Google Fusion Tables [Fast Batch Geocoding]

Google Fusion Tables [Fast Batch Geocoding]

"A fast an effective way to batch geocode spreadsheet data."


Take some data, with no geographic information. Upload to the New Google Fusion Tables and Map it.

Some spot checking of data in location - as geocoding is not an exact science.


Simply import the data will then give you access to 'Map' the data.


Then the real magic of automatic batch geocoding on the fly - you can visually see the data being placed on the map.
All within a few seconds - then whole process takes less than 30 seconds [based on 606 cities] though only 1-200 markers are display at one time.

And to finish it off - it is easy to create a simple thematic map.

Suggestions, would be nice to be able to overlay the thematic map [based in flash] over the Google Map (or creating gpolygons).
Sharing with the option of embedding and link to would be convenient.
*Note currently in Google Labs things will change.

A nice tool with great potential has unique features and powerful visualization functions.

Summary
Google Chart meets Google Maps with Google Spreadsheets binding them.

Related
http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2009/06/
google-fusion-tables-google-maps.html

Official Post
http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2009/06/google-fusion-tables.html

Batch Geocoder to ArcGIS

Batch Geocoder to ArcGIS Tutorial

(for getting Latitude and Longitude for Postcodes and Addresses)

Now this requires a bit of prior knowledge on Geocoding and Basic GIS Skills

Thanks to Google for providing the UK Geocoding in the Google Maps API

Have a set of addresses or postcodes ready.

*but if you intend to do a huge amount of geocoding it's politer to have your own api key rather than using others

example postcodes used in this example (can be 5 can be 50,000)
AL1 1HH
AL1 1HJ
AL1 1HQ
AL1 1HR
AL1 1PW
AL1 1RZ
AL1 1SD
AL1 1SE
AL1 1SF
AL1 1SG
AL1 1SH
AL1 1SN
AL1 1SQ
AL1 1ST
AL1 1SW
AL1 1XU

or use Addresses like
10 Downing Street, Westminster, London, UK
(can be your own list of clients, businesses, store locations etc)

where do they go?

Either
http://www.batchgeocode.com/
or
http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/geocoder/
(for your own version flow instructions at bottom of gpsvisulizer page)
or
http://www.wotton.org/map/batchgeo.html
(recommended for ease of use)


Copy and Paste in the top light blue box, wait until the alert shows the copy and paste from the bottom green box into a New Spreadsheet.



Paste into Open Office Calc or Excel with the correct delimiters.



Make the pasted lat and lng's six figures in decimal places
save the spreadsheet



Add the Spreadsheet to ArcGIS (will need a double click if more than 1 worksheet is in the file)

Use WGS84 Geographical Projection to set the Excel Spreadsheet into the correct projection

Use Add XY Data add the data by Lat/Lng and an event theme will be created, this can be exported out as a shapefile or geodatabase.

Important Note: Geocoder Accuracy
ALWAYS check Accuracy - this shows that the all Geocoders have limitations
This compares Codepoint (accurate to 100m) to the Google Geocoded Postcodes and there is approximately +/- 150 metres error in their location.



Blue is OS Codepoint in Geographic WGS84
Red is the Google Geocoded Postcodes
(used for a comparison only!)


The method is useful for small datasets, depending on your use.
It could be easily changed to load the geocoded data into a MySQL or Postgres databases for spatial retrieval and added back on to web mapping applications.

Yahoo does Geocode UK Addresses (in some cases more accurate) but it's limitation is that it can only be used on it's on Mapping API and the Geocoder is limited to just 5,000 requests per 24 hours.

For Manual Geocoding
Please use the Official Example:
http://gmaps-samples.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/geocoder/singlegeocode.html

Spatial Join (Analysis) Returns to ArcGIS

Spatial Join returns to ArcGIS 9.2, This function has been missing since ArcView 3.x, which is a much needed function in the GIS field.

This geoprocessing function is found in Analysis Tools>Overlay>Spatial Join

Please note this function is not Spatial Join by attributes as in previous versions of ArcGIS nor the Join on the tables.

This Spatial Join (Analysis) is by the features location.
"Creates a table join in which fields from one layer's attribute table are appended to another layer's attribute table based on the relative locations of the features in the two layers."

There is are three very powerful new functions also available in this example.

• Spatial Join (Analysis) is available in the Model Builder
• Spatial Join (Analysis) works with the new batch mode
• Iterations can be applied to the analysis if required.

This quick example is setting up the Spatial Join selecting the Rivers that fall with different countries and assigning the river with a country name using intersect
.
Data is from the ESRI DVD World Data that was shipped with ArcGIS 9.2


The spatial join using one to many on intersect features



Using the Model Builder to create this process (yes there are new funky shapes in model builder)



Model of Spatial Join but with 3 Iterations using values in the search radius (10, 20, 30 kilometres are examples)

The batch can be created by right clicking the saved model and selecting batch.
More info on batch set ups here