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@robodonut set the channel purpose: James Fee AMA 11/3/2015

Q: After working for so many different companies over the years, what has been their opinion on maintaining your blog? Was it ever frowned upon?

Q: If you could implement one cultural and one technical change in the GIS industry what would they be? What do you see as the major challenge to both?

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Q: I am a new GIS student (just started studying this fall). I have a background in web development (http://asp.net, C#, javascript, sql). The program I am studying is Esri focused and I am learning about the desktop applications (ArcMap mostly) . The FOSS4G perspective has hit my awareness recently and I am interested in learning more. Where should I head? I have tinkered around with Leaflet and CartoDB and am very impressed.

@savagemat set the channel purpose: James Fee AMA 11/3/2015 11am

Hey everyone. James will be coming in to do the AMA in just a few minutes. Thanks for coming everyone and thank you James for participating in this AMA.

James is a thought leader in the GIS industry. He?s worked at many companies in this industry and is now at Matrix New World Engineering.

He also has an awesome blog where he talks about all things GIS and is coming out with a podcast in just a couple of weeks. http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com

Good afternoon everyone!

hello

Welcome @jamesfee

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awesome!

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Q: Over the past decade since I've been in the industry, there's clearly been a trend toward desktop users learning a basic python scripting and other languages. Do you think that this trend will continue, leaving exclusively advanced Desktop/GUI users in the dark? Do you think there will always be a need for desktop technicians or will GIS tech become so easy to use that it will no longer be an advanced skill?

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oh? that?s like the ?is GIS dead?? question...

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What are your thoughts on the industry for startups? Is this is a good time to be starting a company that?s solving geospatial problems?

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@gisdev-km: I've never had any issues with companies I work for asking me not to blog or having issue with my social media life. The only time anyone ever said something it was Esri and I ignored them. I think if you are honest and fair and don't be a total jerk, you can do much.

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How much traffic does your blog get?

@julien

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@julien: honestly I don't know. I pulled the analytics off a couple years ago. It's much nicer not wondering if people read.

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Smart!

I think writing for traffic limits your ability to talk about what you want. Honestly I write for me first, it's therapeutic and help me deal with my job, my profession and let's me work some photoshop.

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@robodonut: culturally I think "traditional" GIS is so inward focused that it misses trends and new technology. I mean we're finally seeing Python gain traction but most GIS Analysts just write code one off. There isn't any effort to use tools such as Git to help them collaborate even internally with companies. GIS is still very much a button pushing profession and for people to have real careers in it, they need to become true analysts.

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@zippyferguson: the hardest thing to do is transition from "university education" to real world. I think way too often colleges teach tools and not techniques. There isn't much of an issue with learning Esri per say, it's probably a good move. Imagine a Financial Analyst that did't know Excel. But using open source and other tools (Python, R, PostGIS, etc) in conjunction with Esri tools is a great way to get exposure and learn how to leverage more open environments. Leaflet as you mentioned is another great one. Most of these tools have Esri support so integration doesn't require much.

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How would you respond if a client wanted you to put all their data layers onto a single webmap?

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@petersongis: That question happens all the time!

The more layers, the more fun right?

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Could I post my Leaflet/CartoDB experiment here to get some feedback? I don't want to spam this.

Usability is as a big aspect to web mapping as the data honestly. While Esri does allow you to do anything you want, even they try and get their users to back down off the cliff of too many layers. Web maps have a reason for existing and unless that reason is to "have a map to show every layer in our inventory" there needs to be focus on the final product.

Especially on mobile, web maps need to be simple and easy to understand. 1 or 2 layers is more than enough!

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@shannoncox: GIS never dies, it just gets integrated into other professions. The days of having a GIS staff sitting in a dark corner with the Solaris workstations is over. But that doesn't mean GIS Analysis are done in. It goes along with my button pusher comment above. If you add value to a project, you'll have a long future. If you can be replaced by someone just clicking an "I feel lucky" button in ArcGIS, then you're probably going the way of the Word Processor.

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GIS tech will become easier but there are too many variables for true analysis to have it simplified into Turf.js

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But you need the skills to run Turf.js and know if it should be run on the server or on a browser.

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@jamesfee: How did you learn geographic analysis? If universities supposedly aren't doing it right, where do you go to pick up this stuff?

Could you give some recommendation or resources if you?re just starting out in GIS without a GIS education?

