SMF - while nice, i have experienced many different kinds of errors. If one of the dependencies has a problem, the chain breaks and it is a pain to discover the problem.
SMF - The logging related to SMF is fairly robust. Any of the problems I've encountered have been easy to track (maybe not fix, but at least I find the problem quickly enough)
Zones - I still have yet to see a reason to use this except for dedicated virtualization servers.
Zones - Software licensed per CPU on the server may acknowledge zones as a valid way to segment the system. We've done it with Oracle and ArcSDE on a server with 4 CPUs where we only wanted those apps taking 2 CPUs.
While I can see your point, I can say that my employer (over 10,000 employees) does use tools to monitor what is installed on their network. They do, as another reply suggested, frequently opt for enterprise licenses for typical software and tend to limit access to computers so users can't install any software. Those that have access are required to acknowledge a policy that states they won't download/install software without prior approval too. Now I don't know if this is typical for all large companies, but it does match what I saw at my 3 previous employers (ranging from about 300 employees to 800 employees). The smaller companies I was with were just less sophisticated (no tools, but random audits) about monitoring the systems. They all had policies in place though that said "users can't install unapproved software".
Actually it seems to be closer to OnStar by GM's Information/Convenience Services or Virtual Adviser options than Apple. I'm guessing the Zune tie in will be closer to what Apple has done with HD radio devices to allow for "tagging" content for later purchase.
My son has the XBox 360 and never really asked for the PS3. All of his friends had the XBox360 so he wanted that to play games with them. At least at his school (and the neighborhood), the PS3 doesn't seem to have the success of the XBox 360. Now what is odd is the negative image the Wii has with his friends (oh, they are all in the 13-15 year range). My son initially didn't really want anything to do with the Wii (his sister has it) but I actually find that he plays it more now (especially with Smash Brothers).
Mine came with one originally from HP but I switched it to this one IOGear 4D Optical Web Cruiser. The track ball and magnifying option are very convenient.
At home, the mouse I use is whatever Lenovo includes with their systems. The device works but I never really checked the markings to see if it is anything other than a Lenovo (probably rebranded) product.
At times, I think life would be easier if I had one of those manual labor jobs I had back in college. Not enough to actually leave my position, but depending on the day (right before a major code delivery), I might just be a bit closer to doing it. Having done plumbing, cement finishing, and bagged/blocked ice production/delivery, I think I can appreciate the simplicity of manual labor, the physical rewards, and the feeling of accomplishing something that has a bit more "permanence" than a software application. If I could make what I do now, doing the manual labor, it might be worth giving up some of the stress.
I managed to get back into my OSM account but due to the server being hit heavily, I haven't been able to re-evaluate the site by using the Potlatch interface for edits. I'll try back later to see if they've made some improvements since I last looked at the site. Maybe you can provide some info on the more recent version.
Do they allow you to enter: speed limit, turn restrictions, divided highway (important when figuring out left turns on a major road), address range, class of road (primary, secondary, tertiary), alternate/multiple names (some highways will have this for sections like 22/30 near Pittsburgh)?
Do they allow you to create new feature types to collect? Are you allowed to specify required attributes versus optional attributes?
Can you specify the collection method and device/source? Was a road digitized off an aerial photo on screen or was it collected by a persons GPS device (and was it on the center of the road, a particular lane, or from the sidewalk)?
TIGER data generally has good attributes but lacks the positional and representation accuracy that most people would like. The specification for the data was developed when disk space was still at a premium so geographic features were simplified. For example, a curving road would be represented by a single 2 point line. The attributes would be correct (generally), but the line is over simplified (i.e. won't overlay well on an satellite/aerial photo well).
DOH....forgot about the tags to break up the lines. Guess the preview button should have been used.
Re:That's a pretty big job
on
Open US GPS Data?
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Building a community based dataset may have some benefits but it also has many problems. The benefit is that it will be an open source of data and anyone can provide updates to the data. The downsides are:
- enforcement of attribute: either people must be forced to enter certain attributes to ensure consistency in the data (which will cause some to not participate in collection). Without this, the data can not be used for more complex usage (geocoding being a primary problem for typical web usage)
- accuracy of entered information. Misspelling names, wrong type (Road, Street, Highway, Court, etc...), address range (do you consider it as a "hundred block" or just list the actual house range, i.e. 401 - 438 vs. 401-499), do you consider addressing the sides of the street (left range 401-499 and right 402-498, or if a "T" exist, do you break the one side at the "50" mark or whatever the physical addresses are?)
