new jersey geographer » new jersey

Unmoderated communities aren’t communities.

John Reiser — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:46:29 +0000

Without a fear of social repercussions for anti-social behavior, online communities without moderation often devolve into a cesspool. Take for instance InsiderPages, a hybrid yellow pages with reviews. There are countless sites like this out there, all suffering from the fact that bizarre and often inflammatory comments may include keywords that bump the site higher in search rankings. There’s no real incentive to police the comments, which gives us gems like this:

InsiderPages users’ thoughts on the Cowtown Rodeo Flea Market.

Despite the term “flea market” the Cowtown Rodeo’s market isn’t a low place. It’s an outdoor swap meet that caters to the agrarian marketplace of Salem County. However, the first few comments on the listing are an argument over our current president’s stance on immigration. Completely irrelevant discussion, yet it remains there. NJ.com is perhaps one of the biggest offenders; leaving downright profane comments on race at the bottom of many articles. Without moderation, the comments become something else entirely; anti-social outlets for the individuals and a bump in SEO rankings for the site. A losing situation for anyone looking for unbiased information.

I’m sure not all of the sites are gaming SEO through comments; some may be simply understaffed. On the other hand, when you consider the time individuals waste in the innumerable echo chambers like this one, the mind boggles. God bless America.

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Post tags: community, Internet, new jersey, nj.com, salem county, social networking

Changing Landscapes: Final Thoughts

John Reiser — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 13:00:11 +0000

After all of the hustling to get, in my opinion, a rather significant web application together in little under a month by myself, I feel that I can offer a few thoughts on managing a project with limited timeframe.(...)
Read the rest of Changing Landscapes: Final Thoughts on my blog.

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Post tags: Changing Landscapes, Land Use, new jersey, New Jersey State Atlas, Web Mapping

Historic Topographic Maps and Aerials

John Reiser — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:36:35 +0000

New Jersey is a great state to be a GIS specialist, consultant, or student. There is a wealth of GIS data available throughout the state, and that massive amount of data is getting easier to use.

The Office of GIS in the State’s OIT department has made available several statewide layers via WMS. If you’re not familiar with WMS, the gist of the service is that a remote server renders a georeferenced image of map that can be used in your GIS software, whether it’s desktop GIS like ESRI‘s ArcMap, or server-side GIS, like TileCache and OpenLayers. Having a WMS service available is an incredible resource. Where the 2007 aerial photographs span several DVDs (just having the 4 MrSID tiles that cover Rowan University requires 23MB of space*), being able to download just the portion of the aerials at the scale you need is wonderful. Coupled with the fact that it renders faster than drawing from tiles over the Rowan network is outright amazing.

(...)
Read the rest of Historic Topographic Maps and Aerials on my blog.

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Post tags: Aerial Photography, historic, maps, new jersey, wms

Getting hooked on OpenStreetMap

John Reiser — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:42:19 +0000

I recently became involved in OpenStreetMap. After watching it from the sidelines for the past year, I recently started contributing to the map. I wrote a python script to export lines and polygons from ArcGIS to OSM. You can see the results of the script by zooming into Rowan University, where I’ve exported the campus buildings and uploaded them. I’ve also been working to get the various cycle routes throughout the State into OSM. Cycle routes are managed by a myriad of local and state entities, and considering DOT informed me that they do not keep any GIS records of the bike routes or facilities, OSM seems like a natural repository for volunteers to collect and share cycle route data.

I’m also planning a course exercise using OSM. I’m going to encourage students to print out their neighborhood using Walking Papers, recording any updates or fixes, then modifying the OSM data via Potlatch or JOSM. Though it will likely be offered as an extra credit assignment initially, I’m hoping I’ll be able to integrate it and other elements of OSM into my courses in the future.

If you have an interest in mapping or GIS, you should check out OpenStreetMap. Sign up for an account, and start updating in your neighborhood. If you’re in New Jersey, I’ve updated OSM’s wiki with links to the cycle maps to be added, as well as instructions on how to add features to OSM using the State’s 2007 aerial photography. If you’d like to collaborate with me on sharing information via OpenStreetMap, let me know. You can follow me on OpenStreetMap here.

