I've been an Accuweather person (they are from Penn State, after all) but this WunderMap, a Weather Underground based Google Maps mashups is very nice. Not only did it locate me and provide local weather, but the interface is clear and elegant, with spot temperatures in colored circles. I also like the option to turn on and off five different layers. The site went live yesterday.
- Digital Trends
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All Points Blog
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WunderMap - Google Maps + Weather Underground
Posted: April 30th, 2008, 6:09pm CEST
Tags: google
-
Geostartup WineMap.org's Business Proposition
Posted: April 30th, 2008, 5:54pm CEST
Tags: Geospatial business
Jordan Thomas started WineMap.org, an Internet business that matches grape growers with buyers. This week he pitched it to potential investors. Here's his status:
Thomas and his partners already have put $400,000 of their own money into the two-year-old business. They're looking for another $700,000 to take it to the next level, Thomas said.
WineMap.org has the potential to revolutionize the $3 billion annual winegrape market, he said. It allows growers to show their vineyard locations online and offer their grapes for sale.
Growers will pay WineMap $1,200 per year, less than half of what it would cost to sell through a broker, Thomas said.
So far, about 1,500 growers are using the Web service, representing 3,000 vineyards in California and Oregon.
- press democrat -
Quote of the Week
Posted: April 30th, 2008, 5:23pm CEST
"GIS is really a powerful tool, because unlike a product like Google Maps, which is just a visual image of the overhead, GIS is linking maps with data. And the thing about these maps is they are going to be such an extraordinarily high level of quality compared to any one you can look at on the Web."
Mexico City Manager (Missouri) Todd Thompson during a meeting to vote on sharing the county's GIS system. The implementation will use Pictometry.
- Mexico Ledger -
MapWii - Find Local Wii Players
Posted: April 30th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: google
You can play Wii games with others online, but latency means that sometimes there's a bit of delay. The good news is that if you choose players closer by, that latency decreases. So, how to find local players? MapWii. You won't get too local too fast with this Google Maps app. First you pick a country, then a sublevel (state in the U.S.). When I ended up in Massachusetts, many of the folks don't seem to have any Wii games.
The site has been up for some time, but I point it out because it's a situation where geography still matters!
via AppScout -
UAE Plans Remote Sensing Satellite
Posted: April 30th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: Remote Sensing
The Inquirer reports that the UAE is planning to launch a remote sensing satellite. Details are sketchy, but the paper reports:
[Senior military official from UAE] Brigadier Khalifa Mohammad Al Rumaithi, told Gulf News of plans to launch a satellite in conjunction with other GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE).
Speaking at the Defence Geospatial Intelligence conference, the UAEs Chief of Military Works at the Armed Forces, noted that a lot of progress has already been made on the Satellite, dubbed Dubai sat1, which the UAE says is for peaceful and civilian purposes only.
It will purportedly be able to help the country with urban development planning and infrastructure by providing accurate maps and be useful in management of potential natural disasters. It's not for spying, honest.
-
KiwImage Contract Signed
Posted: April 30th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: Remote Sensing
"The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) signed a contract with Sinclair Knight Merz Pty Ltd (SKM) at Defence House in Wellington today as part of the KiwImage project." The project entails gathering 60 centimeter imagery for the two main islands and others New Zealand controls. Where will the image come from? I think DigitalGlobe, though the article says "Global Image."
- Scoop.nz -
Tele Atlas Finalist for Social Responsibility Award
Posted: April 30th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
The data company is among five finalists for the New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility's Cornerstone Award.
- Seacost Online -
UK's Yotta Acquires US-based Mobile Video
Posted: April 29th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: Remote Sensing
The deal ran $4 million and opens the door to US growth for Yotta, a technology group Oxford Metrics plc. Yotta is leading the way in highway imaging in the UK. It aims to support highway departments and mapping organizations around the world. Who is Mobile Video?
Mobile Video, which was founded in 1986 and is based in Kansas City, Missouri, captures geospatial images of properties for tax administrators, GIS departments and the emergency services. It employs some 40 staff operating a fleet of 16 field vehicles across the US, and manages several contracts with local government agencies.
- M and A Deals
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Candidates Tackle GIS in Race for Lake County (IN) Surveyor
Posted: April 29th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: Open Source
The incumbent is pro GIS having invested in it quite a bit. The Gary Post-Tribune describes it as "a computer mapping system similar to Google Earth that can put large amounts of information into an interactive map."
Two others want to cut back on the GIS budget. One candidate wants "to "slash" spending on the GIS, and build it with free software, rather than the proprietary software used by the county's consultants."
Another wants the focus to be on flooding thus he said, "I don't think (GIS) should be a priority."
It says quite a lot about the state of geospatial that such issues should be raised to the public during a local election. -
Where to search queries come from?
Posted: April 29th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: Yahoo
Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land details a paper from Cornell and Yahoo titled Spatial Variation in Search Engine Queries. The idea is to map the "centroid" of search queries. What's the center of the search for the Red Sox? Other teams? Pretty much what you'd expect. Other queries, such as about hurricanes change at the storm moves. Interesting, but how's it useful? I guess it could be used as another "context" valuable to determine the type of query of its not clear. -
Free (somewhat dated) ZIP Code Data
Posted: April 29th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
The ZIP code database contained in zipcode.csv [zip file] contains 43204 ZIP
codes for the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico,
and American Samoa. The database is in comma separated value format,
with columns for ZIP code, city, state, latitude, longitude, timezone
(offset from GMT), and daylight savings time flag (1 if DST is observed
in this ZIP code and 0 if not).
