Comprehensive Look at the Geoweb (Part 3 and 4)

The the story continues... I have been off and on the buzzword "Geoweb" for several years. I am now back on it so I set out to try and take a real look at the Geoweb, at least for the sake of academics. The term is bantered about a bunch and we all have our own take on what it really is. My goal was to try to comprehensively define the geoweb based on well documented patterns, models and architectures that currently exist within the web (part 1 and part 2 of this 4 part series) as well as from a purely organic perspective. Here are the slides that were used for this discussion. I can post my lectures as well if anyone is interested.

Comprehensive Overview of the Geoweb

View more presentations from Government/CU Denver.

In summary, I came up with what I think is a very nice analogy in an attempt to somehow concisely define the Geoweb. I use the analog of an ecosystem defined as:

“An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the physical (abiotic) factors of the environment. Ecosystems can be permanent or temporary. An ecosystem is a unit of interdependent organisms which share the same habitat. Ecosystems usually form a number of food webs…” (Ecosystem, 2009)

Using this, we can begin to crosswalk components of the geoweb to the notion of an ecosystem. The geoweb as a unit of something finite, is composed of biotic and abiotic factions. Biotic factors including users, participants, perceptions (top-down vs. bottom-up), change and usability. Abiotic factors such as architectures, standards, formats, specs, platforms, etc... There are a number of relationships that exist between these factors, each with their own microprocesses but all interdependent in varying ways. Finally, portions of the the geoweb are permanent and some are temporary, depending on all of the factors (and their associated relationships) listed above.

If nothing else, have a look at the references cited section at the end of the slides. It includes alot of great materials from many leaders in the community that are worthwhile having a look at.

Ecosystem. (2009, August 26). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:10, August 26, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ecosystem&oldid=310197121

Tips and Tricks For the Geo Soloist

Imagine this scenario, a well educated, highly trained GIS/Geo professional is working for a small organization (county, environmental consulting, NGO, small federal agency, startup etc). Characteristics of such an organization typically include small budgets, pressure to maximize ROI of the organizations geospatial infrastructure, minimal resources (few people), you get the idea. This person is faced with meeting internal needs, typically required to perform the geoanalyses aligned with the organization's fundamental business processes ("I need a map off...") and is also tasked with presenting the valuable collection of geospatial products the small organization produces to the world. This professional is also commonly faced with requests from management that are typically articulated with something like:

"Hey GeoPro, I saw this great something or other at a business luncheon today, can we do that with our stuff."

If this scenario sounds familiar, you may be a Geo Soloist. Generally speaking, a Geo Soloist works completely independently of the rest of the business process and are seen by other professionals within the organization as the "technology guy/gal" or "web guy/gal" or "GIS guy/gal." They work in professional cultures that really don't understand the Geo trade, and typically work closely with non-Geo specialists such as scientists or engineers. A Geo Soloist can be thought of as a "jack of all trades" a "master of none" or a "polymath," commonly required to play the role of GIS analyst, business analyst, project manager, developer, DBA and evangelist, depending on the current project's needs or the issue of the day.

Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer.

The role of Geo Soloist is not for the faint of heart. It can be challenging and frustrating in that it requires compromises, minimized expectations, and can be disadvantageous. However, it is also a gift. It provides the opportunity to tackle a wide range of problems, provides a wide spectrum of experiences, and fosters resourcefulness, agility and ingenuity.

Serving as a Geo Soloist for many years, I have come up with a manifesto or set of rules to live by that I wanted to share. Many of these are interrelated and this list is not comprehensive but hopefully you will find something that rings home to you. They are in not particular order.

1. Don't start from scratch: There are good "starting points" where someone else has done much of the legwork. An example of this might be some of the sample web map applications that ESRI provides for their new API's.
   
2. Maximize documentation efficiency: This does not mean "do as little as possible." A Geo Soloist is typically working independently so documentation needs to serve their needs only (one benefit of not working in a group, say a team of developers). The other issue is that robust or extensive documentation takes time and requires maintenance given rapid changes. Maintenance also requires alot of time, something that is precious to all of us but especially to a Soloist. Documentation is important, just keep it relevant.
   
3. Simplicity: Keep things simple. Workflows, expectations, requirements, everything. This concept should be a no-brainer but gets lost somehow. Make it your primary goal. Keep is part of every discussion.
   
