GIS Opening in Bangalore

Folks,

One of the India top most MNC looking for GIS Professionals.  Please find below details

Experience : More than 3 years in GIS Application Development

Technology Stack:

• ESRI ArcGIS Products, especially ArcGIS Server Application development experience is MUST
• Microsoft .NET Technologies (C#/VB.NET),  ASP.NET and others
• Oracle or SQL Server database
• Experience in Oil and Gas Industry domain will be an added advantage.
• Experience in Sliver Light is preferable.
• Degree in Geo-Informatics will be an added advantage.

Location : Anywhere in India, mostly Bangalore.

When to Join: Within 1 or 2 months.

Note: This position is for experienced developers who can make immediate impact . This position is not for the freshers or person having experience in data development.  Java guys and Small World folks please excuse.

How to send your resume: You can send your resume with all the details to my email ID (laksh.gisprog@gmail.com) .

Note 2:  Please do not ask your application status or any other details. If you are eligible and deserving canditate , am sure you will get a call and process will be carried.  I’m just doing a post man job.

All the very best to you.

100,000 Hits

Folks

100,000 hits today!!!!!!

Vow!!!!…I’m extremely happy at this moment. My blog has just crossing 100,000 hits in less than 2 years. This is being really wonderful journey throughout from day one. I never imagined that I would write this much when I was started. Really proud and happy this moment. The magical number 100,000 is really great despite the fact that my blog is not as famous as James Fee or Dave but still thanks for all your support and encouragement!.

Thank you all

Cheers,

Lakshmanan

Changing my coordinates

Dear all,

Yes.  I’m relocating to new place.  It may take some time to settle in new city. Hence you can expect delay in my response to your comments/email.  From my previous  relocation I have worked on several small-medium sized project entirely in ESRI Flex API. Now am moving to the new  project which has designed to develop in Sliver Light API. I believe this will very challenging and exciting to me. I will share my learnings as usual to you.  Stay tuned.

And interesting news is my blog has reached 1 lakh hits today. Kudos

Thanks for your patience

Cheers,

Lakshmanan

ESRI REST API Queries?

One of friend have some doubts on ESRI Sliver Light API, here are below details. If you have answers or work arounds, please ping me.

We are developing a GIS Web application using ESRI silver light APIs. For our application we are using Dynamic map layers and we also developed a customized TOC. We are experiencing following issues with some of the mandatory requirements for our application.

Issue# 1:

Now we want to know whether ESRI silver light SDK provide any way to get the scaling property for individual layers which will help us to bind our TOC check boxes as enabled /disabled on the layers which are scaled as particular zoom level.

Upon searching many forums, we saw the following link in ESRI forums, which suggest that REST API does not return anything related to scale. We want to know how we can achieve this requirement.

REST API does not provide the parent node or child node from the mxd.

http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=158&f=2396&t=263581&mc=9

Issue# 2:

Also we would like to know how to get legends for individual layers in Silver light. We have functionality where we need to show dynamic legends information i.e. show legends for only those layers which are enabled/visible at particular zoom level.  As we zoom in / out, the legends also get refreshed as per the scaling assigned for layers in MXD.

Issue#3:

There is the other issue with the print output, we have designed a template in MXD layout view for print output where we also inserted the legends, now whenever we call the print functionality the legends size get vary on successive prints.

One of our friendsalso posted this issue on ESRI forums, but we have not got any positive response on this. Following is the Link which was posted

http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=158&f=2276&t=295835&mc=1#msgid923068

Thanks in advance.

Project Management in GIS – Part IIIa

Hi All:

Ooops.. I got some spare time. Though I plan to dedicate at least 15 mins of my time of writing a post per day but some how I skip this activity due to various reasons (mainly lazy ..lol). I have many posts on my drafts yet to complete.  OK.

In continuation with Project Management in GIS Part I and Part II.  This posts talks about Software Development Life Cycle in short SDLC.  The project are often divided into (rather grouped)  logic phases , together consititues a cycle.  Each phase has its own importance in the cycle.  Each phase is concluded when the delivarable (document/code etc) is completed. There are many types of SLDC models like i) Water Fall ii)  Rational Unified Process iii) Design-Develop- Deploy

Most of  application development projects are executed using water fall model. Below are the phases of Water Fall model.  This posts elaborates about the each phase given below and outlines other models.

