New Jersey Geospatial Users Group

ESRI’s ArcGIS 9.3 has now been released and should be arriving soon if you’ve kept your tithing maintenance up to date.

Post your hopes and expectations of 9.3 in the comments below.

ESRI has released a new GIS data format, called AXF, for use with ArcPad 7.1. The AXF brings the geodatabase to ArcPad.

From ESRI’s announcement:

“AXF is not actually a new file format but rather it is built on top of existing proven database technology. In this case, AXF is built on top of Microsoft’s SQL Server Compact Edition (SQLCE).”

The semantics scholars have not yet handed down their verdict on whether this is, technically, a new file format. I think it is, and that adding a new GIS acronym only complicates things further; ESRI’s Elvin Slavik disagrees.

I would like to hear from mobile GIS users. Is mobile GIS ready for prime time? If not, what are some major obstacles? What applications (other than ArcPad) do people use?

Virtual Earth is looking to partner with state and local governments to share geospatial data, specifically aerial photography.

From their announcement:

Why should we publish our imagery in VE?

GoVE supports the data sharing goals of many public sector organizations by providing a free publishing service. Through GoVE, your taxpayer-funded information will be provided on a free, open access web site that benefits taxpayers, government officials, your corporate tax base, state and local governments, etc.

You can read more about it at the Virtual Earth blog.

LibLAS, an open-source (BSD) licensed software library for reading and writing ASPRS’s LAS format.

From their website:

libLAS provides excellent coverage of the ASPRS LAS 1.0 and 1.1 specifications, and it provides support for copying variable length records from one file to another. As of 1.0.0-beta-1, support for creating your own variable length records is limited to the C and C++ APIs. libLAS concentrates on reading and writing point data for processing pipelines from C++, C, and Python.

The beta version of 1.0 supports creating any of the vector formats supported by OGR. This makes it all the easier for open source users to handle LiDAR data.

If you’re a New Jersey blogger interested in GIS, CAD, or remote sensing and interested in writing for this blog, please let me know.

This site was developed in the hopes that the membership body of the New Jersey Geospatial Forum will come together and share ideas in a open and constructive manner. Currently, this site is composed of two key elements: a weblog and a forum.

Weblog authors will be selected from within the NJGF and given relatively little restriction on what may be posted. Posts to the weblog should deal with topics and issues facing the members of the NJGF. The weblog will also be vendor-neutral. Anyone interested in blogging about GIS should express interest in the comments or by emailing me.

The forum is where the more causal NJGF members may post opinions or ask questions of the general membership body. Forum posts will be moderated and inciteful or inflammatory comments will be removed. Self-promotion will be allowed within the forum. It is also strongly encouraged, but not a requirement, that the membership use real names or a well-known pseudonym when posting.

I am hosting this site and open to suggestion. I will be working on this site in my spare time, so offers to moderate and/or write blog entries are encouraged.

I hope that this site will become a place for casual GIS users to learn from the veteran users that write articles, opinions and comments in both the blog and the forum.