Two Years of Prep Paid Off!

This week the Kirkwood Hotel in Cedar Rapids hosted the biennial Iowa Geographic Information Council (IGIC) Conference.  If you missed the three day conference you'll have to wait another two years for the next premier Iowa geospatial event.

The Tuesday morning and afternoon workshops were well attended, the evening dinner with keynote speaker David Dibiase was a great kickoff, the majority of the event's 150 attendees packed presentation rooms on Wednesday, and Thursday morning presentations and awards were a nice wind down of the conference.

In addition to professional development, the nearby Czech Village was a great afternoon and evening hangout.  The Czech and Slovak National Museum and Center hosted dinner, the local Czech bakery handed out samples of traditional Czech pastries, and other local shops highlighted Czech culture.

Two years from now we are all heading to Pella for the next conference.  Make a note on your calenders, the conferences are a great way to learn and catch up on geospatial activity!

Calling all Cartographers!

Do you have top notch cartography skills?  Want to show Iowa's geospatial experts the project you worked on this year?  The upcoming IGIC conference is the perfect opportunity to show off your work!

You have three category options for poster submissions: student, professional cartographic, or professional analytic.  Jim Giglierano won the cartographic category at the 2011 conference with the above geologic map.

During the conference (April 2nd - 4th) posters will be on display for viewing and winners will be announced at lunch on Thursday.

Throw your hat into the ring and see what happens.  Probably a conversation at the least!



 

Don't Miss Out!!!

The Iowa Geographic Information Biennial Conference is coming soon!!!
April 2- 4, 2013

I hope you are planning to attend.  Here are some reasons you should attend this year's conference:


Get inspired by Dr. David DiBiase, ESRI's Director of Education, as he delivers a talk titled, "Stand and Be Counted: Seven Ways to Strengthen the GIS Profession."

Add to your GIS skills and knowledge by attending some short course workshops (Topics: Introductory LiDAR; Python; Precision Farming; Cartography Basics; and ArcGIS Mobile & Trimble Positions.)   

Network with other GIS professionals from around Iowa and the our region.

Visit the National Czech and Slovak Mueseum and historic Czech Village of Cedar Rapids as part of the Wednesday night IGIC Banquet.   

Experience the hospitality and beauty of  Hotel Kirkwood and the Kirkwood Community College campus.
This year the conference is going to be in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at the Kirkwood Community College (KCC).  If you have never been to Kirkwood, you are in for a nice surprise.  The 675 acre campus features many beautiful buildings and works of art, and provides supports a diversity of majors and activities. On Thursday, the final day of the conference you will get a chance to experience some of what Kirkwood has to offer including: KCC Culinary Arts cooking demonstrations; Iowa Equestrian Center tour and riding demonstration; KCC Wind Turbine tour; and KCC Vineyard and Winery tour. 

Click here to register!

Fitting Together Everyone's Needs and Requirements

The Iowa GIS Service Bureau has been assisting IGIC (Iowa Geographic Information Council) with a grant it received from the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) last fall.  The grant was awarded to help IGIC write a business plan for creating  statewide parcels, address points, and aerial imagery.

 The most recent step in the business plan writing process was to gather data requirements and expand input on how these datasets will benefit all involved parties in Iowa.  First on the plate was parcels.  We surveyed people from as many different professional spheres as possible and got great results!  Almost 2/3s of respondents responded that statewide parcels would directly benefit their organization, and a number of the non-affirmatives commented that parcels in their section of the state would be of use to them.

 

The suggested uses of a final product varied from emergency management to public recreation planning and research opportunities to economic development.  Losing control of the data and timeliness of the information were two of the main concerns.  Though even with after raising concerns, there were many messages of support and hopes for success.  The policies of sharing data differ, but only 13% say they only charge for their data no matter who requests it.

The results were promising and we hope to write a quality plan for statewide collaboration.

Mappy Monday: Census Dotmap

Hey, hey, it's Monday!!!

Check out this creative map by Brandon Martin-Anderson.  He wrote a python script to symbolize the census data by creating one dot for each person in the census tract.

This first image is a zoomed out looking at the United States as a whole.  It is really interesting to see the density of  population along the East Coast. In the Midwest, the population begins to congregate into lines and nodes following transportation networks (railroads and highways).  The West is sparse and then the population is more concentrated along the West Coast.

Below is an example of what cities looks like when you zoom in.  This is Ames, Iowa with the labels toggled on.  The darker areas near the center of the picture show dorms and apartment buildings surrounded by less dense neighborhoods.

Follow this link to go to Brandon's website! Happy Monday!!!

Mark Your Calenders!

April 2nd is coming quickly!  Have you registered for the Iowa Geographic Information Council biennial conference?

The conference runs from April 2nd to the 4th at the Kirkwood Community College Conference Center is Cedar Rapids, IA. 

It's the best opportunity we have to learn from, reconnect with, and bounce ideas off of other GIS users in the state.

Register early to avoid late registration fees and make sure you get the discounted room rate.

See you there!

Let's talk about...

Projection!

Today is the 501st birthday of Gerhardus Mercator, the creator of the Mercator projection. Use this link to read a biographical entry about Mercator's life and accomplishments. I think it is pretty awesome that even after over 400 years the Mercator projection is still widely used. 

A projection is a way to translate the curved surface of the earth onto a flat map. The challenge is that with every map projection there is an amount of distortion because of the spherical nature of the globe cannot be perfectly represented in a two dimensional map. For a more detailed discussion of different map projections visit the National Atlas website.

The picture below from The Geographer's Craft Project at University of Colorado at Boulder, illustrates similarities and differences of three different projections. This image powerfully demonstrates the importance of defining the projection, while it may seem like it all the projections are lining up well in Iowa and the Midwest as you move further away from the center of the country the differences in distortion become apparent.  The location and size of states like Washington, Maine and Florida change a lot based on projection. 

http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/mapproj/mapproj_f.html