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GIS

The Eigth Day of XYMas…OpenJump

rjhale · Dec 31, 2019 ·

Yeah – What?

So my one dirty secret is I use OpenJump more than I ever talk about. What is it?

From the website:

OpenJUMP is an open source Geographic Information System (GIS) written in the Java programming language. It is developed and maintained by a group of volunteers from around the globe. OpenJUMP started as JUMP GIS designed by Vivid Solutions.

So what do I use it for? I’ve got GRASS, OGR, and QGIS…so why?

Why Not. It works. This year I was dumping out Geopackages for a client. Client couldn’t read them. QGIS could. OGR2OGR could. GRASS was happy. ArcPro wasn’t giving the client an error log anywhere to make life easier when it wouldn’t read the Geopackage – so I loaded it into OpenJump and I got an error with an explanation. I fixed it. Life moved forward.

Sometimes If I get data (screwed up shapefiles) that won’t work in QGIS I toss it in here. Maybe I need just some random check so things get opened here. It doesn’t seem there is any developer overlap between OpenJump and QGIS/GRASS/Anyone. So it’s my sanity check…and yes it has a small user base but it’s worth playing with if nothing else than “you can because it’s free”.

The developers aren’t quick on a release candidate and that’s fine – I sorta like that it’s trailing the pack a bit in cutting edge things.

So for this eighth day of XYMas – show a random little known project some excitement.

12 years?

rjhale · Jun 4, 2018 ·

Some posts are way harder to write than others. That’s how I know I’m thinking too much on the subject matter. Thinking too much has given me writers block up to a degree for the last few weeks. I redid this one three times.

I started getting Linkedin Messages last week that were “Congrats on the Anniversary”. So I’ve been “working” at North River Geographic Systems for 12 years now. Technically  It was late April that I finally filed all the paperwork to start a business 12 years ago. I know – what’s a month? It had been a running fantasy since 2001 and it morphed and changed as life happened. So in 2006 I pulled the trigger and in 2008/2009 I transitioned to this being a full time thing.

I was trying to think of a way to sum up the last 12 years. I was trying to think of milestones or noteworthy things that’s I’ve done. Every year about March I start thinking about where I was 12 years ago and where I am now. I was trying to think of one giant phrase to sum up owning a business in 2018.

I’m never bored.

There. Done.

I didn’t have a great plan starting out. Back in 2006 it was enough to own some ESRI Software and look for work. In the By 2012/2013 I ended up leaving the ESRI Business Partners program and started focusing on Open Source. Towards the end of those “middle years” I ended up shifting focus to just about 90% open source. As of right now I’m 100% open source, dealing with data, and have customers calling me as opposed to me having to track them down. You know what – I cranked up a copy of ArcGIS 10.6 last week at a clients office and enjoyed that (weird right).

I’m happy. Mostly. It’s taken me a long time to get to that point. Happy will cover stuff at work and stuff not at work. I’ve adopted more of a “live and let live” attitude about everything. There are things I do well. There are things I don’t do well. I hope it’s all reflected accurately on the website so people know when/why to call me (which reminds me I need to update some stuff on the website). I hope I don’t run down what makes you happy. It may not make me happy but that’s fine. Just don’t hurt anyone in the process. I’ve been pulling back more and more from social media. I don’t want to know everything about you. Just that you are happy or you need help. That’s all.

For a good long while I just sorta existed from month to month. If you’re services oriented (like I am), services can come and go at the drop of a hat. As of right now I’m busy. I’m not looking at starving next month. Hopefully it continues. There is some merit to “spatial is special” still. I know it’s fun for us to scream and go “GEO IS EASY EVERYONE IS DOING IT” but they aren’t. I started in geo accidentally 26 years ago. The software changes but the science remains the same.

Anyway – I thank you all for the good thoughts. Thank you for enjoying my lunatic ramblings up here. There are more coming as life on this end continues.

 

 

 

MAGS Meetup in Atlanta Feb 21 2018

rjhale · Feb 20, 2018 ·

If you’re in or around Atlanta tomorrow – show up!

We’re getting into a Little Trouble at our February social

Wednesday, Feb 21, 2018, 6:30 PM

Little Trouble
1170 Howell Mill Rd Atlanta, GA

8 Members Attending

• What we’ll do We’re on the west side of Midtown this month for drinks and small bites at Little Trouble in the Westside Provisions District. Little Trouble is on the lower level, beneath Marcel. Take MARTA (1 or 12 bus) or rideshare if you can. Free parking is plentiful (deck behind Yeah Burger is your best bet). • What to bring • Important to k…

Check out this Meetup →

We’re on the west side of Midtown this month for drinks and small bites at Little Trouble in the Westside Provisions District. Little Trouble is on the lower level, beneath Marcel.
Take MARTA (1 or 12 bus) or rideshare if you can. Free parking is plentiful (deck behind Yeah Burger is your best bet).

