What's New in ArcGIS Server at 9.2 - training from ESRI

A reminder if you have a New Year's resolution to update your skills... What's New in ArcGIS Server at 9.2 - Course Description: ArcGIS Server 9.2 contains new out-of-the-box functionality for serving geographic content. This training seminar reviews some of the new services and applications at 9.2. It also demonstrates how to publish ArcGIS desktop-authored map documents, models, and locators to Web applications using ArcGIS server. See details at http://training.esri.com/campus/home/workshoplist.cfm?id=3 - Speaking of  the New Year celebration... you can take part in some virtual parties thanks to Nokia who's hosting events in 5 cities around teh Globe - For the latest information and lineup of artists performing at each venue, visit http://www.nokianewyearseve.com.

Google Maps terms of Use

Gmaps users receive a reminder about the TOU, obviously this is something to be aware of if you have a mashup or plan on developing one... some of the terms of use that you should be aware of is this one: "Google may change, suspend or discontinue all or any aspect of the Service, including their availability, at any time, and may suspend or terminate Your use of the Service at any time."

Advertising. The Service does not include advertising in the maps images. However, Google reserves the right to include advertising in the maps images provided to You through the Service, but will provide You with ninety (90) days notice prior to the commencement of advertising. Such notice may be provided on relevant Google websites, including but not
limited to the Google Maps API Blog and the Google Maps API Group (or such successor URLs that Google may designate from time to time). During that 90 day period, you may terminate your use of the Service, or provide notice of your refusal to accept advertising in accordance with Google's policies and procedures for providing such notice (which Google may make
available from time to time in its sole discretion).

1.6 Geocode Requests. There is a limit of 50,000 geocode requests per day per Maps API key. This translates to roughly one geocode request every 1.73 seconds. If you exceed this 24-hour limit, the Maps API geocoder may stop working for you temporarily. If you continue to abuse this limit, your access to the Maps API geocoder may be blocked permanently.

Source: Google - See http://www.google.com/apis/maps/terms.html

Google Picasa Image terms of service updated

I just noticed that within Google Blogger there's a new and updated terms of services regarding the uploading of images. Of interest is this paragraph:

Google claims no ownership or control over any Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through Picasa Web Albums. You or a third party licensor, as appropriate, retain all patent, trademark and copyright to any Content you submit, post or display on or through Picasa Web Albums and you are responsible for protecting those rights, as appropriate. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Picasa Web Albums, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, distribute and publish such Content through Picasa Web Albums, including RSS or other content feeds offered through Picasa Web Albums, and other Google services. In addition, by submitting, posting or displaying Content which is intended to be available to the general public, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, distribute and publish such Content for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting Google services. Google will discontinue this licensed use within a commercially reasonable period after such Content is removed from Picasa Web Albums. Google reserves the right to refuse to accept, post, display or transmit any Content in its sole discretion.

Be sure to check out the terms if you plan on uploading images.
Personally, since I upload thousands of images each year I prefer to use a "pro" service like Flickr which provides me with complete ownership etc... be wary of free services like youtube, picassa etc... as you may be giving up some form of ownership to your images and video. For more info see the Google/Picasa terms at http://picasa.google.com/intl/en_US/web/tos.html

Fort Collins Closed!

So, what's closed here in Fort Collins today... schools, all government offices, shopping malls, medical centers, CSU, yadayadayada... no mail delivery, no paper etc... essentially the town is closed although GISuser is open and operational ;0) Check out my neighbors house... hey dude, there's no trash pick up today either. I have to admit, as long as you don't need to go anywhere this dump of snow has been a blast! It reminds of the great snowfall of 1996 on Vancouver Island although that shut-down lasted about a week... I suspect we'll be up and running later today if not tomorrow morning... I just hope our new waher and dryer gets delivered soon as the laundry is piling up. Oh well, could be worse... I could be sitting at DIA!

Current task at hand and wireless networking fun

So what did I do for my birthday yesterday??? Well, much of it was spent waiting for the cable (comcasat) guy to come and get me connected. The rest of it (and this AM) has been spent trying to get my wireless network configured and secured... loads of fun! i just returned from trip 1 to Circuit City... hopefully no more trips will be needed. If your interested, Comcast does a great job of selling you the bundled solutions, however, the setup and hand holding for your Internet is non-existant! I'm documenting my experience in detail and it should make a great read... stay tuned for more on that one. Ok, I'm now off to install a new D-Link wireless adapter to my PC. Got any tips or advice??

