Troy Lambert

About the Author

Troy Lambert is an author and editor who began using GIS for historical research at a museum He prides himself on thinking of new ways GIS can be used to tackle issues or approach them in a different way. He lives and works in Boise, Idaho with his fiance, 13 year old son, and two very bright dogs.

Author Archive Page

GIS Industry

GIS and Internet Marketing: Where Virtual and Physical Location Meet

August 8, 2017By Troy LambertGIS Industry

Personalization is the next phase in marketing, and making the user experience unique to customers depends in a large part on where they live, making location and GIS play more of a role than ever before.

Location and the Oculus Pilot Program for Libraries

June 8, 2017By Troy LambertGIS Industry

On June 7th, Oculus Education announced a pilot program in California, placing units in 90 libraries around the state.

Evolution of Mobile Mapping

May 23, 2017By Troy LambertGIS Software

High-definition mobile mapping is no longer out of reach for small businesses and individuals who want to take advantage of it.

Data Driven: GIS Guiding the Future

March 20, 2017By Troy LambertGIS Learning

Mapping has always been data driven, and the more data we gather, the more important practical visualization of that data becomes.

Map showing US per capita income distribution by county, 2009-2013. Data: American Community Survey Estimates. Map: Jajhill.

4 Ways Retailers Use GIS and Geographic Data for Holiday Marketing

December 19, 2016By Troy LambertGIS Industry

How can retailers use mapping, or location to make their operations more efficient?

Mapping out demographic and socioeconomic data can help target marketing. Map Source: MapEd

Mapping Market Reach

October 5, 2016By Troy LambertGIS Industry

Troy Lambert discusses how colleges can use GIS and mapping technology to better target marketing.

Map courtesy edbuild.org

Using GIS to Analyze the Spatial Benefits of Lottery Funding

August 19, 2016By Troy LambertSpatial Analysis

Troy Lambert takes a look at mapping highlights how the equal distribution of lottery funds in California is actually transferring wealth from the poorest neighborhoods to the most affluent ones. Is GIS the answer in creating a more equitable distribution to the state’s schools?

High Speed Rail Map. Image Courtesy Wikimedia

Using Maps to Share Information in a Visual and Engaging Way

July 26, 2016By Troy LambertMaps and Cartography

What does a more global economic strategy mean in the world of GIS? It all relates back to one simple thing: maps can be used to share information in a visual and engaging way.

Fire Globe is part of NIFC’s GIS, Fire Enterprise Geospatial Portal (Fire EGP), which also operates on the Esri platform.

Using GIS During Fire Season

June 20, 2016By Troy LambertGIS Industry

Every year, GIS users get better at assembling data and creating meaningful maps that help decision makers predict fires, set fire risk levels, and deploy assets in the most efficient manner possible.

Map comparing delivery area against demographics in Boston. Map Credit: Bloomberg 2016

Mapping Equality: Locating Racial Bias

April 27, 2016By Troy LambertSpatial Analysis

Troy Lambert takes a critical look at Bloomberg’s recent map analysis of Amazon’s delivery areas and racial bias.

Elements of a Map

Map elements such as the map frame, legend, and north arrow are parts of what create a map.

Learn GIS for Free

There are a few online options to learn GIS for free. Take advantage of resources that provide you access to free courses from some of the world’s best universities and institutions.

Open Source GIS and Freeware GIS Applications

An open source application by definition is software that you can freely access and modify the source code for. Open source projects typically are worked on by a community of volunteer programmers. Open source GIS programs are based on different base programming languages. Three main groups of open source GIS […]

What is GIS?

GIS is a technological field that incorporates geographical features with tabular data in order to map, analyze, and assess real-world problems. The key word to this technology is Geography – this means that some portion of the data is spatial.

Calculating Polygon Area in ArcMap

Here are the steps for calculating the area of a polygon using ArcGIS.