1) 2014 Summer Opportunities: Yosemite National Park, CA
These four summer positions involve a complete remeasurement of the 25.6 ha Yosemite Forest Dynamics Plot, located near Crane Flat in old-growth sugar pine/white fir forest. The plot burned at generally low to moderate severity in the 2013 Rim Fire. Tasks include revisiting each tree and snag; recording mortalities, ingrowth, and newly fallen wood; measuring scorch and snag heights; and mapping shrub patches, down CWD and areas of the forest floor that did not burn. Other tasks include measuring fuel consumption along fixed transects, installing and measuring dendrometers, and collecting data from associated instrumentation. Mortality checks require hatchet use. Staff will supervise students and volunteers.
Qualifications: Previous experience taking vegetation research data, working safely in challenging environments, and following complex data collection protocols is required. Candidates should demonstrate the ability to solve problems and to work both independently and in teams of two or three. Work will involve moving through sometimes steep, rocky terrain with delicate and expensive equipment, as well as the ability to carry up to 15 kg of additional gear. Work experience in post-fire forests strongly desired, as is some knowledge of western flora, tree pathogens, and forest insects. Staff must have a driver’s license and a Wilderness First Aid/CPR certification (or higher) valid until August 31, 2014 (if you are not certified, please include your plans for certification in your cover letter). Other: Practical experience in the operation and maintenance of computer, electronic, and mechanical equipment; familiarity with a variety of software and instrumentation; and experience with periods of outdoor living are all positives.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
Free Old Geography Books Available for Kindle and Nook
Free Geography eBooks from 18th and 19th Century- Available in Kindle and Nook formats. Click and follow the link to download the ebooks.
A Book for High Schools, Commercial Courses, and Business Colleges
Jacques W. Redway, Published:1903
Vol. V, Canada—Part I, Historical
Charles Prestwood Lucas, Published:1901
Thursday, October 10, 2013
MAGIC GIS 2014 Symposium
GIS covers such a broad range of subjects, applications and types of people that use it, that developing a conference program that meets everyone's needs is a challenging task. Even more challenging is an attendee trying to figure out exactly which sessions or topics will be most interesting and helpful. MAGIC 2014 is intended to focus the content of the presentation options into a program specifically geared to each attendee's needs.
Your 2014 Program Committee is working very hard to bring you the best Symposium yet. If you have ideas or comments, please send them to the Symposium Chair.
Anyone is free to submit an abstract to MAGIC 2014.
Submissions should be received by December 6, 2013.
You will be notified by January 20, 2014 if your presentation was accepted.
Read all about the MAGIC Symposium here:
http://www.magicgis.org/magic/symposiums/2014/
Please submit your abstract proposal online at the MAGIC Web Site here:
http://www.magicgis.org/magic/symposiums/2014/abstract.cfm#top
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
US address correction, address verification, and geocoding using ZP4, Google Geocoding API, and Bing Maps API
From a couple of months, I have been involved in Tax certificate address verification project for educational purpose; I have around 8 million parcel address collected and maintained by different tax collecting agencies in various format for instance COBOL ,CSV, ASCII, Excel , and some are even in pdf for their tax districts.
My task was to find the address from those different files and export them in CSV with corrected standard USPS address format (STREET, CITY, STATE, and ZIP) to make Universal Tax File format for data analysis by removing unwanted data from the address rows. Initially, I used ZP4 software, it has “official United States Postal Service data files on a single DVD-ROM that provides a powerful tool for automatically determining the correct mailing address, ZIP + 4 code, and mail carrier route number for any location in the United States”, works fine for few address (about 15%) which has proper USPS standard address format. The real challenge starts with remaining 85% of the parcel address that has no USPS standard address format (either address without city and zip information or the vacant parcel lots that cannot accept mails and therefore not entered in the USPS mailing address database).
Looking around the Web, Google leaves me with tons of pages entitled on address correction and validation including close source and open source software APIs, tools, and datasets, but hard to figure out which method works for my project in terms of address quality(address was poorly written), quantity(8 million addresses), and resources (cheap and easy to implement) . After spending few days here and there, finally I come up with a solution that works for me, an integrated address correction strategy using ZP4, Google Geocoding API, and Bing Maps API.
Here, I am going to share how ZP4, Google and Bing integration makes my job easy and relatively cheap to validate and correct US physical street addresses.
Monday, September 9, 2013
How to Land on Top-Paying GIS Jobs
Author Bryan Frost, published a 88 page book on “How to Land a Top-Paying GIS mapping technicians Job”, which compiles all the information candidates need to apply for their first GIS mapping technicians job, or to apply for a better job for instance guide to opportunities, resumes and cover letters, interviews, salaries, promotions, what to expect from recruiters and more.
