Web Mapping Illustrated: Using Open Source GIS Toolkits Review

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(More customer reviews)I found this book a "tough call" when I came to writing a review.
I have to admit to not being a big fan of a lot of the technology showcased this book (PostGIS aside). I have professional reasons for saying this that do not concern us in this review but should be admitted up front.
Firstly I want to be clear that we should thank Tyler because he has done a very good job in weaving a consistent and useful thread through all the technologies in the book.
However, I had to think about why he chose these particular technologies and why the book was laid out the way it is because it was not initially clear to me what relevance a lot of them had to the book's title - Web Mapping. To me the title implied a richer potential content wrt "web mapping" per se, so that when I opened the book I was surprised to see that quite a bit of it was really about GIS basics such that a title more like "Getting started with MapServer" or "MapServer for GIS Dummies" (not an O'Reilly title I grant) might have been more appropriate!
I also don't know if this book accurately targets its audience. If you expect a real treatise on the University of Minnesota's MapServer then this book will not fill all your needs. If you want to see a set of open source technologies put together in a logical and coherent way so that you can start on understanding Web Mapping from one view point only then this book is useful.
On to the book itself.
He has also highlighted some important features of some of the technologies in a way that good training courses often do. The lights definitely go on and you will hear yourself say: "Ahh, so that's what this does!". That is what this book did for me across a number of technologies: in particular the OGR and GDAL command line tools. (Thanks, Tyler, for this alone.) He also does what all good trainers should do: he clearly demonstrated software functionality via concrete examples. It is my view that, except for university, most people learn by doing and this book works well in supporting those who find manuals and technical documents opaque when trying to assess software usefulness.
I really wasn't sure if the technical detail with respect to things like command line actions for installing, compiling and installing some software was that useful: I admit to skim reading this stuff. Is this Web Mapping for the uninitiated gun programmer? Or is this something that less technical geospatial professionals whose only world is that of the mainstream "pay per license" software products (on Windows) would get excited over? Unless command line computing is coming back and becoming mainstream again (and I am of that vintage), most people today expect the initial heavy lifting decisions to have been done for them so they can start "value adding" immediately. I think all the configuration decision making that is involved with open source technologies is still a big put off: I know it is to me, and I have 20+ years in the IT/GIS industry!
I also thought that the technologies described in the book showed what I can only describe as a North American (perhaps even Canadian) bias in the choice of technologies. Look, this is a bit of a quibble because I really can understand a lot of the choices precisely because the main distribution of the tools in the book (except PostGIS) is via FWTools which contains OpenEV, GDAL, MapServer & PROJ.4: all core technologies to the book. Yet I really don't think it is all that obvious. (I had to double check when writing this review.) Even so, my view is that more coverage should have been given to other open source technologies rather than a particular group. So, for example, why not cover the really big database of the open source community: MySQL (not just PostGIS)? And this oversight is strange given that the book mentions OGR/GDAL support for Oracle Spatial and ArcSDE which are of little interest (in one sense) to the open source people and are not accessible unless the company you work for has them. Also, why doesn't the book give more airtime to the excellent GeoServer WFS (and WMS) than just MapServer's read-only WFS? Why not hightlight the actively developed European managed Deegree WMS/WFS? Sure, MapServer has both WMS/WFS capabilities so let's concentrate on one rather than confuse people with others (just reference them instead - yet Deegree doesn't even get a mention in the book).
But all this musing gets me back to the title. Is it really "Web Mapping Illustrated"? Not really. Perhaps it should have been called "Getting started with MapServer". Too long? "FWTools Illustrated". Certainly not eye catching in terms of elucidating interest from browsers of bookshops and Amazon.
All in all, a good book and very useful. It certainly helped me and because of it I have decided to use some of the supporting technologies in it in my day job. Well done Tyler.

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With the help of the Internet and accompanying tools, creating and publishing online maps has become easier and rich with options. A city guide web site can use maps to show the location of restaurants, museums, and art venues. A business can post a map for reaching its offices. The state government can present a map showing average income by area.

Developers who want to publish maps on the web often discover that commercial tools cost too much and hunting down the free tools scattered across Internet can use up too much of your time and resources. Web Mapping Illustrated shows you how to create maps, even interactive maps, with free tools, including MapServer, OpenEV, GDAL/OGR, and PostGIS.It also explains how to find, collect, understand, use, and share mapping data, both over the traditional Web and using OGC-standard services like WFS and WMS.

