GIS Gives United States Postal Service a Crime-Fighting Edge

Redlands, California—November 5, 2008—The United States Postal Service (USPS) Bank Service Act (BSA) Compliance Office is taking advantage of geographic information system (GIS) technology from ESRI to effectively detect suspicious activity, using sophisticated analysis and mapping to monitor millions of money order transactions across the United States. GIS maps show where suspicious activities may be occurring and link transactional data to reveal potential criminal patterns. Mapping and analysis also help USPS managers make sense of extensive transactional databases and millions of bits of data to ensure they comply with regulations. “There are a number of federal anti-money-laundering laws and regulations that directly impact the Postal Service as an issuer of money orders,” says Al Gillum, subject matter expert for the United States Postal Service BSA Compliance Office. “We have responsibilities to monitor transactions and identify potentially suspicious activity through postal money orders. We recognized GIS as a powerful tool to look at all our data. We can use it to bring data together, analyze it, and share it with others. We can then make decisions that are based on good intelligence.” ....more

Web-Based Mapping Tools Help Governments Transform GIS into New Services

Not so long ago, only a select group of users could take advantage of GIS tools and applications. The general public barely knew what GIS was, let alone knew how to use it. Today, the Web allows GIS data to be distributed via ever-evolving avenues, from the practical - traditional GIS services made available online - to imaginative applications like Google Sky, a Web-based, 3-D map of the universe.

Citizens, businesses and governments are finding new ways to reap the benefits of this revolution in how location data is understood and depicted. Data once found exclusively in GIS circles is appearing in common, everyday tools.

Some people wonder if these emerging applications should be considered GIS at all. Has the combination of location data and the Internet created something altogether new? How can government use new mapping tools to not only enhance citizen service, but also improve internal efficiency? And how do traditional GIS applications match up against the new kids on the block? These are just a few of the questions that have arisen in what may well be the golden age of GIS. (...continue)

Company uses satellite imagery to judge crops

A Chicago-based information company, Lanworth, Inc., is using twice-daily satellite images to look at crops.

With their technology and methodology, company officials hope Lanworth becomes a common name for pre-USDA forecasts.

Lanworth estimates the 2007 U.S. corn yield at 13.11 billion bushels and soybeans at 2.58 billion bushels. Their data was released five days before USDA released the official Oct. 12 report.

USDA's Oct. 12 numbers were 13.3 billion bushels for corn and 2.60 billion bushels for soybeans.

USDA's numbers were lower than some market analysts expected. (...continue article)

Remote sensing expert receives national award for teaching

Daniel Civco, a professor in the Department of Natural Resources Management and Engineering, has received a National Award for Excellence in College and University Teaching in the Food and Agricultural Sciences.

It is the highest honor an educator in the field of agriculture and natural resources can receive.

Civco, an expert on geomatics who specializes in remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), was presented with the award on Nov. 11, during a meeting of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) in New York City. (...continue article)

GIS Mapping To Trace Jumbos

BHUBANESWAR: After its role in managing natural resources, disaster management and more recently of malaria in the State, geo-information system (GIS) applications have come as a great help in another key area of wildlife management, i.e. reducing man-animal conflicts.

As per a study by Chandaka Dampara Sanctuary authorities, the movement pattern of specific elephants, its flagship species, can now be known through proper GIS mapping over the years with the help of annual and seasonal data interpretation so that the elephant depredation can be predicted and managed properly with the help of the villagers of the periphery areas.

Though it is still at a preliminary stage, the month-wise flow of elephant movements out of the sanctuary in co-ordination with different parametres like cropping pattern and water availability inside the sanctuary and their co-relations can be found out from the GIS study, says DFO Akshaya Kumar Pattnaik.

Explaining one such parameter like the least disturbing time of the sanctuary, ie. rainy season and the most disturbed period, ie. winter or post-harvesting season, according to elephant point of view, he says that the disturbances created by biotic pressure (human beings) after the harvesting season causes another major concern.

Inhabitants of the periphery villages go to forest for firewood collection, non-timber forest products and use the area for grazing their cattle and these activities after January are incorporated in the GIS mapping process.

