GIS Tech News (#20)
14 Aug, 2006 By: Kenneth WongIrreconcilable Spatial Differences Boundless combines GIS, GPS and CAD to align isolated survey platsRobert Jones, a registered land surveyor, and Aaron Ford, a GIS manager, had been on the road so much lately they were having a hard time reconciling all the different time zones. They had just returned to their office in Brookfield, Wisconsin, after presenting at the ESRI International User Conference in sunny San Diego, California, and hadn’t eased back into their normal rhythm. When Cadalyst contacted them for an interview, they agreed to a teleconference at 10 AM Pacific time, but they were preparing to call at 8 AM Central time -- a full four hours ahead of schedule. “When you travel this much, your brain flip-flops for a few days,” Ford admits. On the other hand, this team has found a way to reconcile spatially isolated survey data -- data that’s collected in different projects and not necessarily referenced to the same coordinate systems and physical monuments. They’ve done it by combining GIS, the backbone of spatial databases, with CAD and GPS, the surveyors’ preferred tools. Ford points out that the pairing of a surveyor and a GIS manager for the presentation is itself a clue. It signals an alliance between two seemingly isolated disciplines. That unlikely synergy is at the heart of their system, called Boundless. Read More >>Spatial Technologies: GIS at the Site Level by James L. Sipes Mapping is the visual representation of data by geography or location -- the linking of information to a specific place. In recent years GIS has become an invaluable tool in mapmaking, but it has been used primarily to show large areas such as cities or regions. That practice is changing, though, because the technology has developed to the point where it can be used effectively for making design and planning decisions at a variety of scales. Read More >> UPCOMING GIS EVENTS 2006 International Highway Engineering Exchange Program (iHEEP) Pictometry FutureView 2006 User Conference and Trade Show WHAT'S NEW AT CADALYST.COM Visit the GIS Tech News archives to view current and past issues online. Check Out Cadalyst's Latest Discussion Forum: Cadalyst now offers the new Product Reviews Discussion Forum, where you can "review our reviews." Read the latest Cadalyst Labs and First Look reviews of hardware and software, then post your own comments about the review. Share your own experience with that product and see what other CAD professionals have to say. Visit today! CADALYST LABS REVIEW – YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU: The latest generation of laptop computers let users take their CAD applications outside the office walls. Cadalyst Labs reviews new systems from Dell, Eurocom and Hewlett-Packard. Lesson Plans—Eliminate Roadblocks to Learning New Techniques: Cadalyst's newest column quizzes readers about how they learn new software. Get the Code! Cadalyst's August code from Hot Tip Harry is now available for download. Theresa Poole earned $100 for this month's top tip, Delete Dimensions, a utility to globally filter, select and delete dimension entities of a specified measurement in a floor plan. Congratulations! August Tutorials Live Online: The latest editions of all your favorite Cadalyst tutorials for AutoCAD. 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 Daily Update
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