Tree cover distribution maps for Europe

A great free data source for those needing data on tree cover. The distribution maps available from this website were produced by members of the EUFORGEN Networks and other experts, based on existing bibliography and other information sources. EUFORGEN is a collaborative programme among European countries to promote conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources. It serves as a platform for pan-European collaboration in this area, bringing together scientists, managers, policy-makers and other stakeholders. Distribution maps can be downloaded in PDF, JPG or SHAPEFILE (in Lambert Azimuthal equal-area projection) formats. The maps are updated as soon as new information is available.

ArcGIS Server Geometry Service

This is one of the most useful and revolutionary ArcGIS Server Online services made available for free by ESRI. The geometry (web) service, introduced with ArcGIS Server 9.3, provides geometric calculations such as buffering, simplifying, calculating areas and lengths, projecting and queries based on spatial relationships among features (intersection, containment etc). The geometry service can be exploited easily by applications built with the ArcGIS REST or JavaScript APIs. This line creates the geometry service:

gsvc = new esri.tasks.GeometryService("http://sampleserver1a.arcgisonline.com/arcgis/rest/services/Geometry/GeometryServer");

To use one of the functionality offered by the service it is sufficient to provide the required parameters and a callback function to retrieve and display the results on the web map, for example:

gsvc.buffer(params, showBuffer);

Complete samples are available on the ArcGIS Server Java Script APIs Resource Center, and here a live sample.

 

Fishery Analyst Online at the ESRI 2010 Mashup Challenge!

With the theme Map Your App, ESRI’s 2010 Mashup Challenge invites members of the geodeveloper community to stretch their imaginations, test their technical skills, and develop creative geospatial Web applications.

We invite you to have a look to our entry for this fun and interesting contest in this 5 minutes video!

 

Fishery Analyst Online is a web GIS application aiming to effectively query fishery data, analyze and visualize temporal and spatial patterns of fishery dynamics. The main functions are quantitative estimation and visualization of catch, effort, fishing success and their variation in space and time. It also provides a mean for analysing fishing vessel utilization, data quality control, and deriving information on the location of important economic and threatened species.

It was developed using the ArcGIS Server Java Script APIs, the Dojo framework and Google Chart APIs.

The application was born as a web evolution of the successful ArcGIS Desktop Fishery Analyst application developed by the same author.

The online version aims to take advantage of the new web and server based technologies provided by ESRI and the web in general offering improved accessibility, data sharing, integration, centralization and resources optimization beside new functionalities.

Institutions such as national, federal and international agencies and universities working in the domain of fishery science and management will benefit from this application.

To know more please write to us!

The World Digital Elevation Models

A few ambitious projects have attempted to provide a global Digital Elevation Model for the earth surface. The good news is that data are freely available and constantly improving! Follow the hyperlinks to access data download sites.

GTOPO30

One of the first available and widely utilized world DEM was the GTOPO30 (resolution at 30 arcsecond, about 1Km). Its quality is variable and in some areas it is very poor but it has been one of the first products providing such an extensive coverage at a relatively /for its time) high resolution. GTOPO30 was derived from several raster and vector sources of topographic information.

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM)

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) obtained elevation data on a near-global scale to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Earth. Available resolution is 30 meters for the USA and 90 meters for the rest of the world. SRTM consisted of a specially modified radar system that flew onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour during an 11-day mission in February of 2000. SRTM is an international project spearheaded by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Several years are required to process the large amount of data and various versions of the dataset were developed with improving accuracy. Version 4 of this dataset was released in August 2009 by the Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI) and it is probably the best world DEM currently available.

Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)

A new high resolution DEM developed from data acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument of the Terra satellite is also now freely available for 99% of the globe, and represents elevation at a 30 meter resolution. The dataset was reaese on June 2009. Despite the high nominal resolution, METI and NASA pointed out that the current version of the GDEM product is "research grade" thus major inaccuracy are expected to be still present in the data. The GDEM is available for download from NASA's EOS data archive and Japan's Ground Data System

Further information

The limitation with the GTOPO30 and SRTM datasets is that they cover continental landmasses only, and SRTM does not cover the polar regions and has mountain and desert no data (void) areas. SRTM data, being derived from radar, represents the elevation of the first-reflected surface — quite often tree tops. So, the data are not necessarily representative of the ground surface, but the top of whatever is first encountered by the radar. Submarine elevation (known as bathymetry) data is generated using ship-mounted depth soundings. The SRTM30Plus dataset (used in NASA World Wind) attempts to combine GTOPO30, SRTM and bathymetric data to produce a truly global elevation model. New versions of the SRTM are aiming to improve the quality of the dataset by removing artefacts, filling data gaps using interpolation techniques and applying various type of corrections.

