Jason V 🗺️
@gislemur.bsky.social
GIS Manager for a NE Illinois county. Open source advocate. Reformed hippie. Former shovel-bum (have trowel, will travel). Part-time hobbit & full time cat herder. All thoughts are my own.
*was GISFerret on twitter but rebranding here*
Pinned
Jason V 🗺️
@gislemur.bsky.social
· Nov 7
The more I use Pro, the more I really love QGIS
Sent an email yesterday stating that I was bringing our internal ArcSDE database down over the weekend for maintenance. The external SDE won’t be affected & ALL external apps will still work
This morning 2 replies asking if AGOL would still be available
No understanding, just simple button pushers
This morning 2 replies asking if AGOL would still be available
No understanding, just simple button pushers
a man in a suit and tie is sitting in the back seat of a plane
Alt: a man in a suit and tie is sitting in the back seat of a plane with a look of disbelief before putting his face into his palm
media.tenor.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Sent an email yesterday stating that I was bringing our internal ArcSDE database down over the weekend for maintenance. The external SDE won’t be affected & ALL external apps will still work
This morning 2 replies asking if AGOL would still be available
No understanding, just simple button pushers
This morning 2 replies asking if AGOL would still be available
No understanding, just simple button pushers
Reposted by Jason V 🗺️
If we put half as much resources into metadata and cataloging as we do into dumb AI stuff, we’d way better off in terms of the info/data ecosystem
Panel at #Crossref2025 wonders if metadata has an image problem. Bianca Kramer says the word metadata not used in the Barcelona Declaration. Mariángela Napoli thinks perception of metadata is something too technical. Kazuhiro Hayashi describes metadata as "the unsung hero". Time for a rebrand ;)
October 23, 2025 at 11:44 AM
If we put half as much resources into metadata and cataloging as we do into dumb AI stuff, we’d way better off in terms of the info/data ecosystem
Glad to be able to report a sighting of @bonnymcclain.com in the wild at the 2025 Illinois GIS Association meeting. #ILGISA
So happy to finally meet you in person Bonny.
So happy to finally meet you in person Bonny.
October 20, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Glad to be able to report a sighting of @bonnymcclain.com in the wild at the 2025 Illinois GIS Association meeting. #ILGISA
So happy to finally meet you in person Bonny.
So happy to finally meet you in person Bonny.
Reposted by Jason V 🗺️
Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?
Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚
Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚
October 7, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?
Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚
Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚
You’d think that a company that rakes in tens to thousands of dollars per customer and has had a web based system for about 15 years would have the ability to let users change their account name without having to create a new account then transfer everything over manually.
Seems kinda cheap 🤔
Seems kinda cheap 🤔
October 8, 2025 at 3:35 PM
You’d think that a company that rakes in tens to thousands of dollars per customer and has had a web based system for about 15 years would have the ability to let users change their account name without having to create a new account then transfer everything over manually.
Seems kinda cheap 🤔
Seems kinda cheap 🤔
Reposted by Jason V 🗺️
Reposted by Jason V 🗺️
Interested in sharing geospatial data online? Sign up for the workshop on GeoServer and OGC API with Geosolutions at #FOSS4GNA. bit.ly/foss4gna2025
October 7, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Interested in sharing geospatial data online? Sign up for the workshop on GeoServer and OGC API with Geosolutions at #FOSS4GNA. bit.ly/foss4gna2025
Reposted by Jason V 🗺️
Join SASSI for a digital workshop on Wednesday, October 1st from 7-8:30pm ET to learn how to identify and map Flock Safety cameras in your community and city as a tactic in challenging the use of automated license plate readers in your city.
September 4, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Join SASSI for a digital workshop on Wednesday, October 1st from 7-8:30pm ET to learn how to identify and map Flock Safety cameras in your community and city as a tactic in challenging the use of automated license plate readers in your city.
Real good discussion on use of IR imaging by Dr Mousa Diabat from NV5 today. This was the first of their focused webinars. The slide is showing water temps in a stream particularly highlighting colder water fed from submerged springs
(www.nv5geospatialsoftware.com/Company/Events/Geo-Sessions)
(www.nv5geospatialsoftware.com/Company/Events/Geo-Sessions)
September 24, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Real good discussion on use of IR imaging by Dr Mousa Diabat from NV5 today. This was the first of their focused webinars. The slide is showing water temps in a stream particularly highlighting colder water fed from submerged springs
(www.nv5geospatialsoftware.com/Company/Events/Geo-Sessions)
(www.nv5geospatialsoftware.com/Company/Events/Geo-Sessions)
Learning something new in Pro every day.