Mapping is a growing field that goes beyond collecting and analyzing GIS data. Web Mapping Illustrated shows how to combine free geographic data, GPS, and data management tools into one resource for your mapping information needs so you don't have to lose your way while searching for it.

Remember the fun you had exploring the world with maps? Experience the fun again with Web Mapping Illustrated. This book will take you on a direct route to creating valuable maps.

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Character Development in Blender 2.5 Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is an invaluable resource. As a long time 3d artist, I have picked up little tricks here and there that really bring pieces together well. Jonathan manages to cover these little tricks and more, assisting even the beginner 3D artist in creating a piece of art that feels well polished. A great book and a great read. Also, their website (blendercookie.com) is another amazing resource. Check it out.
The only con I have is the pictures in the book are kind of dark, but the included dvd remedies that nicely.

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Written for everyone from beginning Blender artists to experienced animators and game developers, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IN BLENDER 2.5 shows readers how to model believable characters using Blender, a free, open source 3d animation package. Covering the technical, artistic, and theoretical aspects of character development, the book provides an in-depth look at Blender's modeling tools and includes information on modeling, sculpting, materials, lighting, rendering, and more. Written in a tutorial style with step-by-step instructions the book also includes an accompanying CD-Rom that features the Blender 2.5 software and sample art.

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Blender For Dummies Review

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(More customer reviews)I officially fell in love with Blender 6 months ago after years of picking it up, staring at the screen for a few days, and putting it back down. Blender takes a certain amount of dedication, I wasn't willing to devote until recently. I consider myself still in the noob stage, but I have spent a fair amount of time doing online tutorials and familiarizing myself with the program.
This book attempts the daunting task of reigning in as much information about Blender for the beginner as possible. This is an exceptional presentation of reference material collected in one book. The title is a bit misleading, but if you are already familiar with "Dummies" books, it's no surprise. Jason runs pretty fast right out of the starting gate, and doesn't waste any time getting right into it. The order in which the book takes, is a logical one, and is similar to other methods of learning Blender. You start out learning the interface, then modeling, materials and textures, lighting, animating, etc.
What I liked about this book is that it explains certain functions and concepts, that I had never really fully understood through my adventures online trying to cherry pick bits of info here and there. There were a few Eureka! moments as I read through.
One of my gripes though is that some of the images in the book of the interface are too small and dark to see clearly, so it definitely helps to have Blender open.
If you are seriously interested in learning Blender, do not hesitate to get this. I have a couple of other Blender books like "Introducing Character Animation" and "Bounce Tumble and Splash". These are great in their own right, but they are a little more advanced and specific than I had expected. Blender for Dummies is kind of a bridge to these books.
I recommend to anyone starting out in Blender to use this book in conjunction with various online tutorials. It gives you the chance to just work with the program, and will help you to visualize the concepts explained in the book. Jason does not present the info through a bunch of tutorials, and I like that. There are tutorials coming out of the digital woodwork online, and it's great to see a book just explain why something happens the way it does. Since I have worked with Blender some, I was comfortable sitting back on the couch and reading through it. I didn't necessarily feel that I had to be tethered to the computer through a tutorial.
I will have to say, that Blender is no joke. It takes time to wrap your head around it. This book is for those who are serious about learning Blender. You may have to go over a few things many times before before your synapse screams out "I got it!". Blender for Dummies will meet you half way.
Blender to me is why I like using a computer. It really has to be one of the greatest contributions to the digital world I've ever seen, and it's free. I am completely hooked. Blender For Dummies takes a comprehensive approach to a very in depth and challenging piece of software and succeeds.

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Modeling Reactive Systems With Statecharts : The Statemate Approach Review

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(More customer reviews)Statecharts allow you to model systems without the state explosions that you encounter with regular finite state machines. Harel invented and nurtured the field, and has now come out with an excellent overview of how to make it all work.

