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Showing posts from December, 2010

Integrated GPS cameras...

          GeoSpatial Experts has introduced three new GPS Camera bundles designed specifically for geotagging and mapping digital photographs. The firm now offers its popular GPS-Photo Link 5.0 photo-mapping software with the new Ricoh G700SE, Sony A55, and Casio EX-H20G GPS cameras.           All of the GPS cameras below will provide you with geotagged photos, additionally, some can also offer the ability to capture the direction the photo was taken with a built-in compass, or the ability to collect attribute data in the field. WiFi and Bluetooth will allow you to communicate with laser range finder equipment to measure exact distance from the photographer to the item being photographed. Some GPS cameras provide a ruggedized camera to withstand harsh conditions.            In 2007, Ricoh introduced its 500SE model as the first GPS-equipped SLR designed for GIS data collection, and the new G700SE is more compact and offers many upgrades. Fully ruggedized and waterproo

GIS Technology to identify all properties in BBMP Limits

          The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has for the last two years, been in the process of conducting a massive exercise to map the 13.87 lakh properties in the 198 wards in the city. Geographical Information System (GIS) has proven to be an effective tool for analysing and displaying thematic maps of all the roads for proper evaluation and correction of zones.            As of now, 11 lakh properties have come under the tax net. The aim of this programme, which is perhaps the first such exercise being conducted in the country on such a large scale, covering 800 square km, is to bring all properties under the tax net and ensure that the BBMP has accurate information pertaining to the properties’ dimension, built-up area, land use and classification. The process of validation of GIS maps will be completed in January 2011.           The process uses satellite digital maps of the BBMP area to generate a vector map from the information obtained. These high r

GIS Viewed as Strategic Economic Development Tool in India

          The Asia Pacific region is in the midst of rapid change. This change depends on information. Much of this information is concerned with questions that are fundamentally geographic in orientation -- such as the spatial patterns of households or businesses, and proposed infrastructure facilities within a community. The role of geographic information in economic development dominated the proceedings of the second ESRI Asia Pacific user group meeting earlier this year. The meeting was hosted by NIIT Technologies. It drew more than 1100 delegates from across the region to New Delhi for two days of discussion.                        The meeting was held at the right time. Historically, India has enjoyed a reputation for capable data conversion. But now, Indians are creating centres of excellence for GIS project development. Dave Byers, ESRI's Asia Pacific regional manager, told the meeting that there was a clear trend of increased GIS deployment on the

Merry Christmas Everyone

            Another year has come and gone and it is that time of the year again, when you are thankful for everything merry and bright. May this Christmas be bright and cheerful and may the New Year begin on a prosperous note! Wishing you all a Merry Christmas !

On-click polyline

    Following up on the last example where we saw how to add a hard-coded polyline to our map, today we will see a more user interactive polyline example. In this example we will discuss on-click polyline! What you need to do is, copy the following code into a txt file and save it with dot html (.html) extension and then view it in your browser. So here goes the code!     The output of the above code will be a map centred at Mysore. Click on the map for the first time and a marker will appear there. On the next click, another marker will appear with a polyline between the 2 markers. This will continue for all further clicks and here you have your "On-click polyline" running! The map looks something like seen in the image below!     The next step to this code will be creating a polygon. We will see examples to create polygons on the map at a later stage! If you have any queries or suggestion, please drop a comment here or feel free to send me a mail .

Total Lunar Eclipse

         On 21st December 2010 last eclipse of the year which is Total Lunar Eclipse would occur. The eclipse will be visible in the region covering Europe, West Africa, the Americas, the Pacific Ocean, eastern Australia, the Philippines and eastern and northern Asia. Whereas this eclipse is not visible in India. Timings As Per Indian Standard Time (IST):          Broadly speaking the Eclipse begins at 10.58 a.m. IST passing through various phases and ends at 4. 36 p.m. IST. However the Umbral phase is generally considered as actual eclipse for various ceremonies by general public. i.e. Moon enters the Umbra (dark part of earth shadow ) at 12.02 p.m IST and leaves umbra at 3.32 p.m IST. Importantly Moon enters totality phase at 1.10 p.m noon and ends at 2.24 p.m.          We can watch the lunar eclipse live with the Slooh Telescope in Google Sky! Follow these steps: 1. Open up Google Earth (download it if you don't have it yet! http://goo.gl/iGb66 ). 2.

Fun with GPS!

            There seems to be a plethora of games and alternatives emerging to take advantage of the affordability of handheld GPS units. In a previous article on my blog, the high-tech treasure hunting game of Geocaching was discussed. Learn about more ways to use the surface of the earth as your gameboard. This article will provide an overview on two more GPS-based ideas: Geodashing and GPS Drawing. Geodashing:             G eodashing is a game in which players use GPS receivers on a playing field that covers the entire planet. The waypoints, or dashpoints, to be reached are randomly selected. The win goes to the one who can get to the most dashpoints; i.e. if you can get to them at all! Each game has a new set of dashpoints making each game completely different and unpredictable. Click to know more of this interesting game... GPS Drawing:             The GPS Drawing Project seeks to display GPS-based artistry created by navigating through

GPS Drawing...

            "Digital mark making with satellite navigation technology" is how you can define GPS Drawing Project!             Jeremy Wood is a multi-discipline artist and map maker whose diverse work is an expression of the poetry and politics of space and reflects upon how we treat our travels and interact with location. In October 2000 he began to explore GPS satellite technology as a tool for digital mark making on water, over land, and in the air. He makes drawings and maps of his movements and records all his daily journeys with GPS as an ongoing personal cartography.            Wood has conducted numerous GPS drawing and mapping seminars and workshops in schools, museums and galleries. His work is exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collection of the University of the Arts and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. To know more about him and to view his GPS drawings you can visit his website .            To know more about the GPS mapping pro

Geodashing...