4. Don't get caught in a worm burrows. It is easy to do so be aware when you begin digging. Use well established patterns. Copy success stories and tweek as needed.
5. Stay away from the bleeding edge: Use well established best practices and standards (when appropriate). Follow what the industry is doing and monitor grassroots efforts. Keep yourself educated about where the bleeding edge is and take a couple of steps back from it.
   
6. Pillage: Use resources that are already available. There are so many great resources and given the vibrant, collaborative, brother/sisterhood we work in within the geospatial community, realize that someone has probably already done what you are trying to do and they are probably willing to share.
   
7. Be resourceful: Student internships, collaborative funding relationships, cooperative agreements.
   
8. Embrace the vacuum: This is counter intuitive to most of my other suggestions but exists in a different plane, more closely aligned to day-to-day workflows. We are taught to not work in a vacuum. I agree, but when you are working by yourself (at least as it relates to your immediate trade), trying to meet the needs of your immediate stakeholders, productivity can be very high if you do it your way. The vacuum can be a tool that lowers barriers. An example might be trying to over-collaborate (if there is such a thing) with those who are not specialists in our trade. Don't ask for permission, just do it.
   
9. Be aware: Make sure you are aware of what is going on in the industry. Pick and choose patterns, best practices, standards etc. established by leaders in our community. Social networking tools such as Twitter are a great was to stay connected and informed. Be in touch with industry "buzz." Subscribe to leading industry blog sites that are relevant to your work.
   
10. Manage the managers: Be sure to sell the concepts, but you are the ONE. Don't oversell but don't undersell. Manage expectations but don't underestimate your capabilities.
    
11. Stay Agile: Embrace change, position yourself to manage change. Don't rest on what you know or what you are comfortable with. Don't be afraid of stepping outside your comfort zone. While the Agile process is typically thought of as a software development method, it expresses concepts that can be extended into all aspects of technology management. Have a look at it.
    
12. Never stop learning: This should go without saying but it takes effort. We work on a platform that is like quicksand, ever-changing and it can swallow us up if we aren't nimble. The learning process doesn't have to be formal, simply read one blog a day or tackle 1 chapter in that nasty SQL book this week...then another next week....then another.
    

If you have others please let me know. In addition, I would like to pose a question to all of the GeoPros out there: Is the skillset/work experience of a Geosoloist (jack of all trades) desirable from the perspective of potential employers or is specialization?



For those of you who have been following my blog, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about parts 3 and 4, just taking more effort than first thought.

Web 2.0 and the Geoweb Part 2: Web 2.0 Patterns

Building upon part 1 of this series of lectures slides, part 2 actually examines (albeit at a pretty high level) well documented Web 2.0 patterns active in the Geoweb. Once again, the primary source of my research related to Web 2.0 patterns comes from Web 2.o Architectures by James Governor and et.al among others. Future lectures (parts 3 and 4) will comprehensively examine the Geoweb, using these Web2.0 patterns as a foundation as well as concepts examined by Geoweb experts related to usability, formats, discovery, architecture, etc....

Parts 3 and 4: Comprehensive look at the Geoweb

Web 2.0 and the Geoweb Part 2: Web 2.0 Patterns

View more presentations from Gregory L. Gunther.

Web 2.0 and the Geoweb Part 1: Web 2.0 Examples

As I have mentioned earlier, I am ramping up for the upcoming semester and am feverishly prepping. My course, "Introduction To the Geoweb" is part of the Master of Engineering/GIS offered at the University of Colorado at Denver.

In the coming weeks, I intend to share materials I will be presenting to my students to all of you in hopes of getting some constructive feedback from the experts--YOU! I won't be sharing everything, just some selected materials that I think can benefit from some "participatory lecture development" if there is such a thing. I will also be citing much of the work that many of you have contributed so your feedback is critical.

The collection of materials I intend to share is tentatively termed "Web2.0 and the Geoweb." My hope during this series of lectures is to expose students to well documented Web 2.0 patterns and examples as a foundation for further exploration of the Geoweb. Some have suggested that a detailed look at web architectures and http are warranted before this discussion. Rest assured, the students will be prepared for these more advanced concepts.

