5 Things I Hate About the ArcGIS Javascript API

Building a mapping application with ESRI’s Javascript API is a lot of fun. But it can also be a real pain. Here are five things that absolutely drive me crazy when writing an ArcGIS Javascript map. 1. It is based on Dojo. It’s probably just my lack of Javascript programming sophistication but I find Dojo …

Jump Start Your Geospatial Career with This Free E-book

It’s a great time to be a GIS professional. There are no shortages of jobs and the field keeps changing and expanding to include amazing technologies and applications. However, with increasing demand often comes increasing competition. Anyone who wants to enter the geospatial field or advance in it needs to pay attention to fast changing …

4 Essential Maps to Have in an Emergency

September is National Emergency Preparedness month. Every year throughout the United States there are fires, floods, storms, earthquakes, industrial accidents and even explosions. Sometimes these situations are contained to a small locality where they are easily managed. Other times, emergencies cover large geographic areas and impact the lives of thousands of people. Maps, imagery and …

AFCEA Tracks Geospatial Intelligence

The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving military, government, academia and private industry. The association’s name centers on communications and electronics but under this broad umbrella are many varied disciplines and professional fields represented. One such field is information systems technology. The April 2012 issue of SIGNAL, …

Why Globes Aren’t Popular But Should Be

Globes are fascinating geographic instruments. They give a proportionately accurate view of the earth allowing for a better understanding of the relationships between various land areas and water bodies. While paper maps and on-screen digital maps can give much more detail about large scale areas of the earth, the globe gives an accurate representation of …

National Adjustment of 2011 – What Does it Mean For You?

The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) has been working for over a year now to adjust the NAD83 datum with what is called the National Adjustment of 2011 or NA2011. How much adjustment are we talking about here? If you guessed only about two centimeters, you would be right on the money. So why are the …