Many national mapping agencies produce their own DEMs, often of a higher resolution and quality, but frequently these have to be purchased, and the cost is usually prohibitive to all except public authorities and large corporations. USGS produces high resolution and more accurate DEMs for the USA.

Free DEMs are also available for Mars: the MEGDR, or Mission Experiment Gridded Data Record, from the Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) instrument; and NASA's Mars Digital Terrain Model (DTM)

ArcGIS Online

If you need DEMs as base layers you can surely take advantages of the elevation map services made available for free by ESRI through ArcGIS Online.

Let's warm our new website!

We have redesigned our website hoping to provide better and easy to access content! Do not hesitate to contact us with suggestions or comments about the website and of course enquiries about our products, training and services. Feel free to shop at our new PayPal enabled online store, to subscribe to our periodic e-newsletter or our rss feed, to read about Conservation GIS programs and actions, to challenge your geography knowledge with our geo-quiz "Where is it?", or to stay up to date with news and technical tips reading our blog!

 

WorldView-2 high resolution imagery improves ocean monitoring by remote sensing

WorldView-2 will provide the only high resolution 8-band multispectral commercial satellite imagery available. Along with the four typical multispectral bands: Blue (450-510), Green (510-580), Red (630-690) and NearIR (770-895), WorldView-2 is introducing the following new color bands for enhanced multispectral analysis:

Coastal Band (400 - 450 nm):
This band supports vegetation identification and analysis, and supports bathymetric studies based upon its chlorophyll and water penetration characteristics. Also, this band is subject to atmospheric scattering and will be used to investigate atmospheric correction techniques.

Yellow Band (585 - 625 nm):
Used to identify "yellow-ness" characteristics of targets, important for vegetation applications. Also, this band will assist in the development of "true-color" hue correction for human vision representation.

Red Edge Band (705 - 745 nm):
Aids in the analysis of vegetative condition. Directly related to plant health revealed through chlorophyll production.

Near Infrared 2 Band (860 - 1040 nm):
This band overlaps the NIR 1 band but is less affected by atmospheric influence. It supports vegetation analysis and biomass studies.

Read more!

The Copenhagen diagnosis: Climate Science Report

As anybody concerned about the environment and sustainability of our actions we are awaiting for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, that will be held in Copenhagen from the 7th to the 18th December.

It is more than three years since the drafting of text was completed for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). In the meantime, many hundreds of papers have been published on a suite of topics related to human-induced climate change. The purpose of this report is to synthesize the most policy-relevant climate science published since the close-off of material for the last IPCC report. The rationale is two-fold. First, this report serves as an interim evaluation of the evolving science midway through an IPCC cycle - IPCC AR5 is not due for completion until 2013. Second, and most important, the report serves as a handbook of science updates that supplements the IPCC AR4 in time for Copenhagen in December 2009, and any national or international climate change policy negotiations that follow.

ArcGIS Server Services Directory and REST APIs

Services Directory is a very important part of ArcGIS Server installation and feature for developers that need to access information about the available services.

The default start URL to access the Service Directory for an ArcGIS Server installation is:

* Java: http://host:8399/argis/rest

* .NET: http://host/arcgis/rest

The REST API supports an admin console. The most useful operation to perfrom through it is the clear cache option that refreshes Services Directory information when updating services on your server (it is not done automatically!)

Assuming a default installation, the admin console is available at the following URLs:

* Java Server: http://host:8399/arcgis/rest/admin

*.NET Server: http://host/arcgis/rest/admin

Services Directory allows you to browse the contents of an ArcGIS Server and obtain information that can be useful to you when developing applications. Services Directory is a view of the ArcGIS Server REST API in HTML format. Each ArcGIS Server instance has Services Directory installed during the installation process. Services Directory helps you do these things:

* Browse the contents of the GIS server and get service level metadata You can navigate a series of links to view information about the services on your GIS server. The links also allow you to preview how your service looks in ArcMap, in a Web browser, in Google Earth, and so on.

