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Open Source Web and Mobile Maps

  • Topics in Mobile GIS

    • We came across the following table recently, listing mobile GIS topics. Interesting. Obviously only a subset of the potential uses of mobile GIS. But worth reprinting. From the mobile app development work we are doing, key mobile requests from clients are: Visualization – I want to see my data while in the field GIS Data more »

  • Our Geo-Future is Bright – Location Data, Story Maps and Mobile Location Services

    • We live in changing times in the geo-space. Our work with location data as a company, began in the 90′s. Its been an interesting ride; from desktop to Internet, to now the cloud and mobile. New conferences appeared like Where 2.0; too many so called experts and innovators were thrust at us. Much of this more »

  • Criticism – Future Trends in Geospatial Information Management: The Five to Ten Year Vision

    • We put up a blog post linking to a recently released UN paper entitled: Future Trends in Geospatial Information Management: The Five to Ten Year Vision We noted in the original post that without knowing who the list of experts who contributed to the paper were, we were a little hesitant. We do know that more »

  • Offline Editing with Mobile ArcGIS

    • Our previous blog entry showed the initial steps in working with mobile ArcGIS when offline. We ended the post with “whats next? Offline Feature layers and Offline editing”. And that is the topic of this blog post. As we have mentioned before as a company our focus is mobile location technology. GIS, and specifically ArcGIS, more »

  • GeoMobile for ArcGIS Online – A Free Mobile GIS App for Tablets

    • GeoMobile for ArcGIS Online is a free mobile app we launched in July 2012 to the Android Market. In August it will be released in the Apple market. The app allows users to access their ArcGIS Online maps on their iPad and Android tablets. Multiple maps can be accessed, when users set up and host more »

  • Mobile Map Wars – The Rapid Evolution of the Geo Mobile Market

    • To repeat a phrase we’ve used a number of times in this blog; we live in interesting times. The geo mobile market is hotting up . Google, and ESRI are actively extending their already impressive geo product offerings. Apple, and Amazon are now adding maps to their mix. Venture capital money is pouring into the more »

  • A Discussion of Mobile Maps and Mobile Location Technology

    • Seems the recent Apple announcement around maps has caused quite the stir. This can only be good. Tom Ashbrook aired a programme on NPR recently discussing ‘The Next Generation of Maps’. There is a link to the show at the bottom of this blog entry. The discussion included guests; two cartographers and a journalist. Their more »

  • Nothing New in Apple’s Maps Announcement

    • Below is a summary of the maps part of today’s Apple announcement. Our first reaction is that it brings little new to the mapping landscape. As a mobile location-focused development company we see nothing which would help our customers beyond our current ESRI, Google and MapQuest solutions. That may be a somewhat premature thing to more »

  • Starting a Location-Focused Mobile App Development Company

    • I read an interesting article today by Atanas Entchev called ‘Ten Things You Should Know About Starting a GIS Consulting Business’. Atanas started developing GIS web sites in the 90′s; a similar time to us. He too experienced how companies/consultancies got things right and wrong; finally deciding to go it alone. But, as an independent more »

  • Building Mobile Location & Mobile GIS Apps using Titanium

    • We build custom cross platform mobile GIS and location based applications. There is our one sentence elevator sales pitch. But what is this cross platform business? Put simply write one code base and run it across multiple platforms. So take your beautiful mobile web application written in HTML5/Javascript convert it to an installed app using more »

  • Is Google Maps GIS Lite?

    • We’ve never been a company which sits on its hands and wonders what is around the corner. Sure we have some key partners, but they don’t limit our reach and exploration. Our goal is to provide the most appropriate solution to our clients. That might be an ESRI solution, Google, MapQuest, technology combination, open source. more »

  • Mobile Geo Technology Review

    • We’ve mentioned before that the mobile market is in a very fluid state. New hardware releases, differing approaches to app development and new tools to help improve locational accuracy are just a few of these areas of change. The lack of maturity is one of the reasons why the market remains consumer driven. Business’ fear more »

  • Mobile GIS

    • Just back from CalGIS in Sacramento. An interesting two day conference. Our presentation; ‘Is mobile the Future of GIS?” was one of the last sessions on the Friday. Its a shame since we gave an overview of the mobile market space; in hindsight it would have been better positioned early in the conference. Even so, more »

  • GIS = Providing Location Based Solutions

    • It seems the blog post we wrote recently entitled “Should we retire the term GIS?” resonated with the geo-community. We thought is worth a follow up post. First the responses. Below are a few on the comments we received: “No. I saw this a few months ago (maybe from the same group; maybe not). This more »

  • Should We Retire the Term GIS?

