Vectors are your friend, Part III

Esri just updated its World Vector Basemaps (v.2). I updated below the notoriously complex and details Aalan Archipelago offshore Turku, Finland. I contrasted in this blog 4½ years ago posting the GSHHG world vector dataset in giscloud.com, a web vector mapping system, and ArcGIS Online, richer in data but then in raster. See an OpenStreetMap backdrop earlier in my companion blog.

GeoHipster Calendar: 2018

This is my third Calendar entry from the most excellent Geohipster spearheaded by @atanas, @billdollins and @gletham - the inaugural 2014 and the 2015 can be seen here - I missed last year but I told them:

Free tools & data to predict hurricanes

Four weeks ago I blogged here about the availability of open data, posting it on the open web and its potential social impact. Two weeks ago I blogged here too about tracking three hurricanes in the Caribbean via the brilliant but closed earth.nullschool.net. In between I compared & contrasted open & closed regimes on my Medium channel... and that 2½ yrs after a previous blog here on same!

Trio of Caribbean Hurricanes early Sept 2017

Evolution of Hurricanes Katia, Irma and José, and of Tropical Storm 57. Note how:

• Katia developed late over Gulf of Mexico & stops shortly after head-on landfall
• Irma is the strongest having developed over warmer S Atlantic then Caribbean
• weakens to Category 3 on first Florida Keys landfall
• strengthens again over western Gulf of Mexico 
• immediately weakens at second Florida Coast landfall
• still Cat2 (not shown) then finally Cat1 before degrading
• José stays strong over water, strengthens briefly to Cat4-5 then swerves to W Atlantic
• Tropical Storm 57 never materialised into a possible and feared hurricane three-punch

Emergency response maps as easy as 1-2-3

Update 5: read here my  new occupation inspired by this 18 months later
Update 4: for a predictive app using Esri & Alexa, see this example in Maryland
Update 3: presented at European Petroleum GIS Conference in London, 2 Nov 2017
Update 2: Medium professional channel posting on Open Data issues raised here
Update 1: Youtube of  freely available data show flood spread from 27 to 30 August

Crowdsourcing for disaster response

The “new normal” in business, Part II

[This follows The “new normal” in business on my professional Medium Channel.]

Quarter million mark

Started August 2009, in 7.5 years almost 250 posts averaged 50 hits per day as shown below. That spreadsheet also lists my blogpost titles by hits and alphabetically by title.

New Medium Channel

In the right hand margin my buttons have changed. One links to my LinkedIn Pulse:

A duet of petroleum shows in London

AGI GeoComm16

AGI #GeoCom16 twitter report

[Update: LinkedIn Pulse post inspired by this: A non-anthropomorphic robotic future]

The AGI’s Annual Conference was held at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS IBG) in London yesterday. Here is a report by way of my twitter feeds, most recent ones first, from #GeoCom16: