Technoleros

Observations from hacking around with all kinds of hardware and software

  • Home
  • Downloads
RSS
Category Archives: GIS

20-Foot South Central United States Topographic Data for Garmin GPS

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Fred Janssen
No comments

1233970967 John M. has created maps suitable for Garmin GPS units and posted them at GPSFileDepot.  The extent of the area includes all of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri.  Features include:

  • Roads – Interstates, highways, arterial roads, residential roads, limited unpaved roads
  • Railroads
  • High resolution water data – lakes, rivers, streams, and washes
  • Federal Land Usage – Wilderness area, national parks, and military bases/ranges, native American reservations
  • Borders – County and state boundary lines
  • Elevation contours – 20ft intervals
  • GNIS Points of Interest – summits, mines, falls, dams, cemeteries, towers, populated places, etc.

The map collection (616 MB), with installer, can be downloaded at http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/102/.

Categories: Data, Downloads, GIS, GPS, Maps, Outdoors, Software | Tags: contours, elevation, Garmin, GNIS, roads, topography

Zapata County Soil Map Update

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Fred Janssen
No comments

I just received an email from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) indicating that the soil survey data for Zapata County, Texas has been updated.  We do some environmental work in Zapata County, and the soils data is an important component in some of the GIS analyses there.  Zapata County is unique in that it is one of the few counties in the United States that never had a soil survey book created for it, and because of that, it is one of the last counties to have GIS-based soils data.  The update message I received went like this:

Dear Soil Data Mart subscriber,

Some or all of the data for soil survey area TX505 has been updated.

Survey Area Symbol: TX505
Survey Area Name: Zapata County, Texas
Publication Status: Tabular and Spatial Data Currently Available

Survey Area Version: 10
Survey Area Version Established: 2/12/2009 1:00:26 PM

Tabular Data Version: 10
Tabular Data Version Established: 2/12/2009 1:00:26 PM
Tabular Data Version Updated?: Yes

Spatial Data Version: 4
Spatial Data Version Established: 8/22/2008 7:39:49 AM
Spatial Data Version Updated?: No

FGDC Metadata Updated?: Yes

Looking at the data in ArcMap, about 75% of the county now has data available.  The data is available in Access 2002 format, easily read as a personal geodatabase.  Keep working on it NRCS!


View Larger Map

Categories: Data, GIS, Maps | Tags: NRCS, soils, Zapata

A Google Earth Plus Update

Posted on February 10, 2009 by Fred Janssen
No comments

index-free I received yet another update from Google yesterday regarding the demise of Google Earth Plus.  I appreciate that they are going through the trouble of reiterating my options.  I’m going with the free route right now, having installed Google Earth 5.0 but that’s it.  Here is how Google summarized my options:

As a valued Google Earth customer, we want you to be the first to know that Google will no longer offer Google Earth Plus. With new enhancements to Google Earth released this week, we believe the needs of many Google Earth Plus customers will be met with Google Earth 5.0, which is freely available to all our customers. For those customers who require additional capabilities and faster speeds, we have a special offer to try Google Earth Pro free of charge for two months. If you like it, you can buy it with a limited-time discount only available to our Google Earth Plus customers.

The latest version of Google Earth lets customers import and track global positioning system (GPS) data. Our Google Earth Plus customers told us GPS tracking is one of the main reasons they choose Google Earth Plus. Now, since you can use this feature for free in Google Earth 5.0, there’s little separation between Plus and the free product. In order to simplify the decision of which version of Google Earth best meets our customers’ needs, we decided it no longer made sense to continue Google Earth Plus.

As a current user of Google Earth Plus, you have several options:

  • Stay with Google Earth Plus. You can continue using Google Earth Plus for the time being, until either your license expires or until we come out with a new version of Google Earth. Learn more
  • Use the standard version of Google Earth. You can now import and track GPS data in Google Earth 5.0 without having to pay an annual fee. Learn more
  • Try Google Earth Pro. Google Earth Pro includes additional features to let you to do even more with Google Earth. For example, print and save images with 3x higher resolution for your documents and presentations, import GIS data, and import up to 2,500 rows of spreadsheet data. As a loyal Google Earth customer, we are offering you a two-month free trial of Google Earth Pro and the opportunity to purchase a one-year subscription for $99 (regular price of $400).
Categories: GIS, GPS, Maps, Software, Technology, Web | Tags: geography, Google, kml

Google Earth 5.0 is Available

Posted on February 3, 2009 by Fred Janssen
No comments

index-free It seemed like we were on version 4.3 for forever, but yesterday Google released version 5.0 of Google Earth.  You can download the new version here.  New features in version 5 include historic imagery where available, an ocean layer including bathymetry, and the ability to create personalized, narrated tours that you can share with others.  More details are available.

Categories: Downloads, GIS, Maps, Software | Tags: geography, Google, kml

Generalize – ArcView 3.x Extension

Posted on February 3, 2009 by Fred Janssen
No comments

Generalize - v.1.0 - 6.09 KB

From arcscripts.esri.com:

This Arcview extension provides a dialog-based tool to simplify the currently selected shapes in a polyline or polygon shapefile. This tool is used to generalize, or weed out, vertices that do not add to the desired level of detail in the geometry. A tolerance is specified to check whether or not vertices should be retained.
This script is a simple implementation of the Douglas – Peucker algorithm used in ARC/INFO and PC ARC/INFO. The dialog is initiated from a button in a View GUI.

