GeoWorld

GeoWorld May 2013

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1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 www.geoplace.com Integrated Content EDITOR IN CHIEF, GEOWORLD, GEOPLACE.COM AND GEOREPORT Todd Danielson, tdanielson@geoplace.com L. Scott Tillett CHIEF NEWS CORRESPONDENT GeoTec Event CONFERENCE PROGRAM MANAGER Todd Danielson, tdanielson@geoplace.com Contributing Editors Peter Batty, Joseph K. Berry, Ron Bisio, Mark Dolezel, Ron Lake, Janet Jackson, Mark Reichardt, Erik Shepard, Daniel Sui, Nigel Waters, Patrick Wong Editorial Advisory Board Dan Adams TOMTOM Peter Batty UBISENSE Tim Case AUTODESK INC. Jack Dangermond ESRI Charles H. Drinnan EWAM ASSOCIATES Connie Gurchiek TRANSCEND SPATIAL SOLUTIONS William Holland REDGIANT ANALYTICS INC. Anup Jindal RMSI Roy Kolstad NAVTEQ Ron Lake GALDOS SYSTEMS David Linden SAIC Xavier Lopez ORACLE CORP. Dale Lutz SAFE SOFTWARE Carey Mann BENTLEY SYSTEMS INC. Carl Reed OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM INC. Walter S. Scott DIGITALGLOBE David Sonnen IDC Mladen Stojic ERDAS INC. Steve Woolven APPLANIX CORP. Production Mary Jo Tomei, mtomei@m2media360.com ART DIRECTOR Kathleen Sage, ksage@m2media360.com PRODUCTION DIRECTOR FROM THE ARCHIVES GeoWorld magazine has built a reputation as a trusted source of information with consistently forward-looking and authoritative content. We were the first publication to address the needs of the GIS user community, and we have enjoyed much success as the industry "found its footing" and expanded into a wide range of disciplines. We feel lucky to have served a dedicated readership for more than two decades. The content of each GeoWorld issue has been posted online at www.geoplace.com since 1996. This rich resource provides perspective on technology development and clear relevance to the challenges faced today. To highlight some of the informational resources available, each issue will feature archived stories relating to that issue's cover story. Simply click on "Articles & Archives" at the top of the menu bar on GeoPlace.com, and type in a few of the key words from the following list to find the full article on our site. May 2012 Going Google: A New Way to Visualize Transit Information BY YA WANG AND GEORGE NAYLOR Infrastructure Management Vol. 26, No. 5 A New Way to Visualize Transit Information A New Way to Visualize Transit Information By Ya Wang and George Naylor "One's destination is never but a new way of seeing May 2011 Is What You See, What You Get? Geospatial Visualizations Address Scale and Usability a place, things." Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority The online interactive transit-inventory project carried out by California's Santa This quote by Henry Miller Clara Valley Transportation is about the meaning of Authority (VTA) exploits travel—it's supposed to help broaden our Google's powerful toolset perspec- develop an to tive of life. However, interactive online transit-map his wisdom also applies application to that will help the geovisualization. After general public and planners all, an ongoing challenge visualize of transit information the latter is to represent from a new angle. Hopefully, the physical environment this will stimulate new insights in a way that would help "uncover the undiscovered" regarding the transit system. Project deliverables and "see the unseen." will serve two purposes: 1. Communicating transit For transit agencies, the spectrum of Google information to the general Map technology offers a powerful public in an engaging and entertaining way. toolset to present transit information in a brand-new 2. Providing insights to help planners reshape way. Google Earth, with and its high-resolution satellite rehabilitate the transit system to better serve images, 3-D buildings the and road-network data layers, public. offers a spatial geo-context that's richer in information Google API technology was than ever before for pre- Web-mapping applications. implemented to create senting users' own spatial information draped over API technology is a set the of rules and restrictions Google Earth 3-D globe. that one computer application can use to access The Google Earth plug-in data and tools contained also enables the explorain a third-party application. tion and navigation of a 3-D globe in a Web In an era of fast-evolving browser. technology, In addition, application API technology provides programming interface an effective and (API) efficient way to technologies allow the leverage resources already extension and customization out there of in the world. The various types of Google cost-saving aspects of data and functionalities an API are with especially appealing transit agencies' own to government agencies data and functionalities. in a time of tight budgets. 