Simplify your Shapefiles
As mapping professionals, we often want more detail – the more accurate the better. But occasionally we need to simplify our maps (specifically our shapefiles) for presentation purposes or to speed up web map applications. Now you can very easily simplify your shapefiles online using MapShaper. I’ve used it and it was a breeze. Here is some info directly from their blog: “MapShaper is a free online editor for Polygon and Polyline Shapefiles. It has a Flash interface that runs in an ordinary web browser. Mapshaper supports three line simplification algorithms: Douglas-Peucker, Visvalingam-Whyatt, and a custom algorithm designed to smooth convoluted coastlines and spiky features. The MapShaper project was conceived in 2005 by Matthew Bloch and Mark Harrower at the University of Wisconsin, Madison Geography Department. A paper [pdf] from the 2006 AutoCarto conference describes how MapShaper works “under the hood.”” Since it is a web application, you upload your shapefile, tell it what simplification program to run, and let it go. Thanks Matthew and Mark for a very nice app.
Successful Response Starts with a Map – New Publication NAP
The Mapping Science Committee of the National Academy has released the following publication. “Successful Response Starts with a Map: Improving Geospatial Support for Disaster Management Committee on Planning for Catastrophe: A Blueprint for Improving Geospatial Data, Tools, and Infrastructure,” National Research Council ISBN: 0-309-10340-1, 198 pages, 6 x 9, paperback (2007) http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11793.html Executive summary online at http://www.nap.edu/execsumm_pdf/11793.pdf
State Geographic Information Offices Relationship with State Census Data Centers
There are a number of models across the US of where the state Geographic Information Office is located/affiliated. I was interested in which states have their Geographic Information Office co-located with (or formally part of) their State Census Data Center. I conducted an informal poll of NSGIC State members/representatives.
The following 6 states indicated their Geographic Information/GIS Office is formally affiliated with their State Census Data Center: • CO (in same department – Co Dept of Local Affairs) • DE • HI (in same department – Dept of Planning) • MN (both in Office of Geographic and Demographic Analysis http://www.gda.state.mn.us/) • MS • RI (in same department) Among the states that are not formally affiliated, 13 indicated they have close coordination among their offices. A common theme among all states responding was that they now need to coordinate much better than in the past due to the increased emphasis on GIS for the decennial Census, the Local Update Census Address program (LUCA) and TIGER map modernization.
___ Geographic Information Office affiliations range from being located in their state Natural Resources agency, Information Technology, Department of Administration, or as a separate not-for-profit, located at a university, and more (i.e., there is no single model – see chart below). Most offices are formally established through legislation and/or executive order. Note also of 49 states responding about the scope of their Geographic Information coordination, nearly 70% indicated their responsibility was statewide in scope (as opposed to State Agency responsibility only). Source: NSGIC State Summaries, 2006
