HTML5 and maps

For the unwary it may come as a big surprise - HTML5 is here! More and more online mapping applications are implemented in HTML5 standard, taking advantage of <canvas> element to extend the functionality and presentational capabilities in a browser environment. All modern browsers now support the standard.

The canvas element allows for dynamic, scriptable rendering of 2D shapes and bitmap images. Below is an example that illustrates the benefit of using <canvas> element in browser based mapping applications. This map allows users to specify a minimum terrain height parameter at which to display the layer and the layer is redrawn dynamically to display the information on the map.

With the support for SVG just implemented in Internet Explorer 9, there are now two complementary approaches to drawing objects in all modern browsers: <canvas> and SVG. It is best to think about <canvas> as akin to “raster” and SVG as “vectors”. This way it is easier to decide which approach is more suitable for a specific purpose.

First spotted on: Google Maps Mania

Related post: Is SVG ready for comeback?

Weather widget take 3

This week I released another version of a free weather widget with information on current temperatures and weather forecast for close to 200 locations around Australia (as in the right navigation panel of this blog). It is powered by the same database as the second version of the widget but information is presented differently to make the widget more suited for blogs and blog-like websites. For detailed instructions on how to set it up on your site please visit aus-emaps.com.

The latest weather information is from a local database that is updated twice an hour from official data and web services provided by the Bureau of Meteorology. Unfortunately, it is not possible to match all localities for which the Bureau releases forecasts with locations of weather stations hence not all selections display current temperature. Similarly, not all localities have a weather forecast for more than just a single day.

The widget displays weather information for a single location at a time and the default location is Sydney. Webmasters can easily set the preferred location by adding a reference code of that location at the end of the widget’s URL address. End users can change the displayed location by clicking on the location name and selecting an alternative location from a drop-down list. One to seven day weather forecast information for a specific location can be accessed by clicking on “This week” link in the top right corner of the widget. Weather description for individual days of the week can be obtained by moving a mouse over the weather icons.

Version 2 of the weather widget became quite popular. It now has over 200,000 displays/loads a month (and close to 1M page views, by 38,000 unique visitors) and brings a steady flow of traffic to aus-emaps.com home page. I hope this version becomes equally popular and widely used. Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Interactive Atlas of NSW

The Atlas of New South Wales is an initiative of the Land and Property Management Authority and it was created with the objective of providing detailed statistics across a range of topics to educational institutions and the broader community. It is built with Bing Map so, provides very familiar to many, simple and intuitive interface to government information.

All the information is presented as a series of thematic map overlays in four categories:

• People (eg. population, health, housing, religion, indigenous population, indexes of relative advantage/disadvantage, crime);
• Economy (eg. labour force, taxation and revenue, and production of fruit and vegetables, oils and grins, and livestock);
• History (eg. information on settlement, State elections and boarders); and
• Environment (including vegetation, geology and soils, and locations of national parks).

Users have a choice between satellite image or roads map as a base layer and can adjust transparency level of thematic overlays. Each overlay is accompanied by a comprehensive legend, explaining the meaning of presented data. A click on individual region brings up a pop-up window with information about the region, presented as charts and gauges.


The Atlas of New South Wales is quite responsive considering the amount of data that is required to present thematic overlays. It would benefit though from a bit more legible charts and access to source data in a tabular format and/ or for download. Overall, the application is well built and very simple to navigate through.

Free data a GFC casualty

The US government has been a proponent of free data for quite a while now and over the years it established a number of national programs to allow easy access to wast resources of public information. However, the annual budgets for e-government initiatives were slashed by 75% last month, putting in question the survival of such programs like data.gov (it is the repository for publicly available data that was promised as a platform to power software and analysis created by and for the public). Comments from federal CIO Vivek Kundra indicate that data.gov will not be shut down but “…there will be no enhancements or other development to address needs for improvement”. So, although the policy of free data remains unchanged, significant cost of delivering that policy may be its ultimate “undoing”.

Meantime, in Australia, the progress towards opening up government data vaults has taken another step forward. Earlier this week Australia's Information Commissioner, John McMillan, unveiled eight new rules for Federal agencies to adhere to when considering the publication of government data. These rules are:

• Open access to information – a default position,
• Engaging the community,
• Effective information governance,
• Robust information asset management,
• Discoverable and useable information,
• Clear reuse rights,
• Appropriate charging for access, [So, not entirely free access!]
• Transparent enquiry and complaints processes

The Principles are not binding on agencies, and operate alongside legal requirements about information management that are spelt out in the FOI Act, Privacy Act 1988, Archives Act 1983 and other legislation and the general law.