1. Requirements specification (or User Needs Assessment) [with Project  Estimation and Planning]
2. Design
3. Build (Coding)
4. Integration
5. Testing and debugging
6. Installation/Deployment
7. Maintenance

Requirement Specifications (in short RS) - Here requirements from the client is gathered through different channels like conducting meeting across all stake holders, through email or understanding the existing manual work flow etc.  Mostly person who gathers the requirement may be a business consultant/analyst . He will collect all the requirements for the specific project and passed to technical team. The lead developer/analyst who has to analyze the requirement in detail and come with set of questions on the understanding of the requirements. This will be again discussed with the client and final requirements gets approved. Here the person who is gathering a requirement should understand the domain/technology and functional & performance points.

There are three types of requirements – a) Business Requirements b) Functional Requirements c) Performance Requirements

Analysis - Requirements Analysis should be done with extreme care.  The analytical ability is must for this task. The experience of the person who is doing the task is matters most. Let me give me an example  a req is described like ” Search by Parcel and show the results in a grid” .   How to analyze this requirement.

1. What are the columns of parcel data needs to queried upon.

2. How does the UI of search panel should look?. If the query is on multiple columns , do the user wants to construct his own query builder?.  (If yes, then this very complex functionality)

3. What is approximate data size (or # of records of feature class) – This data helps in design process with respect to performance.

4.  How the search results grid UI look like. Do the results should be displayed in panel and ablity like zoom/pan to each record/all records is required?.

5. Once results are shown, does the user requires sorting of data on the columns? ,  when search results has huge records, does pagination sort of functionality is expected.

6. Do you want to actual database columns or alais names for these tables on result grid? and order of columns to be displayed. # of records to be displayed per page ?

7.  Does the resizing of search results panel is required.

8.  What should happen when search results panel is closed, do we need to clear the records?

9. General flow of search functionality.Here, where other map interactions are allowed when the search is in progress?

10. What is performance considerations, what is expected time for search results by the user?

11. Do you require export to excel option on the same search result panel?

Above are questions which came to my mind and each one has its own significance while doing design.  On analysing the requirement to finer level is more important in understanding thec customer expectations. There are many requirements which will be considered as implicit requirement according to client and expect that in a application but it may take considerable or warrants of design change . So the requirements should be captured to finer level and documented with the assumptions.

If some functionality are difficult or technical not possible, we may need to capture those and approved by the client.

The gap between the stated and implicit requirement should be as close to zero.  Its not always possible.

“Walking on  water and working on specifications is easy only when they are frozen” - Unknown

Let me complete next phases in subsiquent posts. Please provide comments so that I will be aware whether these topics is of interest to audience. Thank you and good night

Happy GIS Day – 2009

 

Wiki Says : GIS Day is a grassroots educational event that enables geographic information systems (GIS) users and vendors to open their doors to schools, businesses, and the general public to showcase real-world applications of GIS.

GIS Day is a global event. Organizations all over the world that use GIS, or are interested in GIS, participate by holding or sponsoring an event of their own. In 2005 more than 700 GIS Day events were held in 74 countries around the globe. The first GIS Day occurred in 1998.

GIS Day is held in the third week of November each year, on the Wednesday during Geography Awareness Week, a geographic literacy initiative sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

GIS Day 2009 will be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2009.

Wish you all Very Happy GIS Day 2009

Have a great day!

Cheers,

Lakshmanan

 

ESRI ArcGIS Server Flex API 1.3 Version is released

All:

Good to see the ESRI ArcGIS Server Flex 1.3 release. This release has update of nice features.  Especially JSON conversion and styles for infowindow certainly helps a lot.

