Oracle Maps Workshop Sept. 8th, 2009 @ Munich Technical University

The "Runder Tisch GIS e.V." (Round Table GIS Initiative) in Munich is planning a new Oracle MAPS Hands-On-Workshop.

The Workshop is conducted by Mario Heckler(CISS TDI) and Carsten Czarski(Oracle).

Location:
Technische Universität München, Arcisstr. 21, 80290 München

Time:
September 8th, 2009 - all day

Cost: € 300

Content, Agenda and booking/reservation here.

(26.8.09) Has been cancelled - sorry

How To: Export/Import Themes, Styles, Maps from DEV to TEST to PROD

From time to time I am asked how one can export/import the mapviwer themes from one instance to another:

1. Copy map-data from USER_SDO* Views into own/private tables:
SQL> create table my_sdo_maps as select * from user_sdo_maps;
SQL> create table my_sdo_themes as select * from user_sdo_themes;
SQL> create table my_sdo_styles as select * from user_sdo_styles;
-- the next table contains the definitions of the MapCaches; it is specific to
-- the respective MapViewer installation;
-- if you like to make use of a different MapViewer install
-- you shud create the Cache for new ...
SQL> create table my_sdo_cached_maps as select * from user_sdo_cached_maps;

2. export the DB-User ...

3. and import on the target system
SQL> insert into USER_SDO_STYLES (select * from my_sdo_styles);
SQL> insert into USER_SDO_THEMES (select * from my_sdo_themes);
SQL> insert into USER_SDO_MAPS (select * from my_sdo_maps);
SQL> insert into USER_SDO_CACHED_MAPS (select * from my_sdo_cached_maps);

ORACLE SPATIAL: Webinar hosted by Directions Magazine May, 7th

Priming The Pump: Oracle Spatial - Learn how Oracle Spatial can leverage your existing investments in IT

Directions Magazine (purely concentrating on Geospatial technology) have organised a Webinar on Oracle Spatial and the technology behind it.
When: May 7th, 21:00h CEST (Germany/Berlin - more timezones below)
Registering here

Abstract:
Practically every organization has a wealth of geospatial or location-related information. Users in many industries are starting to realize the potential business value of visualizing and analyzing location data together with other information in their enterprise databases.

The good news is that this doesn't have to be daunting or costly – in fact enterprise databases such as Oracle make it easier than most people might imagine to get started leveraging location to cut costs, unearth revenue opportunities, improve business processes and sharpen their company's competitive edge.

This webinar will highlight how:

• Oracle Database users have an impressive array of location data management and query capabilities and development tools that can be leveraged without additional software cost.
• Rapid prototyping and development tools for geospatial applications can be used by technically oriented business users and non-programmers, as well as IT professionals.
• IT organizations can use their existing skills and infrastructure to integrate spatial and location technology into everyday business processes.

Xavier Lopez, Director of Product Management, Oracle Spatial Products Group, will outline Oracle's spatial and location technology products from a user opportunity standpoint.

Steven Pierce, Principal Geospatial Consultant, Johnston McLamb, an Oracle Spatial consulting partner, will share best practices and lessons learned, based on experience helping business users easily fast-track their use of Oracle Spatial with rapid prototypes that can pave the way for production enterprise applications.

"It's really very simple. Geospatial data will become more important to corporations and government. More users will need access. More applications will need to be developed. As a leader in geospatial database management, Oracle provides the tools, scalability and security for you to prime the pump and make your enterprises more location intelligent."

Directions Magazine, Joe Francica
Vice Publisher and Editor in Chief, Directions Media

Who Should Attend:
CIOs, IT executives, developers, users and managers, as well systems integrators and VARs who are all part of the business intelligence and geospatial ecosystem across all industries for both the private and public sectors.

When:
Thursday, May 7, 20092 - 3 pm EDT1 - 2 pm CDTNoon - 1 pm MDT11 am - Noon PDT
--> May 7th, 21:00h CEST (Germany/Berlin)
Hosted By: Directions Media
Moderated By: Mike Agron, Executive Advisor, Directions Media
Technology Overview: Xavier Lopez, Director of Product Management Oracle Spatial Products Group
Case Study: Steven Pierce, Geospatial Business Manager, Johnston McLamb

Registering here.

Good luck and a wealth of Oracle spatial information - promised !!!

Webseminar: "Geo Web Services and the Oracle Platform" - Mai 8th, 2009 - 11 hrs

I am happy to announce that two of my colleagues namely Karin Patenge and Carsten Czarski (both Oracle Germany) do offer a Webseminar (IN GERMAN!) on „Geo Web Services and the Oracle Platform“ on Mai 8th, 2009 11:00 hrs CET - they will explain and illustrate how various OGC Web Service Interface Standards have beeen implemented and will be supported by the Oracle products.

They will speak about:

- Web Map Service (WMS)
- Web Feature Service (WFS)
- other Geo Web Services
- Q&A

Details to access the Webconference (please use MS Internet Explorer):
Conference-ID 142125959, Key: 20090508 and enter your name.

