Archive for August, 2007
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 29, 2007
At this point, I’ve covered what I think are the majority of the "core" feature upgrades. One final thing I did want to cover on the issue was general productivity. Although I don’t have any numbers to quote, here are a few of the productivity enhancements that have been highlighted:
- Updated Oracle data server – With this new data server, graphics are supposed to draw much faster
- Updated spatial filter command – Filtering performance has gone up dramatically
- A new selection tool – Where before you could only select in a square/rectangular fashion, you now have a polygonal select option as well
- Geocoding tools – They’ve rolled the geocoding engine into the core product (no longer an expansion pack)
- New Construction Aid – You can now place a deflection angle construction aid
Additionally, the move command now supports construction aids as well
- Picklists – Picklists can now be used in the data window
- Categories – Categories have been implemented throughout the application. As opposed to 6.0 where Categories where in most of the product but were still missing from certain area
- Keyboard navigation with the QuickPick command
- The define symbol utility can now be used in batch
I haven’t had a chance to use the beta in quite sometime. However I believe I’ve covered the majority of the key points on 6.1 that I’ve read about or personally experienced. We’ll be organizing a GeoMedia Pro 6.1 product launch through NCIGUC once 6.1 is released to manufacturing (hopefully sometime soon). Once we have the launch, I’ll be able to provide additional information.
Posted in GeoMedia 6.1 Beta, Intergraph | 9 Comments »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 28, 2007
I was asked by Intergraph today to “add a footnote” to all of the GeoMedia 6.1 postings that have gone on to this point. Intergraph wanted me to inform you all that although the functionality I’ve discussed up to this point has been discussed and for the most part is in 6.1, things can always change from beta to the initial release. In other words there’s always the possibility that a piece of functionality will be bounced from the initial release (or from release at all).
That’s not to say that things aren’t going as planned and documented. But I was asked to let you all know that nothing is set in stone until the product is released to manufacturing.
Posted in GeoMedia 6.1 Beta, Intergraph | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 27, 2007
Last Friday I was trying to accomplish geocoding of about 1,000 addresses when I noticed that my “Geocode Addresses” command had disappeared from my Geocoding menu. So, I thought I would just reinstall the Geocoding expansion pack and that would solve my issue. Someone else thought something else. When I ran the repair command in the expansion pack, somehow my entire GeoMedia install became corrupted. So, I recently found a fantastic freeware installer named Revo Uninstaller. This is a uninstaller program that will uninstall your application and then has a bunch of options including doing a full registry scan after the uninstall. This is great for cleaning up your typical GeoMedia install where the uninstaller only removes the actual software but leaves the registry a mess.
So, I ran Revo against all of the GM extensions (WFS data server, WMS data server, Fusion, WebMap Publisher, etc.) All uninstalled without a hitch except for Fusion. So, I rebooted my machine and then went to reinstall GM Pro. GM Pro started and all appeared to be fixed with GeoMedia. Then I went to install GeoMedia Fusion. Well…since the software wasn’t fully uninstalled, I was getting and error and I was not able to actually reinstall Fusion. Definitely not good news – especially since I use the product what seems like daily as of late. Anyhow, after doing some research, I found a free utility named “Windows Install Cleanup“. Now this utility scans your Windows installer and identifies all products that have been installed through the Windows Installer. Anyhow, the software allows you to select an entry and remove it from the Windows Installer. As soon as I removed the GeoMedia Fusion entry, I was able to run the GeoMedia Fusion installer and reinstall Fusion.
All in all, these two utilities are fantastic! Can’t recommend them enough. Especially if you run into a similar problem. However Revo can really be used to uninstall any type of software. It also got many more functions as well.
Posted in GeoMedia, Intergraph | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 23, 2007
Been a very busy week thus far. Sorry I haven’t been able to do any updates. Will attempt to do one or two tomorrow. But should be back on track with four or five updates a week starting next week.
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 17, 2007
With GeoMedia 6.1 you’re now able to do a find on a text feature class based on the symbology (color, font, size, style, etc.) or contents (literal value of the text). Then you can edit the text to match different business needs. For instance, you might have created rich text that is 14pt and red. You can use this command to find all of this text and change it to 12pt green.
I’ve since this before in products like Adobe Illustrator and the former Macromedia Freehand. Though they probably aren’t too useful strictly in a "GIS" sense, they can be very useful when looking at cartographic output.
I’ve uploaded a video showing the functionality to YouTube.
Posted in GeoMedia 6.1 Beta, Intergraph | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 17, 2007
There was a posting on the Directions Magazine email list pertaining to the latest GeoMedia WebMap and GeoMedia WebMap Publisher hotfixes (06.00.35.02). From the email:
Just to let everyone know, the current WebMap & Publisher hot fix, 6.00.35.02 has quite a few issues so I don’t suggest to download this until they fix it.
Issues that were supposedly fixed in previous hot fixes were not added to this one! Intergraph support is aware of the problem.