...
The database and this README are copyright 2004 CivicSpace Labs, Inc.,
and are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
license, which requires that all updates must be released under the same
license.
It's about four years old, but free is free!
- Mapping Hacks -
Galileo Giove-B Safely in Orbit
Posted: April 29th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: GNSS
The satellite is the second experimental satellite in the constellation. The EU is going forward with the GPS competitor and B will take over for "A" launched in 2005, as it hits and of life.
- UPI -
Maps in the Media Update
Posted: April 29th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Backpacker (at one time my favorite magazine - from which I stole "The View from Here") offers a new website with some geo-goodies:
Featured prominently on the homepage and the destinations page is a new interactive Flash map directing users to more than 1,200 edited and approved GPS-supported hikes, from the Appalachian Trail to the Pacific Crest Trail. Another 10,000 trips are accessible to site users. The hikes, which are submitted by volunteer Backpacker readers and staff contributors, can be searched by city, state, park, and long trail.
...
Tech-savvy participants can also upload GPS tracks, geotagged photos, and Google Earth screenshots.
- press release
The National Geographic Channel also launched a new website.
Of the changes to the site that are most readily apparent, the new Nat Geo schedule application presents viewers with a more intuitive calendar of show descriptions, allowing users to navigate through programming descriptions via a drag-and-drop fashion thats similar to how visitors engage with Google Earth.
I don't understand how this interactive calendar (while sexy!) is similar to Google Earth.
- MediaWeek
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Podcast: Do You Think Spatially?
Posted: April 29th, 2008, 8:00am CEST
Enclosure: [download]
Tags: gis Jobs
An interactive session at a recent regional GIS event (see article) prompts our editors to explore how we are trained in GIS and how and if we use spatial thinking in our day to day work. Are we just pushing buttons and following recipes or are we truly using the underlying ideas of how people, places and things behave in space? Does it matter if one is trained in geography vs. GIS vs. another discipline? What's the future look like for those skilled (or not) in spatial thinking?
Subscribe to Podcast RSS
Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")
Read the show notes
Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index with all the info. -
Reminder: Early Registration for NYS Geospatial Summit Ends Wednesday
Posted: April 28th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: Conferences
The one day (with an optional evening reception the night before) is a must-attend for those who can get to Skaneateles Falls (pronounced "skinny atlas") on May 20 and 21. I'm honored to be invited back to speak this year.
The agenda and registration info are online. If you want to attend, act fast; it's a small intimate venue with limited seats. And, as I've noted in years past - this is not your average geospatial event. It's all plenary (we all see all the sessions together) with topics a bit outside the norm. It's a refreshing way to knock the cobwebs out of your head. -
USDA Hardiness Zone Map - Coming Soon
Posted: April 28th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Living on Earth (NPR radio show) asked the question of why it's been 18 since the last one.
GELLERMAN: So why hasn't the United States Department of Agriculture released a new hardiness zone map in almost 20 years? I put the question to the USDA's Kim Kaplan.
KAPLAN: Well there's actually been no set interval between any two editions of the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. One of the things that drove this one, frankly, is that the government printing office called and told us they were out of the old one, and should they print the same one again or were we going to do a new one. Because the old one was done in 1990 and predates the internet, it was not digital, and we knew we wanted to go to something that was state-of-the-art something GPS, GIS compatible, much more detailed and much more sophisticated and most importantly web-friendly.
It's expected in months not years.
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Nike Patent Indicates Future of Nike+ iPod Options for Fitness
Posted: April 28th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: Patents
iPodNN reports on a new Nike patent suggesting the company will be enhancing the Nike+ Ipod fitness options. Now the shoepod simply tracks pace and distance (based on your stride and time). New versions may include other sensors for heart rate, EKG, hydration (how do they measure that?) and perhaps GPS. There may be options for the device to interact with an iPhone or computer and show motivational video.
I lost my Garmin ForeRunner (GPS watch) last fall and have yet to replace it. My iPod shuffle is however my constant companion when I travel on public transportation or do long runs on my own. Anything small enough to clip to my hat for 3 hours of entertainment, and not be impacted by heat, cold, sweat and the odd drop on the floor, is ok by me. -
Arbor Day and the Geography of Urban Trees
Posted: April 28th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Los Angeles, like many other cities, has a goal for planting trees. But it's tough to be an urban tree - no soil, sidewalks crowding you, people stapling things to you... The Washington Post, in honor of Arbor Day, the last Friday in April, discusses many of the initiatives and challenges.
And, then there's the geography of urban trees:
Driving around Los Angeles in his Prius is Andy Lipkis, the founder of TreePeople, one of the nation's most experienced organizations of "citizen foresters," who is helping Mayor Villaraigosa reach his million mark. Lipkis points to shady boulevards lined with ficus trees and then to entire neighborhoods devoid of any shrubbery at all, and he confirms what satellite imagery tells us: Poor people don't have plants. The thinnest tree cover is, no surprise, over the city's most impoverished neighborhoods. Where ritzy Bel Air has 53 percent canopy coverage, gritty South Central has only 7 percent.