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GIS : Enhancing security on energy transport systems

Besides measures encouraging investments in energy transport infrastructures to develop competition and to assure security of supply, European and national institutions are seeking to frame the risks related to the use of those equipments, in particular risks linked to gas and hydrocarbons pipeline transport.

To this end, an exhaustive inventory and a precise positioning of pipeline equipment, associated to a description of their close environment, seem to be fatal factors for security.

Since summer 2006, a legal constraint generalizes Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Indeed, main gas, chemical products and liquid or liquefied hydrocarbons transporters, exploiting pipelines in France, are forced to implement GIS before 2009 in accordance with professional and recognized guidelines. Those GIS are a new generation of information systems combining cartographic representations and data information (transport infrastructures, sections of network, new buildings…). The equipments are thus known as “geo-referred”.

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GIS? Show Me the Money!

From: The American Surveyor

There is a lot of talk about the role that GIS plays in business, and in society at large. I'd like to talk about what GIS means to surveyors, at least to this surveyor: my experience with GIS technology, and the way it has performed for me, convinces me that it is an excellent tool for any surveyor to have in his toolbox. Not only does it make a lot of sense for our spatially-oriented projects to use a consistent geo-centric coordinate system, but having all the relevant data and metadata associated with a project in one interface improves the efficiency, accuracy, and profitability of our work, and also increases client satisfaction. It's an excellent business management tool and adds value to our deliverables. Let me relate how I got started with GIS, and why I think it can be the engine that drives a survey company.

The vision I had for my surveying business was to use mature, accepted technologies, like GIS, to keep up with jobs and to increase the velocity of every project step from the client placing the order to the transmittal of deliverables and invoice. I further envisioned the use of NGS control as a way to work with repeatable coordinates and the incorporation of GIS data and metadata into each plat and legal description produced. There were a lot of reasons I was thinking this way, including the dictum, "Follow the steps of the original surveyor." I wanted my footsteps to be easily retraced by future surveyors. And of course, in some cases, the "future surveyor" would be me or my coworkers, returning to a project or working near a past project. We have continually refined our methods as we learn more and better ways to meet these goals, and have seen extremely positive financial impact on our business. And there was an unexpected benefit: as word got out that we were actually implementing progressive technology, we attracted higher quality employees who wanted to work at a progressive firm. In turn, some of these employees became leaders and pushed us to the next levels of GIS use, and the use of other new technologies.

GIS is not a fad, and has been around since before Roger Tomlinson invented the term in the 1960s. Why, ESRI has been in business for 38 years! So GIS is here to stay, and if you've been thinking you should get into it "one of these days"'' then maybe today should be the day. There's no right or wrong time, all you really need is the interest and desire to make it happen. One of the great things about continuous learning is that we get to build on what we know and increase the speed of the "business flywheels" that are already spinning.

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2007 GIS-Transportation Poster Competition: Geography Awareness Week

Transport 2000 Canada is hosting the GIS-Transportation Poster Competition, assisted by the Laboratory for Applied Geomatics and Geographic Information Systems Science, University of Ottawa.

AUTHORSHIP: The poster must be an original and independent product of the student making the submission.

TOPIC: Transportation must be the primary subject matter. The focus of the poster may be on walking, cycling, transit (bus, rail), auto, trucking, heavy rail, pipeline, air, water, or telecommuting, on passenger travel and/or freight movement, or a combination of modes.

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New Urban Research, Inc. Announces Mapping Texas Communities GIS and Analysis Workshops

Mapping Texas Communities will be the focus of beginner-level workshops offered in various Texas cities to teach the fundamentals of using GIS and Census data for community analysis. Presented by New Urban Research Inc. the workshop is designed for social service providers, academic researchers, urban planners and anyone who performs community demographic analysis for governmental or private organizations.

“Mapping Texas Communities: Introduction to GIS & Community Analysis” will be offered on November 1st and 2nd in Austin, November 8th and 9th in Houston, November 16th in San Antonio and on November 19th in Dallas. Each workshop is one day and costs $399 per person. No previous GIS experience is necessary. Information and registration are available at http://www.urban-research.info/.

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Google Maps Street View Adds 9 More Cities

Google Maps Street View roll call has added a few more cities.

