Below is my first Google Fusion map showing 2000 Census Tract boundaries in NYC. I haven't messed around with Fusion much but will be looking forward to seeing if I can use it for some of my projects.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
The future of ArcGIS on Apple Computers (running BootCamp) and using external drives with the faster I/O Thunderbolt
So with the release of the latest Apple Macintosh MacBook Pro and iMac computers with the new Thunderbolt I/O I have been thinking a lot about what this means for running ArcGIS software on Mac hardware. When I'm not in the office I'm running ArcGIS one of three ways on my mac; Remote Desktop Connection, Virtualization (Parallels or VMWare Fusion), OR by using Bootcamp.
Remote Desktop Connection - requires internet connection and my desktop at work to be on; screen space and graphics are lacking, faster b/c it writes directly to internal drives.
Virtualization - I've pretty much given up on this since there's reduced performance from allocation of RAM.
Bootcamp - this is my preferred method of using ArcGIS, however since my disk space is finite I tend to run this on external drives, thereby reducing my processing speed b/c of the read/write time. I use either FAT32 (which stinks b/c of the file size restrictions) or NTSF which supposedly, but I haven't had trouble with it yet, has problems writing when using the Mac OS.
When using Bootcamp, I also write to my Mac's main hard-drive sometimes as well as Mac OSX (Journaled) formatted disks using MacDrive.
Why do I run ArcGIS on a mac? Well mostly b/c I just find the Mac hardware and experience much better. Also, I find that my system is actually more stable. So if I could write to disk using Thunderbolt ports, assuming Bootcamp has the write Drivers and I can use MacDrive to access Mac OSX (Journaled) drives for data, I would most certainly build a very nice reliable primary system using ArcGIS on Apple hardware utilizing Thunderbolt I/O technology.
I look forward to learning if and how I could do this.
Remote Desktop Connection - requires internet connection and my desktop at work to be on; screen space and graphics are lacking, faster b/c it writes directly to internal drives.
Virtualization - I've pretty much given up on this since there's reduced performance from allocation of RAM.
Bootcamp - this is my preferred method of using ArcGIS, however since my disk space is finite I tend to run this on external drives, thereby reducing my processing speed b/c of the read/write time. I use either FAT32 (which stinks b/c of the file size restrictions) or NTSF which supposedly, but I haven't had trouble with it yet, has problems writing when using the Mac OS.
When using Bootcamp, I also write to my Mac's main hard-drive sometimes as well as Mac OSX (Journaled) formatted disks using MacDrive.
Why do I run ArcGIS on a mac? Well mostly b/c I just find the Mac hardware and experience much better. Also, I find that my system is actually more stable. So if I could write to disk using Thunderbolt ports, assuming Bootcamp has the write Drivers and I can use MacDrive to access Mac OSX (Journaled) drives for data, I would most certainly build a very nice reliable primary system using ArcGIS on Apple hardware utilizing Thunderbolt I/O technology.
I look forward to learning if and how I could do this.
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