    • The future of mobile is location! ………. The future of computing is mobile! Two bold statements. We don’t necessarily believe them yet. But one would be foolish to ignore them offhand. What do these have to do with our question: “Should we retire the term GIS”? GIS deals with location. Why not simply use this more »

  • Offline Mobile GIS App Demos

    • We have been asked many times about offline mobile capabilities. Situations where users are in areas without Wi-Fi access and still wish to access their mapping and GIS data, and geospatial tools using their Apple or Android mobiles. We have put together a video below which demonstrates a number of ways this can be done. more »

  • Mobile Geospatial Solutions – Transforming the Work Place

    • This article was originally planned to be titled ‘Mobiles in The Work Place – The End of Pen & Paper?”. A little narrow we thought, let’s broaden the focus and discuss more generally the potential impact of mobile in the work place. Examples will be taken from the engineering sector. Mobile computing is not new, more »

  • Mobile GIS Apps – Feature Attributes View & Edit

    • “If I could simply see my layers in the field on my mobile device, view feature attributes and edit/update these attributes my job would be so much easier” – Anonymous Client I’m wondering how many others empathize with one of our clients. Mobile devices and mobile GIS apps can now do this and much more. more »

  • Mobile GIS – Sharing Map Annotation

    • We wrote a blog entry a while back called ‘Hot Topics in Mobile GIS’. This was a summary of some of the many client conversations we had in 2011, talking about mobile GIS. Moving away from the use of pen and paper while working in the field, was often mentioned. It remains common for field more »

  • Flexible Mobile GIS Frameworks

    • We have spoken many times on this blog about our release of GeoMobile for ArcGIS. The link below will take you to a more detailed discussion: http://www.webmapsolutions.com/free-mobile-arcgis-viewer-upgraded Our logic for the release was: To demonstrate a custom ArcGIS mobile application Build a cross platform mobile GIS app or one code base which runs on multiple more »

  • Hot Topics in Mobile GIS

    • We recently looked back over client and potential client feedback in 2011. There were definitely some re-occurring themes. Here we summarise some of these conversations: 1) Mining Display in a mobile map app dynamic sensor data (click on map point and its shows current data) 2) Cultural Resource Management “Even though GPS technology has been more »

  • Open Source Mobile GIS Apps

    • Much of the focus of GIS remains on ArcGIS and the ESRI suite. In terms of access and distribution, the Web continues to dominate the future plans and thinking of many companies. But good though the ESRI ArcGIS suite is, the open source world still provides some excellent alternative solutions. In addition, we think that more »

  • Mobile Location Apps Review

    • Monetizing geographic information became all the rage in 2011. Once geographic information meant maps. Clever systems were developed – geographic information systems or GIS – to store and allow analysis and visualization of geographic data. Mobile – smartphones and portable tablets – have broadened both the interest and potential of location for making money. The more »

  • Mobile GIS Apps and Resource Management

    • Mobile GIS in Archaeology and Historical Preservation Cultural Resource Management relates to archaeology and historical preservation. We had a recent email from somebody working in this area – thanks Stephen – who discussed how mobile applications, particularly those which utilize GIS, would be a huge help. Stephen sees an important place for mobile GIS apps more »

  • Mobile GIS Feature Editing

    • This is part 2 of a discussion on mobile GIS and feature editing. In part 1 we began the discussion. Here we spoke about saving basemap tiles and shapefiles to the mobile device. How shapefiles can be represented (overlaid) on the map in a number of, less than perfect, ways. We discussed other mobile GIS more »

  • Mobile GIS Apps Review

    • There are an increasing number of GIS mobile apps available in the various app stores. Surprisingly few are cross platform; meaning one application which is built to run on multiple mobile devices; Apple, Android, BlackBerry. This is likely a result of the early dominance of Apples IPad and IPhone. Many mobile application development companies built more »

  • A Review of the Mobile Market in 2011

    • Overall Mobile Trends in 2011 Mobile in 2011 has been very much a case of hurry up and wait. Immature is maybe a better way to put it. The market remains consumer focused. Business’ have largely sat on the sidelines. Mobile software innovation has been somewhat limited, with too many copycat ideas; “I want to more »