I think I hit your car

rjhale · Feb 8, 2018 ·

So today I pick my car up from the repair place – 3rd bumper in 6 years. First time it happened I was mad. Second time I just sorta stood there. This time I laughed and went “whatever” and pushed it back into place.

Consultants/Businesses with large clients drive me nuts. You see some people and they just scream “OH YEAH I WAS A CONSULTANT FOR 3.5 MINUTES AND LANDED GIANT INTERNATIONAL ABC COMPANY AND I’M KNOCKING DOWN 6 FIGURES”. I’m not quite that lucky. I’ve had some large clients. I’ve more small ones than large ones. I even have one that will argue over a $20 dollar charge on the invoice.

A few weeks ago I found myself trudging up a driveway to a possible client. House calls can be the worst.  I had been referred to someone through someone else who had heard I was good with computers. This person had called in a panic as there were multiple things wrong with her computer/gis setup. She’s a one person shop. I’m a one person shop. I get it. Since we were in full “holiday season” swing I had decided I’d just make a trip up and as a “Happy Holidays” sign of love for my fellow man – no charge. The problems I was presented with were 15 minutes total. Maybe 30 if we traded stories about things.

As we stood there I caught her husband coming home out of the corner of my eye. He walked past her office carrying a lunch pail. I kept working and talking. He passed again with a drill. I kept working. He passed again with a screw driver. We kept working. I was done – 17 minutes total. Which I should have a standard charge for walking in the door BUT – I don’t want to fix computers. A few years ago I was fixing a friend’s computer and stumbled upon a set of photos that were not meant to be seen. I closed the lid and gave it back. That ended the joy of computer repair.

We were sitting there talking and her husband yelled “BLARGH HOLY CRAP”. I was putting cords back up as she left and I said “NO CHARGE Merry….Chris….” and she bolted. About 20 seconds later she ran past the door. 10 seconds after that she ran back in and “Randy I need your help”.

Her husband was laying in one direction in the driveway. His ankle was more or less pointing 180 degrees in the opposite. The truck he drove home wasn’t sitting in the driveway anymore. It had rolled over him, over the mailbox, and into my car – specifically the bumper. He had been under the dash when the brake turned loose with a screwdriver banging on something. He was lucky. Oh so lucky. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been working on my car with it not properly secured. I’ve been crawling under transmissions. Pulled rotors.

“Randy I think I hit your car”.
I’m not worried about the car.
“How does my ankle look?”
I’d prefer to not talk about that now – it’s different.
“How different?”
Well…it’s – probably OK…….It’s 2017 they can do anything these days with feet.
“I’m sorry about your car”.
I’m not worried about the car.

We shoved him into his wifes car and off he went to spend a few weeks in the hospital. Broken this and some broken that. Me and a neighbor shoved his truck out of my bumper.I threw my laptop into the passenger seat and just sat there. Had my car not been sitting there it would have most likely run over the neighbor’s Nativity scene. Which made me chuckle more than it should have. “Yes Baby Jesus – two camels, 3 wise men, and a 99 chevy long bed came to visit you this fine Christmas morn”.

I went back up last week to do some GIS work for her last week and the complaint was “You have to let me pay you”

I’ll invoice you – don’t worry about it.

“…but last month….”

I’m not worried about last month, or the car, or whatever I’d charge. That was on the house. Seriously. Think of the stories we now have.

We meandered up stairs to see her husband. It’s amazing how they can wrench an ankle back into place.  He’s walking next month hopefully.

Which was how I picked up another client in January. Not a 100,00k a year deal. Not a deal where I’m breaking new ground on GIS work or running some weird docker python virtual environment and slinging code. I’ll most likely been making points, calculating acres, and making sure the GPS work. Overall not bad. More clients are a good thing even if they are small.

When I get the car back I guess I’ll have to wash it since I’ll have this nice new bumper.  The fun never ends in the small business world.

MAGS Atlanta Meeting September 20th 2017

rjhale · Sep 18, 2017 ·

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Victory Sandwich Bar

This month come on down for some food and a brew at Victory Sandwich in the heart of Decatur! It’s probably less than 100 steps from the Decatur MARTA Station.

September Social @ Victory

Wednesday, Sep 20, 2017, 7:00 PM

Victory Sandwich Bar
340 Church Street Decatur, GA

3 Members Attending

This month come on down for a sammie and a brew @ Victory Sandwich in the heart of Decatur! It’s probably less than 100 steps from the Decatur MARTA Station.

Check out this Meetup →

 

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