2008-05-02T03:48:34Z) in the lab, python
One bug fix and a simple GEOS geometry cache to improve performance when wrapping coordinate data stored outside of Shapely.
750. Keytree (2008-05-01T21:30:26Z) in python, pleiades
Keytree (also known as pleiades.keytree in our repository) is a simple package of ElementTree helpers for parsing KML.
749. QGIS Python Plugins (2008-05-01T06:12:57Z) in python
I think it would be neat to see QGIS community plugins done Trac-style, as eggs.
748. Don't Save the Whales (2008-04-30T17:20:44Z) in politics
Wouldn't you know: Dick Cheney and his shadow scientific community have other plans for those Right Whales.
747. SpatialIndex 1.3.1 (2008-04-30T16:42:59Z) in the lab
Howard and Marios have released SpatialIndex 1.3.1.
745. Python Geo Frameworks 2 (2008-04-29T17:19:32Z) in open source, community, python
Here, continuing on from my previous post, are some of the forces arrayed against an all-encompassing OSGeo Python framework.
744. GeoJSON 1.0a4 (2008-04-28T17:06:43Z) in the lab, python
Matthew Russell and I have brought it up to date with the current draft version of the spec and uploaded 1.0a4 to PyPI.
743. WordPress Commenting Trouble (2008-04-24T15:42:54Z) in web
My comments on WordPress blogs this week are vanishing without any confirmation or trace. I'll bundle them together here as a last resort.
742. Python Geo Frameworks (2008-04-23T22:48:56Z) in python, the lab
Those who do not learn from the history of PCL_ are doomed to repeat it.
741. Logo Fiasco (2008-04-22T16:49:00Z) in media
Fort Collins, my hometown, "where renewal is a way of life" (ugh), is going through a branding and logo fiasco. But maybe we should be grateful: it could have been much much worse.
740. Vulture Roost (2008-04-22T02:33:56Z) in nature
Here's the neighborhood vulture roost at sunset, with half of the birds still incoming.
738. KML Standardization (2008-04-16T17:23:50Z) in industry, standards
One thing that nobody has mentioned is how much the OGC needed KML standardization.
737. Python re.cipe (2008-04-14T19:05:44Z) in python, programming
Python's regular expressions aren't as expressive or as built in as Perl's, but there's nothing you can't do by using a callable object as the second argument to re.sub.
736. More Gardening (2008-04-14T14:37:41Z) in recreation
Are people from a farming or gardening tradition more likely to cultivate open source software?
735. Fava (2008-04-13T20:46:07Z) in recreation
The fava beans we planted 16 days ago finally came up yesterday.
734. Pop! (2008-04-10T18:37:31Z) in media
Heads explode as Adena Schutzberg links to the Great Orange Satan.
733. Attribution (2008-04-10T17:11:17Z) in media
You are free to share and remix the content of my blog, including code and data examples. In return, please attribute my work.
732. Shell History (2008-04-10T16:03:06Z) in media, programming
Why not?
731. Shapely 1.0.3 (2008-04-09T21:22:43Z) in the lab, python
This release fixes another operator chaining bug and makes multi-threaded use more safe.
730. Shorter Paul Smith (2008-04-09T14:58:09Z) in media, web
Christopher Schmidt rocks your world.
729. Google App Engine (2008-04-08T14:35:42Z) in python, web
Python, WSGI, and Bigtable (well, non-relational datastores generally) are 3 things I've been telling geospatial folks to keep an eye on.
727. Useful GMaps GeoRSS Quirk (2008-04-05T04:53:06Z) in atom, vulgar geography
I'm thinking this quirk just might be a good practice.
726. Vulgar Geography (2008-04-04T23:11:21Z) in geography
I like Tom's new name for "neogeography" so much that I'm adopting it for my blog tagline.
725. Poudre River Osprey (2008-04-04T16:09:03Z) in nature, recreation
My reward for braving the blustery weather to run yesterday was seeing 3 Osprey, just arrived from their winter range, fishing at the "ponds" (flooded gravel pits) along the Cache la Poudre River.
724. Emerging Geo Technology (2008-04-02T17:11:31Z) in industry, web, media, rest, atom, standards
Looks like Andrew Turner's presentation provided the fresh air that Ed Parsons was enjoying.
723. Vimperator (2008-03-31T23:25:36Z) in web
I'm loving Vimperator.
722. Mush and Paste (2008-03-31T23:08:14Z) in atom, web, python, data, pleiades
I've added a service to Mush that demonstrates the concept of dereferencing linked locations.
721. They Tell Stories (2008-03-28T21:44:50Z) in data, web
Charles Cummings's The 21 Steps supports my thesis that not only is one location not enough to tell a story, one narrative or analytical chunk is not enough to tell a story.
720. GeoRSS 2.0? (2008-03-27T22:01:07Z) in web, data, standards
I saw several references to "GeoRSS 2.0" recently by people who are attending the OGC TC meeting in St. Louis. Here's my 2 cents on 2.0.
719. THATCamp (2008-03-27T16:09:12Z) in digital humanities
Maybe I'll see you at THATCamp, 5/31-6/1? I'm particularly eager to find out how folks are using syndication, AtomPub, and GeoRSS.
718. Grant Award (2008-03-26T21:24:45Z) in pleiades, digital humanities
Tom and I get to continue the kind of academic research that James Fee so loves.
717. The GeoWeb That Might Have Been (2008-03-26T16:41:37Z) in web, industry, data
Searching for "geoweb architecture" turns up some interesting stuff, like this "GeoWeb" "based on a hierarchy of servers whose domain names represent geographic areas".
716. Alamosa's Dirty Water (2008-03-25T21:07:10Z) in life
Look on the bright side, Alamosans: you may be puking your guts out, perhaps hospitalized, and can't drink your municipal water for a couple weeks yet, but at least it wasn't bio-terruh!
715. The Wings of Spring (2008-03-25T04:55:35Z) in life
Nevermind the Swallows of Capistrano: the surest sign of spring is when the Turkey Vultures return to 920 West Mountain Avenue in Fort Collins.
714. Rtree 0.4.1 (2008-03-24T20:00:44Z) in the lab, python
It is important to upgrade from Rtree 0.4 to 0.4.1 if you're using it within long-running Python processes. No upgrade from spatiaindex 1.3.0 is necessary.
713. ESRI, Developers, REST (2008-03-19T14:17:30Z) in rest, web, industry
Resource oriented architecture, state transfer, entity tags ... ESRI is putting the Web back in "GeoWeb".
712. OGC URN Internet-Draft (2008-03-18T16:51:25Z) in standards, web
I'm enthusiastic about draft-creed-ogc-urn-03.txt.
711. Multiple Locations in GeoRSS (2008-03-18T16:31:35Z) in vulgar geography, web, media, atom
Feed entries are cheap: if you need more locations, add more entries.
710. AtomPub for zgeo.atom (2008-03-14T05:11:17Z) in zope, the lab, rest, atom
Now, zgeo.atom has an incomplete, but functional Atom publishing protocol.
709. Fire Eagle and Shapely (2008-03-14T04:05:46Z) in web, the lab, python, data, vulgar geography
Fire Eagle GeoJSON is fixed. Shapely is great for doing things with your data.
707. Sunset on Nebuka (2008-03-11T15:16:29Z) in recreation
Being buried in snow all winter didn't bother them at all.
706. ArcDeveloper REST (2008-03-10T18:18:06Z) in rest, web, industry, standards
ArcGIS developers are embracing Web architecture as enthusiastically as we on the open source side. Maybe even a bit more.
704. Frugosapalooza Wrap Up (2008-03-06T17:13:23Z) in community
Helping Brian realize his idea was fun. Here's his summary. What's next?
703. Representing OGC Services in Atom Feeds (2008-03-05T20:28:48Z) in atom, web, data, standards
I think that a custom link relation could be the hint Jeroen is looking for. The OGC's content type problem still needs to be fixed.
702. The Fear and Insecurity Industry (2008-03-05T17:15:38Z) in life, industry
According to the map, I live in a medium risk zone ... should I be moving to Montana soon?
701. OAI-ORE, Aggregate Resources, and Atom (2008-03-04T18:16:36Z) in data, web, pleiades, standards, atom
We have some graph-y plans for the resources of Pleiades and related projects that fit perfectly with ORE.
700. Fun With Shapely (2008-03-03T18:15:22Z) in the lab, python
Very cool. Is this neogeogenomics? I hope the JTS/GEOS architects are equally pleased.
699. Rethinking GSDI Architecture (2008-03-03T17:21:19Z) in web, community, industry, rest, standards
Ed Parsons and Chris Holmes were at the GSDI-10 conference and have each written posts about "GeoWebs" and "Global Spatial Data Infrastructures" that touch one of my favorite topics: architecture.
698. G(eo)nomes of Vancouver (2008-02-29T17:15:06Z) in industry
Anybody else ever play Steve Jackson's Illuminati card game?
696. Not-Quite-Web Processing Service (2008-02-27T06:25:00Z) in standards, web
I had a longer post about the new WPS specification that I scrapped after I realized that it reduces to this: the OGC WPS working group gets the formats and parameters more or less right as usual (good), but still can't find any respect for HTTP as a...
694. InscriptOL Source (2008-02-26T20:39:48Z) in pleiades, digital humanities
By popular demand (okay, 2 people asked), you can now browse or clone the inscriptOL repo.
692. Python, MapServer, and WSGI (2008-02-23T20:44:46Z) in mapserver, python
To enable this is why I added an OWSRequest class and image byte access to mapscript.
689. Shapely Mention (2008-02-20T22:31:36Z) in the lab, pleiades
It feels good to read about Shapely being put to use in EveryBlock alongside OpenLayers, Mapnik, PostGIS, OGR, and TileCache.
688. Pleistocene World WMS? (2008-02-20T18:15:43Z) in data
Yo, Lazyweb: is there a publicly available WMS providing maps of the Pleistocene world, or some layers thereof?
687. Nit of the Day (2008-02-18T19:37:09Z) in data
GeoRSS is not a format.
686. Atom and GML Simple for OpenLayers (2008-02-17T21:46:12Z) in rest, web, atom
I submitted the new Atom and GMLSF formats to OpenLayers (#1366) and look forward to working with the developers to get them into an upcoming release.
685. Still Not Getting it (2008-02-16T20:53:58Z) in open source, media
Open source is about freedom, not about cost-free operation. How many times does this have to be said?
684. Growth of the "GeoWeb" (2008-02-15T19:37:30Z) in industry
My own take is that the WxS-based "GeoWeb" is more like Gopher circa 1993.
682. Geo Web Frameworks (2008-02-13T19:51:46Z) in web
The biggest reason to go with Django is, of course, PostGIS.
681. FDO and OSGeo Incubation (2008-02-13T17:22:09Z) in open source
OSGeo's "A for effort" incubation policy needs to be reconsidered.
680. Entity Tag (2008-02-13T03:39:55Z) in web
OGC update sequence? Why bother when HTTP/1.1 already specifies ETag?
679. Watching the Telethon (2008-02-11T18:39:44Z) in industry
If your tech company doesn't have, or can't learn, the Javascript, SQL, and Java skills needed to deploy and run OpenLayers, PostGIS, and GeoServer, you'll be passed sooner or later by the companies that do.
677. Shapely 1.0.1 (2008-02-08T20:15:55Z) in the lab, python
A bug fix release.
675. ESRI's RESTful API (2008-02-06T21:58:00Z) in web, industry
There is resource-oriented thinking going on at ESRI.
674. Feeding Birds Again (2008-02-06T20:51:29Z) in life
I can't decide which feels more liberating: posting amateur bird photos, or writing about electoral politics.
673. Getting Political (2008-02-05T20:58:23Z) in politics
Democrats caucus in Colorado. It looks like it's going to be an interesting process.
672. Taking my own Advice (2008-02-05T19:36:48Z) in web
I had broken links on a previous blog post, but 2 mod_rewrite rules have moved resources and put all the services in working order for HTTP-savvy clients.
671. Long Live Chicago Crime (2008-02-05T18:08:49Z) in web, media
The transition of chicagocrime.org has been noted by geo-bloggers, but they are missing a key part of the story: the resources that had been hosted on chicagocrime.org are not dead at all.
670. The Planet of Digital Antiquities (2008-02-02T00:04:36Z) in media, community, pleiades, digital humanities
Have a peek into the world of ancient texts, historical sims, and virtual archaeology.
668. Buzzwords (2008-01-31T20:12:43Z) in media, web, industry, data
"GeoWeb" (or "Geospatial Web", or "Geospatial Semantic Web") is the one that really gets to me.
667. Beyond the RDBMS (2008-01-31T15:31:22Z) in industry, data
Martin Davis's post reminds me that the GIS industry, or at least the open source corner of it, still trails the Web community in thinking about data.
666. Frugosapalooza (2008-01-30T15:35:56Z) in community
Watch the wiki page for details.
664. Rtree, Shapely, and WorldMill: Jamming Econo (2008-01-24T23:25:46Z) in the lab, python, data
I just added Shapely 1.0 and Rtree 0.4 to the Gdawg buildout, where they join WorldMill 0.1. Together they create a friendly environment on the C Python platform where you can read GIS feature data, spatially index it, and manipulate its geometries.
663. Rtree 0.4 and Spatialindex 1.3 (2008-01-24T17:43:02Z) in the lab, python
I'm pleased to announce the releases of Rtree 0.4 and spatialindex 1.3.0.
662. EveryBlock (2008-01-24T03:37:16Z) in geography
Speaking of Django: EveryBlock, a new startup.
661. Django People Map (2008-01-23T18:57:37Z) in python, community
By Simon Willison: Django People. Using GeoDjango, maybe?
660. This Blog is for the Birds (2008-01-22T18:33:07Z) in recreation
He's giving me that annoyed look because I'm sticking the camera right in his face.
659. Feeding Birds and Feeding Birds (2008-01-21T22:30:31Z) in life, geography
Sadly, I'd removed my camera from our backpack just this morning or I would have been able to get a awesome wildlife action photo on my doorstep.
658. OSM Outshining GDAL and MapServer? (2008-01-19T20:00:17Z) in community
It's interesting that a technically savvy person starting from scratch today might find the OSM community first and completely overlook the old timers.
656. Data vs API (2008-01-18T19:36:50Z) in media
Brady Forrest nearly equates Zillow's free (as in speech) neighborhood boundary data with Urban Mapping's free (as in beer, while supplies last, domestic only - hey, no sharing) neighborhood ID API.
654. .aspx Considered Harmful (2008-01-18T15:54:16Z) in web
Says John Udell. I've been saying this about .php extensions for a while. One of my favorite URLs from last year: http://www.foss4g2007.org/presentations/html.php. html.php cracks me up.
652. Open Source CS-Map? (2008-01-17T19:34:19Z) in industry, media
Any news? Is it waiting on a MapGuide release or what?
648. Shapely Windows Installer (2008-01-14T21:59:50Z) in the lab, python
Thanks to distutils, even a know-nothing Linux zealot like myself can make Python distributions for Windows.
649. Count the Pikas (2008-01-14T18:31:00Z) in geography, media
Migrating poleward is not an option for every critter that lives on the alpine islands of North America.
647. On Config File Design (2008-01-11T17:19:11Z) in programming
Adding support for an interpreted language like Python or Javascript seems like a neat way to add more power while keeping simple things simple.
646. Parts is Parts (2008-01-09T22:05:32Z) in industry
Well, maybe, if you overlook a score of architectural and implementation details like protocols, wire formats, governance, terms of use, data quality, etc.
645. Atompubbase (2008-01-09T17:03:47Z) in rest, web, python
Joe Gregorio's atompubbase looks promising. To try it out, I ran the apexer program against my Hammock site.
644. Plone Geo Interoperability (2008-01-09T05:10:53Z) in plone, the lab
Zope's component architecture was designed in part to make it easier to bridge such gaps. Since I'm the one arguing that there is a real benefit to a less naive GIS approach, the obligation to build the bridge is on me. Geographer is my solution.
643. Count the Bears (2008-01-08T16:55:18Z) in media, geography
And just the other day Joe Francica was telling us that polar bear numbers are actually increasing. I think that was the moment that All Points Blog jumped the shark.
