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"Internet Resources" The following text is Gil Castle's final draft of the real estate column appearing in Business Geographics, August 1998 Copyright © 1998 GIS
World, Inc. |
In October 1998 my long-promised book "GIS in Real Estate" will be published by The Appraisal Institute, in conjunction with GIS World, Inc. The appendix of the book contains Web sites of resources that I believe are particularly relevant to real estate professionals and students. A major portion of that appendix is reproduced below.
Incidentally, a book I recently found to be very insightful vis-a-vis making money on the Internet Is Evan L. Schwartz's "Webonomics: Nine Essential Principles for Growing Your Business on the World Wide Web" (Broadway Books, 1997)—which I purchased (where else?) at www.amazon.com .
GIS GLOSSARIES
"The devil is in the details" in GIS as in life. While most real estate professionals prefer not to become immersed in the technicalities of the technology, a rudimentary understanding of the vocabulary can only be helpful. The following are several glossaries for determining the importance to one's professional life of such frequently used GIS terms as polygons, arcs, centroids, slivers, rubber-sheeting, edge-matching, etc.
GISLinx
http://www.gislinx.com/GISLinx/GIS_jargon.htmJefferson County (Colorado) GIS
http://ozma.jefferson.co.us/dpt/gis/glossary.htmAssociation for Geographic Information (AGI)
http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/agidict/welcome.htmlBritish Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/gis/glosstxt.htmlESRI, Inc.
http://www.esri.com/base/users/glossary.html
GIS PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
"Misery loves company," but so does euphoria, and all emotions in between. Relatively few professional societies exist to provide a forum for sharing GIS experiences, but some (notably URISA) have innumerable local chapters to increase interaction opportunities. In addition to the list below, several vendors have active users groups around the country and even around the world.
Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA)
http://www.urisa.orgAM/FM International
http://www.amfmintl.orgGeoBusiness Association
http://www.gba.org
MISCELLANEOUS
"A cluttered mind"...I can't recall the rest of the expression, probably because my mind is too full of other trivia. Finding out that someone else has assembled a Whole Lot Of Stuff in one place is terrific for data pack rats and non-pack rats alike. Here are a few such sites.
Federal Geographic Data Committee—Clearinghouse
http://www.fgdc.gov/Clearinghouse/Clearinghouse.htmlInternational Real Estate Directory
www.ired.comPeter Pike's "Pikenet"
www.pikenet.comReal Estate Information Providers Association (REIPA)
www.reipa.org
GIS VENDORS
NOTE: The vendors are listed under one of the following four categories: Software, Digital Data, Attribute (Tabular) Data, or Services. Many vendors offer products and services in two or more of these four categories.
SOFTWARE
When I first became involved with GIS two decades ago, essentially only four companies provided GIS software—at a price in six figures. Innumerable companies now offer generic and special purpose software, scripting languages, various GIS utilities, and so on, for as low as two figures. To complicate matters further, GIS tools are rapidly migrating to the Internet. Keeping up is no easy task, but here is my less-than-complete list of vendors to watch.
Autodesk Inc.
http://www.autodesk.com/gisCaliper Corp.
http://www.caliper.comCypress Geo-Resources Inc.
http://www.cyp.comDecisionmark Corp.
http://www.decisionmark.comERDAS Inc.
http://www.erdas.comESRI Inc.
http://www.esri.comGenasys
http://www.genasys.comGeoResearch Inc.
http://www.georesearch.comGeoSystems Global Corp.
http://www.mapquest.comThe IDRISI Project
http://www.idrisi.clarkeu.eduInsurance Services Office Inc.
http://www.iso.comIntergraph Corp.
http://www.intergraph.comMAPCOM Systems Inc.
http://www.mapcom.comMapInfo Corp.
http://www.mapinfo.comMatchWare Technologies Inc.
http://www.matchware.comNorthwood Geoscience Ltd.
http://www.northwoodgeo.comObject/FX Corp.
http://www.objectfx.comQualitative Marketing Software Inc.
http://www.qmsoft.comSAS Institute Inc.
http://www.sas.comScan/US Inc.
http://www.scanus.comSites USA
http://www.sitesusa.comTactician Corp.
http://www.tactician.comTetrad Computer Applications
http://www.tetrad.comTotal Systems Inc.
http://www.totalsystemsinc.comVisio Corp.
http://www.visio.com
DIGITAL DATA
These are the maps of streets, census tracts, zip code zones, water bodies, and on and on, that are the foundation for a GIS. The principal types of maps are "vector", in which the streets et al. are comprised of thousands of longitude-latitude, State Plane, or other coordinates. Other types of digital maps include raster (e.g., bitmaps) and satelitte. The following are firms that provide pre-encoded digital maps and/or will create new digital maps from proprietary data bases.
