NCC GIS Blog - Simon Nitz

MUGNZ Conference

2009-10-12T12:56:00.002+13:00

The annual MapInfo Users Group of New Zealand conference is fast approaching and Napier City will be there having used MapInfo software products for many many years.

More information about the MUGNZ conference is available at...

http://www.mugnz.com/conference-2009

Search Auto Suggestions

2009-02-16T14:02:00.006+13:00

To make life a little easier when searching for Property Addresses and Road Names in GIS.Napier, we've added an "Auto Suggest" feature to the search options...

Simply start typing the Property Address or Road Name your interested in and an automated suggestion will appear below the Find textbox. The more characters you type the better the suggestion! Click the item in the suggestion list that you interested in and that suggestion will be added to the Find textbox ready to be searched for!

The existing seach functionality remains unchanged so the "_" single character and "%" multi-character wildcards can still be utilised.

Napier Google Street View

2008-12-03T13:34:00.006+13:00

Google have recently released Street View for New Zealand. With Street View you can take virtual walks, pan, rotate and zoom around cityscapes, landmarks, and points of interest!

The coverage of Street View imagery for Napier City is excellent, so we have added links within GIS.Napier to Google Street View from our Property Info (available from the Info tab when you have a property selected on the GIS.Napier interactive map)...

So now not only can you get comprehensive property information from GIS.Napier, but also street level imagery of the property via Google Street View.

Success for the GIS Team

2008-11-03T12:04:00.002+13:00

At the Annual MapInfo User Group of New Zealand (MUGNZ) Conference held in Wellington in September, Napier City Council won two awards.

"The Critchlow Trophy for Outstanding Implementation of a Geographic Information Systems Project" was awarded for the Council's new graffiti mapping solution. The application combines sophisticated mapping, council resources and community input to achieve practical management of a common urban problem.

The MUGNZ Trophy for Excellence in Cartography was awarded for its mapping of walking tracks and cycleways within the Napier region .

Read the press articles here

GIS.Napier Vista Sidebar Gadget

2008-09-10T09:11:00.011+12:00

Are you a Windows Vista user? If you are, and you use the Vista Sidebar, then try out our new GIS.Napier Sidebar Gadget. Download/Install the gadget from our "Downloads" page.

Google Chrome Browser

2008-09-04T09:01:00.003+12:00

Google have released their very own Web Browser, Google Chrome!

Google Chrome works extremely well with GIS.Napier, the only issue we had while testing is with printing where it defaults to "fit to page" (The same issue as in Apple's Safari web browser). Effectively this means you cannot print out a map to scale (print at 100%). However if you do not require a print that is to scale, then Google Chrome is an excellent choice of web browser.

We gave it a 4 out 5 ticks for compatibility with GIS.Napier.

You can download Google Chrome here.

Find your Napier Property in Google Earth

2008-08-06T13:03:00.007+12:00

Well, young Hayleigh is putting this old dog to shame with this new fangled blogging!

So to catch up a little, here's some info on a very exciting new feature on our GIS website - you are now able to search for an address in Napier and view the results in Google Earth!

So what do you need to access this service? For starters you will need an internet connection (if your reading this youv'e already got that!). Next you will need Google Earth installed on your computer - you can download from Google for free!

The address searching is activated via our "Online Services", or more specifically the "KML Services" page (KML is the technology that allows you to retrieve GIS data direct from us over the internet, and display the data in Google Earth).

Once on the KML Service page, simple type in your address and click the Find button...

Tip - You don't need to type in the address suffix (e.g. Road, Avenue, Street, etc)

The page is refreshed with a link to the KML file required for Google Earth, click the link to open Google Earth...

The address will be displayed as a yellow push pin in Google Earth.

Clicking the Yellow Push Pin will display information about that address as well as provide links to Rates Information, Building Consents and Resource Consents.

Web Map Services (WMS)

2008-06-23T14:55:00.007+12:00

A Web Map Service (WMS) is a technology that allows you to retrieve GIS data direct from us over the internet, and display the data as a raster image in your own GIS applications.

This innovation is based on a specification from the Open GIS Consortium (OGC)

WMS-produced maps are generally rendered in a raster format such as PNG, GIF or JPEG.

When requesting a map the WMS URL indicates what information is to be shown on the map, what portion of the earth is to be mapped, the desired coordinate reference system, and the output image width and height.

WMS allows the creation of a network of distributed map servers from which clients can build customised maps.

Most main stream GIS software packages are able to display Web Map Services. Some CAD software packages are also able to take advantage of Web Map Services, either directly or via third party add-ons.

Napier City provides WMS services for select data we hold using the following URL within your GIS application:

http://www.gis.napier.govt.nz/geoserver/wms?
service=WMS&request=GetCapabilities

Over time, we hope to add more data to this service.

If you would like further information on our WMS services give me a call on (06) 834 4151

Online Services

2008-05-16T12:04:00.005+12:00

We have finally added a variety of online services to supplement the existing Interactive Maps application that has been available since 2003. The new services include a Metadata Application, a WMS Service, WFS Service and a KML Service for Google Earth.