GIS Tips & Tricks
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Have you seen all those clever and funny AWS commercials? For the normal GIS person adding yet another platform to learn and use can be a bit daunting. Don’t fret, we are not abandoning you, to put your mind at ease yes, we can handle that for you BUT for those of you who are D.I.Y. Geogeeks; below are some tips.
If you haven't caught-up yet, The Cloud is over.
What we expect these days is everything syncing, everything secure, everything available all the time. And when I say all the time, I mean At Any Second. Truly.
It's not just us in tech that expect this. It's all of us together. The 1st World public at large. When we see commercials depicting pausing a movie in one room and moving to another to watch the rest, all without breaking stride or spilling the popcorn. That sets an expectation. Those professionals in Geospatial are used to this. Google has been setting public expectation for our industry for over 10 years.
So... we at Cloudpoint are purveyors of these expectations as well as consumers. Here's what we use to do what we do as cost-effectively and efficiently as possible. (in order of adoption)
Carbonite - Jon has been using Carbonite faithfully since his county engineer days. It's cloud-based mirroring backup system that has paid for itself ($70 year) time and time again in possible lost hours (See the DropBox note below). The first initial back-up takes a day or two but it's worth it in the end.
QuickBooks Online - Cloudpoint is full of geospatial and engineering professionals, not MBAs and CPAs. QuickBooks Online helps us keep all of our finances in one place and lets us know what is important with it's canned reports and monthly metrics. At tax time you can give the keys to your accountant and everything is there for him to comb through.
DropBox - Who isn't using dropbox.... anyone? Buehler? This is our workflow. We have a paid professional account that we all share. Most of our customers have a free version (or we create one for them) and then we "share" our project folder with that user. So when I RDP onto the Rock Falls server that .dbf of addresses is already sitting there. **One point of Note: while using ArcMap, it's best to pause the syncing, GIS files like to get corrupted if they're saving and syncing at the same time.
AWS - In early 2012, Jon purchased ArcGIS Server and Micah (as a sub-contractor then) helped him put it onto an Amazon EC2 Server. Our relationship with Amazon Web Services was solidified. Now we use it as back-up, Image hosting license management and that machine is a part of our local network. the Up/Down Speeds do vary with they size of server, but that's something you can throttle and even pause. It's one of our goals to learn and use more of what's available to us as a Service from Amazon.
SquareSpace - This is a great company. Based out of NY, NY, it's our website hosting company. We pay for the middle-tier package for $16 a month. I spent about a week porting over all of our information to get the site up and running. A few months ago, before our yearly fees were due, I flirted with a few other companies/website services. Eventually, I just cleaned up the cobwebs a bit and the site feels fresh again. Their support is amazing as well.
MerakiSystems Manager- Mobile Device Management. We rent iPads, or as we call them Mobile Data Collection Devices. Cisco purchased Meraki almost year ago for their network and access point solutions. So they made the System Manager aspect free. I love free. This allows me to track, wipe, manage or lock any device before it leaves the building. The user interface and set-up is a little cumbersome, but did I mention it was free.
Pertino - Best for last. I contacted this small startup about 9 months ago for a free trial. It's a cloud-based VPN service. Their company has grown in the last year and I'm glad to have been in on the start. I have already detailed the road traveled with this group. I gladly now pay for a monthly subscription to be able to print to the office printer, RDP to any computer on the network, directly share files, and see services (like an ArcGIS license manager) as if that computer was sitting next to me. Safe and Secure.
Well That's it! Most of what Cloudpoint uses to fully channel the 'Internet of Things' . While certainly not an exhaustive list, (of course email, texting & the like) but fairly complete. I hope this helps someone who is looking to filter out the noise and just understand what everything is for. As I'm sure this list will grow in the future, I do feel like what I have here is honestly vetted and in practice.
ROANOKE, Illinois - Friday, September 20, 2013- Cloudpoint Geographics Inc. has received the designation of being a ArcGIS Online Specialist from Esri Inc of Redlands California. The ArcGIS Online Specialty is for partners who have made ArcGIS Online an integral part of their business and want to increase their business around Web GIS and the ArcGIS platform.
ArcGIS Online is a collaborative, cloud-based platform that lets members of an organization create, share, and access maps, applications, and data, including authoritative basemaps published by Esri. Through ArcGIS Online, you get access to Esri’s secure cloud, where you can manage, create, store, and access hosted web services, and because ArcGIS Online is an integral part of the ArcGIS system, you can use it to extend the capabilities of ArcGIS for Desktop, ArcGIS for Server, ArcGIS applications, and ArcGIS APIs and Runtime SDKs.
"We have worked hard to provide our customers with the best possible solution for their online geospatial needs." Says, Jonathan Hodel President and CEO of Cloudpoint Geographics. "Becoming an ArcGIS Online Specialist opens possibilities to integrating desktop data that may have previously been limited to only a few users. It also helps introduce new opportunities in a more user-friendly enterprise environment."
Ten Months ago in December of 2012, Cloudpoint was awarded the honor of becoming one of Esri's most nimble and newest Business Partners. This past July we also joined an exclusive community of Value Added Resellers for Esri Software. There are precious few in downstate Illinois and it's a pleasure for us to serve our customers in that way.
Time after time ArcGIS Online has been our go-to solution for security, access and easy application deployment into the cloud. This designation from Esri validates our efforts and endorses the best practices we have promoted. Cloudpoint has the experience with ArcGIS Online and now the endorsement by Esri to confidently assist your organization with set-up and administration of ArcGIS Online. Please contact us with any questions of opportunities we may help with:
Micah Williamson
Geospatial Services Manager
mwilliamson@cloudpointgeo.com
Cloudpoint has begun the rental of mobile GPS collection devices. These are ruggedized iPads specifically in a special casing to provide complete weatherproofing. The devices are locked down but outfitted with appropriate software and internet to give field crews the tools to start a GIS.
If you think about it, this is a perfect solution. Most local governments want to be on the right side of cloud computing. They want their crews to be up-to-date and efficient. However, a majority of public works garages don't have the technical expertise to deploy tablets. Don't forget about fighting with the finance department over whether or not a cellular data plan is a taxable benefit. As well, a city council may not like seeing 5 iPads come through as a capital expense. There are many reasons why local governments might opt not to go to a mobile workflow. It's easier to stay with paper, but can you afford it?
We are offering a pre-loaded mobile solution for short-term projects. No software, subscription, data plan or techie geek required. Any field worker can be trained and collecting data (including photos) within minutes. After the project's completion, you get the data and walk away.