  1. The extension does not make a new shapefile. It changes the currently active polyline or polygon shapefile. Changes can be Undone using the standard shape editing tools in Arcview.
  2. The extension will reduce the quality of the data. Any metadata for the themes should state that the data are modified.
  3. The extension will generalize all the selected polylines or polygons.
  4. Results are very dependent on the polyline or polygon geometry. While the shape endpoints are maintained, interior points may be eliminated. Other shapes in a network that may begin or end at an interior vertex may now be dangling. A complex shape may cross itself after being generalized. Neighboring polygons will no longer match edges. Proceed with caution.
  5. This script does not recalculate lengths or areas. They may have changed as the shapes are simplified. The View.CalculateFeatureGeometry (calcapl.ave) sample script can be used to update the values.
Categories: GIS, Software | Tags: ArcView, extension, polygon, polyline, shapefile, vertices

DNRGarmin GPS 5.4.1

Posted on February 1, 2009 by Fred Janssen
No comments
DNRGarmin v5.4.1 - v.5.4.1 - 11.29 MB


From the Minnesota DNR web site:

This extension was built to provide users the ability to directly transfer data between Garmin GPS handheld receivers and various GIS software packages. Using this program a user can use point features (graphics or shapefile) and upload them to the GPS as Waypoints. Line and Polygon Graphics or shapes can be uploaded to the GPS as Track Logs or Routes. Conversely, Waypoints, Track Logs, and Routes collected using the GPS can be transferred directly to ArcView/ArcMap/Google Earth/Landview and saved as Graphics or Shapefiles.

This program has a real-time tracking mode that allows users to follow their progress on the ground within an ArcView View Document, ArcMap Data Frame, or Landview Map. This real-time track log can be saved as either points or lines as a set of graphics or in a shapefile.

Functionality Highlights

At this time DNRGarmin contains (but is not limited to) the following functionality:

Download Waypoints/Tracks/Routes – Download waypoints, tracks, and routes from Garmin GPS and save as ArcView Shapefiles or Graphics

Upload Waypoints/Tracks/Routes – Upload waypoints, tracks, and routes to Garmin GPS

Real-Time Tracking – Collect real-time locational information and store as graphics or shapefile

Waypoint to Point – Converts Waypoints downloaded from the GPS unit into a point shapefile or graphics

Track to Point/Line/Polygon – Converts a Garmin Track log to an ArcView graphic or shapefile

Point to Waypoint – Convert Point shapes or graphics to a GPS Waypoint

Line/Polygon to Track – Converts a line or polygon to a Garmin Track

Point to Line/Polygon – Converts Point themes to Lines or Polygons

Add Documentation to Features – Adds basic documentation to ArcView themes including Name, GPS Model, Date, Agency, etc. – ArcView 3.x only

Calculate Shape Attributes – Calculates Area, Perimeter, Length attributes for features. ArcView 3.x/9.x

Calculate CEP – Determine Circular Error Probability rings for Error estimation. ArcView 3.x/9.x

Image Hotlinking – Create hotlinks between images and GPS data.

USB Connectivity – Speed up your downloads by a factor of about 10 with USB connectivity option!

Projection Engine – Built in Projection Functionality using Proj.4 Cartographic Projections Library http://www.remotesensing.org/proj/ by Gerald Evenden

Click here to go to the DNRGarmin web site

Categories: Data, GIS, GPS, Maps, Software | Tags: ArcGIS, extension, Garmin, real-time, routes, tracks, waypoints

AddXY v1.0

Posted on January 27, 2009 by Fred Janssen
No comments

Download AddXY v1.0 Here

AddXY (v1.0) is an ArcView extension that should work with ArcView 3.0 and
later.  It adds the X and Y values of points (shapefiles or coverages) to their
attribute tables.  It adds the X and Y values of polygon centroids (shapefiles
or coverages) to their attribute tables.  It will add the X and Y value of a
polygon’s labelpoint to its attribute table.  Due to a bug in ArcView, it
does not work consistently with node coverages, so this has been removed.
The X and Y columns in the attribute table should be created with the same
names and precision that the ARC/INFO command "addxy" would create.

Thanks to Mark Cederholm for his help in compiling the extension.  Written by
Zachary Stauber.  Send any questions, comments, complaints to
anchorite@geocities.com.

Categories: GIS, Software | Tags: ArcView, attributes, coordinates, extension

Batch Define Projection

Posted on January 23, 2009 by Fred Janssen
No comments

Download Batch Define Projection Here

from arcscripts.esri.com:

This Python (v2.1) script will add or replace projection information for the all feature classes/shapefiles a user-specified directory based on the projection of a specified feature class/shapefile. This was possible in ArcGIS Desktop 8.3 and ArcView 3.x, but cannot be done out-of-the-box with ArcGIS Desktop 9.0.