The amazon.com describes the book as-
For the first time, a book exists that compiles all the information candidates need to apply for their first GIS mapping technician’s job, or to apply for a better job.
What you'll find especially helpful are the worksheets. It is so much easier to write about a work experience using these outlines. It ensures that the narrative will follow a logical structure and reminds you not to leave out the most important points. With this book, you'll be able to revise your application into a much stronger document, be much better prepared and a step ahead for the next opportunity.
The book comes filled with useful cheat sheets. It helps you get your career organized in a tidy, presentable fashion. It also will inspire you to produce some attention-grabbing cover letters that convey your skills persuasively and attractively in your application packets.
After studying it, too, you'll be prepared for interviews, or you will be after you conducted the practice sessions where someone sits and asks you potential questions. It makes you think on your feet!
This book makes a world of difference in helping you stay away from vague and long-winded answers and you will be finally able to connect with prospective employers, including the one that will actually hire you.
This book successfully challenges conventional job search wisdom and doesn't load you with useful but obvious suggestions ('don't forget to wear a nice suit to your interview,' for example). Instead, it deliberately challenges conventional job search wisdom, and in so doing, offers radical but inspired suggestions for success.
Think that 'companies approach hiring with common sense, logic, and good business acumen and consistency? ‘Think that 'the most qualified candidate gets the job? ‘Think again! Time and again it is proven that finding a job is a highly subjective business filled with innumerable variables. The triumphant jobseeker is the one who not only recognizes
Monday, August 19, 2013
New features on 2013 TIGER/Line Shapefiles & Geodatabases
On Thursday, August 22, 2013, the
2013 TIGER/Line Shapefiles will be released along with a new product, the TIGER
Geodatabases.
The TIGER/Line Shapefiles will include a coastline feature starting this year. The coastline was delineated by the Census Bureau in the MAF/TIGER database based on water measurement class for display of statistical information only; its depiction and designation for statistical purposes does not constitute a determination of jurisdictional authority or rights of ownership or entitlement and it is not a legal land description.
The TIGER Geodatabases will include:
The TIGER/Line Shapefiles will include a coastline feature starting this year. The coastline was delineated by the Census Bureau in the MAF/TIGER database based on water measurement class for display of statistical information only; its depiction and designation for statistical purposes does not constitute a determination of jurisdictional authority or rights of ownership or entitlement and it is not a legal land description.
The TIGER Geodatabases will include:
- National
Edges file (14.5 GB)
- National
Roads file (3.6 GB)
- National
Blocks file
- National
Linear Hydrography file
- National
Aeral Hydrography file
- National
Sub-State Geography file (includes state, county, incorporated place,
census designated place, consolidated city, county subdivision, census
tract, and block group geography)
- National
Nation-Level Geography file
- National
Legislative Areas file
- National
School Districts file
- National
American Indian Area Related file
- National
Rails file
- National
Address Ranges file
- State-based files (one per state)
Friday, July 26, 2013
Geospatial Power in Our Pockets: ASPRS 2014 Annual Conference
ASPRS 2014 Annual Conference
Geospatial Power in Our Pockets
March 23 - 27, 2014
Galt House Hotel * Louisville, Kentucky USA
ASPRS 2014 Annual Conference invites presentations on all types of topics impacting the Geospatial Industry. Conference tracks have been redesigned to fit YOUR real-life business needs. The NEW tracks are listed below with a few subtopics.
Track #1: Geospatial Power in Our Pockets
Geospatial Apps, Mobile Data Collections, Wearable GIS, 3D/4D Visualization
Let your imagination run with this open and innovative track!
Track #2: Emerging Technologies
Surface from Motion, Cyberinfrastructure, Cloud Computing & MORE
Track #3: Business Management & Business Tools
SBA Loan Limit Increases & Your Business, Contracts & Bidding – Processes & Opportunities, Workforce Recruitment, Project Management Overview
This is YOUR chance! Submit a presentation, roundtable discussion or panel session pertaining to YOUR business needs. We want to hear from YOU!
Track #4: Core Technologies
Feature Extraction, Data Compression, High-Resolution Satellite Imagery – Just to name a few
Track #5: Application Areas
Radar Mapping, Land Use, Change Detection, Urban Mapping
Opportunity to Waive GIS Conference Registration
The 2014 MAGIC Symposium board has put together an
ambitious schedule of short courses to help make this Symposium the best yet!