642. Geography on Plone (2008-01-07T17:11:32Z) in plone
By request, here's a repost of the summary of geographic software for Plone that I sent to the PrimaGIS and PCL community email list.
641. Shapely Manual (2008-01-02T23:08:14Z) in the lab
If you're using Shapely, I'd appreciate your feedback on the manual. It's the last ticket on the Shapely 1.0 milestone.
640. Open as Possible Standards (2008-01-02T16:37:19Z) in community, industry
Tantek Çelik's call for standards that are as open as possible appeals to me.
639. GDAL and GEOS Releases (2008-01-01T21:43:21Z) in python
GDAL 1.5.0 and GEOS 3.0.0 were released during the holiday and are now used in the Knowhere and Gdawg buildouts.
637. Britannia Superior Preview (2007-12-28T20:03:25Z) in pleiades
Also known as Barrington Atlas Map 8. Just got this data back the other day. Roads, settlements, mines, you can just pick out a few copper mines in what we now call Wales. We'll be rolling it out into the Pleiades site in the new year.
636. MSWKT (2007-12-27T19:55:43Z) in industry
I don't understand how you'd expect a different approach from Microsoft. Being a late entry, the company could benefit from shaking things up a bit.
635. Back (2007-12-27T14:59:48Z) in geography
I miss Seattle already. Normal posting from good old Fort Cowpie will resume shortly.
634. Last REST Post of 2007 (2007-12-18T18:56:14Z) in rest, web
Here's the take-away from the past year's discussion about REST and geospatial:
633. Knowhere Project Wiki (2007-12-17T20:27:38Z) in the lab, zope
It's my Christmas present to everyone. What, you were expecting something other than open source software?
630. Grok, the Paleolithic Geographer (2007-12-15T08:21:15Z) in zope, the lab, pleiades
The paleolithic geographer isn't concerned about geographic information systems. He wants a know-where-things-are system; hence the name of my demo app: Knowhere.
629. The Pleiades Fitness Program (2007-12-11T16:04:05Z) in recreation
You must pounce on the snow here in town because it doesn't last long.
627. OpenAerialMap Fort Collins (2007-12-07T15:40:07Z) in data
I just finished filling out the "paperwork" and voila. Christopher Schmidt did everything else.
625. Uranium Mining in our Backyard (2007-12-05T16:28:35Z) in community, industry, geography
I've been following the story but missed this Times piece. Fortunately, the world's best mother-in-law clipped and mailed it to us.
623. Peutinger's Map (2007-12-04T19:42:55Z) in pleiades
"Peutinger's" map, about which geo blogs are buzzing today, happens to be the subject of work at the Ancient World Mapping Center. Pleiades and the Barrington Atlas cite Miller's 1916 study, the Itineraria Romana.
622. My Fantasy Movie (2007-12-04T18:51:06Z) in recreation, media
Today I discover that I'm not alone in this fantasy land. Wacky.
620. Geo Microformat (2007-12-03T19:11:57Z) in data, web
I'm interested in applying hAtom to the Pleiades XHTML docs. Add location and I'd have something like an "hGeoRSS", but the geo microformat isn't going to be adequate for expressing the locations of Pleiades roads or regions.
619. New Geospatial Packages for Zope (2007-12-02T15:36:59Z) in the lab, python, pleiades, zope
As part of my work on migrating Pleiades to Plone 3, I'm distilling Zope packages from the original old-style Plone products.
618. Fake Ed Parsons (2007-11-30T15:25:46Z) in recreation
Funny. Yesterday I would have bet that a Fake Jack Dangermond would have been the first to appear.
617. Agile Schmagile (2007-11-28T21:57:49Z) in industry, programming
Just kidding, Dave. I know people feel the same about REST.
616. Watching the Watchers (2007-11-28T20:25:24Z) in industry, media
"Domestic Spying, Inc." via an All Points Blog post is a interesting look at GEOINT and the corporations who profit from expanding the War on Terror's home front.
615. Geo Products Example Buildout (2007-11-27T21:24:07Z) in the lab, pleiades, plone
I've made a Plone 3 buildout to get people up and running with reliable versions of PleiadesGeocoder, SpatialIndex, and all their dependencies.
614. Rtree 0.3.0 (2007-11-26T23:55:03Z) in the lab
This version allows you to delete objects from indexes and perform nearest neighbor queries.
613. Map of the Napa-Bordeaux Greenline (2007-11-23T16:51:24Z) in food and drink, geography
East of the of the line the greater efficiency of shipping by boat offsets the distance between Bordeaux and Napa.
612. Geocoding, GeoRSS, and KML for Plone 3 (2007-11-21T17:07:35Z) in plone, pleiades
I've made the necessary configuration changes so that PleiadesGeocoder 1.0b2 works with Plone 2.5 or Plone 3.0.
611. Kindle: meh (2007-11-20T15:46:31Z) in media
I like paper books. I like the user interface and I like the freedom.
610. That's About Right (2007-11-17T20:28:02Z) in python, community
Howard Butler sums up my motivations pretty well. The one factor he doesn't mention: community.
609. WorldMill (2007-11-16T23:19:59Z) in the lab, python
Enough blogging, here it is: WorldMill 0.1.
608. OGR, Ctypes, and Cython, Again (2007-11-15T03:24:30Z) in python
My previous benchmarks were made using the original recipe ogr.py module from GDAL 1.3.2. I saw some numbers that compelled me to try to new Python bindings from GDAL 1.4.3. Here are the new results (same benchmark code) on that same machine:
607. OGR, Ctypes, Cython (2007-11-13T20:19:50Z) in python, software engineering
Leave now if you're not into Python extension programming and performance benchmarking: we're headed deep into the weeds.
606. Grok Does AtomPub (2007-11-09T05:04:52Z) in zope
Nice. I'd like to bend Grok's REST components to fit Pleiades after our move to Plone 3.
605. Transactional Refinery (2007-11-08T19:50:46Z) in python, zope, software engineering
Talk about serendipity: repoze.tm.
604. OGR GeoJSON driver (2007-11-06T15:13:57Z) in data
Mateusz Loskot just completed the inverse of my last project: pulling GeoJSON data through the OGR abstract model.
602. Taming the OGR (2007-11-06T07:26:53Z) in python
This evening I made a protoype of a smoother, simpler interface to the industrial-strength vector data functions in libgdal.
601. PleiadesGeocoder 1.0b1 (2007-11-06T00:22:08Z) in pleiades, plone
Here it is, the first 1.0 beta release of the ultimate content geo-annotation plugin for Plone 2.5: PleiadesGeocoder-1.0b1.
600. Spook Country (2007-11-05T18:18:04Z) in life
We're there. Otherwise, I'm enjoying William Gibson's "Spook Country". Plenty of geowanking.
599. OpenSocial, AtomPub, and GeoRSS (2007-11-02T21:33:00Z) in web, rest
AtomPub again. Jason points out that OpenSocial is also using {http://www.georss.org/georss}where.
598. Geospatial Media and the Environment (2007-11-02T16:55:45Z) in media
Has All Points Blog always been so overtly skeptical about climate change, or is it a response to the recent launch of the enthusiastically green and sustainable V1?
596. Rtree for the N800 (2007-10-24T18:38:57Z) in the lab
Rtree user Kenneth Christiansen has made Maemo Bora (N800 internet tablet SDK) debian packages for Rtree 0.1 and its dependencies.
595. Plone R-Tree Spatial Index (2007-10-23T04:58:37Z) in the lab, plone, zope
At the 2006 Plone Conference sprint, Shaun Walbridge and I wrote a Quadtree-based spatial index for Plone. Last week I finally made the time to rewrite the original Plone product into a persistent R-tree index.
594. PrimaGIS Sprint Summary (2007-10-22T15:49:42Z) in the lab, community, plone
The switch to OpenLayers is complete. Kai's original map interface was fine, but there are far more resources going into OpenLayers development.
593. Rocket City Baloney (2007-10-17T21:29:56Z) in industry, media
Am I ever glad I took a pass (sorry, Tom) on coming down to Huntsville for this.
592. Lines and Polygons in Plone (2007-10-17T04:35:05Z) in pleiades, plone
Also new is a form for setting the location of any Plone content. Location is still stored in GeoRSS (Simple) form in PleiadesGeocoder (mostly to delay content migration), but the form takes GeoJSON.
590. PrimaGIS Sprint (2007-10-13T14:46:28Z) in the lab, plone
Goodbye old map interface, hello OpenLayers.
589. AtomPubbing Librarians (2007-10-12T22:07:38Z) in web, data
The 1.0 version of the SWORD AtomPub profile was released today.
588. Nobel Peace Prize (2007-10-12T14:41:58Z) in life
Congratulations to Al Gore and the UN IPCC.
587. Clearly it's a Good Idea (2007-10-11T15:24:26Z) in media
When people start coming out of the woodwork to take credit.
586. Open Source Web Processing Versus ArcGIS Server (2007-10-10T18:35:52Z) in industry, open source
A RESTful web geo-processor that provides a DSL for describing complex processes and analyses (my preference would be for Javascript ala CouchDB) and lets users create new processing resources from these scripts could certainly begin to replace ArcGIS Server.
585. Open Source and Sustainability (2007-10-10T17:38:18Z) in open source, community, media
Getting locked into buying proprietary seed is not the way to sustainable agriculture, and getting locked into buying boxed proprietary software is not the way to sustainable digital enterprises. Where is the sustainability media on the subject of open source?
584. Better Python Practices for the GeoWeb (2007-10-10T15:59:23Z) in python, programming
It pains me to see novices taught poor Python programming practices, and so I can't resist making a few corrections to this post. Processing and marking up data into KML is a simple task that can be used to teach better practices. Here are 3 easy ones.
582. RFC 5023 (2007-10-08T23:37:26Z) in web
It's "AtomPub", not "Atompub" as I've been writing.
581. NEH/CNR Slides (2007-10-03T17:29:49Z) in digital humanities, pleiades
The slides that I will be using at the National Endowment for the Humanities/Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche "Using New Technologies to Explore Cultural Heritage" conference are online.
580. Horothesia Blog (2007-10-01T17:22:53Z) in digital humanities, media
My boss, Tom Elliot, is an expert epigrapher as well as a fine programmer and geo hacker, and has a new blog on these subjects: Horothesia.
579. REST at FOSS4G (2007-09-29T21:31:25Z) in community, web
Charlie, Chris, and I got to speak in succession and tag team on REST. I don't know if anybody sat through all three of these talks (and kept their sanity), but we did get some good momentum going.
578. GeoJSON 1.0a1 (2007-09-29T18:09:56Z) in the lab, python
I have updated GeoJSON, tagged it as 1.0a1, and uploaded it to the Python Package Index.
577. Wednesday FOSS4G Update (2007-09-26T23:36:16Z) in community
The conference wifi melted down this morning, but the event is otherwise running well.
576. Libya and Western Civilization (2007-09-23T21:50:31Z) in geography
Speaking of Cyrene, on page 3 of the Times International section is an article about Saif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, a Ph.D. student at the London School of Economics, and the son of Libya's president.
575. Finding me at FOSS4G (2007-09-23T17:51:50Z) in community
It's the biggest open source GIS conference ever. I have no booth and my physical appearance is modal. How then are you going to find me?
574. Toddler Travel Tip (2007-09-23T17:24:26Z) in life
The flight went really well, and I'd be remiss if I didn't share the secret to traveling happily with a toddler.
573. Rethinking JSON for Geospatial (2007-09-20T16:25:53Z) in data
Limitations or quirks of our implementations shouldn't be engraved into our standards.
572. Ahoy! PP to Starboard (2007-09-19T14:44:07Z) in python
Now, thar be first-class privateerin'. Cap'n Perry dug up the secret of doublin' yer firepower.
570. Shapely Manual (2007-09-12T16:08:41Z) in the lab
It will refer to and quote from the Java Topology Suite (of which GEOS is a port) Technical Specs and the OGC Simple Features Specification for SQL, and explain specifics such as the difference between GEOS's topological operations and the set operations that are standard in Python.
569. OGC and Atompub (2007-09-10T20:57:15Z) in industry, web
Rebranding Atompub as "Federated Geo-synchronization Services" does nothing for me, but at least it is now on the map, so to speak.
568. Feed Paging and Archiving (2007-09-10T19:05:20Z) in web
Many of the initial misgivings about applying Atompub to geospatial problems had to do with uncertainty about totality and partiality of feeds. RFC 5005 is attempting to bring more feed standardization to the internet community.
567. Mush Update (2007-09-10T18:47:24Z) in web
I've updated Mush to use my feedparser.py enhancements and Shapely 1.0a3. Now it will parse GeoRSS GML, Simple, and W3C geometries of all types (points, lines, polygons) from source feeds.
566. GeoRSS Patch for Universal Feedparser (2007-09-08T19:54:27Z) in python
Recognize that? It's GeoJSON. Simple points, lines, polygons, boxes, and GML points, linestrings, and polygons can be parsed. Since entry["where"] also provides the Python Geo Protocol, you can use it immediately with Shapely.
565. Open Source GIS in Montpellier? (2007-09-07T15:51:45Z) in community, geography
Y a-t-il des utilisateurs? I'm moving to Montpellier next year and would like to make some contacts in the region.
564. Shapely for Python 3.0 (2007-09-06T18:28:57Z) in the lab, python
Shapely is a thin wrapper for libgeos_c. How thin? With help from the 2to3 tool, I ported Shapely to Python 3.0 in less than an hour, that's how thin.
563. Pleiades Data Update: Cyrene (2007-09-05T14:57:05Z) in pleiades
Yesterday we uploaded Barrington Atlas places from Cyrene (map 38, the region now known as Libya) to Pleiades.
562. Shapely 1.0a1 (2007-09-04T18:27:06Z) in the lab, python
I have just uploaded Shapely to the Python Package Index. For more info see http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Shapely/1.0a1.
561. Python 3.0a1 (2007-09-01T19:28:43Z) in python
Like others, the first thing I checked was the unicode default:
560. "Welcome to my World" (2007-08-30T17:12:59Z) in community, industry, food and drink
Despite the lip service paid to entrepreneurship in this country, our American society is in fact hostile toward small, innovative agricultural producers.
559. More Harvest (2007-08-29T15:18:24Z) in food and drink, recreation
The more gardening posts in GIS blogs, the better, I say. Too bad we're so distant: I'd happily trade some of my scruffy (the soil here in the northwest corner of the Fort is not ideal) red potatoes for some of Kurt's deformed carrots.
558. Brew Credit Due (2007-08-29T04:00:06Z) in food and drink
There's a lot of good people working hard at New Belgium, and the company itself is a good citizen, so it's great to be able to rave about one of their beer again.
557. Geo-Atompub Interop Day 5 September (2007-08-28T17:01:00Z) in web, vulgar geography, software engineering, rest
A bunch of us are going to try to meet up on 9/5 to test the interoperability of our Geo-Atompub implementations and hash out the problems that crop up.
556. Lukewarm Fusion (2007-08-28T16:26:46Z) in industry
Here's one for the FortiusOne folks: what's the spatial distribution of Fusion Center funding? What's the pork factor?
555. Harvest Time (2007-08-26T21:33:12Z) in food and drink, recreation
As it turns out, there is such a thing as too many beans after all.
554. We are Made of Star Stuff (2007-08-24T17:51:37Z) in recreation
All the buzz about Google Sky has prompted me to re-up some image companions to my 18th blog post from April 2005.
552. The Petty Bureaucrats of Wikipedia (2007-08-23T15:22:47Z) in community, media
Apparently, once the crowd to which you are outsourcing grows large enough, it may spawn a class of self-appointed bureaucrats who are more concerned about the process than the results.
550. Map Servers (2007-08-21T16:28:59Z) in mapserver, data
Map servers -- the CGI programs and servlets that render infinitely customizable map images of any scale, size, and format -- remain useful in this tiled world.
549. Plone 3.0 (2007-08-21T15:03:30Z) in plone
Plone 3.0 is released today. Built-in versioning, slick ajax interface, and more.
548. GIS Certification (2007-08-17T17:33:37Z) in industry
I'm skeptical about gatekeepers and skeptical about the value of GIS certification.
547. Tufte and Cartography (2007-08-16T17:55:03Z) in cartography
stuff. My favorite Tufte tip is outlining regions with a slightly darker hue of the fill color. Because our visual system is non-linear, a difference as small as 5-6% can sharpen up your map dramatically.
