Monthly Archive for November, 2006

I hate mobile ticketing!

This time it was my turn to get tickets for me and a few friends of mine in advance. At the ticket office I was told that paper tickets are already sold out, so I had to try this mobile ticketing thing.

Problem #1: I’m only allowed to buy 4 tickets at once, but I need 5.

Problem #2: If you buy more than one ticket at once you have to enter the name, the phone number, no problem until here, and, believe it or not, the cell phone model for each person!! Think of 4 of your friends and name their exact cell phone brand and model. This is an impossible task!! Besides, what would be the reason to set a limit of one ticket per cell phone?

Problem #3: Even if I would remember every single cell phone model I couldn’t enter the number of at least 3 friends because they use their business cell phone and their companies won’t pay for party entry fees.

So we just decided not to go and join another party instead. Yes, listen carefully Nokia, there are still parties you can enter without mobile ticketing.

Very uncool Nokia, very very uncool.

Mobile obsession

Nokia gives us a lecture in “how to convince skeptical users of mobile ticketing” by offering only a limited number of paper tickets – I simply can’t believe that this venue is already sold out – and forcing people who want to buy tickets in advance to order them on their cell phone.

So I guess Nokia leaves me no option but to try this mobile ticketing thing. I hope you get at least a drink at the party without using your cell phone.

Very uncool Nokia!

Localizations

Some might regret that Flickr is English only. I’m glad.

Regarding German localizations, I dare to say that there is hardly nothing more boring on the web than a photo sharing site full of German comments. I certainly do enjoy the German-English kauderwelsch on Flickr. It’s fun!

Besides, an English site gives you access to photos and, still more important, people taking and sharing those photos worldwide, not limited to a particular region.

ArcGIS Explorer, a first impression

After reading this post in the morning, I just couldn’t resist but to have a quick look at the long-awaited ArcGIS Explorer. If you have an ESRI global account (or are willing to register) you can download it here.

As mentioned in a few discussions earlier this year, ArcGIS Explorer won’t be a mass market product and is not supposed to compete with Google Earth. So I expected a product that would fit my needs as ArcGIS user and offer new possibilities for data and result dissemination for instance.

Basically it does.

After trying different globe-types offered by ArcGIS online (btw, which software is needed to create nmf files?) I wanted to load some local content.

Since ArcGIS 8 (if I remember correctly) ESRI is promoting its Personal Geodatabase file format for local storage. If you moved over the years from Shapefile to Personal Geodatabase (as we did) you’re now screwed. Apparently ArcGIS Explorer can only access the new File Geodatabases, coming with ArcGIS 9.2, and good old Shapefiles. So if you consider, among other things, ArcGIS Explorer as tool to access locally stored information, you should migrate to ArcGIS 9.2 and File Geodatabases, another ArcGIS island file format, or just stay and be happy with Shapefiles.

Because there is no ArcGIS Server in sight and there won’t be any in near future, I tried WMS. Well, it works. Basically. Sometimes.
Serious Application Error

Still, the major drawback of ArcGIS Explorer is its overall performance. Once you’ve seen how fast you can move and fly around in Google Earth, it’s hard to go back to a sluggish performance like the one you’re experiencing in ArcGIS Explorer.

It would be interesting to see ArcGIS Explorer in combination with ArcGIS Server together in a local network. I bet it performs somewhat faster.

The concept (e.g. extensible with customized tasks) is great and there is definitely a market for usable professional globe applications (cf. Google Earth’s license agreement), but this software isn’t ready yet. Even ESRI evangelists have to face that fact.

Overlooked Google Reader feature?

Since there is no announcement I guess I must have overlooked this Google Reader feature. In Google Reader you can categorize your subscriptions by assigning them to different “folders” (btw, why not tags or categories, why folders? this is so Web 1.0!). To do so you have to go to “manage subscriptions” and tag each of your subscribed feeds.

Right after adding a new feed there was no way (at least I didn’t see it) to assign the new feed directly to folders. You always had to leave the feed display, go to “manage subscriptions”, then remember the name of the newly added feed and assign it to folders.

This morning, after adding a new feed to my Reader, I got this option above the feed display:

Google Reader - Add to folder...

Better.

Drawing charts

Spicing up your tabular data with some charts and graphs is always a good idea. It helps your users reading and understanding your data better and makes your information system look a bit nicer.

Most systems are judged on the visual impression of their front-end, no matter how strong and complex your database concept might be. So never forget to polish the user interface a bit up before releasing it. Just have a look at some software reviews in Apple forums and you know what I’m talking about.

However, nice designed charts help users to quickly understand what the data is about, you know, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Searching for libraries to dynamically draw charts I came over PlotKit. It looks very interesting and I’ll definitely have a second closer look at it. What I’m wondering is, if you could modify PlotKit in order the get some nice thematic SVG maps drawn. Easy and quick interactive online maps, good usability and no need of setting up an entire mapserver environment.

Since thematic maps basically are sort of charts, graphical elements representing data, it should be possible. Well, I’ll see…

Old fashioned mobile user

Yep, I’m an old fashioned paper ticket buyer, not a trendy mobile ticketing user as Nokia would like to see most of their guests at Nokia Trends.

It’s quite obvious that Nokia is trying to promote mobile ticketing. Popular mobile applications are good for mobile business. Strange enough that Nokia doesn’t even believe itself in its technology. Or why else would they mention a back-up system and ensure potential mobile ticketing users that everything is going to be fine, even if the mobile ticket (an encrypted image sent to your phone) doesn’t work.

I experienced too many unreceivable picture messages from different mobile phone brands and operators than mine is. So why should I bother and risk mobile ticketing when I can be a 100% sure that paper tickets will do their job just fine.

Draw SVG polygons on Google Maps

Apparently Google has become a bit lazy in updating their API reference. Thanks to people like Mike Williams who give Google a hand and document for the rest of us interesting new features found in the Google Maps API.

Similar to GPolyline, the new GPolygon class, which comes with API v2.69, enables drawing of SVG polygons onto your Google Maps. Two additional parameters define polygon fill color and opacity:

GPolygon(points, border-color?, border-weight?, border-opacity?, fill-color?, fill-opacity?)

See a live example of the new polygon class here. [via gis-news]

Weitersfelden

Creative, strange and freaky subculture is often considered as product of metropolitan jungles, as a result and mixture of various kinds of urban possibilities and characteristics.

But it’s not, subculture is of course not bound exclusively to urbanity.

An amazing demonstration of that thesis I’ve seen yesterday in Weitersfelden, Upper Austria, deepest Mühlviertel, in the middle of nowhere, at a ball organized by BACKLAB.

Usually in such a rural environment, at this type of event, you’d expect some bands or DJs playing the greatest hits from 60ies to the 90ies. Not in Weitersfelden. I hardly remember when I’ve seen such weird live acts the last time. Bunny Lake, the headliner, I already knew from Vienna, a great white trash live show! The other local acts were just a mess of costumes, noise, performance and music. Overall big entertainment factor!

I’ve never been to Mühlviertel before, but they definitely know how to party!

dizzy

dizzyAfter a few beers things are likely starting to become dizzy. Even more if you start such discussions like what’s life about, what do you want and what do you expect from life. The question without or with too many answers.

If then a very intelligent and clever economist explains you that he is reducing his monthly expenditures in order to simultaneously decrease his working time, because time is the most precious thing you can have in life, now that really keeps you thinking…