About the Author

Paul Crickard III has been programming for over 15 years and has focused on GIS and geospatial programming for 7 years. He spent 3 years working as a planner at an architecture firm, where he combined GIS with Building Information Modeling (BIM) and CAD, and built web-based GIS applications to display and modify architectural data. He has given presentations to the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority on BIM and GIS integration and on the use of GIS for Facility Planning, and the BIM505 Users Group on GIS as an interactive frontend to BIM and editing BIM data via web applications.

Currently, Paul works as a programmer analyst in Albuquerque, specializing in the design, maintenance, and the implementation of geospatial applications. He has written plugins and extensions for ArcMap and ArcGIS Explorer Desktop to utilize NoSQL databases and send data using the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP). Paul has built applications using OpenLayers and Leaflet.js and is currently utilizing the ESRI JavaScript API in production.

Paul tries to incorporate Python in geospatial development wherever possible. From building plugins, toolboxes, and the Field Calculator functions in ArcMap to coding standalone desktop and web applications, pyshp is his favorite library for geospatial Python applications.

When he is not coding, Paul enjoys relaxing with his wife and son, cooking, and brewing beer.