546. Why WPS? (2007-08-16T14:41:49Z) in web, industry
What exactly does one gain here by abstracting away the Web?
545. Tiles (2007-08-15T18:01:37Z) in rest, data
If you want to cache effectively, you must switch your design over to a finite number of view resources. Tiles, in another word.
544. Explaining REST (2007-08-14T22:57:18Z) in rest, web
Charlie's latest are good posts that don't require continual referral to the HTTP/1.1 or OWS specs.
543. That's not Agile Geography (2007-08-14T15:19:08Z) in industry
Looks like the standards architects are not going for the KML + Atompub idea after all.
542. Camping With Google Earth (2007-08-13T22:55:49Z) in recreation
Last week I used Google Earth to scout sites for my 21 month-old daughter's first ever camping trip.
541. REST Can't Handle Rasters and Coverages? (2007-08-10T18:07:47Z) in rest, web
There may be geospatial problems that REST can't tackle, but access to arbitrary regions of a coverage is not one of them.
540. Buildouts for the Lab (2007-08-10T16:19:16Z) in software engineering, the lab, zope
Ah, the benefits of collaborating with a real software engineer in an open source project.
539. Stop Using Mapscript: Finally (2007-08-09T23:06:29Z) in mapserver, python
I've explained the motivation previously. You can now transform the problem of writing intricate, error-prone mapscript code into a more tractable template interpolation problem.
538. OGC, GeoDRM, and Me (2007-08-09T16:33:32Z) in industry, python
My hackles rise every time I read that GeoDRM is one of the OGC's advanced technologies. I simply do not find it easy to look past it to the other more sensible working groups and standards.
537. Shorter Sebastian Good (2007-08-09T15:18:11Z) in media
Let's you and him fight. Nevertheless, I always enjoy Sebastian's writing.
536. KML Module: Atom (2007-08-08T22:58:53Z) in web
An Atom module would help developers implement Atompub clients and services by delineating a clear boundary between media and metadata elements.
534. OWSLib 0.2.1 (2007-08-06T16:50:06Z) in the lab, python
It now works with no external dependencies on Python 2.5.
532. Atompub and KML Demo (2007-08-04T08:13:46Z) in web, the lab, vulgar geography
I have repurposed my Hammock application into a demonstration of the Atompub, KML, and Google Earth integration.
531. The Shapely Alchemist (2007-08-03T17:04:15Z) in python, the lab, data
Following the example at byCycle.org I've figured out how to use Shapely geometries with SQLAlchemy and PostGIS.
530. Welcome Spatialindex (2007-08-02T16:25:36Z) in the lab, python, open source
We offered Marios Hadjieleftheriou a home at the GIS Python Labs for his spatialindex library, and I'm pleased to say he has accepted.
529. Uninformed (2007-08-02T15:02:44Z) in rest, web, media, industry
The industry mainstream has now heard of REST, but not everyone gets it yet.
483. Amateurs: STFU (2007-07-31T16:44:14Z) in media
I'd love to see Jeff Thurston debate Larry Lessig on the merits of "The Cult of the Amateur".
527. Selectively Running Python Tests (2007-07-31T06:33:55Z) in python
With unittest your best bets are to name tests so they cmp() predictably, or subclass TestLoader and implement your own testing ordering (sorting) algorithm.
526. OGC WTF of the Day (2007-07-30T13:19:02Z) in industry, web
I'm reading over the WFS 1.1.0 spec (0GC 04-094) and see in section 6.3.1.
525. KML Output for Mush (2007-07-28T21:28:25Z) in vulgar geography, the lab
Add format=kml to a Mush request to get a KML document instead of the Atom feed default.
524. Planning Alerts and Findspots (2007-07-27T15:45:58Z) in vulgar geography
Here's an application of Mush that might even be useful to an antiquist: UK planning alerts within 1 kilometer of Celtic coin finds in Cambridgeshire [feed] [map].
523. Mush, 2 Feeds (2007-07-27T06:47:34Z) in web, the lab, python, vulgar geography
Mush, my prototype feed geo-processing service based on Shapely and the Universal Feed Parser can now find the sphere of influence intersections of 2 different feeds.
522. Holy Memory Holes, Batman! (2007-07-26T20:47:42Z) in community
Just one year? Isn't it more like 2? As I recall, some MapServer developers were already under an NDA with Autodesk in June 2005, 2 months before I was invited to join.
521. Web Home for Spatial Reference Systems (2007-07-26T16:13:30Z) in web
Christopher Schmidt and Howard Butler have teamed up to create http://spatialreference.org/, a home on the Web for user-generated spatial and coordinate reference systems.
520. La Mort du Tour (2007-07-26T14:38:18Z) in recreation
Yes, I got suckered back into watching the TdF this year, even though I figured it was pretty likely to have another meltdown.
519. Geo at Plone4Artists Sprint (2007-07-25T20:02:58Z) in plone, media
David Siedband and Sally Kleinfeldt are working on implementing the interfaces of Plone Maps and zgeo.geographer for GPS-tagged digital photos uploaded to Plone, making it easy to make a Google Map or provide GeoRSS feeds of photo locations.
518. Atompub! (2007-07-25T18:23:41Z) in web
One of those areas where the Atom Publishing Protocol takes off just might be geospatial.
517. mod_wsgi (2007-07-24T16:11:06Z) in python, web
Easy. According to the author, mod_wsgi is feature complete and a 1.0 release candidate is coming soon.
516. Games (2007-07-23T17:36:22Z) in community
I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that, soon, any enterprise that is not also a rewarding, multi-dimensional game will struggle.
515. Web Geo-Processing, Pull Style (2007-07-20T23:10:17Z) in web
The growing consensus is that map image and feature services can be (and should be) done RESTfully. Is there any aspect of web GIS that cannot? Geo-processing, perhaps?
514. Going Big (2007-07-20T17:59:28Z) in food and drink
I'm throwing a party this weekend featuring my most ambitious ever grill-roasting enterprise: whole leg of pig with citrus marinade and sauce.
512. Sound Advice for INSPIRE (2007-07-18T16:06:44Z) in web, industry, data
Should INSPIRE's enterprise be a distributed object system, upgrading to new versions across the board simultaneously (and this certainly means rarely)? Or should it be more like The Web, allowing clients, servers, and data to be upgraded independently and as needed?
511. Mars Lander Blogging (2007-07-18T14:36:24Z) in community, the lab, python
Kurt Schwehr, who's making fink packages of OWSLib, Quadtree, and PCL-Core, is blogging about working on the Phoenix Mars Lander. Are these packages going to Mars, or helping from Earth? Let us know if the Lab can be of any assistance.
510. Why There is no REST in WxS (2007-07-18T13:02:26Z) in web, industry
OGC web services have no uniform interface, and therefore are not well suited for RESTful architectures. That's the why not.
509. Geo Blogs and Media (2007-07-17T18:01:36Z) in media
Do GIS/geo blogs have any such impact on the media?
508. Software and Camping Gear (2007-07-16T15:58:27Z) in software engineering
Why write new web GIS software? Why not add to MapServer? I'm going to explain by analogy: it's like picking camping gear.
507. The "GeoWeb Ecosystem"? (2007-07-13T16:41:34Z) in media
If Google is the primary source of the "GeoWeb Ecosystem", then it's a pretty limited and fragile ecosystem. Like the organisms living off hydrogen sulfide leaking from a deep-sea vent, we must huddle closely around an API, pray to Neptune that it doesn't shut off, and dream of brighter, richer realms.
506. North and South (2007-07-11T21:11:14Z) in web, rest
Steve C.-P. pointed me to this bad analogy by David Chappell that Elliotte Rusty Harold picks off and runs the other way for a touchdown.
505. Chocolate and Peanut Butter (2007-07-11T18:10:05Z) in media
The combination of chocolate and peanut butter is in no way better than pure chocolate. Hanke is either a barbarian, or is cynically perpetuating the fraudulent premise of Reese's Peanut-Butter Cups.
504. Real Life Object Databases (2007-07-11T15:05:58Z) in data, python, zope
I enjoyed Martin Davis's love letter to the relational model, but would like to remind readers that object databases aren't entirely academic.
503. Resource-Oriented WFS: Filters (2007-07-10T04:55:05Z) in web
Posting a query destroys the uniform interface, and should only be done if there is no other option. In this case, there is another option, and a fine one: implement filter resources subordinate to feature type resources.
502. INSPIRE Tech Choice is Discouraging (2007-07-06T20:14:39Z) in industry, web
HTTP REST is not about light weight (RFC 2616 is just as heavy as a WxS spec), it's about working with the grain of the Web.
501. Are GML Documents Hypermedia? (2007-07-06T15:38:47Z) in web, industry
XLink is part of GML, but I've never seen a WFS return GML that links to other resources. Does anybody use GML like this, and what client would they use?
500. Rendering Shapely Geometries in Matplotlib (2007-07-05T21:26:42Z) in the lab, python
I hope you'll agree that this is considerably simpler than the code I used at the 2005 Open Source Geospatial workshop. An even more direct solution for ogr.py fans would be to provide the Numpy array interface directly from OGR geometries.
499. Buh-bye Blogroll (2007-07-01T17:56:23Z) in media
I dropped the blogroll from my blog's home page since it wasn't accurately reflecting what I read. Go ahead and unlink me if you're keeping score.
498. Good Things (2007-06-30T04:56:59Z) in community, web, the lab, python, industry, plone
2 more REST-related presentation abstracts submitted to the FOSS4G conference:
496. Downtime (2007-06-25T13:04:56Z) in recreation, geography, food and drink
If anyone can keep the Overton windows moving on WxS and REST, and make sure that GeoDRM doesn't creep out of the basement, I'd be much obliged.
495. KML Syndication (2007-06-22T18:57:48Z) in web
It's been pointed out that Google Earth has reinvented syndication where GeoRSS might have been used. Andrew Turner has a proposal for the right way to do it.
494. Designing Simple GIS Services for Zope (2007-06-22T18:16:13Z) in zope, software engineering
I've identified a veritable continent of common ground in Zope for services that I consider to be otherwise orthogonal: WFS and the Atom Publishing Protocol (APP).
493. On Expertise and Revolution (2007-06-22T17:03:13Z) in industry, web, media
Who was the go-to person for GIS data formats before blogs? Frank Warmerdam. Who's the go-to person today? Frank Warmerdam. A million amateurs typing in their blogs about the pros and cons of various formats hasn't changed that in the least.
492. REST on the Conference Circuit (2007-06-21T19:04:40Z) in industry, web
For what it's worth, here's the result of a quick search for REST on the agendas of some of this year's GIS conferences:
491. Geo-Web-REST Group (2007-06-20T21:02:27Z) in community, web, industry
Totally public, and devoted to RESTful and resource-oriented GIS/geo architectures.
490. Bare Minimum RESTful WFS (2007-06-20T18:23:39Z) in web
Any public-facing service is going to need at least a minimal RESTful aspect. Here's what that looks like for WFS:
488. Diving Into Python (2007-06-19T16:28:34Z) in python, web, programming
Let's say that you'd like to not only learn to do the same old stuff in a new language, but that you'd also like to learn some new tricks and increase your programming Fu. You're in luck, because Python is a great environment for knowledge acquisition.
487. Hammock Update (2007-06-19T06:51:57Z) in web, the lab, python
Every resource now has alternate XHTML representations, which are created using Genshi: service, collection, and item.
485. GeoSummit Conclusion (2007-06-17T03:25:14Z) in community
Thanks to everyone for coming out, and an extra big thanks to Tom Churchill for hosting.
482. Yo! (2007-06-15T15:13:09Z) in community
Ed, you forgot an event. Down here, in the grassroots.
481. GeoSummit Agenda (2007-06-13T19:09:18Z) in community
My ultimate goal is to help merge all the cool agendas people bring, but I have a few of my own.
480. Alternative to ogr.py (2007-06-13T18:00:53Z) in python
It would make a nice addition to the GIS packages already in the Python Cheeseshop.
479. Rome Reborn as a Flash Movie (2007-06-12T17:25:17Z) in digital humanities
Flash movies should complement -- never replace -- addressable, linkable, bookmarkable, and programmable web sites.
478. Shapely Geometries for Python (2007-06-11T22:07:52Z) in the lab, python
Shapely is an LGPL-licensed replacement for PCL's cartography.geometry package.
477. Python Pain Points (2007-06-11T16:36:26Z) in python, media, software engineering
So, there's this meme that you have to be able to enumerate your domain's pain points.
476. Local Bloggers at GeoSummit (2007-06-07T16:44:11Z) in community
Come see Bill "MapWrecker" Thorp tear a road atlas in half with his bare hands! Or better yet, discuss rich internet mapping applications with him.
474. Bait and Switch (2007-06-06T14:30:57Z) in community
This isn't about Python after all.
472. Koombaya (2007-06-06T03:37:36Z) in web, programming
A hardcore Java programmer employed at ESRI and a open source Python hack should be diametrically opposed. Maybe we still are, but are converging on some of the same design principles from different directions.
471. Richardson and Ruby's RESTful Maps and Gazetteer (2007-06-05T15:27:25Z) in web, data
This is rather a lot like the RESTful feature services I wrote about in April: simply elegant, but also a hard sell. Mainstream GIS folks recoil in horror at the thought of relying on link traversal to render their maps.
470. Geo-Zymurgy (2007-06-01T03:30:40Z) in food and drink
Nice! Another food and drink (beer, at least) and GIS blogger.
469. FRUGOS GeoSummit is on (2007-05-31T15:19:55Z) in community
If you're interested, join the GeoSummit Google Group so that we can start to get a feel for numbers, and spread the word.
467. Feature Server (2007-05-24T17:12:26Z) in web, python
MetaCarta's FeatureServer source is now available. REST or (web-in-name-only) WFS, your choice. FeatureServer groks each.
466. Coming Soon (2007-05-22T03:54:56Z) in pleiades, data
New Pleiades data will be available under a CC or Science Commons type license, but the negotiation of terms for existing Barrington Atlas data (under similar license) is not quite finished. Fortunately, we're not petitioning solo: people like Eric Kansa, Ross Scaife, and Peter Suber are making open access to scholarly data a very respectable enterprise.
465. Progress (2007-05-18T18:48:35Z) in industry
It's great to see that three of my favorite hobby-horses -- REST over SOAP or WxS, web search over portals and one-stops, and open source over proprietary software -- are coming to the fore at mainstream industry events.
464. Rtree 0.2.0 (2007-05-18T18:09:11Z) in the lab, python
Persistence of indexes, nearest neighbor lookup, and item deletion are now supported. See the doctests for usage examples.
463. Hype is the "Intel Inside" (2007-05-16T02:09:50Z) in media, industry
There is more giddiness to come. Our own silly season is just getting started.
462. The Garden is Deployed (2007-05-14T15:41:29Z) in life, recreation, food and drink
I spent about 8 hours digging and planting this past weekend. More time in the gym this spring has paid off, and I'm much less sore this morning than the morning after last year.
461. Victoria, Here I Come (2007-05-14T02:04:54Z) in community, industry, pleiades
Looks like I'm in. I'm pleased and, honestly, a bit surprised. WxS owns the open source GIS community, and I worried that a presentation on an alternative might be a bit too niche.
460. Welcome Back, Matt (2007-05-14T01:43:43Z) in python
This is cool: Worldwind Java and Jython.
459. Snakes on a Sonde (2007-05-10T20:24:24Z) in community, python
Joe VanAndel and Mary Haley, from NCAR, will talk about using Python in atmospheric observation and climate model visualization at next Wednesday's Pythoneers meeting.
458. Digital Consumer Enablement (2007-05-10T20:02:06Z) in industry
Just change the name and turn the table on the critics. Brilliant! Maybe ... no, nevermind.
457. Real-time Geography (2007-05-09T21:27:05Z) in industry
"Real-time Geography" is a better, more accurate catch phrase than "Geo-Web". The latter has been trading on universal, yet shallow recognition of the significance of the (HTTP REST) World Wide Web despite being composed of services that are not of a web.
