A look back: Cloudpoint's 2014 Year in Review

First Flight: We've come a long way from Kitty Hawk, NC

First flight of the Wright Flyer I, December 17, 1903, Orville piloting, Wilbur running at wingtip.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers

A close up of one of the props on Cloudpoint's first quadcopter which was later dubbed "Icarus".

It's been over 111 years since the birth of powered aviation and its amazing to think of where we've gone.  Cloudpoint conducted its first successful GPS-guided aerial mapping test flight on June 9, 2014 at the Roanoke Apostolic Christian cemetery.  Height: 150 ft, Speed: 6 mph, Flight time: 8 minutes

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Mapping at Sonic Speed

Cloudpoint's new Chevy Sonic with almost the whole crew loaded inside.

In July we purchased our first company vehicle, a Chevy Sonic, from Sam Leman in Eureka, IL.  The logo and lettering  by Kat-n-Mouse Graphics of Roanoke.  This has been a great vehicle for us as we put many miles on traveling throughout the state to our various clients.

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Signs of Success

On May 1 we successfully rolled out our first custom application solution called SignOps, a sign inventory management solution using barcode tags for asset management.  LaSalle County was the first project where we tagged over 6,000 signs with barcodes and provided a complete turn-key mangement solution with the SignOps application.

5 Christmas Gift ideas for the Geogeek in your life.

I admit, this is quite the "Wish List" from your rich Uncle Montague. But they're neat to dream about and hope for someday. 

In no particular order. 

1. Land Carpet.
Who doesn't want to stretch out on a map? Because paper is not really inviting, how about a map made out of genuine New Zealand wool? (did you know there are 7x more sheep in New Zealand than people?) Awesome. However at $2100 for a 6'x8' area rug, it's not for the typical GIS Technician's budget. Something a little more reasonable is the I Am Here Custom play-mat

2. Map Wheel
I know where I am, most of the time. The Map Wheel is a distinct custom made reminder of where that other place is in reference to wherever I call home, or whatever location you choose to be in the center. Kind of like the Direction Pole in the TV show MASH. A custom Map Wheel is about $100 US with about $10 shipping, but it's made in Australia.... soooo, it might have to be a Valentines Day present. 

3. World Map iPhone Case
Easy. $30. Wood. Looks nice. Made in Indiana by a guy named John, how American is that? Boom. Get it. Only for 4/4s & 5/5s. No iPhone 6 or 6+ yet. 

4. Fitbit Surge
I like GPS & I am a watch wearer, but I'm not holding out for a Apple Watch. They look cool, but I don't have that kind of cash. Plus there are literally dozens of other smart/fitness/GPS/bluetooth watches on the market. I like a rectangle design and the Surge price tag of $250.

5. Hand Made Globe
uh. I've tweeted about these before, and actually gotten a response from the folks at Bellerby & Co. These are amazing - beautiful - works of art made with care, precision and an obvious personal touch. My wife would grab her Scrapbooks running out the door in case of a home fire, I would grab this globe. Especially since the desktop version is about $1700 US. Save your pennies kids! Someday. Someday.

There you go. 5  rather unrealistic and completely unnecessary first-world presents to get for your resident geographer to celebrate Christmas.  
Got any other Ideas? Put them in the comments. 

Centimeter Topo from 400 Feet

It is hard to deny that UAV technology is not going to impact many industries. With the lack of FAA regulation keeping commercial use grounded, gaining experience is hard. In an effort to test and develop our UAV imaging portfolio Cloudpoint Geographics has developed a solutions package.  

Cloudpoint is striving to bring affordable imagery to industries such as mining, agriculture, engineering, and undiscovered markets. The value of affordable imagery that can be flown daily can help decision makers perform tasks by giving them tools to conduct stock pile volume calculations, topographic surveys, crop analysis, and many other needs. Cloudpoint's history as a geospatial solution provider allows us to use advance GIS and image mosaicing software to generate 3D deliverables.  

How We Do It!!

Creating such results comes from combining various technologies to create a package. UAV's are just the flying platform and must be assisted by ground control, a good camera, and powerful processing software. Software algorithms, such as Agisoft Photoscan, are used to stitch photos to make a large mosaic as well as calculate elevations. This 3D model then can be exported as a point cloud, DEM, or one of many other formats. The imagery and 3D models created from images can then be used for many tasks such as volume calculations and Topographic modeling. 

