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The Insider
Win an Earthmate GPS PN-20!
It’s time to let us know what you think of the DeLorme Professional Newsletter. PN-20.jpg)
Are the articles informative?
Do the Tab Tips help you use XMap more efficiently?
Are the Where on Eartha Challenges not challenging enough?
Please take a few minutes to fill out an online survey and you will be automatically entered in a drawing to win an Earthmate PN-20 handheld GPS receiver. The name of the winner will be announced in May’s Newsletter.
Good Luck! |
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Where on Eartha?
The latest winner of a copy of XMap 5.0 Professional is Ken Anderson from Brockton, MA, whose name was pulled from the hat after March’s Where on Eartha Challenge. Ken correctly identified the country of Bangladesh straddling the delta of the Ganges river. Home to almost 150 million people, this region is a labyrinth of channels, swamps and lakes where the threat of a rise in sea level is an obvious concern.
Beginning this month, our Where on Eartha tour will be visiting some of the great capital cities of the world. If you can identify and name the city and country in the satellite image below, send your response in an email to contest@delorme.com before April 30, 2007 and you could be the next winner of a copy of XMap 5.0. Also beginning this month, contest winners will receive an Earthmate USB GPS receiver for use with XMap.
WorldTour59.jpg)
Click here to order 3-D satellite imagery of the world for XMap.
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Service Pack 1 Available for XMap 5.0
It’s time to renew your version of XMap 5.0 with Service Pack 1, a recently released package of updates and upgrades. Service Pack 1 corrects several technical issues with the software as well as adding new functionality. Included in this update are:
•Improved viewing of MrSID and GeoTiff files
•Additional DXF/DWG/DWF importing and registration options
•Access to 1-meter color imagery for select states through the Netlink tab
•Support for the Garmin X series
For more information or to install Service Pack 1, click the Netlink tab in your version of XMap 5.0 or click here. |
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XMap Developments
UPC Wind Management Selects XMap for Wind Turbine Placement
DeLorme is pleased to announce that UPC Wind, a leader in U.S. wind power production, has selected XMap to help Wind_Turbine.jpg) with analysis of large landowner’s property as potential sites for its wind farms.
XMap is an affordable, easy-to-use mapping and GIS software suite that integrates advanced geospatial data management into DeLorme's core GPS mapping framework.
Making use of XMap’s included 3-D terrain modeling capability, UPC technicians are able to remotely evaluate locations for wind farms and turbine placement eliminating laborious and time-consuming field work.
XMap provides easy-to-use GIS functionality that quickly increases productivity in both experienced and novice GIS users. By integrating existing GIS data layers, UPC technicians are able to compile a more complete picture of a site in question, with such layers as property ownership, wind patterns and land cover. Ultimately the availability of such a variety of information allows UPC to accurately determine the suitability of a particular site.
Using XMap’s included in-vehicle GPS navigation capability, UPC field crews can quickly and efficiently find their way to the work site. They can even add routable roads to the base map to reflect new construction around a wind farm project.
“XMap is ideally suited to our workflow,” according to Chris Caffyn, Development Manager at UPC Wind. “It offers the right combination of mapping tools and is straightforward enough that all of our staff can use it.”
To help streamline the deployment of XMap, UPC participated in a customized online training program. A training specialist from DeLorme provided instruction on the use of XMap and how it specifically relates to wind turbine placement.
“The training program provided the introduction that we needed to get up and running with the software economically and efficiently,” added Mr. Caffyn. “It helped to see first hand how the software will help us meet the challenges that we face”.
About UPC Wind UPC Wind is based in Newton, Massachusetts, with offices in Maine, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Oregon and Hawaii. UPC Wind is an American-owned company, with a proven track record of developing, owning and operating well-sited, community-friendly wind farms that increase energy independence. Additional information on UPC can be found at www.upcwind.com.
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XMap Q&A
Does DeLorme offer a discount on XMap for educational purposes?
Order_XMap_5.jpg) Yes. Recognizing the importance of providing affordable access to GIS tools in an educational setting, DeLorme is pleased to offer an educational licensing plan that permits XMap 5.0 GIS Editor or Enterprise to be installed on up to 25 workstations or computers with the purchase of a single copy.