And, then there's the challenge of finding spots for new trees:
When Los Angeles launched its "Million Trees LA" project, it was assumed there would be plenty of room, but as it turns out, "the space is actually quite tight," says McPherson, the scientist with the Forest Service who surveyed the city's bio-inventory with the help of aerial reconnaissance and computer algorithms. McPherson found just 1.3 million spots to "realistically" plant in Los Angeles, most in the yards of private homes.
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Presdo - simple meeting setup - with Maps
Posted: April 28th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
TechCrunch offers a review of Presdo, a simple meeting scheduler. You start with plain English: "Meet Ray for a run on Sat am in Arlington." It populates fields, offers up suggested times and locations. Then you can send off an e-mail with an invitation and sync the data with a calendar app. The guy behind it, Eric Ly, was a co-founder of LinkedIn.
While I love the idea - I feel overwhelmed by how many of these "life management" widgets one might need to keep life in order. I'm still using my head for most of it. -
Public Transportation Site HopStop Gets Investors
Posted: April 28th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
The money (unknown amount) is from Quigo Technologies co-founder Yaron Galai. Why invest in yet another "directions" service? In short, Google doesn't do a great job. HopStop is now available on the Web, mobile and with some voice instructions for Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and its hometown of New York. I still have trouble with the name...
- Venture Beat -
A quick round of geo comments on Twitter
Posted: April 28th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
I'm keeping an eye, at a distance, on twitter. I follow one person (Leo Laporte) and to be honest, it's not that valuable to me, though I love his podcasts. (TWiT every week!)
Still, with the Tweet Scan tool to search tweets (the 140 character messages sent on the network) you can get a feel of what's going on geo-wise on Twitter. Here are some quotes:
macmark9 : Learning the GIS program suite is worse than a newbie learning Photoshop!
JasonCIBERrec : Recruiting for a GIS Programmer in Memphis, TN
mbigmistake : Taking an all-day GIS class. I remember more than I thought and it will be more useful to get the software than I imagined.
bingkafei : OMG. I have just discovered GRASS [grass.itc.it).] How did I never hear about this during the zillions of GIS-based classhours I had?!
rexboto : trying to explain to someone how to add my data to GIS Explorer....dadadumb!!!
twoodwar : the Arc GIS user experience is like being assaulted by a frozen penguin- maybe it's just me
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Podcast: Oracle Spatial and Utility Applications
Posted: April 28th, 2008, 9:59am CEST
Enclosure: [download]
Tags: Oracle
Oracle is rapidly location-enabling many of its business applications so that users can access, visualize, query and analyze spatial information together with non-spatial information in the same enterprise database, from the same familiar application environment.
In this podcast, learn firsthand how Oracle Utilities is taking advantage of Oracle Application Server MapViewer, Oracle Locator and Oracle Spatial in utility industry applications. In addition, you'll hear how many of the Oracle applications that were acquired from Siebel, JD Edwards and PeopleSoft will use Oracle Spatial Technology. We will be speaking to Peter Turi, Director, Product Management, Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management, and Jim Steiner, Senior Director, Oracle Server Technology.
Subscribe to Podcast RSS
Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")
Other resources mentioned in the podcast:
Oracle Spatial
Oracle MapViewer
Oracle Spatial 11g Book
The podcast lasts 12 minutes.
Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index with all the info.
-
Despite Slowing Economy Trimble Hits Home Run in Q1
Posted: April 25th, 2008, 8:21pm CEST
Tags: gps
When word first started trickling in that the U.S. and global economies were slowing, Trimble (TRMB) saw its stock begin to slide and shed almost 46% of its value since its high of $43/share in the fall of 2007. But on news of its Q1 numbers, the company hit a home run showing a 24% gain over Q1 last year. Diving into the press release shows that indeed its engineering and construction business has shown some weakness but still grew 11%. Its mobile and field divisions saw the most impressive gains with 47% and 73%, respectively, two of the sweet spots for geospatial technology. The best news was that it is not forecasting any change to its original 2008 outlook.
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Two new location-enabled mobile/social apps get funding/buzz
Posted: April 25th, 2008, 3:05pm CEST
Tags: Social Networking
Buzzd just got funding from Greycroft Partners and Monitor Ventures. It's a location-based city guide and social network service for mobile devices. The investment amount was not disclosed.
- RCRNews
BrightKite, though not being shown at Web 2.0 Expo, is getting lots of buzz. From WebWare: "It's a microblogging tool the likes of Twitter, Pownce, et al with some handy location-based features. What's the point you ask? It's got a whole lot more social networking built-in from the start. It also shares one of the things that made Meetro and Twinkle so cool, by letting you see what people around you are doing." -
Another Look at Fed Use of Google/Microsoft Tools for Mapping
Posted: April 25th, 2008, 2:57pm CEST
Tags: google
Federal Times takes a look at agencies tapping into Google and Microsoft tools for mapping applications. Both companies, it reports, are tightlipped about who is using their tools. Also noteworthy: the article chides all the agencies as being behind Alabama, which uses Google Earth as the backbone of Virtual Alabama. -
Off Topic: Dangermonds Honored from Contributions to Flower Show
Posted: April 25th, 2008, 2:45pm CEST
Tags: ESRI
The couple is the first recipient of the National Garden Clubs Inc. Special Flower Show Award recognizing "significant contributions to the Redlands Horticultural and Improvement Society's flower shows." This year's event was held at ESRI headquarters in the cafeteria.
