aalbs.blog

I want to live here

2011-12-28T10:41:00.000+13:00

This is an exciting idea. How much energy does it take to rotate a city?

Revolution Through Banking?

2011-12-28T08:46:00.000+13:00

This is the first pragmatic suggestion I've heard come from the Occupy movement. I would have added in something about the use of open source software. http://www.thenation.com/article/165333/revolution-through-banking

The future of the ESRI Flex API

2011-11-19T12:27:00.001+13:00

ESRI's offiicial thoughts on the future of their web mapping APIs (Flex, Silverlight, Javascript) are here. Officially, they're all looking good for the foreseeable future, but you can bet on Javascript getting bigger slices of the development budget in years to come; At least until something else comes along.

2011-10-10T10:25:00.000+13:00

from 4chan.org

Particles travelling faster than the speed of light?

2011-09-24T06:15:00.001+12:00

I'm no physicist, but this sounds like a game changer.

Rugby World Cup time

2011-08-25T20:56:00.003+12:00

If this doesn't get you excited for it, nothing can.

"Labels are like roosters, if you cram too many into one area, there are going to be casualties"

2011-08-23T21:50:00.001+12:00

At the Eagle GIS roadshow, Auckland town hall.

The future of education?

2011-04-22T08:53:00.002+12:00

Another brilliant video from RSA animate. I think the ideas around distraction and overloading of the senses are relevant to all of us, not just in relation to formal education but in everyday life.

"You've achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what you're doing is work or play"

2010-07-23T17:07:00.001+12:00

- Warren Beatty

How to get people to do things

2010-06-27T09:24:00.002+12:00

This is an interesting look into how to motivate people in an organisation, or anywhere for that matter. Paying people is overrated.

Open Windows Explorer from Python

2010-03-24T12:09:00.005+13:00

Let's say at the end of your script you want to open the folder you've been creating files in. Doing this in Python is really simple.

import os

os.system('explorer "i:\foldertoopen"')

Using os.system() is the same as using the command prompt.

Funky evolution

2010-03-24T09:27:00.006+13:00

I've just finished a book called Remarkable Creatures, which describes significant discoveries in the search for the origin of species from Darwin's time to the present. A really good read, I'd recommend it if you're that way inclined. I thought sharing this video was appropriate.

Poor man's tool for creating centroids

2010-02-20T13:00:00.005+13:00

In Arc to be able to create centroids from polygons or lines you have to fork out for an ArcInfo license, which is a bit harsh for such a commonly needed and simple process. I've created a python script to be able to perform this using any license type (ArcView or ArcEditor). To use the scipt

- Copy this text into Notepad and save it as CreateCentroids.py.
- Add a script to a toolbox in ArcCatalog or ArcMap. The source file will be the python script.
- Add three parameters to the tool; the input feature class, the output workspace and the output feature class name as a string.

The tool should look something like this:

Joining a table to a feature class

2010-02-19T15:47:00.012+13:00

One of the most frustrating things about using ArcMap can be the inability to perform one-to-many joins on a feature class to a table. If there is one record in the feature class then it will only join to the first record in the table that it finds, ignoring all others. Joining the other way, from table to feature class, is one solution but means losing the spatial element as the result is another table.

After being frustrated by this one too many times I wrote a python script that will perform this join and build spatial features as well as attributes as a result. Have a look at this arcscript, which includes a visual example to better explain what I mean.

UPDATE: An updated script which is a lot faster and provides progress messages is available here.

Hitler vs. ESRI

2009-12-23T10:24:00.004+13:00

Warning: this video is for GIS geeks only.

Woman worried about feral rabbits in Nevada

2009-11-07T16:26:00.003+13:00

The only reason I'm posting this story, besides the fact that it's fascinating, is because it has a David Aalbers in it. It's not me either, apparently there's a David Aalbers working as a primary school principal in Carson City, Nevada. He also seems to be concerned about the outbreak of feral rabbits in the neighbourhood as there are some that live under his school. The "outbreak" might consist of "a dozen or more" rabbits. It's good to know there are David Aalbers' all over the world concerned about the issues that really matter.

I found this out using 123people.com, which will tell you everything the internet knows about you, or about people with the same name as you. Go ahead, give it a shot.

Safer communities together

2009-10-17T17:54:00.001+13:00

If you live in New Zealand chances are you've seen this by now, but it may be one of the funniest and weirdest things I've ever seen on TV. Safer communities together, you keep working that positive PR NZ Police!

Creepy

2009-09-28T22:22:00.010+13:00

This is a great illustration of how guys' minds actually work. From XKCD.

