The marks we leave: John Spellman, 1926-2018

Government leaders inevitably leave long paper trails and numerous digital footprints. One of the newest marks made by our own current King County Executive, Dow Constantine, honors his first predecessor in his office, Gov. John Spellman who died on Tuesday. Remembrances of Gov. Spellman this week prompted me to reach back into my personal archives for a record of when then County Executive Spellman’s paper trail and my much more humble one intersected.

Transform your map design skills on January 31

An effective map portrays a place, delivers a message, or reveals a pattern with representational accuracy and visual clarity. How to make that happen is the subject of this workshop, a mix of lecture and exercises which gives GIS practitioners the practical information and techniques needed to create effective, successful maps in any display medium.

King County transit maps are multiplying

The re-use and re-purposing of map elements, especially digital map data, may seem simple and obvious since we are far past the time when the availability and use of digital data and production practices became the norm in cartography. But it hasn’t been all that long since the time when mapmakers were beholden to the technical strictures imposed by mechanical map construction methods.

Something old for the New Year

King County Archives recently made 45 volumes of the King County Assessor’s timber cruise reports from 1907-1908 available on their website.

Data quality at King County GIS – Part 2

Data quality at King County GIS includes processes and tools for validation of the contents of the Spatial Data Warehouse. Multiple linked automated and manual steps help ensure good internal consistency and an anomaly-free environment, both for file-system and database objects.

Improved Geospatial Data Act Reintroduced on GIS Day 2017

Here is proof that Congress can work together to do good work for the nation, for industry, and for the GIS Profession. Happy GIS Day! http://statescoop.com/congress-introduces-geospatial-data-act-to-the-delight-of-gis-advocates#.Wg7bxPuQgFU.twitter

A virtual view of what’s new in Seattle

Seattle, the county seat for King County and the largest city in the state of Washington, has seen great growth in the past 15 years in the construction of new buildings and infrastructure. During this same 15-year span, here in the King County GIS Center we have added two sets of vintage “lidar” data for the county to our GIS data library.

Impressive first impressions

I am not a geographer and until I started working with the KCGIS Center team, my idea of GIS was just “maps and stuff.” When it comes to mapping, I was more of a Google Maps guy to get me from point A to point B…that’s it! Working with KCGIS has shown me that GIS is so much more than just maps and stuff…

Redistricting, elections, and gerrymandering

Perhaps, like me, you remember the term “gerrymander” from history class. A gerrymandered electoral district is one whose boundaries are defined—often with unusually shaped geographic extents—to intentionally favor one political party over another. While the term sounds silly, gerrymanders are serious business that can and do affect every aspect of our society.

NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement builds GIS capability with KCGIS training

The KCGIS Center often develops custom GIS training for clients who have specific data, analysis, mapping, and reporting requirements. Earlier this year we were contacted by representatives of the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement about the feasibility of providing custom GIS training for staff from various NOAA offices across the U.S.

GIS & You

News from the King County GIS Center