Day: December 2, 2010

Esri Releases ArcGIS API for Windows Phone

/ Matt Artz

Extend Your GIS to Microsoft Windows Phone Devices

Esri has released a mobile geographic information system (GIS) API for the new Microsoft Windows Phone platform. The ArcGIS API for Windows Phone can be used to create interactive applications that combine mapping resources, such as maps, locators, and geoprocessing models, with Windows Phone technologies and frameworks, such as the application bar, controls, and location.

The API is available at no cost from the ArcGIS Resource Center and includes a detailed blog, forum, samples, and support. It is built on the Silverlight framework of the Windows Phone application platform, which includes existing Microsoft tools and technologies such as Visual Studio and Expression Blend. Developers already familiar with Silverlight will be able to create new applications for Windows Phone without a steep learning curve. The ArcGIS API for Windows Phone and the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) have the same architecture; therefore, you can reuse application logic in ArcGIS applications built for Windows Phone, Web, and desktop applications.

“This is a very exciting development for the Microsoft developer community because it allows us to use the tools that we’re already familiar with to build a new class of applications for Windows Phone quickly and easily,” says David Stampfli, technology architect at Microsoft. “The capabilities of the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone are truly impressive and will allow developers to tap into the full power of the ArcGIS platform.”

The ArcGIS API for Windows Phone enables users to go beyond basic mapping. For example, users can

  • Develop applications that use their own authoritative data.
  • Display data on an ArcGIS Online or Bing Maps basemap.
  • Add graphics and markups to a map interactively.
  • Search for features or attributes within GIS data and display the results.
  • Execute a GIS model using ArcGIS Server and display the results.

The API is designed to work with and use the Web services available from ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Online. Developers and Esri partners can easily build applications that work with their own published Web services and use the API to create applications that can be deployed within their enterprise or to the public via Windows Marketplace.

To download or get more information about the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone, visit the ArcGIS Resource Center. International users can contact their local distributor for more information.

[Source: Esri press release]

Impact of Spatial Filtering on the Least Cost Path Method: Selecting a High-Speed Rail Route for Ohio’s 3-C Corridor

/ Matt Artz

International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research, Vol. 1, Issue 4, 2010

Amy E. Rock; Amanda Mullett; Saad Algharib; Jared Schaffer; Jay Lee

“In the face of renewed interest in High-Speed Rail (HSR) projects, Ohio is one of several states seeking federal funding to relieve pressure on aging, overburdened highway infrastructure by constructing passenger rail routes between major cities. This paper evaluates the creation of a new rail route in Ohio’s 3-C Corridor utilizing GIS. The authors consider two primary cost factors in construction, slope and land cover, to generate alternative least-cost paths. To assess the importance of the cost factors, two separate paths are created using two different weighting methods for the land cover layer. The land cover is weighted first by difficulty of construction, and second by relative acquisition costs. These two paths are then compared against a path selected by the Ohio Hub Project which uses existing track lines, advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed.”

Spatial Analysis of a Historical Phenomenon: Using GIS to Demonstrate the Strategic Placement of Umayyad Desert Palaces

/ Matt Artz / 1 Comment

GeoJournal, published onl;ine 17 November 2010

Mahmoud Bashir Alhasanat, Shahid Kabir, Wan Muhd Aminuddin Wan Hussin and Erin Addison

“The Umayyad qusour (desert palaces) are monumental structures built during the reign of the first caliphate of Islam. Usually dismissed as “pleasure palaces” or “hunting lodges,” some scholars are beginning to argue that these prominent structures were strategic interventions in the landscape. Until now, historians have relied mainly on textual, architectural and art-historical analyses of the qusour in order to understand Umayyad state architecture. This research proposes the use of spatial analysis through GIS to lend a new dimension to the discussion. The results of the analysis show that Umayyad qusour are carefully situated at routes of transhumance and water sources. The distribution pattern of the Umayyad qusour is clustered at the outlet of Wadi Sarhan, and there is actually line-of-sight communication between Azraq, Amra, Haranah, Muwaqqar, Umm al Walid, Mushatta, and Qastal. There is also a positive association between Umayyad qusour and their water sources. These results support the argument that the Umayyad qusour were built strategically at perennial water sources in order to monitor routes of transhumance amongst the socio-political centers of the period.”

Using Residential History and Groundwater Modeling to Examine Drinking Water Exposure and Breast Cancer

/ Matt Artz

Environmental Health Perspectives, 2010 Jun;118(6):749-55. Epub 2010 Feb 17.

Gallagher LG, Webster TF, Aschengrau A, Vieira VM.

“BACKGROUND: Spatial analyses of case-control data have suggested a possible link between breast cancer and groundwater plumes in upper Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

“OBJECTIVE: We integrated residential histories, public water distribution systems, and groundwater modeling within geographic information systems (GIS) to examine the association between exposure to drinking water that has been contaminated by wastewater effluent and breast cancer.

“METHODS: Exposure was assessed from 1947 to 1993 for 638 breast cancer cases who were diagnosed from 1983 to 1993 and 842 controls; we took into account residential mobility and drinking water source. To estimate the historical impact of effluent on drinking water wells, we modified a modular three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater model (MODFLOW) from the U.S. Geological Survey. The analyses included latency and exposure duration.

“RESULTS: Wastewater effluent impacted the drinking water wells of study participants as early as 1966. For > 0-5 years of exposure (versus no exposure), associations were generally null. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for > 10 years of exposure were slightly increased, assuming latency periods of 0 or 10 years [AOR = 1.3; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.9-1.9 and AOR = 1.6; 95% CI, 0.8-3.2, respectively]. Statistically significant associations were estimated for ever-exposed versus never-exposed women when a 20-year latency period was assumed (AOR = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.0-3.4). A sensitivity analysis that classified exposures assuming lower well-pumping rates showed similar results.

“CONCLUSION: We investigated the hypothesis generated by earlier spatial analyses that exposure to drinking water contaminated by wastewater effluent may be associated with breast cancer. Using a detailed exposure assessment, we found an association with breast cancer that increased with longer latency and greater exposure duration.”