• The Short Summary:
  • Support for Flex SDK 3.4. The older 3.0 thru 3.3 are still supported.
  • More styling options for InfoContainer (used by InfoWindow and InfoSymbol).
  • Well-known ID 102100 (WGS_1984_Web_Mercator_Auxiliary_Sphere) is now a supported projection for Web Mercator-based overlays (including Bing Maps). It is also used in WebMercatorUtil for projecting coordinates between geographic and Web Mercator.
  • Miscellaneous API improvements and bug fixes.
• Changes:
  • The parameters when creating a PictureFillSymbol have changed.
  • Outline is now the default property of the PictureFillSymbol.
  • The MapImage property on the GeoprocessorEvent has been removed since it was never used.
  • The Extent.intersects() method now accepts any geometry as argument (not just another extent).
  • The TRUE_SHAPE_WITH_MEASURE constant on the NAOutputLine has been removed since it is not supported on the server.
  • For line symbols, non-solid styles are now faster than before (though solid lines are still faster than non-solid).
  • It’s now possible to pan and use rubberband zoom even while draw toolbar is active.
  • The Web Mercator WKID has changed from 102113 (WGS_1984_Web_Mercator) to 102100 “WGS_1984_Web_Mercator_Auxiliary_Sphere” for VETiledLayer and WebMercatorUtil.
• New event class:
  • InfoPlacementEvent to help with the placement of InfoWindow and InfoSymbols.
• New methods:
  • convertToJSON in FeatureSet to convert a FeatureSet into JSON.
  • convertFromJSON in FeatureSet to create a FeatureSet from JSON.
  • update in MapPoint.
  • getPoint and setPoint in Multipoint.
  • contains, insertPoint, removePoint and setPoint in Polygon.
  • insertPoint, removePoint and setPoint in Polyline.
• New properties:
  • minScale, maxScale and isInScaleRange on Layer.
  • panDuration and zoomDuration on Map. The default has been changed from 500 to 300 milliseconds for faster panning and zooming.
  • infoWindowContent on Map allows you to specify the info window content inline.
  • xscale and yscale on PictureFillSymbol.
• New styles:
  • borderAlpha, borderColor, borderThickness, infoPlacementMode, shadowAlpha, shadowAngle, shadowColor and shadowDistance on InfoContainer.
• New and updated samples:
  • Select and zoom – shows how to zoom to a feature and makes sure the whole feature is inside the map extent.
  • Creating a WMS Layer – shows how to extend the DynamicMapServiceLayer to support a WMS Map Service.
  • Accessing Custom Tiles – shows how to extend the TiledMapServiceLayer to support tiles created using 9.2 ArcGIS Server (which has no REST support).
  • Create a Surface Profile using execute() for this synchronous Geoprocessor task.
  • Show map extent and current mouse coordinates.
  • Use unique value renderers to render drivetime polygons based on an attribute.
  • Create equal interval class break renderers.
• Bug fixes:
  • RouteTask now sends correct accumulateAttributes, impedanceAttribute, restrictionAttributes and directionsTimeAttribute values.
  • ArcIMSLayer no longer throws runtime errors for non-existing services.
  • GraphicUtil.getGraphicsExtent() no longer updates the extent of the first graphic with the outputExtent. <!–
  • CR124,639GPFeatureRecordSetLayer now always handles MapImage responses correctly.

  –>

  • PictureMarkerSymbol now resizes correctly even if width and/or height is set before setting the source.

Generally all versions of ArcGIS API for Flex will work with any version of ArcGIS Server 9.3 and above. However, for certain functionality you need to use specific versions. For example, for routing, use ArcGIS API for Flex 1.2 (or later) and ArcGIS Server 9.3.1 (or later). See the API Reference for more details.

Project Management in GIS – Part II

In continuation with Part I ,  let us see what is project management all about.   If we take 10 IT projects , out of ten one or two projects are completed on time, budget with full scope. The success on any IT projects is not an completion of project in time , budget and scope it also involves quality deliverables ranging from documentation to user support.

What is a Project - A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product , service or result.

What is Project Management - Project Management is application of knowledge , Skills , tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirement

• Identifying the requirements – High level at the project intialising stage
• Establish clear and achievable objectives
• Balance competing demands for the quality , scope, time and cost
• Adapt specifications to plans and approaches to stake holder requirements

Major Factors -  SCOPE, TIME, QUALITY and COST.  If we alter any single parameter and atleast other one variable gets affected.

