OpenSearch specifies rules for sending and receiving data from websites. GeoCommons supports OpenSearch for querying of both maps and overlays.  For non-programmers the most common use of OpenSearch is adding search providers to your browser. Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox all support OpenSearch.

Here is the dropdown of my search providers in Firefox. In order to add an Finder! As an OpenSearch provider you navigate to http://finder.geocommons.com and open the Search Engine dropdown. Select Add "GeoCommons Finder Data" to add overlay search support to Firefox.



Now when you select Finder! as your active Search Engine in Firefox you can search overlays.  To add the ability to search Maker! maps go to http://maker.geocommons.com and perform the same steps. Now you can search Maker! as well.  To search overlays and maps at the same time you can go to http://www.geocommons.com and add GeoCommons as a search provider.



To add GeoCommons as a Search Provider in Google Chrome navigate your browser to both Finder! and Maker! respectively and it will be added.



Chrome additionally allows you to create keywords to various search providers to edit the keyword go to your preferences in Chrome and click the "Manage" button.  Double click on the provider you want to edit and you can then edit the keyword.  I made my keyword for Finder "F!" so I can quickly search for datasets in Finder by typing "F!" and then my search terms.



Adding OpenSearch to Internet Explorer 8 is straight forward as well.  When you navigate to Maker or Finder click arrow in the IE search box and select "Add Search Providers" and select to add Finder Data or Maker Maps as a Search Provider.



Windows 7 supports OpenSearch from within Windows Explorer.  To add Finder download the Finder OpenSearch Specification File and rename the ".xml" file extension to ".osdx."  Next right click on the file and select "Create Search Connector."  To search Finder now open "Searches" and select Finder as your Search Connector.



OpenSearch is not only awesome for end users of applications though, it is also great for developers.  FortiusOne's own Map of the News is built using the GeoCommons OpenSearch API and JavaScript API.  For example in the Afghanistan Election Dashboard the menu where which map to display is chosen a tag is added for each group of maps.  "2009 Afghanistan Election Results" is all of the maps tagged "afghanresults" on the http://news.geocommons.com GeoIQ server.  The results are returned in json and then displayed in the menu.



For more information on Geocommons Search API please see our documentation and our OpenSearch description document.  More information on OpenSearch is available at OpenSearch.org.

Popularity: 8% [?]

For Colbert fans the "Better Know a District" series is a familiar part of the Colbert Report. Today I'm kicking off my own series "Better Know a GeoCommons Feature." I'd like you to meet one of our lesser known export formats Spatialite. For those not familiar with SpatiaLite it is SQLite with spatial function goodness added. GeoCommons exports the geometries from your overlay into Well-known text. To download your Finder overlay as SpatiaLite you can go to a you overlay details page and click the Spatialite Download link or you the URI to access it from the API is http://finder.geocommons.com/overlays/#your_overlay_id#.sqlite. Once downloaded you have functions such as Overlaps(), Touches(), Union() and Buffer().



Is SpatiaLite a GeoCommons' feature you'd like to get to know better? Download SpatiaLite from here.
For those not familiar with the "Better Know a District" series here is my favorite episode with Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Popularity: 8% [?]

It’s time for the FortiusOne GeoCommons team to expand again - and we’re looking for an incredibly bright, hard working, and team oriented engineer to head up our operations team.

GeoCommons is unique among most web applications - it isn’t just deployed to the public web, but also to intranets, the cloud, and to the field. We have servers running in Jalabad, Afghanistan and Nairobi, Kenya, we help develop technology solutions within the Federal government and Intel, and work with Academia, disaster response, and major corporations.

Are you an engineer who likes playing with new technology and solving hard problems? Do you love writing Linux scripts that can deal with massively horizontally scaled servers or compressing systems to run on USB sticks? Do you have a passion for open data, open-source software, collaborative government, and cutting-edge technologies that help the world? An interest in mapping is obviously a plus.

Ping us through the blog, twitter, LinkedIn, email, or stop by our offices in Arlington VA to chat directly. And no, we don’t need any recruiters.

Popularity: 16% [?]

In July at State of the Map Andrew Turner announced the release of our open source geocoder gem. Since then it has been tried, bugs have been found and we’ve continued to improve it.

Following that announcement we’ve integrated our geocoder into GeoCommons.  When you upload a CSV file and define columns that contain address, city, state or postal codes within the United States latitude and longitude is appended to your data.  The process that appends that information is the same geocoder you can download from the Geocommons Github Repository.  We’ve even deployed it with a modified database on a Mac Mini to Afganistan.  There files can be uploaded with Afghan village names and location is appended to them. Some of you have also started utilizing it for your own projects.

Without you we would not have added

1. Support for Ruby 1.9
2. Geocoding of P.O. Boxes to ZIP Centroid

We also wouldn’t have necessarily found some bugs as well.

Up until this point I’ve been helping people individually through all means of communication; Twitter, Instant Messenger, Email and Github. Let’s centralize that communication starting today in a Google Group.  That way everyone’s questions/solutions are public and we can all help each other.

So to summarize: use it, fork it and if you need help ask.

Have you written something using the Geocommons Geocoder?  We’d love to hear about.

Popularity: 12% [?]