- Redlands Daily Facts -
What gets a local box in Google and what does not?
Posted: April 25th, 2008, 2:01pm CEST
Tags: google
I don't spend too much time playing with local search on any site, but Scott Buresh, an SEO person does. He offered this observation in an article at Promotion World.
It should be noted that you will not see local search results for all queries that contain a local modifier. If you type in "Atlanta search engine optimization," for example, you will not see the geographic box. Google somehow "knows" when a geographic modifier really means that you only offer services in a particular area. In effect, it has figured out an algorithm that separates the businesses that are dealing with a local clientele versus those that are located in a particular geographic region but service a national, or multinational, clientele. Yeah, those guys are pretty good.
Only one problem: if you do that query, you DO get local results. So, Google isn't all that smart after all. Frankly, I didn't believe his contention, which is why I tried it out. But, I'll give the author benefit of the doubt: perhaps when he last did the query, it didn't spawn a local results map. I really wonder how Google decides what returns a local search and what does not?
-
Location & Intelligence
Posted: April 24th, 2008, 8:17pm CEST
Tags: Location Intelligence
On the eve of our 5th Location Intelligence Conference I find myself looking around at who else has picked up using the term "location intelligence" to either describe what their product does or what business they think they are in. At a recent conference someone asked me and others on a panel for a definition. Having registered the URL years ago, I begged off on answering. I'd rather not confine the term to anything I or someone else says it is. It's a little like GIS these days...perhaps more buzz than something tangible. As it is, I count may companies adopting the phrase for just that reason. They don't want to be saddled with explaning the term GIS and propose using the phrase because it is more understandable, which was part of the reason I settled on the term in the first place.
However, it's being spread a little thin. Wavemarket, a mobile LBS provider, has adopted the term as has Pitney Bowes MapInfo, one of the original desktop mappers. geoVue, Oracle, DMTI Spatial, and others have all emphasized the use of the term in their own way. I believe it was DMTI that offered the definition in Wikipedia. Mark Smith, CEO/CTO at Ventana Research offers a definition for his BI clients around which they have an established LI practice. So, from LBS to GIS to BI, the usage of LI has been somewhat stretched.
But to me, that's fine. In cultivating the adoption of 'location intelligence' as a more cogent moniker about which hangs some better understanding of location-based applications, that's exactly how I had hoped the conference would evolve. In it's fifth year, LI has certainly grown to provide a venue where an eclectix mix of ideas and technologies can come together. -
Shouldn't this data be freely available?
Posted: April 24th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: Satellite Navigation
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Tampa Bay Estuary Programs Manatee Awareness Coalition (MAC) want to save manatees. But for years, no mapping company's would put the manatee and homeland security zones in Tampa Bay on the navigation maps. But now Garmin is. The information is on all new chart plotters and updated SD cards.
Kipp Frohlich, leader of the FWCs Imperiled Species Management Section, said This marks a breakthrough that can save a lot of manatees. We tried unsuccessfully for years to get any mapping company to put the zones in their map covers. Garmin stepped up to the plate and did it.
This is a great story and I do appreciate that Garmin stepped up, but if we all really want to save manatees, shouldn't this data be freely available to install on any unit? Perhaps that's naive and it's not how the boating navigation GPSs/charting tools work, but I thought I'd ask.
- TCPalm -
LightPole Update
Posted: April 23rd, 2008, 1:34pm CEST
Tags: lbs
-
SiRF Ripe for Acquisition?
Posted: April 22nd, 2008, 4:57pm CEST
Tags: gps
SiRF's CEO left last week, prompting Vijay Nagarajan at Seeking Alpha to wonder about it's future. He has and continues to believe that future is merger/acquisition. But with many GPS players already pairing up, it's options are somewhat limited. He points to Intel and Marvell as potential buyers. Intel we all know, but who is Marvell? It's best known for wi-fi and chips. In the past it's said it would develop GPS internally. -
Off Topic: Runner's Collect Marathons, Marathons Collect Runners
Posted: April 22nd, 2008, 12:23pm CEST
In the world of marathon running there's a group known as the "50 staters" - their goal is to run marathons in all fifty states. Some do it twice! You meet them at small and large marathons and all have great stories.
The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon collects runners. In seven years it boasted runners from 49 states and Puerto Rico, but wanted the full set. The state that was missing? Rhode Island. An e-mail to running clubs offering a waved $85 registration for the first two runners from the state brought a commitment in just a few hours.
Oh, and when you see Gary Smith of Green Mountain Geographics, a contributor to Directions Magazine and long time GIS-er, congratulate him on his completion of the Boston Marathon yesterday.
- NewsOKC -
Rumor TomTom/Tele Atlas Will Go Through Unconditionally
Posted: April 22nd, 2008, 12:09pm CEST
Tags: Geospatial business
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Podcast: What is geospatial news?