Real world Uses

- Daily Stockpile Volume Calculations

- Better Imagery for any situation

- 3D Building extraction

- DEM or Topo creation

Related Links:

Roanoke Jumbo Profile Tool

Cemetery Application

Image Processing With A Drone

What are we up to in the next 30 days?

October will be a busy month for us!  We have several upcoming conference events that we will be at and hope to see you there.  Be sure to stop by our booth for a visit if you are attending any of the following:

October 9, 2014- IACE (Illinois County Engineers Association)- Peoria, IL (40.693932 , -89.591996)

Here you can catch us at our booth or providing GIS training for the County Engineers.  As part of a new technology twist, the association has decided to offer GIS training as part of this year's conference.  Micah and Jon have some great experience to share as former County officials and will provide a hands-on look at the latest GIS applications available for highway engineers and a lot of "how-to's" mixed with it.  Also don't forget to check out SignOps, our latest sign inventory maintenance solution.

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Micah Will be presenting at the Wisconsin Esri Users group in Wisconsin Dells on October 20 & 21st. He will be giving a talk on ArcGIS Online for daily use similar to on given in Springfield Illinois last month in August. Since there will be several of our esteemed Esri colleagues present, hopefully he'll keep the ribbing to a minimum (hint-hint).  

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October 27-29, 2014- ILGISA (Illinois GIS Association)- Lisle, IL (41.807391 , -88.110383)

Jon will be speaking on at this conference on Tuesday about using the parcel fabric and Matt will be sharing about GeoEvent Processor.  We also plan on giving away something "really big" as a door prize so don't miss out.

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October 28-29, 2014- ILRWA (Illinois Rural Water Association)- Utica, IL (41.315869 , -89.01107)

We always appreciate the relationships that we have formed with the good folks associated with ILRWA.  Some of our best clients were generated as leads from this group and we continue to see them each year supporting this great organization.

10 Reasons to migrate to the Parcel Fabric

As many of you know, the parcel fabric concept has been around for quite some time but many have been slow or hesitant to adapt to it.  In this entry, we would like to take a brief look at some of the advantages of using the fabric and try to answer some questions such as "Why should I migrate to the parcel fabric?" or "What real benefit will I receive from an ArcGIS solution for maintaining parcels?".  If you haven't already done so, chances are you will soon be taking a serious look at what it takes for you to migrate your polygon parcels into this model.

1. It's A platform solution- One of the clear advantages of having a platform solution is that you don't have multiple vendors supplying multiple solutions.  You already use the ArcGIS platform and pay a healthy maintenance subscription so why not take full advantage of the dollars you have invested in your COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) solution.  You will not only save money from that end but there is a good chance you will be on the same page as your neighboring agency.

2. Everything is tied together-  If you have been maintaining your parcels in a simple polygon layer you have undoubtedly found times when you have overlap in your polygons.  This can cause many frustrations when editing and not to mention the spatial inaccuracies that come along with it.  The fabric avoids overlaps by allowing your parcels and boundary lines to "move" all together.  Instead of adjusting 4 different polygons when a corner point moves, why not tied it together so you only make one change everything else adjusts to that change.  The fabric allows you to make these adjustments with ease saving you time and money.

3. The Parcel Editor Toolbar- esri has the parcel editor toolbar available as a free add-in that contains multiple tools and menu commands that help simplify the workflows involved with maintaining parcels and control points.

4. Parcel Workflows- The Parcel Editor Toolbar also contains a menu for automating parcel editing workflows.  Merging parcels, splits, subdivisions, imports from CAD, and boundary line adjustments are all made easier using these workflows.

View fullsize

A screen shot of esir's Tax Parcel Editing Map template

5. Tax Parcel Editing Map- All of the parcel types, whether, tax parcels, subdivisions, lots, or encumbrances (also known as easements) are stored in the fabric as one feature class, however they are separated by types and layers in a sample map you can download know as the Tax Parcel Editing Map.