1. Portland, Oregon
2. Tucson, Arizona
3. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
5. Chicago, Illinois

Google Maps Street View is a great way to kill time in your favorite cities. However, the quality of the images in most of the cities has been less than stellar. There's a great difference in quality when you view the higher resolution of San Francisco compared to Denver.

Luckily, the images in Phoenix, Tucson and parts of Chicago are all in high resolution. Check out the Sears Tower on Google Maps to get an example of the higher quality and the added bonus of being able to pan upwards to view the entire building.

View Google Maps Street View>

More Street View cities to explore>

Browser-based GIS boosts Bayswater Council's efficiency

Perth's City of Bayswater has dramatically improved its local government services, thanks to an easy-to-use browser-based spatial viewer called CitySpatial.

The City of Bayswater, located north of Perth and with a population of roughly 56,000 inhabitants, has implemented a new spatial viewer called 'CitySpatial', delivering access to multiple corporate databases for all council staff via a browser-based Web interface.

Rod Woodford has managed Bayswater's Geographic Services department for over 10 years, and says that the new system offers combined access to the council's property, customer service, infrastructure assets, and approval systems into one interface, "enabling staff to provide a more seamless level of service".

Woodford says that Bayswater staff can now access and retrieve council documents and handle customer enquiries more efficiently than ever before, greatly reducing council input/output times.

"Land Certificate request forms have gone from 14 days to a one day turnaround." [...more]

GIS: Examining the Little Details for Limitless Potential

A neighbor's home catches fire and a concerned citizen dials the local 911 operator. The operator immediately dispatches the call, but instead of arriving in 10 minutes, the crew runs into traffic at the Popps Ferry/Cedar Lake intersection and is delayed 15 minutes. The neighborhood watches in horror as the family's belongings continue to burn. What if a few technological updates could have allowed the fire crew to reach their call faster? Gulf Coast communities consider implications like these as they rebuild infrastructure for families returning home after Hurricane Katrina and for families looking to make new homes in new counties.

"Communities are changing, people are relocating," said Bob Haywood, long term community recovery ( LTCR ) specialist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ). "The secondary impacts for other counties are just as critical as the lower three counties addressing direct impacts from the storm."

The LTCR program is about helping communities identify projects they deem critical to long term recovery and quality rebuilding, while re-establishing and even enhancing the quality of life for coastal Mississippi residents.

"LTCR, Geographic Information Systems ( GIS ), FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency ( MEMA ), and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality - we're working together to create a net, a system to help communities rebuild," said Haywood. "The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is required to work with the local governments. They in turn, give information to the state. The state comes to us and we bring everyone together to devise the best solutions tailored to the needs of the specific community."

GIS offers communities a method to identify trends, collect data and evaluate the potential impact of future projects. "GIS is an important tool for managing growth, a phenomenon most areas in South Mississippi are facing," said Anita Mitchell, FEMA GIS specialist. [...continue article]

High-Resolution Satellite Imagery and the Conflict in Eastern Burma

This report was produced by the Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights project as part of the Science and Human Rights Program (SHRP; http://shr.aaas.org/ ) of the American association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). SHRP brings scientists and scientific expertise to efforts to achieve human rights around the world. Monitoring human rights violations in eastern Burma with satellite imagery utilizes on-the ground information reported via websites and email from organizations active in the region.

Satellite image analysis regarding the conflict in eastern Burma by the AAAS seeks to corroborate reporting gathered by organizations already active in the region. AAAS analyzes information from such organizations, and then – if possible – reviews satellite imagery that might corroborate reported attacks on civilians and other human rights violations.

Since late 2006, the Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has compiled a set of high-resolution satellite images to document the ongoing conflict in Karen State and other regions of Burma. This study in Burma follows similar activities undertaken by AAAS on Zimbabwe, Darfur, and elsewhere as part of its Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights project.

Using ‘before’ and ‘after’ imagery, certain changes – such as the razing of a village – can be identified and analyzed. Specifically, by visually comparing the newer imagery with images collected prior to reported attacks, features such as villages and structures that have been removed in the intervening years are relatively easy to identify. Likewise, new construction, such as military bases or recently added villages, is also relatively easy to identify. Some other features, such as agricultural abandonment and burn scars, can be tentatively identified, though they may require deeper levels of analysis not always feasible. Visual inspection of the imagery is the primary methodology in use, and in some circumstances multispectral analysis is also utilized.