456. In Your GIS, Recking Your Map's (2007-05-08T16:51:11Z) in programming, community, web, software engineering
If you're into technical blogs, add Bill Thorp's MapWrecker. .NET is his working environment, but he's writing about issues of browsers, standards, and protocols that cross platform boundaries.
455. FRBR (2007-05-07T22:35:45Z) in pleiades, digital humanities
Help! I'm turning into a librarian.
454. Props to OSGeo (2007-05-03T02:13:01Z) in industry
Not that anyone gives a damn about my approval, but I must give credit where it is due: this looks promising. Software quality and usability remain a bigger problem for open source GIS software adoption than lack of commercial support, but an index of providers won't hurt at all.
453. Science Fiction in the News (2007-05-02T15:05:57Z) in media, recreation
Does taste in SF make or break a candidacy? I think it's a more valid factor than a candidate's haircut, waistline, or iPod playlist (current media staples). Charles Stross's "Glasshouse" and Jo Walton's "Farthing" would be my litmus test. Did you read them? Did you like them?
452. Blogosphere and Ivory Tower (2007-05-01T21:17:17Z) in media
Tom Kralidis points us to a new book, and I was struck by how few of the authors I know by name. Am I not getting out enough, or are these folks not taking their ideas to the web like they should?
451. A GML Critique (2007-05-01T20:43:30Z) in industry, software engineering
Charlie Savage writes: In my view, the fundamental premise of GML is wrong. The ability to create custom data models is an anti-feature that makes integration between different computer systems impossible because it assumes that those systems can act...
450. Stop Using Mapscript: Almost There (2007-05-01T15:05:41Z) in mapserver, software engineering
MapServer revision 6064 (my first contribution in quite a while) has an example of loading a mapfile from a string: fragments.txt. We're getting very close to the point where we can practically stop using mapscript.
449. Made it (2007-04-30T14:14:22Z) in life
I just finished one the most challenging and rewarding 8 days of my life as the single parent of an 18 month-old. Whew. Single moms and dads of the world, I salute you!
447. Our Friend, the Atom (2007-04-28T18:42:29Z) in web
I too think so. Dear geospatial community, please do not propose yet another special protocol until you can demonstrate that Atom won't work.
446. Restful Versioning (2007-04-27T17:15:44Z) in web
In a discussion of restful features the other day, a good question came up: where's the back button? POST and PUT are easy to understand, but how about rolling back or undoing changes? I have a simple solution which is going to look pretty familiar to Subversion users.
445. GIS Software Commoditization (2007-04-26T22:22:13Z) in open source, industry
When considering the commoditization of GIS software, you can't ignore the impact of the open source movement.
444. Novelty of REST and GIS (2007-04-25T16:04:43Z) in web, community
Being the first geospatial project to jump on an already filling bandwagon, 6-7 years after the publication of RFC 2616, is really no big deal. The interesting question is why it took us (the industry and community) so long.
443. WBW 33: Languedoc-Roussillon Values (2007-04-25T04:14:14Z) in food and drink, geography
I've been slacking on the wine blogging front, but I'm coming out again for the 33rd Wine Blogging Wednesday.
442. Feature Paging (2007-04-25T03:23:45Z) in web
I've just been hand-waving, but Chris Holmes is getting ready to blaze a trail for GeoServer from WFS to restful features. He, more than anyone, has clued me into the significance of paging links for GIS applications, and his post has a good introduction to the concept.
441. WFS Simple (2007-04-23T16:45:54Z) in industry, web, vulgar geography
Raj Singh is working hard on WFS Simple, but I think it is still going to miss the "mass market" boat by a few steps.
440. Dear Google Earth Team (2007-04-19T22:55:49Z) in vulgar geography, web
Please consider giving your users the power to POST and PUT KML from Google Earth to arbitrary URLs other than http://bbs.keyhole.com. Anything you can do about this, Ed?
439. More Like This, Please (2007-04-19T19:40:55Z) in web
First, Sam Ruby on GeoRSS, and now Stefan Tilkov on REST and CRUD: lessons from the Web for we who would build the Geo-Web. Listen up.
438. Upcoming Events (2007-04-18T17:05:58Z) in community, python, mapserver
Front Range Pythoneers: OLPC (!) and testing, 18 April. FRUGOS: MapServer and OpenLayers class at CU-Denver, 25 April.
437. Resources, not Objects (2007-04-18T14:19:04Z) in web
Keyur, you must think in terms of resources, not object methods. Nouns, not verbs.
436. Even More REST and Geo Blogging (2007-04-17T15:33:39Z) in media, web
At All Points Blog. The mainstream hasn't yet discovered that the community has been earnestly discussing REST since last fall.
435. GeoDRM or GeoCYA? (2007-04-17T14:19:43Z) in industry, data
Yesterday, a reader pointed me to an article in Government Computer News about what I'll call GeoCYA, in which the OGC CTO walks a fine line between removing, and stoking, "the fear of litigation".
434. JSON Security (2007-04-14T19:28:01Z) in web
I'm surprised nobody noticed the potentially exploitable feature collections responses in my initial Hammock deployment. Bob Ippolito explains all about it here.
433. Rtree 0.1.0 (2007-04-13T22:09:07Z) in the lab, python
This package is based on Marios Hadjieleftheriou's spatialindex, and now allows you to persist a tree on disk.
432. In a Nutshell (2007-04-13T13:50:20Z) in industry, vulgar geography
The difference between Microsoft's and Google's urban web maps says a lot about the mindset of these companies.
431. Hammock (2007-04-11T22:43:01Z) in python, web, the lab
Here's the code for the toy not-a-WFS I wrote about yesterday.
430. Feature Demo (2007-04-10T08:31:36Z) in web, python, vulgar geography
This evening I cobbled together a demo of a feature service inspired by Joe Gregorio's Robaccia. It's a toy model of something not unlike a RESTful WFS-T, based on the Python wsgiref, elementtree, and simplejson packages.
429. Geometries for Python Update (2007-04-09T17:27:30Z) in python, the lab
An older, slightly outdated, post of mine about Python geometry packages is getting read enough to warrant an update.
428. Game Over for GeoDRM? (2007-04-09T15:40:52Z) in data, industry
On the other hand, work on rights expression is useful to all of us, and even more so in the light of recent revelations that Creative Commons doesn't want to get into the geodata business.
427. GeoRSS: Worse is Better (2007-04-07T15:40:19Z) in web, programming, industry, vulgar geography
That the Geo-Web is forming out of GeoRSS and KML rather than GML is yet another indictment against XSD.
426. Conference Wireless How-to (2007-04-06T15:31:37Z) in community
For the FOSS4G 2007 organizers: wireless lessons from PyCons 2006 and 2007.
425. Silence on Spatial Search (2007-04-05T15:59:39Z) in industry
Ed Parsons, a few weeks ago, was befuddled by the GIS industry's almost-imperceptible response to Google's spatial search news. There hasn't been any new tide of interest since, and there are 3 primary reasons.
424. More REST and GIS Blogging (2007-04-04T14:48:43Z) in web
REST gets a mention from Sebastian Good, though his post is more about the current REST-less state of enterprise GIS.
423. Google JSON and Geo (2007-04-02T17:22:34Z) in data, web
Interesting, but Google's JSON, literally transcribed from Atom, is almost exactly as cumbersome as XML (example here).
422. My Comment Policy (2007-04-02T16:24:55Z) in community, media
Recent events, summarized by Tim O'Reilly here, have prompted me to spell out a policy for comments on this blog. I encourage people to write critically about our community, industry, and media, but I reserve the right to remove pointless flamebait, or personal attacks, as well as spam. If an email address accompanies extremely poor commentary, I'll contact the author personally about making sensible edits or retractions. If not, I'll simply delete it. Fair enough?
421. Dumbing Down REST (2007-04-02T15:40:48Z) in web
In a comment on my last post, I pointed out that content negotiation is low on my priorities because there aren't enough smart user agents yet. In a related (and better) post, Dave Thomas explains how dumb the browser is, and how you might dumb down your applications. His idea is immediately relevant to anyone developing a RESTful GIS; when we're constrained to the same small handful of verbs (GET, POST, PUT, etc), it's easy to transfer and share architectural concepts.
420. RESTful Feature APIs (2007-03-30T19:29:01Z) in web
The gist of all this is that a RESTful feature query returns key, indexed data about feature resources along with a URI to the feature resources themselves in the same way that a Google Search returns data from its index, with links, instead of dumping the entire Web into your browser.
419. Scrub-a-dub Venus (2007-03-29T20:10:50Z) in media, programming
James Fee is modernizing Planet Geospatial, so I've updated my Greasemonkey script to version 3.0: pgscrubber-3.0a.user.js. Be annoyed no more by xenophobic virtual geographers, OSGeo haters, press releases, or commercial product "news". I found the Firebug javascript console to be a invaluable tool for playing with XPath expressions.
418. Improving MapServer: a Specific Example (2007-03-27T03:27:45Z) in mapserver, software engineering
Earlier this month I made some hand-waving arguments for separating the concerns of MapServer's web application and cartographic engine on general principles. There is now a new MapServer development proposal that allows me to make a specific example.
417. GeoDjango (2007-03-26T15:53:32Z) in python, community, the lab
I met some of the GeoDjango folks this weekend, and am looking forward to collaborating with them. The Python Cartographic Library is not just for Zope3, after all.
416. GeoRSS and Antiquities (2007-03-26T15:22:12Z) in digital humanities, web, vulgar geography
GeoRSS evangelism is part of what I do for Pleiades. The new support for GeoRSS in Google Maps is the spark that will set it off in the digital humanities. For example, check out this feed of Celtic coin finds from the British Museum's Celtic Coin Index.
415. Planet OSGeo (2007-03-26T14:28:09Z) in media
I'm not affiliated with OSGeo at all, but I'm pleased that Christopher Schmidt likes my blog.
414. Toward a Better Python Feature API (2007-03-25T04:26:29Z) in the lab, python, programming, software engineering
Previously, I asserted that the Python Cartographic Library feature API was superior to anything generated trivially from C++ code (even excellent C++) by SWIG. Of course, even PCL's API can be improved. I've been inspired by Django's database abstraction API to experiment with something even easier to use. Friday night I hacked on PCL's GeoRSS module, and tied up loose ends this afternoon.
413. More ArcGIS and JSON (2007-03-23T15:54:07Z) in programming, data
Again, found this from Jithen Singh while stalking keywords. Still no details about whether it's for geospatial features or other application data.
412. GeoRSS and Validation (2007-03-23T14:28:33Z) in web
Sam Ruby finds GeoRSS and finds it a bit confusing. My blog entries feed validates perfectly, unlike the slashgeo feed Google references.
411. Irrelevant (2007-03-23T01:30:44Z) in open source
I saw this Linus Torvalds quote (full interview here) in the OpenGeoData blog:
410. GeoRSS in Google Maps (2007-03-22T16:48:39Z) in web
Google Maps now groks GeoRSS. For example, here's a map of ancient bridges from map 65 of the Barrington Atlas: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pleiades.stoa.org/places/bridge.atom.
409. JSON with ArcGIS Server (2007-03-22T15:39:41Z) in programming, data
Few details, but an interesting mention of JSON in the context of ArcGIS Server.
408. Geo-Enterprise to Geo-Web (2007-03-22T15:31:17Z) in web
The contents of enterprise spatial databases are not passed over because they are not files, but because they have no URLs. They are not of the Web.
407. Trac Changeset Links from Chatzilla (2007-03-21T22:12:48Z) in web, programming
Under your "Auto-load scripts" directory, create a sub-directory named "trac-rev". Save the following script as trac-rev/init.js and modify the changeset URL accordingly.
406. W*S and REST, Again (2007-03-19T16:30:43Z) in web
I'm experimenting with watching Planet Geospatial less, and stalking more keywords on Technorati. This led me to a blog I hadn't seen before, and a post asserting the RESTful-ness of OGC W*S, a notion that I thought we'd put to bed last year.
405. New GeoJSON Discussion Group (2007-03-15T16:30:51Z) in web
Are you using JSON as a format for geographic data? Join the discussion: http://wiki.geojson.org/Main_Page.
404. Mr. Plow, Meet the Plow King (2007-03-15T14:52:00Z) in open source, industry
How annoying. At least ArcSDE on PostgreSQL will be interoperable with PostGIS. If OSGeo is right, that's the best deal we can get.
403. 300 Historically Accurate? (2007-03-15T03:34:28Z) in media
Not so much. Ephraim Lytle, in the Toronto Star, provides the real background for the truthy new battle-porn epic, 300.
401. Another REST sighting (2007-03-14T18:39:31Z) in web, python, industry
Dave Bouwman points out the low profile of REST in the ESRI developer world at the tail end of a blog entry. RPC and SOA own these people.
400. FDO and Python (2007-03-14T16:59:06Z) in python, programming
Jason and Mateusz have each posted about Python bindings for FDO this morning, and so I took a look into it. I've been intrigued by FDO ever since I heard of it in October of 2005. Python is my bread and butter, and I'm sad to say that the FDO Python bindings are disappointing.
399. Gort Owns Us (2007-03-12T19:14:50Z) in open source, industry
Seriously, The Day the Earth Stood Still is one of my favorite films. Let there similarly be peace between proprietary and open source GIS software, a peace maintained eternally by shiny, indestructible, planet-busting robots.
398. ROA Maturity Model (2007-03-12T17:28:29Z) in web, industry
Sure, SOA is an easy target for parody, but Pete Lacey's table is still hilarious_. What's the maturity level of your organization?
397. Taking GeoRSS Too Far (2007-03-12T16:37:36Z) in web, data
The GeoRSS community needs to hold the line on simplicity, continue to hew to the Web, and show people who are looking for an XML serialization of GIS data the way to GML.
395. Yet Another Compass Rose (2007-03-07T19:51:16Z) in pleiades
Just so you know: the AWMC logo, which you'll be seeing in our Google Earth bubbles, goes back to 2000, well before Panoramio or OSGeo.
394. Ancient Wonders Keep on Going (2007-03-07T19:24:01Z) in geography, web, pleiades
Unless these photos are a hoax, these ancient, natural vents are still leaking methane, and can be lit by tourists.
393. ArchAtlas (2007-03-07T17:55:39Z) in digital humanities, web, geography
ArchAtlas is another of Pleiades's neighbors at the corner of GIS and Humanities. It takes a different approach than MAGIS, using KML and WorldWind plugins for browsing their database of sites.
392. Backronyms for KML (2007-03-06T19:35:27Z) in industry, recreation
I'm one of those who feels that KML needs an update if it's going to become a standard. Keyhole Markup Language has a legacy sound to it. Here are a few possibilities:
391. Wine Blog Atlas (2007-03-05T17:01:53Z) in food and drink, media, geography
The Wine Blog Atlas looks promising. I'd like to see KML as well.
390. Deliberately Obtuse (2007-03-05T15:34:30Z) in media, open source
I'm sorry, but this post is nonsense. There's almost nothing more annoying than deliberate obtuseness about open source and free software.
389. The Right Tool for the Job (2007-03-05T15:23:16Z) in open source
Use the right tool for the job. This is one of the guiding principles of good craftsmanship, and it would be a fine slogan for an Open Source and Proprietary Geospatial Foundation.
388. Get Confident, Stupid! (2007-03-03T21:38:42Z) in open source, community
Come on, OSGeo milquetoasts, stand up for open source. If you need help, I'll loan you my Troy McClure self-help video collection.
387. OpenLayers 2.3 (2007-03-01T22:01:02Z) in vulgar geography, pleiades
OpenLayers 2.3 is out (since 21 February, in fact). For details, see the release notes.
386. Suggestion for MapServer 5.0 (2007-03-01T19:14:21Z) in mapserver, programming, software engineering
The MapServer 5.0 plan has some compelling items (feature-level transparency, AGG rendering), but the one thing I'd really like to see is separation of MapServer's cartographic and web application aspects. These are entangled both in the code and in configuration, so it's no small task, but one that would reward the community.
385. More Geospatial and REST (2007-02-28T15:16:10Z) in web
Google Maps is being used to make the case for REST in the Web and Web Services world.
384. CUGOS (2007-02-26T16:28:00Z) in open source, community
The Cascadia Users of Geospatial Open Source. I'm not sure if they are hewing to the official Cascadia boundaries or not.
