Everything is Cloudy in San Diego

In 1997, Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) moved its user conference from Palm Springs, CA to the San Diego Convention Center to accommodate a growing user base. From an initial 16-member user group meeting in 1981, the 2012 International User's Group Meeting was 1,000x larger, perhaps around 15,000 attendees. The SDCC becomes a small town occupied by predominantly GIS aficionados.

[caption id="attachment_1190" align="alignleft" width="240"] Stairway to GIS Heaven[/caption]

San Diego became "cloudy" for the week. The forecast calls for more clouds. I'm not talking about the large white puffy cumulo humilis clouds which foretell of nice day or the the cumulonimbus clouds which bring thunderstorms. No, ESRI has moved firmly and rapidly into the technology "cloud," the environment of hosted services and remote racks of cheap storage space and multi-user accessibility.

ESRI and its acolytes (hmm..what to call? "esrians" (es-ree-ans) or "Dangermondites?" ...I don't know. I might want to be one some day so I want a term I'm comfortable with) are now BIG-TIME advocates of the Cloud and have partnered themselves with a BIG-TIME provider of cloud services - Amazon.

Yes, Amazon, via Amazon Web Services (AWS) is providing the back-end to ESRI's cloud. Many people seemed to think ESRI was developing an in-house server farm to support cloud services. Nope. ESRI has contracted with Amazon and to some extent Microsoft Azure to provide back-end server and storage support of ArcGIS Online. No way ESRI could invest enough in building up-and-out a GIS specific server farm and not break the bank. Working with Amazon and Microsoft makes much more sense.

Amazon already provides ArcGIS support via AWS (link). In fact, AWS offers a complete cloud-based GIS solution for hosting both spatial data, performing GIS analysis, rendering maps, and then again pushing results to the ArcGIS Online cloud or to any user defined web site. Fantastically powerful and flexible.

Moving into the literal clouds are new consumer-grade unmanned airborne vehicles (UAV). Three such vehicles were on display. The opening plenary session demonstrated using the GPS-augmented video stream from a UAV to head's-up digitize building and tanker truck footprints. At a distance of over a mile the video stream provided a means to capture data into a geodatabase in near real-time. The UAV sensor could be switched to thermal, as well, providing the ability to watch a man smoke a cigarette at 6,000ft. Most of these have battery-powered engines which last less than 45 minutes. Some are gasoline-powered and can stay aloft for a couple of hours. And a few are large gliders, which can be launched by hand, guided by remote control. A few DIY people have taken to making their own drones, outfitting them with iPhones or digital cameras, going so far as to "repurpose" a digital camera into a multispectral airborne sensor. Lots of talented people doing cool things these days.

Technology and the Iceberg

I'm probably wrong. I'm often wrong. Especially my choice of words. I think of words as Legos, Erector Sets, and Lincoln Logs. If the message is not confirmed on the initial creation, then tear the prose apart and rebuild. The design might need updating, reworking, perfecting, but the context may not change, simply the content.



The problem with technology is many people lack the vision to use today's technology in new and unique ways. Nothing wrong with lacking vision. Nothing wrong with lacking vision as long as one realizes complete knowledge of the technology is impossible.

Visionaries are not alone. In fact, visionaries might not even be part of the ecosystem from which they are attributed as being a visionary. Writers, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, artists like Pollack, economists like Vernon Smith, computer scientists like Grace Murray Hopper have all been proclaimed as visionaries in areas outside of the their favored vocation.

Visionaries pay attention. They pay attention, surround themselves with smart people, and fight not to succumb to their own hubris. They also immerse themselves in dialogue with others unlike them to seek ideas to solutions which have eluded them in their own field.

Nature abhors a vacuum and so do Ideas.

I may presume too much. When was the last time anyone used a kiosk? Those ATM like devices which once populated public spaces, especially malls, airports, and stadiums. Do they even exist any more?

I ask as my sense is people don't use them much any more. Not in the traditional sense. Maybe a museum might use a specialized interface to help a patron learn about an artifact. My sense is smartphone apps have replaced or are in the current state of replacing the kiosk.

My thinking is,

"why would someone drive 1oos of miles, arrive at a fixed location, to again use a device which is fixed in place, to plan a trip to other fixed locations?"

Bing Maps, Google Maps, and now Apple is a mapping company, and now Amazon is on the verge of becoming a mapping company. So much mapping technology online, and APIs to allow people to use GIS data in new unique and custom ways. Ways of pushing custom maps to everyone and anyone through their smartphones, through their Nooks, through their Amazon Fires, iPhones, iPads, and Galaxy Tabs.

So many devices and technologies, portable, friendly, and easy to update. Why would an institutional of any type engage in the creation of kiosks? Devices which are literally hard-wired into the floor or a wall and by their nature immobile. The ability to print a map and carry a hard-copy map hardly seems anything more than quaint and nostalgic.

OK, maybe not nostalgic, but a recent Yahoo!News article sides with me. Electronic, GPS-enable devices are not the wave of the future. They are part of today, and yesterday, of the last decade. These devices are an intrinsic, inseparable component of tomorrow.

People and organizations which view GPS-enabled technology as "future" technology, as a "good idea for future development" risk hitting the iceberg. Maintaining a current course without paying attention to the environment around you, is charting a course for disaster.

