I’ve accepted a position at the Surveyors Exchange in Anchorage Alaska. I’m really looking forward to working with them and it will be great to get back to work. I’ll continue working with Map and MapGuide but I also get to use my Civil Engineering skills working with and teaching Civil 3D. I’ll expand this blog to include Civil 3D tips and tricks.
One of the “perks” is the ability to travel to New Zealand and do some Map and MapGuide consulting for Robert Gadbaw. He is one of the top Civil 3D instructors in the world and I’m looking forward to learning from him.
As many of you know I have a huge passion for fly fishing. I get to work with some great people and fish some of the most amazing waters in the world. This will be an adventure of a lifetime and has always been a dream of mine. I’ll update my fly fishing blog after every fishing trip. And there will be a ton of those!!!!!! I’ll also check out the local poker scene. Anchorage has a bunch of “house” games.
You can find out all the details about The Surveyors Exchange on their website at http://www.tse-ak.com/
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Two new Blogs and my LinkedIn URL
Everything you wanted to know and more. 8-)
http://www.linkedin.com/in/georobertanderson
I've also created two new blogs. If you are into fly fishing, take a look. http://www.rizekillah.blogspot.com/
If you enjoy reading about poker strategy, here you go.
http://www.blackpocket10s.blogspot.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/georobertanderson
I've also created two new blogs. If you are into fly fishing, take a look. http://www.rizekillah.blogspot.com/
If you enjoy reading about poker strategy, here you go.
http://www.blackpocket10s.blogspot.com/
Saturday, February 7, 2009
The Geospatial Value Chain: Stage Five
This post is the fifth in a five part series and will explain the five stages of the Autodesk geospatial value chain. The five-stage model may help you understand where you are today and how you can extend the value of your geospatial data going forward. This series is taken from the "Best Practices for Managing Geospatial Data" document.
Stage Five: Topobase and Other Applications
In Stage 5, GIS data and functionality is used across different departments and applications. At this stage, mapping data becomes an integral part of the enterprise. GIS data and functionality are woven into other systems, integrating with assessor databases, permitting systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and more. Autodesk, Autodesk partners and resellers, and system integrators can all help customers build powerful solutions to meet specific business goals and manage specific workflows.
Data in an FDO feature source, such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server, can be used by many departments and enterprise applications. For example, If your company already has a back-office system managing work-order and asset records using an Oracle database, you can use AutoCAD Map 3D to manage the spatial data and attribute data that goes with those records.
Your existing systems may connect data in an FDO feature source to data or processes in a customer relationship management (CRM) or ERP system and may not even generate a map. CAD and GIS do not always generate output in map form. They can also provide data to an application server for geospatial analysis (machine to machine or application to application).
Stage 5 is the stage of powerful solutions. Many Autodesk customers are already operating in Stage 5, managing geospatial data in sophisticated databases and integrating with other enterprise applications. Alongside AutoCAD Map 3D and MapGuide, customers can deploy Autodesk Topobase, which makes this kind of powerful solution easier to build and easier to manage by adding additional tools, such as business rules, topology, long transactions, workflows, network analysis, and reporting.
Autodesk Topobase provides vertical applications to manage different types of infrastructure, such as water, wastewater, and power. These individual applications come preconfigured with industry-specific data models. The data models capture relations between features. For example, the water module manages features such as pipes, hydrants, and valves, the relationships between those features, and all the underlying attributes relevant to those features. By providing centralized access to spatial data and enhanced processes, Autodesk Topobase improves the way vital tasks get done throughout organizations.
Stage Five: Topobase and Other Applications
In Stage 5, GIS data and functionality is used across different departments and applications. At this stage, mapping data becomes an integral part of the enterprise. GIS data and functionality are woven into other systems, integrating with assessor databases, permitting systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and more. Autodesk, Autodesk partners and resellers, and system integrators can all help customers build powerful solutions to meet specific business goals and manage specific workflows.
Data in an FDO feature source, such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server, can be used by many departments and enterprise applications. For example, If your company already has a back-office system managing work-order and asset records using an Oracle database, you can use AutoCAD Map 3D to manage the spatial data and attribute data that goes with those records.
Your existing systems may connect data in an FDO feature source to data or processes in a customer relationship management (CRM) or ERP system and may not even generate a map. CAD and GIS do not always generate output in map form. They can also provide data to an application server for geospatial analysis (machine to machine or application to application).
Stage 5 is the stage of powerful solutions. Many Autodesk customers are already operating in Stage 5, managing geospatial data in sophisticated databases and integrating with other enterprise applications. Alongside AutoCAD Map 3D and MapGuide, customers can deploy Autodesk Topobase, which makes this kind of powerful solution easier to build and easier to manage by adding additional tools, such as business rules, topology, long transactions, workflows, network analysis, and reporting.
