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ESRI ArcGIS sucks

Hey out there, how's your day been? Using ESRI software? I am sorry. Me too.

Dear ESRI:

At release 10, if I touch a geodatabase, it will no longer open in 9.3. This is so stupid I won't even comment further.

When I have to restart your software after crashes (which is several times a day), please allow me to recover the work I was doing. Don't make me do a "save" every 5 minutes. Gee whiz, "vi" got that capability around 1975, maybe your programmers need to get out a bit more often?

Please make the cancel button work. Having to wait a few minutes (hours) wondering if the task will ever terminate, and then using Windows Task Manager to kill it is not good. Make the cancel button work EVERYWHERE, always.

Make the progress bars work. A graphic wiggling around is not good. Do I have a minute more to wait, an hour, a day? And if the underlying process crashes, stop the damn thing. Hello? Does anyone there actually use your products?

Suggestion: Hire an intern. Give the intern the task of making all your programs accept filenames that are longer than 13 characters. What operating system is that from anyway? MSDOS or UNIX System III? We have moved on since then.

While you are at it, please have the intern make all the tools pay attention to the "Environment" settings. Having some tools use them and some not is really stupid. It makes using environment settings pretty much worthless.

Get a handle on what "relative paths" are, then make MXD projects that can actually move from one computer to another.

When you are thinking of doing a release, compare it with previous versions. If it is slower or less reliable, fix it before release. Stop doing releases before the product is stable.

I just found out that expressions in "Map Algebra" have to have spaces around the operators. This is so funny! It is the only time I have seen a requirement for whitespace anywhere like this. Wait, did you have an intern write that parser? Maybe you should pull the interns off the design of production code and have them fix bugs instead?

ESRI, you get away with a LOT because most of your customers are not programmers and don't realize how easy many of these bugs would be to fix. It amounts to "customer abuse".

If you were open source, all these problems would be fixed in about a day.

People say that Microsoft is closed source because the code is so ugly... I can't imagine how hacked up the ESRI code must be.

Short Term Memory

01-Dec-2010

Building gdal 1.7.3 so I can have gdal python bindings, so I can reclassify a raster. In another window, I am running a very simple ESRI Spatial Analyst reclassification, but it's taking so long that I can probably build gdal and write a python script to do the same thing before the ESRI tool completes.

(I assume the ESRI tool crashed but as usual, I have no way of knowing.)

I had to add C++ to my system. Compiling.

Oh -- gdal built successfully. Installing it. Done. Updated system path.

Trying to build Python bindings now, what a pain! In the meantime, I clicked "cancel" button, perhaps in a few hours I will know if ArcMap crashed or not. (See comment above about failure of cancel button to cancel...)

November -- Raven got an OCZ RevoDrive and a WDC Caviar Black. SSD optimizations

• Web Maps the way I want them ---> GeoApt Spatial Data Browser --> QGIS
• Benton county topo map for Garmin handhelds - processing DEM and LiDAR data. See Making your own Garmin GPS maps
• FoxtrotGPS - Learning OpenStreetMap! Wow, it's fun.
• House gets new doors - 1 down, 7 to go; mmm love that plaster dust
• APRS tracker
• Magnavox 9212 - just got one, now I need to build a cable for it.
• 8track building kernel for C7 + Lilliput DisplayLink monitor
• Yaris#Sound Dampening - ordered materials, arrival Nov 18

Long Term Memory

17 June 2010

I have been doing a lot of Windows programming, not really by choice. Today I have to try to make an Access database work properly. Why does Access still exist?

I am eating lunch, and I have a nice apple.

The apple reminds me of Microsoft.

A nice old lady holds one out to me and says "eat this pretty apple deary!"

It's all shiny and pretty on the outside but after I bite into I realized it was just polish and inside it's old and rotten, like Access. The Microsoft apple puts me to sleep for 20 years and I dream that this is the latest technology.

Then I wake up and discover that while I slumbered in ignorance and bliss, the world has been taken over by penguins.

It's a much richer world. I was sleeping in a walled garden owned by a miserable witch who tried to fool me into thinking it was a place of wonder.

-- May 2010 gpsd on Mac PyQt on the Mac Just can't seem to get excited about PyQt but I did give it a chance.

16-Jan-2010 Alfresco building for Debian 64-bit. 01-Nov-2010 I need to revisit Alfresco, it still seems like a good idea for AlseaGeo.

05 Jan 2010 Low-cost RTK

21-Dec-2009 Debian Live, Walltop

30-Oct-09 GIS on the Macintosh

24-Oct-09 I got a nice new 13" MacBook Pro today, first Mac I have owned since the Mac IICX. She is named Stellar after Stellar's Jay.

24-Jun-09 Another thing to look at .. tools for ArcView http://www.ian-ko.com/

03-Feb-2009 Idea of the day, create an equivalent to openstreetmap for personal weather stations. Or even better, find one that already exists.

