I recently attended the ICIS User Conference held in Sidney on September 19th. It was well attended by many of the players that have made a significant contribution to the idea of sharing spatial data and building a common cadastral or parcel data set for the province of B.C. Two key announcements w[...]
Archive for the ‘GIS’ Category
May 3rd, 2011 - 9:30 am § in GIS
Goodbye GIS: Welcome to the Age of Spatial Discovery
For too long GIS has become and end unto itself spawning professions, a software industry and helping to revitalize and academic discipline. The result created a barrier to access to spatial data and tools. Expert training was required to extract the answers from complex software tools that limited [...]
February 15th, 2011 - 9:00 am § in GIS
The King’s Speech and GISP
The Kings Speech gives inspiration for those that face credential discrimination in society. The recent arguments about GIS Professional certification suggests some correlation.[...]
November 29th, 2010 - 7:25 am § in GIS
The myth about GIS accuracy
One aspect of GIS that tends to inhibit a municipality implementing a system is an over emphasis on accuracy. The thought being that your data isn’t “good enough” and you don’t want to implement a system until it is. I have frequently found this way of thinking when the k[...]
October 19th, 2010 - 1:57 pm § in GIS
Why the Finance Department should care (more) about GIS
GIS is not often thought of as something that should interest the Finance Department of a municipality beyond an operating expense line item in the annual budget. However, GIS can play a significant role in preserving a municipality's revenue and mitigating risk exposure. This article talks about [...]
June 3rd, 2010 - 12:22 pm § in GIS, Management
Let’s call it “PT” rather than “IT”
It's easy to forget that people are the most significant component of an IT implementation. In fact, people are the key to making any system implementation successful whatever the supposed quality of the software, hardware or service that's been purchased. So much so that we should think of IT pro[...]
April 1st, 2010 - 12:13 pm § in GIS
We Have GIS . . . Let’s Build an Inventory!
A GIS is a wonderful tool to keep track of municipal infrastructure however it is very tempting to build inventories and forget to put in place mechanisms for maintaining them. It's not long before the inventory is out-of-date and of little use. The only solution is to do it all over again. This [...]
March 4th, 2010 - 9:32 am § in GIS, Information Technology
Preventing Application Erosion: GIS Audit
Audits are a necessary process in the accounting industry to ensure integrity of accounting systems. Information technology can use audits to the same end and are an invaluable tool to prevent application erosion. GIS audits, in particular, are extremely helpful given the complexity and extent of [...]
February 11th, 2010 - 7:50 pm § in GIS, Information Technology
Focus on the Problem: Not the Solution
It's often too easy to focus on problems with technology and forget about the problem that needs solving. Understanding the problem is the key to finding the right solution which may or may not be the technology.[...]
February 9th, 2010 - 2:29 pm § in GIS
AddressBC: First Implementation in BC
My compatriot, Paul van Nieuwkuyk at CartoSmart GIS, and I have been working with the Town of View Royal over the past few months implementing their GIS. Core to the implementation strategy was the use of published data models to ensure that the Town took advantage of other’s experience an[...]