Autodesk Topobase provides vertical applications to manage different types of infrastructure, such as water, wastewater, and power. These individual applications come preconfigured with industry-specific data models. The data models capture relations between features. For example, the water module manages features such as pipes, hydrants, and valves, the relationships between those features, and all the underlying attributes relevant to those features. By providing centralized access to spatial data and enhanced processes, Autodesk Topobase improves the way vital tasks get done throughout organizations.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Geospatial Value Chain: Stage Four
This post is the fourth in a five part series and will explain the five stages of the Autodesk geospatial value chain. The five-stage model may help you understand where you are today and how you can extend the value of your geospatial data going forward. This series is taken from the "Best Practices for Managing Geospatial Data" document.
Stage Four: Spatial Databases
Moving from Stage 3 to 4, you extend the use of your information. At this stage, you start to make full use of relational databases. Stage 3 and Stage 4 are almost the same, except Stage 3 is still a file-based environment (for example, based on SDF) while Stage 4 is based on a relational database management system (RDBMS). If you are already at Stage 3, it is very easy to migrate from SDF or SHP files to a full-scale RDBMS, such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server. With AutoCAD Map 3D, you can move from one type of database solution to another as your requirements evolve. Any database schema can be translated into any other. You don’t need proprietary middleware, so you are never locked into any one database or software vendor.
In Stage 4 you gain the benefits of:
➔ RDBMS security and scalability
➔ Multiple users reading and writing any information
➔ Sophisticated data models
You may find that you want to move up to a database after you have been using SDF or SHP and have been in Stage 3 for a while. For example, you may have a lot more people interested in, or dependent upon, the data. You may be wondering how you are going to organize and manage the rules and security models for these additional people. How will you scale a system that supports at present only ten people to hundreds or even thousands more users? Stage 4 is based on the same data as Stage 3, but employs more powerful software to meet the requirements of an expanded organization.
Stage Four: Spatial Databases
Moving from Stage 3 to 4, you extend the use of your information. At this stage, you start to make full use of relational databases. Stage 3 and Stage 4 are almost the same, except Stage 3 is still a file-based environment (for example, based on SDF) while Stage 4 is based on a relational database management system (RDBMS). If you are already at Stage 3, it is very easy to migrate from SDF or SHP files to a full-scale RDBMS, such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server. With AutoCAD Map 3D, you can move from one type of database solution to another as your requirements evolve. Any database schema can be translated into any other. You don’t need proprietary middleware, so you are never locked into any one database or software vendor.
In Stage 4 you gain the benefits of:
➔ RDBMS security and scalability
➔ Multiple users reading and writing any information
➔ Sophisticated data models
You may find that you want to move up to a database after you have been using SDF or SHP and have been in Stage 3 for a while. For example, you may have a lot more people interested in, or dependent upon, the data. You may be wondering how you are going to organize and manage the rules and security models for these additional people. How will you scale a system that supports at present only ten people to hundreds or even thousands more users? Stage 4 is based on the same data as Stage 3, but employs more powerful software to meet the requirements of an expanded organization.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Geospatial Value Chain: Stage Three
This post is the third in a five part series and will explain the five stages of the Autodesk geospatial value chain. The five-stage model may help you understand where you are today and how you can extend the value of your geospatial data going forward. This series is taken from the "Best Practices for Managing Geospatial Data" document.
Stage Three: AutoCAD Map 3D + FDO
AutoCAD Map 3D provides data-access and data-management tools to make the process of integrating different types of data easier. In particular, FDO data providers and a consistent data-connect interface simplifies access and management of multiple feature sources. With AutoCAD Map 3D, you can extend your existing workflows and take advantage of efficiencies created through geospatial tools and store some of your information in a spatial data store, such as SDF. Also, you can augment your maps (DWG or other) by bringing in data from a variety of formats, including free data sources, such as web services (WMS and WFS).
SDF (Spatial Database File) format can be very useful at this stage. SDF is an open format for storing both geometry and associated attribute data. The SDF format is a GIS-oriented alternative to DWG. SDF has some significant advantages over DWG:
➔ It stores and manages an order of magnitude more data than DWG.
➔ It is very fast, allowing Autodesk applications, such as AutoCAD Map 3D and MapGuide (Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise and MapGuide Open Source), to read and display tens of thousands of features per second.
➔ It provides the power of a database without the overhead and cost of a full relational database management system (RDBMS), such as Microsoft® SQL Server™ or Oracle®.
➔ An SDF file can store a single feature class, or it can store multiple feature classes.
➔ It is easy to manage, providing access to the database schema.
With AutoCAD Map 3D, you can extend the traditional reach of DWG files and combine data sources with maximum flexibility.
Stage Three: AutoCAD Map 3D + FDO
AutoCAD Map 3D provides data-access and data-management tools to make the process of integrating different types of data easier. In particular, FDO data providers and a consistent data-connect interface simplifies access and management of multiple feature sources. With AutoCAD Map 3D, you can extend your existing workflows and take advantage of efficiencies created through geospatial tools and store some of your information in a spatial data store, such as SDF. Also, you can augment your maps (DWG or other) by bringing in data from a variety of formats, including free data sources, such as web services (WMS and WFS).