30 Jan 09 Now using Google Sitesearch for this site, which integrates quite well with the Mediawiki software.

26 Jan 09 I bought a month worth of T-Mobile data access for $20 from eBay so I am spending some time with the Openmoko Neo FreeRunner that I got last summer. It was fun, but the month ended and the rate went to $157. Ha ha! Good bye data access

20 Jan 09 Doing a bit of Microchip PIC programming.

03 Sept 08 Developing cross-platform GUI applications with Python and QT4: PyQt The longer I work with Python, the more I like it. but QT? Meh.

Feb 17 2008 Streaming media servers

Dec 24 2007 Cool link of the day http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/obop/spo/livecamera.html

Ubuntu on Toshiba Magnia SG20 -- Otter -- I still fire up the SG20 once in a while when I get email requests for help.

Radio

Jan 11 2007 - Lots of snow here last night! I am walking to work. I will carry my new radio. The Radio Page

No more paper

Jan 2007-- I just decided I am really tired of filing all the bits of paper that collect in piles around here every year around 'tax time'. Also, I don't want to own a file cabinet anymore. It's heavy and bulky. Continued in No more paper

Jan 2009-- Update. Still don't have a working scanner. The Canoscan FB630 that a friend gave me never worked right. It is now in the junk pile.

Feb 2009 - Got a scanner off the local Craig's List. HP 3970 Works great.

Nov 2010 - I see the scanner every day. It's usually peeking out from a pile of paper.

Maps!

Making your own Garmin GPS maps

Google Maps support has been added to this wiki. (2 June 08)

Corvallis

Girls On The Run
CARDV Run/Walk
South Corvallis
City of Corvallis Parks
Airport area maps for Paul
Evanite Fiber Corp area

Coastal Oregon

I've been preparing maps for my personal use on trips to Coastal Oregon. 5 maps here so far.

Oregon Cascades

Just one so far. More to come. Oregon Cascades

Sonoma county: Not online right now, maps of the CDS Wireless Network. I plan on putting these static maps into Mapserver any day now...

Cartography

To learn more than you could want to know about color and shading on maps, visit these sites.

http://www.reliefshading.com/ has articles by Bill Patterson of the National Park Service on producing 2d and 3D maps using natural colors.

http://shadedrelief.com/ has lots of information on shading techniques and very interesting articles about cartographers.

GIS

Data sources

Model Builder

New ESRI Services

GeoDa - An Introduction to Spatial Data Analysis

Cartographic Connections video

http://www.gisjobs.com/

http://www.gjc.org/

Software

The FreeGIS site http://www.freegis.org/ has the largest collection of freely available GIS/CGPS software. But the collection is not inclusive because policy prohibits them from listing free but protected commercial software. So for example, Trimble's free mission planning program is not available there.

GISuser has a collection of free tools.

From email: Since 1997, I have implemented sets of Java, Web & Wireless GIS tools. Most of them are free to use. If you are interested, please visit http://www.jshape.com for more information. -- Shiuh-Lin Lee

ERmapper
MapWindow GIS

gvSIG is a tool oriented to manage geographic information. It is characterized by a user-friendly interface, with quick access to the most common raster and vector formats. In the same view it includes local as well as remote data through a WMS or WFS source.

Forestry GIS (fGIS™) is a compact but robust shapefile editing program, digitizer and GIS data query tool for Windows®

GMT = Generic Mapping Tools: http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/

Visualization

OpenDX

Vis5D+

Commercial server software

Alta4 Imagemapper and GPS Photomapper imapemapper example see City of Newberg too.

Mobile GIS Software

BBBike
ESRI ArcPad
GiMoDig
GPSDrive
Hoko

Mobile Geographics mapping and navigation for PDAs (This site is PalmOS oriented)

Elkhorn Slough Wireless Project Spring 2003 CSU Monterey Bay project

Clipping orthophotos Process used in CDS Wireless project

I want documentation on every possible available addon and tool for ArcMap!! I suppose the closest thing today is the http://support.esri.com/ knowledge base. I ran across the GPS stuff today in 9.1 ArcInfo.

Refractions developed PostGIS
Manifold GIS software
Remote sensing
GRASS Open source GIS software

Fuzzy GIS

Fuzzy thoughts -or- Who gets to decide where the shoreline is, and why isn't it fuzzy?

For georeferencing historical maps, can we use a fuzzy confidence overlay to indicate what areas of the map look good spatially and what ones don't?

