The Week's News

Some random news from the past week or so:

Presentation slides from the ESRI Developer's Summit are posted online

ESRI has a new book about and using GIS for land use analysis (of note since GIS and land-use planning seem are so interlinked here in Wisconsin)

An April Fools Day version of the Constitution (aka Constitution 2.0) if it was written as a software license (Click Here to Agree)

I haven't seen it, but would like to - A book on the maps that Congress have used to help make decisions. I'm sure many working in the public sector would like to compile a similar list of maps that were used by County Supervisors and Alderman to make big decisions.

A review of the differences between 9.1 and 9.2

A brief description of two free tools to use with ArcGIS, I also recommend checking out all of the postings on this blog from time to time. All problems can be solved with time and money, at this blog helps to take the money out of the equation.

If you haven't noticed already ESRI updated their support site, but it looks like the layout was rearranged and no additional functionality added (am I wrong? or there more to come?)

Creating something useful for Google Earth got easier with the release of Arc2Earth Publisher.

It looks like Google, not to be outdone my Microsoft's Bird's Eye, just added 2.5D buildings to Google Maps.

The Power of Maps

In the Milwaukee TV market (not sure about the rest of the State), two political ads are making heavy use of geography to support their cause. (Note I'm not discussing the issue of the ads, but rather the use of geography to create the message).

The ads can be viewed here. These are screen shots from each of the ads:











These can very easily be used as an exhibit in Mark Monmonier's book How to Lie With Maps, which discusses in detail how maps by nature are deceiving and are often used in both advertising and propaganda.

TV Spot 1 (arrows) show the location of the players in the issues. I think the arrows look like missile trajectories a'la WarGames. The message is that Wisconsin is being attached by outside interests.

TV Spot 2 (ooze) shows a growing blob around the existing and proposed locations. There's no mention of what the blob actually is (trade areas?) But the message is that they're "taking over" and the spread is ominous (like a time-series infection spread maps).

The creators of the ad used the most effective means to portray their interests - geography.