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Messages - yogazoo

#16
Map Making Support / Re: USA Building Footprints Map
August 06, 2011, 09:37:19 AM
Quote from: Seldom on August 04, 2011, 10:27:16 PM
Guess that's OK if you're invited.  Kinda scary privacy wise if you aren't.

True, but it's all publicly available data and it's super handy.

That's interesting to hear about NJ and their datasets. Once states can see the benefits of having private land owner parcel data (for tax reasons) they'll come around. It saves Montana almost $9 million annually. If any of you get the ArcNews publication there was a piece about Montana's Cadastal in the most recent publication. Anyway, interesting stuff. GPS maps will only get better and more detailed as more Lidar and meter type resolutions become available.

If anyone out there has Arc10 you can now create a routing path using only aerial photography. It uses the contrast of roads vs non roads. It's an amazing algorithym and it's definately the future of road datasets. CHeers!
#17
Map Making Support / Re: USA Building Footprints Map
August 04, 2011, 08:31:31 PM
Sorry to hear about the accuracy issues in Ill. In Montana the data presents as very accurate. In fact I have one of those buildings right accross the street from my house and I can walk around the building, virtually outlining the polygon on my maps. I don't blame you for removing them from your trails map if the building locations are that bad. You can look at the screenshots on my Montana Topo map page and see for yourself http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/87that the accuracy is right inline with the high accuracy of our states transportation layer.

I added the layer to this site based on the accuracy in Montana and I really didn't check out other states. As far as sheer numbers of buildings I can't find a larger dataset out there. Living in Montana, at least the west half, your almost never out 7 1/2 from Forest Service lands. Also, Montana is one of, if not the leader in geospatial data available to the public in America. One of the most amazing datasets we have is a layer I loaded to GPS with POI loader (and provided the .gpi file on this site ;)) that gives you the exact location of every house structure in the state. You can search by address or NAME OF THE OWNER! If someone calls me and asks me to come over to their house all I need is their name! We also have every private land owner parcel mapped with the name of the owner. It's called Cadastral and I've made a map for Garmins with it. There's nothing like being able to pointer over any lot or parcel you walk by and see the name of the person who owns it.

I guess I'll count my blessing here and keep making maps with our plethora of stellar datasets.
#18
Map Making Support / Re: USA Building Footprints Map
August 02, 2011, 11:53:57 PM
Your comment would explain why there seem to be straight line boundaries between areas of coverage and areas of non coverage. Good observation. It would also explain why Montana (where I live) is so well represented by data in this layer.

I'd be curious to hear the results of your comparison between NPS and USFS data. From everything I've seen, the footprints that are present are all current (havent found one that wasn't yet). I'm sure there are a few buildings that have been torn down since the compiling of this data but there would seem to be very few.
#19
Map Making Support / Re: USA Building Footprints Map
August 02, 2011, 12:13:45 PM
It doesn't cover only National Forests. Check out the map I linked to with screenshots of the data. It shows Missoula, MT and Helena MT with those buildings added. There are alot of buildings and the accuracy is excellent here in Montana. Again, you can see how they line up on my screenshots. Clipping to your area should be pretty easy depending on what software you use to do it. If you have ArcGIS it's a snap to clip the  shapefile. If you use GPSedit you can clip a box around your state and then manually delete the fragments you missed outside your states boundary. SHouldn't take more than a few minutes

This is the most comprehensive and accurate dataset regarding building footprints I've ever seen. It's also difficult to find, which is why I posted it.

The coverage is good although some areas are covered more comprehensively than others. If your in an area or state that has good coverage it's really nice to have as more visual candy/reference points for your maps
#20
General Discussion / land ownership
March 03, 2011, 02:11:40 PM
You just wasted 70 bucks. I just saw this thread but my GPS topo maps for Idaho and Montana show very accurate and detailed public lands. They are even specially colored to easily identify them. I also have published on this site the cadastral layer for Montana which even shows private land parcel boudaries and who owns them. You should have checked out each state and the FREE maps they had to offer before buying anything. Oh well, thanks for helping out the economy!  

Montana Parcels: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/408/
Montana Topo with Public Lands: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/87/
Idaho Topo with Public Lands: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/79/