MI GIS Website Ratings: September Update
An update of the GIS Website Ratings for September 2000 is (finally) available on the RPM Information Network at http://rpmconsulting.com. This September marks the two year anniversary of these ratings, and an historical archive is also available. As a reminder, these metrics are based on server and network diagnostics, and upon the form, structure and design of served pages, and not on the habits of a panel. These two years have seen some remarkable changes in the virtual GIS landscape. The Web has made maps so ubiquitous that they are now advertised in the US on Monday Night Football. Indeed, the shift towards maps for a mass audience and away from peer-to-peer tech talk mirrors the chasm crossing for the entire Web. Many of us expected GIS and mapping applications to hit the mainstream around the year 2000 -- but few anticipated that Mapquest would be the "killer app", though many anticipated a Microsoft entry to help things along. A brief review of the September 1998 ratings shows that 3 of the major GIS vendors were among the Top 5,000 visited sites on the Web at that time. Today, none are -- with only ESRI among the Top 10,000, and only Bentley (site recently redesigned and very pretty) and MapInfo (site still relatively slow) improving visitation from the measures of two years ago. Except for the top vendor sites, all of the top sites for September 2000 prominently serve maps. Even traffic at the venerable Xerox PARC site has picked up. Also notable is the growing prominence of the National Geographic Map Machine. Among the data portals, the big news is perhaps the nascent Geography Network, with its promise of tying users (and their digital resources) together across the globe. But it is the GIS Data Depot where visits are currently most prominent -- a well-organized site robust with basic content. It certainly would be wonderful if someone at the U.S. BLM would pick up where the late Sol Katz left off -- if that is even possible. Traffic to Sol's site continues, but it has not been revised in a long time and is, sadly, starting to feel like a ghost town. In 2000, we added a suite of format tests to help webmasters improve their document, table and form structure and image syntax. This makes pages load more correctly and faster. Virtually every site rated continues to contain some type of error, and some remain particularly sloppy. Most often the culprit is image syntax, usually the failure to place WIDTH, HEIGHT and ALT tags. When WIDTH and HEIGHT are not set, pages take longer to load because it takes time for the browser to recognize page layout. The ALT tag is important so that users who don't see the images can still know what they are. This effects not only users with older and non-graphical browsers and those with images turned off, but particularly those who are visually impaired or who are accessing the web by phone with a screen reader. Two commercial sites (Claritas and MicroImages/TNT) and two non-commercial ones (Odden's Bookmarks and AI-Geostats, both redesigned) are coded perfectly. Finally, this month's visitors to the RPM Infonet at http://rpmconsulting.com will find some powerful new tools for banking research and planning in the new dataBank portion of the site. Public health practitioners will find an update on RPM's activities in Mozambique and an archive of Chuck Croner's fine Public Health GIS newsletters, including the current issue. Coming this Fall is Powerstation, a dedicated site for business geographics. As always, we look forward to your visits, comments and contributions. ***** Steve Lackow RPM Consulting 17130 Devonshire St Northridge CA 91325 818-831-7607 http://rpmconsulting.com * "Alice had not the slightest idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but she thought they were nice grand words to say." -- Lewis Carroll -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MI Drive Time Program
By all means consider Freeway 2.1 from AGS, http://www.appliedgeographic.com/ -- Steve - Original Message - From: "Kent Saunders" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, June 02, 2000 8:45 AM Subject: MI Drive Time Program Hey Everybody, I'm sure this has been discussed in the past, but does anyone know of a good drive time program (creating drive time polygons)? - Years ago, I used the On Target Mapping engine, but it seems to be history now. - Last year, I saw Routeview's software, but it seems to be a MapInfo secret or it's just not being produced anymore (???). - I have Claritas' iMark software that has a drive time engine included, but I'll be replacing that shortly for many other reasons. I am currently using MapInfo 5.5 so something compatible would be nice. Texas will be the only state I will be running drive times in, so I don't really need a complete street database for the entire country. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Kent Saunders Director of Research United Commercial Realty 7001 Preston Rd - Suite 222 Dallas, Texas -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MI - list problem ?
