The Harlow Report-GIS
2024 Edition
ISSN 0742-468XSince 1978
On-line Since 2000
GIS News Snippets
For the week of
September 9, 2024
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A “Harlow Report” From Sep 11, 2023
How can you use GIS software and tools responsibly?
by AI and the LinkedIn community
In this article, you will learn how to use GIS software and tools responsibly by following some best practices and avoiding some common pitfalls.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are powerful tools that can help you analyze, visualize, and communicate spatial data. However, using GIS software and tools also comes with some ethical and professional responsibilities. In this article, you will learn how to use GIS software and tools responsibly by following some best practices and avoiding some common pitfalls.
Respect data sources and copyrights
One of the first steps to use GIS software and tools responsibly is to respect the data sources and copyrights of the spatial data you use. You should always cite the data sources, acknowledge the data providers, and follow the terms and conditions of the data licenses. You should also avoid using data that is outdated, inaccurate, or incomplete, and check the data quality and metadata before using it. If you create or modify data, you should document the data sources, methods, and assumptions, and share the data with appropriate permissions and credits.
Read full story at LinkedIn…
Now back to 2024
Exploring the Intersection of Storytelling and GIS
by Véronique Couttee-Jenkins
Key Takeaways from the 2024 Esri User Conference
I had an amazing time at the 2024 Esri User Conference (Esri UC), which is a great event for GIS (Geographic Information Systems) enthusiasts. Imagine immersing yourself in the world of GIS technology, where you can create, explore, and analyze maps and data to uncover fascinating patterns and connections in the world around us.
… The most thrilling part of the technical sessions was definitely the “What's New and Road Ahead” workshop, where we got the inside scoop on the latest developments. One particularly exciting update is the upcoming integration of AI assistants into the StoryMap tool. This integration has the potential to revolutionize storytelling by offering valuable feedback and enhancing the stories we create, ultimately helping us to connect with an even wider audience.
Read full story at Audobon.org…
How GIS is Revolutionizing Urban Planning
by Spatial GIS Blog
Urban planning is a complex endeavor, balancing the needs of communities with sustainable development goals. In this intricate dance, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have emerged as a pivotal tool, offering insights and solutions that were previously unimaginable.
GIS in Land Use Planning
Land is a finite resource. Determining its best use is crucial for sustainable development. GIS aids planners in visualizing land use patterns, assessing changes over time, and predicting future trends. By overlaying demographic, environmental, and infrastructural data, planners can make informed decisions, ensuring that land use aligns with community needs and ecological constraints.
Transportation Planning with GIS
An efficient transportation system is the lifeblood of any urban area. GIS plays a crucial role in optimizing transportation routes, analyzing traffic patterns, and proposing improvements. By simulating different scenarios, planners can anticipate challenges, from traffic bottlenecks to public transportation demands, and devise solutions proactively.
Environmental Impact Assessment
Every urban project, be it a new skyscraper or a highway, has environmental implications. GIS provides tools to assess these impacts comprehensively. Overlaying data on soil quality, water sources, and biodiversity, planners can gauge the potential environmental footprint of a project and take mitigative measures.
Read full story at Spatial GIS Blog…
How to Tackle Real-World Challenges With GIS in Action
by Poonam Mondal
Esri India MD speaks about innovation with AI, ML, and big data in GIS for evolving enterprise needs.
Before the advent of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), decision-making was often constrained by fragmented and static data sources, making it challenging to visualize and analyze complex geographic information comprehensively. Planners and decision-makers relied on manual maps and disparate datasets, which could be difficult to integrate and interpret. This lack of spatial context hindered effective resource management, accurate disaster response, and strategic urban development. From environmental management to public health, initiatives struggled with inadequate data and a lack of insights into patterns and trends, limiting their effectiveness and the ability to anticipate and address issues proactively. Overall, the absence of GIS technology meant decision-making processes were less informed and less efficient, often leading to suboptimal outcomes and missed opportunities for proactive intervention.
Today, GIS are revolutionizing the way we understand and interact with our environment. The integration of technologies like cloud computing, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence has transformed GIS, enabling real-time data processing and dynamic mapping. Agendra Kumar, Managing Director of Esri India, highlighted how GIS can revolutionize decision-making by providing transformative use cases. From enhancing urban planning and disaster response to advancing environmental conservation and public health, GIS offers a powerful tool for informed, strategic decision-making across various sectors.
Read full story at Insights…
Trends in Health GIS: International Overdose Awareness Day
by Este Geraghty, Esri Blog
International Overdose Awareness Day calls for innovative approaches to combat the opioid epidemic. Learn how governments are turning to GIS tools.
