As Far As I Can Tell

Is MapPoint Dead???

I know many churches have used Microsoft MapPoint (the desktop client application) for years to help visualize where their members live (more info).  But with some of the latest tools from Google I wonder if we'll ever buy a new version (when's the 2005 version coming out anyways...).  Two new technologies in particular make me think this:

1. Google Earth:  The release of a free version of Google Earth provides an interesting option to MapPoint.  Sure there are several differences (most notible satillite vs maps), but if you can get past that there are some exciting new things you can do with Google Earth.  Geobloggers has a great posting on creating dynamic KML files for overlaying points of interest (i.e. member's homes) in Google Earth.  Way cool!  Sure the images aren't all that up to date, but neither is MapPoint, and I'm sure in the near future images will be much more current.
2. Google Map API: With the release of an official API for Google Maps the sky really is the limit (wonder when we'll map that???).  Though it is still in beta there is already some real exciting stuff happening in the first week of it's release.  I'm hoping they come out with a cheap paid version that will not include any advertisements.

While it's certainly too early to call MapPoint dead, it's future is not all that bright...

The Age of GIS

If you haven't noticed GIS (Geographical Informantion Systems) have taken center stage in the last few months.  What used to be the realm of city planners has now expanded into the daily lives of millions of normal people (not that city planners aren't normal... well maybe their not...)  think Google Maps, Google Earth, GPS enabled phones, Microsoft Virtual Earth, etc... etc...

The fact is if you are a developer and not currently writing this functionality into your applications you're being left behind.  We've been geocoding (converting street addresses to latitude / longitude) all the addresses in our membership system for well over a year.  This allows us to look location relationships amoung our attenders (about 25,000 in the system, 10,000 attending a week) in real time.  An example of this is how we assign registrats to small groups.  Once a person completes a registration our system determines the best small group by assessing the closest group to their home, that meets on the night they selected, also comparing the average age of the group and leader to their age preference.  If a good match is found, bam... they're assigned... otherwise the system leaves it for the small group directors to assign. (For more info on this part of our system see this article)

This is just one way that we use GIS technology in our applications.  We're working on a new project that will bring dynamic mapping into our application with no client software.  This will support several new initiatives for outreach and small group building in neighborhoods.  I'll post more on that in a few weeks.

If you're not currently researching this new technology I recommend that you start.  It could lead to big changes on how you plan your ministry.

Barcode Reading

I've been doing a lot of research on different options for reading barcodes for our new children's check-in solution.  In the past we have written our applications to use a standard Symbol LS 2208 reader (think the stereo-typical barcode gun).  We read the data from the reader through the keyboard input.  That's an OK solution but it creates two problems:

• The LS 2208 is a bi-directional type scan engine.  That means it projects a single line laser to read the barcodes.  Translation: you have to aim your barcode with precision before it is read.
• Reading the data from the keyboard input can but pain when you're also expecting normal keyboard input.  To make this work you need to create a buffering algorithm.  Ours works OK, but if you rapidly scan a barcode over and over and over it will sometimes read incorrectly.

With our new system we are planning on moving to omni-directional readers that communicate to the software using the OPOS (Open Point of Sale) interface.  The omni-directional readers spin the laser light in a patter which reduces the amount of aiming by the user (basically the barcode and be rotated at any angle).  While the results are not as good as your grocery store it's much better that the bi-directional readers.  We're looking at the Symbol LS 9208 series (see picture above), the MS-3207 or possibly the Metrologic MS7120 Orbit for our final solution.  You pay more for these readers, but the user experience is much better.

We're also going to be moving from reading the data from the keyboard and using OPOS instead.  We found free .Net OPOS wrappers from Monroe Consulting Services that seem to work real well.  The alternative approach is to use the Symbol OPOS ocx control. 

We hope these two changes will lead to great improvements to our current system.  I'll keep you posted on the results.

HOW 2005

I attended my first How Design Conference this week in Chicago, IL.  It was quite a bit different than my expectations.  I went into it thinking we'd be learning about design techniques, but more of the time was spent talking about creativity, brain-storming and inspiribility.  So the real question... was it valuable... The short answer YES.  While you don't walk out of a session thinking you tangibily learned much you do walk out slightly changed in your thinking.

My favorite session was put on by Brian Collins (you may have read about him in this months 'Fast Company').  He did a presentation on inspiribility that was awesome.  The presentation started out with quite organ music and images of stained glass windows.  He talked about the creativity he experienced in the Catholic church growing up (the buildings, the rituals, the costumes...).  Then he showed us real inspiribility when a local gospel choir took the stage.  The crowd (probably around 1,500) went nuts as they sang about how God had changed their lives.  Pretty amazing.  He went on to discuss, with the help of his team, the 5 key attributes of creativity and inspiribility: Collaborate, Clarify, Challenge, Commit, Delight.  For more information on each see these notes.

Overall, it was a great trip.  After the conference a few of us went out to Willow Creek to meet with our counter-parts.  I had a great time talking with Mike Gold and learned a lot (thanks Mike!)

Visualizing the Network

A little more than a year ago we purchased a cheap network monitoring tool to inform us of problems in our environment before our customers did.  After reviewing several products we selected ActiveXpert's Network Monitor.  It's done a great job and we're happy with it.  But lately I've been getting this paranoid feeling... an uncomfortable feeling that comes from not being able to see into the network.  Not knowing the utilization levels at any given point in the network.  For all I know a broadcast storm could be slowing the network to the point of near failure. 

Well paranoia got the best of me a few weeks ago and I went back on the search for a monitoring solution that could provide a better view of network utilization.  During my search I revisited some of the 'runners-up' from my last go around.  One of them was a product call OpManger.  It was a great product, but a year ago was too buggy for me to select.  I'm happy to report that this is not longer the case (well, it still has a bug or two, but nothing major).  Not only does it allow you to visually see network utilization at any point in the network, but it also allows you to create business graphs of your network.  See the switch layout example below of our network.

(click image for larger view)

Let me give you a real world example of how this product makes my life easier.  A few days ago I noticed that our Internet connection was running a little slow.  I jumped into the OpManger web interface and checked the untilization of the Firewall's external interface.  The graphs showed that the T1 was fully saturated.  I then traced the traffic back through the network by finding the traffic on the switches to the specific desktop.  A quick walk to the desktop found a fantsy baseball website gone crazy.  A quick close of the browser and the problem was solved.  Below is a sample graph of the network utilization of the firewall (note this is not the graph of the problem timeframe)

There's plenty more vert cool stuff the tell about this product, but you'll have to see it for yourself.  You can download a free trial verson from the OpManger website.