GIS

The Risks of Spatial

The world of Geospatial is, like any other technology, going to have some inherent risk. Part of making a program stronger should be looking at those risks and planning strategies to mitigate them. This article covers risks and mitigations in three sections, Program, Technology, and Operational, then wraps up with a recap and final thoughts.

Asset Management Systems and GIS: Some procurement considerations

During a recent weekly Twitter chat about GIS, a GIS industry colleague asked for some thoughts about selecting and planning an Asset Management System. That question sparked a discussion between Nathan Heazlewood and myself. What follows is an expansion on that discussion. This post looks at the reasons and requirements for implementing an Asset Management System; what software you might use, whether COTS or a custom system, and how to get started. Finally, we wrap it up with a discussion of the need to have buy in from your supporting departments, the need to work with subject matter experts to determine what assets are important, and lastly, the need to keep it simple. Only do as much as you need, with the knowledge that you can add more as you go along.

QGIS – Loading Data

Accessing data in QGIS A few years ago now, I wrote a post covering adding vector layers to QGIS. Much time, development, and improvement has passed since then. Since the usefulness of QGIS increases proportionally with your ability to actually add data to it, it is time to revisit this topic. QGIS has a toolbar …

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Esri 2014 – Recap

The Esri conference is over for another year. I wanted to write something about it.  It is almost a requirement to write a recap of a conference. At the same time, there are really enough of those, and who honestly wants to read another missive about what sessions, or parties, or workshops I went to? …

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CalGIS 2014 – Reflections on past and future

It has now been a couple of days since the end of the CalGIS conference for 2014.  For those that do not know, CalGIS is the California GIS Conference.  It is hosted every year by the four chapters of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA):  Northern California Chapter of URISA, Central California Chapter …

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