George
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Homepage: http://www.depiction.com
Jabber/GTalk: brace4grace@gmail.com
Posts by George
Ric Skinner, GISP: Depiction Preferred Consultant Profile
Oct 17th
Depiction Preferred Consultants (DPC) are a great asset to Depiction and we’re happy to have them as part of the Depiction family. These folks offer services like training, project assistance and even full Depiction implementation to organizations interested in or already using Depiction. We’re writing a series of blogs to highlight the strengths of each of our DPCs to expand on the resources that support Depiction. This week we’re featuring Ric Skinner.
Ric Skinner of The Stoneybrook Group, LLC is a Certified GIS Professional with over 30 years of professional experience in hospital & healthcare preparedness, health geographics and environmental management. While The Stoneybrook Group is based in Massachusetts it is available to provides services and grant collaboration regionally and nationally. Ric is the book editor and a chapter author of GIS in Hospital and Healthcare Emergency Management. He is an active member of the International Assn. of Emergency Managers (IAEM), Urban & Regional Information Systems Assn. (URISA), and other professional organizations and their listservs. Following the old adage “if I give you a fish you will eat for one meal; if I teach you to fish you will never go hungry,” Ric’s consulting objective is to teach others how to use GIS to meet their needs for assuring that the right people, have the right information, at the right time and in the right format. While he has used ESRI GIS software since the late 1980s, he recognizes that many small organizations and budget-strapped municipalities cannot afford the investment of money and people for a GIS that has many features and functions they really don’t need. That’s why he now focuses on the “leaner and less costly” GIS capabilities that Depiction provides.
I have had the pleasure of working with Ric both virtually and in person. I appreciate his knowledge of GIS, healthcare and policy affecting both, and his desire to foster collaboration and effective use of Depiction. Ric is very enthusiastic about GIS (he has been called a “GIS evangelist”) and about Depiction, both in its current functionality and its potential. We have featured him in two Depiction Perspectives interviews (June 2010 and June 2011), and several blog posts.
For the past year or so, Ric has been working with Chris Floyd of Disaster Resistant Communities Group, to put on the Formidable Footprint online tabletop exercise series. He uses Depiction to produce interactive and static maps that illustrate the location and effects of the disaster for each innovative, free monthly event.
Please contact Ric Skinner via email with any questions and visit The Stoneybrook Group, LLC to learn more about his company.
Depiction University Updated for 1.3
Aug 23rd
While we designed Depiction to be user-friendly, intuitive and easy to use, it soon became apparent that users wanted more help in learning all the tools available in the software. So we introduced Depiction University in the Fall of 2010. With the release of Depiction 1.3 in May, lots of updating was in order for the DU program, and we are happy to announce that this process is complete. The program includes eight self-paced modules, which a “student” has one year to complete. There is also a special forum on depiction.com where students can share ideas, provide feedback on the software and DU program, and interact with instructors. And we have designed a special preview module so you can try it out. Find out more today!
Amateur Radio Webinar Series
Aug 17th
Last month, we started a new webinar series for Amateur Radio users of Depiction. You can view the inaugural session recording or sign up for the second session (TONIGHT). The series is hosted by Tim O’Shea, KY7Y, a Depiction Preferred Consultant, Assistant Emergency Coordinator and PIO for the Washoe County, NV ARES/RACES and the ARRL Nevada State Government Liaison. We are excited to have Tim present topical and important information for Depictions users involved in Emergency Communications. This week will focus on APRS with Depiction, and the APRS Live Add-on in particular. See you there!
A new Depiction 101 series
Aug 11th
On Wednesday, I started a new series of Depiction 101 webinars, titled Getting Around. The recording and outline are now available here. The idea behind this series is to both educate new users of Depiction, and provide a way for all Depiction users to stay up to date in their basic skills. To that end, I have re-organized the series. In the next couple of weeks, I’ll cover some of the basics of using Depiction: elements and Revealers. Then I’ll move on to ways you can add data into Depiction by various import methods, followed by ways you can customize your Depiction experience.
Here is how the series will go (links are to the registration pages):
- August 17, Elements
- August 24, Using Revealers
- August 31, Spreadsheets
- September 7, Shapefiles
- September 14, Images
- September 21, Live Reports
- September 28, Elevation Data
- October 5, Custom Elements
- October 12, Simulation Elements
- October 19, Interaction Rules
I’m looking forward to presenting this new series. If you have any questions about this or any other Depiction issue, please email me or comment here.
