SandJ Information Services Limited
Useful Data - GIS & GPS information
GIS
Essay:
I don't know how much of this you know already, but here goes with some stuff I think is useful knowledge in the medium term. My apologies to Richard who has been evangelising on this subject for a long time - I hope he'll appreciate the support. I have been saying this stuff for weeks in snippets to various people; here is some of it in one place. A talented writer could turn this into an interesting lecture. Any volunteers?
GIS has been coming for some years, but has not yet 'arrived'. I suspect it is nearly here: Oracle and Google are re-creating themselves as geographically aware organisations; consolidation is accelerating amongst the GIS businesses; accurate and useful data is becoming available for free; open source solutions are becoming available and robust.
GIS is not about maps. Yes, I did write that correctly. GIS is about presenting non-geographical data in a geospatial manner to make it easier to understand:
"How have traffic accidents reduced in the vicinity of speed cameras since installation?"
"What is each GP's clinic appointment waiting time, relative to catchment area demographics?"
"What is the fastest way to visit each council car park payment machine on Anglesey?"
"Where should ambulances be parked to minimise vehicles required whilst keeping to government response time targets?"
"Where should the village bus stop go to produce the lowest average walking time?"
"How will visibility be obscured for existing houses by this new development?"
Trying to answer the above without a GIS solution is time-consuming and inefficient. Trying to demonstrate the answers without GIS output is futile.
GIS is particularly relevant to a local authority as the performance is viewed from the top level in a geographically bound way. Data needs to be reported up to councillor level according to where it relates: e.g. in which ward?
There are three problems that have prevented GIS taking off:
1. getting the data
An awful lot of data is required to describe the geography: boundaries, points and where they are on the ground. It has to be positionally accurate on a human scale, ie to within a metre or so, and it needs to include referencing interfaces such as grid references, unique property references, road references, post codes, and so on. This is a huge job that is underway nationwide.
2. completeness of data
To have information to put onto a map, the data you might want to represent on a map has to be made available - it has to be shared, or given away - and there is a natural human desire to 'protect' information by hiding it. This data then needs to be 'georeferenced': related to the appropriate national reference number or work out exactly where it is located. That is a time and resource consuming job to do the first time round, especially because of the data cleansing required.
3. there is no "killer application"
Maps were put on to YELL.CO.UK which was a leap forward, and there are the online street mapping services. These are useful, but not essential; they merely automate existing paper solutions. As yet, there has not been the email, the fax machine, the word processor equivalent: the application that will suddenly make GIS mainstream by giving it its own medium and so making it unique.
To enter the public consciousness, GIS needs to be up to date, it needs to be portable, it needs to be comprehensive, it needs to be easy, it needs to be cheap, it needs to be attractive (not useful, merely interesting, essential or fashionable). Watching what Google have been doing lately suggests they think we are almost there.
Google Maps. Desktop mapping but with: Yell built in; route finding; satellite images. Still in beta (currently showing Belfast pizza outlets on Anglesey!) but very, very popular in the USA where the satellite image resolution is far higher (satellite images are always very popular on NASA and weather web sites):
http://maps.google.co.uk
Google Earth. Touted as "a 3D interface to the planet" which "combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips."
http://earth.google.com
Google are making GIS 'friendly'.
This is what is called "disruptive technology": Google are shaking up the entire GIS marketplace by dashing ahead. Their actions will destroy a number of existing GIS companies and provide new ones with new opportunities. The public will benefit.
Meanwhile Oracle have provided Oracle Locator and Oracle Spatial: data structures and techniques for carrying out 'spatial queries' ("is this object overlapping this one?") which are difficult to hand-code. They are providing the back end database and solution for everyone else - the proprietary spatial data storage formats are doomed. Why store your geospatial data in a separate place when you could store it in the same database as the objects it describes? Again, a disruptive move designed to wipe out the existing proprietary methods and replace it with one single (albeit proprietary) standard.
Oracle are making GIS easier for IT departments.
