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Hierarchy or Folksonomy? Is there a Hybrid between Order and Chaos

On April 15, 2008 By Sean Gorman

When we started the very first iteration of GeoCommons in 2005 folksonomies were all the rage and we jumped on board using tags to organize the geospatial data that was pushed into the new platform. During the time we had the prototype deployed we ran into many of the same issues other applications have found [...]

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Map Creation Apps – Google vs. Microsoft vs. Yahoo

On April 9, 2008 By Sean Gorman

I promised Andrew a comparison of the big three map creation applications by feature and functionality, so here it goes. The story of how lightweight web based map creation applications came to be is interesting in and of itself. I think looking at how the three applications evolved historically will provide a bit of [...]

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Content for ArcGIS Explorer vs. Google Earth

On March 25, 2008 By Sean Gorman

I thought it would be fun to take a different angle on the virtual globe competition and look at the content and data made available by two of the players – Google and ESRI. From a technical perspective I think most would agree that ArcGIS explorer is pale emulation of Google Earth especially when it [...]

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Bumping up Against the Limits of Google MyMaps

On February 26, 2008 By Sean Gorman

Yesterday we posted a blog about the international fiber cuts a few weeks ago. While I am interested in the geography of fiber and failures in general, we thought it would be a good opportunity to put Google MyMaps through its paces for creating a substantive data driven map. After 25 or so hours of [...]

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1= 100: the strange equation from the Annals of Crack Cocaine Sentencing!

On November 13, 2007 By admin

1 = 100?
It is according to the Drug Quantity Table, where 1 gram of crack cocaine equals 100 grams of powder cocaine; part of the drug equivalency formulae born out of the 80s overblown media hype and of mandatory minimum sentencing law passed by the Congress in 1986. Although prison sentence [...]

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Improving the Value of Forecasts Through an Online, Interactive Mapping Environment: The Example of Wildfire Planning

On November 3, 2007 By admin

The Utility of Maps in Hazard Forecasting

The recent wildfires in Southern California remind of us of just how important hazard forecasting has become in helping to ensure the safety and welfare of the public and the role that mapping can play in the process. Short-term forecasts of fire direction and intensity were pivotal [...]

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Crowdsourcing to Create Resilience: Why Security through Obscurity will Never Work

On October 15, 2007 By Sean Gorman

NPR ran a story on Monday’s Morning Edition entitled “Security Officials Seek to Block Some Online Maps”. The story centered around local government officials refusing to release electronic maps of what they call “critical infrastructure,” such as water mains and fire hydrants. Specifically the story of Steven Whitaker’s futile quest to obtain infrastructure data [...]

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GeoWeb / GIS Convergance: Ubiquitous as Spreadsheets?

On September 25, 2007 By Sean Gorman

There were two great articles that popped up in the last week or so that I’ve been trying to carve out some time to blog about. The first was an insightful overview of the GeoWeb from The Economist called “The World on Your Desktop“. One of the major points in The Economist article is [...]

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ESRI and Jane's Information Group Partner Up

On September 12, 2007 By Sean Gorman

An interesting press release floated across GISuser yesterday on ESRI striking a strategic partnership with Jane’s to make their data available through ESRI tools. What I found intriguing was a service like Jane’s, which targets a non-technical audience, using ESRI, which has a largely technical user base, as channel to disseminate their data. [...]

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The state of Labor Unions

On September 2, 2007 By admin

It’s almost 125 years ago that the first workingmen’s holiday was celebrated (Tuesday, September 5, 1882) in New York. Over the next dozen years nearly 27 states recognized this holiday and in 1894, the U.S. Congress enacted it as a Federal holiday.

Among many things, the holiday has come to symbolize [...]

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