North River Geographic Systems Inc

Spatial Problem Solving

QGIS

Chattanooga QGIS Conference Update

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So things are moving. Things are always a bit terrifying as this starts pulling together. I’ve been tossing updates everywhere – so here’s an update for the Blog.

Official Stuff

Website: https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/20191000-QGIS-US

Date: October 25th 2019

So the first big thing: A Social. I’m headed down to the Tap House this week to make sure everything is arranged for a social On October 24th.

Talks

Talks are rolling in for Friday. There is still room to submit a paper if you wish. The big one is I’m hopefully (and I’m at the mercy of the internet) is I’ve got Nyall Dawson on Video from Australia speaking first.

Here are some of the abstracts that have been submitted:

  • QGIS: It’s all about Form(s) – QGIS comes with the ability to create forms to help you input data or capture data. You can build simple forms to help users avoid misspellings and help speed up data capture. You can also build forms where data entry is dependent on previous data entered as well as forms where data entry depends on other GIS data. Building Forms in QGIS is easy, powerful, and easily done if you have no programming experience. I’m going to attempt to talk you through the easiest to make forms plus one difficult form to show you how easy this can be (or hard depending on how the demos work).
  • Using QGIS with TN’s 911 Database Standard – Henry County 911 recently moved away form their COTS system and started using QGIS, PostGIS, and Fulcrum to collect and maintain the county’s 911 data. This talk covers some of the in’s and out’s of switching software, tools, and workflows.
  • EcoValuator:  EcoValuator is built on python and provides a simple means of estimating the dollar value of a study area, based on the land cover types in that study area, and on your ecosystem service of choice. This presentation will cover background information about the project, what are ecosystem services, how the EcoValuator works, challenges of using the QGIS python API, and demonstration of the plugin in action.
  • Building a cloud-based mapping and analysis solution based on Openlayers and CesiumJS. 18 month ago our team felt the need for having a next Gen cloud mapping solution. We did not want to leave it all to ArcGIS Online, so we decided to build our own. It is designed to make maps, analyze data, add custom database solutions, and to share maps and data with fellow users.Take a look behind the scene of the journey of putting it all together and learn how far we have come and what are our ideas in terms of connecting Open Source solutions like QGIS and GeoServer.

…..and more are coming.

This is the third meeting I’ve put on since 2017. All meetings are centered around FOSS4G with this being the  first QGIS focused one. I’ve had emails and conversations from all over the US on this meeting. One thing that keeps coming up is people want more open source GIS meetings. The tough part is it has to be a community run affair or someone (yours truly) jumps up and puts this together. I really need to start earlier and shoot for bigger – BUT – there’s only so much I can do. We have the FOSS4G NA meetings that are well run and much bigger – but this seems to scratch an itch. How does this get bigger? I have no idea and I’m open to suggestions.

Anyway – the clock is ticking. The more the merrier at this thing so please make plans to attend.

 

 

TN 911 Server Updates

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The TN NG911 server got an upgrade this month with some quality assurance checks. After working with Henry County for the last bit we’re into more “what if” scenarios.

  • What if we ran checks for misspelled addresses or improperly labeled addresses?
  • What if we started filling out the fields we weren’t filling with out with our ArcGIS/Geodatabase setup?

Working with Chad Howard (911 GIS Guru for Henry County TN) we’ve started playing with data problems. One thing I learned is that the amount of quality assurance checks at the county level are lacking – not because anyone didn’t want to do it it’s just hard working with a basic arcgis license to do anything significant. That’s where postgis comes into play. I’ve got a total of three checks on the addresses planned with two implemented as of right now.

What if you accidentally add two address points with the same geometry? A red circle appears in one of the layers in your database (and in your QGIS session) alerting you to the mistake. What if you accidentally misspell an address street name and that doesn’t match a street? A blue circle appears. If you look at the example it looks like someone can’t spell. Actually the old setup was adding spaces to names. So instead of “Main” you had “Main “. That’s an easy enough fix we can do in a bulk edit.

I expect these next set of checks to slowly become irrelevant over the next bit as the client takes full advantage of QGIS’s forms for data entry. Once again we’re hitting spaces as opposed to nulls in the data in 80% of the cases. We should only have 4 pre-directionals – well at most 8 –  but for this county they only have 4.

We can bulk edit the spaces away in the database. It’s nice to have this table sitting in the qaqc schema just to check occasionally but I do expect that to drift off in significance the more we use Fulcrum and QGIS’s Forms for data input. These checks check everything from street types, names, to directionals. Like I said – over time these start drifting off in significance but it’s nice for now.

Anyway – more quality checks are planned but we’re over he first hurdle to making this even more useful and easy.

QGIS Training Revisions

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Like I don’t talk about this enough……BUT – can I just say Training is difficult on a good day. You have to pick a day, pick a location, advertise your butt off, and then HOPE beyond hope someone signs up for it. This year has been odd in that I’ve taught three or four times now – all for conferences and clients. So I’ve been on the road bouncing out different versions of the basic classes and gymnastic skills to get training done. I hate flying – and I’ve been on more planes the first 6 months of this year than I have in a good while.

The last few training classes have been enjoyable. At one time I was using the Business Development Center here in town and that was a good spot overall just a bit of a pain to deal with as far as parking and food went. Plus it was more of a numbers game. To make it worth my while I really had to hold a lot of classes – and that went back to my days as an ESRI Certified Trainer.

So – what just changed?