Google are also promoting some ready-made solutions:
http://earth.google.com/earth_fusion.html
An unusual route for Google to take. Is it Google's intention to sell this business off - or are they competing with themselves to create the new era of geospatially aware data searching? Never mind
"Search: [ ] the web [ ] pages from the UK"
when you can have
"Search: [ ] the world [ ] data relevant to my location".
"My location" is, of course, mobile. Here's Google's solution: mobile phone Google (one of the following should work from your mobile):
www.google.co.uk/wml
http://mobile.google.co.uk
www.google.co.uk/xhtml
Meanwhile, back at home...
A very good example of a local authority putting their data online is Nottingham's NOMAD project:
http://webgis.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/website/nomad/index.asp?app=WWW_Esri
This is a rather more friendly front end from Durham (you will need broadband):
http://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/usp.nsf/pws/gis+-+online+mapping
A version that "any damn fool" can use, including when not on broadband:
http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/eng/index.asp?locID=4678&docID=-1
Random thoughts of potential consequences of the above:
The GIS business is starting to rationalise and see how to move forward; the "killer application" is getting close and Mobile Google Maps might be it, or become it.
Anglesey Council cannot compete with the likes of Google, so don't try. Use their solutions rather than buy in or develop our own.
Rely on external products (something like Google Earth) for our GIS solution.
Don't try to hold all our GIS data ourselves: give the non-controversial data (most of it) away to external bodies for inclusion in global solutions. We can access it, so can everyone else on the planet, we don't pay for its storage.
Or, use an off-the-shelf total solution:
http://earth.google.com/earth_ec.html
What quick wins and longer term opportunities arise from having the Highways by Exor system?
In what ways can we use 3D modelling of the landscape?
In what ways can people in the authority benefit from viewing their data / statistics in a geospatial context?
--
Simon Reed MBCS Consultant Project Manager / Business Analyst
IT Systems Development, Finance, Isle of Anglesey County Council
Email: Simon.Reed<at>Anglesey.gov.uk
Document
I produced for Isle of Anglesey County Council 13/07/2005:
I don't know how much of this you know already, but here goes with some stuff I think is useful knowledge in the medium term. My apologies to Richard who has been evangelising on this subject for a long time - I hope he'll appreciate the support. I have been saying this stuff for weeks in snippets to various people; here is some of it in one place. A talented writer could turn this into an interesting lecture. Any volunteers?
GIS has been coming for some years, but has not yet 'arrived'. I suspect it is nearly here: Oracle and Google are re-creating themselves as geographically aware organisations; consolidation is accelerating amongst the GIS businesses; accurate and useful data is becoming available for free; open source solutions are becoming available and robust.
GIS is not about maps. Yes, I did write that correctly. GIS is about presenting non-geographical data in a geospatial manner to make it easier to understand:
"How have traffic accidents reduced in the vicinity of speed cameras since installation?"
"What is each GP's clinic appointment waiting time, relative to catchment area demographics?"
"What is the fastest way to visit each council car park payment machine on Anglesey?"
"Where should ambulances be parked to minimise vehicles required whilst keeping to government response time targets?"
"Where should the village bus stop go to produce the lowest average walking time?"
"How will visibility be obscured for existing houses by this new development?"
Trying to answer the above without a GIS solution is time-consuming and inefficient. Trying to demonstrate the answers without GIS output is futile.
GIS is particularly relevant to a local authority as the performance is viewed from the top level in a geographically bound way. Data needs to be reported up to councillor level according to where it relates: e.g. in which ward?
There are three problems that have prevented GIS taking off:
1. getting the data
An awful lot of data is required to describe the geography: boundaries, points and where they are on the ground. It has to be positionally accurate on a human scale, ie to within a metre or so, and it needs to include referencing interfaces such as grid references, unique property references, road references, post codes, and so on. This is a huge job that is underway nationwide.
