living the intepretation....

So the process of modeling geography begins with analyzing and interpreting scientific formulas and methods. Sounds complicated huh… but really.... GIS is makes it so much easier and systematic. Results are interpreted in various ways for us to understand GIS output better. We need the interpretation to model our world better and to engineer our lives. GIS helps us in many cool ways… transportation, engineering, communication, research, environment, housing, health, utilities and my favourite... urban planning / living.

There are four traditional types of spatial analysis: topological overlay and contiguity analysis, surface analysis, linear analysis, and raster analysis...






Jimi Hendrix, Smoking, London (1967) by Gered Mankowitz

Can we say anything else??? :D

shapes to remember...

Shapes, patterns, graphics and locations define relationships between the earth and its representation on maps, plans and drawings. The study of the different fields is called spatial analysis.

When we visualize an area or geographic feature its always best to take a picture of it… but when analyzing spatial results pictures or rasters need to be converted to vector too. Even different angles of a picture can distort or misrepresent a spatial analysis. That’s why GIS is so crucial in any field. Evaluating suitability, making predictions or understanding our planet’s fenomena are some of the core usage of the traditional GIS.

Nowadays GIS is moving into more distributed areas of specializations and wider areas of interest... we are really seeing the advent of GIS blooming. Cool.




The Bridge at Courbevoie (1886) by Georges Seurat

Concentrating on relaying the immediate visual effect of the world around them, using bold brush strokes and contrasts of colour, the artists initially drew heavy criticism for their perceived naive and trivial approach to art. From the late 1880's, public perception gradually changed and the Impressionists received reverence, paving the way for their followers Guaguin, Seurat and Van Gogh.

so what lah...

Since both VB and VB.NET are different in syntax, methods and implementation... thousands if not millions of programs written in VB will have to be converted line by line. At this stage the question would be VB.NET or C#?? This is the same issue in the GIS industry as well.

ESRI used Avenue (ArcView 3.x) and AML (ArcInfo) as the programming, scripting and customisation language... all these years. Then suddenly there is a shift to COM technology and all those programs and scripts written in AML or Avenue have to be ported to new languages... a big task. Different way of thinking... GIS Engineers now will have to learn and master the current programming languages of Microsoft. This is a paradigm shift...

So the question is ... should we in Malaysia move along and change all our codes too?? I strongly believe... yes we should. Change is the only thing certain ... and changes bring progress (and the other way round)... BUT (a big HOWEVER!!) change is only necessary and needed if you are not happy with your current programs or applications.... not happy with the results or its innacurate. If it works fine and your results are satisfactory then why change?? We should change only to improve and solve our existing problems. So for me this change is a revolution wave thats hitting not only GIS Engineers but to all programmers...

No, the transition to Visual Basic .NET 2002 was a one-time-only thing that allowed us to make the big leap from COM to .NET. If we’ve done things right with .NET, and I think we have, developers won’t have to experience that level of change again.
Paul Vick, Author of the Visual Basic .NET Language Specification, .NET Rock Star: Paul Vick, Ziff-Davis Interview, April 18, 2004

Parable of the Rich Man. 1627. Oil on panel. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany. Rembrandt van Rijn

Philosopher Reading. 1631. Oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden. Rembrandt van Rijn

VB with friends...

Just adding to my last blog... as u already know, the latest version of VB is VB.NET... this is actually fundamentally different from VB6 because of the dotNET Framework implementation in VB.NET. I am more familiar with VB6 and VB5... its like the coolest language to learn during my varsity days working on GIS projects.

Thus, just as applications are becoming increasingly programmable, programming languages are becoming generally more accessible. Soon we will have tools that make the creation of Windows applications easy and enjoyable - Bill Gates, Chairman and CEO (Microsoft), "Gates on BASIC’s Future", BASICPro Magazine, February/March 1991

So the 'real' issue should be how easy and enjoyable programming should be for all of us. For me the excitement and interests I had in Visual Basic drove me to learn and master the language fast... this was way before I learned Java. So many steps and methods were made simple, user friendly and consistent in VB. For programming windows application I preferred VB more than anything else... especially more than C++ because that language really scared the hell of me. Probably its a prejudice againts a much more powerful language... the learning curve is longer. The beauty of C++ is that its will be always supported and there is no plan to change the language... its not the same story with VB and VB.NET!!!





The Angel Stopping Abraham from Sacrificing Isaac to God. 1635.
Oil on canvas. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Rembrandt van Rijn

Portrait of a Man in an Oriental Costume. 1635.

