DeLorme Releases Updated Topographic Map Data for XMap
DeLorme recently announced the availability of the 2009 edition of its XMap USA Topographic Data. This unique dataset offers users of XMap, DeLorme’s three-tiered GIS suite, a highly-detailed and customizable base map with topographic coverage for the U.S. and road and street data for Canada and Mexico, all on a single DVD.
This latest release of the XMap USA Topographic Data includes a significant number of updates and other improvements including:
- Over 300,000 new roads and streets in the U.S.
- Detailed road and street coverage for Canada and major roads in Mexico
- 200,000 new places-of-interest
- Over 4,000 new trails
- Enhanced map colors for superior cartographic display
- Improved horizontal accuracy
XMap at Work
Earthmate PN-20 Helps Bellingham Mountain Rescue Locate Lost Hikers
The following is a first-hand account of a successful rescue operation in the Glacier Peak Wilderness of the Cascade Range in Washington State. Justin Mitchell, the Operations Leader for Bellingham Mountain Rescue, describes how the Earthmate PN-20 GPS receiver proved its mettle in extreme conditions.
 On August 27th, 2008, just before midnight, I received a call from Don, an operations leader from the Skagit Mountain Rescue team. They needed some help from Bellingham Mountain Rescue for two climbers reportedly stuck on a ledge somewhere near Spire Point. The climbers were near the end of completing the "Ptarmigan Traverse," a five-day thru hike in the North Cascades and were stuck on a ledge in bad weather with 100 ft visibility, not knowing exactly where they were. I called and woke up one of our SAR deputies from the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office (a pleasure to wake them up instead of what is typically the reverse) to let them know we'd been requested. I then got to work putting a team together and downloading maps to my PN-20. Spire Point is located quite a way into the North Cascades, and with the normal road/trail system being washed out, I knew there was going to be quite a bit of bushwhacking and/or route-finding. It also meant our chances of getting back in there and finding them quickly without helicopter support was slim.
Reseller Spotlight
One of the daily challenges faced by DeLorme sales, marketing, and customer service staff is addressing the needs of all the industries that we serve. Because of its flexible nature, XMap has been adopted by a wide array of businesses and organizations, all of which bring their own requirements to the table. While DeLorme staff members can justifiably claim to have a high level of proficiency when it comes to understanding the workings of XMap, the application of the technology for a specific market can be considerably more demanding.
Thankfully, DeLorme has developed a network of Value-Added Resellers (VARs) who are much more familiar with the industries and territories that they serve and can interpret and apply the capabilities of XMap accordingly.
Over the coming months, the DeLorme Professional Newsletter will include a series of articles on some of our key VARs that will provide an insight into their business focus and sphere of expertise. If you are interested in the application of XMap within their particular industry, you are encouraged to contact them directly. If would like more information about becoming a Value-Added Reseller of XMap, please contact the XMap team at 1-800-293-2389 or email prosales@delorme.com.
 Our first reseller in the spotlight is Tulsa, Oklahoma. based Downtown Design Services, Inc. (DDSI). DDSI has been serving the oil and gas, electric transmission and distribution, fiber optic, and telecommunications industries, as well as municipalities and local governments since 1999. DDSI’s customer base is dispersed throughout the U.S. but especially in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Offering drafting and design services, GIS data management, conversion and collection, DDSI provides their clients with superior service in a timely, cost-effective manner, meeting their clients’ goals and objectives.
XMap Q&A - My company has a well established GIS; why would we need XMap?
One of the recurring themes that you will often read in DeLorme’s XMap informational literature is that XMap is equally well suited as a standalone GIS application or as an extension to your existing GIS infrastructure. As XMap continues to evolve, more and more emphasis is being placed on improving the interoperability with third-party GIS software and databases and on simplifying the exchange of data between the different platforms. Seen in this light, XMap functions as a bridge between your current GIS setup and those who need access to the data on an ongoing basis, namely your field staff or mobile workforce.
Before considering this question in the context of the current versions of XMap, it is worth taking a look back at DeLorme’s first venture into the world of GIS in the early versions of XMap.
