Sunday, January 26, 2014

Maps Engine styling by zoom level

This a quick and dirty tutorial on setting different styles for your map so that you can avoid feature clutter at low zoom levels (high altitude)

Step 1: open maps engine admin console. Select "Layers" followed by the layer you want to work on. 



Step 2: With the Layer open the "Edit layer style" menu item becomes available, click it.


Step 3: Layer style editor opens, by default all zoom levels are covered by one style, to add different styles click the "Add Rule" button.



Step 4: the "Add Rule" button brings up an additional options box, set the zoom using the slider and whatever style is defined is used when the zoom matched the slider.


Step 5: Once you are happy with your settings click "Apply"

In the last two images the line feature is red at zoom levels 4 to 9 and green from 11 to 24. 

TRAP FOR YOUNG PLAYERS.

In the example above teh line feature is NOT visible in layers 1,2,3 or 10 because no rule exists for these layers, this may be useful for eliminating clutter at zooms like all of Australia (or where ever).

Happy Mapping and if anything is unclear leave a comment.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Setting up a company in Australia

Where to start?

That was the question I asked myself, well ASIC has a great website full of great info if you can hold your nerve. Here is "Step 1" of 8 steps and to be honest, I decided not to do this myself as I like my liberty and I am too pretty for jail.

Step 1: Decide if a company or a business structure is right for you

You need to decide if a company or a business structure best suits your needs. We recommend that you seek legal or other professional advice about your circumstances. At this stage you should also make sure you understand what your legal obligations will be if you become a company officeholder: see 'Step 4: Understand your legal obligations as an officeholder' below.


So what other options do I have?

Having mentioned my frustration to my wife, she pointed out that one of our friend works at one of those agencies that sets up companies.

Perfect?....Now so much!....It turns out that they just do the admin for accountants and layers, who decide the appropriate structure. So , I asked could they give me the name of an accountant with whom I could get this done.

You guessed it. They couldn't offer opinion due to ethical / conflict of interest issues. So where do you get an accountant you can trust? FACEBOOK.

I put out the call to Facebook and the overwhelming response was DIY - do it yourself, so I jumped on to google can did a search for "starting a company in australia". The top listing was eCompanies

  1. Company Registration 24/7 - ecompanies.com.au‎ $494, 

  2. So I clicked...

I have to admit, it was easier than I could have ever imagined. there were a couple of seemingly curly questions that my mate David  answered for me.
    • register for GST, yes
    • register for PAYG, No
    • Shares, 1 Ordinary
    • Share Value, $1 
I followed the bouncing all and paid $550 and I was done, (the extra $50 is to register with the tax office).

So that wasn't bad, I suppose ASIC make it look hard to keep the themselfs from getting sued by those who need a scape goat.



Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Starting from Scratch



After 25 years of moving from one job to next within public sector, I have decided try my luck in the private sector.

AND I feel like a babe in the woods...

So, I am having to challenge everything I have thought to be true. Resumes are no longer a list of everything you have done, thus the bigger the better. Now more that 5 pages and you hit the bin. Sticking in a job for more than three years is now a liability. I thought that changing employer three times in three years meant you could't hold down a job. Not so, this shows career drive.

It is now day three of job seeking in earnest and even though I don't yet understand the rules.
Thus far I am very optimistic as I have looked on Seek and found lots of jobs I can do.

But it isn't "what you can do", it's what you can convince a prospective employer you can do.

I have had to learn new phrases too, well in this space anyway.
  • "competitive advantage" 
  • "personal brand"
  • "cultural fit"
So what the hell is my competitive advantage?

I suppose it is that I can pretty much see the problem at hand. Huh, I hear you say? Can't everybody see the problem? Cos, well, it's the problem. 

Not so much, most problems are mistakenly defined as the "negative symptoms" that result from the problem, so, the adopted solution is the one that attempts to cure the symptoms. This is why the solution fails to hold up over time.

Let me give you the "whack a mole" example from a wonderful lady Susan Scott's book Fierce Conversations. The story goes  that for the better part of her younger years her family has a mole problem, the moles would dig holes all over their backyard and it was her brothers job to set mole traps and then dispose of the moles that were caught. This went on year after year. 

Can you see what's happening? The moles are NOT the problem they are a symptom. So, what IS the problem, well, it turns out that its the "grubs".

Grubs are small bugs that the moles eat, get rid of the grubs and the moles have no reason to dig up your garden, and for $10 at any garden supply you can buy a grub killing fertiliser.

So knowing the problem, the real problem can be priceless.

As for personal brand and cultural fit. Your guess is as good as mine. I suppose I will figure that out as we go.