Under the educational license agreement, XMap 5.0 must be used for non-commercial purposes in a legitimate academic or educational setting. The usual copyright limitations apply to any maps that are generated using the software and the appropriate credit must be given when a map is included in a published paper or research document.
XMap 5.0 is an ideal GIS application for classroom, laboratory, and field research purposes. Because it is easy to learn, XMap can be quickly applied as a practical GIS solution rather than as the primary focus of your class. There’s less need to spend valuable classroom or lab time instructing students on how to use the software allowing more time to focus on the subject at hand.
XMap is a flexible mapping and GIS program offering a full suite of spatial data management and analysis tools incorporated into DeLorme’s GPS-enabled mapping framework. It can be easily adapted for a variety of applications and academic disciplines including the physical sciences, natural resource studies, ecology, history, social studies and many others.
For more information on the GIS functionality of XMap 5.0, visit www.xmap.com or call 1-800-293-2389.
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Tab Tip – Building a Query in XMap 5.0
Of all the functional enhancements made to XMap with the release of version Query1.jpg) 5.0, perhaps the most significant are found in the Query tool. This data search feature, which is included in both the Enterprise and Editor versions of XMap 5.0, offers both attribute and spatial querying for quickly focusing on specific records in your data or for uncovering complex spatial relationships between data layers. Note that queries built within XMap 5.0 GIS Enterprise or Editor can be transferred with the corresponding Openspace Layer to users of XMap 5.0 Professional.
A query is built by following a few simple steps using Structured Query Language (SQL) logic:
• Click the Query button on the left side of the GIS tab, then select the layer to query from the Layer dropdown list.
• Select an Attribute of this data layerto query. Clickon the cell immediately below the Attribute column heading to display a dropdown list showing all the attribute fields in that layer.
Note that one of options in this list is GEOMETRY. Select this if you are conducting a spatial query (this is discussed below).
• After choosing an attribute field, select the query Operator from the dropdown list in the adjacent cell. Depending on the data type, query operators may include CONTAINS or IS EMPTY, among others. For instance, a query to find property owners by name within a parcel layer might be set up as follows:
Layer: Tax Parcels, Attribute: Owner, Operator: EQUALS
• In the next cell, type or select a search Criteria. This is where you enter the name or value you are searching for. A dropdown list offers a sample of the values present within the attribute field.
When building a query, you can leave the Criteria field can be left blank and the User Input box selected. If this is the case, the query criteria is entered by someone with whom this data layer is shared either through Openspace file transfer or using XMap Web
• The Logical Operator option allows you to build a more complex query by establishing multiple search criteria either on the same field or on a different field within the layer. For instance, by choosing the AND option, you can an additional line that further filters the query results. The parcel query might then read like this:
Attribute: Owner, Operator: EQUALS, Criteria: Smith, Logical Operator: AND
Query2.jpg) Attribute: Value, Operator: > Criteria: 100000
In this case the query would return a list of all of the properties owned by someone named Smith that have a value of greater than $100,000. You can add additional lines to a query as needed.
The process of building a spatial or geographic query is similar to building an attribute query. Selecting GEOMETRY from the Attribute list, as noted above, results a unique list of query operators that includes IS CONTAINED BY, INTERSECTS, and WITHIN A DISTANCE OF, and their inverses. This allows you to generate a subset of objects within a layer based on their spatial relationship to objects in another layer or based on a determined distance from a selected location or from the map center.
A powerful search option allows you to create a query that is a combination of both spatial and attribute query criteria. Using the Parcel example again, you can build the query as follows:
Attribute: Owner, Operator: EQUALS, Criteria: Smith, Logical Operator: AND
Attribute: Value, Operator: > Criteria: 100000, Logical Operator: AND
Attribute: GEOMETRY, Operator: IS CONTAINED BY, Criteria: City School District
In this example the query results is further limited to those that fall with the City School District polygon as delineated in a second Openspace Layer.
Next time we’ll look at some of the options for managing the results of a query and for using the query tool to build custom data layers.
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