Priceless

2009-09-24T19:50:00.012+12:00

I've now been home for almost a week. It's a sad thing to realise that you're no longer a foreign diplomat, no longer that guy with the cool accent, no longer the intrepid adventurer so far from home. You're just another guy, making your way through the day at your 9 to 5 job like everyone else, but maybe with a few more stories this time. Well at least I have a job, I guess.

The last two weeks of my travels, in which I did a Trek America tour, were epic. Cost of the tour: $1300. Moments like this, watching the sunset over the Grand Canyon with the team: priceless. And I didn't even need Mastercard.

From Trek America

Amphibious van crosses Cook Strait

2009-09-07T16:09:00.001+12:00

I can't believe I'm missing out on this ridiculousness. I need to get home.

"The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all of your time"

2009-09-07T04:48:00.002+12:00

- Willem de Kooning

3800 miles travelled. Next trip anyone?

2009-08-28T13:39:00.008+12:00

"There we understood that our vocation, our true vocation, was to move for eternity along the roads and the seas of the world ... not setting down roots in any land."

- Che

"For most men life is a search for the proper manila envelope in which to get themselves filed"

2009-08-28T08:50:00.002+12:00

- Clifton Fadiman

I think we can all identify with this.

Solve any computer problem

2009-08-26T11:40:00.009+12:00

using this.

Firsts

2009-08-24T13:15:00.006+12:00

To continue from my previous post about my job running teen adventure trips so far, here are a few 'firsts' I've experienced this summer.

I learnt to sail on Lake George in upstate New York. This is ironic as I grew up in Auckland, the "city of sails". Sailing actually can be a lot of fun in the right conditions, although it can also be pretty slack when there's no wind, making it difficult to keep a teenage crew sane.

Driving a Chevrolet Tahoe. This is an all-american SUV that could eat a man if he pushes the wrong button. I use a ladder to clean the windscreen. Almost everything about this vehicle is obnoxiously unnecessary, especially the size and poor gas mileage, and it exemplifies why the American auto industry is falling apart. To drive it though is pure bliss.

The Tahoe with crew for my first trip

White-water rafting was good, but not quite as exhilirating as driving the Tahoe. Only one kid fell out during my entire three day rafting career.

Cycling with a pack of teenagers. I call it a pack because there were 13 of them, with a very wide range of biking experience and skill. I'm stoked that we came through it (serious) injury free.

Open face cliff climbing by the ocean in Acadia, Maine, was one of the most beautiful and amazing experiences of my life. I definitely plan to do more of this sometime, somewhere. How did God make them cliff faces so straight?

Remember kids, a trip is only what you make of it. Make something really yummy, like an icecream. Some more trip pictures are here.

Tripping so far

2009-08-02T14:26:00.023+12:00

In the last month I've biked, hiked, climbed, sailed, kayaked, rafted and driven 2300 odd miles through 4 states, 5 state parks, 7 rivers and lakes and 10 camping sites throughout New England and upstate New York. And there are still two more weeks of adventure trips to go.

Words cannot describe how much I've learnt, how many laughs, how much pain, how many tears and how many triumphs there have been along the way.

Anyway, I'm aware that this is a very short and pretty lame post, but have a look at my life for the last month in brief photographic format here.

"Music is essentially useless, as life is"

2009-08-01T10:10:00.001+12:00

- George Santayana.

A beautifully optimistic quote for your Sunday morning.

Massive earthquake moves NZ closer to Australia

2009-07-24T12:33:00.004+12:00

Becoming a single country is obviously inevitable. We may as well start calling ourselves Australasians and merge currencies.

Things I like about America #46

2009-07-21T03:19:00.003+12:00

One litre Powerades from Walmart for 78 cents

Successful rafting trip - or failed moose hunt?

2009-07-05T16:18:00.006+12:00

It's hard to know exactly what defines a successful teen adventure trip, but when you put the following factors together I think the final grade ends up being at least a C.

- The same number of people that left returned.
- I am almost certain that they were the same people.
- There were no unwanted pregnancies among our campers as they were all male.
- We rafted two different rivers on two different days, with one spillage and one spillage rescue (these happened on the same day). The river was also running at five times its normal volume due to high rainfall, making it more exciting.
- We cooked food that turned out edible, and on several occasions, quite tasty.

The most disappointing factor for me however was not finding a moose, as moose are supposed to be plentiful in Maine. This is my quest for my dwindling time left in America.

Tomorrow we leave for trip number two, a week of sailing on Lake George, New York.

Happy America day

2009-07-04T16:39:00.001+12:00

to all my American comrades. This post was proudly brought to you by freedom.