26 G E O W O R L D (26-29) google feature GEO0512tddn.indd / M A Y 2 O 1 2 Why Start from Scratch? Espousing the wisdom implied in a famous metaphor, "dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants," development of the VTA online transit-inventory application started out by examining samples in the online Google API demo gallery. Drawing on technology knowhow already embedded in those samples, a few Web applications particular for VTA's transit uses Figure 1 is a snapshot of the virtual tour, where the animation of the Google Earth view in the upper-left map panel is synchronized with that of the Google were developed. The first application is a virtual transit tour, which allows users to take a surrogate transit tour via the Internet through areas served by VTA. It was inspired by a "Driving Simulator" contained in the Google Earth API demo gallery to "simulate a scenic drive through your favorite neighborhood or familiarize yourself with an unknown route to a new destination." The sample Web page was redesigned, and the existing scripts were modified and customized to serve transit-map needs. The ensuing VTA Virtual Transit Tour application enables users to select a transit line, "travel" along the space traversed by the selected transit line, "hop" on/off a stop to visit attractions in the virtual neighborhood, speed up or slow down the tour, and toggle 3-D buildings. Figure 1. A map shows scenery captured on a virtual transit tour in the downtown along Bus Line 11 (Downtown Loop). Because it's area, many tall 3-D buildings are visible. Users can reset to restart the virtual tour, pause the tour to zoom in/out, tilt the view to a different angle, or toggle buildings on and off. M A Y 2 O 1 2 / 26 W W W . G E O P L A C E . C O M 27 5/11/2012 10:32:45 AM (26-29) google feature GEO0512tddn.indd 27 5/11/2012 10:32:54 AM By Aashish Chaudhary and Jeff Baumes March 2011 Are You Ready for BIM? By Liam Speden Advertising WORLDWIDE ADVERTISING ACCOUNTS MANAGER Craig Miller, cmiller@m2media360.com, 213-596-7228 List Rental, Reprint Marketing Services Cheryl Naughton, cnaughton@m2media360.com GeoWorld is published monthly by M2MEDIA360, a Bev-Al Communications Company. Authorization to photocopy items for educational, internal or personal use, or specific clients, is granted by M2MEDIA360, provided appropriate fees are paid prior to photocopying items, please contact Cheryl Naughton, cnaughton@m2media360.com M2MEDIA360 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 Phone: (847) 720-5600 Fax: (847) 720-5601 e-mail: tdanielson@geoplace.com Web: www.geoplace.com CIRCULATION: For subscription inquiries and customer service questions please call 845-856-2229. © 2013 BY M2MEDIA360 All rights reserved. ISSN# 0897-5507 Canadian GST# 82917 9944 RT 0001 Canadian CPM #1528653 Single Copy Price U.S $8.00, Single Copy Price Canada/Mexico/Foreign $12.00 2 G E O W O R L D / M A Y 2 O 1 3 GeoWorld Services GeoWorld Online Visit GeoWorld at GeoPlace.com for online reviews, features, news, classified ads and event listings. GeoMarketplace The GeoMarketplace resource directory provides an easy means to connect with product and services vendors. Indexed listings of imagery, data, data conversion, hardware, mapping/surveying, mobile mapping, software development and Web services will appear monthly. Contact Cheryl Naughton at cnaughton@m2media360.com for more information. Reprints Order custom reprints of GeoWorld columns and features on glossy magazine stock in black and white or full color, individualized with company logos, photos or advertising insertions. For reprints, please contact: Contact Cheryl Naughton by phone, 678-292-6054, fax 360-294-6054, or e-mail cnaughton@m2media360.com. Advertising To advertise in GeoWorld, contact Craig Miller, worldwide advertising accounts manager [213-596-7228, cmiller@m2media360.com]. Subscriptions To order a GeoWorld subscription, visit the magazine's Web site (www.geoplace.com). To report an address change or correct circulation problems, contact Customer Service [845-856-2229]. List Rental Order custom mailing lists from GeoWorld if you are looking for professionals in the geospatial industry working with GIS applications in government, utilities, education and the private sector. Contact Cheryl Naughton by phone, 678-292-6054, fax 360-294-6054, or e-mail cnaughton@m2media360.com. All names are proven direct-mail responsive, and they are all selectable by title and business. One phone call will guide you toward the best list choices for your needs.

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