Thought I’d pass on the information here as well. Not the best way to end a Friday 
. In fact, I just installed the two hotfixes today before getting the email….
Posted in GeoMedia, Intergraph | 4 Comments »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 15, 2007
Google Earth,GIS,Oracle Database
I happened upon an interesting article titled “Integrating Oracle Spatial with Google Earth” yesterday on the Oracle web site. The article is authored by Justin Lokitz of Leica Geosystems (formerly of Oracle Corporation and Acquis Inc.). It discusses using the open source software GeoServer. The article has a very good discussion of using GeoServer to read the Oracle database and create KML that can be ingested dynamically (via a Network Link) by Google Earth. The entire process seems to be somewhat straightforward. It should also be noted that Justin has posted an addendum to the article on his OraGIS blog. Finally, the folks at GeoServer have also posted a six+ minute movie highlighting how the data can be ingested by Google Earth.
After looking at GeoServer, the software looks very cool. It appears to be a data broker (for lack of a better term) that allow you to transform “typical” GIS data (shapefile, Oracle Locator, ArcSDE, etc.) to standards-based formats that can be used by today’s “main stream” applications like Google Earth (via KML/KMZ), Google Maps/Yahoo Maps/Microsoft Virtual Earth (via GeoRSS), Flex/Flash (via WMS/WFS), GIS applications (via WMS/WFS), etc.
However, do keep in mind that each of these applications has different licensing agreements. For instance, Google Earth is free for
personal, non-commercial use only. Furthermore, there are some restrictions on the online mapping applications. In the end, just make sure to read the licensing agreements of the software that will be the client for your application …ideally before developing the application 
.
Posted in Oracle Database, Web Site | 1 Comment »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 14, 2007
One of my favorite changes to the 6.1 line is with GeoMedia Viewer. After a lot of discussions, Intergraph has FINALLY decided to roll the Oracle Read-Only and SQL Server Read Only data servers into GeoMedia Viewer! I was a big proponent of this and am so happy this has finally been implemented.
Although I plan on having my primary source for data viewing to be GeoMedia WebMap and GeoMedia WebMap Publisher, I still want to be able to provide client access through a heavy client like GeoMedia Viewer to some people. Additionally, since it’s free, there’s really no reason to not install it on every machine in the company. Finally, it will also now provide access to enterprise libraries stored in Oracle and SQL Server. Very cool…can’t wait!
It should also be noted that theoretically, since Oracle XE has such a small footprint, you should be able to run GeoMedia Viewer and Oracle XE on a disconnected system. This might be useful for GIS Administrators that need to support people that are typically not online e.g. maintenance crews, operations, etc. I’ve done quite a bit of testing with Oracle XE and the footprint is very small. So, if done correctly, I am thinking/hoping that I can use Oracle XE on field laptops and write materialized views to sync the Oracle data nightly. Sounds doable …assuming the Oracle process stays reasonable.
Posted in GeoMedia 6.1 Beta, Intergraph | 4 Comments »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 13, 2007
With 6.1 Intergraph has redone some of the text placement functionality. They now provide the following orientations in the Insert Interactive Label command:
- Place at angle
- Rotate dynamically
- Orient to geometry
- Place along arc
- Place along existing geometry
For those that are familiar with the command, the Place along existing geometry is new. With this orientation method, you’re able to get the text to nicely follow the respective linework. Take a look at these examples to see what I mean:
Additionally, as you move the text, it continues to follow the linework. Very neat. Reminds me of MapText’s Label-Edit product.
It should also be noted that the same functionality was rolled into the Insert Text command.
Posted in GeoMedia 6.1 Beta, Intergraph | 2 Comments »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 9, 2007
While I was posting the Virtual Earth video on YouTube, I ran across this video. Too funny (and yes, Intergraph related )
Posted in Intergraph, Web Site | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 9, 2007
One of the presentations at yesterday’s NCIGUC meeting was by Steve Hoffman of Intergraph. He discussed some of the upcoming features in GeoMedia 6.1. I’ve covered quite a few of them here. I will attempt to cover more over the next few weeks.
Did want to point out that one of the "post-6.1" but before 6.2 enhancements will be tighter integrations with Google Earth, Google Maps, and Microsoft Virtual Earth.
On the Google Earth side, there will be a finalized Export to KML command. I say finalized because there’s a beta version of the command that’s been floating around in different circles for the last six+ months.
There will also be a KML Data Server…very cool if you ask me!
Finally, Intergraph will also be doing a lot more with Microsoft Virtual Earth. In fact, looking at an AVI, it appears that you will be able to load Virtual Earth inside of the legend window inside of GeoMedia. Then, you can interact with Virtual Earth and your map window will move pan and zoom as you pan and zoom in Virtual Earth. Looks very cool.
I’ve placed an AVI of the Virtual Earth/GeoMedia demonstration on YouTube. It can be viewed here.