It's about time that Bill's effort was properly appreciated by the list members. He has been of great service to the entire GIS community for more than 15 years now, and with his BBS was probably the first to make real GIS content available in cyberspace. He is surely one of our great pioneers, and has been an inspiration to myself and to many others. He always seems more than eager to help colleagues, as if that assistance were its own reward. -- Steve - Original Message - From: "Jason McMahan" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "dennis hill" [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: "PERRY Chris" [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2000 12:08 PM Subject: Re: MI - list problem ? Now nowthe last thing we all need is for Bill to develop a drinking problem! Seriously, Bill, since it's a slow day on the -L I'll add my kudos too. Thanks. Jason McMahan President ENERmap Inc. (303) 444-2393 www.enermap.com - Original Message - From: dennis hill [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: PERRY Chris [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2000 11:58 AM Subject: Re: MI - list problem ? Perry: I totally agree with your comments on Bill's outstanding efforts. Not only is it comforting to know the list survives because of his efforts but his wit and superb diplomacy in mediating disputes are always a pleasant reminder that difficult jobs don't necessarily require difficult people to get them done. Bill, your preference, red or white? Dennis Hill Cartographic Supervisor NOAA, Pacific Hydrographic Branch PERRY Chris wrote: Bill, Thank you so much for the work you do to keep this WORLD_WIDE resource up and running. I suggest everyone send Bill a bottle of wine - Bil what is your postal address. Cheers All CP -Original Message- From: Bill Thoen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, 18 May 2000 23:55 To: HENROTAY PIERRE; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: MI - list problem ? Normally, MapInfo-L produces about 30 messages a day or so, so when you aren't getting mail with "MI" in the subject line, something's not working. During the last virus scare, many servers were refusing mail, and since I couldn't tell if the bounced mail from these was just temporary or permanent, several people were unsubscribed. When servers stop relaying MapInfo-L mail they just bounce mail back to my mailbox and fill it up, so I if your server stops handling mail for a couple of days, you're automatcally taken off MapInfo-L (I can't tell if your server is broken or if you have abandoned your mailbox.) Anyway, you stop getting mail, so if this is not what you want, just resubscribe. All the information about MapInfo-L is available at http://www.directionsmag.com/mapinfo-l. Sorry for any inconvenience, but it goes with the territory! - Bill Thoen - Original Message - From: HENROTAY PIERRE [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2000 2:18 AM Subject: MI - list problem ? No messages received at all from MI list these last days ? Is this normal ? Pierre Henrotay Project Manager Siemens Business Services Major Projects Tel. ++ 32 81 559 687 Mob. ++ 32 477 69 93 19 Fax ++ 32 81 559 658 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (office) mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (private) http://www.siemens.be -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MI AND AV in the same office?
Since this message keeps appearing, it deserves a public answer. ESRI was the major sponsor of the recent International Health Geographics Conference, at which one of the senior partners of our firm presented a paper on our rapid epidemiological assessment of river blindness in Mozambique. Jack Dangermond has personally contributed software, as much as we need or want, at no cost for this Mozambique effort, and has contributed invaluable logistic and other advice. I would just love to see MapInfo do anything societally conscious at all. Perhaps they are much too busy inventing more "major" upgrades to the desktop software that should be maintenance releases and priced accordingly. At a minimum, MapInfo needs to step up and better serve its loyal desktop users. -- Steve - Original Message - From: "Dick Hoskins" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "Steve Lackow" [EMAIL PROTECTED]; "Marjorie Roswell" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, May 08, 2000 1:52 PM Subject: Re: MI AND AV in the same office? In what way does ESRI respond to public health? I am at a loss - I have seen their presentations, etc but not ONE deals with anything that has anything to do with public health (surveillance, assessment, program evaluation) . Perhaps I am wrong, show me the way. Dick Hoskins [EMAIL PROTECTED] GIS uses in public health summer course: http://healthlinks.washington.edu/inpho/gis/course.html ----- Original Message - From: "Steve Lackow" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "Marjorie