GIS-based fuzzy c-Means clustering analysis of urban public transit network service: The Nanjing City case study

Integrating exploration dataset in GIS using fuzzy inference modeling

Projects

ArcGIS A few ArcObjects notes at the moment.
Geodatabases
Mapserver iMap
ArcIMS + ColdFusion
ArcPad including notes on PDAs

Fusebox

Geocalendar

GoogleEarth

Programming for GIS

Software development

Web-based map viewers: Feature list for mapserver viewers
Test projects: 1. SWF viewer 2. Orthoviewer See also Flash support in Mapserver

Using ArcMap as a front end to ArcIMS and/or Mapserver

ArcMap to ArcIMS: Jeroen Ticheler's script MXDtoAXL downloaded from http://arcscripts.esri.com/ -- this works quite well but breaks if version > 9.0 (There is another MXD converter on arcscripts by Mark Andrews. He provides only a snipped of VB and no instructions. Since we are not ArcObjects geniuses, Kevin and I are sticking to Veroen's program.)

ArcMap to Mapserver Still looking into this. On possibility is avein. See also this page.

Here is the ArcXML Programmer's Reference Guide. To tweak ArcIMS servers and viewers you really need to know ArcXML. It's used for ArcPad configuration too.

AJAX and AFLAX

Server side vs client side user interfaces for web mapping It's not really a matter of 'versus' rather than 'where do we draw the line?' Some things HAVE to be on the client. Others can be implemented in either place.

For significant work such as editting and updating we still need a desktop app. Web mapping should be used more for display and simple analysis, with a desktop app communicating with central data stores as the model for editting and advanced spatial analysis.

GPS

General GPS project notes

Magnavox GPS reference station (MX-9212 aka "The Blue Box")

GPS on Bicycles

GPS and the PocketPC

GPS mission planning software
Making your own Garmin GPS maps
Transferring GPS data

GPS receivers Some that I own, some that I am interested in.
GPS Protocols
GPS simulators

GPS Links I find interesting at the moment:

La Cima ActiveX protocols for Garmin, etc.

GPS workflow National Park Service page
GpPaSsion reviews and forums
TravelbyGPS
GPS Photo-Link

Solar/Alternative Energy

Solar CREEK -- "Clean Renewable Energy for Everyone's Kids."

Monitoring solar installations

Weather

Doing something about the weather data loggers, xml, web sites...

Yellowstone Weatherstation

Misc Electronics

Thermostats

M-audio Microtrack Digital audio recorder

Wireless

Chintimini Wireless Project

WRT54GS project

Tangent Unplugged

Elkhorn Slough Wireless Project Spring 2003 CSU Monterey Bay project

Web site content management

Mediawiki

I am currently using the stable version of Mediawiki which is the software used for the Wikipedia.

Reasons I like Mediawiki: It is easy to install. It is easy to customize. It is easy to learn. It is very well supported and has a large user community.

Update. I have been using Mediawiki for over a year now. I have deployed it at work, at home, at my ISP, and for pedalwiki.ihpva.org and solarcreek,org. I like it. I use it for site management, and I document all my work in wikis now. No more lost scraps of paper or random txt files scattered all over creation.

But there are things it does not do well, so I am back looking at Drupal now for ihpva.org main page.

Mediawiki extensions

There are maps in the Wikipedia, so I should really look at the wikimedia extensions for GIS and maps first.

Gallery2 is an image gallery that has been integrated successfully with both Drupal and Mediawiki, which makes it potentially very useful to me.

Speeding up mediawiki

...and slimming it down. When I had my own computer on the Internet I had no constraints. Now I either choose a slow virtual CPU at tektonic.net or a fast but CPU cycle limited server at Hostmonster.com. If I use too many cycles at Hostmonster they cut off access from the outside world for 5 minutes. VERY ugly.

I tried to put caching onto mediawiki that will stop it from being a resource hog. Nothing seemed to help.

Choices

Built-in mediawiki caching -- since I am getting kicked out regularly I can assume this one is not good enough for my purposes.

memcached -- cache access to database

eAccelerator (http://eaccelerator.net/) -- precompile php code

squid -- caches html accesses. I read this suggestion on a hostmonster forum. Sean Kelly suggests that Varnish is the way to go.

Drupal

For a while I was convinced Drupal was the best CMS so I started writing this Beginner's guide for Drupal. I stopped working on it when I quit using Drupal. (Which was almost immediately...) I am leaving the page here because I might revisit it at any moment.

(and that moment is NOW. Brian Wilson 07:03, 13 March 2006 (PST))

Other

I might revisit Zope and Plone instead. The only reason I am interested in plone right now is because of plonemap. The plonemap server seems to be down right now so I can't even research it. (29-Nov-2005) Later for this...

Google pays my phone bill.

If you want to talk to me, click on this button and enter your phone number then Google Voice will phone you. Answer the call and wait while Google Voice phones me and connects our calls together. If you call me from a land line, you won't have to pay for the call. Since Google does not charge me for the service, I don't have to pay either.

My incoming calls come to me via Gizmo so I don't have to pay for any phone line to receive calls. I used a VOIP service for outgoing calls for a year or so but find that using Google for outgoing calls works fine too.

If you can call Gizmo phones directly my number is 747-235-5752 My Google voice number is 541-368-7383.