Not at all - It starts to blur the lines. Average users being able to perform these types of complex spatial queries and analyses with easy-to-use, intuitive interfaces and/or plain-language terms, in a web interface without need for complex GIS software and the associated learning curves. Domain experts, such as biologists, criminal investigators and the like, being able to focus directly on their work instead of getting wrapped up in learning the intricacies of desktop GIS or having to hand off the question to a GIS analyst.
David G. Smith PE PLS Synergist Technology Group, Inc. 570.280.6763 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTE: New cell phone number: 570-280-6763 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Andrew Turner Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 7:48 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Geowanking] Spatial analysis was Re: MapMaker On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 12:48 AM, David G. Smith PE PLS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Seems 'neo' comes full circle and returns to what the 'paleo' guys have > already been doing for decades in desktop GIS... > > *ducking tomatoes and exiting stage left...* > > Seriously, the excitement factor of it is in bringing true, robust > geoanalytical capability to this Mashup-oriented self-service Web x.0 > paradigm in the form of easy-to-feed, easy-to-consume web services. Grab > dataset 'a' on the fly from here, run your analysis on the fly there, and > show the results in your [insert framework du jour here: Google Earth / > Virtual Earth / WorldWind / OpenLayers / Widget / iPhone / whatever else we > dream up ] > Good points, but a little off as well. There is a mix in this discussion between Neogeography, GIS, and the land that is betwixt the two. And in this mix is the desire by various domains to have the utility of the others. The problem with GIS in the Web x.0 world hasn't been that the utility wasn't desired, it's that it is couched in interfaces and functionality that is targeted towards a different kind of user than the one asking the question "find me a camping site". So what is interesting is that all this data we're begging to collect, collate, and aggregate, and the innovative interfaces for visualizing the results are that they will be potentially just as useful for asking the question an 'average user' may ask "find me a good camp site on my route to B" as the question a geospatial analyst may ask "what is the density of campers along highways in the western US". However, the two are still distinct. There will be different engines that power analyzing these questions and different pieces of interface that provide exploration and querying depending on the type of answers desired. Andrew _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