@julien: re: startups. I think CartoDB and Mapbox show that there is great interest in geospatial startups. The biggest issue with a startup though is making sure you are bringing something new to the table. Both CartoDB and Mapbox have done that and run with it. I know with WeoGeo we worked really hard to make it grow but in the end we got brought by Trimble which I suppose isn't too bad of a result.

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Is that because it never became a business? I.e. revenue and profit

@julien

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What are your thoughts on QGIS?

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it was a business and made money, startups require 10x growth though to get big traction. We were a bit early to the space so people weren't ready for "cloud" stuff. It was a tough road to get traction but in the end it was successful. WeoGeo is what makes the Trimble Marketplace hum.

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@robin: I learned it honestly by the old Esri ArcINFO manuals from 5.x. Those don't really exist anymore because the tools are different. In a perfect world such analysis would be on Github and you could fork and extend the python scripting tools. But alas, that isn't how it works.

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As a self taught programmer, I find documentation the best way. For example, when Arc.py came out, I literally tried to do just about everything I could with it, just taking some shape files I had around and running the scripts.

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There are books on the subjects but they rarely work. I've seen much good on stack overflow. I feel like every question has already been asked over there!

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In the Esri centric world, I think model builder is a great way to get into the python programming. Visually chart out what you want to do, then export to python and see what the code behind does. Then cut and paste your way to understanding more on how the tools work.

And delete the 50 lines of redundant environment settings.

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Not to pull an "in the old days" but in the old days with command line, we had to know exactly run each command. All you had was a terminal session so you understood what fuzzy tolerance was. These days you just see a box in a wizard that says "optional"

Command line teaches you how to do things. I recommend PostGIS users stick to psql and shp2pgsql because they'll learn much.

@savagemat: well if you get paid by the line of code, you leave those in.

Ah, the Dickens approach

it's a business model

@zippyferguson: QGIS is a love/hate for me.

It's very powerful but the UI is an unmitigated disaster.

hmm

I'm not sure why GIS desktop tools from ArcView 3.x to QGIS to MapInfo, to ArcGIS for Desktop and even newer tools love to add toolbars

I think GIS Devs just think to themselves, "You know what would be great? Another toolbar!"

:simple_smile:

So you love ArcGIS Pro's ribbons?

@savagemat: haven't had a chance to try it. Ribbons are a real love/hate for me. They work until you can't figure out what tab your tools are on.

but hey, wide screen laptops love extra tabs

@jamesfee what can you tell us about your upcoming podcast?

Lately I've been trying to do more with Safe FME since I'm not visualizing. I find it easier for me than other tools. But I think like most things, personal preferences are very personal.

But FME is its own UI disaster as well.

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@themapsmith: so the plans are to start up this month. With my new job I had to put it on the back burner so I can focus on getting this stood up. It will be in the same general format as the Google Hangouts but audio only. I will probably still do Google Hangouts from time to time when there is a visual reason to do so.

I should create an ArcGIS for Desktop toolbar to play the podcast.

Poll for the crowd: will you subscribe to @jamesfee's podcast? Yes :+1: Double Yes :100:

Hi @jamesfee , Do you have any opinion on version control systems for geospatial data? It seems like something that is really important but in all my research I haven't found anything that stands out as #1.

What OS do you use primarily? What are you coding in (language/ide)?

ill subscribe

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@edisonorellanacom: I'd like there to be something awesome because it is sure needed. GeoGig seems to be supported and being developed but it's just hard to work with. I know I've been using Github with GeoJSON pretty well for version control but it isn't integrated into ArcGIS or even QGIS. We used to do a lot with Versioning in ArcSDE but it was so buggy that most of the time the data just corrupted. There just isn't anything close to usable for production data.

@jamesfee: who?s going to be your first podcast guest?

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@zippyferguson: I run Mac OS X. I use a VM for Windows to run Esri tools that are Windows only. Generally though I stick to Mac where I can for Python and visualization.

@julien: it is a requirement that I always have Ian White on as a first guest. It would hurt his feelings if he wasn't.

@julien: are you going to ask @jamesfee his 2016 predictions for the mapping space?

I want his 2020 predictions

to heck with 2016

i heard him say he wanted you to write an awesome toolbar for PostGIS

In 2020 @pramsey runs for office in BC but gets caught in a corruption sting.

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yes, predictions please. :simple_smile:

2016?

Well I see a couple things happening.

1. I see Javascript becoming more and more important for geospatial analysis. Turf.js seems to have gotten a ton of traction and while there are so few javascript libraries at this moment, I see that changing big time in 2016.