It is recommended to check the compatibility of ur browser beforehand using the same link (--> TAB: new User).
The webconference is accompanied by a telephone conference for easy listening:
Phone #: +49-89-1430 2323
Meeting ID: 107076
Meeting Passcode: 107076

Good luck !

GeoBusiness AWARD 2009

The GeoBusiness AWARD 2009 has been introduced at the CEBIT 2009 (Video in German):



Extrakt from that page:

Der GeoBusiness AWARD …
… ist der Preis der Kommission für Geoinformationswirtschaft des Bundeswirtschaftsministeriums.

Prämiert werden …
… Geschäftsideen oder Prozessverbesserungen, für deren Umsetzung ortsgebundene (georeferenzierte) Informationen der öffentlichen Hand eingesetzt wurden.

The AWARD is worth € 10.000 and combined with large PR-Package incl. vidoes about the solutions.
Its focussed on German innovators only - sorry ! (I understood).

More at http://www.geobusinessaward.org/ .

Whoever has developed a smart application based an Oracle Maps (;-) may apply for an award ! The deadline is May 31st, 2009

Good luck !

JDeveloper/ADF visualisation components - online demos

In an earlier thread I mentioned the JDeveloper Visualisation components already.

Now there is a Demo available to get an idea about the components incl. the map component.
Link to the Oracle REA Rich Enterprise Applications functionality of JDev ADf can be found here.



The Table of contents for the maps functions:



How to develop documentation here.

Oracle Maps in "Who stole Mark Drake?" Video

An enjoyable Oracle video illustrates Spatial/Mapviewer/Oracle Maps usage in an exciting use case:



The flash-video can be viewed online or downloaded for giving an insight into the use of various Oracle products across Fusion Middleware.
If you go to "Fraud Unit in Action" , the mapviewer in connection with BI part can be accessed directly.
Enjoy it !

Mapviewer 11g new features and misc. tipps

We are looking forward to the new Mapviewer/Oracle Maps features in 11g !!
Don't ask me, when it will come !! It'l come....
Oracle Maps Developer "LJ" is showing some new functions in his BLOG already !

Namely: Heat Maps



or the "Microscope" - a draggable magnifying glas:



For more info and explanations look at LJ's BLOG directly.

You'll find some interesting tipps on the following as well:

Displaying map tiles in your Java Swing app
APEX, Oracle Maps and Secure Mapping
Displaying labels on your FOI objects
MapViewer for WebLogic kit updated
Generating map legends
Creating a web map from raster image files
Official MapViewer white paper: a primer
World mercator projection used by Oracle's eLocation site
How to read the logs generated by MapViewer
Oracle Maps and APEX
GeoRSS support in Oracle Maps
Cross-domain Oracle Maps scripting
Getting more diagnostic info out of MapViewer
eLocation: a public show case of MapViewer

Not everybody might come across LJ's tipps/BLOG - so I better have the topics mentioned here as well!
Thanks LJ !!

Oracle Maps uses "Openstreetmap" as WMS

Thanks to the analysis work and "hacking" done by my colleague Carsten Czarski I am pleased to present the Openstreetmap solution (free maps...!!) being integrated in Oracle Maps utilising an Openstreetmap WMS service provided by the WHEREGROUP.

In the Oracle Mapviewer it looks like:



Here are some screenshots of the setup of the "Map Tile Layer Definition":



The "cutted" url is : http://osm.wheregroup.com/cgi-bin/mapserv

you will have to use SRID 4326 - I used 10 zoom-levels:



In Oracle Application Express with Oracle Maps it looks like:

A tutorial (in German) can be found on the German APEX Community site.

"Firewall challenges":
The OSM-server resides in the Internet. If your MapViewer Installation is behind a firewall, you'll  need to define your Proxy-Server... this has to be done in the file
"MapViewerConfig.xml" or here:
MapViewer Admin GUI --> Configuration --> search for "Web Proxy Settings"

And the "check-box" for "HTTP Proxy required" has to be set in the MapTileLayer configuration

Geocubes - what is that ?

As the number of FOI's do increase steadily, it makes sense to "cluster" these instead of pointing to a cloud of FOI's.

Last week I came across this new feature called GEOCUBES developed by a Berlin (Germany) located company named Skilldeal.com.

Til end of Feb 2009 the Code (Javascript API, JS API Reference, client library PHP ) is free - I haven't had the time to test it - feel free to test it on your own !

(28.01.2009) One more comment:
I think there is no need for the GEOCUBES functionality in Oracle Maps, as we do influence the appearance of the FOI's according to the Zoom-Levels. In Mapviewer and Oracle Maps we can setup the layers in relation to a Zoom-Level.
This is different in Google Maps: there you do see ALL FOI's at all Zoom-Levels, and therefore it makes sense to use GEOCUBES.