BrewU 2013

Well, I'm packed and ready to head down to BrewU in the Shire of Frosted Hills. Just waiting for Lord Finan and Lady Sylvia. Hope I didn't forget anything. I'm super excited to see Master Ludwig and other brewing friends, take some classes, and see what others are doing for projects. I'll blog about it when I get there. Here are the event details: http://www.eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.html?eid=2427

East Kingdom Mapping Project (Take 2)

Wow.  I've really learned a lot about ArcGIS Online since my last post.  There is a private/subscription (paid) version and a public (free) version of accounts.  The public version is far more limited in what it can do, but in some ways, it makes an administrator much more concise with the data.  For example, there is a feature limit and file size limit, both of which I was well within.  However, there is also a limit to feature geometry.  In other words, a polygon cannot exceed a certain number of nodes or vertexes.  I discovered that the hard way.  I pretty much ended up deconstructing coastal features and replacing them with maritime zones.  Basically, I merged these zones with the coast line and islands features.  Oy.  What a job that was.  It simplified the geometry A LOT.  I then generalized the vertexes down to 10 meters which made it possible to upload the polygon files.  Anyway, the map link in my previous post is now dead and this is the new one:  http://bit.ly/10KOp80  I don't plan to change it anytime soon.  Enjoy!  =)

East Kingdom Mapping Project

OK.  So I have LOTS of irons in the fire most of the time.  Today's project is mapping the East Kingdom branches.  I happen to be the acting Seneschal for the Barony of Endewearde and I've just finished sending out the "populace polling forms" for recommending out first territorial Baron and Baroness.  Hopefully our members are filling them out and returning them to the EK Polling Deputy.  Anyway, in the course of ordering the official membership list from SCA, Inc., I had to ask for the ZIP code list from the EK Postal Legatus.  I noticed that the list only included 33 ZIP codes out of the 244 reserved for Endewearde.  In my personal life, I work in IT and map stuff (GIS Manager/Analyst).  I was only able to map 28 and 208 ZIP codes, respectively.  I have since learned that ZIP Codes are meant for mail routes (lines) and are not, strictly-speaking, areas (polygons).  HOWEVER, the USPS and Census Bureau came up with a ZIP code area map, which does not include locations (points) for Post Offices boxes or large organizations like colleges and universities.  So it's possible the difference of 5 ZIP codes is because folks use Post Office boxes instead of receiving mail at a street address.

At the same time I was investigating this, there have been local discussions about staring a canton in Endewearde, our good neighbors in the Incipient Shire of Hadchester have asked about releasing Windsor to them, and I've needed to learn how to use a new mapping service by ESRI, called "ArcGIS Online" for my job.  It's a work in progress, but here's what I've come up with so far:  http://bit.ly/YqzIY7  It's not quite where I want it to be, but it's a start.  I'll keep working on it as I fine-tune my knowledge of ArcGIS Online configurations.