Web Mapping: It's Not Just for Map Geeks

Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - 7:30pm to 8:30pm

Location

O'Neill's Irish Pub in Nob Hill
4310 Central Ave SE
87108 Albuquerque , NM
US

Incorporating interactive, dynamic maps into web sites has never been easier.  This has led in partto an explosion of location based and web mapping services. In fact, today’s culture may be the most map aware we’ve ever seen, and people expect tools that allow them to find things in the world.  In light of this, Kurt Menke will cover the two leading API’s used in web mapping today: Google Maps and OpenLayers.


Version 3 of the Google Maps API is a complete rewrite of the API. It now offers even better performance making it much more suitable to mobile development. OpenLayers is the leading open source web mapping API, allowing you to pull in just about every type of spatial data into a dynamic web map.


Kurt will also introduce the aspects of spatial data you need to understand to get started on web mapping.  This will include discussions of map coordinates, spatial data formats, and places to find map data.


About Kurt Menke


After a former life as an archaeologist, Kurt Menke is now a Certified Geographic Information System (GIS) Professional (GISP) who has been working in the field for 16 years. He received a Masters degree in Geography from the University of New Mexico in 2000. That same year he founded Bird’s Eye View to apply his expertise with GIS technology towards ecological conservation.


Kurt is active in both in the local GIS community and the greater conservation community.  He currently serves as President of the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council and is on the planning committee for the 2012 Society for Conservation GIS Annual Conference. He teaches GIS at UNM’s Division of Continuing Education, SIPI, and CNM. Kurt served on the Board of Directors for the New Mexico Geographic Information Council (NMGIC) for 8 years and is a past president.


In his spare time Kurt can be found hiking, biking, birding, gardening and raising chickens. You can follow his blog or twitter feed @geomenke.