If you attended this year's Esri User Conference in San Diego, you must feel as inspired as I do. I highlighted many health GIS trends and now I'd like to share my findings through this Trends in Health GIS blog series. This series will delve into each of the four key trends discussed at the conference, starting with the opioid epidemic. Today, we explore how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are playing a transformative role in addressing this ongoing crisis, offering hope and actionable insights for communities and policymakers alike.
The opioid epidemic remains one of the most pressing public health crises of our time, with its devastating effects felt across communities worldwide. Despite ongoing efforts to combat this issue, the epidemic has only grown more complex, particularly with the rise of synthetic opioids like fentanyl and increasing polysubstance use. As we recognize International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31, 2024, it is a good time to reflect on the current state of the crisis and explore the latest solutions that can help mitigate its impact.
Read full story at Esri…
What Is Location Intelligence?
by Alexandra Jonker, Alice Gomstyn
Location intelligence is the method of gaining insights from geospatial data. These insights help identify patterns, make predictions and provide real-time understanding of location-specific questions.
Editor's Note: This article is an excellent, simple to understand guide to localtion intelligence. It may help you explain to your othwise unaware boss.
Location intelligence is often visualized with maps, graphs, statistics and cartograms. The additional spatial context that these location intelligence data visualizations provide can help businesses, individuals and governments answer questions like:
- Based on foot traffic and traffic patterns, where is the optimal location to build a new storefront?
- Which communities are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise?
- How can we better visualize global supply chain operations to improve customer satisfaction and gain a competitive edge?
… at the core of location intelligence tools are geographic information systems (GIS). These are computer systems that capture, store, analyze, visualize and manage geospatial data. With GIS, users can create interactive queries, analyze spatial information, edit data, integrate maps and present results. Without GIS technology, geospatial data sets and their insights are easily overlooked due to volume and complexity. GIS display this data in digestible formats with recognizable patterns.
Read full story at IBM…
Industry News
In Government
FCC Rule Grants Drone Operators Spectrum Access for Navigation
by Edward Graham
The agency said assigning spectrum access in the 5GHz band is an initial step toward integrating drones into the National Airspace System.
The Federal Communications Commission issued new rules on Thursday that would allow unmanned aerial vehicles — also known as drones — to use a portion of the 5 GHz spectrum band to enhance their wireless connectivity.
…The FCC first proposed rules in January 2023 to provide drones with enhanced spectrum access. The agency requested public input at the time on the types of safety measures needed to help unmanned aerial vehicles effectively share band access.
…The new rule also established “an interim access mechanism” to allow drone operators to submit requests for spectrum access to the Federal Aviation Administration. Once approved by the FAA, operators would then be required to complete a registration form with the FCC.
Read full story at NextGov/FCW …
The Growing Role of the City-Level Chief Data Officer
by Stephen Goldsmith
Just a few years ago, only a handful of cities had chief data officers. Now that the position is more prevalent, experts take stock of what it takes to build an effective, data-driven local government.
Recently our team at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard joined our colleagues at the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins to recognize the 10th anniversary of the DATA Act, followed by a convening of city chief data officers (CDOs). These CDOs came together to look at the opportunities and challenges associated with their work, reflect on their history, and consider the future of the profession.
In 2016, we received a call from Tom Schenk, who was then CDO for Chicago. He and six of his counterparts in other cities constituted the entire cohort of local government CDOs at the time, and they thought a working group could help develop the job into a profession and provide the support necessary for cities to use data more fully. That early group, the Civic Analytics Network (CAN), was hosted at Harvard and supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Arnold Foundation (now called Arnold Ventures). We concentrated on issues around open data, managing vendors and consolidating best practices, as well as how to advocate for the newly formed role.
Read full story at GovTech…
What Is Journey Mapping, and How Is It Used in State and Local Government?
by Phil Goldstein
Agencies can both simplify citizens' understanding of government services and improve how services are delivered.
Listen (09:26)
As state and local agencies have digitized government services over the past few years, they have taken steps to make it easier for citizens to access those services.
In addition to using artificial intelligence tools to improve customer service and moving more benefit systems to the cloud, many state and local governments have started using a less heralded but no less valuable tool called journey mapping.
According to Digital Services Georgia, a citizen journey map is a “visualization of a person's process, end-to-end, to accomplish a goal.” State and local agencies have used them to illustrate how citizens can navigate government systems and access benefits and services.
Read full story at StateTech…
In Technology
Cops' Favorite Face Image Search Engine Fined $33M for Privacy Violation
by Ashley Belanger
Clearview AI insists Dutch fine is “unlawful” but missed its chance to appeal.
A controversial facial recognition tech company behind a vast face image search engine widely used by cops has been fined approximately $33 million in the Netherlands for serious data privacy violations.