383. Pseudo-Open Source Companies (2007-02-26T15:26:47Z) in open source, community, industry
The provocative post by Nat Torkington about pseudo-open source companies at OSCON makes me wonder how many of these will be showing up at FOSS4G 2007, and if anybody will even object as Nat does.
382. Geospatial Venus (2007-02-25T02:55:28Z) in community, media
James, are you looking into Sam Ruby's new Planet branch, Venus? You can see its features, including a meme tracker, at Planet Intertwiningly. Pretty sweet, eh? Mail me for Python help. Meanwhile, my increasingly awesome feed (brand-new Atom categories, complete with schemes, and more liberal license starting today) is being massacred at the old Planet Geospatial.
381. Free Toys for Geo-Bloggers (2007-02-24T05:08:07Z) in media, industry
Smells like the 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator is the Ferrari Vista laptop of geo-blogging. More of this to come, I'm sure.
380. REST and Geospatial (2007-02-23T16:54:07Z) in industry, web
David Smith, who has generally been a proponent of SOA and Web Services on his blog, considers REST.
379. New Pleiades KML (2007-02-22T16:58:29Z) in pleiades, web, geography, digital humanities
That's 304 places in ancient Lycia and Pisidia (southwest coast of modern Turkey) from map 65 of the Barrington Atlas. There are 102 map pages to go, and we'll eventually have about 50,000 ancient places online next spring.
378. Catalog Free (2007-02-22T16:11:43Z) in web, media
I finally read Adena's interview with Michael Jones, who in fact does invite us to start spatially marking up our data and services in the way I proposed. I'd better start reading Directions more often.
377. PleiadesGeocoder 0.6.2 (2007-02-21T02:56:46Z) in pleiades, plone
PleiadesGeocoder provides a portal geocoding tool and methods for producing KML and GeoRSS representations of Plone content. I've made a 0.6.2 release [plone.org, icon.stoa.org] on the way to the next Pleiades milestone site release.
375. Open Source GIS and Vista (2007-02-19T15:56:01Z) in industry
Why in the world would you want to run your RDBMS, Plone instance, or any other server application on Microsoft's defective-by-design multimedia appliance?
374. Imagine a Geo-Web Without Catalogs (2007-02-19T15:09:17Z) in web, vulgar geography
Google Earth with KML search may not be an SDI, but it sure as hell looks like a data or service catalog killer.
373. Ancient Places and Google Earth Search (2007-02-17T05:12:04Z) in pleiades, vulgar geography
I'm finding a fair amount of other placemarks in the neighborhood of some interesting ancient places from Pleiades. Check out the ancient settlement of Caunus [direct network link], and the host of interesting photos in the Panoramio layer. If you search for "roman" in this spatial context you get a number of Pleiades placemarks, but there are a few from other sources, notably the "theatre of Caunos", and the co-located Panoramio mark. There are also nice shots of remarkable rock tombs near Karpasyanda.
372. Planet Geospatial Lives (2007-02-16T15:05:14Z) in community, media
Looks like Dr. Fee-enstein has finished bolting together his new creation, and is beginning to run some current through it. I see more feeds than ever, which i suspect means even more press releases, thinly-disguised product blogola, .NET fanboys, zimboe minions of SOA, and Python nutjobs that you'll want to filter. As soon as Planet Geospatial consolidates, I'll update my Greasemonkey script.
371. Searching Google's Geo-Web (2007-02-14T18:32:30Z) in web, media, industry, vulgar geography
Google's Geographic Web is now searchable, and all the other wanna-be Geo-Webs just became much less relevant.
370. Proprietary Feedback Part 2 (2007-02-13T16:52:00Z) in open source, industry
My conclusion is that developers of higher-level open source GIS projects shouldn't be overly concerned about scaring off contributions by choosing the GPL. I've found vanishingly little evidence that proprietary companies contribute at other than the lowest level.
369. March FRUGOS Meeting (2007-02-13T04:20:04Z) in community
Here's the plan for the next FRUGOS meeting.
368. New Belgium Sees the Lite (2007-02-13T03:51:29Z) in food and drink
In pursuit of the mass market, New Belgium drops one more of their unique and interesting brews; the wild and gamey Biere de Mars, which I loved, is gone, replaced by the lite, insipid, and disappointing Springboard. I didn't care when they replaced Loft with the even-lighter Skinny Dip, but this latest switch is quite a bum deal.
367. PrimaGIS for Plone 3.0 Preview (2007-02-12T22:07:32Z) in the lab, plone
Plone 3.0 is coming this spring, and Kai has a preview of what that means for PrimaGIS.
366. TileCache 1.4 (2007-02-10T16:05:53Z) in web, python
I forgot to mention that TileCache 1.4 was released this week. If you're running MapServer as a WMS without any WFS requirements, you've gotta check out TileCache.
365. Geospatial Mashup Components (2007-02-10T15:55:53Z) in web
When Howard announced his projection web service, I told him that this was not nearly as useful as a service that operates on entire documents. A service that reprojected, buffered, or spatially aggregated the items in a GeoRSS feed or KML document could be a great component in a mashup pipeline. Pipes doesn't support remote modules yet, but I expect that's only a matter of time. It's the obvious next step.
364. Pipes Full of GeoRSS (2007-02-09T15:30:12Z) in web
Pipes. Is there anybody who still thinks GeoRSS isn't ready for prime-time?
363. GeoRSS Caution (2007-02-08T16:06:49Z) in web, industry
Standardizing on RSS is a no-brainer. There are orders of magnitude more information being shared via RSS than by OGC protocols. It works. It scales. It's extensible. It's not going away. The success of RSS is very much a grassroots story. These folks didn't wait for W3C approval, they mobilized and took the web by storm.
362. Wine Blogging the Columbia and Rhone (2007-02-08T08:49:02Z) in food and drink, geography
Being a GIS blogger, I've tried to do something that I haven't seen much of in wine blogs: use Google Earth to help tell the story of the wine. So, start up Google Earth, hit this KML link, select the top-level folder, and read on.
361. More Geo-JSON (2007-02-07T16:50:45Z) in data, web, pleiades
Platial's Chris Goad is offering JDIL as a way forward for Geo-JSON. JDIL (I presume this is an acronym for JSON Data Integration Language) is used at Platial to map RSS 1.0 XML feeds to JSON [example feed]. It's thorough and seems a decent solution to the problems particular to RSS 1.0, but those problems don't exist in my applications.
360. Suprisingly Quiet (2007-02-06T20:25:15Z) in industry, community
I can understand letting the birthday of the MapServer Foundation quietly slide by, but I expected a little more buzz about this OSGeo milestone.
359. Plone Snowsprint Roundup (2007-02-06T19:04:33Z) in plone, the lab
Kai Lautaportti launches his brand-new blog with a roundup of PrimaGIS activities at the Snowsprint. What I'm most excited about is the new WMS support, which paves the way for integration with OpenLayers.
358. MAGIS: Mediterranean Archaeology GIS (2007-02-06T18:19:59Z) in digital humanities, mapserver
Slowly, but surely, I'm catching up on the other Web and GIS projects in the Digital Humanities. One of these is the Collaboratory for GIS and Mediterranean Archaeology's MAGIS, which provides simple MapServer-based map search for archaeological projects.
357. The Wehlener Sundial (2007-02-05T16:19:28Z) in recreation, geography, food and drink
Over the weekend I went on a few virtual vineyard tours in preparation for WBW #30. In Germany, on a slope above the Moselle, facing the town of Wehlen, I found the Wehlener Sundial.
356. Sprint Track at FOSS4G 2007 (2007-02-05T14:51:22Z) in open source, community
Paul Ramsey has been thinking about software sprints too. My experience at the Plone Conference sprint is that one day isn't enough unless the participants do this kind of work regularly.
355. Geospatial Code Sprinting (2007-02-04T15:55:34Z) in open source
The open source GIS community, with a few exceptions, hasn't done code sprints. I used to advocate for MapServer code sprints at past meetings, but there was little interest.
354. No Fan Love (2007-02-04T15:22:32Z) in media
Often it seems that the Fair Use and anti-DRM movements have no greater ally than the big media companies themselves. Everytime a company loads rootkits on customer machines, sues the family of music-downloading a teen for all it's worth, or comes after churches for showing the Superbowl on too large a TV screen, more damage is done to the old copyright regime than I could do in a million blog posts.
353. OWSLib 0.2.0 (2007-02-02T05:55:22Z) in the lab
OWSLib 0.2.0 is the first release after switching from the GPL to the BSD license a month ago. The other changes involve extended service metadata introspection.
352. ILWIS Joins 52 North (2007-02-01T16:04:13Z) in open source
I don't know what to make of this curious development.
351. 1000 to 1 (2007-02-01T15:26:12Z) in web
The OGC standards are designed for the enterprise, some thousands of users on an intranet. It's unlikely that they scale to millions or billions of users.
349. PrimaGIS in the Snow (2007-01-29T20:52:38Z) in the lab, community, plone
Kai is working on PrimaGIS for Plone 3 at this week's Snow Sprint. I'll try to pass along updates throughout the week.
348. Beneficial Proprietary Extensions of Open Source Software? (2007-01-29T18:28:57Z) in open source, community, industry
One of the arguments for choosing Apache/BSD/MIT software licenses over Free Software licenses like the GPL is that the former harness the profit motive of individuals and companies for the benefit of the open source users. There is hypothetical positive feedback: Apache/BSD/MIT licenses allow proprietary extensions, which in turn lift up the open source source software by giving back bug fixes and feature enhancements.
346. More on Google Book Search Maps (2007-01-27T20:32:03Z) in media, digital humanities
More on Google Book Search maps at The Stoa Consortium: Google Maps and Millions of Books.
345. Quadtree 0.1.2 (2007-01-27T20:11:49Z) in the lab
A user caught an installation bug in Quadtree, the fix for which warrants a new release. Quadtree 0.1.2 has been uploaded.
344. Maps for Google Book Search (2007-01-26T17:02:54Z) in media, geography
My boss just pointed out to me that Google's book search has new Gutenkarte-like maps at the end of the page.
343. Camp 5 and BBQ Sprint (2007-01-18T20:54:23Z) in zope, plone
Chris Calloway and TZPUG are ready to accept registration for Camp 5 (March 10-17, 2007 in Chapel Hill, NC). Philipp von Weitershausen is a great instructor; don't miss this chance to learn about Zope3 and Five from one of the community's most knowledgeable developers.
342. New Bathymetry of the Great Salt Lake (2007-01-17T18:55:31Z) in geography
GeoCarta's Roger Hart just reminded me of something I miss: the Great Salt Lake. Back in the day, I fished for perch and sailed in Gunnison Bay. Evaporation from the lake contributes to the annual 500" of snow dumped on Alta. Sea Monkies (Artemia franciscana) frolic in the smelly, briny compartment south of the railroad causeway.
341. FOSS4G 2007 (2007-01-17T17:25:07Z) in open source, community
Rumors that Kirok will deliver the keynote to the tribes are untrue.
340. Blog Upgrade (2007-01-14T22:13:47Z) in web, media
The software that runs this blog has been letting me down. After some consideration, I decided that instead of switching or rolling my own, I'd be like the guy who soups up his Ford Pinto wagon (COREBlog in my case). New wheels, new paint, and tinted glass. Maybe, later, new seats and sound system.
339. Google's Geo-Web (2007-01-12T17:32:02Z) in web
This is how it's going to grow? From KML in sitemap files? I have mixed feelings about this.
338. $200 Laptop? (2007-01-10T22:07:05Z) in community, open source
Count me in. As far as I'm concerned, the OLPC story is a thousand times more interesting than the iPhone. Imagine the potential wave of new, young neogeographers when these things hit the streets of Recife, Tripoli, Abuja, and maybe even Fort Collins.
336. cartography.data.georss (2007-01-09T06:56:08Z) in the lab
Last year I helped add support for geo-referenced Atom feeds in OpenLayers (example here), and today committed a GeoRSS module for the Python Cartographic Library: cartography.data.georss. Based on the Universal Feed Parser, it adapts simply geo-referenced entries of any RSS flavor to PCL's feature model.
335. GDAL 1.4.0 (2007-01-09T05:47:13Z) in open source
Congratulations to Frank et al: GDAL 1.4.0 is released.
334. Scrub a Dub Preview (2007-01-05T22:28:16Z) in media
I've got a pgscrubber 2 preview, pgscrubber-2.0a.user.js [MD5, SHA1] to go along with the new PlanetGS preview.
333. Five Things (2007-01-04T00:06:33Z) in recreation
I don't want to let James down, so here are the five things you probably don't know about me.
332. PlanetGS Scrubber Uploaded (2006-12-29T18:36:16Z) in media
My trusty PlanetGS scrubber is back on line with a license, checksums for the paranoid, and more humorous example URLs.
331. Sharpening the Wiki (2006-12-28T18:18:38Z) in pleiades
Expertise will continue to have value in our wiki future. I'm already convinced that Pleiades has a solid mission, but it's nice to find reinforcements.
330. Google, Now With Fewer Mashups? (2006-12-19T20:36:08Z) in web
Dave Megginson's post is getting around the blogosphere. I saw it via Pete Lacey and Tim Bray. It would be a shame if other organizations followed Google in this direction.
329. OGC and the Geo-Web (2006-12-17T18:40:10Z) in industry, web
One of the things the OGC needs to understand before it can help to geo-enable the Web is that there's more to ubiquity than just dumbing down specifications to the grade level of the mass market. Systems with simple rules allow the evolution of complex and surprising features. Our teeming, expanding, World Wide Web was made possible by its deliberately simple design.
328. Forget Mass Market, it's All About the Web (2006-12-14T17:03:04Z) in web, industry
W*S protocols have opened minds and hinted at possibilities, but are not engendering a geo-web. It's time for a new approach. It's time to geo-enable the Web.
327. Biggest and Best of 2006 (2006-12-13T20:49:25Z) in recreation, community, food and drink
Here's my list of some of the biggest and best of the community, blogosphere, and things tangential in the last 12 months, in no particular order, and with no apologies about the open source bias. I've omitted many worthy persons, events, and developments. Feel free to write about them in comments or on your own blog. You may be surprised at how long it takes you to make even deliberately casual, non-definitive, best-of lists.
326. NBA Geography (2006-12-12T18:05:54Z) in recreation, geography
My old hometown Jazz routed the Mavericks last night for Jerry Sloan's 1000th win. For now -- and for the first time in my memory -- the Mountain West, led by the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, and Denver Nuggets, is the NBA's dominant geographic region.
325. The Fuss About Google's Geographic Web (2006-12-10T16:56:35Z) in industry
I don't see the point in fussing about Google's new geographic web layer. ESRI's Geography Network and the scattered archipelago of W*S servers may have come first, but neither constitute a functioning web. Google's geo web is as legitimate as any other.
324. Digital Gazetteer Workshop Notes (2006-12-08T20:15:22Z) in geography
If you're interested in digital gazetteers and didn't make it to this week's workshop in Santa Barbara, check out the notes of my boss, Tom Elliot.
323. A Guide to the Blogosphere (2006-12-07T14:03:57Z) in media
I'm with Jonathan Crowe, Adena's sense of special interest is turned inside-out. And Planet Geospatial is still not a blog.
322. The MapGuide Demos (2006-12-06T16:46:59Z) in industry, open source, web
I spent a few minutes trying out the three generic tasks, and must say, this is more like it. Autodesk is employing some UI and graphic designers. They haven't found the sweet spots yet, but are closer than the ADF team.
321. QGIS R-Trees (2006-12-06T15:10:55Z) in open source
I too looked into Hadjieleftheriou's Spatial Index Library before settling on shapelib's quad tree (for Quadtree). My C++ chops are a bit flabby these days, and Frank's C code is very easy to work with. Given my limited resources and minimal requirements, the choice was obvious. Now, I'll definitely be looking into the QGIS R-tree implementation.
320. So This is the ArcGIS Server ADF? (2006-12-05T15:34:09Z) in industry, web
I was expecting it to feel more usable and look more appealing. It's an improvement over the abysmal ArcIMS client, for sure, but is less impressive than all the hype suggested.
319. Declarative Maps (2006-12-01T19:35:56Z) in programming, mapserver, software engineering
As obvious as this post will be to some, it bears being written for the benefit of people who are at a fork in the MapServer road. Don't write unnecessary programs. Write documents.
