GIS in One Word via GIS Lounge

Too good to pass up....  check out the pictures. #yup

I'm a.... The GIS Profession in One Word - GIS Lounge

New Job, New Challenges

A few months ago, the local airport posted a position for a GIS Specialist. Given my family circumstances, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. Career-wise, it's not much of change from my job at the City of Surrey, but definitely a lot broader responsibilities. Which is good, and expansive, as a result of coming to a smaller organization. I'll be doing a lot more GIS system design and maintenance, which, when you are part of a bigger team, and defined by your job description, you may not necessarily get to do very often.  

In the meantime, there's been a lot of tours, security clearances & HR paperwork, and proposal writing. And every now and then, behind-the-scenes looks at the airport inbetween the odd map request!

Going to miss this view...

New start, fresh ideas. Change is good. And inevitable. 

And having Coach Taylor in the back of your mind helps too...

http://youtu.be/4pZHXQ698Ok

Python (et al) Cheat Sheets

Awesome. Big Bookmark.

http://overapi.com/python/

Bonus... even more programs and stuff available there too (oooohhh, REGEX!)

When an engineer comes up to me at 4:25 on a Friday asking for a map....

#nothappeningdude

Adding CKAN Open Data Geospatial Icons

A little something I've been working on for the City of Surrey Open Data Website. The CKAN github project lacked some geospatial icons, so thanks Adobe Illustrator and the Sam Smith's original design files, I've created a template for AI and hacked a few more designs to add to the CKAN sprite image later on.

Kudos to Sam Smith, Aron Carroll, & Stéphane Guidoin for their help on this.

Thoughts on the last few geospatial design icons?

(Yes, I know there's no shapefile icon. We here at the City have decided not to offer that tidbit on Open Data. Make of it what you will...)

CKAN Icon Template 54x62 px

How I feel about New City Hall...

Boom! More awesome stuff to check out around my new workplace....



(HT +BuzzFeed for the gif)

Great set of pictures here.

Geospatial Data Analyst posting at Boundless

(HT: Paul Ramsey)

Lots of career opps @boundlessgeo right now: come work w/ us bringing open source spatial to the world! http://t.co/69G1AJzFVf
— Paul Ramsey (@pwramsey) January 21, 2014

I'm pretty much joined to the hip with the ESRI product line and to my hometown of Vancouver, but if I was a young turk again with no family and aspirations for bigger things, I would have totally applied for this. Nice little sweet spot between being the map production guy and the hard-core geodeveloper.

Seriously kids, if you are in the Open Source Geo World, it looks like a great opportunity. Amazing what changes are going on in the geospatial industry right now.

(and if Homeland is any indication, Maryland, VA seems like a nice suburb of Washington DC. NYC might kill you on the daily expenses, but heck, it's NYC, so there's no shortage of stuff to take in, right?)

My Map, Deconstructed

Thoughts?

I'm working on a new template where I've been reducing down the roads and parks as background layers. Here I've got the watercourses in south surrey as the main focus, colored with our standard symbology for fish habitat. Trying to find a green for parks that is fairly neutral is tough when one of your line symbols is a bright green.

(But will the print colors match? Sigh, don't even get me started....)

Prepping for a job interview this week...

.... and trying to plan my wife's birthday plans for the weekend too....



(HT Mashable)

#panic #nopanic

UPDATE (Jan 28): Well, everything pretty much went like this:


Argh.

Nothing to do except....