            Geodashing!?!? Sounds something similar to Geocaching right? Well, it is! Geodashing is very similar to Geocaching in the sense that people are searching for a particular spot with only a set of coordinates as their clue.             Here's how it works. In each game, a large set of waypoints, called dashpoints, from all over the world is posted on the Web. Dashpoint locations are chosen at random by computer, with all the unpredictability that presents. Dashpoints might be in suburban neighborhoods or in the middle of wilderness areas. Then, the race is on to see who can reach the most dashpoints before the deadline.             Geodashing players can participate as individuals or as teams of up to five players to increase the number of dashpoints reached. The competition is friendly and teamwork helps to get high scores, so put your online acquaintances to good use.             Because the dashpoints are spread all over the world, it doesn't matter w

Custom online cards from Google Maps...

            Share a message of holiday cheer with custom online cards from Google Maps this New Year! Think Green, Go Green this New Year. Save paper and that too with a difference! This new year you can send your friends, family and loved ones an e-card which is out of the box!             You can choose from 10 different online holiday cards and add your personal message. Now, after reading this you will think what's so different here! The surprise is yet to unfold...You can include specific directions, a Street view image or your favorite place on the inside of the card!             So now planning your New Year party will become easier. You can send an e-card with directions from your friend's place to the place where you are hosting your New Year party! Won't that be fun!             You can send your personalized Google Maps New Year Cards from here !             Warm wishes for a great holiday season and wish you a Happy Mapping Year...

--- Polyline ---

    We have seen a number of examples for markers and info-windows. We can definitely move ahead now with other things in Google Maps API v3. Today we will have a look at polylines. Today's example will show a hard-coded polyline, but later on we will have a look at creating polylines on the fly. We will also create polygons and calculate the geographic area and more but at a later stage!     Let us now first have a look at today's polyline code. You just need to copy and paste the code that follows into a text file and save it as .html. Double-click on the file and you will be able to see the map in action.     The output of the above code looks as seen in the result section above! The code is very simple and does not require any special explanation I guess! We have made use of an array to store the co-ordinates that form the polyline on the map! Rest is mostly as usual!     Please feel free to drop me a line about the code or the blog in general! You can also contac

Custom markers...

    We have now seen numerous examples of markers and info-windows in Google Maps API v3. We will now see a last example where-in we will replace the customary marker icon with an icon of our choice! In the example that follows, I have shown 5 beaches in Goa along the Konkan coastal strip! These are nothing but markers, just with a different icon! Lets have a look at the following code!     The output of the above code looks as seen in the result section above. This is a simple code that goes here! If you have any queries or doubts or suggestions regarding this example you can comment on the same or feel free to drop me a mail ! In the meantime...Happy Mapping!

India's digital environmental atlas...

         The environment ministry has launched the first digital environmental atlas of India on the occasion of Earth Day. An interactive website of state of environment atlas of India depicts forest and biodiversity in green, water resources in blue and air pollution in brown colours.          The atlas provides flexibility and versatility for users to visualise environment spatial data using geographic information system (GIS) options. The atlas which is the first of its kind with regular updates has been developed by an NGO Development Alternatives (DA) with the support from the Environment Ministry.          The atlas is available on www.soeatlas.org and has features such as pressure-state-impact-response (PSIR) framework analysis, where all the maps are presented and displayed for the users' benefit.          With detailed database, the atlas is a treasure house for the environmentalists and researchers besides those keen to know about the state of envir

The dancing bubble...

         "Why does this bubble not dance?" asked my friend's 6 year old sister referring to a marker she was seeing on the map! So I decided the this marker needs to be animated! So, I developed the following code which shows a marker that bounces on its position and can also be dragged anywhere on the map!         The following is the code for the "dancing marker"... <html> <head> <title>Google Maps JavaScript API v3 - Bouncing marker</title> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> var marker; var map; function initialize() {     map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map"),     {         zoom: 5,               mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP,               center: new google.maps.LatLng(22.7964,79.5410)     });               marker = new google.maps.Mar

Retriving co-ordinates...

         We have seen 2 Google Maps API v3 examples wherein we have retrieved the latitude-longitude co-ordinates of the point of click on the map. In the first example we have displayed the co-ordinates in the information window and in the second , we have displayed the co-ordinates in a form in the information window.         Today we will create a code to retrieve the latitude longitude co-ordinates in a text box while simultaneously a marker appears on the map as well. So, here goes the code. <html> <head> <title> Google Maps API v3 - Adding marker on Click and retrieving the co-ordinates in a text box </title> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> var map;    //When using event as a parameter to a function declare map, strictly as a global variable function initialize() {     var myLatlng = new google.maps.L

Assessment of MGNREGA using GIS

            The Minister for Rural Development Shri Pradeep Jain “Aditya” informed the Rajya Sabhaon November 30, 2010 that It is proposed to use Geographical Information System (GIS) under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). In this regard, Ministry of Rural Development has set up an Expert Group to prepare a strategy for nationwide rollout and to evolve parameters for standardization with an objective to link GIS with grass root participatory planning and asset management and monitoring.             Replying to a written question the minister said use of GIS will strengthen decentralized participatory planning, implementation, capturing and monitoring of assets and evaluation of the works under MGNREGA and also this move will help the Ministry to bring in greater transparency and accountability in the implementation of the Scheme as real time data would be available.            This news clearly shows that India is slowly and steadily promo