The download also includes the BatchDefineProjection script from the Data Management Toolbox on support.esri.com and a custom ArcToolbox containing script tools for both scripts with detailed documentation.

Please use the ‘contact author’ link above to let me know if you find these tools/scripts useful, have issues with them, or have suggestions to make them better.

go to arcscripts

Categories: GIS, Software | Tags: ArcGIS, projection, scripts, toolbox

ResMap ECW Plug-in for ArcPad

Posted on January 19, 2009 by Fred Janssen
No comments

Download the ResMap ECW Plug-in Here

From ResMap.com:

This FREE plugin enables ArcPad 6.0 to open ECW and remote ResMap images (ECWP). "ESRI’s ArcPad TM software is a mobile geographic information system (GIS). ArcPad provides database access, mapping, GIS, and global positioning system (GPS) integration to users out in the field via handheld and mobile devices." This release offers:

  • Open ECW images in ArcPad
  • Open remote ECW images (ECWP)
  • Fast display times for ECW (fastest ECW plugin)
  • View ECW imagery on handheld devices
  • Use remote ECW (ECWP) to access terabytes of imagery on handheld devices
  • User Friendly Install performs all steps for ECW in ArcPad
  • Single Install application for both PC and PPC (handheld) devices
  • Example datasets, ECW and ECWP included with install.

Operating system: Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP or Windows CE 2.11, 2.12, and 3.0
Hardware: Any standard pc or Pocket PC with StrongArm

Click here to go to the ResMap web site

Categories: Data, GIS, Maps, Software | Tags: ArcPad, ECW, Imagery, PocketPC

A Google Earth Plus Update

Posted on December 4, 2008 by Fred Janssen
No comments

index-free Google obviously got an earful about killing Google Earth Plus and sent me updated email just one day after their original email.  After a considerable amount of negative feedback about pulling the import and tracking features from all versions of Google Earth except for the $400 Pro Version, Google will soon provide these features in the free version!  Here is the explanation that they provided me:

As mentioned in our previous email, we’ve simplified our product choices for our Google Earth customers and Google Earth Plus is no longer available for purchase. This has caused some concerns from our customers who rely mostly on the GPS features of Plus, so we wanted to address them.

We know that one of the main reasons why people choose Google Earth Plus is GPS import and tracking. We realize that some users are disappointed in the loss of this feature, so we wanted to let you know we’re working on making GPS one of the features of the free version in the near future. In the meantime, we’re happy to extend expiring Plus subscriptions for three months — free of charge — and continue to extend until the GPS feature is available for free. Learn how to extend your current Plus subscription.

These product changes are based on user feedback that with 3 different products — Google Earth, Google Earth Plus, and Google Earth Pro — customers sometimes got confused about what each version offered. Over time, the separation between Plus and the free product has decreased, and by moving GPS features into the free product, we believe that Google Earth will meet the needs of most of our existing Plus users.

Categories: GIS, GPS, Software, Technology | Tags: earth, Google, GPS, Maps
Previous Entries
Next Entries
  • Categories

    Biking Business Intelligence Data Downloads GIS GPS Hardware Maps Media Outdoors PDA Smartphone Software Statistics Technology Twitter Uncategorized Web

  • Tags

    analysis ArcGIS ArcPad ArcView attributes Austin BaseCamp browser Communicator coordinates elevation Enterprise Guide ESRI extension firmware Garmin geocaching geography geotagging Google GPS health hot fix Junction kml Maps MapSource mobile NOAA OLAP projection registry routes SAS satellite scripts toolbox topography tracks transfer utility waypoints Web Report Studio Webupdater Windows
  • Meta

    • Register
    • Log in
    • Entries RSS
    • Comments RSS
    • WordPress.org
  • Recommended Links

    • Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise
    • Engadget
    • Free Geography Tools
    • Geocaching
    • Hardware 2.0
    • Lifehacker
    • MapMyRide
    • sasCommunity.org
    • the SAS BI-ogsource
    • Trails.com
  • Recent Tweets...

    • SAS Global Forum registration now OPEN! - http://t.co/6JjZXcth 2011-11-13
    • Flash is dead. Long live HTML5. http://t.co/sgKYHr0Y 2011-11-10
    • How to create multiple LSF users - http://t.co/va4rbPcv #SAS 2011-11-04
    • Adding WRS to Portal in #SAS 9.2 / 9.3 - http://t.co/pYU9gdYv 2011-11-04
    • CSR announces SiRFstarV chipset - http://t.co/D3fAgsPa 2011-11-04
    • Kinect for Windows is Confirmed for 2012- http://t.co/sVGZhexJ 2011-11-04
    • Using Windows PowerShell to report on your #SAS Enterprise Guide project files - http://t.co/kitxR3Ic 2011-11-04
    • New #SAS Job Site - http://t.co/IkcxaTm9 2011-11-04
    • How To Install Windows 8 From A USB Flash Drive - http://t.co/10A8dF4u 2011-11-04
    • GarageBand 1.1 available for iPhone and iPod touch users - http://t.co/7211B6EJ 2011-11-04
    • More updates...

    Posting tweet...

© Technoleros. Proudly Powered by WordPress | Nest Theme by YChong