theDrive

I lack ArcDesktop on my laptop.  At development time months ago, I was in need of the web ADF for the DOTNET environment on my laptop so I went ahead and uninstalled the build of the Desktop environment that I was running so that I could get Server running and get access to that API.  So now, three weeks after graduation I want to go back and work on updating a custom tool I built back in April, but to do that I need to drive back to Akron (I “relocated” back to Columbus over the holiday weekend).  I’ll spare you the techno babble for now except to say that I am passing on rebuilding the tool in flex and I’m not really interested in developing a user interface blind, so I’m not building in Python or Eclipse, which brings us back to the DOTNET environment; cycles after all.

So the drive back here this morning did give me the opportunity to process the fact that Columbus isn’t home anymore.  The landscape is still similar enough to when I left that I recognize it, but it just feels a bit foreign now.  And so I’m in Akron, a city I was very recently all too eager to get out of, trying to figure out how I can eek out and find an interesting gig in this Shrinking waning region of the country.

And THERE it is folks, the official declaration, I will relocate for/to the highest bidder, and I have locations that are higher than others on my “big board” but Akron/Cleveland are higher on the list than my hometown of Columbus (neither are number 1)

Ethics and Professionalism

So today I am working on the GIS Certification Institute application to become a Geographic Information Systems Professional.  Being completely honest here, the application is a complete pain in the … as it were.  Having gone through a number of other certification programs, this is by far the worst I’ve ever worked on.  Hopefully from here on out it will go smoothly, but griping about that isn’t the point of this post.  The point here falls more to the academic side where I’m still sitting.

So the story…  I’ve been sitting in the lab all morning plugging away at the application, and there are a number of students in the main instructional lab presumably working on homework for summer session classes or their theses.  Still it seems that every time I walk into the lab to get to the printer, or to speak with faculty about any number of topics that I’m working on back here, I get inundated with the “how do you do..” questions, which is all well and good when an undergraduate student who has never had a GIS class asks or when the task is marginally complex, but some of the things that I’m getting asked are fairly self explanatory if you spend a minute to figure out what you’re doing.

And here’s where the ethics comes into play here; finally you’re saying.  If I point click the students through the task they won’t learn anything, if I point click them through it they aren’t even doing their work.  So lets call this my official declaration that I’m not going to help students anymore here in Akron — I’ll help point you to where the information that will help you answer the question is, but I’m not going to answer it; cowboy up and solve the problem yourself.  That’s why you’re here on your “summer break” anyway.  I say this as an ethics thing because I’m considering it part of my professional contribution to the “faith”.  Time for y’all to “get some” for yourselves.  Good luck and happy hunting.

Tales from a burning river

Now that I have time I can get back to trying to work on this blog under the advice I was given once upon a time.  Try and write something for everyone everyday.  So today, I sat down with every intention of discussing how NE Ohio fit into my concept of Home as a Landscape Extent, and how all of that was influencing my current job search.  That will have to wait until later this week, after I’ve packed and opened up a couple of other projects (python/VB.NET).

So what I am working on today, or at least going to be working on today, relates to the User Interface within ESRI’s ArcGIS Desktop.   A couple of months ago I developed a customization of an Intersect operation, without getting into the nuts and bolts of what I do with it and how I do it, this customization allows me to filter the attribute fields that are included in the output feature class or shape file.  I used the arcgisscripting API obviously, so I didn’t rewrite the Intersect algorithim (that would be scary), but theres some stuff and then I get to this:

…

junk = temp1 + “;” + temp2

gp.Intersect_analysis(junk, outFeature)

gp.deletefield(outFeature, “FID_temp1 ; FID_temp2″)

…

then there’s more stuff that help to clean up the file structure.  So I like this, and my colleagues (other students, and a couple of professors) like this, however I have a couple of big limitations that I am going to try and fix.  First, I can only conduct this operation on two features at a time.  This is a big small problem, and it relates to the UI in that the script window in the GIS uses an “obtained by” tag to update the field map frame and this obtained by only works on one feature.  To fix this in the script I tried a simple split operation around the ‘;’ that delimits the multi input, but it breaks the availability of the obtained by update so I need to go back and look at that.  The second problem I have is that I am currently creating temporary files on the disk when I would much rather run the entire operation through the %SCRATCHWORKSPACE%\, so I am going back and looking at that today.

My apologies if you were really looking forward to some philosophical discussion of landscape but I’ll make it up to you later on, likely with a photo essay type entry.   Sound like a deal?

theDawning

Just another quick update, considering that these days I’m just trying to expand my programming experience.  I’ve been looking at the Flex 3 framework and more specifically two pieces of it; the InfoWindowRenderer, styling/CSS functionality.

We’re looking at the infowindowrenderer, which is actually part of the ArcGIS API, because the conceptual design that I developed for the University called for when a user queries the map for a building a ‘popup’ window was supposed to show.  What we ideally want(ed) is a panel to fade in on the screen that calls links to all the department sites within the building, an image of the building, and a basic floor plan — this is for the general public — for the internal user we wanted the ability to access any and all utility and project information, as well as the asset management and work orders for the building.  However, as of now, what we have is a bubble window, which is fine when we pass a small amount of information in a small bubble, but it isn’t exactly the best fit when you start to serve out other web applications.  So it looks like I’m going to be building my own, wholly custom infowindow here in the near future.

As we’ve been developing, we have been utilizing the standard Halo theme that is included in the Flex Framework, and although I personally find it aesthetically pleasing, I think that it would be advantageous if I could demonstrate some ability to alter that for other applications/environments.

So that’s the update.  These are a couple of the things that I’ve been working on during my first week as an unemployed GIS Analyst/Developer/Programmer.  They’re really exciting, honestly they are, and they’ve been keeping me busy while I hunt for an actual position and do the interview circut.

mentalFloss

I’ll leave this one short, because I’m busy on what one side of my brain (the pit-bull side) wants to work on, and I apologize no pictures — again the pit-bull’s been chewing on this stuff for a while.  We’re finished now, sitting in a holding pattern both for graduation on Saturday, and for the job situation to sort itself out.

So while I’m waiting, I get to do research, I get to be the ghost in the machine here on the fourth floor, and I get to push the boundaries of what we think we can do with a web map.  At the same time I was just given a couple of books by a great professor (one of those guys that you’re really going to miss learning from) and I’m going to get back after the landscape theme.  I’m going to get after placing all of this tech and code in the context of ‘home’.  To place the ether into a spatial extent should make for an interesting thought exercise.  As that shakes out we’ll keep you posted, but until then… continue to Flex…