318. Heads in the Sand (2006-12-01T15:06:42Z) in industry
In the comments of James Fee's AGX vs GE post (and others), ESRI users cling desperately to the mantra that ArcGIS Explorer and Google Earth do different things and aren't competitors. However, as Stephen Geens notes (at the end of this post), Google Earth users with a serious GIS background are ready, willing, and able to compete with AGX and ArcGIS services.
316. Simplicity and the Corporate Development Firewall (2006-11-30T16:59:18Z) in industry, programming
Good post from Pete Lacey about how much of the IT industry can't hear the victory cheers. Thanks largely to Google, the situation is better in the geospatial business. Google Maps and Earth have utterly breached the firewall in our industry. Only the deepest of the deep corporate spider-holes could hide a geospatial developer from un-enterprisey ideas like the GMaps API, KML, GeoRSS, and REST.
315. Stop Using Mapscript (2006-11-29T17:28:20Z) in mapserver
Stop using MapScript. I recently gave this advice to an email correspondent, and I'm repeating it here for my readers. Cease, or at the very least, minimize your use of MapServer's various language bindings. Instead, embrace MapServer's domain-specific language (DSL) and write more of the declarative cartographic scripts known as "mapfiles". Use the mapserv (or shp2img) program to compile these scripts into images. This is the path to happiness and prosperity.
314. Plone Conference Keynote Video (2006-11-29T04:54:24Z) in open source, community, plone
I didn't expect it to happen at all, but Eben Moglen's keynote address at the Plone Conference moved me. I admit that it's easier to do these days now that I'm a parent and feeling sappy. (How sappy? My wife and I almost lost it at the end of Peter Jackson's King Kong, that's how sappy.) I want my daughter to grow up in a more free, more fair, better world, and I'm proud to consider that my work on free software is helping to make that better world possible.
313. Landscape Words (2006-11-18T15:11:32Z) in geography, media
Place names and class of names are the main points of our upcoming Pleiades milestone, so it's an interesting coincidence to hear about Barry Lopez's book about landscape words on NPR the other evening. Reading the excerpts, I became a little sentimental about names of my favorite landscape, the Colorado Plateau: slot canyon, dry fall, reef, arch, tank, water pocket.
312. Almost Like an Onion Headline (2006-11-17T21:57:44Z) in programming
"Man says reusable modules are ok and all, but cutting and pasting code snippets is way better.".
311. SDI in a Box (2006-11-17T17:13:02Z) in media, industry
People having been talking about mapservers or spatial data infrastructures in a box for a while. It's bound to happen any day now, but almost certainly without the box, instead using "elastic" arrays of virtual machines.
310. Props to ArcMap (2006-11-17T16:43:16Z) in industry
I just finished making a map of Tanacetum vulgare (Common Tansey) incidence for a visiting ecologist. Everything I remembered about good ole ArcView 3.2 seemed to transfer right over to use of ArcMap 9.1.
309. More on the Plone Conference Sprint (2006-11-17T02:53:17Z) in plone, community
I've always done a poor job of explaining what these software sprints are all about. Jon Stahl does a much better job here. If you look closely you will see my chin in the very upper left corner of the fifth photo in his blog entry, sitting just behind Jackie, Martin, and Alexander.
308. The REST Dialogues (2006-11-16T23:35:10Z) in web, programming
The REST Dialogues looks like it will be good stuff, although The S stands for Simple is more fun. If I were more clever, I would have taken this approach to discussing W*S.
306. How to Explain Metadata (2006-11-15T15:44:47Z) in data
No, no, no. As as cook and programmer, I must object. The only analogy that works is ingredients == data.
305. primagis.buildout (2006-11-13T15:22:16Z) in the lab
Kai and I attended Chris McDonough's talk on buildouts at the Plone Conference. Kai left motivated to do something about common environments for developing PrimaGIS. His solution is primagis.buildout: a script for making complete, isolated PrimaGIS sandboxes.
304. Java Freed (2006-11-13T14:49:06Z) in programming, community
Java freed. Open source GIS folks should read and think about Bray's -- and he's not a Free Software zealot -- common sense arguments for the GPL.
303. Tests for Goodness' Sake (2006-11-11T17:40:49Z) in programming, python, software engineering
You know what would impress more than a 1.0 tag?
301. Python Cartographic Library 0.11 (2006-11-09T17:13:38Z) in the lab
This release has been a long time coming, and I appreciate the patience I've been shown. At least the wait was less than 18 months.
300. Rick Santorum (R-AccuWeather) Defeated (2006-11-08T22:49:49Z) in data, industry
Peter Suber points out that users of rich NWS data feeds won big last night. The sponsor of S.786 has been sent home. Suber says it was a good night overall for Open Access to research data. FRPAA co-sponsor Joe Lieberman was re-elected, and pro-OA Sherrod Brown replaces Mike DeWine. Are there any seasoned industry watchers who want to make an assessment of the impact on the geospatial business?
299. IronPython Goodies (2006-11-08T02:41:15Z) in python
Responding to my previous .NET post, Seo Sanghyeon wrote to tell me that ElementTree is already ported to -- if I understand correctly -- the IronPython Community Edition, and work on PIL is underway. As I said before, these have always been two of my top 10 favorite modules, standard or not. I guess working on .NET won't be so bad after all.
298. FRUGOS Event November 14 (2006-11-07T17:52:56Z) in community
There will be a demo of "Geospatial Open Source on a (Memory) Stick".
297. GIS and Democracy (2006-11-06T22:42:16Z) in community
There's been a lot of buzz over the past few years about how GIS is democratizing everything. The power to peek at your neighbors' backyards, strip mines, and refugee camps has been called democracy. Maybe it is, or at least is raw material for democracy. Myself, right now, I'm more concerned about political equality and the right to participate in choosing representatives in government. Bottom line: does GIS enfranchise us? If not, all this democratization talk is just hot air.
296. Spatial Resources Spam (2006-11-06T19:19:57Z) in industry
Is it just me, or do others get unsolicited press releases from Spatial Resources, LLC? What have I ever said or done that would make this guy think I was interested? I've cancelled my so-called subscription before, but apparently they've decided that I needed to be put back on the spam list.
295. Plone and Atom (2006-11-06T19:07:44Z) in plone, pleiades
The PleiadesGeo software I've been developing serves up Atom feeds, and now it seems we can suck such feeds back in. I get to work on something closely related today. PleiadesGeo already serializes content to KML for display in Google Earth. Now we're working on opening up the inbound lanes.
294. .NET: Meh (2006-11-05T18:37:07Z) in programming, media
The funny thing about .NET is that I can ignore it, mock it, invest nothing in it, knowing that when I absolutely have to, I can turn on a dime and be very productive on it thanks to IronPython.
293. Planet Geospatial Woes (2006-11-04T03:33:15Z) in community
Maybe what we really need is a geo-reddit. Get to it, lazyweb!
292. OS and GeoDRM: Only the Half of It (2006-10-31T14:54:37Z) in data, industry
The more fundamental question to ask is whether data providers can risk turning away innovators that don't appreciate being treated like criminals.
291. Plone Sprint Summary (2006-10-30T17:43:09Z) in plone, the lab
I've got several more entries about the conference to write, but don't worry: I'll be back to GeoDRM bashing and REST advocacy in due time.
290. Tiling Implementation (2006-10-28T17:00:31Z) in web, industry
I think URL traversal is going to expand and perhaps even blow some minds. Presently, the open source GIS community thinks about web applications almost exclusively in terms of CGI.
289. Tiled Mapping API (2006-10-23T03:32:11Z) in web
I like where Paul Ramsey is going with this. It's not just trendy: it's the way the web works.
288. Persistent Misconception About the GPL (2006-10-21T17:51:57Z) in open source, industry
If 52N seeks to own all commercial rights to the software, it will have to find a different license.
287. REST and WMS (2006-10-21T16:55:57Z) in web, programming
Could WMS have been REST-ful? Andrew Hallam says probably not. I think he's being too strict about REST.
286. Levels of Openness (2006-10-20T14:52:25Z) in open source
Some of us care a great deal about open development as well as open source. Howard explains. I've been recently cajolling the authors of a well-known, open source, closed development project about just this issue.
285. New OSGeo Executive Director (2006-10-19T19:38:47Z) in open source
I was complaining to Frank "El Presidente" Warmerdam last week that OSGeo was too opaque and needed to shed a little more blog light on itself. Today is different, with almost every OSGeo-related blogger reporting on the hire of Tyler Mitchell as Executive Director.
284. OWSLib 0.1.0 (2006-10-19T18:15:50Z) in the lab
OWSLib is a Python package for working with OGC web map and feature services. It provides a common API for accessing service metadata and wrappers for GetCapabilities, GetMap, and GetFeature requests.
283. Why Does WFS Dislike the Web? (2006-10-18T18:22:43Z) in programming
I read Andrew Hallam's post about REST Abuse last month, and nodded: right, REST != not SOAP. There's more to it. I've spent the past two days programming WMS and WFS clients, and have a little more to add to his thread.
282. Mirror, Mirror (2006-10-18T15:41:10Z) in media
Now which one is the defensive, paranoid, government? Iran throttles internet access to 128kbps. Interior Bans Reading Blogs.
281. Multi-geometry Features (2006-10-18T07:46:17Z) in programming, the lab
Jason Birch has a nice KML tip tonight. PCL's N-geometry feature model suits this kind of application very well.
280. Quadtree Uploaded (2006-10-18T03:16:06Z) in python, programming
I've uploaded Quadtree to the Python Cheese Shop .
279. Geo-JSON (2006-10-17T15:00:12Z) in programming, data, pleiades
Pleiades uses JSON when transporting map contexts and map features from Plone to our OpenLayers-based javascript applications. Our evolving flavor of geo-JSON is documented in the Pleiades wiki. I'm curious to find out if anyone else is doing something similiar.
277. Dirt Simple Geo for Plone (2006-10-13T18:46:56Z) in pleiades, data, plone
What makes it all hang together? Reliable Zope 3 machinery and standards.
276. I-cubed Imagery in MapQuest (2006-10-12T21:21:52Z) in industry
Congratulations, Russ, Jean, and crew! Check out the lower right corner of this map. Does this officially make I-cubed the biggest little Mom-and-Pop shop yet?
275. Python Quadtree (2006-10-12T20:56:50Z) in python, programming, zope, plone
After researching trees of all kinds and reviewing a number of libraries, I finally went with what had been right under my nose all along: the quad tree from the venerable and inscrutable shapelib. A few years ago I would have used SWIG to wrap shapelib's tree, but I honestly don't give a damn about anything but Python these days. I whipped up tests, a Python C extension module, and Quadtree was born.
274. Geo at the Plone Conference (2006-10-11T17:27:08Z) in plone
It's two weeks to the Plone Conference. I missed out on FOSS4G, so this is my big conference of the year. Interest in the post-conference sprint is huge. It looks like we're going to have 8-10 people on the geospatial track.
273. DebianGIS, GEOS, MapServer (2006-10-11T15:34:44Z) in open source
There's a push to update the MapServer stack in Debian unstable, including MapServer 4.10 and GEOS 2.2.3. Since switching to Ubuntu I'm paying much closer attention to the process. If you're interested, you could help test the packages.
272. Switching to Atom (2006-10-11T05:37:45Z) in programming
Hopefully I can pull this off without flooding Planet Geospatial. All my timestamps are OK, so if anything goes wrong I blame James and Mark Pilgrim's FeedParser.
271. Fingers in the Wind? (2006-10-09T20:31:00Z) in open source, industry
The shift is well underway. And I, for one, welcome our new open source overlords.
270. geopy: Python Geocoding Library (2006-10-09T20:02:44Z) in python, vulgar geography
I like geopy so much I just sent the author a patch that adds doctests.
269. MetaCarta Labs Rectifier (2006-10-08T16:11:47Z) in programming, data
Chris and Schuyler's rectifier is triggering flashbacks to my days as an apprenticing image analyst.
268. Java Worldwind? (2006-10-06T02:25:00Z) in open source
There's going to be a Java Worldwind as well as .NET Worldwinds? Does this multiplication seem like a waste of resources to anyone else? What's wrong with .NET? Does this imply that Mono is still a toy? Why wasn't it written once in C++ or Java? That's a lot of questions, but I'm seriously baffled.
267. Denver Plone Meetup (2006-10-04T19:04:02Z) in plone, community, the lab, pleiades
Trey Beck is organizing a first local Plone meetup. I'm looking forward to hearing what people are up to, and to showing off Pleiades and PrimaGIS.
266. Another Milestone (2006-10-04T04:48:24Z) in food and drink, media
I was just solicited to write some blog-ola about a vaguely geo-related product that I'll never use. Weird. I'd never do such shameless product placement in a million years.
265. Framing GeoDRM (2006-10-03T17:05:22Z) in data
Last "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" I wrote and tore up several lackluster posts about GeoDRM. None of them had the "Arr" I was searching for.
264. Browsing Ancient Lycia and Pisidia (2006-10-02T20:40:38Z) in pleiades
Pleiades reached its first data milestone today. We've loaded up all point features from the Barrington Atlas Map 65: Lycia-Pisidia. The Choma network link from Pleiades is well worth a visit. All contemporary features can be viewed using the Imperial Roman period network link.
263. MapWho? (2006-10-01T22:11:53Z) in open source, mapserver
It's interesting that MapServer doesn't make the cut on the OSGeo web mapping matrix.
262. Python and GRASS (2006-09-23T22:34:48Z) in open source, python
Markus Neteler has news about the scripting interface to GRASS. Welcome to the blogosphere, Markus.
259. Thar be Low-Hanging Booty (2006-09-19T22:49:32Z) in the lab, data, pleiades, plone
People love GDAL and OGR. People love graphical modeling. I think we can have these and the benefits of open source as well.
258. Python 2.5, me Maties! (2006-09-19T20:24:38Z) in python
What's in the brand spanking new Python 2.5 for geospatial folks?
257. Patronizing Elders (2006-09-15T19:56:56Z) in media
I'd have guessed that people under 35 have always been the major innovators in society. Congratulations, Joshua Schachter!
256. Sol Katz Award to Markus Neteler (2006-09-15T15:08:26Z) in community
According to Tom Kralidis, Markus Neteler has received the 2006 Sol Katz Award. Markus well deserves this recognition.
255. FRUGOS Meetup (2006-09-15T04:05:46Z) in community, open source
The FRUGOS_ meetup at GIS in the Rockies organized by Brian Timoney was a success.
254. Discount Entry to GITR for FRUGOS (2006-09-13T21:14:33Z) in community, industry
Brian Timoney has good news for people who weren't sure about paying full admission. See you tomorrow at Invesco Field.
253. How to Steal an Election (2006-09-13T17:56:54Z) in community, media, industry
Public service announcement. You owe yourself a viewing of the video at Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy, wherein it is demonstrated that Diebold's poorly engineered system makes stealing an election trivial.
252. Tom Kralidis at FOSS4G (2006-09-12T18:21:55Z) in community, open source
Thanks for the update, Tommy. This is the only major open source geospatial conference I've ever missed and I'm starting to feel pangs of regret.
251. mod_expires to the Rescue (2006-09-12T17:55:29Z) in programming, open source
OpenLayers and MapBuilder apps each require download of a mass of javascript, and a significant wait. Drop this .htaccess into your library root and your clients will cache the bulky javascript for up to a month.
250. GeoDRM at FOSS4G 2006 (2006-09-12T14:02:38Z) in data, community, industry
The open data movement needs GeoDRM? To me, this is prima facie nonsense. I'm interested to find out what Jo and other open data advocates attending the conference take away from this talk.
249. while 1: self.insert(sheep) (2006-09-08T18:46:20Z) in media, python
Is this what Joel Spolsky was talking about when he said Python was only halfway safe?. Via Boing Boing.
248. Cartography and Science Fiction (2006-09-07T14:29:22Z) in recreation
Via The Map Room: Another Word for Map is Faith sounds like a fun story. Christopher Rowe's The Voluntary State was one of my favorite SF short stories of 2004.
246. GeoDRM: Dead on Arrival (2006-08-30T18:35:53Z) in data
Last week programmers broke Windows Media DRM, and today it's announced that others have cracked iTunes FairPlay DRM. How will GeoDRM, using the same technologies as the big media companies, prevent unauthorized use of your geodata?