Oil on panel. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Rembrandt van Rijn

visual language...

Visual Basic (VB) has come a long way since my schooling years... I use to program using BASIC then. The history of BASIC dates back to the 60s and became very popular in the 80s (yes, I was around then... super cool with computers) I did not have a micro-computer at home but spent most of the time at the school computer lab.

BASIC actually stands for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. BASIC is designed as a time-sharing programming language. That means multi-user capabilities.

In 1975, Microsoft (Bill Gates and Paul Allen) released Altair BASIC. They versioned this under other platforms and made millions of copies. Many newer BASIC versions were created during this period. Microsoft sold several versions of BASIC for MS-DOS/PC-DOS including BASICA, GW-BASIC (a BASICA-compatible version that did not need IBM's ROM) and Quick BASIC. Various extensions of home computer BASIC appeared, typically with graphics, sound and DOS commands, as well as facilities for structured programming.

However, by the latter half of the 1980s newer computers were far more complex and included features (such as graphical user interfaces—GUIs) that made BASIC less suitable for programming. At the same time, computers had progressed from a hobbyist interest to tools used primarily for applications written by others, and programming as a whole became less important for the growing majority of users. BASIC started to fade, though numerous versions remained available.

I stopped playing around computers this time... no idea why. Temporary lost interest for a few years... maybe I got bored... but mainly because the computer lab in my school closed and we could not afford computers then... it was like an expensive hobby. What a waste...

In University my interests grew again because suddenly all the faculty labs had computers and my friends got new and powerful ones. BASIC's fortune reversed once again with the introduction of Visual Basic from Microsoft. Though it is somewhat difficult to consider this language to be BASIC (despite its many familiar BASIC keywords) by the time of writing it had become one of the most-used languages on the Windows platform. It is said to represent some 70 to 80% of all commercial development. Microsoft created a variant called WordBasic and used it in versions of MS Word before Word 97. Microsoft added Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to Excel 5.0 in 1993, to Access 95 in 1995, and to the rest of its Office suite in 1997. Internet Explorer 3.0 and later and Microsoft Outlook included a VBScript interpreter. The most recent version of Visual Basic is called VB.NET.

For those who played around with BASIC before... this is nostalgic:

10 INPUT "What is your name: "; U$
20 PRINT "Hello "; U$
25 REM
30 INPUT "How many stars do you want: "; N
35 S$ = ""
40 FOR I = 1 TO N
50 S$ = S$ + "*"
55 NEXT I
60 PRINT S$
65 REM
70 INPUT "Do you want more stars? "; A$
80 IF LEN(A$) = 0 THEN GOTO 70
90 A$ = LEFT$(A$, 1)
100 IF (A$ = "Y") OR (A$ = "y") THEN GOTO 30
110 PRINT "Goodbye ";
120 FOR I = 1 TO 200
130 PRINT U$; " ";
140 NEXT I
150 PRINT


Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC_programming_language, http://visualbasic.about.com/, http://www.vbcode.com/, http://www.programmersheaven.com/, http://www.vbcode.com/, http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/using/vbasic/default.aspx)



Krishna Leela

By M. F. Husain
Serigraphs on Paper

Dasashwamedha Ghat, Varanasi

By Kumar Mangwani

Photography on Paper

All time high...

If we consider the need or demand for computer programs and how useful it is in our daily life... then everyone should be a programmer. Yes, there is an infinite need for new and useful programs to help, assist and serve mankind… new possibilities and ideas are needed more and more each day…

We should move out mindset away from the traditional software markets and into new and upcoming infant territories / frontiers… it could be in environment, geography (of course..!!!), explorations, conservation, health / medicine, weather, agriculture, forestry, education, transportation, utilities, politics and much more.

Just like learning a new spoken language… we need some effort in learning programming languages… armed with these newfound skills it would be really cool to solve and help people around us in their daily life… using computers… directly or indirectly… Every facet of our life and existence on earth now is linked to computers… however remote we can be… we depend on computers and technology to live on this planet… even those who don’t own or seen computers before…

So what should we learn?? Based on my humbling experience since school… and some working knowledge… here is a short list:

Tough, Powerful.. for Advance Programming (I have no experience with these): C, C++, ABAP
Cool, Fast and Easy to Learn (my favorites): VB, PHP, Java, Python, JavaScript, PL/SQLMy Next on my wish list (must have…): C#, Perl, JSP, ASP.NET






Title: Solitary Journey, Hrishikesh
Artist: Kumar Mangwani
Medium: Photography on Paper

realm of the practical...