Posted: April 22nd, 2008, 8:00am CEST
Enclosure: [download]
Tags: Directions on the News Podcast
Editors Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg ask a question they deal with all the time: Just what is geospatial news? Are press releases news? Is news what some don't want you to know? Should news cause action? Listen to their take and share your thoughts via a comment.
Subscribe to Podcast RSS
Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")
Read the show notes
Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index with all the info. -
Presidential Advisor: Climate Change Could Mean More Work for EROS
Posted: April 21st, 2008, 1:23pm CEST
Tags: USGS
John Marburger, the president's science advisor, visited EROS in South Dakota (Joe Francica worked there back in the day) and sees a bright future for the nation's image repository. A new Landsat satellite planned for 2011 and the potential of a command and control center in Sioux Falls means the center may take over some work currently done in Maryland.
- KELO -
Toward the Killer App for Imagery?
Posted: April 21st, 2008, 1:15pm CEST
Tags: Remote Sensing
Years ago I interviewed imagery guy Gerry Kinn (then at EMERGE, now at ESRI) about the killer apps for aerial and satellite imagery. He told me a story of how you'd go into the Home Depot (or the like) and the clerk would use an imagery based app to determine how much fertilizer you needed for your lawn. I think we are a getting there!
Enter Sungevity. The company uses imagery (from MS Virtual Earth since it need the obliques from Pictometry) along with information from one's electric bill to estimate the return on installing solar panels, which the company sells and installs. The "no visit" estimate cuts time and cost from an implementation.
The company's secret sauce is a trigonometry-heavy application that can take satellite imagery and create a 3D model of a house. From the model, Sungevity calculates the pitch of the roof, the azimuth (for instance, where the house faces in relation to compass points) and the available area.
"You introduce errors when you put a guy on the roof," Kennedy asserted.
Sungevity uses data from Microsoft Virtual Earth rather than Google Earth for its satellite imagery. Google Earth only provides a top-down view of a roof. Virtual Earth gives data from different angles, which lets Sungevity calculate pitch.
Currently working California, the company hopes to go nationwide. One mail campaign will include an image of the resident's house with some quick math to determine potential effectiveness.
- C|net
-
Rail Service Between Redlands and San Bernardino Explored
Posted: April 21st, 2008, 1:05pm CEST
Tags: ESRI
ESRI is one of the proponents and is suggesting a stop at New York Street, near headquarters. The project if approved is envision to be funded by federal grants, an increased sales tax and private donations. The train would be completed in 2015.
- Press Enterprise -
Help Wanted: Conversations on Google Map
Posted: April 21st, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: google
This from Adriaan:
I would like to show you an idea that I have been pushing. It would allow for people to talk straight on the Google Map. Everyone could place a conversation anywhere on the map and then others can join in. The conversation would stay for as long as there is some activity.
This would immediately make the Google map into the place to meet your neighbors and discuss neighborhood issues. Something that is sorely missed I believe. website
Could you have a look and maybe give me a comment, as an expert on map ideas. If you could show it on your blog it would be interesting to make it come alive with your help. Get someone to build it. My own interest is that I want to get in touch with clever developers who can help me on another idea of mine.
It is the simplicity that makes it strong, I hope you agree.
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GIS Used to Explore Safety of Refugee Camps
Posted: April 19th, 2008, 12:31am CEST
Simon Reich, Pitt professor of international affairs and director of the Ford Institute led the study to determine the factors that impact the security of populations in IDP and refugee camps. The plan is to use the information to create safer camps. Reich will present his recommendations, based on the results of the study, to the United Nations Office of Children and Armed Conflict May 1 in New York City. Here's the GIS bit:
The study is one of the first initiatives to generate a database of IDP and refugee camp attacks for analysis and policymaking purposes. The researchers also used geographic information systems (GIS) software to produce a series of maps that chart migration trends, camp attacks, and the abduction of children. A major advantage of GIS mapping is the ability to track the movement of IDP and refugee populations over time; this will allow Pitt researchers to continue to track population movements to determine whether migratory populations are at greater risk than those in permanent, stationary camps.
- press release
-
GIS Used to Explore Safety of Refugee Camps
Posted: April 19th, 2008, 12:31am CEST
Simon Reich, Pitt professor of international affairs and director of the Ford Institute led the study to determine the factors that impact the security of populations in IDP and refugee camps. The plan is to use the information to create safer camps. Reich will present his recommendations, based on the results of the study, to the United Nations Office of Children and Armed Conflict May 1 in New York City. Here's the GIS bit:
The study is one of the first initiatives to generate a database of IDP and refugee camp attacks for analysis and policymaking purposes. The researchers also used geographic information systems (GIS) software to produce a series of maps that chart migration trends, camp attacks, and the abduction of children. A major advantage of GIS mapping is the ability to track the movement of IDP and refugee populations over time; this will allow Pitt researchers to continue to track population movements to determine whether migratory populations are at greater risk than those in permanent, stationary camps.