Colorado Id, driver license woes and tips on hiring foreign workers

More on immigration, identification and the DMV. As I mentioned before, I’ve recently had some experiences at the DMV. Given the current immigration issues that are up in the air here in Colorado (and throughout the US) its been an interesting process seeing first hand what US residents must go through if they are not born and bred in the US. If anything, the process has brought to light just how disconnected some of the services are. As a Canadian now living in Colorado I’ve recently had to deal with INS for visa matters and most recently, with the State DMV for State ID. Yesterday I decided to turn in my BC license inn favor of a Colorado DL… the first comments I received from the DMV clerk was that my birth certificate and my passport were not acceptable ID… yes indeed, rather amazing isn’t it! I guess a library card may have helped out! As I then went on to explain exactly what all my supporting documentation was (passport with I-94, work permit/Visas stamp, and supporting letters, I found myself standing there and having all this documentation being scrutinized by a clerk who really had no idea what she was looking at and even worse, her reaction was to keep implying that the papers I had were not acceptable… bloody amazing! Not to belittle here but I’ve had extensive dealings with INS, border crossing officers etc… and feel comfortable that I know fairly well what docs I need for various circumstances. In here defense, the clerk was busy, however, for her to proceed and attempt to process my application when she had no idea what was going on was ridiculous and should have been handled by a more senior employee that is skilled inn dealing with residents born outside of the US. I’m sure all the DMV people inn Colorado are a bit concerned as they are being told different things each week it seems. They are also likely more apt to be dealing with Mexican born aliens rather than Canadians, however, they do need to be prepared for all cases. As a suggestion, DMV employees and really, anyone who hires foreign born aliens, you need to be familiar with the various US work visas (TN, H, L and green cards) and even more important, you need to know what to look at in a passport, including how to read an I-94 – the I-94 is essentially the “golden” card than any foreign born resident must have in their possession allowing them to work – it will have a date stamp stating how long employment is allowed under that Visa. If a potential employee tells you they have a TN (NAFTA) visa or an H visa, thus they are allowed to work for you, they are full of crap. These visas are tied to a petitioning employer. Often, workers get into the US on these visas then search for different employment (this is not really kosher). When your company hires an employee under these circumstances they will need a new visa petitioned by you or your company. Finally, there’s this misconception that a Social Security number entitles the holder to additional ID and benefits... not so… I’ve had a SSN for years but have not always held US work / residency status. Anyone that’s been inn the US on a 1 year TN visa likely has a Social, however, that doesn’t mean that they are currently inn the country legally and entitled to work. Be careful, do your homework, and ask to see documents. With the current immigration issues arising inn Colorado, employers will likely come under tougher regulations and will be more accountable for the hiring of foreign-born labor. This is not to discourage the hiring of foreign employees (I actually feel strongly that the H1B visa limit needs to be raised once again) bur rather, to encourage the legal hiring of skilled, foreign labor.

Google Maps on Nokia N80 running T-mobile... sweet!

OK, I'm a bit confused... now that I'm up and running on an all you can eat data plan via T-Mobile using my spanky Nokia N80 smartphone (no its not a T-Mobile device.. sorry!) I decided that I have to have Google Maps mobile running on it. So, I point my WAP browser to google.com/gmm and download away... the service recognizes that I'm using an N80 and installs sans problem. Everything works just fine... actually, its totally sweet! I pan around Fort Collins (too bad there's no detailed satellite imagery for this area (rather odd since DigitalGlobe is just down the road!) locate my house, the kids school, etc... what strikes me odd though is that when I visit the gmaps mobile support page thge documentation reads that the service is not supported by T-Mobile... huh? I have to assume that this service won't work on a T-Mobile supplied (locked) device... obviously I got around this by using my own device. There is one trade-off though by having an unlocked device and that's that T-mobile specific services (like the new my faves plan) is not supported.. oh well, the family plan + all you can eat data is just fine... another luxury I'm enjoying by living south of the 49th... ya I'm really going to miss those $200 Rogers wireless phone bills I used to get simply by using a couple of megs of data services with a few roaming calls tossed in. A last request.. hey imagery providers... how about some detailed satellite imagery for Fort Collins, particularly since it is a geospatial hotbed - and new home of GISuser ;0)

Colorado and underwater hockey?

Wow, I didn't realize that things were so different between sports here in Colorado compared to Canada! In a search for minor hockey information for my son I find out that here on the front range hockey is also played underwater... WOW! I have to admit this is a first for me! Funny but in Canada we tend to play hockey on ice... too funny! See more on underwater hockey at CSU here http://lamar.colostate.edu/~uwh/ - do you play underwater hockey?

Tracking Santa's route again with the help of NORAD

It's that time of the eyar again and no doubt some KML files will be made available so we can all monitor when and where this "Big guy" has been... my favorite resource though is hands-down, the NORAD Santa Tracker. Tracking Santa via this resource is a tradition in our household and in my mind this is THE best Santa monitoring system you'll find... here's some backgrounder info... using the North Warning System, a system of 47 radar system installations across Canada's North, NORAD will track the movements of Santa Claus as he sets out on his journey around the Globe on Christmas eve. More info on this fun utility can be found HERE or simply visit noradsanta.org.

NFL Today, Google Earth and the Arizona Cardinals Stadium

Nice to see CBS making use of Google Earth on the NFL Today show as we got a great segway usinng "Earth" to take us to a commentary on today's Arizona Cardinal vs Denver Broncos game. Of note, if your interested in seeing all about how the new state of the art stadium was built for teh Cardinals then you HAVE to see this awesome article published recently in The American Surveyor Magazine... you don't have to be a land surveyor to enjoy this one! Have you been to the stadium? Is it as amazing as it looks? A retractable field... that's incredible! In case you aren't familiar with it, the field actually rolls outside for maintenance etc... and is then slid back in for games... absolutely incredible. BTW, even though I'm now a Colorado resident, my pick for today is for the Cardinals to winn by 3... sorry Broncos. For a long range pick, I'm now officially on the N'oreleans Saints bandwagon hoping they'll make it to the Super Bowl. Have a great game day ya'll!