Archive For The “IT” Category

Book Review: Code

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold Microsoft Press, 2000 ISBN-13: 978-0735611313 The fact that you’re reading this suggests that you know how computers work.  But that’s only at one level of abstraction.  In the case of the touch/point/click interface, that can be ten or more levels of abstraction above […]

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Trendspotting

British GIS site web-gis.co.uk is currently hosting a poll about GIS data formats.  Not too many people have voted yet, but a clear trend is already emerging.  The data suggests that PostGIS has been gaining a lot of ground, eclipsing other popular proprietary data formats.  Here’s the current breakdown: PostgreSQL/PostGIS – 17 votes, 65.4% Proprietary […]

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Open Source Solutions at TriMet

TriMet, the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District, serving Washington, Multnomah, and Clackamas counties in Oregon, is a leader in open source technology.  They still use ESRI desktop applications, but they are using open technologies, including PostGIS and OpenLayers, to power their web services. Article: http://www.govtech.com/e-government/Open-Source-Software-Oregon-Transportation.html Share this:EmailFacebook

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Clicking vs Typing

In the beginning, there was the command line – a text-only interface that controlled the computer.  Typing and squinting in front of a terminal provided a lot of power to experienced users, but inexperienced users demanded something easier to use.  Later, when memory and peripherals became cheap, the point and click interface was born, allowing […]

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