Starting January I believe, Google Maps has started charging businesses for using their Google Maps API service. The first 25,000 map hits in a day are free and every succeeding 1,000 hits get charged $4.
Who does this effect the most? Real estate companies and travel services. Is this good or bad? Well that is a debate on its own where I have multiple standpoints. Sure, companies are going to have to start paying, which might drive up costs, but this may indeed be less significant that one worries about. Google claims that adding a charge after 25,000 hits really only affects less than 1% of their users. At the same time, Google can use the revenues to further develop their platform to an even better GIS tool.
But the question comes in hand, what can businesses do to avoid some of these costs, or at least ones that don't have to resources to spare such a cost. There are numerous open source GIS features out there. Oh, maybe an opportunity to increase the opportunities for entry level GIS applicants.
Incorporating more advanced GIS concepts into businesses has a big drawback, many have little familiarity with the subject, and the same goes with many clients.
Let this perhaps be an opportunity for GIS users to begin blogging about simple open source GIS concepts to further educate ourselves.
Link to article on Google use charges: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15523050
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
What is digitizing?
I thought it would be appropriate to add a few key terms in the GIS field. After all, I suspect many non-GIS users are now having to integrate some of their work with maps.
Digitizing in GIS is essentially digitally representing geographic features from a topographical perspective. Digitized records are in the form of a set of mathematical arrays, or more simply put, vectors.
When someone says "all the buildings in the Guelph cma have been digitized", they precisely mean than the outlines (depending on how detailed the user did it) of all the buildings in Guelph are now available in digital format.
Advantage: After digitizing, you know have a computerized record (spatially represented) of the object of interest. You can perform any types of modifications or analyses to this computerized record.
Above is an example of the Pentagon (because a pentagon shaped building is pretty cool) digitized. You can see to the left, I have the aerial image acquired directly from Google Maps. To the right, I used Google Maps once again, to create a polygon outlining the outer boundaries of the Pentagon, aka digitizing.
Coming soon: How to digitize with Google Maps, it is FREE!
Digitizing in GIS is essentially digitally representing geographic features from a topographical perspective. Digitized records are in the form of a set of mathematical arrays, or more simply put, vectors.
When someone says "all the buildings in the Guelph cma have been digitized", they precisely mean than the outlines (depending on how detailed the user did it) of all the buildings in Guelph are now available in digital format.
Advantage: After digitizing, you know have a computerized record (spatially represented) of the object of interest. You can perform any types of modifications or analyses to this computerized record.
Above is an example of the Pentagon (because a pentagon shaped building is pretty cool) digitized. You can see to the left, I have the aerial image acquired directly from Google Maps. To the right, I used Google Maps once again, to create a polygon outlining the outer boundaries of the Pentagon, aka digitizing.
Coming soon: How to digitize with Google Maps, it is FREE!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Google Maps Shows Boundaries
During my time as a market analyst, part of my duties included providing location intelligence to my department. Some of the key information I needed for a map was finding boundary information such as:
Forward Sortation Area (FSA)
Census Subdivisions (CSD)
Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA)
If you have heard these terms, then simply put, these are just politically defined boundaries, such as boundaries to a city, postal code zone, metropolitan zone, etc...
One may not initially realize that Google Maps now clearly shows the boundaries of any division. We all know it shows boundary lines between countries, states, provinces, and many times cities. However, now Google Maps delves further down to show boundaries of metropolitan zones and postal codes.
This tool becomes especially useful to those wishing to see the boundaries for a zone of their special interest. For example, if you are in marketing and need to find exact boundaries for specific postal codes so you know exactly what information is inside your zone of interest (eg. how many houses, schools, etc...), then Google Maps will show you a clear cut boundary of what you need to see.
Below I show an example of searching for a postal code boundary. The map below shows my Google Maps search for the boundary of an N2L postal code (in Waterloo, Ontario).
I simply enter my postal code in the search bar...
Google Maps shows the result on the left contents pane.
Your boundary is then defined by a dotted line with a pink inner glow.
Forward Sortation Area (FSA)
Census Subdivisions (CSD)
Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA)
If you have heard these terms, then simply put, these are just politically defined boundaries, such as boundaries to a city, postal code zone, metropolitan zone, etc...
One may not initially realize that Google Maps now clearly shows the boundaries of any division. We all know it shows boundary lines between countries, states, provinces, and many times cities. However, now Google Maps delves further down to show boundaries of metropolitan zones and postal codes.
This tool becomes especially useful to those wishing to see the boundaries for a zone of their special interest. For example, if you are in marketing and need to find exact boundaries for specific postal codes so you know exactly what information is inside your zone of interest (eg. how many houses, schools, etc...), then Google Maps will show you a clear cut boundary of what you need to see.
Below I show an example of searching for a postal code boundary. The map below shows my Google Maps search for the boundary of an N2L postal code (in Waterloo, Ontario).
I simply enter my postal code in the search bar...
Google Maps shows the result on the left contents pane.
Your boundary is then defined by a dotted line with a pink inner glow.
Welcome!
This is my first blog post in the wonderful industry of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). I intend to use this blog for many of those who have merely heard of the term "GIS", without a clue as to what it means. The GIS field is a blessing in its addition to numerous industries (market analysis, geo-sciences, oil and gas, etc...).
GIS software can become very expensive and many businesses may not have the resources to allocate towards a GIS department or software. There are however many open source and free GIS techniques out there. This blog serves its purpose in providing those with little to no GIS knowledge to grasp a better understanding of some of the available tools out there.
Welcome and enjoy!
GIS software can become very expensive and many businesses may not have the resources to allocate towards a GIS department or software. There are however many open source and free GIS techniques out there. This blog serves its purpose in providing those with little to no GIS knowledge to grasp a better understanding of some of the available tools out there.
Welcome and enjoy!
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