- positional accuracy. Not all collection devices will be equally calibrated.
- collection focus. Will data in more rural areas be collected as often as city blocks?
These are just some of the issues that come to mind when I think of building a road dataset. I've worked with development of enhanced 911 datasets for counties in the past. These have also used for other departments like the school board (school bus routing), public works (trash collection, snow removal, etc..), emergency services (response districts for police, ems, fire), and other uses.
What would really jump start a project like OSM would be the donation of a dataset from a company like NavTeq or some open source group that can negotiate with the local government agencies to provide open access to the centerline data the agencies already have.
Open Street Map is a good start but needs some enhancements to allow for proper data attribution and segregation of the different feature types (point, line, polygon) into "layers". Being able to distinguish a bike path from a highway is significant. A community based approach to data reviews would also be nice (i.e. if a user always enters bad data, other users could moderate them so that their input doesn't have the same "value" that a good contributor does).
People with all the small screens....where are you from? Are you still college students or just recently graduated? Just curious.
I have a 27" (living room) and a 15" (kitchen) TV. Graduated college in 1993. Combined income with wife > $100K. DVD Player: JVC (on 15" TV). Consoles: GC, PS2, Wii, XBox360 (several as the DVD player on the 27" TV). PCs: 1xXP, 3xVista (all capable of DVD playback).
I don't watch enough TV to warrant buying a new set. In fact, I find that most of the TV shows I'll watch are also available online and I watch them at my convenience rather than a scheduled time slot. Have looked at going to LCD TV but primarily as a space saver over the 27" CRT TV. I'm fully aware of HD formats, but haven't seen a compelling need/want to upgrade. Maybe if I go to a larger TV at some point in the future I'll care but for now DVD works for me.
The physical note would just be there to inform them that they need to go through a setup process though. The process that hotels use could easily be a redirect to the setup wizard. The note simply informs the consumer that they will go through that process.
Would covering the router ports with a note that indicates a required login to set it up be out of the question here? A little paper insert as part of the quick setup notes would go a long way to getting users to setup some basic configuration. A setup wizard at the minimum should require users to select a new password and allow them to walk through an informative configuration sequence.
I'm one of those parent/kid teams. My wife, son, and daughter all play. In fact, we went quickly from a single home PC to four PCs (plus 3 more WoW & WoW BC, 3 character transfers, and 3 additional monthly accounts). As far as time, my son and I are pretty close but I have him by a little bit (too bad for him that football practice cuts into some of his game time). I also have 3 levels on him (he's a 64 warrior and I'm a 67 mage, wife is 54 warlock, daughter 35 hunter).
GIS is not a format. The output print or softcopy products generally use standard output formats like PDF, JPG, EPS, TIFF, SVG, etc... The raw data on the other hand can be in a variety of formats (most common would be ESRI shapefiles).
Oh, an interesting PDF format for GIS folks is GeoPDF by TerraGoTech.
I'm not sure how the CC situation is today at the schools but when I was hit with the same CC push (early 90's), the limits were set somewhere between $250-$500 on a card. I was able to get multiple cards and I think my limit was somewhere in the $1200-$1500 range. While it is true I didn't have a "real" job at the time, I don't believe the amount being lent to me was extremely risky. I'm sure the numbers are good that most college students will get some sort of job and be able to make the minimum payments for the entry level CC offer.
So what amount of porn or limit on sexual acts would be acceptable for a child? Should we have no limits at all? Does this change with age? Should 8 year olds only have access to Playboy level porn while 12 year olds have access to some of the more hard core fetishes?
About all I did was scare him with the knowledge that I knew what he was looking at.
Why? What purpose does that serve? Making him think he's doing something wrong?
There wasn't any punishment on my part, just the message that I can see what he looks for. Amazingly one of the jobs of being a parent is to actually try to raise kids with some form of values/morals. We can disagree on exactly what those values are, but I would like to think everyone would respect another parents approach. The situation with my son looking wasn't to scare him from ever looking at a naked body but to let him know to keep it pretty tame. I'd hate to see him developing an obsession over fetishes at such a young age because of a "related link" on a page to the more hard core section.
While we all may have had access to our parents porn, I'm sure there are things on the web that go well beyond what would have been in printed material when we were kids.