- press release
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Supermarket Deserts in London, Ontario
Posted: April 19th, 2008, 12:03am CEST
The article, available to all in the open access International Journal of Health Geographics in provisional form in PDF, mapped food deserts, areas without access to supermarkets, in London, Ontario. Kristian Larsen and Jason Gilliland of The University of Western Ontario Geography Department mapped and compared supermarket locations in the city in 1961 and 2005 and assess the changing levels of residents access.
In short, with supermarket chains pushing into the more lucrative suburbs, older city regions have fewer food options. That impacts the quality of life for the poor and elderly. Not only do these residents have a harder time access food, when they do find it, it's about double the price of suburban supermarkets.
Desertification has happened over time: In 1961 over 75% of the population of the urban core had easy access to a supermarket, fewer than 20% of core residents have access today.
The maps are at the very end of the PDF, with the captions a few pages before....
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A Day at AAG 2008
Posted: April 18th, 2008, 1:16pm CEST
Tags: Conferences
Since the Association of American Geographers meeting was held in Boston this year I was lucky enough to visit for the better part of a day. Here are a few observations:
Continue reading "A Day at AAG 2008" -
Microsoft Updates Live Search News - With Geo
Posted: April 17th, 2008, 4:05pm CEST
Tags: microsoft
Perhaps lost among all the data and client updates of Yahoo, Google and Microsoft recently was this tidbit:
Another feature of the service presents local news stories based on a user's IP address, so users based in Washington will get a strip of results from Washington newspapers and television stations on one side of the page.
Not huge nor unique, but at least Microsoft is looking into local/hyperlocal for news. My first experience with Live Search News was not great - while the IP address of my machine did put me in Massachusetts, all the articles were from the Worcester Telegram. That's a fine paper, but based about 45 miles away. Only one of the 10 stories listed was "near me" in Boston.
- Seattle Times -
Nokia Misses Analyst Estimates; Stock Drops
Posted: April 17th, 2008, 3:29pm CEST
Net income rose 25 percent to 1.22 billion euros ($1.95 billion), but the company missed anaylysts expected 1.38 billion-euro prediction (as calculated by Bloomberg). Nokia dropped as much as 11 percent in European trading, the biggest slide in almost four years. The weak dollar and slowing growth in sales due to economic woes were blamed. There was no mention of NAVTEQ acquisition, save that it's being investigated by the EU.
- Bloomberg -
Salesforce.com, Google Build BI Sales Dashboard; Maps are Bolted On
Posted: April 17th, 2008, 3:14pm CEST
Tags: google
The one thing I find missing in evaluating whether to move from MS Outlook to apps provided by Google as a complete SaaS model is integration. The Calendar doesn't talk to email very well; adding contacts is clunky, etc. Perhaps the entire model is just not as clean as Outlook. But after watching the demo of Salesforce.com working with Google, I may be more convinced that a switch is coming. Of course, I'm looking at the demo for when maps will pop into the dashboard that you can create showing sales progress, etc. Ok, the demo didn't give maps any attention but someone else has. There have been mashups around for a few years but the recent announcement between the two companies have indicated that the integration is already there. SaaS in a Web 2.0 world is nothing new but the latest solution from Salesforce.com/Google is making an even more convincing argument for shelving client side apps.
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Rosum Update
Posted: April 16th, 2008, 2:20pm CEST
You recall Rosum, the folks who use TV signals to determine position? Per Venture Beat the company has raised $15 million to further its development and push into the femtocell ((where a small cell station extends service coverage indoors), voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP), and first-responder and defense applications. -
MyAthlete Race Tracking for Boston Marathon
Posted: April 16th, 2008, 2:11pm CEST
Tags: Tracking
MyAthlete is the latest offering of track tools - this one aimed at endurance athletes such a marathons and triathletes. You carry the device and anyone with Web access (via cell say) can track you on a map. The device will be used by Team Hoyt at Monday's Boston Marathon. (Dad Dick pushes son Rick in a specially- made wheelchair.) The interesting thing about this device - you can rent it and return it after a race.
- press release -
Local Papers Create Virtual World for their Valley
Posted: April 16th, 2008, 1:49pm CEST
Tags: 3D
This may not be the first of its kind, but it's the first of which I've heard. The Castro Valley Forum and San Leandro Times are hosting their own virtual world representing the area. For now there are but three "areas" represented by buildings: a business district, a library and a news and information stand. Users download a small 3D file and the Unity Web Player (seemless install on my Mac) to enter the world. Once there they can interact with the few books on the shelf and click on announcements in the news stand to learn more. I had some trouble navigating (I've never been good at 3D) but did eventually find the newspaper box for Castro Valley Forum. I clicked on it to see the top headlines.
It his how newspapers may hold on? In virtual worlds? -
Practical User for Google StreetView
Posted: April 16th, 2008, 1:40pm CEST
Tags: google
InformationWeek offers both a primmer on how use the feature and five ways its been put to good use. Nothing revolutionary here. I want to know how Google will monetize it. -
Why did DigitalGlobe's going public push up GeoEye's stock price?