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The book provides a detailed description of a set of languages for modeling reactive systems, which underlies the STATEMATE toolset. The approach is dominated by the language of Statecharts, used to describe behavior, combined Activity-charts for describing activities (i.e., the functional building blocks--capabilities or objects) and the data that flows between them. These two languages are used to develop a conceptual model of the system, which can be combined with the system's physical, or structural model, described in a third language--Module-charts. The three languages are highly diagrammatic in nature, constituting full-fledged visual formalisms, complete with rigorous semantics. They are accompanied by a Data Dictionary for specifying additional parts of the model that are textual in nature.

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Mathematical Modeling and Simulation: Introduction for Scientists and Engineers Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a good an interesting book. I particularly like the author's focus on the basic concepts and philosophy of modelling as well as the use of open source software as Maxima. The book is clearly intended for beginners, like students at early university courses. I have only two negative comments on this book. One is that there is no chapter or section on dimensional analysis and scaling. The second, and more important is the high price, which is a hinder to the supposed intended audience.

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This concise and clear introduction to the topic requires only basic knowledge of calculus and linear algebra—all other concepts and ideas are developed in the course of the book. Lucidly written so as to appeal to undergraduates and practitioners alike, it enables readers to set up simple mathematical models on their own and to interpret their results and those of others critically. To achieve this, many examples have been chosen from various fields, such as biology, ecology, economics, medicine, agricultural, chemical, electrical, mechanical and process engineering, which are subsequently discussed in detail.
Based on the author's modeling and simulation experience in science and engineering and as a consultant, the book answers such basic questions as: What is a mathematical model? What types of models do exist? Which model is appropriate for a particular problem? What are simulation, parameter estimation, and validation?

The book relies exclusively upon open-source software which is available to everybody free of charge. The entire book software—including 3D CFD and structural mechanics simulation software—can be used based on a free CAELinux-Live-DVD that is available in the Internet (works on most machines and operating systems).

„...Very solid introductory text at the undergraduate level aimed at wide audience. Perfectly fits introductory modeling courses at colleges and universities that prefer to use opensource software rather than commercial one, and is an enjoyable reading in the first place. Highly recommended both as a main text and a supplementary one..."Yuri V. Rogovchenko (University of Kalmar, Sweden) in: Zentralblatt MATH (European Mathematical Society)

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The Official Blender 2.3 Guide: Free 3D Creation Suite for Modeling, Animation, and Rendering Review

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(More customer reviews)Blender is the most powerful 3D modeling and design program I've had the fortune of using. NOt being able to afford to spend thousands, the price is fantastic. But it's really hard to get rolling on it without good documentation, since the interface is far from intuitive or easy to grasp--it's unlike anything you've ever seen. A manual is really a basic.
Fortunately, the 2.3 guide provides everything you need to not only get started, but learn how to understand the software and figure out how to do more advanced things on your own. Most astounding about this is that the book was written along the same lines as the software--through an open source, community effort.
Just about every instruction is illustrated and walks you through the maze of control panels, menus and tabs. Instructions are explicit and specific (for the most part), and explain just enough to let you know what you're doing (for the most part) without burying you in details. Yes, it has some weird grammar at points, weird typos in various places, and sentences that seem like they came out of babelfish in a few more. Yes, the tone shifts from basic "make a box. click on the little handle dohickey and drag (click and pull the mouse)" in some chapters to three pages of derivatives and formulas for calculating and understanding light falloff ratios that assume advanced expertise in understanding computer graphics programming. Overall, however, it's a very good read, a very good how-to guide.
Before I had it, it took me three weeks to model a stage and a set I've been designing. After reading it, i started from scratch and built the same scene in 1 hour, fixed all my lighting problems in just a few minutes, and got into applying textures and rendering in just an hour more. Great timesaver--now I don't feel like I should really be looking at Maya.

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Blender is the first and only fully-integrated 3D graphics creation suite allowing modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, and realtime interactive 3D with cross-platform compatibility--all for free. Originally developed by Not a Number (NaN) as a commercial product, Blender has since been released as free software, with the sources available under GNU GPL. The Official Blender 2.3 Guide is an introduction to the sometimes complicated Blender interface and a complete guide to everything that Blender can do. Written by the designers who created and currently maintain Blender, the book covers methods of designing models, materials, and light; rendering 3D scenes; creating 3D animations; as well as advanced topics such as using Blender as a video editor. Includes a 4-color insert and a CD-ROM containing Blender for all platforms.

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