American Digital Cartography Inc.
http://www.adci.comBLR Data
http://www.blrdata.comDelorme
http://www.delorme.comDesktop Mapping Technologies
http://www.desktopmapping.comEnvironmental Risk Information & Imaging Services
http://www.eriis.comGeographic Data Technology Inc. (GDT)
http://www.geographic.comGeoImage Technologies
http://www.geoimage.comHJW & Associates
http://www.hjw.comImage Scans Inc.
http://www.imagescans.comImageLinks Inc.
http://www.imagelinks.comLandcare Aviation Inc.
http://www.landvue.comLizardTech Inc.
http://www.lizardtech.comMagellan Systems Corp.
http://www.magellangps.comThe MapFactory Inc.
http://www.mapfactory.comOn Target Mapping
http://www.otmapping.comRolta International Inc.
http://www.rolta.comSedona GeoServices Inc.
http://www.sedonageo.comSilvana Inc.
http://www.cogno.com/silvanaSpace Imaging EOSAT
http://www.spaceimaging.comSPOT Image Corp.
http://www.spot.comTGS Technology
http://www.tgstech.comThomas Brothers Maps
http://www.thomas.com3D Imaging LLC
http://www.3diterralogic.comTRIFID Corp.
http://www.trifid.comTruVue Corp.
http://www.truvuecorp.comValueCAD
http://www.valuecad.comVARGIS LLC
http://www.vargis.com
ATTRIBUTE DATA
Attribute data is also frequently called "tabular" data. The rows of a table correspond to geographic features in a digital map, and the columns contain information about those geographic features. For example, in a table of census data at the census tract level, each row in the table would correspond to one census tract on a census tract map; the columns might contain information on the census tracts' current population, median household income, average age of residents, etc. The analytic and presentation power of a GIS is leveraged enormously when one or more tables are linked to a digital map. The following are sources of demand-side, supply-side, regulatory, and other attribute data relevant to real estate decision making.
Applied Geographic Solutions Inc.
http://www.appliedgeographic.comThe Buxton Co.
http://www.buxtonco.comCACI Marketing Systems
http://demographics.caci.comClaritas Inc.
http://www.claritas.comCompusearch Micromarketing Data & Systems
http://www.polk.caEasy Analytic Software Inc.
http://www.easidemographics.comExperian (formerly TRW Redi)
http://www.experian.comGeoscape International Inc.
http://www.geoscape.comMarket Statistics
http://www.marketstats.comNational Decision Systems
http://www.natdecsys.comNPA Data Services Inc.
http://www.npadata.comOnline Data Services
http://www.onlinedatasvc.comTGE Demographics
http://www.wessex.com/TGEDemographicsVISTA Information Solutions
http://www.vistainfo.com
SERVICES
"If you want a [GIS] job done right, do it yourself." However, if you don't have the time, expertise, software, hardware, or other resources essential to completing a task, you will want to find a subcontractor. Here is a list of places to start.
ADR Inc.
http://www.adrinc.comApplied Geographics, Inc.
http://www.appgeo.comBerger & Co.
http://www.berger.comCastillo Co. Inc.
http://www.castillo.comConvergent Group
http://www.convergentgroup.comDakota Worldwide Corp.
http://www.dakotaww.comData Insight
http://www.datainsight.comDynamic Geographic Technologies Inc.
http://www.dgt-inc.comGeo Insight International Inc.
http://www.geoin.comGeodata Consultants Inc.
http://www.geodataconsult.comGeodyssey Ltd.
http://www.geodyssey.comGeographic Services Corp.
www.MapAgent.comGeomatics International Inc.
http://www.geomatics.comIntegrated GPS Technologies Inc.
http://www.gpsgis.comKomex International Ltd.
http://www.komex.comMapping Analytics
http://www.mapanalytic.comMapping Technologies Inc.
http://www.maptech.netMapPix
http://www.mappix.comMarketQuest
http://www.marketq.comMatrix Research LLC
http://www.matrixr.comMichael Baker Jr. Inc.
http://www.mbakercorp.comMPSI Systems Inc.
http://www.mpsisys.comSite Perfect Research Inc.
http://www.siteperfect.comSpatial Insights Inc.
http://www.spatialinsights.com