Posted: April 16th, 2008, 1:24pm CEST
Tags: Remote Sensing
That's the question at Motley Fool. GeoEye was up some 9% yesterday. Rich Smith doesn't understand why. He suggests that it's not good news for GeoEye since now it has a direct competitor for easy to get capital where before it was the only game in U.S. satellite companies for investment. -
Oracle On Location Intelligence
Posted: April 15th, 2008, 5:53pm CEST
Enclosure: [download]
Tags: Oracle
Over the past several weeks, Directions Media has produced a number of podcasts related to location intelligence sponsored by Oracle. Each podcast will include either product, industry or data support information for Oracle Spatial. The podcast links and their topics are listed below:
The Oracle Spatial Game Plan - An overview of Oracle's product status, its application strategy and future technology directions with Xavier Lopez and Jim Steiner.
Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")
Putting the Pieces Together - A discussion of how to consolidate all your organizations spatial information in an enterprise database, how it can be shared among users, and leveraged in business processes throughout the enterprise
Listen Now
Develop Applications with Oracle Java Tools - Listen to this podcast and learn how R.L. Polk and Company uses Oracle Spatial technology to develop its automotive research applications.
Listen Now
Oracle Business Intelligence with Spatial and MapViewer Integration - In this podcast learn how Aon Re Global, an Oracle customer and the largest insurance intermediary in the world, uses Oracle Spatial, Oracle Fusion Middleware MapViewer, and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition to perform more accurate risk analysis.
Listen Now
Using NAVTEQ & DigitalGlobe Data with Oracle Spatial - Get an update on how NAVTEQs vector map data and DigitalGlobes worldwide image data have been specially formatted for the Oracle Database, and how it can be used to enhance customers' business intelligence and enterprise applications
Listen Now
Subscribe to Podcast RSSMissed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc?
Here's the index with all the info. -
Professor to Nanaimo: Careful What You Put on Google Earth
Posted: April 15th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: google
Canada.com discusses the warning from Richard Rosenberg, a computer sciences professor at the University of B.C. He essentially says, you just don't know what will happen in the future. Indeed. I think Nanaimo is a breaking into new territory, testing it for many other municipalities and organizations. Someone's got to be out front. -
Podcast: Technology of Indoor Location Tracking
Posted: April 15th, 2008, 8:00am CEST
Enclosure: [download]
Tags: rfid
Editors Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg explore the technology of indoor location tracking and real-time locating systems (RTLS) . From asset tracking to location-based marketing, radio frequency technology is fast evolving for use in confined spaces such as grocery stores, hospitals and manufacturing plants. This technology will be in place for attendees and exhibitors to experience at Directions Media's Location Intelligence Conference in Santa Clara, April 28-30.
Subscribe to Podcast RSS
Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")
Read the show notes
Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index with all the info. -
KML Now an OGC Standard: World Changing?
Posted: April 14th, 2008, 8:09pm CEST
Tags: google
OGC in a few minutes will offer a press release noting passage of OGC KML as an approved specification (standard). C|net already announced the news. Will this change how you think about or use KML? Perhaps it will change how you think about Google, or OGC? -
How Map Apps Get Made, Distributed circa 2008
Posted: April 14th, 2008, 1:43pm CEST
I wonder if this series of events (or one like it) is becoming the norm for app development/growth? Is there any money in the process for anyone or is this simply part of the contest/marketing infrastructure? Here's what happened:
Wired plays with Platial tools.
Makes interactive map of bands named after geographic locations called "Wish you were here."
Leaves it be.
It has some 9000 visits.
It wins (ties) award for best music map in the 2007 Platial + Frappr Map Awards.
Platial makes it into a Facebook app anyone can add to their page.
- Wired -
Local Maps are News
Posted: April 14th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Masters research by Brayton Grinnell at St. Mary's University in Winona, MN "found that more than a third of vandalism incidents 38.7 percent happened within a block or two of bars." He plotted vandalism in town between 2001 and 2006 using GIS. Perhaps more interesting, the local paper (Winona Daily News) provides links to his presentation and final paper. That's a great choice for the paper and a good reminder of the draw of local news.
Another student, this one in Northern Ireland focused locally and has won the 'Geo-Mashup' competition for students run by the Department of Finance and Personnel in conjunction with the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland. Aidan Higgins, Master's student in GIS at the University of Ulster's School of Environmental Sciences, mashed up road collision data from the Police Service of Northern Ireland with the road network of Northern Ireland to highlight the most dangerous areas due to black ice on roads. The submission's were judged on their benefit the public and be potentially marketability. In return Mr. Higgins received a laptop and a week of consulting with 1Spatial to develop his idea, per a press release.
The Austin American-Stateman has a scary title to its map-focused article, "How deadly is your ZIP code?" It discusses and shows maps that show the disparity in deaths from different diseases and connects that to the distribution of poor and minority groups. The good news: the maps can help direct services to areas in need.
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Quote of the Week
Posted: April 14th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: google
"BMW's teaming up with everyone's favorite mapping monopoly, Google Maps, to bring a new addition to the BMW Assist Safety Plan."
- Jalopnik discussing "MyInfo," a service to allow BMW Assist subscribers to send business locations, street addresses and their associated phone numbers to their car. -
Nokia's Landmark Based Navigation
Posted: April 14th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST
Tags: lbs
There's been inklings of this idea in the past and it sounds valuable. Instead of using a map to tease out your exact location, take a picture of a landmark, have a database with many such photos find a match, and viola, you are found! Nokia is working on this sort of technology and it's already been tested by students at Stanford and U. Washington.
