Thematic Mapping was once a specialist process for analysing statistical data spatially. GI Professionals understood how to do it, why they were doing and how to interpret the results. Thanks to the proliferation of API’s from the Web 2.0 world, Thematic Mapping API’s have become readily available and accessible by any developer with basic technical know how. You don’t have to be a GI Professional to create an impressive looking Thematic Map of your data. This presentation attempts to discuss how increased accessibility to geospatial processes is a good thing, BUT, you need to understand the underlying principles of geospatial analysis if you are going to leverage this technology

1. Where2.0Now - Finding the heat in Thematic Maps John Fagan Program Manager, Microsoft

2. 1990’s – Sean Phelan’s vision

3. 1996 - Multimap.com launched (no maps)

4. Desktop GIS - MapInfo Desktop for Power Mac v4

5. 1997 - Multimap GeoStack MapInfo Desktop for power mac Hacked to make it serve maps over http Collins Bartholomew Raster maps Multimap.com gif.cgi Mapping API +Caching engine MySQL Bartholomew & OS Gazetteer places.cgi cache miss

8. Why should maps be for GIS Professionals only?

9. gif.cgi? pc=ec4a2dy

10. gif.cgi? pclist= ec4a2dy,ec1n2ns

11. gif.cgi?pclist= ec4a2dy,ec1n2ns& width=500&height=500

12. gif.cgi?pclist= ec4a2dy,ec1n2ns&width=500&height=500& ds=1

14. Many customers still use gif.cgi today

15. >> Fast forward a few years

17. Choropleth map

22. Thematic Mapping API’s

23. Again, the web developers have come to the rescue and made GIS functionality accessible to all http://www.programmableweb.com/tag/thematic

24. Wait.... Do we want web developers to carry out spatial analysis?

27. What if John Snow used todays API’s?

28. http://www.programmableweb.com/tag/thematic

37. GIS could get this right in 1996

38. Bing Maps/SQL Server 2008

40. View Choropleth overlays using Silverlight

41. Thematic Maps as Vector Data

43. Thanks john fagan ubergeo.com @johnbfagan