Personal website of Andrew Turner. Writings on geospatial collaboration, software engineering, Washington D.C., and other individual musings.
Posts about geography, cartography, GIS, and maps.
Baltimore hosted the 2023 Free + Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) North America conference, a geeky tech gathering focused on mapping technology and an even more eclectic community. While I have attended many FOSS4G events since the first in 2006 in Lausanne, Switzerland it’s been a few years. It was terrific to see so many delightful people […]
Esri recently hosted our annual Federal GIS conference. Experts from across National, Regional, and Local governments attend to learn and share their work using spatial analysis to evaluate and implement effective policies. This was our largest ever conference, a welcome reconnection with people after a few years of the pandemic. The conference kicks off with […]
Interested in knowing who you can vote for in DC’s upcoming election? Check out the new GGWash election visualization and how it was built.
It was my pleasure to present at the Charlottesville Data Bootcamp this Friday. The town just recently launched their open data site and were eager to teach the community about what was available and hear feedback and ideas on what could be improved and extended. The event hosted about 70 people that varied across disciplines and experience. […]
No one cares about a neighborhood more than the people who live there. People spend their days and evenings along the street, raise children, foster connections with neighbors, build businesses, grow gardens, bike, walk, and live. A few choose to engage with their civil organizations, advocating for positive change, or against negative impacts; they participate […]
Today at the FedGIS conference in Washington, DC, the US Department of Homeland Security announced that Homeland Security Infrastructure Program (HSIP) is now HIFLD Open. Security and Safeguarding In 2001, the United States was attacked in a coordinated effort at multiple locations which had devastating impact across the country. We had direct insight into how little […]
Open Data exists for a purpose. From point of capture, to publication and analysis, data seek to be used to make better decisions. By making the data open, more people can participate in that analysis and decision making process. Particular to government and community, the more people can understand, collaborate and reach consensus, the better […]
GeoServices provide a common API across all of GIS for users and developers to easily access information.Today is GIS Day, an annual celebration and sharing to our communities about the use of geospatial technology to understand, affect, and engage with our physical world. You can join any of hundreds of local events around the globe […]
Last week I made a quick statement sharing my concern for civic organizations promoting ETL – Extract Transform and Load – of open data instead of developing APIs. I felt it warranted a more thorough response than the terseness of microbursts. Desire Lines and Road Surfaces Walk through most parks and any college campus you will quickly […]
The technology and methodology of digital interactive cartography is nascent but evolving. The fields of human-computer interaction and GIS are converging from both the consumer market: “where is my nearest good restaurant?”, as well as from the enterprise: “where should I open a new restaurant chain?”. Designing useful interfaces requires understanding user workflows, iterative development […]
