Tonight: Free Presentation at UofL Honors Lecture Series

Metro Mapper will be making a free and open to the public presentation tonight at UofL. The fun starts at 7pm. See our previous post for more event details.

Here is a detailed overview of what I will be speaking about at the event. You can print it out beforehand, or I'll have copies on hand tonight so you can follow along, know what to expect, and take notes for questions.

PDF of Presentation (PDF)

UPDATE: We tried to live stream the event, courtesy Nick Moorman, but some technical issues prevented it from working out.

Presentation

Biography – Michael Schnuerle: Louisville, UK, Australia, Paris, Edinburgh, San Fran, Louisville

Technology – Convergence and new tech 2005: Map APIs, Ajax, Hosting Costs, Open Source

The Metro Mapper Site

Site Overview – types of maps, daily traffic, updates

Cool Examples – filtering, historic overlays (UofL)

Services – free to public, account, bookmarks, embedding free and paid

Revenue – ads, sponsoring, consulting, custom work, embedding, collaboration (PVA)

History – 2005 technologies, city crime, other data, embedding, full time

Career Path – Computer Graphics, 2 years abroad, Big/Small Companies, Independent

Technical Overview – PHP, MySQL, Data -> Convert -> Site -> Embed

Tools Used – Photoshop, Dreamweaver, MySQL Administrator, SmartSVN, WinSCP

The Your Mapper Prototype

Site Preview – logo, interface, maps

Key Differences – National, browsing, tools, data loading, social media, mobile

Open Data - Open Municipal Geodata Data Standard

The Future of Online Maps

Google Earth – Exporting data into a 3D environment, 3D cities, 1:1 correlations.

Mobile Tools – iPhone, Google Android, GPS, ubiquity

Location Based Tools - Connecting where you are to useful information, social

Data Loading – Making public data truly public

Municipal Partnership: Jefferson County PVA and Metro Mapper

We've launched a new map as part of a partnership with the Jefferson County PVA. We've put all of their property values on an interactive map that is embedded on their site. There is also a version on our Metro Mapper site.


It's a perfect example of working with existing government data, and creating an interactive map for the government agency's site. It's going to keep people coming back to their site, and gain a whole new following of people that find the Metro Mapper site then see the property value map. I think it’s really going to improve the way people search for information, and raise everyone’s expectations for what the government should be providing to citizens.

Here is the full press release text from the PVA:

Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator, Tony Lindauer, announced today another enhancement to the PVA award winning website. All property parcel values across Jefferson County will be viewable on a free interactive map.

The new service supplements the existing address search, since it allows citizens to see the property values around them at-a-glance without having to know the neighboring street names.

A citizen can enter any address or street and see the closest parcels. A marker for each parcel will show a popup with useful information, including the property and land value, owner name, date assessed, parcel thumbnail, and type of property. The popup will include a link to the subscription web service, which gives even more detailed information on property.

The new service will be available on Monday, October 27, 2008. Lindauer said the interactive maps, similar to Google Maps, will be more user friendly in accessing snapshot information for each parcel.

Michael Schnuerle, of Louisville Metro Mapper, who designed the enhancement for the website, said: “It’s great that the Jefferson County PVA is constantly improving the website. This visual mapping tool will make browsing for property information much easier. “

To facilitate the data exchange, the PVA is using the open data format called the OMG Standard.

Metro Mapper at UofL Honors Lecture Series, Oct 29

I will be speaking at the University of Louisville Honors Lecture Series Wednesday, Oct 29, 2008 at 7pm.

I'll talk about maps, demo the current Metro Mapper site, give a technical overview of how it was made, show some cool maps and data, preview the new Your Mapper national prototype, discuss mobile location-based tools, speculate on the future of online maps, and take any questions.

And I'll discussing my big announcement from this coming Monday.

Before the event, post some questions here and I'll incorporate them into the presentation!

Become a fan of Metro Mapper on Facebook and RSVP to the event so they know how many seats to have. Space is pretty limited since it's in a classroom: RSVP for Event

Map of Estcorn Honors Center at Threlkeld Hall's Location on Campus: www.tinyurl.com/mmuofl

Thanks to the student organizers for putting it all together:

• Greer Waldrop
• Venkat Ramakrishnan
• Greg Shaw
• Amruth krishnamurty
• Michael Miao

Parking - For off campus people, you can use the Floyd St Parking garage, which costs a bit before 7, but after 7 is free. Also after 7, you can park on the streets in the area without worrying about being ticketed. I know the even starts at 7, but you should be alright if you arrive just before 7.