Project Management Institute (PMI) developed Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) to codify the project management best practices. These practices applicable to any bigger projects especially for IT projects. This application PMBOK techniques reduces the risk

The PMBOK Guide is process-based, meaning it describes work as being accomplished by processes. This approach is consistent with other management standards such as ISO 9000 and the Software Engineering Institute’s CMMI.

What is CMMI ? – CMMI stands for Capability Maturity Model Integration.

CMMI is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance. CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization.  There different levels of CMMI model.  You can see wiki for more details here .  At outset, level 5 is considered as highest level and if any company certified for level 5 then they are following the process and ensuring standards as described by the Software Engineering Institue (SEI). These are quality parameters for projects health.

The big MNC’s and other middle level companies achive the CMMI status by rigourous auditing process and they have to confirm to standards as prescribed.  Having CMMI status is like branding for the quality.

Project Management in GIS – Part I

Its been long time I am writing a post. These days very busy with projects and personal issues too. I’m back now.  There are lot of technical articles in my blog but nothing specific to project management.  Hence, I’m thinking to write about series of posts on Project Management in GIS.

The purpose of this post is how GIS projects are executed in IT company in a nutshell along with the basic tips and guidance on software development life-cyle.  Project refers here is only “Application development” .

I’m planning to cover the below topics -

1. How projects are obtained?

2. Basics of Project Management

3. Software Development Life Cycle in detail

1. How projects are obtained?

For BIG Projects :-

Every IT company has pre-sales/business team  who exclusively working on getting the business.   When a potential client advertises for their project requirement through RFP (Request For Proposal).  This can be done by  several exclusive web sites where client place their advertisements.  There will be ‘n’ number of conditions laid by the client as part of the request. All the companies who has the met the conditions and competency and having enough experience will respond to the proposal with high level solution,  cost for execution of project (requirements given in advt)  and duration. Internally these RFP’s will be well analysed by technical team for the requirements and financial team and finally submitted .  Client will analyse proposals from all the bidders based on experience , size of company, reputation and previous experience on executing similar projects and other factors . Finally project will be awarded to any specific vendor.

In case of existing client

If the client has already engaged with vendor and they have some requirements/projects then methodology differs slightly. Client will provide set of high level requirements and ask for estimate . Vendor will prepare SOW (Statement of Work) or Work order briefing the scope of the software/product along with time line ,cost , resource and execution model. These estimates are ball-park or p80 estimate. i.e.  requirements are at high level hence projects are estimated are only 80% and remaining 20% may vary.

In general, there are two types of project execution – 1) Time and Material(T&M)  2) Fixed Price Project (FP)

T&M – These type of project is primarily for big projects or the project itself carries over into couple of phases or maintenance project.  Client is billed for actual working hours.

FP- These type of project is suitable for small projects with well defined scope or any tight dead-line projects. Here, client wants product to be delivered in a given time for set of requirements.  If there is any delay, then it attracts suitable penalty. Normally, vendors will be very selective for FP projects being risky when it is not handled properly.

Once the project was awarded, then project will be given to Delivery team.  Let us see how the projects are kicked off in next post.

Note:  Kindly provide your comments on this topic

ArcGIS JavaScript API 1.5 released

Version 1.5 of the ArcGIS JavaScript API is now available! To take advantage of the new version, change your script reference to the ArcGIS JavaScript API to use v= 1.5, like this:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://serverapi.arcgisonline.com/jsapi/arcgis/?v=1.5" />

Version 1.5 adds:

• Support for Firefox 3.5
• Support for Dojo 1.3.2
• Ability to force a mouse cursor style change
• Optional HTTPS access of the ArcGIS JavaScript API
• Bug fixes

For more details on these items, take a look at the What’s New in Version 1.5 document.

The ArcGIS JavaScript Extension for the Google Maps API and the ArcGIS JavaScript Extension for Microsoft Virtual Earth (now Bing Maps) were not updated at this release.