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Post tags: assignments, collaboration, courses, cycle maps, cycling, new jersey, OpenStreetMap, Rowan University

State Planning hasn’t changed all that much…

John Reiser — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:33:28 +0000

When you look at the maps produced for the NJ State Plans, you can see a not-so-surprising trend.

State Plan maps spanning 70 years.

Encourage development in and around our cities. Preserve areas of environmental importance, such as the Highlands and Pinelands. Plan accordingly for agriculture.

I’m always surprised when environmentalists and developers claim that a proposed plan or regulation will have severe ramifications one way or another. The current course on which we are traveling has been set a long time ago. We still march towards statewide build out, while simultaneously preserving thousands of acres of farmland and open space.

That being said, we still need to plan to ensure that on a micro level to ensure that development is encouraged where appropriate and that the environs protected or reserved for later growth. The 2009 New Jersey State Plan is currently available from the Office of Smart Growth‘s web page for informational purposes only. The public comment period will likely begin in June. However, you don’t have to wait until June to take a look at the draft final plan and map. I’ve also made the draft final map available on NJ State Atlas.

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Post tags: new jersey, New Jersey State Atlas, Planning, State Plan

Google’s historic aerials have shuffled dates.

John Reiser — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:36:40 +0000

Before Google Earth 5 had come out, I had commented to a few people that the dates for the aerial photos (which used to be displayed in the bottom center of the screen) were way off for New Jersey. The date was reported as 2004, but it was clearly 2007 imagery.

Well, this little problem is now a bigger issue. In browsing the area around Rowan University (where considerable development has occurred in stages between 2002 and 2008), I noticed several places where the “2004″ imagery shows a further progression of development than the (actual) 2006 photography. I’ve prepared a KMZ file with annotated points, highlighting places where the development that is visible in the “2004″ aerials had not yet occurred in 2004.

Considering I had noticed this discrepancy throughtout the State before Google allowed you to transition through the older imagery, I took a look at another location in the State where development is occuring, Newark. Google Earth has 11 different sets of photography available for Newark. The very big problem is that the default imagery is pre-Prudential Center. This is even reflected in Google Maps. The default images in both Maps and Earth is now the “December 30, 2002″ images. Many of the buildings that are in Street View for Newark are not to be found on the aerial photography. The 2002 data is the second-oldest data available, but it’s now the default.

This seems like a pretty big mixup for Google to make. We’ve gone from posting imagery within the same day to reverting back to a 4 to 6 year lag.

Find another place in the State (or elsewhere) where the dates are obviously wrong? Let me know in the comments.

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Post tags: Aerial Photography, Google Earth, Google Maps, new jersey, Oops, Technology

ACES begins operating on February 6th

John Reiser — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:46:06 +0000

ACES, the express rail service between New York and Atlantic City begins operations on February 6th. NJ Transit is operating the service. The service will actually cross the river into Pennsylvania and get as far south as North Philadelphia before crossing over the Delair Bridge on to the same set of rails used to operate the Atlantic City Line. The former Central Railroad of New Jersey would have provied a shorter route for the service, however the track has been removed along portions of the right-of-way.

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Post tags: ACES, Atlantic City, Atlantic City Line, Delair Bridge, Mass Transit, new jersey, New Jersey Transit, New York, rail, train

Sea Breeze losing population

John Reiser — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:27:00 +0000

The once-happenin’ place known as Sea Breeze is perhaps on its last legs. Several homeowners are looking for a buyout from the State. The seawall protecting their homes has not been maintained by the township, county or state. A part of Fairfield Township, Sea Breeze once had an amusement pier and steamboat service to Philadelphia. Like many of the near-death towns on the Cumberland County bay shore, salt hay and oyster farming were likely the sources of income for the majority of the people in the area. Wonder what’s to become of nearby Money Island and Gandy’s Beach?

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Post tags: bayshore, Forgotten Towns, new jersey