mambo... italiano...

Early Renaissance ... saw the great contibution of Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi).. famous for his version of Venus (The Birth of Venus). This was an era where Florence (Italy) grew in wealth and status. Artist, Sculptors and Poets from all over Europe and Italy flocked to this rich city in search of inspiration and to make a living.

At an early age Botticelli was very much involved in art... mainly assisting the art works in churches, convents and wall frescos. He was very much influenced by religion and religious art.

What I like most about Botticelli's work is the use of 3D structure with his female models. This is a skill he uses many times... you can see this in many of his paintings. The shades and light... the outlines and tones... he uses them very neatly... tidy... clean.. this is very pleasing to the eye. Most of the women in his pantings are very beautiful... elegant and well shaped... they have a sense of kindness and grace in their faces.

He expresses and brings them out so well.. you cannot but fall in love with Botticelli's women.

p.s. Oh yes... Merry Christmas to all :D

feeling the strain... tense??

In the world of GIS… its actually very tough to define this profession… you neither belong here or there. In Malaysia there are only a handful of good GIS hives. Mainly installed in government agencies (cause they can afford to buy), its usage and benefits have not reached a satisfactory level. Many of these Malaysian agencies buy GIS for the sake of having the latest software or just to look impressive among peers. Sad. Its s still a new field… still in infancy… compared to traditional studies which have been around for many years.

So… sometimes being a GIS Engineer, Developer or Technician… it gets a bit blur … tense... especially when it comes to career direction or software path to lead. Many of us come from ‘traditional’ GIS study backgrounds like Urban&Regional Planning, Survey, Geography, Forestry etc. This can lead to some confusion and overlap of duties. We need to learn other industries too... fast. Many of us are left confused with these new functions and skills… some leave due to frustration and lack of motivation. Its tough.. for beginners.

I believe what’s exciting and motivating about GIS is the ever evolving technology and tools… the power of computing, new programming languages and enterprise databases / storage… but we need to understand that the results and analysis in many cases are the same. The quality of data input is crucial too. Its just that over time these outputs and results are getting faster and easier to understand. Its an evolution of computing speed that drives GIS software to make decisions faster and better. That should be the focus… its not about having cool software tools, attractive UI or fancy animations… its about results. Quality and Usable results.

Malaysian Urban and Regional Planning... get real...

Urban and Regional Planning... hhmmmm... what a sad subject to cover, especially in Malaysia. I hate it... at the same time love it. Hate it because its not taken seriously here, planners are powerless... toothless. Love it because many great and beautiful cities are built by smart planners. Every major city in the world have planners with amazing vision and style. I tend to wonder what these planners must be in person... their character. Great creativity for sure... far sighted too... grand taste a must. The ultimate power is in the drafting pen.. with a few strokes, once a peaceful and quite suburban ... now it ends under a highway... or worse... another lame housing project. In a blink too ... abandoned land can turn into wonderfully landscaped parks... with birds and tall trees.

Planners from old and great cities those days did not have aerial photos, satellite images, demographic databases or GIS ... no computers... yet they could design and build city spaces with such detail and creativity. Today's planners are spoon-fed with so much data and technology... life is so easy. Its sad to see Malaysian planners struggling to overcome political barriers, red-tape and just poor research. The actual power of urban and regional planning is in research... the core of this profession is the quality of its R&D.

Its not the QUANTITY of data or expensive software packages that counts... its the QUALITY and SKILL of planners that matters the most. GIS and data can only help you so far... all the analysis, models and data findings must still be done by qualified and experienced planners.....