I haven't blocked anything on the computers at our house but I do occasionally take a look through the logs to get a feel for their browsing habits. I do know my son is a healthy heterosexual male based on the findings. About all I did was scare him with the knowledge that I knew what he was looking at. I haven't noticed any additional "searches" so he has stopped searching for it or he has figured out how to hide his tracks better. Given my system administration background though, I'm guessing his searches have stopped for now (at least at home).
Don't forget tools from GIS companies like ESRI, Intergraph, Microstation, etc.... While Google and Microsoft's offering isn't 100% identical to ESRI ArcView, they are very much a light weight version. If I remember correctly, ArcView has been around since at least 1995 and their heavy workstation application, ArcInfo, was out years before that.
300 Wii's is a big shipment. Every store that didn't say "no" and immediately hang up was indicating shipments ranging from 3 to 15 consoles per week. I'm half tempted to follow the E-Bay trend and pick up another one or two to sell around Christmas.
Don't assume that just seeing a box means that the store has them in stock. My daughters birthday is tomorrow and my wife and I had a rough time tracking one down. I called a lot of stores (at least 30 + whatever my wife called) within a 45 minute driving radius to see if they had them. I also visited a couple malls to see if maybe they were just telling people on the phone that they didn't have them in favor of selling to store walk-ins. A few game shops had boxes on display but all were sold out. We eventually found a Wal-Mart that had 3 in stock and they said they could hold it for 25 minutes before they would release it to another sale.
My grandmother is currently in an assisted living environment but not for long. Her Alzheimer's has gotten much worse over the last couple of months. She definitely showed signs of depression more when she was in the early stages. She would frequently say things at holidays like "this will probably be my last ". I think the family chalked most of that up to her living alone and her friends "passing on" initially but in hind sight, I believe it was related to the Alzheimer's. This is such a cruel disease for both the individual and the family dealing with them.
I've been on the mapping end of this (digitizing paper utility maps) and on the plumbing side (as a laborer/gopher). The best plans are useless when the plumbing company figures out a shortcut that will potentially save them money. The location and material of buried lines may not match the engineers plans.
Ah, but older GIS technologies relied on database storage schemas too (RTrees, BTrees, etc...). I've also seen similar techniques when creating 911 systems where locations were stored in tables and related to police, fire, EMS response districts not in a modern geospatial store but as an attribute in a table. My first employer was working on systems like that to support county level 911 systems back in the early 90's.
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SMF - while nice, i have experienced many different kinds of errors. If one of the dependencies has a problem, the chain breaks and it is a pain to discover the problem.
SMF - The logging related to SMF is fairly robust. Any of the problems I've encountered have been easy to track (maybe not fix, but at least I find the problem quickly enough)
Zones - I still have yet to see a reason to use this except for dedicated virtualization servers.
Zones - Software licensed per CPU on the server may acknowledge zones as a valid way to segment the system. We've done it with Oracle and ArcSDE on a server with 4 CPUs where we only wanted those apps taking 2 CPUs.
While I can see your point, I can say that my employer (over 10,000 employees) does use tools to monitor what is installed on their network. They do, as another reply suggested, frequently opt for enterprise licenses for typical software and tend to limit access to computers so users can't install any software. Those that have access are required to acknowledge a policy that states they won't download/install software without prior approval too. Now I don't know if this is typical for all large companies, but it does match what I saw at my 3 previous employers (ranging from about 300 employees to 800 employees). The smaller companies I was with were just less sophisticated (no tools, but random audits) about monitoring the systems. They all had policies in place though that said "users can't install unapproved software".
Actually it seems to be closer to OnStar by GM's Information/Convenience Services or Virtual Adviser options than Apple. I'm guessing the Zune tie in will be closer to what Apple has done with HD radio devices to allow for "tagging" content for later purchase.
My son has the XBox 360 and never really asked for the PS3. All of his friends had the XBox360 so he wanted that to play games with them. At least at his school (and the neighborhood), the PS3 doesn't seem to have the success of the XBox 360. Now what is odd is the negative image the Wii has with his friends (oh, they are all in the 13-15 year range). My son initially didn't really want anything to do with the Wii (his sister has it) but I actually find that he plays it more now (especially with Smash Brothers).
Mine came with one originally from HP but I switched it to this one IOGear 4D Optical Web Cruiser. The track ball and magnifying option are very convenient.
At home, the mouse I use is whatever Lenovo includes with their systems. The device works but I never really checked the markings to see if it is anything other than a Lenovo (probably rebranded) product.