6. The Plan Directory- Another freebee built into the parcel fabric data model is a table for storing information about record drawings, plans, survey plats, or other legal documents used by surveyors and engineers to describe their findings.  This related table allows for user-friendly entry and interaction with the plan's corresponding parcels to store information such as Name of Surveyor, Survey Date, Document/Plan Numbers, etc.  You can create and maintain plan record information for each parcel or subdivision within the fabric or take it one step further and link the source document directly to the GIS.

7. Spatial Accuracy- You might be telling yourself "I really don't need survey accuracy for my parcels" but with each control point you add to the fabric, whether from the City/Town, County, Private Surveyor, or Federal sources; it allows you to refine and adjust your parcel fabric for greater spatial accuracy.  Its not uncommon to adjust your fabric over time and achieve spatial accuracies down to just a few inches or less with respect to the real world. 

The historic parcel layer helps keep a record of past changes and is automated from the workflows.

8. Historical Parcels- Many times we hear of the need to go back and look at what the parcel ID's or layout prior to a split or annexation.  The parcel fabric has a layer specifically designed to maintain the historical parcels and the great thing is that its completely automated.  When you step through the workflows it will prompt you if you want to create historic parcels from your new changes and by doing so it keeps a well documented history of your land records.

9. Local Government Information Model (LGIM)- The fabric allows you to enable information models such as the LGIM which many are already using.  This may save you a lot of time up front so you don't have to 're-invent the wheel' providing out-of-the-box tools for working and interacting with your other land record data layers.

Here is a parcel that has been subdivided into lots and easements including drainage, utility, and ingress/egress.

10. Standardization- Isn't it nice when we are all on the same page and speaking the same language.  Using the parcel fabric allows us to have a consistent form of naming convention and storing data to help when we are interacting with our 'neighbors' or as GIS users or managers transition in and out of jobs its nice to have familiar data formats to build upon.

As you continue to expand your use of GIS technology, I hope you will find the parcel fabric as a very useful tool for maintaining land records in a clean and simplified format.  We will be discussing the process of migrating your data to the parcel fabric and explain some "do's and don'ts" in an upcoming post.

What is a 'Location Strategy'?

Sounds like a buzzword.

Yeah, it is, So? The point of buzzwords are to create buzz around a specific topic or idea. 

Therefore; The idea of conceptualizing your organization's Location Strategy is to get you to think about location. Some of the worst business advice is given by Hollywood; "If you build it, They (he) will come". Not necessarily.  Here's some questions to start you off: 

• What would happen if you moved your office/business?

• Is it important to know the location of your employees? 

• Is it important that they know where your inventory (Stuff) is?

• Do YOU know where your inventory is? How about your replacement?

• Can your clients get to you? 

• What about social media?

• How close are you to your most valuable clients?

• Are you causing your clients frustration because you haven't though about this?

Let me give you two examples

1. Bob the Restauranteur, He makes truly awesome Pizza, but never gave a thought to location. So he opened up his shop in his hometown. He has a short commute but he drives an hour everyday to get fresh ingredients. His little town already has two pizza places, but he has low-overhead, so he stays. He has a great website, but it's not mobile enabled. His kid brother is the delivery man, who seems to deliver a lot of pizzas to his friends outside town. Yelp had a few bad reviews of Bob's delivering brother.  Bob lasted 9 months then went out of business. 

2. Sue the City Administrator, works in the same town as Bob. But she HAS thought about Location, a lot. Infact she regularly updates her digital infrastructure (GIS) on an iPad when sewers get fixed or installed. She also keeps up with her field folks sending them paperless work-orders based on a mobile-enabled app from the general public, which are her 'customers'. She has claimed the locations of city hall on Bing and Google maps, Yelp, Foursquare, and a host of other social media. Sue is 63 and almost ready to retire, so she's training the current public works director to do all of this and sends him to lots of conferences. 

A good location strategy is beneficial to you presently and those around you in the future. With these little self-aware computers we all have in our pockets, location is common. Someone will think about your location if you don't. My advice to you is get in front of the tide. Think of some of the most effective companies; Walgreens, McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Casey's General Stores. These guys know the value of a good strategy. Location, Location, Location. 

Rochelle Municipal Utilities: Zero to Hero

Let me lead off by stating the obvious, This project is not complete!!! We've invested a lot of time and energy into RMU and when we were asked to write a summary of where GIS has brought them in the past year, I jumped at the chance and wanted to post it here as well. The Following article has been circulated around their various committees and councils and so we present it here. 

