Line of Sight Analysis

admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:24:41 +0000

One of the big problems that the wind indusrty has run into in developing wind farms is that people do not want to see the towers. You can use some very expensive software to do a viewshed analysis, but I have found a very afforable alternative. Global Mapper has a built in function to be able to download elevation data from the web and then with a simple puch of a button to run the analysis. You can customize the variables for the tower height and even look at the terrain in 3D. I use have the expensive software (I am sure you know which one I mean) and it is not this easy to perform a line of sight. Global Mapper also has many other great features and the ability to work with a huge variety of file formats, mainly ESRI shapefiles, KML, and Mr. SID imagery. If you think that Global Mapper could be useful, you can download it free to try it.

DNR Garmin

admin — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:44:23 +0000

One of my favorite pieces of software that you can use if you are using a Garmin GPS reciever is the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Garmin application. It is very useful to connect a recreational gps into gis software. You can use the DNR garmin application to transfer data to and from your Garmin GPS, and save it in a variety of formats. If you use ESRI ARCmap it is available for all three major versions. Even better it now works with google earth so that you do not need to have expensive GIS software to visualize your data. When I went to get this link for this post I saw that they have a new version out, so I am downloading it and will get back with some goodies that are in the new version that i have even tried yet( Yes sometimes I am a little behind the times).

Free-GIS » GIS Software

Line of Sight Analysis

DNR Garmin