GIS & Social Media
Integration
”Is it for you?”
Allan Laframboise

who am I?
@AL_Laframboise
@agup
edn.esri.com

who are you?

GIS
&
Social Media

Migrating apps
to the
web

Challenges… design
interface tools
usability

Blogs
Badges
Contributors
Web 2.0 Open ID
XML Rating
Sharing SOAP Social
Networking
Consumers
RIA RSS
Social Media Standards Wikis
Video
Collaboration Podcasts
Feedback

Customer expectations are
higher…

see more (visualize)

explore more (locations)

do more (analysis)

more social (share)

other expectations…
real-time data
accurate geocoding
routing with local knowledge
advanced sharing/collaboration…

USGS TED – Twitter earthquake detector (Indonesia)
http://twitter.com/USGSted

GIS developers are faced with
new challenges

Social Media
platforms

some things in common…
communicate
collaborate
share

other differences…
Closed Open
vs

Evolution of social platforms
advertising
reviews
search
apps (1000/day)
all provide services

Social media data
1. Text – messages, tweets, streams, timelines…
2. Media – files, images, video…
3. Profiles – name, location, website, bio…

profile information

Different ways to integrate
with Social Media?
Mash-ups API Development

Mash-up: Add sharing capabilities
Publish your website to any social network
– http://AddThis.com
Send via
– Email
– Social bookmark sites
– Social media sites
• FB, Twitter, Live…
Simple!
Free!

Mash-up: Embed social media widgets
Publish news and information
– http://twitter.com/goodies (Profile or Search)
Dynamic news feed
Encourages people to follow
Simple!
Free!

Mash-up: Broadcasting via RSS or GEORSS
Provide custom RSS or GEORSS capabilities
Users can subscribe
GEOS
(Group on Earth Observations)
– RSS
– GeoRSS
– Geoss.esri.com
– Twitter.com/geoportal

Mash-up: Integrating GIS with Yahoo Pipes
Use an existing platform and framework
Easy to build
Easy to share with others
Hosted by Yahoo!

Development: Embedding GIS gadgets and widgets
Take advantage of web platforms and frameworks
– E.g. iGoogle, Yahoo, Facebook…
Day to day workflows…
Reach wider audiences
Discoverable
Hosted in cloud

Development: Embedding apps in Facebook
Facebook has rich a developer framework
Reach specific communities
Focused applications
Easy to share
Limited access!

Development: Consuming the Twitter API
ArcGIS Silverlight application uses REST API
Maps friends and searches
1.REST
2.Search
3.Real-time API (alpha)
Public vs Secure API calls…

Development: Consuming the Facebook API
ArcGIS Flex application uses REST API (prototype)
Maps friends (fans)
Rich developer framework
Many options…

Quick Quiz!
Why is there so much buzz about
Twitter these days?
What are two important features
coming out shortly?

Twitter 101…
140 chars
instant message
anyone, anything, anytime, anywhere

any “where”…

anatomy of a tweet
What am I referring to?
What am I doing?
Hey, I finally made it to #WhereCampPDX! Can’t wait to
meet everyone. Thanks for sending me @JimBarry.
Reference/address for
someone.

pseudo geotweets
What…
Who…
I noticed a brush fire off the 10FWY south of the 91FWY
interchange. Anyone dispatched yet? #LAFires
Traffic accident off of the 38FWY near Big Bear Lake.
#SoCalTraffic
Anyone know where there’s still parking available for the
baseball game tonight? #OregonEvents
…
Where?

useful to GIS’ers?

Twitter’s new geolocation
platform

apps can
add
lat/lon
Opt-in Geocoding
but only if you
“opt-in”…

developers only…

anatomy changes? NO!
What am I referring to?
What am I doing?
Hey, I finally made it to #WhereCampPDX! Can’t wait to
meet everyone. Thanks for sending me @JimBarry.
Reference/address for
<geo xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss"> someone.
<georss:point>37.780467** -122.396762**</georss:point>
</geo>

7 days only!

scary right?
wrong!

1.
opt-in
<geo_enabled>true</geo_enabled>

2.
search by radius API has always existed…
http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=wherecamppdx
&geocode=45.52803%2C-122.66061%2C25km

3.
apps are doing this already…
Location: Redlands, CA
Location: iPhone: 45.53269,-122.66116

Real-world Examples

Integration - ArcGIS JavaScript API

Integration – ArcGIS Mobile API for iPhone

Integration - ArcGIS Explorer Twitter Add-in

Challenges – authentication & security

Challenges - standardization

Challenges – crowd-sourced data

Challenges – service reliability

Challenges - competition

Benefits
Innovate new types of GIS applications
Real-time information (pull)
Reach wider audience (push)
Improve collaboration and sharing

Tips
Clear goals and objectives
Know the community you are trying to reach
Use the right platform (tools)
Bring value!

Is it for you?
Maybe…
Light-weight Integration – mash-ups, sharing,
broadcasting, notification… (Yes!)
Full Integration – API development, push, pull
info… (Yes, if you acknowledge the challenges)

Questions?