The entire 43 page report of the Burma Conflict is complete with analysis and comparative high-resolution satellite image. [more]

NFL Blackout Maps

One of the best things about the fall season is the start of the football season. With the regular season starting this week it raises the question which games will be broadcast in your home market. This NFL Blackout map can help you figure out.

While it seems NFL rules state they must play at least one boring and mismatched game a weekend there is actually some decision making behind it. The NFL TV distribution map chops up the U.S. market by games being broadcast. [ ...more

Also on tap is the Google Maps mashup with NFL stadiums by location. This map indicates the city for each team. You can zoom in and use the usual Google Maps features like satellite images and roads. It looks like the pins mark each stadium from the few I tried and not just the city. [ ...more] This NFL Team Map takes a similar approach but instead of the stadium links the team icons point toward that teams homepage. [ ...more] This NFL Team Schedule Map uses the same principle but instead of linking to another page it will show you the team schedule, record, and conference information. Not sure what's up with their map projection but it looks a little distorted. [ ...more]

East Tennessee Regional Users Conference

I'd like to pass on some information for the upcoming 2007 East Tennessee Regional GIS Conference that will be going on in October. The event is a perfect opportunity for anyone involved in the GIS field or for any student in the GIS field.

Many of the states top GIS representatives will be at the conference. There is also still plenty of time to submit papers or presentations for anyone interested. East Tennessee is home to some of the most progressive GIS establishments, including KGIS and the University of Tennessee Geography program. So, if you're in the region and are looking to meet some people in the field or add a presentation/paper to help your resume, take a minute to check out the upcoming East Tennessee Regional GIS Conference. I have including the contact information for anyone with more questions about the program.

The 2007 East Tennessee Regional Users Conference will be held in the Music Road Hotel and Convention Center on Tuesday, October 9, 2007. The annual one-day conference provides a great opportunity for geo-spatial information practitioners for all of East Tennessee to share ideas and best practices.

This year’s event is being hosted by the good folks of Sevierville and Sevier County, in one of Tennessee’s most scenic areas in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Last year’s event in Knoxville drew more than 200 attendees.

The event coordinators are soliciting for papers / presentations, so please submit any ideas you have to the City of Sevierville’s Agenda Coordinator Mr. Frank Colbert at fcolbert@seviervilletn.org, or (865) 453-5504.

Some example topic categories: Web Technologies, Utilities, Emergency Management, Local Government, Business Use, Education, GIS Modeling, Location Based Services, Base Map Acquisition / Maintenance, Data Sharing, Licensing, Organization, Integration with IT and Business Systems, Field / Mobile Solutions, etc.

REGISTRATION IS FREE!

So Register Now, by downloading the Registration Form and sending it to the Event’s Registration Coordinator, Miss Sandra Lamon at sandrarlamon@gmail.com.

About the TNGIC

The East Tennessee GIS Conference is supported by the Tennessee Geographic Information Council (TNGIC) and was created in response to TNGIC’s call to support geographic information sharing at the “regional” level.

TNGIC has divided the state into three major divisions: West, Middle and East. At each annual TNGIC Conference, a different breakout session is conducted for each of these three divisions as a way to encourage more “localized” sharing of information between users. The breakout sessions also help facilitate the planning and organizing of the annual Fall Regional conferences.

This East Tennessee GIS Conference website was created in response to TNGIC’s regional initiatives, and helps to serve as a communication portal for the Fall “regional” users conference event.

Previous East Tennessee Regional GIS Users Conferences have been held in the following venues:

2003 – Knoxville 2004 – Chattanooga 2005 – Johnson City 2006 – Knoxville

MEMBERSHIP

If you wish to be a member of the East Tennessee GIS Conference, send an email to our membership coordinator, Linda Leonard or call her at (865) 463-6843 ext. 22. Provide your Name, Organization, email, address and website (if applicable), and we’ll add you to our Google Map of East Tennessee Users. Please let Linda know if you have special skills or wish to volunteer in any way to help make this East Tennessee GIS Conference of benefit. If you wish to be added to the web site’s announcement listserv, simply email our website manager at admin@easttngis.org.

