Tim presented his team's work on the Willamette River Explorer and the North Coast Explorer. His presentation is posted here. (powerpoint document) These projects serve as portals to various sources of data and organize sometimes disparate information into a more intuitive framework. Tim highlighted the North Coast Stories as one example of this, where someone without a lot of background in natural resource issues could get a quick introduction to the issues and then decide to search the site for more information.
One of the challenges they have faced is how to categorize the different types of data they "serve". They have come up with classification schemes which allow users to search geographically, by topic or by data type (content). Tim mentioned that this is an ongoing discussion point as the website design somewhat constrains how the information can be presented.
The other major component of Tim's presentation was the online mapping tool. The project uses ArcIMS as the map server with Moxi Media Internet Mapping Framework (IMF) as the interface tool presented to the users. Tim noted that they've chosen to create a two-tiered interface: a simple mapping tool which guides users through a series of questions to produce a map product and an advanced tool which is more familiar to GIS-savvy users. They have done some user testing of these interfaces and have received generally positive feedback.
Tim's group intends to extend its work to the full state through what will be known as Oregon Explorer.
Matt brought in a script he had been working on which tried to illustrate
We ran into the infamous BITCHN error which is well documented in Keith Olsen's post. This consumed most of our time as we tried to find several workarounds, including using a double looping structure in which we would try to "free" the geoprocessing object to avoid the BITCHN error. Keith has submitted it as a bug to ESRI and we are waiting to hear back from them for its resolution.
For next month's meeting, we agreed to try to focus the sessions toward a directed topic to encourage more people to attend. For next month, Keith will be presenting some work he has done which incorporates table editing, on-screen classification, and simple graphical user interface (GUI) objects. For June's meeting, Matt will give samples of embeddding custom ArcObjects programs into the Python framework.
Theresa will be doing an Introduction to ArcGIS in October
Ken and Kathryn Ronnenberg will be doing a workshop called "Improving the Accessibility of Your Graphics" on April 21. It is in Richardson 203 from 1:00-5:00. Register with Kathy Howell
Ken will also be doing a workshop on sensitivity analysis using SimLab (time and date to be determined).
Although it wasn't discussed at the meeting, it should be known that Theresa is now the contact for the FS users of the plotters in FSL (until decided otherwise by IT Committee). We discussed getting more helpdesk participation with plotter, especially with the PC/drivers and network end of things. Theresa is going to do a general plotter training soon.
Terralyn noted that the last ALI Unix box has now been retired
Terralyn also wanted to find out a bit more information about when the ~9TB of DOQs would be arriving and whether or not these data would be served from another location. Theresa will get back to Terralyn with more information.
Theresa and Lisa Ganio had a meeting with Jimmy Kagan of the Natural Resources Institute to encourage NRI to use the Quantitative Sciences Group (QSG) for consulting services.
Sean has set up ArcGIS Server on a test machine. Matt thought that he might find use for it within the next few weeks.
Mention was made about hiring a spatial data manager for the college with Technology Resource Fees (TRF), but Terralyn noted that these funds are not usually allocated to hiring faculty with these funds.
Terralyn said that she would look into transitioning ArcIMS from the Unix servers to IIS, as ESRI seems to be supporting Unix less and less.
Dave upgraded his ArcGIS 9 to SP3 and found that his problems with slow drawing in ArcGlobe have gone away. Matt mentioned that he had a problem ticket still open with ESRI on this issue and that if anyone else had problems, they should let him know.
Kelly reported some strange behavior with SP3 as it seems that he can't launch an *.mxd from within ArcMap anymore, but instead has to double-click from within Windows Explorer to get it to work. Everybody thinks Kelly's crazy …
Ken suggested that we try to limit our speakers to shorter presentation times so that we aren't going for two hours.
Theresa said that ArcGIS 9 is now available on Forest Service machines
Kelly: wanted some advice about computer purchasing specifically for running GIS. He had been getting conflicting advice about whether to get a single- or dual-processor, but universally everybody had suggested getting as much RAM as you could afford. He will be purchasing the new machine in the next couple of months.
Matt: noted that Janet Ohmann had received a grant to map vegetation for Oregon, Washington and California. Possibly two new faculty research assistants may be coming as part of this.
Dave: mentioned that the paper by Torgesen and Ganio (others?) has come out and is available. He also pointed to a spatial search tool at http://kartoo.com which organizes web searches as a spatial diagram.
Ken: wanted to find a fix for a low-resolution graphics printing problem. Most people suggested exporting as a higher resolution image and then resizing using desktop graphics programs (e.g. Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop). He also noted that he had gone to a workshop in Tacoma put on by NatureServe and ESRI which highlighted their GIS analyses. Of particular interest was a presentation by the Trust for Public Lands who were using Model Builder for a lot of their analyses.
John: beginning to look at ObjectLand as an alternative GIS package?