245. EDUCE Funded (2006-08-29T16:57:29Z) in digital humanities
Congratulations to Ross Scaife et al. EDUCE is funded by the NSF. Ross is the host of the Pleiades project web infrastructure.
244. Tomato Processing (2006-08-28T14:46:50Z) in food and drink
Here's a brief follow-up about my vegetable garden.
243. Embarassing (2006-08-28T14:14:54Z) in geography
Colorado has a lot going for it, but the xenophobia -- whether homegrown or more recently imported from Texas and California -- is embarrassing.
240. Kai and PrimaGIS in Seattle (2006-08-23T14:37:56Z) in the lab, plone
Excellent! Kai's talk is accepted and on the Plone Conference agenda.
239. PleiadesGeocoder and PleiadesOpenLayers (2006-08-23T03:47:29Z) in pleiades, open source, plone
In my 200th post I wrote about the Pleiades project and our intent to be geospatial leaders for the Plone community and the digital humanities. Release early, release often is a part of the philosophy that Pleiades is porting from the open source software movement. Two months into the project, we're releasing a couple of simple and useful products for Plone: a geocoder, PleiadesGeocoder, and a map, PleiadesOpenLayers.
238. Peter Suber on Open Access (2006-08-22T15:50:24Z) in data, media
OA is somewhat related to the Open Source movement, but is concerned about content rather than tools. There's a lot in this conversation that is of interest to free geodata advocates. Check it out.
237. AJAX Mapping Shakeout (2006-08-21T16:22:55Z) in open source
Speaking of shakeout and convergence: I don't see any reason why Mapbuilder and OpenLayers, the two leading open source AJAX map libraries, need merge. Choice is good, and these projects offer distinctly different approaches.
236. Python Web Framework Shakeout (2006-08-21T15:54:46Z) in python
A year ago I pointed out Django as the one to watch. And now Python's BDFL has proclaimed Django to be the one.
234. Google Regionator (2006-08-18T16:44:44Z) in python, programming
Yo, Google, don't be a bozo. Use ElementTree or lxml instead of managing all the tags and angle brackets yourself. You'll be glad you did, and you'll help to set a good example for thousands of new Python programmers.
233. GeoDRM and Access Control (2006-08-17T16:59:27Z) in data
Anybody have an access use case that can't be solved by an Apache proxy, mod_rewrite fu, and tweaking of row/column privileges in your data store? It would have to be quite the corner case.
232. GeoDRM: Worst. Idea. Ever. (2006-08-15T16:29:03Z) in data, media, community
I lurk on the Mapbuilder email list and am growing uneasy at the project's apparent embrace of GeoDRM. In the wake of Sony's anti-customer technology meltdown the string "DRM" makes reasonable people shudder, but GeoDRM proponents soldier obliviously on.
230. W*S Client Library for Python (2006-08-04T16:10:11Z) in the lab, open source
OWSLib doesn't require the Python Cartographic Library. It depends only on elementtree or lxml. Your choice. There's no official release yet, but I expect to have one in October in time for the Seattle Plone Sprint.
229. You're in San Diego and You're Curious (2006-08-02T13:06:00Z) in open source
There's an Open Source GIS gathering at the SDSU Visualization Lab, Aug 8. For more details, see this post on mapserver-users.
228. Community Map Symbols (2006-08-01T15:42:08Z) in open source, community
I was just asked if I knew of a comprehensive set of openly licensed map symbols. I'm not aware of such a thing. But it occurs to me that this might be just the job for the OSGeo foundation.
227. Planet Geospatial is not a Group Blog (2006-07-30T04:07:55Z) in media, community
I disagree with Adena's take on Planet Geospatial as a group blog. Boing Boing is a group blog. The GeoRSS Blog is a group blog. The Stoa Consortium is a group blog. Planet Geospatial is a feed aggregator. I've worked with James Fee to get markup that is easy to monkey with, but that's as far as I consider it a joint venture. Not that I'd be opposed to participating in a group blog.
226. Ruby, REST and YAML (2006-07-28T14:48:06Z) in programming
Here's a good article by Charlie Savage: A Community for REST. I appreciate the work that the Rails community is doing to push back against WS-*. The other thing I think Rails does exactly right is use of YAML for configuration instead of XML.
225. Pro Cycling, You're Killing Me (2006-07-27T15:01:12Z) in recreation
I feared that it might be too good to be true. Perfect bookend scandals. I sincerely hope that Landis' B sample clears him.
224. Ruby and Geospatial? (2006-07-26T18:00:31Z) in open source, programming
Ruby is the best thing since sliced bread. It embraces Perl refugees, gurus love it, and you're nothing but a chump if you're using a sucky language like Python or Java. Why then -- with the exception of Charlie Savage's work with GDAL and GEOS -- does it seem that there is nothing significant going on at the intersection of Ruby and Geospatial?
223. Incubation Follow-Up (2006-07-26T01:49:30Z) in community, open source
Does unwillingness to spend a big chunk of free time trying to reform the incubation committee disqualify me from criticising the process? Not in the least. Let me try a metaphor on you: I'm not the guy in the back seat of your car second-guessing how you drive, I'm the guy on the bicycle yelling at you to drive carefully.
222. Slippy AJAX Timeline (2006-07-24T17:17:52Z) in programming, pleiades
Slick! You better believe I'll be trying out the SIMILE Timeline for the Pleiades site. I welcome the support for JSON because every time someone creates a new XML language, God kills a kitten. Via Ned Batchelder.
220. Ideas for Plone and Geospatial Sprint (2006-07-24T15:42:54Z) in plone, community
I've made a wiki page to collect ideas and names of participants for the Plone Conference sprint. Login is required to edit the page, email me to get one.
219. Patently Silly (2006-07-20T16:46:23Z) in industry
Via All Points Blog: are all geo patents this ridiculous? They invented a new storage medium and a new electrical signal? I'm a bit skeptical.
218. How Rigorous is OSGeo Software Incubation? (2006-07-20T16:09:59Z) in open source, community
Making the incubation rigorous enough that it actually results in improvement of the initial projects would be a big step forward for OSGeo. I believe it would encourage new projects to apply, in the hope that they would be similarly uplifted. How about it, incubator committee? Can you raise the bar a bit more and make the process really meaningful?
217. Thrilling TdF Stage 16 (2006-07-19T20:48:35Z) in recreation
What an thrilling stage 16 today in the Tour! Rasmussen goes off early and stays away to win. Sastre catches Landis out, and Pereiro regains the Maillot Jaune.
216. There Goes the Neighborhood (2006-07-19T15:32:14Z) in geography
Crap, there goes the neighborhood. Please, unless you bring your own lifetime supply of water (and some to share), or are going to start an old-world bakery, or an affordably priced enoteca, don't move to Fort Collins. I'm begging you.
215. Calling all Gurus (2006-07-19T15:17:35Z) in community, media
You know what the geo blogosphere really lacks? Gurus. Seasoned, opinionated, frankly critical, highly credible people writing about implementations. Experts in technology or methodology, writing with good style, clarity, and a sense of humor. Where are our Martin Fowlers, Tim Brays, Paul Grahams, Mark Pilgrims, and Joel Spolskys?
214. Map Librarians Are Real (2006-07-16T05:21:57Z) in digital humanities
Since I have no academic background in GIS or Geography, I've been skeptical about GIS or map librarians (such as mapz). To me, this position seemed a bit mythical, like the jackalope or sasquatch.
213. The Future of the Past (2006-07-16T04:25:35Z) in digital humanities, media, community, pleiades
If you're interested in a historian's take on Wikipedia and the impact of the Wikipedia process on scholarship, check out Roy Rosenzweig's excellent essay: Can History be Open Source? (via The Stoa Consortium). It's enormously relevant to the Pleiades project, and we'll be disseminating it to all our potential users.
212. Giving Back (2006-07-12T16:40:27Z) in community, open source
Yesterday Hobu chastized ZedX for apparently giving little back to the MapServer community.I think the fact that a company can put MapServer to use in a good sized contract without the need for paid consultation with core MapServer developers, or the need for feature enhancement, is a nice indicator of the maturity of the MapServer project.
211. Plone Friday (2006-07-07T18:21:33Z) in plone, community
Lots happening this week. The top story is Google's hire of Plone co-founder Alexander Limi. Limi claims that the one day a week he'll be free to work on the Plone codebase is more than he now has. We'll have to wait and see. At any rate, a great opportunity for him.
210. TdF Finally Gets It (2006-07-07T03:12:54Z) in geography, recreation
Via the Google Earth Blog I see that the Grand Boucle has teamed up with Google to address their need for KML. Meanwhile, I'm bummed that Valverde crashed out of the race in stage 3.
209. Front Range Users of Geospatial Open Source (2006-07-07T02:46:23Z) in community, open source
In March 2005 Donnie Marino (then at DigitalGlobe) hosted a meeting of local MapServer users in Longmont. A follow-up has been a long time coming. After consulting with Donnie and Brian Timoney, I created a new Google Group to pick up where we left off last year: the Front Range Users of Geospatial Open Source, or FRUGOS.
208. The Open Planning Project Hires Ian Bicking (2006-06-30T22:22:21Z) in python, community
TOPP, which employs Chris Holmes and sponsors GeoServer, just hired Ian Bicking. I've been reading Bicking's blog for a while now, and am hoping that they get him involved a bit in Python geospatial stuff.
207. Stranded in Phoenix (2006-06-30T15:23:01Z) in industry
*La Quinta* is Spanish for America West and US Airways screwed me.
206. Black Friday (2006-06-30T14:07:59Z) in recreation
Stunning. And I was really looking forward to watching a bike race this summer. Instead, it's a soap opera.
205. ESRI Subpoenaed (2006-06-29T15:54:39Z) in industry
ESRI and other businesses are being drawn into an investigation of Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm.
204. Python in the Triangle (2006-06-29T15:24:08Z) in community, python
I'm very grateful for the kind hospitality of Chris Calloway and TriZPUG this week. I hope their upcoming Python Boot Camp is a huge success. For anyone who may be interested, here are the few and skeletal slides of my talk.
203. OpenLayers 1.0 (2006-06-29T13:35:22Z) in open source
OpenLayers 1.0 has been released. It's a simple open source map browser in the style of Google Maps.
202. TriZPUG Talk (2006-06-25T03:35:12Z) in the lab, community, python
I made a mistake in a previous post. My talk for the Triangle Zope and Python Users Group is actually at Duke University next Tuesday, not UNC-CH. I'm really looking forward to meeting the members and finding out what interesting applications they might have for PCL and PrimaGIS.
201. Juhannus (2006-06-23T21:33:28Z) in recreation
I love holidays, particularly the old school holidays. Fertility rituals, Dionysian excess, and bonfires. Nothing says summer quite like a bonfire! My friend and colleague Kai Hanninen is off enjoying the Finnish holiday of Juhannus, which sounds a lot more exciting than our Father's Day.
200. My New Gig (2006-06-23T20:33:29Z) in pleiades, the lab, geography
I've been saving this news for my 200th post. My new position is the software developer for UNC-CH's Ancient World Mapping Center, and I'll be working on the AWMC's Pleiades project. Pleiades (the daughters of Atlas) continues the work of the Classical Atlas Project. I'll be building a system -- and helping to build a community -- to update the *Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World*.
199. Data and Metadata in the Digital Humanities (2006-06-21T15:46:50Z) in data
I'm crossing over into the Digital Humanities lately and finding some great resources in the blogosphere. Via The Stoa Consortium and GIS for Archaeology and CRM I've been clued in to Digging Digitally and a good collection of links concerning data, metadata, and the platonic semantic cage.
198. Souring on Apple (2006-06-20T06:06:17Z) in media
Mark Pilgrim is ditching his Mac. Tim Bray sounds like he may not be far behind.
197. Geographic Features for Python (2006-06-20T05:11:57Z) in the lab
The upcoming PCL 0.11 release will include a new feature model. In a nutshell, it's a Object-Relational mapper for Python which supports the OGC's Simple Feature Profile. The OGR-based filesystem and psycopg-based PostGIS backends are operational, and a WFS backend based on elementtree or lxml is in the works. An introduction to the model and a tutorial with example code has just been added to our GIS-Python wiki.
196. Data is All (2006-06-19T14:30:41Z) in vulgar geography
Errors in the Gutenkarte picture of Pride and Prejudice remind me of a truth universally acknowledged, that data is everything in this game.
195. Gutenkarte (2006-06-14T03:45:16Z) in vulgar geography, python
The other night I helped Schuyler out with a Python and PostGIS problem. Now I suppose he was working on Gutenkarte. We saw a preview of this at the 2005 Open Source Geospatial Conference.
194. Mix-ins (2006-06-14T03:16:26Z) in vulgar geography, programming
I had no idea that Microsoft prefers mix-in over mashup. Adena suggests it may have something to do with ice cream. I thought it was more likely to have come from Lisp, but a little research indicates that ultimately, the term was inspired by Steve's Ice Cream.
193. Python Cartographic Library Summer Tour (2006-06-13T13:24:51Z) in the lab
If two points make a line, do two engagements make a tour? I'm going to be making a series of presentations this summer about the Python Cartographic Library, PrimaGIS, and open source GIS tools for Python in general.
192. Bad News for the Internet (2006-06-09T14:55:43Z) in industry
Net neutrality suffers a blow in the House of Representatives. Are our representatives in Congress just cavemen, unable, as Ed Parsons writes, to distinguish between freeway traffic and TCP/IP traffic?
191. Obligatory Simpsons Reference (2006-06-08T17:37:40Z) in community
I'm certain that for every brouhaha in the Geospatial community there is a parallel kerfuffle in The Simpsons. First there was MapServer Cheetah/Enterprise. Now, my question is : does the GeoRSS episode more resemble the conflict in "Mr. Plow" (9F07) or "Flaming Moe" (8F08)? Discuss.
190. Hello World (2006-06-08T14:35:12Z) in programming
Geospatial is bubbling up everywhere. I followed a link from reddit and found geospatial code in an essay about C++ programming.
189. Writing Myself Out of the Script (2006-06-06T16:00:14Z) in mapserver, community
I was fortunate to have a lightning talk slot at the 2005 Open Source Geospatial conference. Among other things, I talked about my changing priorities. I said that MapScript (and MapServer) were practically complete and that I'd be working more and more on the Python Cartographic Library and PrimaGIS. Now, a year later, I'm finally making it official.
188. ArcGIS 11.0? (2006-05-30T14:10:52Z) in industry
Just read on All Points Blog that ArcGIS 9.2 will be ESRI's biggest release ever. Nevermind the version number. In my humble opinion, if Dangermond really want to get customers fired up he should go to 11. [more ... warning: humour].
187. SVR WX Episodio Due (2006-05-24T15:44:26Z) in recreation
Via Igor Tavella, check out the livecam at the stage 17 finish line.
186. Mapnik and MapServer (2006-05-24T15:09:14Z) in open source
Mapnik 0.3.0 is released. Mateusz Loskot and Matt Perry are also now blogging mapnik news, so that makes four of us. I think I'm still the only one regularly blogging MapServer releases. This doesn't mean that mapnik is developing at four times the rate of MapServer, but perception -- particularly in the blogosphere -- can often trump reality. The MapServer project really ought to make a little more noise.
185. Giro: Plan de Corones (2006-05-23T18:51:05Z) in recreation
Tomorrow's 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia finishes with a 1260 meter climb to Plan de Corones. In their never-ending quest to make the Giro the most macho of all stage races, the organizers are grading and resurfacing an alpine ski area's service road.
184. SVR WX (2006-05-22T22:08:51Z) in programming
What do you know: our first severe weather warning of the season. A band of thunderstorms is headed up I-25. Better get the quilts and comforters ready.
183. Offline Life (2006-05-22T15:20:41Z) in recreation, food and drink
I think Howard and Josh are the only geospatial folks who know that I have any semblance of an offline life. Believe it or not, I do. If there was any serious Ultimate in the Fort, that's what I'd be doing this spring. Instead, I'm going big in the garden.
