Continuing with the previous post about GIS Map Server, we will see how to navigate in maps generated by a map server. The intention is that the experience of browsing and interacting with the maps be similar to that provided by Google Maps.
In particular, we will discuss about a popular and supported by the community library called Open Layers. It is a javascript library that aims to build a grid of images obtained from a map server and distribute the images so that they can be browsed fluidly. The library also allows to interact with the map marking points, lines and zones.
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Archive for the ‘Development’ Subject
GIS – Maps navigation with OpenLayers
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012Smartphones Market Trends
Thursday, August 11th, 2011
Smartphones are part of our everyday reality. If you want to order a pizza, book a flight ticket, hunt a job or connect to friends you can just do it with these high tech devices. Furthermore, for companies they are an excellent tool to engage clients in real time.
Mobile devices allow to access applications with a higher level of personalization than Web and Desktop applications, for example applications that base their functionality around the current location of the user.
Mobile applications are characterized by covering one specific functionality, with simple and define interfaces. Applications categories include: online shopping, travel, finances, internet, communications, music, among others. Many of the most popular web-based applications such as Gmail, Google maps and Skype already have their version for mobile devices. (more…)
“Many licenses are totally ridiculous”
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
Linus Benedict Torvalds (Helsinki, Finland, December 28th, 1969) is the creator of Linux. Linux can be installed on a variety of devices: mobile phones, tablet computers, routers, and video game consoles, mainframes and supercomputers. The development of Linux is one of the most famous examples of free and open source software collaboration. Normally all the underlying source code can be used, modified and redistributed, both commercially and non-commercially, by anyone under licenses such as the General Public License.
The creator of Linux tells in a recent interview to Página 12 (a recognized local newspaper) how after two decades of its creation it went from being the heart of an open source system to a friendly desktop environment and the center of Android for cell phones. (more…)
The Cloud
Friday, June 17th, 2011
Some years ago the idea of using “the cloud” came up as an option to host our software developments, but what it’s the cloud about?
The Cloud Computing concept refers to the computational resource (software, storage, processing) that can be accessed from anywhere through a WAN network and why not from the internet. Many of us use every day, and since long ago, services such as webmails, google docs, dropbox.com, etc. These are the first generation of services in the cloud. (more…)
To win the future, you have to start in middle school
Monday, February 28th, 2011Last week, we were discussing with Santiago Ceria about some of the differences between the US and Argentina. We briefly touched on the subject of his recent blog post, the need in both countries to boost the number and quality of science and engineering professionals.
science fair
In the US, they are taking the matter very seriously. Just take a look at Obama’s recent State of the Union address. It’s available online and from the White House site. In that speech, Obama set a goal of preparing 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, over the next 10 years. Just the priorities defined by picking those four fields are revealing. This is a key step of the race to “win the future”, as Obama defines it.
I was also struck but another component of that same strategy when I attended the first “Science and Engineering Festival” (www.usasciencefestival.org), last year in Washington DC. Over two days, visitors of the festival had access to dozens of booths hosted by US Agencies (from NASA to the EPA or the Department of Energy), private corporations (from Lookheed Martin to the Science Channel), and Universities. It was a fascinating experience, where kids could interact and explore science on a fun and educational environment. There were maglev train prototypes, NASA spacesuits and rovers, energy efficient generators and much more. (more…)
Outsourced Development Myths
Monday, October 25th, 2010
In a global economy where productivity is rising in many segments and production costs are shaping innovative strategies, looking for a strategic IT partner it has become crucial to any organization’s success. Many are addressing these growing concerns by reformulating their business plans, shipping their in-house software development needs to emerging markets’ outsourcing companies.
In these new scenarios, where off-shore outsourcing services are growing exponentially in the world, some myths surrounding this matter are raising as well. Progressively, public opinion and media coverage are more uneasy about it and many companies everywhere recognize that a lot is at stake for their business. In this blog post I will attempt to tackle some of these myths.
Argentinean Key Factors for Success
Monday, October 4th, 2010
A recent survey presented by Capgemini highlights the top factors listed by 300 senior executives from Fortune 1000 companies in choosing an outsourcing destination, and it presents the Latin American region as the third most popular outsourcing destination in the globe.
Among these factors, the top 5 are: labor costs (79 percent), technology & infrastructure capabilities (62 percent), skilled labor (61 percent), language proficiency (49 percent), and economic stability (44 percent).
A closer analysis of each of the factors reveals how Argentina has an important advantage among its neighbors, at least in the short and mid-term.
SEAFOOD Presentation
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010Last month I presented at SEAFOOD 2010 a paper we wrote with Carlos Pallotti about Argentina’s Offshore Software Industry. It’s great to see how Argentina is, little by little, getting more attention in the offshore landscape. However, we are not alone: many countries around the globe are doing the same and many of them have interesting competitive advantages. Just to mention an example, Russia, the Country that hosted the conference, has a very compatible time zone with Western Europe and a very strong scientific system. I also got the impression that Argentina is somewhat ahead in the adoption of innovative Software Engineering approaches. I hope this will also help us.
I got an interesting question from someone in the audience who asked “Considering Spanish is the most spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese, why do you say that Argentina’s good level of English is a competitive advantage”. My answer was the typical “The most attractive markets require English”, but it left me thinking whether Argentina is using this opportunity as much as it should.
We also had quite interesting Keynotes from Ivar Jacobson, about SEMAT, from Bertrand Meyer, about Empirical Software Engineering, and from Richar Soley, about his work at OMG. The SEMAT initiative is very interesting, although it received some powerful critics. I’ll write a post about it soon.
Team Foundation Server from within Eclipse
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009I was trying to integrate a Java project with TFS, using Eclipse and Teamprise. Teamprise is a suite of client applications that includes an Eclipse plug-in for accessing Team Foundation Server.
In general the plug-in works remarkably well (in fact, I think it works better than Visual Studio with Team Explorer!). It’s really stable (thanks to Eclipse) and several options are easier to access than in Visual Studio.
Pros
Integration with the source repository is complete and limited only by TFS (you can still use the Team Synchronizing perspective or you can use the new ‘Pending Changes’ view). Some particularly interesting characteristics are the shelving feature, check-in policies, and the ability to associate changesets with specific tasks, bugs or any other work item type, providing a higher level of traceability. You can develop and deploy your own policies, although you have to install them in all clients.
TDD vs After Testing (1/2)
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
From the perspective of someone who practices Test-Driven Development, this gets things backwards. I believe that it is an essential part of Test-Driven Development that you must write your unit test before writing any application code. Why does it matter?
Test-Driven Development is first and foremost an application design methodology. If you write your unit tests after you write your application code, then you are not driving the design of your application with your unit tests. In other words, Test-After Development ignores the Driven in Test-Driven Development.
Let’s consider a concrete scenario …