Category Archives: Spatial IT/GIS

Left: A hiker stands above the clouds at the Appalachian Trail’s northern terminus: the summit of Katahdin in Baxter State Park, Maine. Courtesy of Jeffrey Stylos.

Mapping the Appalachian Trail, Part 2

How the AT was brought into GIS via a collaboration among ATC staff, NSP professionals, and dedicated volunteers. Part 1 of this article (May 2015) reveals the history of the trail, particularly how the land that comprises it was surveyed. Read here about how the trail was brought into GIS.  In 1998, the Appalachian Trail...

Maptime Summit Group

First Ever Maptime Summit

By Katie Kowalsky   @katiekowalsky  www.katiekowalsky.me It’s been over two years since the State of the Map US 2013, where Maptime was born. As of the first official Maptime in San Francisco at the time of the  Maptime Summit (Monday June 8th), we now have 60 chapters spread over five continents. That growth, all from volunteers...

Coord 5

Dynamic Text with QGIS Layouts

It’s not until you need it that you realize how much you miss it: such is the case with the Esri ArcGIS dynamic text functionality. On the surface it seemed easy to put a little reference into a text box, and then every time I opened a template or new map it would automatically show...

The new standards are independent of map scale or contour interval and provide a way to deal with lidar data.

Comparing Maps a New Way

Above: The new standards are independent of map scale or contour interval and provide a way to deal with lidar data. ASPRS releases new positional accuracy standards. The positional accuracy of geospatial technologies has improved dramatically in the past few decades, and digital maps have replaced paper maps, making old ways of comparing maps obsolete. Satellite...

Esri UK Marauder's Map

Esri UK User Conference

May 22, QEII Building, London UK With a venue overlooking Westminster Cathedral and a stone’s throw from the Houses of Parliament, Esri couldn’t have picked a more British location for the UK annual conference. Last year (2014), there were a little more than 1,000 delegates; this year Esri UK played host to over 2,000, and...

Treasure Map

Should We Be Reading Maps or Moving Forward?

There has been a lot of press recently about an announcement from the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) declaring that “Society is being sedated by software,” and it would appear that most of the media have jumped on board, like the BBC, The Guardian, even the Western Morning News. I have to agree with them...