  • Maps & Mobile GIS: Mobile Applications in Politics for 2012

    • Politics revolves around organization. The increasing popularity of mobiles; IPhones, IPads and Android devices will revolutionize political organization and campaigning. It is now possible to provide field workers with mobile applications which will allow better organization and coordination of campaigns. Further, these applications will let users dynamically collect and upload data from the field. Campaigns more »

  • IPad GIS Android GIS & Mobile GPS Data Collection

    • We’ve spoken about it many times before on this blog. It is now possible to build one application and have it run across multiple different mobile platforms. So Apple’s IOS, Android and Blackberry. There are many advantages to Mobile computing, the fact most mobile devices have a built in GPS, means location is a key more »

  • Location Aware Apps: Its all About Social Networking?

    • Google alerts came up with this article, which at first glance seemed interesting: 5 Trends in Software Development for 2012 When I reached the section ‘Social networking: building more location aware apps’, we were treated with the following: ‘We have seen social networking making a foray into enterprises as well. The software applications that are more »

  • Offline Mobile GIS

    • You might be wondering how you access GIS layers when your mobile has no Wi-FI access. Well wait no more, the solution is at hand. The demo below shows ArcGIS being used offline. Before you open source folk get upset, this solution could also be applied to a Geoserver/Openlayers/OpenScales solution. The app shows storage of more »

  • Q&A – Mobile App Development Planning

    • Q. We want to build a mobile application. Where should we begin? Before jumping in, first get a better understanding of mobile. That does not mean trying to understand the intricacies of the technology. But a good general picture of this still confusing mobile world will be a big help in the long term? Q: more »

  • Mobile GIS: Who is on First?

    • Ah, if only Abbot and Costello had the luxury of today’s mobile devices. Such questions are now so easy to answer. Just whip out your mobile tablet and see a visualization of every base. Who is indeed on first. His info window says he is 24 and was born in New York City … you more »

  • Free GIS Map Code & Apps

    • Over the years we have released both free code and apps to developers and users. Our goal has always been to help the GIS community; those wishing to test or develop their own Web and mobile apps. On the client side, our focus is mostly Adobe Flex and AIR. We work with both open source more »

  • GeoSpatial Mobile Development: Flash or HTML5?

    • I came across two interesting posts today. From James Fee on his excellent Spatially Adjusted blog: “JavaScript not Flex/Silverlight — Yeah, it isn’t much of a surprise, open source users aren’t big Flex or Silverlight users, but JavaScript HTML5 web apps are everywhere and doing everything Flex/Silverlight can do, but work everywhere …. At this more »

  • Mobile Application Planning Guide

    • Introduction This article is targeted at individuals or companies looking to build a new mobile or Web application. It is a guide to help you move from a great idea to a great application. Oh, and it is short. Let’s begin by imagining a house. Your dream house. The home you’ve always wanted to build. more »

  • Mobile GIS: IPhone ArcGIS & OpenScales using Adobe AIR

    • Well we live in rapidly changing times. Mobile GIS, and geolocation services remain in their infancy. Mobile itself is evolving. New hardware is being released, notably tablets. Software remains confusing with Web and native apps supported differently on the various platforms. Mobile software development has also had its challenges. But the recent release of Flash more »

  • PlayBook & IPad Mobile Application Development

    • We’ve spent time recently focused on developing tablet mobile applications. Our targets have been the BlackBerry PlayBook and IPad2. We’ve just had our first app accepted in BlackBerry’s App World. So how was the experience? Background: Utah Application Development Company Some context first. We have been fully focused on Web application development for most of more »

  • Mobile Location Based Application Development

    • The tech blogs are buzzing with excitement over mobile application development. Smartphones and mobile tablets offer new and interesting extensions of existing Web applications, plus the opportunity for new innovation. But both the hardware and software are ahead of business adoption. A phenomena noted historically with new technology leaps; the advent of the Web being more »

  • BlackBerry PlayBook: An Open Source (OpenScales) GIS Mobile Map Application Demo

    • For some time, we have wanted to develop an open source mobile AIR application, running on the BlackBerry PlayBook. This is a video of the actual device, demonstrating some of the core functionality of an OpenScales mobile application:

  • BlackBerry PlayBook: Location Based Services (LBS) Application Demo

    • This is a video of an AIR application running on the BlackBerry PlayBook. Its a location based services (LBS) applications which demonstrates check-in and check-out. Using the built in GPS in the PlayBook and AIR geolocation API. A SimpleGeo API is used to return places within a fixed distance from the device. Tweet