At times, I think life would be easier if I had one of those manual labor jobs I had back in college. Not enough to actually leave my position, but depending on the day (right before a major code delivery), I might just be a bit closer to doing it. Having done plumbing, cement finishing, and bagged/blocked ice production/delivery, I think I can appreciate the simplicity of manual labor, the physical rewards, and the feeling of accomplishing something that has a bit more "permanence" than a software application. If I could make what I do now, doing the manual labor, it might be worth giving up some of the stress.
I managed to get back into my OSM account but due to the server being hit heavily, I haven't been able to re-evaluate the site by using the Potlatch interface for edits. I'll try back later to see if they've made some improvements since I last looked at the site. Maybe you can provide some info on the more recent version.
Do they allow you to enter: speed limit, turn restrictions, divided highway (important when figuring out left turns on a major road), address range, class of road (primary, secondary, tertiary), alternate/multiple names (some highways will have this for sections like 22/30 near Pittsburgh)?
Do they allow you to create new feature types to collect? Are you allowed to specify required attributes versus optional attributes?
Can you specify the collection method and device/source? Was a road digitized off an aerial photo on screen or was it collected by a persons GPS device (and was it on the center of the road, a particular lane, or from the sidewalk)?
TIGER data generally has good attributes but lacks the positional and representation accuracy that most people would like. The specification for the data was developed when disk space was still at a premium so geographic features were simplified. For example, a curving road would be represented by a single 2 point line. The attributes would be correct (generally), but the line is over simplified (i.e. won't overlay well on an satellite/aerial photo well).
DOH....forgot about the
tags to break up the lines. Guess the preview button should have been used.
Building a community based dataset may have some benefits but it also has many problems. The benefit is that it will be an open source of data and anyone can provide updates to the data. The downsides are: - enforcement of attribute: either people must be forced to enter certain attributes to ensure consistency in the data (which will cause some to not participate in collection). Without this, the data can not be used for more complex usage (geocoding being a primary problem for typical web usage) - accuracy of entered information. Misspelling names, wrong type (Road, Street, Highway, Court, etc...), address range (do you consider it as a "hundred block" or just list the actual house range, i.e. 401 - 438 vs. 401-499), do you consider addressing the sides of the street (left range 401-499 and right 402-498, or if a "T" exist, do you break the one side at the "50" mark or whatever the physical addresses are?) - positional accuracy. Not all collection devices will be equally calibrated. - collection focus. Will data in more rural areas be collected as often as city blocks? These are just some of the issues that come to mind when I think of building a road dataset. I've worked with development of enhanced 911 datasets for counties in the past. These have also used for other departments like the school board (school bus routing), public works (trash collection, snow removal, etc..), emergency services (response districts for police, ems, fire), and other uses. What would really jump start a project like OSM would be the donation of a dataset from a company like NavTeq or some open source group that can negotiate with the local government agencies to provide open access to the centerline data the agencies already have.
Open Street Map is a good start but needs some enhancements to allow for proper data attribution and segregation of the different feature types (point, line, polygon) into "layers". Being able to distinguish a bike path from a highway is significant. A community based approach to data reviews would also be nice (i.e. if a user always enters bad data, other users could moderate them so that their input doesn't have the same "value" that a good contributor does).
People with all the small screens....where are you from? Are you still college students or just recently graduated? Just curious.
I have a 27" (living room) and a 15" (kitchen) TV. Graduated college in 1993. Combined income with wife > $100K. DVD Player: JVC (on 15" TV). Consoles: GC, PS2, Wii, XBox360 (several as the DVD player on the 27" TV). PCs: 1xXP, 3xVista (all capable of DVD playback).
I don't watch enough TV to warrant buying a new set. In fact, I find that most of the TV shows I'll watch are also available online and I watch them at my convenience rather than a scheduled time slot. Have looked at going to LCD TV but primarily as a space saver over the 27" CRT TV. I'm fully aware of HD formats, but haven't seen a compelling need/want to upgrade. Maybe if I go to a larger TV at some point in the future I'll care but for now DVD works for me.
The physical note would just be there to inform them that they need to go through a setup process though. The process that hotels use could easily be a redirect to the setup wizard. The note simply informs the consumer that they will go through that process.
Would covering the router ports with a note that indicates a required login to set it up be out of the question here? A little paper insert as part of the quick setup notes would go a long way to getting users to setup some basic configuration. A setup wizard at the minimum should require users to select a new password and allow them to walk through an informative configuration sequence.