* Get information to help you develop applications When you develop applications with the JavaScript APIs you must provide URLs to services and the layers and functionality they expose. Services Directory provides an interactive way for you to construct those URLs. Services Directory works using REST.

REST is an architectural style that allows ArcGIS Server to reveal a hierarchy of information about itself through endpoints, or URLs. When you use Services Directory, you navigate through a series of links to discover information about the server. Every time you click a link, you see a new page that reveals additional information about what's available on the server. The information that you see on the page was retrieved through REST using the page's URL.

If you wish to use the REST APIs in your application, have a look to the online Getting Stared guide and learn how to construct requests and get responses through URLs:

http://resources.esri.com/help/9.3/arcgisserver/apis/rest/index.html

 

ArcGIS Server 9.3 JavaScript APIs

Building ArcGIS Server based web GIS application has never been so easy! We will come on this subject more in details in the future, for now just a brief overview:

The ArcGIS API for JavaScript™ (JavaScript API) is a browser based API for developing high performance, easy to use mapping applications. The API allows you to easily embed maps in your Web pages.  The JavaScript API is hosted by ESRI on ArcGIS Online.

If you are just getting started, you can learn about using the JavaScript API to create a map or task.

You can also take a look at the samples. Many samples are available that show some aspect of the JavaScript API. Most samples are a complete Web page, and you can view both the code and the page display.

The ArcGIS JavaScript API Reference is also available if you need more information about each object and its properties, methods, and events.

Script: Import bookmarks

This script allows to import bookmarks from one mxd project to another one. Paste this code in the destination mxd ThisDocument code file (under Tools/Macros/Visual Basic Editor) and link it to a button on the ArcMap toolbar.

PS: Since ArcGIS 9.3 this functionality is built in in ArcMap. You can save to file the bookmarks in your origin mxd by going under Bookmarks/Manage save and then load them in the destination mxd going under Bookmarks/Manage/Load...

Script: 5 digits precision coordinates in ArcMap status bar

Copy and paste the following code in the ArcMap VB Editor (Tools/Macros/Visual Basic Editor) ThisDocument under the Project or Normal template and run it to have the map coordinates of the mouse pointer displayed in the status bar with 5 digits after the comma:

Sub UpgradeDigits()

Dim pDoc As IMxDocument
Dim pRepUnit As IReportUnitFormat
Dim pNumericFormat As INumericFormat

Set pDoc = ThisDocument
Set pRepUnit = pDoc

Set pNumericFormat = New NumericFormat
With pNumericFormat
.AlignmentOption = esriAlignRight
.RoundingOption = esriRoundNumberOfDecimals
.AlignmentWidth = 15
.RoundingValue = 5
.ShowPlusSign = False
.UseSeparator = True
.ZeroPad = False
End With

Set pRepUnit.NumericFormat = pNumericFormat

End Sub

Live ESRI training on ArcGIS Server 9.3 security

The 9.3 release of ArcGIS Server for the Java Platform implements a role-based security model that allows you to define a set of users, assign permissions to them based on the role they assume, and grant access to GIS services and Web applications. To simplify the task of protecting your GIS resources, ArcGIS Server Manager now provides a rich UI experience for configuring Java EE security on your hosted GIS services and the Web applications that use them.

This seminar introduces the new Server Manager options for configuring security. The presenter demonstrates the GUI-driven workflow for implementing security for GIS services and client Web applications. You will also learn about the new token service option that provides an embedded security solution.

The presenter discusses:

• The security model architecture
• Options for storing users and roles
• Setting and configuring security for GIS services and Web applications using Server Manager
• Consuming secured GIS services from different clients

Watch the recorded seminar at: http://training.esri.com/acb2000/showdetl.cfm?did=6&Product_id=932

ESRI Europe, Middle East and Africa User Conference 2008: meet us in London!

The EMEA UC 2008 is a three day conference and will reflect ESRI and ESRI (UK)’s vision for the future where GIS solutions will play an increasingly vital role on an everyday basis in a myriad of different ways.