…Clearview AI's technology—which has been banned in some US cities over concerns that it gives law enforcement unlimited power to track people in their daily lives—works by pulling in more than 40 billion face images from the web without setting “any limitations in terms of geographical location or nationality,” the Dutch DPA found. Perhaps most concerning, the Dutch DPA said, Clearview AI also provides “facial recognition software for identifying children,” therefore indiscriminately processing personal data of minors.
Read full story at arsTechnica…
The Silliest iPhone Apps of All Time
by Florian Kastner
In July 2024, Apple's App Store listed around 1.96 million apps—including some that are just absurd.
Editor's note: This review is hysterically funny. To think that someone thought these apps were worth developing is slightly less absurd as the people who downloaded them I encourage you to read the full article. I promise it will put a smile on your face. It might also make you re-think the next app you develop. These app names alone should make you want to learn more.
- Is It Dark Outside?
- Pimple Popper
- iBeer
- Kissing Test
- Lighter
- Screaming Goat
- plopp — bubble wrap
- Ghost Radar Classic ™
- Milk The Cow: Cow Milking
- Ant Smasher
Read full story at Macworld…
Windows 11 Is Now the Most Popular OS for PC Gaming
by Tom Warren
Windows 11 has passed Windows 10 usage on Steam for the first time ever, signaling a shift in the right direction for Microsoft.
Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system has passed Windows 10 usage for Steam users for the first time since its launch in 2021. Windows 10 has been holding strong in recent years, despite Microsoft's plans to end support for Windows 10 in October 2025. ….
Steam hardware survey data for August puts Windows 11 usage at 49 percent, an increase of more than 3 percent over the previous figure in July of nearly 46 percent. Windows 10 usage has dipped by around 3 percent to 47 percent, while macOS and Linux Steam usage has largely remained the same during August.
Usage of Windows 11 across the web has also been growing over the past year, too. In July 2023, Windows 11 had a market share of around 23 percent, and that has now grown to nearly 32 percent in August 2024, according to StatCounter.
Read full story at The Verge…
In Utilities
Are Data Centers The Grid's Next Crisis?
by Gene Wolf
Big-data handling has become a trending issue for the power delivery industry. This hot topic is demanding attention with its ever increasing numbers of data centers coming online around the globe.
Who would have thought old webpages were valuable? According to a Sunday morning news show they are not only valuable, but they're being archived and useful for research. There's a website called the Internet Archive, and its “Wayback Machine” has been making digital backups of the world wide web since 1996. This digital time machine allows users to see how websites looked in the past. The Internet Archive has over 900 billion webpages backed up representing over a 100 petabytes of data. A petabyte is equivalent to 20 million filing cabinets worth of paper storage.
If my inbox is any indication, big-data handling has become a trending issue for the power delivery industry. This hot topic is demanding attention with its ever increasing numbers of data centers coming online around the globe. Each of these facilities needs power and as they increase in size and numbers so does their power consumption. Worldwide there are roughly 11,000 data centers pulling power from the grid.
Read full story at T&D World…
DOE Announces $62 Million to Support America's Growing Hydrogen Industry
by Department of Energy
Twenty Projects Across Fifteen States Will Improve Performance of Clean Hydrogen Infrastructure while Supporting Safe and Equitable Deployment Through Improved Permitting and Community Engagement
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) … announced nearly $62 million for 20 projects across 15 states to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of next-generation clean hydrogen technologies. These projects will advance critical elements of hydrogen fueling infrastructure, develop and demonstrate hydrogen-powered container-handling equipment for use at ports, and improve processes essential to the efficient, timely, and equitable deployment of hydrogen technologies.
Among the selected projects are innovative, first-of-a-kind efforts to improve community engagement and ensure the benefits of the clean energy revolution are felt by all Americans.
Read full story at Energy.Gov…
Entergy Mississippi to Build First New Power Station in 50 Years
by Entergy Press Release
New plant will replace Gerald Andrus Steam Electric Station in Greenville
For the first time in 50 years, Entergy Mississippi is building a new natural gas power station, which will ensure customers continue to have modern, reliable energy well into the future. The advanced facility will be the first combined-cycle combustion turbine power station the company has built from the ground up.
“As our customers's needs and environmental factors evolve, so must our fleet. We're investing in cleaner, more efficient power generation now, to help us keep bills lower for customers than they otherwise would be in the future,” said Haley Fisackerly, president and CEO of Entergy Mississippi.
The combined-cycle combustion turbine facility is a dual-fuel technology. While natural gas is the primary resource, the advanced facility will be designed to support blended hydrogen to produce reliable energy.
Read full story at Entergy…