Rural America is nice but suffers from the simple Friction of Distance, of being away from areas of innovation, core areas of ideas. Rural areas tend to lean conservative, and conservative is inherently resistant to change and the liberalizing influence of education and technology. Resistance to change drives innovation away into more amenable regions. When change is finally accepted, "change" is heralded as a "great boon to our local community." While being a boon now may be true, it was just as true 5 years ago.

There is a saying "I'm so far behind I think I'm ahead." The runner can't see the person ahead so in his mind he must be first.

Another saying goes "I'm trying to stay ahead of the curve." Which is admirable as most of us are trying not to fall too far behind the crest of the curve. Yet, like the first saying, some people are so far behind they missed the first curve entirely. Unfortunately, these people have titles like "Director," "CEO," "CIO," "President," and "Vice-President." When they become aware of the current, they prepare for the wave they see, believing they are "ahead." Not really; they are simply joining a movement which began a long time ago.

Frustration ensues when leaders, bosses, managers who believe themselves to be leading the ship to port while the crew realized the ship was breached by an iceberg three hours ago and the ship is taking on water. The captain self-assured in the unsinkable nature of his institution, er, ship, refuses to acknowledge the changing situation.

One would think institutions of Higher Learning would be immune to ignoring icebergs. Nope.

My philosophy is that which is run and operated by people is inherently susceptible to all the foibles and faults of humans regardless of the aura and reputation surrounding the institution.

I return to my question. Today, using a Thunderbolt, Galaxy S3, iPhone 4, or other popular devices people can navigate independently of paper maps and independent of hard-wired computer terminals. Individuals can use FourSquare, Yelp, GetGlue, Twitter, Google+, or other social media apps to locate themselves, locate others, and find places of interest nearby simply by using their smartphone.

Did you know the Dictionary app was location-aware? I discovered I could see the words my neighbors were looking up. If you use HootSuite, did you know you can see the tweets of people within a 25-mile radius?

My point is information is easy-to-obtain and location-aware and most importantly, mobile.

Why would an agency, organization, office, institution, or company invest in a mapping technology which requires someone to travel to a fix location in order to use?

Answers?

Boundaries, People, Boundaries!

Bangladesh-Burma (Myanmar) maritime boundary dispute escalates - Christian Science Monitor

Look at the "A." That is the location of St. Martin's Island, used as a reference in the article.

Now, draw an imagery line southwest (who knows what bearing), and the endpoint of that line ends up being near the bottom of the image.

Installing chain-link fences is hard to do in the ocean; they tend to drift away; corrode, then drift away. Forget about drawing a line, those tend to dissolve. What are we supposed to do in order to play in our yard, and stay out of the neighbor's?

We should hire surveyors to draw, or paint, lines in our yard so that we don't accidentally plant trees in our neighbor's yard, or dig in our neighbors, or suck oil out from under our neighbor's yard. Especially oil. Saddam invaded Kuwait, thinking that they were drilling in his yard.

In this article, oil rears its slimy head. Burma is looking for offshore oil reserves. Bangladesh went out to look and to see why its neighbor is prowling around. Somebody will have to go in and help the two figure out where the fence is supposed to go. Bangladesh and Burma - I mean, "Myanmar," (jeez, those military junta guys are touchy about their name) - will have to adjust their GPS units to make sure everyone plays nice.

Foreigners Keep Out! High Tech Mapping Starts to Redefine International Borders

Foreigners Keep Out! High Tech Mapping Starts to Redefine International Borders

This is a big deal, now, and into the future. Consider that the seas and oceans really represent uncharted territory. The resources contained within these water bodies have hardly been studied, let alone the seafloor.

Last summer, the Russians made big news regarding their efforts, setting a plaque on the seafloor, much like the authors stated in this article, the astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon. The Russians are being much more progressive about their research. Their ships capable of caring out such research outnumber the U.S. flotilla of ships by about 3 to 1 (they have around 17 to the approximately 3 that we have; I realized I need a reference here, too).

As the search for new energy sources continues to heat up (yes, a pun), the United States needs to develop a more well-defined energy policy and energy goals. We need to be more pro-active in these efforts, listen less to lobbyists, and more to the scientists and researchers who study this issues.

But, back to the real path here. The U.S. may have some issues in determining new boundaries. These issues will pale in comparison to the issues faced by Southeast Asian and Pacific Island nations. These nations already have issues with overlapping boundaries. The research will allow them to effectively map seafloor structures, eliminate 'mystery' and allow for better decisions. Maybe.

The Associated Press: GPS Adds Dimension to Online Photos

The Associated Press: GPS Adds Dimension to Online Photos

Hot of the AP wire, this news item is probably old news to many. Geotagging photos I first discovered through Google Earth and Panoramio. I have since discovered another source of geotagged photos at Trekearth.com.

These sites are wonderful in being able to examine places around the globe, to get an idea of culture, landscape, and the general diversity around us.

I use these sites in teaching World Geography, and students really seem to appreciate the efforts that the photographers go through to acquire their image and post.

My only complaint is this: most of the dialogue about the photos deals mostly with composition issues. People state whether or not they like how objects are framed, colors captured, etc. Ideally, for me any way, would be the time and date of image acquisition, plus some discussion of what we are looking at, the culture of the people, the type of food, the type of crop, something that will enhance the story-telling ability of the image, and put that image in a context that we can understand.

That would be a big help.

Also, I have this idea. People need to begin geo-tagging video. Web sites need to be able to geotag videos. I would love to be able to use Google Earth in my class, find an area that I would like to discuss in class, and click on a short video of that particular place to learn more about it. How awesome would that be?