The primary source of my research related to Web 2.0 patterns and examples comes from Web 2.o Architectures by James Governor and others. It is a good piece, articulating web2.0 patterns in a formal way and has worked nicely for foundational discovery. I have also incorporated materials from several additional sources that have proven adequate.

The story I hope to weave reads something like this: the Geoweb (which I think I can fully embrace) has roots, much of which can be described using well document Web 2.0 patterns. These patterns are best described using real world examples which can then be articulated formally using a standard method of description. This framework then serves as the foundation for further discussions mapping these patterns and subsequent reference models and architectures to Geoweb concepts, some of which have been stewing for some time and others which have emerged recently.

With that said, part 1 of 4 (or maybe 5) slides follow. These are subject to change which goes without saying. Be aware that these are lecture slides so there is a fair amount of text. Students get a little "bent without bullets."

I will be posting my recorded lectures as well. Continue to Part 2: Web 2.0 Patterns.

Web 2.0 and the Geoweb Part 1: Web 2.0 Examples

View more presentations from Gregory L. Gunther.

Back On The Geoweb Bandwagon

I am officially on the Geoweb bandwagon! I think this is the third time I have declared this in recent years, admittedly a bit premature in my previous attempts but I'm all in this time. The Geoweb has finally come of age. To give you some context, I have been a part-time instructor for several years now, teaching a number of GIS courses in the Master of Engineering Program (GIS) at the University of Colorado @ Denver. My favorite course over the years has been my web GIS course. While the most challenging given the ever changing landscape in this area, it is where my interest lies. The problem has been, what the heck do I call this course.

I have been following the Geoweb09 activities this year remotely and have had the opportunity to attend a couple of times, even dating back to its previous form, GML days. The term "Geoweb" and its numerous incarnations (Geospatial Web) have been bantered about for a few years, mostly in the context of this gathering. A couple of years ago, I actually called my course "Introduction to the Geoweb" but struggled with the label given the immaturity of the platform. Web2.0 stuff was just kicking in and my perception until recently was that the Geoweb was nothing more than some neogeos throwing up markers on a Google Map with little or no appreciation, knowledge, etc. of traditional (and very important) GIS concepts such as spatial relationships (topologies), projections, spatial analysis, etc. In addition, given my old-school roots in GIS, not having "GIS" in the course title was like having a marg without Grand Marnier--it worked and it was still decent but just wasn't right. Needless to say, I backtracked. So over the next couple of years, my labels for the course included "Introduction to Distributed GIS" and "Introduction to Internet GIS."

Those days are over now. The course is now officially recalled "Introduction to The Geoweb." This corny personal journey mimics that maturation process of the Geoweb itself. We all knew it was there and wanted to embrace it, but a few chips had to fall before we could really do so. The Geoweb is now walking. In fact, it is more like a toddler who can really move but who is a bit unpredictable.

I have been researching a number of great materials related to the Geoweb, much of which has been coming out of the Geoweb conference, and other materials which have been around for awhile. Based on these sources, I hope to develop a comprehensive look at the Geoweb that I will be sharing this semester with my students. I also plan to post these materials for some "crowd sourced lecture development" (if there is such a thing) as well so stay tuned.

ArcGIS Server Sample Flex Viewer: TwitterFeedWidget

I have been thinking about how Twitter could be used to enhance the capabilities/user experience of a web mapping system and came op with some decent stories. The first would be providing users with access to a feed dedicated to the application which contains information about it including updates, news, changes, downtimes, etc. The second would be users who wish to perform searches of Twitter content that may be related to the map and eventually, overlaying geolocated Tweets onto the map. These (and the fact that I just wanted to poke around the Twitter API) gave me enough of an excuse to start messing with the Twitter API. I ended up with a simple little widget that allows users to search for tweets within a specified geographic location, in this case, a circle. Nothing earth shattering but still maybe somewhat useful. Before giving you some of the nuts and bolts of this, I want to be sure and reference the materials I used:

• Flex Cookbook Entry: Display a Twitter Feed
  
• Flex Cookbook Entry: Accessing Resources CrossDomain
• Free Twitter Icons
• Custom Draw with Circle Tool
• Distance Calculations website
• Flex XML Syndication Tools
• Flex CoreLib Utility
  

Some Details on how it works.
It is really pretty simple. The user is able to draw a circle on the map and any tweets that originated from within that location based on the Twitter user's location property are returned as an ATOM Feed. The processes uses the Twitter API geocode parameter where a lat, long and radius of a circle are needed. The widget obtains the lat, long, and radius values from the circle tool. I added a coordinate transformation function to the Circle Tool component to convert the distance units (radius of the circle) to miles from decimal degrees. I used the Great Circle Distance Formula. The ATOM feed is parsed using the Flex XMLSyndication package and is validated using the Flex CoreLib Utility Package (see links above).