In June of 2013, Rochelle Municipal Utilities Electric Department moved forward in several significant ways to become more efficient in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) They invested in a three-year Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) from Esri Inc. of Redlands, CA for their GIS software package.  This license agreement allows RMU to utilize any and all of the industry-leading Esri software site-wide, as-needed. In conjunction with this agreement RMU purchased a high-end server environment for implementing this software. As well, they 

“Putting our Electrical Depa-rtment records into a GIS has allowed us to communicate more efficiently with office and field staff.”

— Al Corl, Electric Dept. CAD Supervisor

entered into a contractual agreement with Cloudpoint Geographics Inc. of Roanoke, Illinois for set-up and geospatial consultation services. 

Previously all of the Department’s spatial data was stored in AutoDesk CAD format. While accurate and exceptionally maintained, the CAD data was housed on local workstation hard drives. Disseminating the data was complex and not easily achieved. 

Seinor staff understood the benefits of utilizing a central GIS available to the entire staff. As well, they had the insight to select a database structure that was open and standardized rather than closed source or proprietary. RMU’s chosen geospatial consultant, Cloudpoint, had experience with both the Multi-Speak and Local Government information models.  

After several planning meetings and explanation of system-specific terms, the CAD vector data geometry was able to be imported into the Multi-Speak model using the same Esri software that RMU had purchased. In order to insure completeness and accuracy, electric department staff had open and frequent updates and conversation with Cloudpoint. Every attempt was made to keep the data as intuitive and close to the previously used CAD naming conventions as possible while still adhering to standards of an open information model. 

During the same time as this CAD to GIS data conversion, Esri server software (ArcGIS Server) was installed on a dedicated web server for internal use. In the course of this first phase of deployment the intension of staff was to keep the digital infrastructure private to a select group of RMU personnel familiar with the data. However, the software technology was installed and configured with the ultimate goal of deploying the map services as the final product out in the field in a connected tablet environment. 

Even though the Electric Department’s data was an obvious priority, some attention and time was paid to development of other basemap layers. RMU had participated for years in the Ogle County GIS consortium without realizing the full potential and usefulness of that group’s data offerings. Inserting these datasets into the local government model allowed RMU to grasp a fuller picture of their complete GIS eco-system.  

Along with their meticulous CAD drawing, electric department staff had collected over 22,000 photos of their 7,286 electric poles. These data, while extremely useful, was only available on one PC within the electric department offices. Again, with the intension of eventually pushing this information out to field personnel, Cloudpoint moved these photos into the cloud. Because of the foresight of RMU staff and the naming of these 22,000+ photos, a linkage could be drawn from the poles feature class to the images themselves while on a protected and redundant  webserver within Amazon Web Services S3 storage. This link is currently being used on the desktop as well as in the field. 

Internally to the RMU network, there are currently only a few editors of the electrical GIS layers.  While this seems inefficient it actually is an industry-wide ‘Best practice’. Using Esri server-side software (ArcSDE) riding on-top of Microsoft Sequel Server the electric data is currently a protected enterprise dataset. This means that though many have access to see the authoritative data, only a select and qualified few have access to change it. These different versions of the data are synchronized after the author approves the edits. This reconcile and post process can be done on the GIS server by qualified staff. 

During the continued database development stage, sharing was done via ArcMap and a set of shared folders and File Geodatabases. This full-featured software program from Esri has a high learning curve. In order to completely “see” the same layers, users needed to be proficient enough to create layer files, change symbology and then save pathnames as relative or UNC path types. This potential road bump was avoided by utilizing maps created by ArcGIS Online  and disseminating the information via secured webmaps. 

This large step forward allowed the electrical department field crews to use hand-held tablets to see map images & data, aerial imagery, address locations, pole photos, as well as PDF manuals of their departmental standards. RMU purchased four - Apple iPads equipped with 4G LTE and enrolled them in a Cisco Mobile Device Management software solution for protection and accountability.  While this is not an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) solution, it speeds up response time and efficiency of truck crews by being able to know what they need to replace before ever ever arriving on site. 