Continue reading "Nokia's Landmark Based Navigation" -
Free Geo Event In Ottawa
Posted: April 14th, 2008, 7:00am CEST
Tags: Open Source
Andrew Ross at Ingres passed on this event invitation. This sounds great - and I think it's time to have such meetings in other locations... any takers?
I would like to announce a free ($0) geospatial event on June 2nd and 3rd in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This event hosted at the campus of Carleton University. It is an outreach event to showcase the best of open source geospatial software and give attendees the opportunity to listen to industry speakers.
The event is being organized by OSGeo, Ingres, and Carleton University. It is known as Geocamp2008 (also known as osbootcamp6). More information can be found at the osbootcamp web site under osbootcamp6. It can also be found under OSGeo's events calendar for June. This event takes place the day before the Geotec conference in Ottawa. -
Multimap Steps in for Live Maps in UK
Posted: April 11th, 2008, 3:20pm CEST
Tags: microsoft
Update 5/7/08: This from Matthew Gain, Citizenship and PR Manager, Online Services Group, UK
[Business Consultant to Microsoft Limited]
We recently announced the integration of Multimap into Live Search in the UK and will start to route users directly to the Multimap service from MSN UK and Live.com from 9th May.
Continue reading "Update 2: Multimap Steps in for Live Maps in UK" -
Canada Rejects Alliant Bid for MDA Space Unit
Posted: April 11th, 2008, 3:11pm CEST
Tags: Geospatial business
The $1.32 billion bid by Alliant Techsystems Inc., to purchase the space and radar business of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates feel through. No real reason was given by the Canadian government, save a lack of benefit to Canada, per the industry minister who sent the rejection letter to Alliant this week. Alliant has 30 days to reply and talks are apparently ongoing.
- Baltimore Sun -
Mapping App Just for College Campuses
Posted: April 11th, 2008, 2:39pm CEST
Campus Destinations now hosts maps of 8 college campuses and plans to add more in the coming months. The difference between its maps and those from your favorite Web mapping portal?
- no need for an address, just the name of the building/area of your destination
- pedestrian and bus routing (no cars)
- the number of paces to get to the destination
- information on campus buildings
- restaurant reviews
- optional for fee card to get discounts on local eateries
The about us shows how geeky the folks behind the app are: "Campus Destinations mission is to save students time and money by eliminating inefficient ways of allocating their schedule and funds and creating an interactive portal that enables them to profit from the correction of this externality.
A quick look at the directions tab for Duke (not all listed universities have maps/directions yet) yields these issues:
- odd directions like "Proceed straight under the Kilgo archway and follow inner Kilgo sidewalk 83 feet 32 - 38 paces" (perhaps that makes sense to folks on campus; not sure about a visitor)
- ugly maps with no labels (I'd like to know the names of the buildings I pass)
- no way to print or save maps to a mobile device that I found
- AppScout -
USP Store "Advertises" on Weather Channel Interactive Maps
Posted: April 11th, 2008, 2:07pm CEST
Why the quotes? It just doesn't seem that effective to me. Here's the deal: go to the interactive weather maps on The Weather Channel site. Zoom in to to your geography (the maps are from Microsoft's Virtual Earth) to see the weather. Oh, and if you see it, on the bottom of the map, below the various search tools is a check box to run on UPS Store locations. It's comparable to the Holiday Inn check box found below MapQuest maps. The former I don't expect to be checked too often; the latter I've checked myself on occasion.
An amusing detail: when you click on a UPS Store location you get the address and of course, the weather at that point. Finally, had I not read the PR copy, I'd have ignored the giant green UPS Store ad that sat alongside the map. I guess I was too focused on the map!
- press release -
Latest on TomTom/Tele Atlas
Posted: April 11th, 2008, 1:45pm CEST
Tags: lbs
From the TomTom Front, several seemingly different stories on status:
(1) The company "declined to offer concessions to resolve European Union antitrust concerns as part of an EU review of its proposed acquisition of digital-map maker Tele Atlas NV," according to Bloomberg. That means that TomTom is going with its initial takeover plan and "giving nothing" to make the EU more comfortable with the competition issues. The information is gleaned from the EU not changing its decision date. TomTom had until yesterday to submit any remedies; a final decision is expected May 21.
(2) Reuters paints a different picture:
Tele Atlas shares reversed a 5 percent gain on a Thomson Financial News report that the European Commission would not seek harsh remedies for TomTom's proposed merger with Tele Atlas, but traders in Amsterdam said there was doubt about the EU review process, sending Tele Atlas shares sharply lower.
TomTom not offering remedies and the EU not seeking them sound different to me. Still all these reports seem a bit speculative.
(3) Thomson Financial suggests a remedy is on the table.
Satellite navigation group TomTom NV. is offering to license out map databases to alleviate European antitrust concerns over the company's proposed $4.6 billion takeover of map maker Tele Atlas NV., sources told Thomson Financial News.
Suggested licensee? AND.
Another source said the commission is no longer asking for 'physical' remedies -- such as the selling the map database -- but wants 'behavioural' remedies, which could include database updates and contractual agreements.
That seems to jibe with Reuters comment above.