  • Classes will be held again in Chattanooga once a quarter
  • The QGIS Class will now be 2 days and Cover QGIS I and II. It’s all Chattanooga Centric Data also from vector to raster – you’re going to be in the dataset we are going to use.
  • The classes will be held at the new Holiday Inn in Chattanooga. Holiday Inn? Yes. It’s in Downtown Chattanooga and within walking distance of everything you would want to do in Chattanooga at night or during the day (if you happen to bring anyone with you). There will be a special rate at the Holiday Inn for people wanting to stay there. For those not staying there we’ve got parking available and that’s not a hassle.
  • All Classes will be QGIS Certified – so you will get a certificate and funds go back to the QGIS Project.
  • It’s all prepaid. So if you don’t pay you don’t have a spot. This will keep the price lower because I’ll be less stressed.

I’m rounding out the Day 2 class to be more in line with Day 1. I may scrap the QGIS 3 class just because that’s a bit much. I’m still available to come to you vs you coming to me also.

I look forward to you coming to Chattanooga – it’s fun, centrally located, and makes for a good trip out. Plus Chattanooga has a massive mapping history no one knows about. Anyway – dates are coming soon.

 

TN NG-911 Server

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Last year I had the chance to work with Henry County TN’s 911 group on a software migration project. I moved the organization off a basic commercial GIS product to an open source enterprise server. Overall it was a great project with a defined end goal and a lot of flexibility in making it happen.

Once the project ended I never stopped working on the database and the tools. Over the last few months I’ve had the chance to turn the database into something that is 100% compliant with the State of TN’s NG911 System. I present the TN NG911 Server.

What does it look like?

The workflow is simple. Field Personnel go out and collect data using menus set up in Fulcrum.

Data is stored in PostGIS/PostgreSQL and edited with custom menus in QGIS. The database is served out through Geoserver as an OGC service.

Data is exported from the server at night to the the states ESRI database.

The bonuses to this approach:

  • 100% TN NG911 Compliant
  • Cloud Deployment Or Onsite Deployment
  • Local TN Support for your organization
  • Can Interface with Computer Aided Dispatch Systems through managed Exports.
  • Quality Checks on your attributes
  • Topology checks for your data
  • Unlimited Desktop Deployments for everyone
  • Can work with TN’s LIDAR Data and TN’s Imagery Services.
  • Handles more than just the 3 data layers the state needs for NG911

Granted it’s not 100% open source as Fulcrum is a commercial product. Fulcrum will need to be purchased but it’s only a fraction of what you could be spending on software and it has more uses than just address collection.

The TN NG911 Server has a solid deployment that’s been in production a year. If you’re interested in integrating Open Source GIS into your 911 system you should at least look at this approach. Everyone needs good clean data.

Future plans have a plugin and more quality checks on the data. For Version 1 though this is very solid and very functional.

What about the NENA Standard? The TN Standard is not NENA Compliant! Well – stay tuned for more news.

Teaching in Dumas TX

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QGIS Training usually goes one of two ways: Mediocre or great. With a class of 10 you have 2 or 3 that are really excited about QGIS and 2 or 3 that are glad they aren’t at work while the rest scratch their heads and go “Why won’t this guy shut up”. In the training in Dumas Texas – Someone yelled “Holy Sh*t” and I was caught off guard……

 

I’ve been getting more training requests from organizations looking at moving off their COTS system or integrating QGIS into their workflow.  So far I’ve been to 2 conferences to talk about QGIS and 2 organizations to teach QGIS. Last week had me in Dumas Texas. If you fly to Dallas TX and get in a car it’s almost exactly one tank of gas away. Dumas is a town of 16,000 but they also house the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District. NPGCD is moving off their commercial system – actually have moved and have dived fully into Open Source Software. RESPEC had built a backend system for them and most of the work happens there – but work happens in QGIS. RESPEC called and asked if I could do some training. My answer was yes and off I went.

NPGCD is in the groundwater protection business. They work with the local population from farming to industry to protect the water supply. The water supply being the Ogallala Aquifer. Fun part for me – it’s been a bit since I’ve been this close to my old job of “environmental GIS” work and since I’m a geologist by training I find the whole thing of aquifers fascinating.

tractor
I went to the Dumas Museum while I was there. If you like Tractors – have I got the place for you.

One of the fun things with the Intro Class is the exercises – well at least I think it’s the exercises. It took a while but I have them to a point to where I can rip them out and replace them in about half a day. The Problems cover the basics of what I think people struggle with in QGIS …. well GIS in general. So in walking to meet the group the day before class I realized I had all the exercises wrong. What I thought they needed wasn’t what they needed. So – I replaced them the night before class. Granted they were still not perfect but I caught the spirit of the problem. We ran through slides for 4 hours and then I went and sat with each person individually and answering questions.

In 27 years of doing this – people are always stuck with editing and attributes. You can run through toolboxes and python and talk about colors – but it always falls down at editing and attributes .

  • How do we find stuff?
  • How do we edit the stuff we find?
  • How do I save stuff?
  • (plus the How do I make a PDF to print because we need a paper map).

There aren’t many times I get to sit with a client during training and learn what works and what doesn’t. Day 2 we just threw the class out and played “Stump the instructor”. When we touched on editing that’s when the “Holy Sh*t” moment happened. We covered how to edit and merge data and move vertices and not create more problems than you started off with. No one has ever been happy enough in class to curse. It was great.

sunrise
Leaving Dumas while listening to Waylon Jennings

I’ve had some horrid classes. I’ve had some mediocre classes. I think this one was probably the best classes I’ve had the pleasure of conducting….way out in the middle of North Texas. Heading out Saturday morning I stopped on the side of the road and caught the sunrise while Waylon Jennings blared from the radio.

 

 

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