I stumbled upon PHP and MYSQL as a favor for a friend... building web portals powered with database... its interesting how fast we can gain considerable practical experience working with both. I am also amazed how well we can build and test server-side coding with web applications using PHP and MYSQL. Programming with PHP is so cool...

CGI and Server-Side scripts have been around for a while now... ASP, JSP, Servlets, Perl. Never really experienced in-depth hands-on with any of them before ... since most times I am still interested in application programming and GIS development. Web programming is a domain where I am still a novice...

Cool sites to visit:
www.phpbuilder.com, www.sitepoint.com, www.php.net, www.zend.com, www.codewalkers.com

In this case I am working with PHP 4, MySQL 4.1, IIS Web Server, JavaScript, CSS and Macromedia Flash.



A Rajasthani Rustic - Water Colour

Generally, Indian art has a long and enthralling past... of course that dates back thousands of years. They 'were' the pioneers in sculpture, paintings, architecture and ornaments. However, since those glory days ... nothing much has changed... lots of copycats... nothing new or dynamic that can even replace or renew the majestic splendor of Indian art. Many artists are still trapped with tradition and narrow perspectives. This painting captured my attention because its something 'new and refreshing'... a daring attempt by the artist to infuse new ideas and creativity to Indian art... bravo.

Paths we begin… Trails we leave...

Well… this weekend… decided to have a nice break in Fraser’s Hill with family.. Rising 1,500 meters above sea-level on the Titiwangsa mountain range of Peninsular Malaysia is Fraser's Hill. Named after a solitary Scottish pioneer, James Fraser, who set up a tin-ore trading post in the 1890s, it actually consists of seven hills...

We drove up the winding road… beautiful and breathtaking scenic ride… with great view of the tropical jungle as you slowly climb the hills… the air in Fraser's is so clean… the temperature is cool… we really needed this… the quiet charm and slow pace of this hill resort is my kinda holiday… less crowd… no kiasu or noisy people… that’s a real plus… making sure we savor every moment :D

Map of Fraser Hill: http://www.pahangtourism.com.my/highlands/attractions/fraser_hill.html

One of pair of folding screens depicting cranes by Ishida Yutei (1721-1786)

I picked this artwork because Fraser's is also very famous for bird watching. Always a center for bird watching enthusiasts, this hill station is a bird watcher's haven with over 270 species of local and migratory birds flocking here together. The annual International Bird Race organized by Malaysian Nature Society in conjunction with the Fraser's Hill Development Corporation sees participants from all over the world converging here to determine which team can sight, identify, and record the most number of birds as stated in the official checklist. This world renown event seeks to promote Fraser's Hill as a bird sanctuary and encourages bird watching as a healthy outdoor activity.

Land Records...

The land we step on… the home we live in… the office we work… the floor we step on… how do you define, present or describe it?? The land , buildings, roads, bridges… and earth… above and below… the sea.. yes, we see with our eyes… and define with our mind… can we really record and define them?? The shape, texture, contour and nature of this beautiful country ... the Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo??

We are surely trying our best… :D

We use a form of art to record all this… we skillfully draft and draw plans or maps to present this land information. But can it really record and define them?? Think about it... You still need to learn and go through many years of training to skillfully read these maps, plans and drawings… Architects, Planners, Surveyors, Engineers, Geographers, Geologists, Draftsman… they all are trained to read, interpret, draw, define and understand maps… and plans… in their own way… in their own profession…

Its an amazing art form for me… all those neat lines, points and curves… the skill of labeling and annotation… colouring and symbolizing … defining what our eyes, body and brains can define… an art that’s perfected throughout history… to present our Mother Earth's Land Records…


Title: Spring in Kurama Temple
Artist: Takeji Asano 1900-1999

Title: Harvest

Artist: Shiro Kasamatsu 1898-1992

Language of Geography... Malaysia GIS

I can still remember art and geography to be my favourite subjects in school... maybe its because I can day-dream in class ... close my eyes and imagine ... and be creative.

Dream of travelling to all those interesting places... flying... space travel.. Imagine myself having great adventures... ships... and painting all those nice landscapes, buildings, people, culture...

People are united through geography… one language..

Geography somehow evokes a sense of belonging and its humbling... you realise how small we all are in this universe... among all the planets, galaxies...



Courtesan. Painting on silk. 1812-1821. Collection of Moshichi Yoshiara.