The EMEA UC 2008 attendees will include everyone interested in learning more about how GIS is impacting on everyday life - GIS Users, GIS Managers, Developers, System Architects and IT Professionals, technical software users and key decision makers. The audience will also include partners, customers, industry analysts and media partners. Delegates will represent a wide range of industries including Central Government, Local Government, Defence, Education, Environment, Health, Private Sector, Public Safety and Utilities organisations.

The 2008 Conference promises to be a ‘must attend’ event for everyone interested in learning more about how GIS is impacting everyday life. Download here the conference brochure and agenda: http://www.gisforeverydaylife.com/gisforeverydaylife.pdf

Technology: ESRI’s New ArcGIS API for Flex

ESRI announced the new ArcGIS API for Flex Beta at the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, California, which was held August 4–8, 2008.

ArcGIS API for Flex is integrated with Adobe Flex Builder 3 and can be downloaded for free from ESRI. Flex is a client-side technology that is rendered by Flash Player 9 or Adobe AIR. This means that application developers now have the capability to combine geographic information system (GIS)-based Web services from ArcGIS Server with other Web content and display it in fast, visually rich, and expressive mapping applications that can be deployed over the Web or to the desktop.

ArcGIS API for Flex takes full advantage of the powerful mapping, geocoding, and geoprocessing capabilities of ArcGIS services. Application end users can display their local data in an interactive map, search for and display GIS data features and attributes, locate addresses, identify features, and perform complex spatial analytics by simply clicking a button or on the map.

Developers can program with ArcGIS API for Flex without installing ArcGIS Server on their machine as long as they have access to ArcGIS Server via a URL. Because the API is built on the Adobe Flex framework, developers can incorporate Flex components, such as data grid, trees, panels, and charts, into custom applications.

To know more about ArcGIS Server API for Flex: http://resources.esri.com/arcgisserver/apis/flex/

To know more about FLEX: http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/

The website: Solar Boston

In June 2007, the City of Boston became one of thirteen inaugural Solar America Cities under the Solar America Initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and launched Solar Boston, a half-million-dollar program to encourage widespread adoption of solar energy in Boston .

The Solar Boston map allows you to see active renewable energy installations within the City, and to calculate the solar potential of building rooftops. The map was created by the Boston Redevelopment Authority in cooperation with the Solar Boston program. To view the map: http://gis.cityofboston.gov/solarboston/

Video tutorial (15min): What's new in ArcGIS 9.3"

The video will guide you through the major new features of ArcGIS Desktop 9.3 including better options for bookmarks management, labeling, graphic object conversion, klm support, editing and geoprocessing.

 http://www.esri.com/flashmedia/arcgis_desktop_93/arcgis_desktop_93.html

ArcPhoto

The ArcPhoto Tools are a set of geoprocessing tools and ArcMap user interface enhancements to enable the quick import of digital photography into the ArcGIS framework. The tools work directly off the EXIF (Exchangeable image file format) header information that is encoded into digital imagery. Read more about and download this free tool from the ArcScripts website:

http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=14856

The Task Framework in ArcGIS Server

Tasks are functional units that accomplish a business operation in your application. The task framework provides an easy and systematic way of writing and executing custom tasks. The framework is versatile enough to generate the metadata for your tasks providing the relevant html elements necessary to interact with the task. This enables you to concentrate just on the functionality you are implementing. It also provides a way to specify custom metadata information to have control over fine grained details like using images for buttons and choosing different layouts for your task inputs. Read more about the Java and .NET task framework...

ArcGIS Server 9.2 Web Mapping Application Compared to ArcIMS 9.2 Viewers.

This new white paper compares and discusses the tools and tasks provided in the ArcGIS Server 9.2 Web Mapping Application and ArcIMS 9.2 Viewers. The paper provides insight on how to customize and maximize each application.

Atlas of Our Changing Environment

Through illustrations, satellite images, ground photographs and powered by Google Maps, this interactive media depicts and describes humanity's past and present impact on the environment. The primary focus is on environmental status and trends over the last 30 years, in terms of both physical and human geography.

Geodatabase Spatial Domain Calculator

This free and useful tool is a standalone ArcGIS Engine application that allows the user to configure the domain settings for a geodatabase.