The ease of access this allowed garnered a welcomed reception from the field crews and sparked a desire to have more complete and faster updates. This step required the involvement of RMU IT staff to push the previously mentioned map service as provided by ArcGIS Server out to a secured location on the web. In order to effectively and safely open a port in a network’s firewall, many precautions needed to be adhered to. This implementation is no different. Cloudpoint worked with RMU staff as the translator between GIS terminology and their network to achieve both security and speed requirements. This effort was reinforced by RMU with the forward thinking purchasing of quality hardware and an ELA from Esri nearly a year prior. 

Currently, GIS in Rochelle Municipal Utilities Electric Department is in full swing. Edits to the system are changed internally and pushed out to the field crews almost instantaneously. Field personnel have a customized mapping interface that was created with several iterations and face-to-face meetings. As well, field crews can close the feedback loop by highlighting areas that are incorrect (including attaching pictures) or changing attributes of specific features within the map on their tablets. These edits are again propagated back to the office and, if approved, incorporated into the default database version. 

The GIS is not, and will never be, completely done. RMU senior staff understands that in creating these efficiencies, there will be  perpetual training and maintenance of the system. Software updates will be needed, new layers created, deployments to be made, etc… It is a dynamic infrastructure just like the electrical system that it represents. They also understand the significance of how far they have come in one short year.

Drones: A real game changer

First off: Drones have a negative connotation but are a great attention getter. The word drone has a negative feeling because of military accounts of spying and death. 90% of consumer drones are less than 5 lbs and are used mostly for a hobby (aerial imaging and photography). Fun fact = you will struggle to find drone manufacturers call their aircraft drones, they rather would call them a UAV because it does not have a negative view.

Phantom 2: Our first drone purchase was the Phantom 2. We went with a well known company (dji) so we could upgrade parts and drone bodies in the future. With our drone we also purchased a 2.4ghz datalink that connects the flight controls to an Ipad. Unfortunately this device was not made for the Phantom models. With a little modification and drone surgery, we attached the device to the main control board.

Camera: For aerial imaging, we were worried about the "fisheye" looks of many cameras people fly. We wanted a nice camera on a light drone. We had to take into consideration how we would mount it and the camera specs themselves, but especially weight. We ended up using a Ricoh GR camera that we mount to our drone using foam (vibration) and zipt-ties. 

Processing: Agisoft Photoscan Pro is a great tool. It allows for stitching of images and calculates depth images to produce 3D models and DEMS. The stitching is so good that we do not need GPS on every photo, instead we just are using ground control. Photoscan was used for Orthophoto generation as well as 3d Point Cloud Extraction. Initial experiments have proved that precise measurement can be taken off the 3d models!

Processing POWER: Cloud processing provides a power without breaking the bank! The RAM dramatically helps in creating a mesh. It went from 16 hours to 30 minutes with the difference from 8gb. 

Results: 3D models, DEM's, Orthophoto's, Video's, Building extraction, Point Cloud Generation, Etc.

Disclaimer: In compliance with FAA safety regulations, we flew the drone on private land and under 400 feet. We also complied with airport zone restrictions and the demo was used for internal (non-commercial) uses. 

Piecing the Plots together: High-Accuracy cemetery GIS

It's safe to say that the smaller the block, parcel, or lot; the more difficult it can be to accurately represent your features in a GIS system.  When it comes to cemetery lots, this can be just the case as we start to go from feet to tenths to inches.  If your objective is to just locate a grave with respect to a certain area or section within the cemetery, then maybe a simple smart phone app searching for relative points may be all you need.  However, if you need to see the layout of lots, blocks, and graves, using polygons to identify specific graves (which may be the case for cemetery management tools) then high-accuracy GPS is the way to go.

This sample project consisted of collecting cemetery markers with a Trimble Geo-XH 6000 (cm Edition) GPS unit to obtain high-accuracy coordinates which were used as control points to lay out the blocks, lots, and graves or the cemetery.  Once the layout was completed, GIS data was populated from an existing database of information obtained from personnel responsible for managing the cemetery.  OK, so your next question is "where does the high quality imagery come from?".  Google??? NO, this was actually collected with a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or commonly known as a drone) outfitted with GPS guidance and a professional grade camera.  You can read more about the drone project in separate upcoming blog.  The surrounding ground around the cemetery markers was painted with a white "X" to be used as ground control points when stitching the photos together.  The final map was served up as a feature service on ArcGIS Server and can be searched by last name using the magnifying glass search tool in the top right corner.  Notice how the head stones appear in the aerial image with precise accuracy over their designated grave polygon.  There will be more on these tools and methodology to come.

