So it goes...

Being in the GIS and mapping world for as long as I have, I have a tendency to want to use maps to solve a number of different issues. Maps can make boring, dull data into a vibrant picture that actually tells a story. While you don't often think of it most digital data has a mapping component to it. Customer base equates to a list of addresses that can be geocoded to tell you where they are coming from. Voters can be tied to demographic data (at times). Crime can be mapped using a pin map and, when there's lots of violent crime, the pins can be ranked by severity. The severity can then be calculated into a "heat map" showing hot spots of high crime. I came across a really cool map today that shows where the building footprints would be for the areas of tornado devastation in and near Moore, Oklahoma. While this is more flash than not, it could be easily tied to a land/improvement value file and the values of the homes lost in the disaster could be calculated. ...

The map above and the map to the right of this column shw the locations of many of the people who have read this blog in the past month. It is a cool little gadget called ClustrMaps that does an on-the-fly GeoCode of the IP addresses of people who click on my blog. I find this interesting because I'm a map geek by trade. While you can read the names of the places people have visited from using another gadget called StatCounter , it's another thing to actually see the locations on a map. That is what makes ClusterMaps so cool. For that matter, that is what makes GIS so cool. It is putting a map to the data. If you think about it, somewhere in the neighborhood of 75% of all data has a mapping component to it. Does the data have an address or location? It probably does. Where does crime happen? Where are the areas of poverty? Who voted for who? Where is a good place to eat? Where are the places to avoid eating? Where does my cell phone go dead? The list goes on and on. My bl...

I spent the tail end of last week at the WI Land Information Association (WLIA) Conference in Steven's Point. It was a map geek conference that happens every year. There were 350 land information professionals in attendance and like most every conference, we talked about our work constantly. We talked over breakfast, in the hall after the sessions, at lunch, at the social events, in the elevators and  even on the ride home. Yes, we're pretty pathetic. At the same time, I would argue that we're passionate. We love our jobs, that's why we gather every year. We share ideas, talk through problems, argue, critique and laugh. I remember one time my boss's wife went along on a conference with him and by the end of it she said "You guys never stop talking about work, do you?" The answer is nope. Oh sure we catch up on each others' families and such, but after those three minutes are up, we're back to talking about terrestrial scanners, relational dat...