Time to leave

2009-06-06T11:06:00.007+12:00

Yesterday there were sub-zero temperatures in Waitakere. The city council I work for is disintegrating (or amalgamating, whatever), and the NZ dollar recently hit 65 US cents from below 50 in February. I think I might go to America on Thursday.

By the way, this is what I'm doing for the next two months. If you're aged 13 to 16 years, have nothing to do this summer and happen to be in the New England area, this is definitely where you want to be.

More storeys

2009-05-30T09:53:00.018+12:00

From Viewshed Map

How far could I see if I lived in a multi storey building? This viewshed map shows what would be visible to me at 5, 15 and 25 metres above the ground level of my flat; approximately current roof height, on the (potential) fifth storey and on the seventh storey. These are represented by the yellow, orange and green overlays respectively. Click through for full image.

The symbol you always needed but could never find

2009-05-19T10:38:00.011+12:00

I'm so glad that ArcMap has a symbol for "worthless documents" as I was really struggling to find one for all those maps I've been doing lately. It's also conveniently right next to the other symbol I use commonly.

Extracting files en masse based on selected features

2009-04-09T16:08:00.028+12:00

For underground services data we have a series of PDFs covering the whole city in the form of a grid, containing about 600 tiles. A shapefile showing the grid, with the corresponding PDF name as an attribute of each tile, can be used to select and copy the individual PDFs for a required area.

Today I wrote a Visual Basic macro that will automatically copy the required PDFs to a specified folder based on your feature selection from this shapefile in ArcMap.

Select the relevant tiles

Run the tool, and select which format (in this case PDF), and where to copy files to

Selected files are copied.

This can be handy if you have hundreds of PDF, aerial imagery, photo or any other kind of files to extract based on spatial location. The code for it can be found in this esri user forum.

Spatial searching in a PDF

2009-04-01T11:48:00.015+13:00

I had created a series of PDF maps months ago for the customer services department and was surprised to find they'd been using it. But that's not even the point, the point is they'd been using it to search for spatial features, in this case roads. Because labels on features are text, searching in Adobe Reader will also select and highlight them, and they can be zoomed to.

Also for PDFs made in ArcMap, in Adobe Reader 8 layers can be turned on and off using the layers menu on the left, helping when a map is too crowded. All in all PDFs are becoming a pretty handy mapping tool.

Does this mean no more trolley races?

2009-03-17T15:26:00.032+13:00

Email received at work, subject: New General H&S Hazard.

Following a number of near misses and a reported incident, the Mail Trolley has been identified as a hazard and has been added to the general Hazard Register
The following preventative action is being taken by the mail trolley operator(s) to minimise the hazard:
- the mail trolley will keep left on corridors
- the mail trolley will take a wide berth at blind corners
- the mail trolley operator will come to the front of the trolley to check the way is clear immediately before pushing it out of kitchenettes/print areas

In light of these risks, that I'm so relieved have been uncovered, I also have a new personal policy of taking a wide berth at blind corners.

Why I need a new Ipod Shuffle

2009-03-13T12:11:00.071+13:00

As one of the country's leading sportsmen I need tools that help me do what I do best - exercise, a lot. That's why when I first bought an Ipod Shuffle I thought it was the greatest invention since the Walkman. It's tiny, it's so light you can easily forget you're wearing it, and it clips to almost any part of your sporting apparel. This makes it the perfect companion for putting in those hours hitting the ashphalt or pumping iron.

But the next generation Shuffle is here, and I'm excited to try it because
- It speaks to you (it announces what song you're listening to when you ask)
- It's tiny
- It has its controls on the earphone cord (which makes it easier to change the song while running)

It's now officially on my 'to acquire' list. Read the NY Times review here.

Dragonfruit smoothie

2009-03-08T11:29:00.015+13:00

And it was so good. I used to have a Dragonfruit, which tastes but doesn't look a little like pear, at lunch everyday while living in Singapore. Have you ever seen a fruit so purple?

It's about leadership

2009-03-03T20:59:00.048+13:00

All around the world there seems to be a general vacuum of foresight and direction in leadership, and various kinds and severities of crises are the result. Yesterday saw yet another prime example, and hard questions must be asked of the leadership of this group of whales and dolphins. What were they thinking when they rode straight up onto the sand of a Tasmanian beach yesterday?

I would be freaking out

2009-03-01T23:44:00.018+13:00

if passing by this and the first thing going through my head would be "terrorists" and "bio-weapons" (I don't know why either). This is a brilliant idea that only social networking sites could have organised so meticulously. More like this on ImprovEverywhere.

Welcome

2009-03-01T22:03:00.005+13:00

I think the address of this site is pretty self explanatory.