Today I discovered they put in hot keys to rotate the entire map, and not something safe like “control+a”, just “a”. Then between trying to figure out WTF was going on and a shit load of googling I finally found the options to turn that crap off.
Today I discovered they put in hot keys to rotate the entire map, and not something safe like “control+a”, just “a”. Then between trying to figure out WTF was going on and a shit load of googling I finally found the options to turn that crap off.
September 18, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Learning something new in Pro every day.
Today I discovered they put in hot keys to rotate the entire map, and not something safe like “control+a”, just “a”. Then between trying to figure out WTF was going on and a shit load of googling I finally found the options to turn that crap off.
Today I discovered they put in hot keys to rotate the entire map, and not something safe like “control+a”, just “a”. Then between trying to figure out WTF was going on and a shit load of googling I finally found the options to turn that crap off.
Now if they understood map projections we’d be set (or doomed)
September 2, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Now if they understood map projections we’d be set (or doomed)
Oh yay! It’s documentation day. Between periods of writing up my own documentation, I have been reviewing other people’s docs. I have come to realize some of these people must not have had to write too much in college.
August 21, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Oh yay! It’s documentation day. Between periods of writing up my own documentation, I have been reviewing other people’s docs. I have come to realize some of these people must not have had to write too much in college.
Best thing I found at my first dig was a complete fish dinner in a cooking pit. The grass mats were sill intact. Don’t know exactly why, but someone abandoned that meal while it was cooking.
(The site was in Iowa on the Mississippi around the time of first European contact but w/no Eu trade goods)
(The site was in Iowa on the Mississippi around the time of first European contact but w/no Eu trade goods)
Kinda jealous, tbh. On my first dig, the best thing I found was a colonial-era nail. 🧪🏺
Archaeology student finds rare ninth-century gold 'within the first 90 minutes' of her first excavation
An archaeologist in training discovered a rare medieval gold object in northwestern England during her first excavation.
www.livescience.com
August 16, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Best thing I found at my first dig was a complete fish dinner in a cooking pit. The grass mats were sill intact. Don’t know exactly why, but someone abandoned that meal while it was cooking.
(The site was in Iowa on the Mississippi around the time of first European contact but w/no Eu trade goods)
(The site was in Iowa on the Mississippi around the time of first European contact but w/no Eu trade goods)
I don’t know why I let the fact that ArcGIS Online can’t handle annotation layers get to me when as far as I can tell, AGOL can’t even rotate a F-ing text label.
Come on Jack! This is basic mapping. Hell, you did it fine with ArcIMS, and AGOL is supposed to be better than ArcIMS! Am I right?
Come on Jack! This is basic mapping. Hell, you did it fine with ArcIMS, and AGOL is supposed to be better than ArcIMS! Am I right?
August 11, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I don’t know why I let the fact that ArcGIS Online can’t handle annotation layers get to me when as far as I can tell, AGOL can’t even rotate a F-ing text label.
Come on Jack! This is basic mapping. Hell, you did it fine with ArcIMS, and AGOL is supposed to be better than ArcIMS! Am I right?
Come on Jack! This is basic mapping. Hell, you did it fine with ArcIMS, and AGOL is supposed to be better than ArcIMS! Am I right?
And my last words would be “Pspspspsps. Here kitty, kitty, kitty” 😸
This is what a Washington State mountain lion looks like.
July 27, 2025 at 1:09 AM
And my last words would be “Pspspspsps. Here kitty, kitty, kitty” 😸
This map/nautical chart of Lake Michigan was on the wall of our hotel this weekend in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It was fun comparing how it looked back in 1903(?) to today. More businesses should decorate their walls with old maps.
July 21, 2025 at 2:43 AM
This map/nautical chart of Lake Michigan was on the wall of our hotel this weekend in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It was fun comparing how it looked back in 1903(?) to today. More businesses should decorate their walls with old maps.
Sooo how many years has ArcGIS Online been a thing & as far as I can tell, it still cannot deal with Annotation layers? The only thing popping up in google, is questions about when it’s coming
WTH Jack? Maybe stop pushing boundaries until your base product works as expected
#EsriUC #ArcGISOnline
WTH Jack? Maybe stop pushing boundaries until your base product works as expected
#EsriUC #ArcGISOnline
July 18, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Sooo how many years has ArcGIS Online been a thing & as far as I can tell, it still cannot deal with Annotation layers? The only thing popping up in google, is questions about when it’s coming
WTH Jack? Maybe stop pushing boundaries until your base product works as expected
#EsriUC #ArcGISOnline
WTH Jack? Maybe stop pushing boundaries until your base product works as expected
#EsriUC #ArcGISOnline
So it looks like ESRI has no easy way to push a feature class from an SDE database up to AGOL without jumping through a bunch of holes to process and export it to another format first.