Despite the launch of data.gov.au portal, there is no federal program in Australia to facilitate access to public data on a large scale (ie. the US style) and the onus so far is on individual agencies to manage the dissemination of public information in their possession. State and Territory governments are pursuing their own initiatives. This “piecemeal approach”, although slower in implementation, may prove to be a more sustainable model for enabling access to public data, considering the vulnerability of large scale initiatives to budgetary pressures of the government of the day in these uncertain times.

Geospatial Revolution continues

Pennsylvania State University has just released another short video in the series titled “Geospatial Revolution”. This is the fourth 15 min. episode outlining virtues of geospatial technologies and how they can assist scientists and local communities.

Episode 4 is divided into four chapters. The first chapter explains how experts studying climate change use digital maps to monitor glacier ice melt, deforestation and carbon emissions over time. Another chapter explains how geospatial technology can help aid workers anticipate food shortages around the world. The following chapter explores how geospatial technology helps track the spread of disease. And the closing chapter highlights the Map Kibera project, which empowered the people of an unmapped area of Nairobi, Kenya to map their essential facilities and provide a voice for the more than 200,000 residents.

Bookmark and share all 4 episodes via aus-emaps.com YouTube video player.


Related Posts:
Geospatial Revolution

Mapping feral animals in Oz

Over the last two centuries Australia has been plagued by many feral animal brought in by settlers from Europe and other parts of the world. This includes rabbits, foxes, camels, pigs and many, many more species. FeralScan is a collaborative project between Federal and State Governments, private organisations and community to map and monitor distribution of various feral animals on Australian continent. By mapping the damage caused by these animals, FeralScan can help to identify when, where and how to control these animals in order to reduce their impact on the environment.


For example, there are more than 1 million wild camels currently roaming the Australian desert and causing damage to water supplies and disturbing Aboriginal communities. CamelScan, a crowdsouced initiative under FeralScan project, allows anyone to report sightings of feral camels in Australia on a Google Map. Thanks to this initiative scientists involved in the project will be able to develop regional maps, as well as national picture of where feral camels occur, and work out where they congregate in different seasons.


First spotted on : Google Maps Mania

Maps and property investment

There is an old adage that the three most important rules for selecting a property for purchase are: location, location, location. So, maps should be one of the primary tools in making the purchase decision. With the advent of Google Maps, Bing Maps and plethora of other online mapping applications, all real estate portals integrated mapping based search options into their websites. However, mapping applications presenting analytical information on the state of the property market in various parts of the country are only starting to be brought to life.

Property Investment Map on domain.com.au is the first analytical map released by the major Australian real estate portal. It contains a set of thematic overlays presenting information on gross rental yields, capital gains, vendor discounts and top performing areas - by suburb, for the entire Australia (excluding ACT). Information is available separately for houses and units, as 1 year or 5 year trend measures.


Property Investment Map provides invaluable insights into the dynamics of the property market on a local scale. For example, using the map investors can pinpoint suburbs with good rental yields and capital growth prospects. These areas are the most desirable for investors as high rental yields imply attractiveness of the location to renters as well as availability of properties at prices still offering good value. At the same time, high capital gains yields over short as well as longer term imply consistency in appreciation of properties in a given area over time. Eastlakes in central Sydney is one suburb displaying such characteristics in relation to units -median price increased 17% in 2010 and further rise of 3% is predicted for 2011.


Totally different market dynamics can be demonstrated on example of Rozelle, a suburb just west of the CBD. Despite showing high gross rental yield for units in the last year, it has relatively low rates of capital gains over one as well as 5 year period. It could imply this suburb was overpriced in the past and only now rental yields for units have increased to the level that makes them attractive again for investment purposes (median price dropped 4% in 2010 and prediction for 2011 is 0% growth). If history is to repeat, there is a good chance prices could overshoot again if Rozelle is suddenly “rediscovered” by investors. Property Investment Map cannot give all the answers so, the picture would have to be validated with local knowledge before making any decisions.

Property Investment Map should be in the toolbox of not only investors but also anyone serious about purchasing a property. The only limitation of the map is lack of details on how the information was derived (eg. methodology for data range determination). It is a good starting point for deciding on alternative locations for investment, although it would also be nice to have a numerical version of the dataset available for more detailed comparisons.


Related Post:
WA housing affordability index
AllHomes Property Map
REIV maps auctions statistics
Map of Melbourne house prices
Sydney house prices