DeLorme’s strength in the field of mapping technology has always been founded on the inherent mobility of its software. Companies with large field-based workforces were quick to recognize this and were equally quick to ask for additional functionality to support their field operations. One of the most frequent requests was for a tool to integrate corporate GIS datasets into this mobile mapping platform. DeLorme acquiesced with the release of XMap version 3, which offered a simple function for importing shapefiles as draw layers. The intention of this feature was simply to provide an easy-to-use and affordable means to display GIS data in the field. For this reason, the early versions of XMap were particularly appealing to GIS administrators.
Tab Tip - Building a Query in XMap
A version of this article was originally penned for the April 2007 edition of the DeLorme Professional Newsletter. When it was suggested that we include an updated revision for the June 2009 edition, it transpired that most of the original content still applies. So, with apologies to long-time subscribers, the following article is recycled.
The query function, which is included in both the Enterprise and Editor versions of XMap, offers both attribute and spatial querying. Queries are used to quickly identify specific records in your data and to uncover the spatial relationship between objects within different data layers. Note that queries that have been built using Enterprise or Editor are transferred with the corresponding openspace layer or through the synchronization process to users of XMap Professional. However XMap Professional cannot be used to create a query.
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Offer Expires July 19, 2009.
Where on Eartha
Home to over 19 million inhabitants, the metropolitan area of Manila, capital of the Philippines, is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The city of Manila, at the core of metro area and sitting on the bay of the same name, was the latest stop on our Where on Eartha global tour last month. The first correct response, randomly drawn from those who submitted an entry, belongs to Ben Williams, who works Federal Highway Administration's Resource Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Ben will be receiving a copy of XMap 6 Professional, a copy of the new XMap USA Topographic Data 2009 and an Earthmate LT-40 GPS receiver.
If you would like to be in the running to win this month’s Where on Eartha challenge, take a guess at the city denoted by the pushpin in the image below. If you think you know the name of this capital and the county over which it governs, send your response to contest@delorme.com no later than July 15, 2009.
Data Sources for XMap
Several months ago, the DeLorme Professional Newsletter featured an article on sources of data for XMap focusing on archives of GIS data for each state. Anyone who has spent time researching the availability of GIS datasets for a particular project will be aware of the fact that there is a high degree of variance in both the quality and quantity of data available from these and other sites. As a means to help you navigate the maze of GIS data, each month we will offer some insight into a specific Web site and datasets that are available there. We will begin this month with DeLorme’s home state of Maine.
The Maine GIS Data Catalog offers access to a wide variety of data produced by the state’s GIS Executive Council and the GeoLibrary Board. Tables of contents list the available datasets by differing geographic extents including, town, county, tile, watershed, or the entire state. The archive is also searchable and can be browsed by theme.
There are a wide variety of vector datasets available on the site—everything from bald eagle nesting sites to bridges on Maine’s public roads. All are downloadable in shapefile format with the accompanying metadata viewable online.
The site also hosts Maine’s orthophotography collection, which is available at various resolutions, with higher resolution imagery covering the more populated areas in southern part of the state. The imagery can be viewed or downloaded using an intuitive online viewer or it can be downloaded in MrSID format by selecting the appropriate USGS 1:24,000 tile.
For XMap users, a series of OpenSpace layers have been developed that provide clickable access to the Maine imagery using a hyperlinked grid on the map. To download these layers, click here.
XMap Training Opportunity at GITA Oil and Gas Conference in Houston
According to the calendar, summer has just begun (a fact which has seemingly been overlooked by Mother Nature’s meteorological offspring up here in New England) and so the announcement of an event scheduled for September is not likely to instill a sense of urgency. Alas, September is just three months away, so the time to start planning is now.
The aforementioned event is an XMap training class which will be conducted in Houston on the day after the close of the GITA Oil and Gas Conference. Although specific details have yet to be finalized, the class will probably be conducted from morning until mid-afternoon on September 18, 2009, at the Marriott Westchase Hotel, the same venue as the conference.
If you are interested in attending this class, please send an email to training@delorme.com and include an estimate of total number of attendees from your company. More detail on the class and the registration process will be announced after we have a better idea of the number who will be attending.
We Want to Meet You!
Visit us at these upcoming events:
ESRI User Conference
San Diego, CA
July 13 - 17, 2009
GITA Oil and Gas Conference
Houston, TX
September 13 - 17, 2009
Stop by the DeLorme booth at any of these events and enter to win a drawing for a DeLorme product.
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