cadalyst
GIS

GIS Tech News (#19)

17 Jul, 2006 By: Kenneth Wong


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All Ages Explore GIS

Annual ESRI kids camp fosters curiosity

Every summer, while beachgoers prepare to bask under a clear blue sky, about 13,000 GIS professionals and their children storm the downtown Convention Center a short distance from the San Diego harbor. The invasion force is a battalion of ESRI users who have flown in from around the world for the ESRI International User Conference (scheduled for August 7-11 this year). Patty McGray, ESRI's lead instructional designer responsible for developing training materials and curriculums, describes the landing: "We pretty much take over the entire Convention Center, the Marriott and several other hotels around it."

As the children's parents head off to keynote sessions and classes, at this unique event the little troopers file into a ballroom marked "GIS Kids Camp." Usually McGray can spot a few familiar faces -- the same mischievous faces from a year or two ago. Some of them may have initially come here for the snack (included in the $25 signup fee), but once they get a taste of the treasure-hunting and puzzle-solving games they can play on digital maps, they may become converts -- "future GIS professionals," as McGray refers to them. Read More

Spatial Technologies: GIS in Resource Management

by James L. Sipes

The conservation and preservation of natural resources is a daunting task because the resource areas include tens or hundreds of thousands of acres, and the issues that need to be addressed are very complex. Resource managers need to understand the effects development will have on the lands they oversee. These effects may be obvious, such as urban sprawl, or more subtle, such as carbon dioxide from traffic traveling through or near an area. GIS is an ideal tool for natural resource management because the profession focuses primarily on the opportunities and constraints inherent in a landscape. Read More >>


UPCOMING GIS EVENTS
Cadalyst'scomplete list of upcoming events is always available on our Web site. Cadalyst's sister publication, Geospatial Solutions, also offers a full calendar of GIS-related events.

V-STARS User Group Meeting
Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference (CMSC) 2006
July 18, 2006
Orlando, Florida
Geodetic Systems will host a V-STARS User Group meeting at the CMSC (Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference) 2006. Read more 

FME Asia Regional User Conference
August 8-10, 2006
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Participants in the FME Asia Regional User Conference will learn how to used FME to manage data format conversions, map coordinate system conversions, enterprise data integration, database loading, data quality assurance tests, batch conversions for automated processing and data exchange between CAD-based and GIS-based systems. Read more

Southern California CAD Summit
August 24, 2006
Long Beach, California
This event includes more than 25 CAD-related educational sessions geared toward professionals in the civil, mechanical and architectural design, building, engineering and geospatial industries. Read more

Map World Forum
January 22-25, 2007
Hyderabad, India
Map World Forum is designed to encourage various international professional societies focusing on different subdomains of geospatial community to discuss latest developments and its integration with other subdomains within the geospatial community and other related domains. Read more


WHAT'S NEW AT CADALYST.COM
Visit the GIS Tech News archives to view current and past issues online.

Cadalyst Discussion Forums Have a New Look — and a new URL: Cadalyst's CAD Manager, CAD Questions and Hot Tip Harry Discussion Forums have moved to a new location. Visit today to update your bookmarks, check out the new look and find out what's on the minds of other CAD professionals.

CADALYST LABS REVIEW -- DEAL YOURSELF A WINNING GRAPHICS HAND: The latest graphics cards from ATI and NVIDIA give a wide range of performance capabilities for entry-level to ultrahigh-end users.

FIRST LOOK REVIEW -- PINION DESKTOP PACKAGER: Security software creates a file firewall to protect designs and intellectual property.

CAD MANAGER -- PROTECT YOUR FILES: Security software and neutral formats help protect your files and intellectual property.

Get the Code!Cadalyst's July code from Hot Tip Harry is now available for download. Brock Narum earned $100 for this month's top tip, No Plotting Layers List, which presents a quick display of the layers that will not plot in the current drawing. Leonid Nemirovsky was June's top tip provider, with some winning code for editing text.

Harry's Hot Tip Challenge 2006 Just Got Better: Cadalyst readers whose Hot Tip Harry tips are selected for publication in 2006 will each receive a Cadalyst t-shirt, and the author of the best tip each month will receive $100. Now sponsored by Autodesk, the Hot Tip Harry Challenge 2006 is offering even bigger prizes. All authors of published tips this year will be entered into random drawings for a copy of AutoCAD 2007 and a trip to Autodesk University 2006 in Las Vegas! So send Harry your favorite routines for AutoCAD and related products (AutoLISP, VBA and more) and you could be taking home a hot prize! Visit Harry on Cadalyst.com for details.

New Newsletter: Location-Based Services
Cadalyst's sister publication, GPS World, now publishes LBS Insider, a free e-mail newsletter that covers the latest trends, developments and solutions in location-based services. Click here to subscribe.

Cadalyst Daily Update: For all the latest news and new products, subscribe to Cadalyst Daily e-newsletter. Plus, every issue includes a feature you won't find anywhere else -- hardware and CAD software reviews, success stories, AutoCAD tips and much more! Here's a sample of what you missed in the past couple of weeks:

Click here for links to all the latest articles in Cadalyst magazine and on Cadalyst.com.