The data repository in Finder! has been growing and the variety of data within Finder! is now quite extensive. To help you navigate through this data we have added some new sort features and will give you a few new search tips as well.

When you do a general search in Finder! you now have the option to sort your search results by date and relevance. Here’s an example: Let’s start by going to the Finder! homepage and doing a search for ‘Bridges’.

Above we see the search results page. On the right hand side of the page you will now see that there are options to sort by relevance, sort by newest first, and oldest first (highlighted in red). This is especially helpful when looking for a dataset that was recently uploaded.

Now let’s discuss some helpful search tips. Let’s say that you want to search for data on pollution but you notice that many of the results lack proper metadata and you are unsure where the data is sourced from. To make sure your data is reliable and from a quality source try the following search technique.

When filling out metadata in Finder! after you upload your dataset there is a source field where you can indicate the source of your data. By entering into the Finder! search field ‘source: ______’ you are able to collect search results that only have the indicated source that you have entered. This will help filter out extraneous items and provide you with more focused search results. The example above searches for data from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), a well-known source for quality pollution data.

The same technique to search for a specific source can also be used to search for results for data from a particular GeoCommons user and for datasets that have a specific tag associated with it.

Above you can see that the search ‘user: Bill’ and the search ‘tag: pollution’. The user search allows you to search for data uploaded by a specific user and the tag search allows you to find data that has been tagged with a specific tag word.

Another unique search option in Finder! is the ability to cancel out certain search results. Let’s say that you are looking for data on the recent earthquake in Haiti but notice that you are receiving a lot of results about the earthquake in Chile. To make sure you get only results for Haiti try the following:

By putting the minus sign in front of the word chile in your search field you eliminate the possibility of receiving any data on Chile. This again is another technique to clean up your search results and allow you to eliminate extraneous results.

We are still in the process of making our Finder! search better here at FortiusOne, but hope these latest features are beneficial to a better search. Stay tuned to see new search features that will again better filter your search results to help you find exactly what you are looking for in our data repository.

Popularity: 3% [?]

The last few weeks have been fast paced. Between emergency response, big data migrations, and new feature launches an over arching theme has emerged in my mind. The Web's demonstrative capacity for adaptive change - specifically the growing geo-enabled components of the Web. Pundits have talked for a while about the emergence of the locative Web, and the GIS world has oscillated on what that means for their community. At times I think it borders on a Kübler-Ross grief model. The middle stages are arguable, but we've definitely gone from denial to acceptance.

My take away from the last couple of weeks is the convergence of the various forms of location based information, on and off the Web, are converging are rapidly. Disasters often act as crucibles to cause these forces to be accelerated. We've seen this in Haiti and now in Chile, where crowd sourced data is playing an integral role in relief efforts. It is a role, though, that complements the traditional sources of geospatial information. The largest impacts we've seen is in the fusion of the two sources. The combination has incredible value providing baselines, context and temporal adaptability - resulting in a malleable abstract that can be molded to solve a myriad of disparate challenges.

The malleable qualities of the fused locative Web are highlighted in disasters, but they are just as powerful over the long cycle. Platial was one of the iconic instigators to foment location as an integral part of the Web. Di-Ann's statistics tell the story "5 MM (million maps) have been created. Our members maps are visible on over 500,000 sites around the Web." "The People's Atlas" lived up to it's moniker - democratizing personal cartography at a scale not seen before. Some times the economic cycle and market don't grace innovation with good favor. This does not diminish what Platial accomplished and will continue to accomplish. The content and community created by Platial has provided a seed for the rest of us to reap the harvest from, and we are all in debt to it. When I say "seed" I mean it literally. The open and adaptive nature of the Web allows us to take the Platial seed and diffuse it across the online world. I believe we'll see Platial reborn in many new forms as a result.

Thanks to late night efforts by Andrew and the F1 engineering team Platial's data has been migrated to GeoCommons for access and redistribution. You can access Platial data through a dedicated link on GeoCommons. We are still working on details of retaining icon cartography and getting the data all migrated but stay tuned for more detail on the effort.

Popularity: 6% [?]

While we continue to support the reconstruction efforts in Haiti, this morning brought news of the 8.8 scale Earthquake off the coast of Chile.
View full map We'll be hosting the Ushahidi Chile situation room and providing data and analysis combined with the on the ground reports and response coordination. You can access all of the data and maps we have for the Chile earthquake by searching for the tag 'terremoto'.

Popularity: 6% [?]

You my have noticed some changes to the front page of GeoCommons. If you are a regular user, the most obvious change will have been the uploading functionality and workflow which includes the addition of GeoJoin. You can still Geocode your own data by using our open-source geocoder to display your spreadsheet data on a map, but we've added even more than that!

One of the most exciting features we have added is the ability to upload URL and data feeds which will allow you to use external data from the web to create dynamic maps that update when the linked data changes.

This video highlights just one example of a growing number of online services making geodata available as a feed:

Popularity: 6% [?]