Roswell" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, May 08, 2000 11:31 AM Subject: Re: MI AND AV in the same office? Margie, we linked to your public health GIS site from ours at http://www.rpmconsulting.com/PublicHealth.html As for the map server question, ArcIMS is the latest and greatest, but if all the geodata are in MapInfo format and I was used to the MapInfo programming environment I might stick with that. As for ESRI out-doing MapInfo on marketing, I think ESRI simply understands the needs of the educational user better and addresses them better. There are also other segments where ESRI excels (e.g. public health, government, transportation). But though my firm works predominantly with ESRI products, I've always felt MapInfo had far superior marketing to business users, and that ArcView is still not as productive as MapInfo or Atlas GIS for business use. But this is changing. To me, it's all good. It would be nice if we had one GIS format already, though -- or if at least the major products were all thoroughly interoperable on format. Atlas 4.0 is actually closest to this, as it can import and export MIF, SHP, BNA and AGF. -- Steve - Original Message - From: "Marjorie Roswell" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "Portolan Geomatics Inc" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2000 1:06 PM Subject: Re: MI AND AV in the same office? On Wed, 3 May 2000, Portolan Geomatics Inc wrote: Hello listers, hope I won't offend the hardcore MI users here...anyone seen Ms. Roswell lately? :) Yikes. I am missed. Cool. Some things I've been thinking about lately, while not managing to correspond with mapinfo-l: - Whether to ask MapInfo for a copy of MapXtreme, or ESRI for a copy of ArcIMS, or MapOjectsIMS. I intend to create a non-profit web site of bicycle routes. I was already turned down by DeLorme. They have a speedy-gonzales Eartha web mapping product, but apparently they use such optimized data (like RouteIMS) that you can't import custom data. I want whichever solution is easier for the programmer to implement, and whichever is faster, in that order of priority, I guess, but both would be nice. Which is a better product? - I'm planning to use Flash with MAPublisher and Illustrator to implement some web mapping. I was very impressed by the Baltimore Sun's look at Handgun legislation. Click on the United States graphic on the right-hand lower side of http://www.sunspot.net/news/special/guns/ I think this is beautifully implemented, and faster, and more responsive than ANY GIS-on-the-web solution I've ever seen before. I intend to create an animation of the spread of Lyme Disease. - A couple of months ago I created http://hello.to/healthgeo, a web site of links devoted to Health Geographics Well, that's what's up with me on the mapping, and maps-on-the-web front. Thanks for noticing my "absence." Regards, Margie "Still-a-MapInfo-User-after-all-these-years" Roswell P.S. My campus has a site license for ESRI products. I do feel a tidal wave push in that direction, especially because of effective marketing by ESRI. I mean, at the local GIS conference last week, I was carrying a
Re: MI AND AV in the same office?
Margie, we linked to your public health GIS site from ours at http://www.rpmconsulting.com/PublicHealth.html As for the map server question, ArcIMS is the latest and greatest, but if all the geodata are in MapInfo format and I was used to the MapInfo programming environment I might stick with that. As for ESRI out-doing MapInfo on marketing, I think ESRI simply understands the needs of the educational user better and addresses them better. There are also other segments where ESRI excels (e.g. public health, government, transportation). But though my firm works predominantly with ESRI products, I've always felt MapInfo had far superior marketing to business users, and that ArcView is still not as productive as MapInfo or Atlas GIS for business use. But this is changing. To me, it's all good. It would be nice if we had one GIS format already, though -- or if at least the major products were all thoroughly interoperable on format. Atlas 4.0 is actually closest to this, as it can import and export MIF, SHP, BNA and AGF. -- Steve - Original Message - From: "Marjorie Roswell" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "Portolan Geomatics Inc" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2000 1:06 PM Subject: Re: MI AND AV in the same office? On Wed, 3 May 2000, Portolan Geomatics Inc wrote: Hello listers, hope I won't offend the hardcore MI users here...anyone seen Ms. Roswell lately? :) Yikes. I am missed. Cool. Some things I've been thinking about lately, while not managing to correspond with mapinfo-l: - Whether to ask MapInfo for a copy of MapXtreme, or ESRI for a copy of ArcIMS, or MapOjectsIMS. I intend to create a non-profit web site of bicycle routes. I was already turned down by DeLorme. They have a speedy-gonzales Eartha web mapping product, but