Manchester’s population in 3-d

This is a 3-D flythrough animation showing population density in Manchester. Click on the image to see the video. ( Very low-res, I don’t have space for a high-res version.)

I made this on behalf of Martin Dodge, Geographer at the University of Manchester, who submitted it to the exhibition ‘ Mapping Manchester: Cartographic Stories of the City’. The Exhibition is on at Manchester’s John Rylands Library on Deansgate until January 17 2010.

I used ArcGIS 9.2, census data and a couple of days time to create the animation. ArcGIS does a decent job for the occasional simple flythrough. If you want to do professional 3D animation, like the guys from Arup did for Manchester, you need much better resources in terms of software, data and time. (Envy!)

OS OpenSpace – OS maps in your web application

UK Ordnance Survey has excellent data, and they offer a free service that allows you to embed Ordnance Survey maps, covering the whole of Great Britain, into your web applications.

I did a quick example (click it):

So how does it compare to Google Maps?

• OS OpenSpace is a lot more detailed – it basically contains every footpath in Britain. Most useful for any outdoor activity. Compare for yourself [1]
  
• Licensing: Ordnance Survey claims ownership of any derived data you create using OpenSpace [2]. This has caused a lot of controversy, however, Google has a similar clause [3].

[1] http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm
[2]http://openspace.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/openspace/developeragreement.html, clause 5.4
[3] www.google.com/accounts/TOS, clause 11

Neat maps with ArcGIS and CorelDraw

This is a map I did for a lecturer in Manchester Business School:

(Click on it for a larger version.)

Fortunately I did not have to draw all this.  I used ESRI Data & Maps instead, a data product that comes with ArcGIS, and assembled the content and general layout in ArcGIS.

However, in spite of all of ArcGIS’s capabilities, it is no good for advanced graphics design, so I put it into CorelDraw, which simply is a matter of copy-paste.  Then I rearranged a few elements and added a some outlines – finished!

Well, it sounds easy, but there is a lot of trial and error involved, so all in all it took me about a day.

Magellan MobileMapper 6 GPS – Part 3

In part 2 of the MobileMapper instructions we collected data in the field. Now we are going to move our data from the Magellan to the PC and post-process it to improve spatial accuracy.

15 minute map

(Only works for UK locations!)

So you need to put a map in your dissertation, paper or presentation, simply to show the locations of your study area or your sample sites.

Do I need to pay for GIS services?

In general university staff and students do not need to pay for technical support, like advice on using specific software.

When it comes to specialized support for research projects the respective service provider – in the case of GIS services SED – decides how to handle support.

Magellan MobileMapper 6 GPS – Part 2

Continued from part 1 of the MobileMapper instructions. We assume you did set up the MobileMapper as described there.

The following is a quick guide on using the Mopbilemapper 6 in the field. For detailed instructions see the MobileMapper 6 manuals from pro.magellangps.com.

ArcGIS, ArcMap, ArcView, Arcinfo – ESRI products explained

What is the difference between ArcView and ArcMap? Don’t worry if you cannot answer this immediately, ESRI product names are quite confusing. 

How to bring GPS data into ArcGIS, MS Excel, and databases

So you have collected your sample site locations with a Garmin GPS 60 and now you want to process them in ArcGIS or MS Excel?

How to bring GPS data into Google Earth and Google Maps

So you have collected your sample site locations with a Garmin GPS 60 and now you want to see them Google Earth or Google Maps?