182. Photos from Python "Need For Speed" Sprint (2006-05-22T13:56:16Z) in python
There's a Python sprint in Reykjavik this week which they are calling the Need For Speed. Sean Reifschneider, one the principals of tummy.com, shows us how to foto-document a sprint. I did a relatively pathetic job of taking pictures at the PrimaGIS sprint in March.
181. URISA and Geospatial LoB (2006-05-18T16:42:37Z) in industry
URISA, the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, has weighed in on the Federal Geospatial LoB RFI. In section 2.4 (page 15), the authors state: "No New Funds": Not Realistic. They have plenty of other serious recommendations as well. I don't agree with all of them, but I do appreciate their objection to rigid, top-down, governance, and emphasis on investment in geospatial infrastructure.
180. Geeked About Cycling (2006-05-15T03:40:50Z) in recreation, media, geography
The biggest cycling stage races of the year are upon us, and that means that the TDF Blog bumps Planet Geospatial from the top of my blogpile. Last year I reviewed the official 89th Giro and 93rd Tour maps, but there's no significant changes this yea...
179. Gabbo? (2006-05-05T16:10:22Z) in industry, media
Gabbo-like buzz for ArcGIS Explorer is building again (here for great picture). Does ESRI really need such an application to stay competitive, or is it more of a vanity project?
178. Geographic Literacy (2006-05-03T17:35:55Z) in media, geography
I'm a bit late in pointing out this story on the National Geographic site concerning the geographic literacy of young (US) American adults. The story is cleverly illustrated with an image of the globe showing only the United States. A slightly more nuanced map of the world from the perspective of the average US citizen went around the blogosphere in 2004, before geospatial blogging caught on.
177. Open Source Myth Busting (2006-05-03T05:50:48Z) in open source, media
Ed Parsons' entry about perceptions of open source leaves me scratching my head. I'm pretty sure the intention was to inform about the reality of open source GIS as well as the perceptions, but his readership could come away a bit confused.
176. Create a PostGIS DB with Make (2006-05-02T05:26:10Z) in programming, open source
Sometimes I find myself cycling through databases when developing with PostGIS. To reduce the amount of typing I've written a simple makefile. It's cleaner than a shell script.
175. Bivariate Cartographic Style (2006-04-30T22:23:51Z) in the lab
In a previous post I wrote about using the Python Cartographic Library for charting the bright stars. Now I'm revisiting this script while working on a generalized bivariate cartographic style for PCL.
174. Community MapBuilder 1.0 (2006-04-26T03:21:48Z) in open source
MapBuilder 1.0 has arrived. Congratulations to Cameron Shorter, Mike Adair, and the rest of the gang.
173. New MapServer Steering Committee Member (2006-04-26T02:54:23Z) in mapserver
Last week MapServer's technical steering committee voted to make Steve Woodbridge a member. Steve is the first person we've added since the committee was formed.
172. LoB News (2006-04-20T19:14:47Z) in industry
Dave Smith, at Surveying, Mapping and GIS has an interesting geospatial LoB debriefing. It all still seems pretty murky to me (no fault of Dave's). Were there any journalists present to get interviews or comments from the participants?
171. Calling All Lobbyists? (2006-04-19T19:14:07Z) in community, media
I have bolder ideas yet. The GSA wants big? I can go big:
170. SLD and Python (2006-04-19T16:16:56Z) in python, open source
I've been thinking a bit more about PCL and mapnik and their separate implementations of SLD. Compatibility would be great, but it might be easier said than done. The problem with sharing an SLD implementation is that mapnik is a C++ framework with Python bindings, while PCL is a Python framework with some C extensions.
169. Mapnik News (2006-04-18T23:13:45Z) in open source, python
I try to keep readers updated on mapnik, which I hope will soon provide us (through Agg) with sexier maps than our trusty MapServer or MapGuide Open Source. I was quite disappointed when I learned that Autodesk's new application is also using good old GD. MapServer predates Agg or Cairo, but MapGuide OS has no such excuse.
168. GIS Features and JSON (2006-04-17T15:00:18Z) in programming, the lab
I'm a big believer in GML, but not such a fan of XSLT. For many web applications, I want to bypass the transformation and directly get GIS features (whether by WFS or other service) as javascript objects. In PrimaGIS we are using JSON-RPC, and a data structure that is modeled after the GML simple features profile.
167. Foundation, Physics, and Fun (2006-04-14T18:21:28Z) in community
Jo Walsh has a post that's making me consider whether the open source geospatial foundation more or less addresses my concerns from last summer. Back then, when I typed "organic" I could have just as easily used the word "grassroots". I wasn't looking for ideological purity as much as something that was really of and for the existing community.
166. Dark Matter? (2006-04-14T03:10:13Z) in media
Where did the Drkside of GIS go? He was like the Roddy Piper of the GIS blogosphere. Where am I going to get my snark fix now?
165. Ruby and GEOS (2006-04-12T17:51:14Z) in open source
A while back I created an initial SWIG interface for GEOS (Geometry Engine - Open Source), focusing on Python. I have subsequently stepped off the SWIG train (they lost me during the big changes made at 1.3.28), but Charlie Savage is forging ahead. The focus is now on Ruby, but if SWIG's unified typemaps work as advertised, bindings for other languages should follow trivially.
164. i-cubed Imagery in Yahoo Maps (2006-04-12T17:06:37Z) in media
My image processing mentor Yusuf Siddiqui wrote in to point out that i-cubed is the source for the new satellite imagery in Yahoo Maps. What a coup for Russ Cowart and his company! I worked at i-cubed programming data processing workflows until 2002, and they've been a customer of mine since then. It's great to see the company name come out big time along Navteq and TeleAtlas.
163. PlanetGS Scrubber Update (2006-04-11T15:36:29Z) in media
I have updated [version 0.3.1] pgscrubber.user.js to keep up with the Planet Geospatial URL change.
162. MapServer Illustrates Why Things Matter (2006-04-07T17:06:02Z) in media, mapserver, vulgar geography
I have been reading Julian Bleeker's manifesto "Why Things Matter", and noticed that an image from FlightAware appears on page 6. That is Tcl and MapServer at work, with a unique and distinctive cartographic style that Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft can not provide.
161. MapServer 4.8.3 (2006-03-31T00:22:11Z) in mapserver
This release fixes a critical bug.
160. MapServer 4.8.2 (2006-03-23T04:35:08Z) in mapserver, open source
MapServer 4.8.2, directed by Howard Butler, has been released.
158. Kamp Krusty (2006-03-14T15:26:13Z) in media
Soon it is going to be all Developer Summit all the time in the GIS blogosphere. Is there anybody going who has also been to any of the previous MapServer or Open Source Geospatial meetings? A similiar expectation seems to be building, with a relatively small group of people looking forward to less marketing spiel and more insight into their favorite platform. I would like to hear how it goes from someone who has crossed over into open source.
157. PrimaGIS/Zope3 Sprint Wrap Up (2006-03-14T01:41:12Z) in the lab, community
I got back to Fort Collins at 1:30 a.m. today and have tried to come up with a brief summary of the PrimaGIS and Zope 3 code sprint hosted by OpenApp last week. We did not provide much commentary during the event. You really had to be there, as the expression goes. Our colleagues on the #zco channel on IRC or subscribers to the project commits list saw only a flood of commit messages.
156. Sprint Day 2 (2006-03-09T22:40:19Z) in the lab, community
The second day of our code sprint has been going well. I'll write more about the technical details later, all I can manage now is to show some pictures and introduce our hosts.
155. Sprint Day 1 (2006-03-09T00:19:33Z) in the lab
Kai arrived yesterday afternoon, and we spent some time on strategery, but today was the first full day of programming.
154. New OSGeo Foundation Members (2006-03-02T15:22:32Z) in community
Announcement should appear soon at http://www.osgeo.org/. There are a bunch of brand new (to me) names among the usual suspects.
153. Mapnik Progress (2006-03-02T15:08:05Z) in open source, the lab
I had a good conversation with Artem Pavlenko yesterday. He showed me the improvement in mapnik labels and we agreed to think about -- and maybe even do something about -- sharing a feature model between mapnik and PCL. His comments were very encouraging, and I am eager to see more convergence.
152. Following Up (2006-03-01T17:04:02Z) in mapserver
It has been getting read lately, so I would like to follow up on a previous post about MapServer and the P* languages. I made a few predictions about the future of MapServer language bindings, and they have been both right and wrong.
151. Spring (2006-02-28T23:55:46Z) in recreation, geography
It's another ridiculously nice day here in Fort Collins. The second in a row with 70+ (F) temperatures. It's positively vernal.
150. Geometries for Python (2006-02-25T17:31:05Z) in the lab, python, open source
The next release of PCL will include two new components: PCL-Geometry, and PCL-Data, industrial-strength geometries and an agile feature model for Python programmers. I'm going to write about geometries today, and about the feature model in a day or two.
149. Geospatial on NPR (2006-02-25T15:09:45Z) in media
Interesting story this morning on NPR's Weekend Edition about coordinate reference systems and emergency response.
148. PrimaGIS 0.5.1 (2006-02-18T16:57:28Z) in the lab
Kai has just released PrimaGIS 0.5.1, which requires an upgrade to ZCO 0.7.1. Important changes in this release include:
147. Dublin Code Sprint (2006-02-17T19:50:26Z) in the lab, community, python, zope
Nevermind the ESRI Developer Summit; the place to be next month is Dublin, Ireland, for the first ever Python Cartographic Library and PrimaGIS code sprint. It's hosted by OpenApp, and scheduled for 8-10 March. The current goals are to port PrimaGIS to Zope3, improve the Python Cartographic Library, and bring key new programmers up to speed on the projects.
146. Open Source Geospatial Foundation (2006-02-05T14:15:37Z) in media
As expected, the meeting was a success. I am really pleased with the interim Board of Directors. Gary Lang has impressed me, and I've already met Arnulf Christl (of MapBender), Markus Neteler (GRASS), Frank Warmerdam (GDAL), and Chris Holmes (GeoServer). I trust all of them to get things off to a good start.
145. MapServer 4.8.0 Release (2006-02-03T00:17:43Z) in mapserver
MapServer 4.8.0 is here. Too late for Christmas after all, but makes a great Valentine's Day present.
144. Scripting OGR With Python (2006-01-25T04:11:42Z) in python, open source
Matt Perry has a great example of scripting the creation of Tissot Indicatrix circles with OGR. This is the only use of ogr.py that I've seen on the blogosphere since I posted my graticule recipe.
143. Incubating Everyone (2006-01-23T15:40:27Z) in mapserver
During a recent discussion about the two projects at the center of the initial foundation announcement, a prominent open source geospatial developer suggested to me that perhaps MapGuide should be required to enter through such an (ASF style) incubator. If we're to follow the ASF model, this makes perfect sense.
142. MapServer and MapGuide (2006-01-20T17:07:23Z) in community, mapserver
According to the All Points Blog, Autodesk's new open source licensed successor to MapGuide will be named ... MapGuide. I've been trying to make the point that project name churn doesn't help the foundation cause at all, and I'm happy to see that all parties have arrived at the same conclusion.
141. MapFoo Foundation Meeting (2006-01-13T21:14:14Z) in mapserver, community
Not in Phoenix after all, but in Chicago, February 6. I can't go, and just have to hope that realism and restraint prevail.
140. Slick Javascript Scalebar (2006-01-05T00:20:01Z) in open source, the lab
Tim Schaub wrote in about a javascript map scalebar that he's developed. Kai is working with him to get it included with PrimaGIS. Now I don't feel so bad about deferring work on scalebars for ZCO.
139. Mapnik 0.2.4a (2006-01-02T22:52:45Z) in open source
A new mapnik release from Artem showed up on freshmeat right ahead of PCL 0.10.0. Mapnik sure does make an attractive map.
138. New Releases From GIS-Python (2005-12-29T05:50:39Z) in the lab, community, python, zope, open source
We're waiting until people get back to work to announce on Freshmeat, FreeGIS, and plone.org, but there is now a new PrimaGIS 0.5 release, supported by releases of ZCO 0.7 and PCL 0.10. This first release from the new project site features integration with the MochiKit AJAX library, compatibility with Plone 2.1, a users manual, and a host of other improvements.
137. MapServer and Autodesk 2006 (2005-12-27T21:36:20Z) in mapserver
Regarding the proposed MapServer-Autodesk Foundation, here are a few things I'm wishing for in 2006.
136. Antialiasing Cost (2005-12-18T04:10:18Z) in mapserver, python
Howard asked me if I had a sense of the cost of antialiased lines. I set up a few tests using the timeit and mapscript modules, and found that the cost of polygon filling still outweights the cost of antialiased polygon stroking. Without fill, antialiasing is at least twice as costly, and increases in cost with the width of the line.
135. Is it Really so Confusing? (2005-12-17T01:32:30Z) in media
Some people still don't get the difference between open source (ala MapServer) and open standards (ala OGC). Clearly, people were clamoring in the comments on Spatially Adjusted for the benefits of open source, particularly attention to bugs. Nobody was complaining about open standards.
134. New MapServer Site (2005-12-17T01:06:34Z) in mapserver, community
The new MapServer website that Hobu has been toiling over for months is live today. New users are already heaping thanks on Hobu for making information easier to find.
133. Antialiasing Arrives in MapServer (2005-12-16T22:47:19Z) in mapserver
After a couple late nights by Steve Lime, pretty much any line or polygon outline can now be antialiased in MapServer 4.8-beta3.
132. Inside the Teepee (2005-12-09T18:16:38Z) in mapserver, community
There have been way too many press releases, recycled and regurgitated press releases, and pages of pure nonsense about the MapServer Foundation. Today, Howard Butler takes us inside the teepee for a look at the process.
131. Open Is As Open Does (2005-12-08T23:42:04Z) in media
Kevin Flanders has a new editorial in Directions on the MapServer Foundation brouhaha. Like me, he's ready to give Autodesk a fair shot at joining the community. Unlike me, he blames the blowback not on missteps by the Foundation founders, but on the small-mindedness of Joe six-pack MapServer user. That's disappointing. I think a little more openness from the start would have been sincerely appreciated by the community.
130. MapServer 4.6.2 Release (2005-12-03T21:00:01Z) in mapserver
New release from MapServer's stable branch. Mapscript users should consider upgrading to benefit from bug fixes involving inline features and scalebars.
129. PrimaGIS: the Sequel (2005-12-03T17:50:17Z) in the lab
There is a truism that sequels are never as good as the original, but Josh Livni proves this wrong with PrimaGIS screencast number three. Maybe it's because he jumps past number two.
128. MapServer Foundation (2005-12-02T18:40:02Z) in community, mapserver
The good news is that nobody is threatening to take their ball and go home, but some conflict continues.
127. Must Read (2005-11-30T22:08:23Z) in mapserver, community
On the topic of Autodesk-MapServer, Allan Doyle has the must-read post of the day.
126. Hobu's Take (2005-11-30T16:24:39Z) in community, mapserver
Every time I ask myself why Howard hasn't yet posted about the Autodesk-MapServer foundation announcement, I have to remind myself that he already did.
124. Arglebargle or Fufurah? (2005-11-29T19:24:29Z) in mapserver
My reference to Gabbo was my biggest hit ever. In another shameless attempt to pander to Simpsons fans out there, here is an image that, for me, sums up the whole Autodesk-MapServer episode.
123. Not Getting It (2005-11-29T16:49:47Z) in media, community, mapserver
Adena sees a divide in the MapServer community. She doesn't get it.
122. Autodesk and MapServer (2005-11-29T05:18:35Z) in community, mapserver
It's a bit over the top to write: Today, this week, we are simply adjusting to a space/time warp in the continuum of our geospatial marketplace. Processes, products and relationships are all changing in ways with which none of us have experience. but this is certainly the beginning of an interesting experiment.
121. MapServer Foundation Open Letter (2005-11-28T15:46:42Z) in mapserver, community
Big news this morning: A letter to the MapServer community concerning the future of their favorite program. Adena has the industry angle on Autodesk's big open source splash. I remain skeptical. Too busy to write more this morning, but I'll be digging in this evening.
120. PrimaGIS: the Movie (2005-11-28T08:35:08Z) in the lab, media
Josh Livni has been working hard to turn Seattle Plone users on to PrimaGIS and now goes world-wide, demonstrating mapping with Plone in the first of a series of screencasts.