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Tag Archives: ArcGIS
Servers and SIF Longevity
This post will be a short update of some of the challenges I have run into with services available to students on campus in relation to servers and Esri’s ArcGIS. I’ve been working on two projects this semester which pair historical maps and planning documents for the city of Atlanta with present day data using Esri’s ArcGIS Online. One of the limitations of ArcGIS Online is that you are not able to host raster images on the Esri servers-you need to host them on your own servers. Server upkeep and support for ArcGIS was previously provided by a the technical advisor/GIS coordinator in the Department of Geosciences. For a number of reasons, this position is currently empty within department and, to my knowledge, there is no one at any level of campus providing the necessary support to GSU’s established GIS. Since the completion of these projects hinges on the ability to host this data and given the mission of CURVE for supporting the research and digital digital scholarship of students, I think it would be appropriate to explore possibilities of a server being available to students as a service of CURVE. This topic brings to light an interesting aspect of SIF that I had not previously considered–longevity:longevity in the sense that a project can continue once the current SIFs have graduated and moved on. To “continue” just doesn’t apply to a scenario where it has not yet been completed and the torch needs to be passed for the completion to be achieved-continue also means understanding how … Continue reading
Food and the Power of Maps
Urban Gardening, Food Deserts, and Mapping was the title of the presentation Nicole Ryerson and I gave during this week’s Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for CURVE. Nicole and I are both M.S. students in the department of Geosciences and, between the two of us, we have a diverse collection of original maps. These maps have been produced from the simplest of web mapping services to the heftiest spacial analyst desktop software. As we sat at Workstation II, there was a pleasantly consistent flow of curious administrators, librarians, faculty members, and students stopping by to ask us about our work. As we presented, we offered what I now reflect on to be a gracefully orchestrated dialogue:I would give a short overview of the different mapping tools that were used to make the maps surrounding food topics that we had on display and Nicole (who has constructed an awesome thesis surrounding urban agriculture in Atlanta) shared her wealth of knowledge surrounding food from “the plant to the policy.” Conversations around urban food are extremely “sexy” in research right now and, because these conversations lend themselves to spatial considerations, easily translate into related discussion around cartographic representations. Cartography is becoming increasingly accessible to non-experts with the advancement of technology. You can hardly search through a newsfeed on Facebook without seeing some colorful map of the US declaring each state’s allegiance to a certain product or habit. The one that I’ve seen most frequently is this one showing Facebook fans of the NFL. Both at my … Continue reading