SDF (Spatial Database File) format can be very useful at this stage. SDF is an open format for storing both geometry and associated attribute data. The SDF format is a GIS-oriented alternative to DWG. SDF has some significant advantages over DWG:
➔ It stores and manages an order of magnitude more data than DWG.
➔ It is very fast, allowing Autodesk applications, such as AutoCAD Map 3D and MapGuide (Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise and MapGuide Open Source), to read and display tens of thousands of features per second.
➔ It provides the power of a database without the overhead and cost of a full relational database management system (RDBMS), such as Microsoft® SQL Server™ or Oracle®.
➔ An SDF file can store a single feature class, or it can store multiple feature classes.
➔ It is easy to manage, providing access to the database schema.
With AutoCAD Map 3D, you can extend the traditional reach of DWG files and combine data sources with maximum flexibility.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Geospatial Value Chain: Stage Two
This post is the second in a five part series and will explain the five stages of the Autodesk geospatial value chain. The five-stage model may help you understand where you are today and how you can extend the value of your geospatial data going forward. This series is taken from the "Best Practices for Managing Geospatial Data" document.
Stage Two: AutoCAD Map 3D
Stage Two: AutoCAD Map 3D
At this stage, CAD files are still used as the primary data source, but AutoCAD Map 3D is used as the application for creating and editing geospatial data. AutoCAD Map 3D makes it easier for engineers, drafting technicians, and GIS specialists to collaborate on projects and to share mapping information. Project teams can use their AutoCAD knowledge and training while taking advantage of GIS tools and functions.
AutoCAD Map 3D provides specific functionality that is not available in AutoCAD:
➔ Multi-user access—Access DWG drawings at the same time.
➔ Work across tiles—Attach and query multiple DWG files, which makes it easier to work with tiled data sets.
➔ Coordinate systems—Bring in DWG, GIS, and raster data with different coordinate systems and havethe data overlay properly.
➔ Drawing cleanup—Detect and fix geometric errors in DWG files.
➔ Import/Export—Bring in data from other departments and vendors and combine it with data in yourDWG files (for example, ESRI SHP).
Many customers who have invested in AutoCAD Map 3D use only the basic features listed above and continue to maintain a large library of DWG maps. Data is stored as object data or as links to an attached database, such as Microsoft® Access.
When your organization wants to extend its CAD information to more people and to make use of additional mapping (GIS) capabilities, you may be ready to move to Stage 3.
Monday, February 2, 2009
The Geospatial Value Chain: Stage One
This post is the first in a five part series and will explain the five stages of the Autodesk geospatial value chain. The five-stage model may help you understand where you are today and how you can extend the value of your geospatial data going forward. This series is taken from the "Best Practices for Managing Geospatial Data" document.
Stage One: AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT
Since it was first introduced, AutoCAD has been used by engineers and drafting technicians to create maps. These CAD maps stored in DWG files have provided a viable mapping solution for municipalities, public works departments, utility companies, and many other organizations. Many of these organizations have migrated from paper-based, mylar, or vellum files, and now store their infrastructure data in DWG drawings on the desktop computer or in a file directory on a server. Data for individual assets is often stored as blocks, along with the attribute data associated with them.
However, there are several limitations to a system that uses a CAD program such as AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT as the principal mapping tool:
➔ Only one user can access any particular DWG map.
➔ The maps have no geo-referencing information (coordinate system) assigned to them.
➔ AutoCAD does not import or export commonly used mapping formats, such as SHP.
If your organization is using AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT but needs to add spatial intelligence to the data, bring in data from other sources, or allow multiple designers to edit the same data, you have outgrown Stage 1 and may be ready to move to Stage 2 or Stage 3.
Stage One: AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT
Since it was first introduced, AutoCAD has been used by engineers and drafting technicians to create maps. These CAD maps stored in DWG files have provided a viable mapping solution for municipalities, public works departments, utility companies, and many other organizations. Many of these organizations have migrated from paper-based, mylar, or vellum files, and now store their infrastructure data in DWG drawings on the desktop computer or in a file directory on a server. Data for individual assets is often stored as blocks, along with the attribute data associated with them.
However, there are several limitations to a system that uses a CAD program such as AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT as the principal mapping tool:
➔ Only one user can access any particular DWG map.
➔ The maps have no geo-referencing information (coordinate system) assigned to them.
➔ AutoCAD does not import or export commonly used mapping formats, such as SHP.
If your organization is using AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT but needs to add spatial intelligence to the data, bring in data from other sources, or allow multiple designers to edit the same data, you have outgrown Stage 1 and may be ready to move to Stage 2 or Stage 3.
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