  • Beautiful Open Source Mobile Location Based Applications

    • The article below in pcmag caught my attention: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383058,00.asp This quote in particular is thought provoking. “It’s long been proven that an open source app can be powerful, efficient and elegant. Can they be beautiful and easy to use, too?” So do we spend our time building clever geospatial apps and leave the interface as more »

  • Mobile Maps: OpenLayers Mobile GIS

    • There remains much confusion about the mobile market. Quite typical of the early stages of a new paradigm shift, as companies map out both their products and business models. One thing I am increasingly getting asked is: “I want to build a location based app for mobile what do you suggest?” What I suggest is more »

  • Developing Location Based Services (LBS) Mobile Applications

    • So maybe you have a new fabulous idea for a Location Based Services (LBS) mobile application. Or, you are looking to migrate or extend your non-mobile Web presence to mobile. Where do you begin and what questions should you ask? Let’s demystify the landscape a little and maybe help frame some of the questions you more »

  • The Future of Open Source Location Apps on Mobile

    • So the geo-industry is facing a new future. One where increasing numbers of users are accessing applications via their mobile devices. Both smart phones and tablet devices. The presence of GPS on these devices and geolocation offers the potential for a new stream of new applications. Foursquare introduces the idea of check in, where users more »

  • Mobile GIS: Travel Guides and Video Maps

    • A few years ago I wrote a travel application using the Flex open source API Modest Maps. Figure 1 is an image of the application. Figure 1: Combining interactive map with Video and Web links The application combined a travel video, in this case on China, with an interactive map. One of the nice things more »

  • Mobile GIS: Flex or Javascript

    • I was recently asked the following interesting question: “if we wanted to develop an application for an IPad or similar, should we use a Javascript API?” Mobile development: Flex or Javascript? My response: “Mobile devices have both browsers and native applications. For Apple most native apps are written in Objective C. These are the ones more »

  • Maps on the BlackBerry PlayBook

    • Flex Map Applications on the BlackBerry PlayBook Finally it is possible to side step the IPad and run applications on rival devices. The IPad has been a device of discussion and controversy; centred around how Apple have restricted applications which run on the devices. The lack of Flash Player has irked many developers including myself. more »

  • OpenScales GIS on the BlackBerry PlayBook

    • The release of the new BlackBerry Playbook Simulator for Flash Builder Burrito very exciting. I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to build mapping and GIS application on tablet devices. It took me a little while to get everything set up. You will need to follow the instructions in the RIM video available from the development more »

  • Mobile OpenScales GIS and the BlackBerry PlayBook

    • Flex Maps on the BlackBerry PlayBook An updated version of an application being written for the BlackBerry PlayBook. This shows an OpenScales mapping application running on the simulator.

  • Issues with OpenScales Mapping Applications running on the Playbook Simulator

    • The release of the new Playbook Simulator is very exciting. Finally we can start testing our mapping solutions on mobile devices with useable screen sizes. Configuring and developing for the Playbook simulator is an ever changing landscape, as with all newly released tools. So keep an eye on the most up to date articles. Most more »

  • Combining OpenScales with ArcGIS

    • Open source purists will be horrified. Well not really, we are already using Yahoo and Bing base maps in other applications described here. But how about hooking into ArcGIS? ESRI pay lip service somewhat to the OGC standards. They conform to some. So WMS is in, WFS out. So let’s try WMS. Let’s take one more »

  • Building Rich Open Source GeoSpatial Internet Applications in Flex

    • Whenever developers or companies look to build rich Internet geospatial applications or RIA’s in Flex, they usually turn to proprietary tools. ESRI, Google, yahoo etc; all provide Flex mapping API’s. But what about open source options? Flex Open Source GeoSpatial Internet Applications Over this last year, I have been working with two excellent open source more »

  • Open Source GIS: OpenScales and WFS

    • OpenScales offers very nice Web Feature Service (WFS) rendering. Just as a reminder; Web Map Service (WMS) is an image generated by the spatial server, in contrast WFS involves the server passing feature attributes to the client (in this case Flex or more accurately the generated swf) and the features being assembled as objects on more »

  • Open Source GIS: OpenScales Application Download

    • After a year or more of working with the open source Flex mapping API OpenScales, it struck me that a download-able template might help the user community. The OpenScales team provide some excellent code examples on their Web site. I wanted to pull this functionality, plus some custom additions, into one application. A few months more »

