Tag Archive for web GIS

Highlights from CalGIS: Web, Mobile, Cloud & More

April 24, 2012 Annie Schwab, Vice President, Marketing No comments

A few weeks ago the Digital Map Products Team traveled to Sacramento, CA for the annual CalGIS conference. CalGIS is organized by the fine folks from the California URISA chapter. The conference included GIS professionals from local, state and federal government, consultants, product vendors, and service providers.

This year we were pleased to see that the majority of talks focused on web-based mapping, open source GIS, and improving access to geospatial data through mobile devices – all favorite topics of ours and a testament to the massive evolution GIS has recently undergone. Not long ago this conference was heavily focused on the utilization of desktop GIS tools including new functions and features. You could certainly feel the energy around the new and evolving geospatial tools at the conference that were leveraging the Web, Cloud and Mobile.

One presentation that particularly impressed us was given by Scott Gregory, California Government Information Officer, about the new state-wide portal for geospatial data. Scott’s vision revolves around improving access and generating further awareness about the new datasets. This initiative is especially exciting for us because DMP is providing the state-wide parcel database and tax assessor attributes which form the foundation for the new data portal.

Another highlight of CalGIS for DMP was sharing our knowledge of web mapping through an IGNITE presentation. We discussed how online maps can help local governments improve their communications with citizens and meet Google Era information access and transparency expectations. The biggest challenge of the session was fitting all our tips into a lightning fast 5 minutes! It really forced us to focus on the most critical points which we’re sharing with you below:

  • Changing expectations are forcing cities to re-asses their current offerings, citizens want to self-serve 24/7
  • Internet & social media are transforming the way city government interacts w/ citizens
  • The cloud provides a cost-effective, scalable & easier –to-use resource for cities to increase constituent engagement
  • Progressive cities are leveraging interactive maps and web 2.0 technologies to engage citizens & help them self-service their requests

Learn more about best practices for publishing city, property and community information to citizens & how cities can get started with web 2.0 & interactive mapping:

Cloud Computing, DMP Events, GIS, Government, Mapping , , , , , , ,

GITA GIS for Oil & Gas Pipeline Conference Recap

October 31, 2011 Annie Schwab, Vice President, Marketing One comment

Last week our Digital Map Products team traveled to Houston, TX to participate in GITA’s Annual GIS for Oil & Gas Pipeline Conference. While this was our first time attending the show, we found it very informative and it gave us the chance to introduce ourselves to the Oil & Gas industry and understand their needs for GIS technology and geospatial data. Hands down, the highlight of the show for us was the opportunity to present a Technical Session about a subject we’re very passionate about: Cloud GIS.

One of our favorite presentations we attended was the mini session on Google in the Oil & Gas Industry. The room was packed and Ron Hathaway did a great job explaining the critical role data plays in the adoption and further evolution of GIS. We agree that amazing software is nothing without good, current data that is relevant to end-users’ objectives. Thankfully, with the proliferation of cloud computing, getting geospatial data for your mapping and GIS applications has exponentially easier. Further, all of us in the development community are thankful to Google for providing us with an intuitive mapping platform on which we can develop our customized applications. Can you believe that over 350,000 developers are leveraging Google’s APIs?! That helps to explain the tremendous innovation we’ve seen in mapping applications in recent years.

In our technical session, The Cloud Revolution: Leveraging Cloud Computing for GIS Success, we were thrilled to not only have a great turn-out but an extremely engaged audience. Since we’ve been delivering GIS over the web for more than a decade we love it that everyone’s become so interested in cloud-based mapping of late. Our CEO, Jim Skurzynski and Product Manager, Skip Cody did a great job of bringing everyone up to speed with the latest developments in Cloud GIS and explaining why cloud computing is having such a huge impact on GIS technology. But they didn’t stop there – Jim and Skip harnessed their years of knowledge of developing web GIS applications and offered session participants several tips on how the Oil & Gas Industry can best capitalize on Cloud GIS technologies and get started today. Listed below is a summary of their Cloud GIS success tips:

  • Tip #1: New GIS users are a different breed – understand what they are trying to do
  • Tip #2: Invest your development time making the technology work for your users, not making the technology work. With the cloud you can find solutions that take care of making the technology work!
  • Tip #3: Choose the right cloud provider and beware of impostors
  • Tip #4: Build a solid foundation for your Cloud GIS application with data that’s current and relevant
  • Tip #5: Be Obsessed with Performance – don’t let your app fall prey to “loading map syndrome”
  • Tip #6: Don’t wait for perfection. Cloud GIS is evolving. It’s best to get started and add on data, functionality and users as you go. Remember, a big benefit of the cloud is scalability!

A big thanks to GITA for organizing the conference and it was a pleasure interacting with technology thought leads in the Oil & Gas field!

In case you missed the show or our presentation, you can learn more about Cloud GIS with the resources below:

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