apparently they use such optimized data (like RouteIMS) that you can't import custom data. I want whichever solution is easier for the programmer to implement, and whichever is faster, in that order of priority, I guess, but both would be nice. Which is a better product? - I'm planning to use Flash with MAPublisher and Illustrator to implement some web mapping. I was very impressed by the Baltimore Sun's look at Handgun legislation. Click on the United States graphic on the right-hand lower side of http://www.sunspot.net/news/special/guns/ I think this is beautifully implemented, and faster, and more responsive than ANY GIS-on-the-web solution I've ever seen before. I intend to create an animation of the spread of Lyme Disease. - A couple of months ago I created http://hello.to/healthgeo, a web site of links devoted to Health Geographics Well, that's what's up with me on the mapping, and maps-on-the-web front. Thanks for noticing my "absence." Regards, Margie "Still-a-MapInfo-User-after-all-these-years" Roswell P.S. My campus has a site license for ESRI products. I do feel a tidal wave push in that direction, especially because of effective marketing by ESRI. I mean, at the local GIS conference last week, I was carrying a bag with ESRI's name on it. MapInfo should, indeed, take a few tips from ESRI, on both user-interface, and marketing fronts. _ Marjorie Roswell, Spatial Analyst UMBC Center for Health Program Development and Management 1000 Hilltop Circle Fx: (410)455-6850 Baltimore, MD 21250 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ph: (410)455-6802http://umbc.edu/~roswell/mipage.html _ -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MI Website Update: GIS Websites Rated
The RPM Information Network at http://rpmconsulting.com has just updated the GIS Website Ratings for February, 2000. This year, we have added a suite of format tests to help webmasters improve their document, table and form structure and image syntax. This makes pages load more correctly and faster. Virtually every site rated contains some type of error, and some are particularly sloppy. Most often the culprit is image syntax, usually the failure to place WIDTH, HEIGHT and ALT tags. When WIDTH and HEIGHT are not set, pages take longer to load because it takes time for the browser to recognize image layout. The ALT tag is important so that users who don't see the images can still know what they are. This effects not only users with older and non-graphical browsers and those with images turned off, but particularly those who are visually impaired or who are using cutting-edge technology to access the web by phone with a screen reader. Now, on to the fun part. Lycos (a Top 25 site) and MapQuest continue to lead the way. The Power of the Portal is much in evidence here -- while MapQuest has an astounding 159,000+ links in, it is not as popular as Lycos with a fraction as many links in. Lesson being, find a portal and marry it. Among the top 1,000 sites, two amazing map servers -- Microsoft Terraserver and the new National Geographics Map Machine -- are prominent. ESRI and Intergraph are more frequently visited than MapInfo or Bentley among the major GIS companies. The Census Bureau and the USGS continue to be the content kings. The Census site has regained a Top 2,500 position, and the USGS is now approaching 75,000 links in. Elsewhere of note, Directions Magazine has cracked the Top 100,000 sites. And in perhaps the biggest lesson of all, visits to our own site have dropped because we have not taken the time to tell people about it and invite them to visit. So, consider yourself invited to http://rpmconsulting.com where we always look forward to your visits, comments and contributions. -- Steve -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MI Census tract data
Not a good way to get the whole US, but use http://rpmconsulting.com/Census.html when you need small areas by state (as well as large areas like counties, etc.) -- Steve - Original Message - From: "Karen Behm" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2000 1:23 PM Subject: MI Census tract data Does anybody know where I can find 1990 population by census tracts for free? For entire US - just the big list. I don't need the boundary files, just the tract number and pop count. Karen -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MI I want a sample .BNA
There is a ton of TIGER 1992 data in BNA format at CIESIN, ftp.ciesin.org, /pub/census/usa/tiger directory. This will still be useful for Census geographies for a few years. -- Steve -Original Message- From: John Brosowsky [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'MAPINFO-L' [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sunday, December 12, 1999 9:16 AM Subject: MI I want a sample .BNA Anybody got a .bna file lurking around anywhere they can e-mail to me? I want to compare to some stuff I've got. Thanks, John Brosowsky -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
