Most recently, Mapping the Guard (still on the home page) was posted, detailing the great work performed by students for the New Jersey National Guard. I’m very pleased to be heading up this internship program, because I feel that the students leaving the program will be excellent candidates for GIS positions. The students are learning about SDSFIE and other data schema, how to edit data in a multi-user environment, and working with web-based GIS services.

Way back when I was still an adjunct, Mapping the Campus in Layers was written. It’s a good read, because now that I’m at the University full time, I’ve worked to put the pieces together so that we can do much more.

Check back within two weeks about one of the projects we’re working on now. It might not be front-page material, but I’m sure you’ll find it interesting.

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ArcGIS, Internship, Mapping, Rowan University, SDSFIE, Web Mapping

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Here’s a listing of the programs and standards I reference in the presentation:

• Open Source Initiative
• Open Source Geospatial Foundation
• The Cathedral and the Bazaar
• MapServer
• GeoServer
  • “OpenGeo Architecture” Whitepaper
• TileCache
• OpenLayers
• Web Map Service
• Web Feature Service
• KML

Here’s the sites I referenced as examples using open source GIS:

• NYCityMap
• The White House’s Delivering on Change
• New Jersey State Atlas
• NJGIN’s Information Warehouse
• NuMaps’ DemographicDrapes
• OpenStreetMap
• GeoNames
• GeoCommons’ Finder! and Maker!

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: open source, Presentation, Web Mapping

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For example, take Richard Florida’s “The Shaping of America” interactive map in The Atlantic. The map relies on points of varying size to show the number of patents, the population and income levels for selected US cities. The size and color of the point is an indicator of the city’s performance relative to the surrounding “metro average.” There’s no definition of what these “metro areas” are. They are not delineated on the map. The boundaries of the city are also not reflected.

Why is this a problem? While not having the city outlined is concerning, the truly egregious flaw is that the theme of the map is dependent on a ratio without well-defined boundaries. Take, for instance, Trenton, New Jersey. Trenton is slightly north of the geographic center of New Jersey, however it is routinely grouped with “South Jersey” and is rarely grouped in “Central Jersey.” The parts of the State that identify themselves as “Trenton Metro” are limited to adjacent municipalities, if that. So what is the “metro area” of Trenton? Is Princeton included in Trenton? That would absolutely set Trenton above average for all three indicators mapped.

Map depicting just a few of the boundaries for Trenton, NJ

Now consider the New York Times Immigration Explorer. The Times has been cranking out some amazing maps lately and this one is no exception. This temporal, thematic map is rendered using Flash. It shows the 3,000 or so counties within the US with great detail and clarity. Ethic groups as a percentage of total population are reflected on a chloropleth map while the overall population is shown using dots of varying size. We’re back to the dot map, but it’s very different from the Google Dot Map above. The dots are sized in proportion to the total population, not an ill-defined sample. Also, the Flash interface allows the user to manipulate the base size of the dots, which allows the user to discern differences in population in the most sparsely inhabited regions.

Immigration Explorer would still convey its intended message if the cartographers behind it employed a dot map like the Shaping of America. Considering the data is explicitly by county, a point map could be used without introducing ambiguity. However, considering the geographies represented by the Shaping of America map are not well-defined, we are left guessing what we’re actually trying to represent with those dots.

Google Maps (and KML, the language for user-defined data in Google Earth) supports lines and polygons. Granted, there are more hoops to jump through to get vector data into Google Maps, but there are ways to do it. Maps that really require representation using polygons should not be constructed using points & Google Maps. Using Google Maps isn’t what’s important. Making sure your map delivers its intended message is essential.

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cartography, Google, Google Maps, New York Times, visualization, Web Mapping

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Direct link to the full article: http://www.rowan.edu/today/news/index/FS/118

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: New Jersey State Atlas, Rowan University, Web Mapping

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Among the values mapped for each ZIP code area are the number of winners within, the total amount won, and a location quotient value that highlights areas where the number of winners in each ZIP code is far greater than the average distribution of winners throughout the state. Clicking on the map will highlight the ZIP code area selected, provide a summary of the statistics I have recorded, and allow you to see the entire list of winners by game, amount won and date.

So, here’s the Top 5 ZIP codes by number of winners, total amount one, and by location quotient ratio. The links will bring you to the Geography of Luck page.

Number of Winners

• 07002: 222
• 07083: 178
• 08753: 161
• 07111: 152
• 07055: 146

Amount Won

• 07070: $180,832,210.10
• 08221: $129,030,839.52
• 07010: $97,466,773.00
• 07002: $82,966,249.31
• 07090: $65,758,689.67

Location Quotient

• 07842: 22.2007 (2 winners in a ZIP code of 47 people for a total of $1,374,417.60 won.)
• 07428: 17.6869 (2 winners in a ZIP code of 59 people for a total of $20,000.00 won.)
• 07970: 15.4585 (8 winners in a ZIP code of 270 people for a total of $318,703.00 won.)
• 08036: 14.6081 (7 winners in a ZIP code of 250 people for a total of $288,700.44 won.)
• 07846: 9.6618 (1 winner in a ZIP code of 54 people for a total of $20,000.00 won.)

The location quotient is the (number of winners in ZIP/total number of winners)/(number of people in ZIP/total number of people).

I’m still working on some additional functionality, so if you think of any way I can improve this (or any other map on NJ State Atlas), please let me know in the comments, or by leaving feedback on Get Satisfaction. This project is done entirely in my spare time, so please be understanding if something is broken or not-quite-yet-perfect.

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Lottery, Luck, Mapping, Web Mapping

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This is a minor update; in the near future, all of the pages will receive a minor layout update that should fix some of the rendering issues in IE and improve the overall usability of the site. There are a few mapping projects in the pipeline that will be released soon.

If you know of any geospatial data in New Jersey that could be incorporated into NJ State Atlas, please let me know!

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Highlands, New Jersey State Atlas, Smart Growth Locator, State Plan, Web Mapping

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The Traffic Map now has “live” incidents from NJ DOT, as well as the 100+ traffic cameras throughout the State. I also migrated all of the map pages to the new look.

Check back often, as I am always making updates. Also, let me know if you think I should create a map, or make some improvements to one of the existing maps. I’m always open to suggestions.

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: New Jersey State Atlas, Web Mapping

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The application should be beefed up with additional information on the technology behind it. I assume that if you’re reading this blog, you have an understanding of how the various components come together to give you the map and gallon ranges. The average person, however, doesn’t understand how much more involved this application is compared to something mapped using Google’s My Maps. ESRI needs to capitalize on the fact that they’ve got an attractive – and more importantly, relevant – example of the importance of GIS in daily life.

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ArcGIS Server, BusinessMap, ESRI, Web Mapping

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© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: locator, smart growth, Web Mapping

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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.

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Aerial Photography, Data Sharing, Government, Partnerships, Virtual Earth, Web Mapping

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