Nuno Prospero dos Santos

You can use many different free tools (such as Zonum Solutions or ArcScripts) to convert from Keyhole Markup Language (KML) to ESRI Shapefile (SHP) and vice-versa.

The best advice I can give you is keeping on thing in mind: Google Earth only reads and writes KML/KMZ using the WGS 1984 coordinate system. That means that:

• If you are converting SHP to KML, you should convert your shapefile to WGS1984. Use the “Project” tool in ArcToolbox and select that coordinate system. You must define the projection function in order to work… Then, use the above tools to convert to KML. Simple.
• In case you are converting KML to SHP, do the following: open the ArcMap with a blank document. Add any kind of shapefile in your own coordinate system (Datum, UTM, etc). The mxd will gain that coord system. Convert the KML to SHP using the tools I’ve mentioned before. Add the output shapefile to the mxd and ArcMap will convert it to your coordinate system. If you want it permanently in that format, use the Project tool in ArcToolbox. Remember to fill in the projection function.

Success? Troubles? If you have any doubts related to this matter, contact me.

How to import data from SQL Server 2005 to Microsoft Access throw VBA code? Quite simple. The problem is finding the correct SQL connection string:

DoCmd.TransferDatabase acImport, “ODBC”, _
“ODBC;DRIVER=SQL Server;” & _
“UID=username;” & _
“DATABASE=databasename;” & _
“SERVER=server;” & _
“PWD=password“, acTable, “table1“, “table1_copy“, False, True

I lost so many hours figuring out what the hell did “Could not find installable ISAM” means…

Microsoft has finally brought up to the search engine market a nice product called Bing in order to replace the Live Search. Thought the strange name, this search engine display some nice results.

There is a comparison site called Blind Search where you can submit a query to Google, Bing and Yahoo but you won’t be able to see which results belong to each company. Then, you’ll vote which one was the best engine.

I’ve had a few surprises… :)