View Larger Map

Roanoke Apostolic Christian cemetery location...

ArcPad - Customized not Commercialized

When looking for a solution to better their data and increase productivity, the city of Rock Falls, Illinois did not want a box solution. A city that has owned its own utilities (Including electric) for over 100 years, they did not want to change what practices were working to fit into someones package. The electric department spearheaded the efforts to implement a field GIS that would allow workers to update, edit, and view data. After looking at data privacy and structure, it was soon realized that ESRI's ArcPad was going to be the best solution. 

ArcPad was decided upon for a few key reasons, but the ability to be customized to fit existing workflows made it the perfect solution. Because of offline editing, unique forms, and relationships, the city decided to pursue this unique route. 

The city is using Lenovo touch screen tablets running Windows 8.1, allowing them to have easy field functionality. Custom toolbars allow them to filter and sort layers and custom forms allow for data population. The unique forms allowed for the city's electric department to tie all the attributes to the pole layer to replicate existing utility workflows.

Overall, the use of custom ArcPad solutions greatly benefited the city. It allowed them to keep existing workflows while capturing better and current data. Time was spent upfront on custom programming of forms and buttons for ease of use, but keeping it simple is the best way to get the field crews to adapt to it. Complex box solutions might "do it all" but getting buy-in from all users is key to making the overall project a success for years to come.

Story Map of a Work Trip

During the week of March 22-29th I had the opportunity to go back to Reynosa, Mexico. The first time I made this trip, I took only my son and 11 others. This event was larger with 24 folks from my church and I took my entire family (6 of us). 

I had been looking for an opportunity to create an Esri Story Map for one reason or another. Just to get the professional experience (configuration, coding and what-not). This trip finally provided good reason to do that and maybe some explanation to our customers of why I was completely off the grid for 7 days.  Reynosa Story

Story Maps are the latest iteration of your Uncle Ted showing your family slides of his trip to the Badlands on your cousins bedsheets over TV Dinners. It's a nice display when the data calls for a map but awkward of it doesn't. If you look at images and ask, "OK where is this now?", that's a time for a story map.  As you can see below, It's cross-platform and responsive. 

If you would like help in setting up a story map, let us know. After having do one I can see all kinds of applications, local government as well as private. 

And if you'd like to ask question about my trip to Reynosa. I'd love to, but lets keep business out of it; micahwilli@gmail.com

Creating Line Features in the Field (Snap!)

Need to create line features in the field? Grab a tablet, the Collector App for ArcGIS supports point, lines and polygon creation and editing. Wait, but what about connectivity? If the lines are created on a touch screen device they are going to be as accurate as…well as drawing things with your finger, right? No worries. If you have ArcGIS for Desktop Standard, you have the Snap tool available to you, which will help you out. Once you’re done making your field additions, you can bring the data back into Desktop and run Snap to ensure coincidence of features. You could just consider it the most useful markup method ever. (!)

Ingredients

AGOL Organizational Acct

Editable Feature Service(s) accessible on AGOL

ArcGIS for desktop Standard

Mobile Device

Before & After The red line was created in the field with Collector on iPad. The blue line has been snapped to the poles layer using the gp tool:

Important:Ensure vertices are added at (or near) every coincidence location while creating line features, as you will need them later for this process.

Note: This method may be possible without Organizational Account/Collector but is very likely not near as fluid.

Share Your Workplace Workspace

Everybody wants to be known.  Every desk has a view

We all have a workspace and every workspace has a story. I'm not talking about a file workspace, or ArcInfo workspaces. I'm talking about literally where you sit to work. We want to know about it, we want to see it, we want to know your story.  GIS people -to- soccer moms, anyone. 

There's nothing to this, no agenda or ulterior motive. Just an idea to spread some conversation. We're not even asking you for your email. just snap a pic & upload it.  We get an email with your image and information. Then, in order to keep all things 'PG', we have to update it manually to the gallery. 

