Geotagging photos

If you don't have a camera with GPS for geotagging photos, you can match the time stamp from the photos to that of GPS waypoints. Record a tracklog on your GPS while taking photos. Once the photos and tracklogs have been uploaded, download the EasyGPS software and open the track in the software. Under the Tools menu, select Add Photos. Photos with matching timestamps will be added to the map in the correct location. Geotag is another free software, which is open source and has more flexibility (edit time stamps, export to Google Earth). For this, you will also need to download ExifTool in order to edit and save photo metadata.

Landsat Band Combinations

http://web.pdx.edu/~emch/ip1/bandcombinations.html

WGS84 to Web Mercator Transforms

Handy:


private void ToGeographic(ref double x, ref double y)
{
    if (Math.Abs(x) < 180 && Math.Abs(y) < 90)
        return;

    if ((Math.Abs(x) > 20037508.3427892) || (Math.Abs(y) > 20037508.3427892))
        return;

    double x = x;
    double y = y;
    double num3 = x / 6378137.0;
    double num4 = num3 * 57.295779513082323;
    double num5 = Math.Floor((double)((num4 + 180.0) / 360.0));
    double num6 = num4 - (num5 * 360.0);
    double num7 = 1.5707963267948966 - (2.0 * Math.Atan(Math.Exp((-1.0 * y) / 6378137.0)));
    x= num6;
    y= num7 * 57.295779513082323;
}

private void ToWebMercator(ref double lon, ref double lat)
{
    if ((Math.Abs(lon) > 180 || Math.Abs(lat) > 90))
        return;

    double num = lon* 0.017453292519943295;
    double x = 6378137.0 * num;
    double a = lat* 0.017453292519943295;

    lon= x;
    lat= 3189068.5 * Math.Log((1.0 + Math.Sin(a)) / (1.0 - Math.Sin(a)));
}

Geocoding

batchgeo.com provides easy batch geocoding.

• Copy and paste entries from an Excel document containing addresses (city and state is good enough).
• Click "Validate & Set Options" and select the desired settings.
• Click "Make Map."
• Once the map has been made, complete the fields and proceed.
• When the finalized map is displayed, scroll to the bottom and click "Download as KML."
• In ArcMap, import the KML as a point file.
• Add X,Y coordinates using XTools.
• Export to Excel using XTools.

Picking in OpenGL

A great reference to object picking and selection in OpenGL:

http://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~mjb/cs553/Handouts/Picking/picking.pdf

Setting up 3D Vision Pro glasses

After installing drivers for 3D Vision Pro glasses, right click on the desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel.

Under 3D Settings, select Manage 3D settings. Make sure that "Stereo - Display mode" is set to "Generic active stereo (with NVIDIA 3D Vision)".

Under Stereoscopic 3D, select Manage 3D Vision Pro and add the glasses.

Right click on the desktop again and select Screen resolution. Make sure that the 3D Vision ready display is set to 120 Hz.

In the NVIDIA Control Panel, launch the test application to ensure the glasses have been successfully paired.

Landsat 8 bands

Landsat 8 data bands will differ from those of Landsat 5 or Landsat 7. Here are the new band designations (resolution of 30 meters unless otherwise noted):

• Band 1 - Coastal aerosol (ultra-blue)
• Band 2 - Blue
• Band 3 - Green
• Band 4 - Red
• Band 5 - Near Infrared (NIR)
• Band 6 - SWIR 1
• Band 7 - SWIR 2
• Band 8 - Panchromatic (15 meter resolution)
• Band 9 - Cirrus
• Band 10 - Thermal Infrared (TIRS) 1 (100 meter resolution)
• Band 11 - Thermal Infrared (TIRS) 2 (100 meter resolution)

To view imagery in natural color, use band combination 4,3,2.
For color infrared, use combination 5,4,3.
For false color, use combinations 6,5,4; 7,6,4; or 7,5,3.

http://landsat.usgs.gov/L8_band_combos.php

Safaricom in Kenya

To activate data you need to download apn settings. Call ussd *544# and in options select 98 for more options.  Then select 10 for internet settings.  Your phone will download the apn settings. Send an SMS to 450 with the text "Balance" to get prepayed data balance.