Posted in GeoMedia 6.1 Beta, Intergraph | 17 Comments »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 9, 2007
Yesterday’s NCIGUC meeting was very good. Had a lot of very good presentations and the afternoon hands-on seminar were excellent. We even had a person come out from Nevada – very cool to see the user group going that far! We should have all of the presentations posted on the NCIGUC web site soon. Once we do, I’ll post a entry and let you all know.
Posted in NCIGUC, User Groups | 2 Comments »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 7, 2007
When using the batch plotting utility, you have a few different output options including TIFF, JPEG, BMP, or GLS. Additionally, Intergraph has documented a workflow where you can create PDFs from batch plotting. Although I’m sure the workflow/white paper is somewhere on the Intergraph web site, I’ve uploaded a copy of the white paper for easier reference.
This workflow is great and quite easy to understand. I personally use the HP5500PS driver to create my mapbooks. For those that haven’t created a PDF using GeoMedia, when you do, you will immediately see the benefits including:
- Since the PDF is vector-based (unless you’ve incorporated translucency into the map), the map will typically be much smaller than a raster image of the same map
- Assuming the text were placed as standard text in GeoMedia, all of the text are searchable by using the "Find" or "Search" commands inside of Adobe Reader
- Since the files are vector-based, there’s no pixelation
- With Adobe Reader, you can select only a portion of the map to print. This is great when you have a large format map but only need to print out a small piece of the map
- My hope is that one day TerraGo Technologies will integrate their Map2PDF for GeoMedia product with the batch plotting utility. With the Map2PDF tool, you’re able to embed attributes into the PDF, provide the ability to turn on and off individual layers in the PDF, identify real-world coordinates on the map, and even plug a GPS into a computer and visualize the GPS point on the PDF as you drive around! Very cool stuff – just REALLY wish they’d continue development on the tool!
Anyhow, there are many more benefits to a PDF, but the above list are just the first ones that come to mind. Now, the biggest drawback to the white paper referenced above is the lack of a way to schedule the creation of the PDFs. I say this because the white paper discusses using Adobe Distiller. Now Adobe Distiller is a great tool, but unfortunately, there’s now way to run it in the background as a Windows service or something similar. As a result, if you’re going to use the white paper’s workflow, you’ll need to either keep the computerlogged in at all times with Adobe Distiller running OR you’ll need to launch the Distiller on an as-needed basis. Both options have their positives and negatives. In the end, neither is ideal.
That takes me to a change that I’ve made to the workflow. Instead of Adobe Distiller, I use Ghostscript to create the PDFs. Now Ghostscript provides two humongous advantages over Adobe Distiller:
- It can be run through a DOS batch script. And, as we all know, a DOS batch script can be scheduled via the Windows Task Scheduler. In other words, the computer can be logged off and PDFs can still be created
- It’s free! In other words, you don’t need to have the somewhat expensive Adobe Acrobat product.
Now, I have had this process working in the past…more or less. HOWEVER, due to the bug mentioned in my previous post (Batch Plotting – Part 2) concerning the landscape vs. portrait issue, I have not been able to test the overall procedure. In the end though, I’m somewhat confident that once the bug is fixed, things will behave correctly and I’ll be able to get scheduled PDF output without using Adobe Distiller!
Finally, after this is all complete, my hope is to create an Oracle view to use as my plot shapes. In the Oracle view I will store the date any element in the plot shape was last modified. Then, I can schedule the batch plotting utility to print maps nightly. That way, in the end, ALL of my maps will be current as of the previous day. In the end, (I hope) I will have an application in place that will automatically update my mapbook nightly. All in all – pretty cool if you ask me .
Posted in GeoMedia, Intergraph | 5 Comments »
Posted by jeffhobbs on August 7, 2007
Eric Bayer, the regional local government sales manager for Intergraph in the Bay Area (and most of the United States) announced his resignation from Intergraph on Tuesday. From an email sent out to Bay Area customers:
Intergraph Customer
It is with great reluctance after over 20 years and many happy memories that I have submit my resignation, from Intergraph. I accepted a challenging position with Autodesk to develop sales strategies for Business Partners and support them as a geospatial software sales manager in the central US. The position starts here on the west coast but means I will move to Colorado mid next year.
It is you the Intergraph customer that has made the company successful and will continue to make the company a success. I want you to know it is the camaraderie and friendships that I have developed over the last 10 years on the west coast that I appreciate and will remember the most.
The GIS future at Intergraph looks bright. The upcoming release of the 6.1 line of GeoMedia products shows the dedication to continued development and success. Needless to say, it’s a great time to be an Intergraph customer.
Too all of you I want to express …..Thank you and best of luck with all your spatial endeavors.
Thank you
Eric Bayer
Eric and I became close friends during my tenure with Intergraph and have remained close since. I want to wish both he and his family the best of luck at Autodesk. He will be a phenomenal addition to the Autodesk family and will be sorely missed by Intergraph customers.
Posted in Intergraph | Leave a Comment »