Raster data in ArcSDE 9.1

Here the second chapter about managing your raster data in ArcSDE geodatabases. The document explains how ArcSDE provides efficient storage and retrieval of raster data in a client/server environment. Where possible, best practices for the loading, storage, and retrieval of raster layers are given.

Delete multiple fields tool

This tool allows the user to choose a layer in the table of contents and interactively select multiple fields to delete all at the same time.

What is versioning and how to implement it in a geodatabase.

Multiuser geodatabase editing is supported by versioning. This technical paper discusses the practice and principles of versioning, editing a versioned geodatabase, reconciling versions, conflict detection, posting versions, special reconcile cases, and version administration.

Topo to Raster

Have you ever wondered how to convert contour lines to a DEM? Topo to Ratser is the tool you are searching for, available with Spatial Analyst starting at ArcGIS 9!

Topo to Raster is an interpolation method specifically designed for the creation of hydrologically correct digital elevation models (DEMs). It is based on the ANUDEM program developed by Michael Hutchinson (1988, 1989).

See Hutchinson and Dowling (1991) for an example of a substantial application of ANUDEM and for additional associated references. A brief summary of ANUDEM and some applications are given in Hutchinson (1993). The version of ANUDEM used is 4.6.3.

Topo to Raster is the ArcGIS 9.x implementation of TopoGrid from ArcInfo Workstation 7.x.

ArcGIS 9.x ECW JPEG 2000 plugin

This ArcGIS extension allows for displaying raster images in the ECW JPEG 2000, URL, ALG, ERS formats and provide the ECW JPEG 2000 compressor.

Designing Interactive ArcGlobe documents

Tricks, best practices and hardware tips to create great 3D animations in ArcGlobe.

Convert Graphic to Feature

This tool allows to save a graphic (line, point, polygon) drawn in ArcMap Data View in a shapefile

Creating coastal vignettes with vector and raster methods

Some cartographic trick to represent on a map the areas where land and sea meet.

Representing where land and water meet can be done using a number of methods, some of which are called coastal vignettes. Coastal vignettes symbolize the water from the shoreline towards open water. A vignette is usually thought of as a drawing (i.e., symbolized graphic mark) that gradually fades into the surrounding background leaving an undefined edge.

NASA Earth Observatory

If you liked ESA website you can not miss NASA website on earth observations.

The Earth Observatory’s mission is to share with the public the images, stories, and discoveries about climate and the environment that emerge from NASA research, including its satellite missions, in-the-field research, and climate models.

Managing a raster database: best-practices, scripts and case studies.

This document guides you through the setup, maintenance, and backup of a raster database. These management tasks are presented using a case study approach employing scenarios to illustrate the challenges faced by a geographic information system (GIS) team. Each scenario will describe a problem to solve, the logistics involved, and the choices made by various GIS team members.

Using Structured Query Language (SQL) to query a geodatabase

Feature classes and tables in a geodatabase can be queried and modified using SQL. This technical paper discusses SQL and the geodatabase, how to query and edit a geodatabase using SQL, multiversioned views, and version reconcile, as an alternative approach to managing the geodatabase using ArcGIS.

Shapefile Repair Tool

A simple but efficient and useful tool to repair corrupted shapefiles

ESA Observing the Earth website

For those passionate about remote sensing a great website from the European Space Agency (ESA) rich of earth observation programs, images and applications.

Satellites show the world through a wide-enough frame so that complete large-scale phenomena can be observed to an entirety it would take an army of ground-based observers to match. Whether on global, regional or local scales, space information can make a valuable contribution to not just scientific comprehension but also our quality of life. It is a way to more effectively understand the Earth system – which in turn means we can better secure our environment and benefit all those living within it.

All you wanted to know about shapefiles!

This document defines the shapefile (.shp) spatial data format. It lists the tools available in Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), software for creating shapefiles directly or converting data into shapefiles from other formats. This document also provides all the technical information necessary for writing a computer program to create shapefiles without the use of ESRI® software for organizations that want to write their own data translators.

ArcObjects Table of Content control

A very useful free tool for GIS developers offering a TOC object that allows to visualize or hide layers in the map and to manage symbology.

European register of emissions

The European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) is the new Europe-wide register that provides easily accessible key environmental data from over 10.000 industrial facilities in European Union Member States and in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.