  • Open Source Flex GeoSpatial Solutions

    • OpenLayers has long been the most well known open source client solution for building web based geospatial viewers. Great for Javascript developers, but what about Flex? I have had discussions with ‘purists’ over Flex and open source. That the only true open source client solution is Javascript. Ignoring these discussions for the moment; are there more »

  • Flex Open Source Geolocation Solutions: OpenScales Widgets

    • Widgets from Other Mapping Applications OpenScales comes with some nice tools. Historically coupling was the biggest challenge. Meaning, tools could not easily be loaded independently (as widgets) for example. And many did not play well when combined with other tools. The drawing tool comes to mind. Things have got better. In an ideal world it more »

  • Flex Open Source Geolocation Solutions: OpenScales and WMS/WFS Styling

    • Web Map Service (WMS) Vs Web Map Feature (WFS) OpenScales Flex API handles both WMS and WFS. Its one of the really nice things about the API. The difference confused me when I first came across these terms years ago. Simply; WMS is a REST based request which returns a image. In contrast WFS returns more »

  • GeoLocation meets GeoSpatial: Application Development and Design for the Tablet

    • Do I own a tablet PC yet? It pains me to admit not. As a geospatial Flex developer the IPad, even though we can now sidestep the silly Apple restrictions, remains a pain. I am waiting for the Android tablet Spring releases. This has not stopped me from closely watching location based application being currently more »

  • Praise and Criticism of new Openscales application

    • From the Openscales mailing list, somebody referenced their new application. Really nice design. I like the expandable panes, the table of contents (TOC) on the left is great, similarly the reference and layers list to the right. The query builder is very cool. My one issue though is the lack of toolbar or equivalent. The more »

  • The Challenge that is Web Map Service (WMS)

    • I have been trying to implement a WMS widget in an ESRI Flex ArcGIS application. The widget was spec’d to reach out to any WMS service. But, as I have worked through it, I have found a series of WMS issues. Most relate to the fact that the application uses a Web Mercator projection and more »

  • Mobile GIS using OpenScales

    • Flex Mobile Development for Maps This application was written using the new Flex Hero SDK and Flash Builder Burrito. Using the packager for the IPhone we should be able to get this to run on an IPhone and IPad. I will post my findings here later. Get the source for this application here Let us more »

  • Flex Video Annotation and GIS

    • I read much these days about aerial video. Taken from drones, small aircraft or satellites. And used for surveillance, tracking wildfires, monitoring deforestation; to name but a few. So let me ask a question. Suppose I am monitoring a wildfire. I fly the area three times a day, flying the same route, and recording both more »

  • Flex Open Source GIS and Climate Change

    • The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are doing some very interesting work with climate change. The Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) unit are are in the midst of a huge data collection project. After visiting their portal, I realised they were using GeoServer to serve some of their map data. Figure 1 more »

  • Flex WFS Query

    • Working with Openscales – the Flex open source mapping API – I’ve been querying Geoserver using WFS GET parameters. But I have found some issues both with building the query and response times. Flex GeoServer – WFS Query The OGC WFS filter looks like this: http://server/geoserver/wfs?request=getfeature&service=wfs&version=1.1.1&outputformat=GML3&typename=Sun:AddrPts_City&Filter= ADDRKEY 12203 Looks simple, but try adding AND OR more »

  • MultiMedia Mapping with Modest Maps

    • Some while ago I experimented with the Modest Maps Flex API. This is an excellent API for non GIS mapping. Its particularly good for building so called mash ups. So blending maps with video, imagery and other location based data. Ski Resort Mapping – Arkade Magazine I recently teamed up with the excellent Arkade Snowboard more »

  • Open Source Flex GIS Solutions

    • There remain few Flex GIS (Geographic Information System) API’s outside of that offered by ESRI for ArcGIS. Though an excellent API, its requires that clients have a purchased license(s) for ArcGIS. Depending on the number of licenses, this can be very costly. ArcGIS also is not fully compliant with the OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards. more »

  • OpenScales Advanced Functionality

    • I enjoy working with the Flex Openscales API for geospatial development. But the tight coupling drives me bonkers. Just add the drawing tool for example and see the side effects. Dropping in any of the pre-built tools is a major pain. That said, once one moves onto building custom tools, life become somewhat easier. Flex more »