I'm one of those parent/kid teams. My wife, son, and daughter all play. In fact, we went quickly from a single home PC to four PCs (plus 3 more WoW & WoW BC, 3 character transfers, and 3 additional monthly accounts). As far as time, my son and I are pretty close but I have him by a little bit (too bad for him that football practice cuts into some of his game time). I also have 3 levels on him (he's a 64 warrior and I'm a 67 mage, wife is 54 warlock, daughter 35 hunter).
GIS is not a format. The output print or softcopy products generally use standard output formats like PDF, JPG, EPS, TIFF, SVG, etc... The raw data on the other hand can be in a variety of formats (most common would be ESRI shapefiles).
Oh, an interesting PDF format for GIS folks is GeoPDF by TerraGoTech.
I'm not sure how the CC situation is today at the schools but when I was hit with the same CC push (early 90's), the limits were set somewhere between $250-$500 on a card. I was able to get multiple cards and I think my limit was somewhere in the $1200-$1500 range. While it is true I didn't have a "real" job at the time, I don't believe the amount being lent to me was extremely risky. I'm sure the numbers are good that most college students will get some sort of job and be able to make the minimum payments for the entry level CC offer.
About all I did was scare him with the knowledge that I knew what he was looking at.
There wasn't any punishment on my part, just the message that I can see what he looks for. Amazingly one of the jobs of being a parent is to actually try to raise kids with some form of values/morals. We can disagree on exactly what those values are, but I would like to think everyone would respect another parents approach. The situation with my son looking wasn't to scare him from ever looking at a naked body but to let him know to keep it pretty tame. I'd hate to see him developing an obsession over fetishes at such a young age because of a "related link" on a page to the more hard core section.
FYI - Parent of two kids (13 & 11)
While we all may have had access to our parents porn, I'm sure there are things on the web that go well beyond what would have been in printed material when we were kids.
I haven't blocked anything on the computers at our house but I do occasionally take a look through the logs to get a feel for their browsing habits. I do know my son is a healthy heterosexual male based on the findings. About all I did was scare him with the knowledge that I knew what he was looking at. I haven't noticed any additional "searches" so he has stopped searching for it or he has figured out how to hide his tracks better. Given my system administration background though, I'm guessing his searches have stopped for now (at least at home).
Don't forget tools from GIS companies like ESRI, Intergraph, Microstation, etc.... While Google and Microsoft's offering isn't 100% identical to ESRI ArcView, they are very much a light weight version. If I remember correctly, ArcView has been around since at least 1995 and their heavy workstation application, ArcInfo, was out years before that.
300 Wii's is a big shipment. Every store that didn't say "no" and immediately hang up was indicating shipments ranging from 3 to 15 consoles per week. I'm half tempted to follow the E-Bay trend and pick up another one or two to sell around Christmas.
Don't assume that just seeing a box means that the store has them in stock. My daughters birthday is tomorrow and my wife and I had a rough time tracking one down. I called a lot of stores (at least 30 + whatever my wife called) within a 45 minute driving radius to see if they had them. I also visited a couple malls to see if maybe they were just telling people on the phone that they didn't have them in favor of selling to store walk-ins. A few game shops had boxes on display but all were sold out. We eventually found a Wal-Mart that had 3 in stock and they said they could hold it for 25 minutes before they would release it to another sale.
Box on shelf != Console available for sale
My grandmother is currently in an assisted living environment but not for long. Her Alzheimer's has gotten much worse over the last couple of months. She definitely showed signs of depression more when she was in the early stages. She would frequently say things at holidays like "this will probably be my last ". I think the family chalked most of that up to her living alone and her friends "passing on" initially but in hind sight, I believe it was related to the Alzheimer's. This is such a cruel disease for both the individual and the family dealing with them.
I've been on the mapping end of this (digitizing paper utility maps) and on the plumbing side (as a laborer/gopher). The best plans are useless when the plumbing company figures out a shortcut that will potentially save them money. The location and material of buried lines may not match the engineers plans.
Ah, but older GIS technologies relied on database storage schemas too (RTrees, BTrees, etc...). I've also seen similar techniques when creating 911 systems where locations were stored in tables and related to police, fire, EMS response districts not in a modern geospatial store but as an attribute in a table. My first employer was working on systems like that to support county level 911 systems back in the early 90's.