What I’ve been waiting for—the light bulb moment! The flip has switched, the ceiling shattered, and things are starting to make some semblance of sense. Puzzle pieces coming together.
I’ve been eavesdropping on web mappers talk about different apps and packages and libraries and services but I had trouble with putting everything together—what does what, how they interact, how to select what service to use based on your goals. A little tough to just jump in when you’re not sure what stuff does what (for me, anyway).
The Anatomy of a Web Map presentation made by Alan McConchie and Beth Schechter for Maptime is a super resource for newbies like me and those crossing over from GIS. It relates the web map to the human body: different systems all interacting to keep ya going. The mind gears start to turn.
What is super helpful is the breakdown of what-does-what and grouping services into categories. It makes it easier to decipher what services I need in my geo-stack and where to develop my skills. I find these graphics to be particularly flip-switching:
Simple, right?! The gears! They turn! With all the scattered information floating around the Internet it is so incredibly valuable to have a synthesised overview of web map anatomy and available resources.
So now it makes sense conceptually yet I still don’t know where the best spot is to jump into this sea of info. I guess any place is better than no place.
geogrief 