SDMG Notes for 28 June 2007

 

In attendance:

 

Dave Hockman-Wert (USGS), Kelly Christiansen (USDA-FS), Heather May (OSU Forest Science), Frank Schnekenburger (OSU Forest Science), Michael Guzy (OSU Biological Ecological Engineering), Ray Drapek (USDA-FS), George Mueller-Warrant (USDA-ARS), Brian Wilson (Alsea Geospatial), Theresa Valentine (USDA-FS), Keith Olsen (OSU Forest Resources), Terralyn Vandetta (OSU COF), Matt Gregory (OSU Forest Science)

 

Note: This was a combined meeting between the regular SDMG group and the Geoprogramming Group.

 

Main Topic: Reports from ESRI 2007 User Conference

 

Theresa Valentine, Heather May and George Mueller-Warrant all attended the ESRI 2007 User Conference and reported back to the group on the topics they visited.

 

·        The conference had more of a focus on third-party software than it had in previous years.  Maybe for lack of a major release from ESRI …

·        ArcGIS 9.3 is intended to improve the quality of previous releases without major new features.  However, there were a handful of new features being introduced at 9.3:

  • Geographically weighted regression
  • New contour tools
  • Improved scripting and model building tools
  • Multi-view windows
  • Functionality from ArcGIS Explorer (a free viewer)

·        “Mashup” was the conference buzzword (generically a mashup is a website or application that combines content from more than one source into an integrated experience” – Wikipedia).  Theresa pointed to an example mashup at http://www.moremap.com.

·        ArcGIS Server  9.3 seven top enhancements :

7. Print

6. Map Tips

5. WFS, WFST, KML, interoperability

4. Autocad links

3. Mashups

2. precashing data (on demand, also pre-defined)

1. security (users/roles)

 

The keynote speaker was Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner.  It was agreed that her keynote was very good.  She spoke about reforestation efforts in her native Kenya.

·        Python script tools allow the user to call external Python scripts from the model building.  Michael also noted that at 9.2, there is a high-level API available for Python and .NET languages that obviate the need to use the ArcObjects directly.

·        Theresa noted that there are a number of graphing utilities available at 9.2 and are very useful.

·        CDs will be coming shortly that will contain PowerPoint presentations of various seminars.

·        Heather attended a “rasters in geodatabases” session and took from it that the file geodatabase is the preferred format to save rasters for space considerations (immune to the 2 GB Access personal geodatabase limitation).  Rasters can also be stored as ‘pointers’ to on-disk rasters.  It is also possible to add fields to the raster data within the file geodatabase.

·        George was impressed with the Model Builder sessions, particularly the Merge/Branch tools (for conditional logic) and noted that many tasks are relatively easy to automate through the Model Builder now.  He thought that at 9.3, ArcObjects and Python geoprocessing tools will be similar in functionality.

 

Events and Meetings:

·      The Oregon Explorer (http://www.oregonexplorer.info) had a launch party today (June 28, 2007) to demo their new mapping tool which showcase the 0.5 m NAIP imagery of the entire state.  The map viewer doesn’t appear to be available yet, but once functional, it will provide a map service for integration into ArcGIS as well as limited clip/zip/ship services.  Kuiipo Walsh will present this work at a future SDMG meeting (possibly September). 

·      FOSS4G (http://www.foss4g2007.org/) will be in Victoria, BC from September 24-27, 2007.  The annual Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) conference brings together the people who create, use, and support open spatial software. $575 Canadian for the full conference and workshops. Matt will be attending.

·      ArcGIS Server training in July is still available, in Eugene.  Keith and Theresa have shown interest in attending although the cost is somewhat steep (~$600).

·      The NW GIS User Group will be held from September 10-14 in Tacoma (http://www.nwesriusers.org/2007%20conference/2007_conference.htm). 

 

Training

·      None reported

 

Possible Future Speakers

·      Jim Meacham (or somebody) from the UO Infographics Lab (http://geography.uoregon.edu/infographics/). 

·      Dylan Keon (Department of Geosciences) on modifying Google Apps for web mapping.

 

Roundtable:

·      Heather: Working on integrating regular expressions, XML and Python

·      Kelly: Secured the elusive permanent seasonal USFS position

·      Dave: Very excited about a new second monitor

·      Matt: Working on the GNN visualization project with a new engine, Delta3D

·      Keith: Promoted to Senior FRA and has been fiddling around with Python and file geodatabases

·      Theresa: Gave both a talk and a poster at the ESRI UC and saw an old friend/co-worker Jonathan Brooks.

·      Michael: Working on a web application with an ecological search engine.  His group is embarking on a new EVOFOREST application at the HJ Andrews LTER.

·      Frank: First time at the SDMG.  He is currently diving in to the existing StandCarb model

 

Next Meeting (SDMG):

·      July 26, 2007 at 10:00 (Treats: Terralyn, Notes: Keith

 

Next Meeting (Geoprogramming Group)

·      July 25, 2007 at 10:00 (George and Michael will work on a presentation which shows how to integrate Python within Model Builder)