Proxy Server
As with any application making cross-domain asynchronous data requests, a proxy server is needed to "fool" the browser security settings. Flex has a nice framework for bypassing this. If the feed host contains a crossdomain.xml file that allows cross-domain access, you are good to go. However, Twitter locks this down (Twitter crossdomain.xml). I have included a proxy server implemented in Java within the package. It is NOT PRODUCTION quality but will get you started. There are other implementations that are easier out there. Have a look at the resources I sited for some other examples.

Known Issues and Limitations
Simply put, there are several limitations with this that make it, lets say, less than production quality. I hope to rectify these soon. These include:

• I haven't tested the feed results very well. The widget catches feeds that are empty which is good but the way I did this is kind of sloppy. I won't go into it here but if you have questions, I can elaborate.
• The coordinate transformation for the distance units (radius conversion from DD to miles) I am using is very rough but good enough for this use.
• It doesn't play very nicely with the map action and map navigation state of the Sample Flex Viewer (SFV). Given that the draw circle component wasn't designed for use with the SFV, it isn't integrated very well with the event driven model the SFV uses. Not to say it isn't a nice component because it is. Using it in the Sample Flex Viewer is just a bit of a stretch. There are alot of issues with this but from a use perspective, users have to keep clicking on the draw circle tool after each use and then state defaults back to the default map navigation (pan). Another problem is if the user trys to change the map action or map navigation state (by selecting another component that does so), during the middle of component use, bad things happen. One of the reasons for this is that I didn't want to make changes to the core by adding custom events, etc. However, I am hopeful that I can improve this without making changes to the core and will look into it.
• Improvement can be made to the tweet results listing (links to profile, user timeline, etc...).
  
• Alot of other testing needs to occur as well. Just running out of time right now.
  

Keeping Your Grass Green (with little water)

This is an odd post and intended for all of you who follow this and aren't geogeeks (sorry nerds but this might interest you as well). This advise is for people with Kentucky Bluegrass lawns (Colorado). So many people have asked me how I keep my grass so healthy and claim I water like crazy. In fact, I am a huge conservationist and try to minimize waste. I promise I have only watered 3 times this year (as of July 1st, 2009). Here is a pic.

Granted, it was a wet Spring for us but I am certain these techniques still apply. Here is the secret:

• First, assuming you have a lawn with a good foundation and good drainage (nice organics) and it is established, you need to fertilize. This is critical. I use all organic fertilizers. Once a month (more like 1 1/2 months), I apply:
  ---2 parts Richlawn Turffood Pro
  ---1 part Revive granules (kind of expensive but critical)
  
  I mix these up and apply with a standard spreader. I will leave the amounts to you based or your square footage. It is also critical that you apply the Fall season version of Richlawn in October.
  
• Secondly, please mulch. Most modern mowers can mulch. If you don't have one, get one. Bagging grass is a tragedy. You are filling landfills with unneeded waste and the mulch actually helps the sod maintain hydration and ensures that it requires less fertilizer given that you are replenishing the nutrients. One issue is that you will have to mow more often (maybe twice a week if the grass is growing crazy). You can't mulch if your grass is too long.
• Finally, you must integrate organic material into the subsurface before you lay sod. This is hard to do if you already have a mature landscape but worth mentioning. This means rototilling at least 4 inches of nice organic material into the crappy clay (Typical in Colorado).

That is about it. A couple of items worth mentioning: First, you will have to do this for a couple of years before your lawn responds, don't expect it to respond overnight. You need to train it. Secondly, don't water too much. Kentucky Bluegrass is very drought tolerant if you let it be. If you water too much, it will use the water. Stress it a bit.