One of the most satisfying things that a well-made map can do is convey a sense of place. And an especially well-map map may convey a sense of a past place that both infuses and transcends a present location. I came across such a map yesterday just a few blocks from our own King County GIS Center location, where Seattle’s Pioneer Square transitions to the International District, specifically the historic Japantown.
Are you planning to attend the 26th annual GIS in Action Conference at Portland State University, April 23-24? If so, stop in and visit the King County GIS Center booth in the exhibitor hall where you can learn about the range of free resources that King County GIS has available, as well as our GIS consulting services and GIS training program.
Gerrymandering, the process of manipulating political district boundaries for some advantage, is a broadly recognized but poorly understood process. This topic was first discussed here in GIS & You by Dennis Higgins in a September 2017 article. Now, Mark Salling, Ph.D., GISP, Senior Fellow and Research Associate at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University, has written an informative article for the GIS Professional, the bimonthly newsletter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association.
Monica Van der Vieren, who works as a King County Wastewater Treatment Division community relations planner, has created a new visually stunning Story Map, “On the Trail of the North American Buffalo” which tells the story of the North American buffalo and promotes bison and prairie conservation.
On International Women’s Day 2018, here are some thoughts…
If you are pursuing GISP certification, or are thinking of doing so, URISA is offering a webinar on the GISP exam process on April 3 and 4, 2018.
My first foray into the world of open source GIS occurred at a meeting of Cascadia Users of Geospatial Open Source (CUGOS) back in 2007 at the offices of LizardTech in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. At the time, I didn’t know anything about what open source was or how it was being used.
The 2017 URISA GIS Salary Survey is now available. Some highlights of the survey and an executive summary that you can download are available to everyone on the URISA website.
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a digital map of the world to which individuals, corporations, and government agencies contribute geographic data which can then be freely used by anyone under two conditions.
I have always thought that part of the value of GIS to a local government agency was to foster enhanced understanding by employees and citizens of the geographic conditions of their community—to build their geospatial smarts.
GIS & You 