DeLorme Professional Newsletter

DeLorme Earthmate® GPS PN-20 Chosen by BNSF as GPS Solution for Track Maintenance Crews

DeLorme is pleased to announce that Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) has chosen the Earthmate GPS PN-20 as the GPS receiver of choice in support of track maintenance crews throughout the organization.

Designed by DeLorme GPS engineers, the PN-20 is a rugged, waterproof receiver with a bright-color screen that displays DeLorme topographic maps, aerial imagery, and other GIS data. It also delivers exceptional searching, mapping, and routing functions, which are further augmented with DeLorme XMap GIS software.

Casco Bay Fringing Marsh Mapping and Survey Project

In the spring and summer of 2007 the Environmental Protection Agency and the Casco Bay Estuarine Partnership commissioned the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve (WNERR) to map fringing marsh along the mainland coast of Casco Bay, Maine. Early (spring) work involved the use of aerial imagery to identify fringing marshes along the mainland coast. Later in the summer, after vegetation had matured, teams performed field surveys at randomly-selected sample points to obtain information not available from the aerial photography. The following white paper, written by Peter S. Hayes of the WNERR, documents the research process and findings of the study, in which XMap was extensively used.

Fringing marshes are small salt marshes that form along estuary channels, protected coves, and other areas shielded from heavy wave action. Unlike the better known barrier or finger salt marshes, fringing marshes are small – often only a few meters long and a meter or two wide – and, because of these characteristics, have not been documented in resource or ecosystem inventories as have larger salt marshes. With an increasing appreciation of the ecological significance of these small ecosystems, there is increasing interest in documenting their existence and, where appropriate, improving efforts for their protection.

XMap Q & A

How do I use field-collected data to create a GIS layer?

When DeLorme’s long-awaited handheld GPS receiver, the Earthmate PN-20, was released over a year ago, we couldn’t have anticipated the level of interest that the device would garner among XMap users. With the release of XMap 5.2, which offered support for the PN-20, professional users were quick to recognize the value of being able to transfer any map, GIS layer, or aerial image to a gadget that they could easily carry in their pocket.

As with most other handheld GPS receivers, the PN-20 also offers a low-cost method for collecting data in the field. This data can be in the form of location points, typically referred to as waypoints, or lines, which record the movement of the device and are referred to as tracks.

Tab Tip – Customizing the appearance of points in a GIS layer

When symbolizing points in a GIS layer your options are virtually limitless. XMap includes dozens of preformatted symbols and it provides the means for you to create your own symbology. Choose from the following alternatives:

Stock Symbols
The default appearance for all point objects imported to, or created in, the GIS tab is a green circle with a diameter of 6 pixels. This is an example of a Stock symbol in the Symbolize Layer dialog box. Other Stock symbols include a square, a star, and a triangle. These simple shapes are often the most effective way to represent points in a GIS layer as they are easily distinguishable and they produce a relatively tidy map. Another advantage of using stock symbols is that their size and color can be customized so a single shape can be used to represent several groups or classes or related features that can be differentiated by variations in size or color.

DeLorme Symbol Sets
When XMap is installed, a folder called Symbols is created on your local hard drive. This folder contains several symbol sets that can be assigned to objects in either the Draw or GIS tabs. Options include pushpins, flags, dots, and an extensive and stylish set of symbols that were created for use with DeLorme's handheld PN-20 GPS receiver. The Set dropdown list in the Symbolize Layer dialog box provides the means to select a symbol set and to choose the individual symbol for the objects in your layer. Note that symbols of this type cannot be resized and their color cannot be customized.

Where on Eartha?

March's Where on Eartha Challenge brought in a wide variety of responses, all of which had one thing in common; namely that the suggested cities sit adjacent to a significant mountain range. So while Berne, Switzerland, Quito, Ecuador, and Thimphu, Bhutan were all reasonable guesses, the correct answer was Kathmandu in the country of Nepal, which was made famous, as many of you pointed out, by Bob Seger in his 1975 hit.

The winner of a copy of XMap 5.2 Professional and an Earthmate USB GPS receiver this month is Will Stockard, a Geomorphologist/GIS Specialist with Questa Engineering Corporation in Port Richmond, CA.

For April's challenge, our journey takes us to a capital city situated close to a body of water. Once again, if you think you know the name of the city and the country over which it presides, write your response in an email and send it to contest@delorme.com before April 30, 2008.

The first correct response, drawn at random, will receive a copy of XMap 5.2.

Good luck!

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Last month's DeLorme Professional Newsletter was delivered in a new format, using new technology, and with an updated look and feel. Thank you for your comments about this change, most of which, we were pleased to read, were positive.

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Did you know that you can generate multi-line queries in XMap GIS Editor or Enterprise? Use this feature to create a subset of your data based on a specific attribute and then further filter this subset based on another criteria. For instance, if you are working with a municipal property layer, you can query the data to determine which properties are over a certain value, and then add a second line to the query to create a subset of these high-value properties that are residential. To build a multi-line query, follow these steps:

1. In the GIS Workspace, click the layer to query.
2. Click the Query button to the left of the tab area.
3. In the Attribute column, choose the field that you want to query (e.g. property value).
4. In the adjacent column, select the appropriate Operator (e.g. >).
5. In the Criteria column, type or select the value or parameter for your query (e.g. 250000).
6. Select the Logical Operator that will allow you to create the second line of your query. Selecting "And" will apply both lines of your query so that the first line will create a subset of the data and the second line will create a subset of this subset. By selecting "Or", the results of the query will contain a combined list of those records that were highlighted by the first and second lines of the query.
7. Select the Attribute, Operator and Criteria for the second line as noted above and click the Run button to see your results.