Friday, November 03, 2006

Should Academic Libraries Spend Money on GIS Datasets?

Like most questions in life, the answer is 'it depends'. It depends on the strength of the numerical datasets the library maintains.

Let me explain

Primary Expense is Time (& Expertise)

There are oodles of public data scattered throughout the net. Tracking these data sources down can be challenging and fun, but it requires no funds other than library salaries consumed in their hunt. For example, it took me almost a week to track down, organize, and annotate the numeric and geospatial resources offered by the Dept. Of Housing & Urban Development (see here).

Many locally produced datasets are not publicly accessible, but most local government agencies that create non-public data are very generous when it comes to sharing with academic staff and student researchers. The library expense here is the forging of relationships with these organizations. Again, the only expense is time.

Numerical Datasets

My generous, wonderful library allocates app. $5,000 each year for the acquisition of GIS datasets for purchase.

What the heck do I spend it on? Primarily on numerical (tabular) datasets. Historic Census datasets, business data, crime data, environmental data, economic data, political data, marketing/demographic data...if there is a worthwhile numeric dataset out there, we either have it, I have my eye on it, or I want to hear about it. Now, are these datasets designed with GIS in mind? No, but the real answer is it does not matter.

Which academic departments use these datasets? Business, urban planning, communications, nursing, social work, history, criminal justice, and even the environmental science folks when they want to include population criteria in their research.

I attribute much of the successful outreach of our GIS program to the acquisition of these numeric datasets. GIS is worthless without adequate data sources and the value of the data sources expand exponentially when used within a GIS.

Do All Libraries Need to Purchase This Type of Data for GIS?

No.

Libraries with strong data collections, especially those that have a Data Librarian or perhaps even an entire department devoted to numeric datasets (my mouth waters at the thought) will already have most of the sources I mentioned. If GIS users required additional datasets, these datasets can be purchased without a special line in the budget specifically for GIS materials. At my library, we offer very limited data services beyond myself and our two business librarians, so the GIS dataset budget is extremely vital for acquiring numeric datasets.

A library's target level of GIS services can also influence the decision to purchase these types of datasets. If the primary users are disinterested in quantitative analysis and are focused primarily on geographic features, it might not be necessary to acquire these datasets. (However, I am confident that if these libraries acquired and marketed these datasets for GIS use, a plethora of new users would crop up all over the place.) If the library serves a predominantly undergraduate student body and has a limited budget, then publicly accessible datasets might just have to be sufficient. This was the case in my previous position.

Startup Collection Costs the Most

As with most collections, the initial (startup) expense is the most expensive, especially if the library is starting out from scratch. This was the case when I arrived here a 3.5 years ago. There was a special one-time allotment of app. $10,000 put aside for the acquisition of GIS datasets.

Our startup collection consisted of acquiring data mostly from the following vendors (These are the ones I recollect):
We do not update the numeric datasets annually. Most are updated every 2 to 3 years, so the $5,000 annual budget for datasets is sufficient to both maintain and grow the collection. Although, I am aware that after a couple of years these funds will only be sufficient to maintain. At which time I will ask for an increase...right, right? ;)

So, How Much Money is Needed?

Same as the answer to the first question above. It depends. But the feeling of receiving new data is very much wonderful. Very much.

How much can I spend? As much as you give to me.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

New Firefox Extensions: All Your Maps Are Belong to Us

Here are the three latest mapping/GIS extensions for the Firefox browser that I have come across.

Previous lists of Firefox mapping extensions: 12/05, 01/06, 05/06

Why use Firefox over IE on Windows? Two reasons. First, the Active-X security settings in IE make it difficult to download detailed tables from the American Factfinder website (as I rant about here). Second, IE displays Google Map markers too slowly as its security settings send a request for each marker individually. Now, if you want to see some real speed, fire up Opera browser and navigate to your favorite mashup, perhaps even this one...

First, let's talk about All Your Maps Are Belong To Us, developed by John Morrissey. "Translates URLs for other mapping sites to Google Maps." This extension automatically converts MapQuest links to Google Map links. Now, you've got to love that super-cool title. For example, this extension will automatically replace this MapQuest link with this Google Map link. In fact, if/once you install this extension, you will see two identical Google Map links there.

The idea behind the extension can work for those who very much prefer Google Maps to MapQuest. As I understand it, links to MapQuest are more prevalent on the web than links to any other mapping site, so this extension can have some utility. However, I dislike the automatic replacing of links. This extension might work with other services as well, but I could not identify any. It goes off my computer after submitting this post.

Second, let's talk about GMiF, or Google Maps in Flickr, developed by CK. "GMiF is an third party add-on of Flickr. It will embed a Google Maps in Flickr photo page and display where the photo was taken on the maps, if the photo is geotagged." This extension is fantastic. It works great and even makes it easy to geotag images as well. Also see Photo Map, which I blogged about earlier.

This is a topic of interest for our students here. I am aware of two graduate students currently working on research papers involving geotagging images. One is for a GPS class and the other is for an Information Systems class. I will definitely send them a link to this extension.

Third, let's talk about Get directions from Google Maps, developed by Archibald Packwood. "Highlight an address on a web page, right click the mouse, and choose "Locate on Google Map" menu item, to see the location at Google Maps and find the directions." Now, I hesitated to even include this extension here as it seems to be the same-old-same-old. Installed it, and alas, nothing new or novel here. Tons of similar extensions out there, such as Map+, Map This, MapIt!, GDirections, and Select Search.

New Non-Mapping Extensions of Interest:
  • People Search and Public Record Toolbar
    • Developed by Skip Trace
    • "Version 1.0 of our popular free people search and public record menu for Firefox contains
      dozens of the web's most popular and powerful free people search and public record sites."
    • This toolbar actually does contain mapping functionality, similar to Get directions from Google Maps
    • Now, we can go to great lengths to rationalize the use of tools
  • Data Analytics
    • Developed by Charles Verdon
    • "DataAnalytics is a Firefox extension that enables importation, manipulation, analysis and graphing of data."
    • Seems a bit clunky to me, but this extension is currently in alpha development. I currently use the TableTools extension (which I discussed here) to filter, organize, and export HTML tables, but Data Analytics seems potentially capable of so much more. Data Analytics begins to pull the power of spreadsheet software into the browser to interact with supposedly static HTML tables. I am definitely going to keep an eye on this extension as it is developed further.