We are now seeking instructors who are willing to share with others their
expertise and enthusiasm for the many disciplines within GIS.
A list of possible short course titles is below. Other
topics are welcomed and encouraged.
Instructors must be able to pay for their travel and
expenses. MAGIC does not offer any discounts to instructors or presenters.
Instructors who come in only to teach their short course are not required to
register for the Symposium. Any other participation in the Symposium, including
meals, requires registration.
If you are communications officer for a state GIS mailing
list or related local community of GIS professionals, please forward this
email. Thank you.
ArcGIS 10 Refresher Course
ArcGIS Online
Cartography
Crowdsourcing
Introductory Geoprocessing with Python
Open Source GIS
US National Grid
Flex Web Mapping API
GIS and Mapping A to Z
Intermediate Geoprocessing with Python
Introductory Geodatabases
Introductory GPS and Mobile GIS
Introductory ModelBuilder
Silverlight Web Mapping API
Advanced Geoprocessing with Python
Advanced ModelBuilder
Cloud GIS
Introductory LiDAR
Remote Sensing and Mapping A to Z
Using Census 2010 Data
Advanced Geodatabases
Advanced LiDAR
Emergency Response using GPS and Mobile GIS Workflows
Infrastructure Management with Imagery Next Generation E911 Utility and Public
Works using GPS and Mobile GIS Workflows National Hydrography Dataset HAZUS
FEMA NFIP Non-Regulatory Products ARC Server Addressing
Monday, June 10, 2013
How to get raster pixel values along the overlaying line?
One afternoon at Java City, my friend Eric and I were discussing about the ways to to get raster pixel values along the overlaying line. The conversation encourages me to write an quick and dirty solution to solve the issue. The following R code snippet helps to conceive an idea to extract the raster values which are intersect or touch by the overlaying straight line in easy fashion using R raster package.
#Print the raster pixel values along the overlaying line in R. The line's start and end row/col (coordinates) must be provided.
library(raster)
#Create an arbitrary raster, for instance I used a names of color as raster pixel values.
r <- as.raster(matrix(colors()[1:100], ncol = 10))
#Start coordinate of a sample line
x0=1 #row = 1
y0=3 #column = 3
r[x0,y0]
#End coordinate of a sample line
x1=10 #row =10
y1=7 #column=7
#Easy sample line generation algorithm : A naïve line-drawing algorithm
dx=x1-x0
dy=y1-y0
for( x in x0:x1)
{
y = y0 + (dy) * (x - x0)/(dx)
#Print the raster pixel values along the line
print(r[x,y])
}
Pretty simple concept. You can tweak the code & the line drawing algorithm as your requirement. There are several line drawing algorithm available in the internet. Here I used a simplest one that I found.
#Print the raster pixel values along the overlaying line in R. The line's start and end row/col (coordinates) must be provided.
library(raster)
#Create an arbitrary raster, for instance I used a names of color as raster pixel values.
r <- as.raster(matrix(colors()[1:100], ncol = 10))
#Start coordinate of a sample line
x0=1 #row = 1
y0=3 #column = 3
r[x0,y0]
#End coordinate of a sample line
x1=10 #row =10
y1=7 #column=7
#Easy sample line generation algorithm : A naïve line-drawing algorithm
dx=x1-x0
dy=y1-y0
for( x in x0:x1)
{
y = y0 + (dy) * (x - x0)/(dx)
#Print the raster pixel values along the line
print(r[x,y])
}
Pretty simple concept. You can tweak the code & the line drawing algorithm as your requirement. There are several line drawing algorithm available in the internet. Here I used a simplest one that I found.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Generate Euclidean distance matrix from a point to its neighboring points in R
#Generate Euclidean distance matrix from a point to its neighboring points in R
#Load sp library
library(sp)
#Create a 2D metrix of X & Y coordinates of the neighboring points
neighbours_point <- matrix(c(5, 6,3,5,4,8,7, 10, 60, 60,11,12), ncol=2)
neighbours_point
[,1] [,2]
[1,] 5 7
[2,] 6 10
[3,] 3 60
[4,] 5 60
[5,] 4 11
[6,] 8 12
#Create a point vector with x and y coordinates from which distance should be calculated
refrence_point<-c(2,3)
refrence_point
[1] 2 3
#Compute the distance matrix
distmat <- spDistsN1(neighbours_point,refrence_point, longlat=FALSE)
distmat
[1] 5.000000 8.062258 57.008771 57.078893 8.246211 10.816654
Enjoy!!
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