2. I see a very stagnant year of desktop GIS. ArcGIS Pro isn't ready for production which leaves Desktop on basic maintenance mode. QGIS has grown quite a bit in the past couple years but I just don't see anything compelling coming out of that project either.

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3. I see more 3D in the browser starting to come online. 3D is so critical to geospatial analysis but visualization in the browser is so limited.

4. R becomes a bigger part of our geospatial analysis tools. Esri and others are jumping in big time and users love the tools.

thoughts on imagery? lots of new satellites flying around??

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@jamesfee: how much of a player do you see ArcGIS online becoming (or not) in the future?

@willcadell: Not 100% sure. Other than Mapbox and Esri, who really buys imagery? Apple and Google are so far out of the normal channels on imagery that companies such as DG are hard pressed to find buyers. I suspect DG goes private in the next year or so.

interesting

@dklassen: I've been outside that product for years. Though I'm on a project that requires it so I'm going to see what exactly it can do. I guess with your free ELA Esri dollars paying for license it will stick around. I just don't see much use of it honestly.

Esri will integrate it more into their tools but it's really a silo play

yes, agree, not really open to customization as other options

My prediction: imagery business models shift from big bucks for outdated to loads of small bucks for near realtime.

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@miblon: what's the long term play here:? http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=DGI

it has to be take it private

Google Maps basically destroyed the DB business model.

Esri gives away imagery to all users. Devalues the price of imagery and the cost to collect it. Esri sells software and gives away data for free. DG sells data. Yikes

As a user though, you love being able to have license for free imagery.

WeoGeo was originally a marketplace for aerial imagery. It was a different work in 2006.

on Google Maps? do you see any big moves from Google? GME is gone, GE is on its way? maps API seems to be stagnant??

super convenient, too

Google has their Google Maps for Work (or whatever they call it this week) product. They seem to have gotten out of the consumer market and are focused on their large customers. For most of the GIS world, it becomes mostly a non-value product. Esri and Mapbox do a better job, cheaper.

GE hangs around but I can't recall the last time some amazing new feature is installed.

checks to see if laptop has GE installed.

notes the answer is now

I've had this laptop for 3 weeks, and this is the first time I thought to see if it had GE. It's a product that probably has run its course.

Katrina was a long time ago...

Esri has some 3D tool I keep hearing them say is a GE replacement but I think that market is dead.

ArcGIS Earth?

@grant: is that what they call it. Well played jack....

I mean when was the last time you used NASA Worldwide?

Is in Beta now...

LOL, my mac can't even autocomplete it

NASA Worldwind

The biggest problem with desktop tools is they aren't accessible on the mobile devices. That's why I see 3D mapping in the browser becoming important in 2016.

so, the future of 3d> cesium.js?

@willcadell: not sure, it's interesting for sure.

What technologies or companies will Tesla, Uber, Google and all the big players have to build or acquire in the next 1-5 years to help build the future of the autonomous car industry?

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So Uber basically buys what was left of Vexcel at Microsoft and then grabs Ed Katibah who was the force behind SQL Server Spatial. Clearly they see value in having a staff on board.

So it?s been an 1 hour everyone. Put in your last questions :simple_smile:

Google and Apple have staff to make it happen. HERE is now owned by a group of car companies. Tesla is out.

The channel will be open for another 24 hours and I think James can stick around for a few more minutes. But thank you for your time and joining everyone in The Spatial Community. Much appreciated,

But who knows if Tesla lasts until autonomous cars become a product. They're being hurt in the financial markets

Are you seeing any developments of social/collaborative tools built with geospatial in mind. Not so much ?I am here? apps but something like google maps coordinate (which seems to be out of service now).

thank you!

@max: not offhand, I think there was great interest in those tools a couple years ago but we're not seeing them productized. I think integration of such tools is happening, but are reduced to "apps".

Thanks everyone, it was fun!

great job @jamesfee thanks!

Thanks so much @jamesfee!! :clap: :100: :tada: :+1:

As always, it?s great to get your insight to the state of GIS @jamesfee, thank you again for your time

Thanks @jamesfee!

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Nice one @jamesfee . Not a single GISP question, I am astonished.

@rene how do you feel about GISP?

good point. hadn?t noticed that no one asked about GISP

>savagemat [1:23 PM] >@rene how do you feel up GISPs?

curious what he would say

This is James AMA @savagemat , gosh

@rene you do one next

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