For fuck sake, they made it easy to upload directly from a Shapefile but not a real geodatabase. 🤬
For fuck sake, they made it easy to upload directly from a Shapefile but not a real geodatabase. 🤬
July 2, 2025 at 9:00 PM
So it looks like ESRI has no easy way to push a feature class from an SDE database up to AGOL without jumping through a bunch of holes to process and export it to another format first.
For fuck sake, they made it easy to upload directly from a Shapefile but not a real geodatabase. 🤬
For fuck sake, they made it easy to upload directly from a Shapefile but not a real geodatabase. 🤬
Our county had finally entered a golden age of data. As of this morning we are now officially an open data organization. I’ve been fighting this battle unsuccessfully for 20+ years but the previous administration refused to budge. New boss, new rules. Moving forward, not held back.
#gischat
#gischat
July 2, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Our county had finally entered a golden age of data. As of this morning we are now officially an open data organization. I’ve been fighting this battle unsuccessfully for 20+ years but the previous administration refused to budge. New boss, new rules. Moving forward, not held back.
#gischat
#gischat
We are retiring a very important but old web app. We have been interviewing other dept’s on how they use the app. Their surveys are supposed only indicate what they use, we are not showing them anything they don’t know.
Yet I have to laugh at how many responses include new feature requests. #NotNow
Yet I have to laugh at how many responses include new feature requests. #NotNow
June 27, 2025 at 9:05 PM
We are retiring a very important but old web app. We have been interviewing other dept’s on how they use the app. Their surveys are supposed only indicate what they use, we are not showing them anything they don’t know.
Yet I have to laugh at how many responses include new feature requests. #NotNow
Yet I have to laugh at how many responses include new feature requests. #NotNow
Stop using Desktop they said, migrate to Pro. It’s better, & new. It will not work when we have problems with our servers…
Wait, they don’t want you to know that bit (at least not until they fleeced you of your $$)
Having to log into a remote server just to use software you paid for is such a scam
Wait, they don’t want you to know that bit (at least not until they fleeced you of your $$)
Having to log into a remote server just to use software you paid for is such a scam
June 26, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Stop using Desktop they said, migrate to Pro. It’s better, & new. It will not work when we have problems with our servers…
Wait, they don’t want you to know that bit (at least not until they fleeced you of your $$)
Having to log into a remote server just to use software you paid for is such a scam
Wait, they don’t want you to know that bit (at least not until they fleeced you of your $$)
Having to log into a remote server just to use software you paid for is such a scam
One nice thing to come out of having to rewrite all of my Python scripts for Py 3.x is it is giving me a chance to finally get rid of most of the Shapefiles in my life. My processing is now in a dedicated SQL/SDE workspace & the final output for data sharing is both FGDB & Geopackages. #gischat
June 25, 2025 at 3:01 PM
One nice thing to come out of having to rewrite all of my Python scripts for Py 3.x is it is giving me a chance to finally get rid of most of the Shapefiles in my life. My processing is now in a dedicated SQL/SDE workspace & the final output for data sharing is both FGDB & Geopackages. #gischat
If you plan on traveling to the USA any time soon… Don’t. Just, don’t!
It’s not worth it people. Stay home. Visit other non-shit hole countries. If we ever get this dumpster fire back under control, we can reconsider this advice.
It’s not worth it people. Stay home. Visit other non-shit hole countries. If we ever get this dumpster fire back under control, we can reconsider this advice.
If you are planning to come to the US soon - for example to the #ESRIUC in San Diego- don’t, it is not safe. If you insist, have a plan.
1. Don’t bring your phone - use a burner phone
2. Get a number for a US lawyer with experience in detentions
3. Have a plan back home- schedule regular calls..
1. Don’t bring your phone - use a burner phone
2. Get a number for a US lawyer with experience in detentions
3. Have a plan back home- schedule regular calls..
June 13, 2025 at 7:37 PM
If you plan on traveling to the USA any time soon… Don’t. Just, don’t!
It’s not worth it people. Stay home. Visit other non-shit hole countries. If we ever get this dumpster fire back under control, we can reconsider this advice.
It’s not worth it people. Stay home. Visit other non-shit hole countries. If we ever get this dumpster fire back under control, we can reconsider this advice.