Using a User-created Depiction Interaction Rule to Aid in Tornado Damage Assessment
Apr 15th
For our Depiction of the Week, we have a guest post from Ric Skinner, GISP, a Depiction Preferred Consultant.
I needed a simple way to do a damage estimate of a tornado path through a town for the Formidable Footprint Tornado tabletop exercise which will be staged on Saturday April 30. After placing a User-defined Shape on my depiction I noticed it looked a lot like a flood map. Knowing that the flood interaction rule interacts with specified elements to disable them if they occur in the flood zone area. So I created a “tornado path” interaction rule as follows:
1. I created a tornado path from the explosion element, deleting all the points not needed.
2. I saved the new shape to my element library, naming it “tornado path.”
3. I copied the flood interaction rule, renamed it “tornado path”, indicating the cause as “tornado path”, and checked the elements I wanted it to interact with – for this simple example just buildings.
4. Because I don’t like the clutter that the red “X” causes for disabled buildings, I created a separate layer of disabled (=destroyed, in my example) by exporting the buildings as a CSV.
5. I added a new field (attribute) named “Status”
6. I saved the file a “all building” to keep for backup.
7. I saved it again as “buildings OK” and deleted all records with “Active = False”. I added the value “No Damage” to the “Status” field. These are the buildings outside the tornado path.
8. I saved “all buildings” again and deleted all records with “Active = True”. I added the value “Destroyed” to the “Status” field. These are the building inside the tornado path.
9. Then I “turned off” the tornado path” interaction rule by un-checking the box indicating to use the rule “in this depiction”. This is so the interaction rule doesn’t run again when new building files are added.
10. I deleted the buildings layer (i.e., all the original buildings) in my depiction and re-imported the two new buildings files, using two different symbols indicating their status. Additional levels of damage were indicated in the Status attribute by manually editing each element.
11. Then using the new status value to filter certain buildings, the symbol outline color was specified to indicate “destroyed”, “major damage” or “minor damage”.
With the tornado path interaction disabled it is easy to see (without the red “X”) which buildings were spared and which were damaged, along with any additional hover text information desired.
Click here to download the depiction.
Depiction of the Week - Tracking Tornado Damage
Depicting Fukushima Video
Mar 30th
Tim posted a new video on YouTube, discussing his depiction of the Fukushima Daiichi plant issues.
This is a powerful use of our software, I must say. Please comment or contact us if you have any questions.
Depiction 101: Interaction Rules Video Podcast
Jan 26th
Interaction rules power the simulation environment Depiction provides. With these customizable cause-and-affect rules, users can create a wide variety of potential scenarios and have a very good idea of effects on their community. Watch this recorded session to learn the basics of using this unique feature of Depiction.
http://www.depiction.com/files/videos/Depiction101/012611-Depiction101-InteractionRules.flvMy outline is available for viewing and printing in our knowledgebase as well.
Depiction 101: Simulation Elements Video
Jan 25th
Simulation elements set Depiction apart from most other mapping applications. With these customizable elements, users can explore a wide variety of potential scenarios and have a very good idea of effects on their community. Watch this video to learn the basics of using these unique pieces of Depiction.
http://www.depiction.com/files/videos/Depiction101/011911-Depiction101-SimulationElements.flv
Depiction 101 Video Podcast: Live Reports
Jan 12th
Here’s the latest Depiction 101 on using Live Reports. We’re working to get this posted as a podcast: please let us know what you think.
http://www.depiction.com/files/videos/Depiction101/011211-Depiction101-LiveReports.flvEarthquake in Indiana
Dec 30th
A magnitude 3.8 earthquake shook Indiana just north of Indianapolis this morning, apparently causing little damage. Read this article for more details. The USGS has data posted here, though it apparently hasn’t been reviewed yet. This makes the Formidable Footprint (January) and Great Shakeout (April) exercises coming up seem very well timed.
I downloaded the USGS shapefile and did a quick depiction of the MMI (a relative intensity index). Indianapolis is to the south and Fort Wayne to the Northeast in this image.
Depicting the epicenter and relative feel of the quake
Drop me a line if you’d like more info on how I depicted this.
Depiction encourages all our staff, readers and users to prepare for the hazards in your area. For more info, visit Ready.gov.
Have a safe and happy New Year!