Why Do this? Think about it. 

• You spend 40-50 hours here a week. 
• You probably have pictures there of your family, or a place you'd rather be. 
• You might love your workspace, or not. 
• Are you a clean desk person?
• Do you use sticky notes? 
• Cork-Board vs. White-board or Both? 
• Do you drink coffee with a straw?

Use the form below to submit an image(s) of your workplace. Put your name (or an alias) in the box an we'll put it in the gallery below. The Cloudpoint staff has voluntarily submitted our own to get the ball rolling. 

Hover over an image to see the name associated with it. Click on it to see it bigger. 

Doing Small Business using 'The Internet of Things'

If you haven't caught-up yet, The Cloud is over. 

What we expect these days is everything syncing, everything secure, everything available all the time. And when I say all the time, I mean At Any Second. Truly. 

It's not just us in tech that expect this. It's all of us together. The 1st World public at large. When we see commercials depicting pausing a movie in one room and moving to another to watch the rest, all without breaking stride or spilling the popcorn. That sets an expectation. Those professionals in Geospatial are used to this. Google has been setting public expectation for our industry for over 10 years. 

So... we at Cloudpoint are purveyors of these expectations as well as consumers. Here's what we use to do what we do as cost-effectively and efficiently as possible. (in order of adoption) 

Carbonite - Jon has been using Carbonite faithfully since his county engineer days. It's cloud-based mirroring backup system that has paid for itself ($70 year) time and time again in possible lost hours (See the DropBox note below). The first initial back-up takes a day or two but it's worth it in the end. 

QuickBooks Online - Cloudpoint is full of geospatial and engineering professionals, not MBAs and CPAs. QuickBooks Online helps us keep all of our finances in one place and lets us know what is important with it's canned reports and monthly metrics. At tax time you can give the keys to your accountant and everything is there for him to comb through. 

DropBox - Who isn't using dropbox.... anyone? Buehler? This is our workflow. We have a paid professional account that we all share. Most of our customers have a free version (or we create one for them) and then we "share" our project folder with that user. So when I RDP onto the Rock Falls server that .dbf of addresses is already sitting there. **One point of Note: while using ArcMap, it's best to pause the syncing, GIS files like to get corrupted if they're saving and syncing at the same time. 

AWS - In early 2012, Jon purchased ArcGIS Server and Micah (as a sub-contractor then) helped him put it onto an Amazon EC2 Server. Our relationship with Amazon Web Services was solidified. Now we use it as back-up, Image hosting license management and that machine is a part of our local network. the Up/Down Speeds do vary with they size of server, but that's something you can throttle and even pause.  It's one of our goals to learn and use more of what's available to us as a Service from Amazon. 

SquareSpace - This is a great company. Based out of NY, NY, it's our website hosting company. We pay for the middle-tier package for $16 a month. I spent about a week porting over all of our information to get the site up and running. A few months ago, before our yearly fees were due, I flirted with a few other companies/website services. Eventually, I just cleaned up the cobwebs a bit and the site feels fresh again. Their support is amazing as well. 

MerakiSystems Manager- Mobile Device Management. We rent iPads, or as we call them Mobile Data Collection Devices. Cisco purchased Meraki almost  year ago for their network and access point solutions. So they made the System Manager aspect free. I love free. This allows me to track, wipe, manage or lock any device before it leaves the building. The user interface and set-up is a little cumbersome, but did I mention it was free. 

Pertino - Best for last. I contacted this small startup about 9 months ago for a free trial. It's a cloud-based VPN service. Their company has grown in the last year and I'm glad to have been in on the start. I have already detailed the road traveled with this group. I gladly now pay for a monthly subscription to be able to print to the office printer, RDP to any computer on the network, directly share files, and see services (like an ArcGIS license manager) as if that computer was sitting next to me. Safe and Secure. 

Well That's it! Most of what Cloudpoint uses to fully channel the 'Internet of Things' . While certainly not an exhaustive list, (of course email, texting & the like) but fairly complete. I hope this helps someone who is looking to filter out the noise and just understand what everything is for. As I'm sure this list will grow in the future, I do feel like what I have here is honestly vetted and in practice.