GIS Pilot Update

The GIS Pilot template update is finished. Besides reducing graphics for a faster load I have created a quick link table for the various state GIS links on the top of the page. The states are set up alphabetically by their state abbreviation and allow for faster navigation between the state pages without going back to the home page or the drop down box I had on there before. I've also put an easier to use Google search box below the state links table. Hopefully this will allow for easier access to Internet searches for you.

A World Without Humans? It All Falls Apart

In 'The World Without Us' by Alan Weisman, the author wonders what would happen to our world, New York City in this example, without the human race.

He foresees rewilding (the return of wolves and bears), plants forcing their way through the sidewalk and water damage to the underground infrastructure. "Before long, streets start to crater," he writes, with scarily apt foresight. "As Lexington Avenue caves in, it becomes a river." [...more]

Space Shuttle Endeavour

The Space Shuttle Endeavour docks with the ISS and gives us some great pictures. This set of 7 pictures shows the crew working on various experiments while orbiting the Earth. [ ...more]

GIS Sites News

Space Shuttle Endeavour

How the world really shapes up

We all know what the world looks like. But a new series of extraordinary maps shows our planet in a very different light. Rather than defining each country by size, these computer-generated modified maps - or cartograms - redraw the globe with each country's size proportionate to its strengths, or weaknesses, in a whole series of categories. For instance, when it comes to military spending, the U.S. appears bloated, but Africa is huge when HIV prevalence is mapped. The cartograms were produced in a unique collaboration between the universities of Michigan in the U.S. and Sheffield. Here are images and more details on some of the most fascinating... [more]

Earth From Space - Amazing Photos

A nice gallery of pictures of our Earth as seen from above. It is a rather large gallery of various NASA picts and satellite imagery. [more]

World Drinking Map

A quick graphic that shows the drinking age from around the world. A few lucky countries clock in below our age of 21 but I really enjoy how the mapper labels the areas with no information. [more]

One of the worlds most puzzling mysteries: the moving rocks of Death Valley

Deep in the heart of the California desert lies one of the natural world's most puzzling mysteries: the moving rocks of Death Valley. These are not ordinary moving rocks that tumble down mountainsides in avalanches, are carried along riverbeds by flowing water, or are tossed aside by animals. These rocks, some as heavy as 700 pounds, are inexplicably transported across a virtually flat desert plain, leaving erratic trails in the hard mud behind them, some hundreds of yards long. They move by some mysterious force, and in the nine decades since we have known about them, no one has ever seen them move. [more]

China to map ‘every inch’ of moon surface

BEIJING - China aims to chart every inch of the moon’s surface, the chief scientist of the country’s first lunar exploration program said in comments published on Friday. China, which plans to launch a lunar orbiter called ”Chang’e One” in the second half of 2007 to take 3D images, would aim to land an unmanned vehicle on its surface by 2010, official news portal Chinanews.com quoted Ouyang Ziyuan as saying. “Currently, our country’s lunar exploration program is divided into three phases—orbiting the moon, landing on the moon and returning back to Earth,” Ouyang said. [more]

GIS to replace paper maps in evaluating land

A new geographical information system, or GIS, NATCHEZ county has been working on for months recently completed a big step.

Among other things, the system replaces old paper tax maps with a computerized version.

A company hired by the county recently finished translating the paper maps into electronic ones. Then, they superimposed the maps on aerial photographs of the same plots, making a much more accurate and easy-to-read map, Tax Assessor Reynolds Atkins said.

“These things are so far advanced, it’s unreal,” Atkins said. “We’re not just using some archaic method of evaluating property.”

The new GIS will replace the old “blue line” paper maps in evaluating property, Atkins said. It’s more accurate and more detailed, allowing him to see buildings he couldn’t before.

The system has other uses, too, Atkins said. From locating an emergency to finding fire hydrants, the electronic GIS will make things easier, he said.

“I like to think of GIS as smart maps,” Adams County GIS project manager Peter Dale said.

“It combines computers, databases, maps, planning and development. It’s designed to help local government make decisions.”

An added benefit the system provides is a tool for businesses looking at the area. [...continue article]