SDI Snapshot - February 2018
Here’s a look at what’s happening in Canada and globally in the world of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). This post contains a collection of the latest and most significant SDI news, data, products, and events.
SDI News
Canadian CEOs and academics push Ottawa for national big-data strategy
Tech leaders are challenging the federal government to get serious about reaping the rewards of one of the next big frontiers in the information revolution: big data. Canadian CEOs and academics have been pushing Ottawa for months to develop a national strategy for harnessing data's burgeoning power – an approach advocates say will pay dividends on everything from boosting economic growth to improving health care.
Geospatial industry’s value and impact in the world economy
With location becoming all-pervasive in our everyday life, there is an exponential growth in the amount of spatial data being generated and captured and geospatial analysis is becoming an important business decision tool. The global geospatial market is expected to reach approximately $440 billion by 2020. However, the industry is still plagued with few challenges that are hindering its growth such as the lack of high-quality data, data accessibility, staff training, government awareness, public-private collaboration and security issues.
Canadian Geomatics Survey: Pan-Canadian Positioning, Navigation & Timing (PNT) Strategy
The Canadian Geodetic Survey (CGS) is developing a plan to expand its Positioning infrastructure and services. The plan is a key component of the pan-Canadian Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Strategy being developed across several federal departments. CGS is interested in knowing more about current positioning needs, as well as improvements to existing infrastructure. CGS invites you or your organization to participate in a brief survey.
Easier access to federal services for Canadians – public cloud now available
The Government of Canada is committed to building a modern, reliable, and secure information technology (IT) platform for the delivery of programs and services to Canadians. Shared Services Canada (SSC) recently announced that it is now offering public cloud computing services for the Government of Canada. These new cloud services will benefit Canadians and their families by increasing access to unclassified government data and services such as publicly accessible digital collections and archival material.
SDI Data
Open Data Institute offers an open data essentials online course
Learn the essentials of open data with this easy to follow online course. This European course has been designed to enable students to discover what open data is and how it’s changing everyone’s life on our planet. A mobile version is available for download so the course can be taken from anywhere.
What kind of data is available in ArcGIS Online?
Hunting down good dataJust to get a GIS project started, used to involve a lot of work. These days, using ready-made basemaps and authenticated data from ArcGIS Online, GIS analysts are able to spend more time thinking analytically, which really gets to the heart of what makes global GIS work. ArcGIS Online data includes imagery, boundaries, places, demographics, lifestyles, basemaps, transportation, earth observations, urban systems and historical maps.
SDI Products
What enterprises will focus on for digital transformation in 2018
Up until this year, organizations could often afford to overlook the bigger picture for various digital upgrades, improvements and modernization. In 2018, these threads will become so connected that increasingly holistic digital transformation efforts will focus on more customer and worker-centric models for better organizing how they function to avoid disruption while creating value faster and more effectively.
Release of ArcGIS Pro 2.1 makes it easier to migrate to ArcGIS Pro
ArcGIS Pro 2.1, Esri’s flagship 64-bit desktop GIS, has been released and is now available. ArcGIS Pro 2.1 is a big release that brings a slew of new features and functionality. It adds and improves highly requested workflows, features new innovations that take advantage of ArcGIS Pro’s unique 3D and 64-bit environment, and connects your desktop more tightly with the rest of the ArcGIS platform.
Esri releases configurable web-based Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS
Esri recently announced that it has released a brand-new web browser application, allowing users to create reporting dashboards that use charts, gauges, maps and other visual elements to reflect the status and performance of people, services, assets and events in real time. Using dynamic dashboards through Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS, organizations of all types—from Emergency Operations Centers to public utilities—can view crucial activities and key performance indicators that are vital to meeting their objectives.
ArcGIS Editor for OpenStreetMap 10.6 now available
ArcGIS Editor for OpenStreetMap (OSM Editor) is a free, open-source add-on for ArcMap to access, download, edit, analyze and upload OpenStreetMap (OSM) data. OSM is an open worldwide dataset that forms the backbone of many maps, apps and services. This new version has been updated to work with ArcMap 10.6. The Editor, as well as the Editor source code, can be downloaded.