2. completeness of data
To have information to put onto a map, the data you might want to represent on a map has to be made available - it has to be shared, or given away - and there is a natural human desire to 'protect' information by hiding it. This data then needs to be 'georeferenced': related to the appropriate national reference number or work out exactly where it is located. That is a time and resource consuming job to do the first time round, especially because of the data cleansing required.
3. there is no "killer application"
Maps were put on to YELL.CO.UK which was a leap forward, and there are the online street mapping services. These are useful, but not essential; they merely automate existing paper solutions. As yet, there has not been the email, the fax machine, the word processor equivalent: the application that will suddenly make GIS mainstream by giving it its own medium and so making it unique.
To enter the public consciousness, GIS needs to be up to date, it needs to be portable, it needs to be comprehensive, it needs to be easy, it needs to be cheap, it needs to be attractive (not useful, merely interesting, essential or fashionable). Watching what Google have been doing lately suggests they think we are almost there.
Google Maps. Desktop mapping but with: Yell built in; route finding; satellite images. Still in beta (currently showing Belfast pizza outlets on Anglesey!) but very, very popular in the USA where the satellite image resolution is far higher (satellite images are always very popular on NASA and weather web sites):
http://maps.google.co.uk
Google Earth. Touted as "a 3D interface to the planet" which "combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips."
http://earth.google.com
Google are making GIS 'friendly'.
This is what is called "disruptive technology": Google are shaking up the entire GIS marketplace by dashing ahead. Their actions will destroy a number of existing GIS companies and provide new ones with new opportunities. The public will benefit.
Meanwhile Oracle have provided Oracle Locator and Oracle Spatial: data structures and techniques for carrying out 'spatial queries' ("is this object overlapping this one?") which are difficult to hand-code. They are providing the back end database and solution for everyone else - the proprietary spatial data storage formats are doomed. Why store your geospatial data in a separate place when you could store it in the same database as the objects it describes? Again, a disruptive move designed to wipe out the existing proprietary methods and replace it with one single (albeit proprietary) standard.
Oracle are making GIS easier for IT departments.
Google are also promoting some ready-made solutions:
http://earth.google.com/earth_fusion.html
An unusual route for Google to take. Is it Google's intention to sell this business off - or are they competing with themselves to create the new era of geospatially aware data searching? Never mind
"Search: [ ] the web [ ] pages from the UK"
when you can have
"Search: [ ] the world [ ] data relevant to my location".
"My location" is, of course, mobile. Here's Google's solution: mobile phone Google (one of the following should work from your mobile):
www.google.co.uk/wml
http://mobile.google.co.uk
www.google.co.uk/xhtml
Meanwhile, back at home...
A very good example of a local authority putting their data online is Nottingham's NOMAD project:
http://webgis.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/website/nomad/index.asp?app=WWW_Esri
This is a rather more friendly front end from Durham (you will need broadband):
http://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/usp.nsf/pws/gis+-+online+mapping
A version that "any damn fool" can use, including when not on broadband:
http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/eng/index.asp?locID=4678&docID=-1
Random thoughts of potential consequences of the above:
The GIS business is starting to rationalise and see how to move forward; the "killer application" is getting close and Mobile Google Maps might be it, or become it.
Anglesey Council cannot compete with the likes of Google, so don't try. Use their solutions rather than buy in or develop our own.
Rely on external products (something like Google Earth) for our GIS solution.
Don't try to hold all our GIS data ourselves: give the non-controversial data (most of it) away to external bodies for inclusion in global solutions. We can access it, so can everyone else on the planet, we don't pay for its storage.
Or, use an off-the-shelf total solution:
http://earth.google.com/earth_ec.html
What quick wins and longer term opportunities arise from having the Highways by Exor system?
In what ways can we use 3D modelling of the landscape?
In what ways can people in the authority benefit from viewing their data / statistics in a geospatial context?
--
Simon Reed MBCS Consultant Project Manager / Business Analyst
IT Systems Development, Finance, Isle of Anglesey County Council
Email: Simon.Reed<at>Anglesey.gov.uk
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