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Cancer Maps in NY

Posted: September 30th, 2008, 3:55pm CEST

The AP is reporting that New York's Governor Patterson has signed legislation that will give residents information about the cause and location of cancer. The new bill "requires health care providers and the state to collect more data on cancer patients than the federal Centers for Disease Control mandates. The data will be used by the state to create maps of cancer incidence for the public."

Track Your Greenness Via Phone Courtesy Urban Sensing program at UCLA

Posted: September 30th, 2008, 2:42pm CEST

Tags: Sensors

The Nokia GPS-enabled phone app, PEIR, produces a Personal Environmental Impact Report. How? It tracks you (every 30 seconds) and when you upload the data it does its best to determine if you walked or drove (how would it know you were on a bus vs. your Hummer) and where you stopped (how would it know if it was Micky D's or the farmer's market if they were close by and the market was only running on Wednesdays?) The idea is simply to lower your score over time. The absolute values are not that meaningful says the lead. For now the app is in closed beta but is being shown off at NextFest, a Wired event. One planned feature? A tool to compare the greenness of different routes.

- Wired

TomTom Offers Quarterly Update

Posted: September 30th, 2008, 2:23pm CEST

Tags: Satellite Navigation

GPS Business News reports (exclusively, I find no confirmation from TomTom at this time on the Web) that TomTom will offer quarterly updates via its TomTom free desktop software for its sat nav devices. Prices begin at 39.80 for one year for one country for low end products (TomTom One, TomTom One XL) with higher prices for the higher end GO line, since those require more data (speed profiles). This is one way to start to monetize Tele Atlas. I wonder how users will determine if these upgrades are worth it over the free MapShare updates from fellow users.

Challenging Pictometry in New Jersey

Posted: September 30th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: Remote Sensing

Some in southern New Jersey are not comfortable with the use Pictometry's oblique imagery for assessment.

"It's Big Brother," said [State Senator Jeff] Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic. "We're not supposed to be spying on people. When it gets to the point where we're doing aerial spying on people's lives, I've had enough," Van Drew said.

Van Drew is pondering a law to limit the uses of Pictometry.

Resident farmers in West Cape had their assessment challenged since the imagery didn't show as much acreage in pumpkins as claimed. Farmer Diane Rae explained "We don't grow pumpkins in March." The plan is to challenge the legality of the imagery's use.

- Press of Atlantic City

MetaCarta Unchained and Unbundled

Posted: September 29th, 2008, 9:00pm CEST

Tags: Local Search

Today, MetaCarta announced some new ways to access the "secret sauce" of their search engine technology and launched their Geographic Search and Referencing Platform (GSRP). The bottom line here is that they have "disconnected" some of the primary tools from the basic platform. In other words, you can separately license their API's but still have access to their geo-referencing engine. So, if you only want to use their geotagging or query parsings applications in conjunction with the underlying geo-referencing engine software developers will now be able to license them as they need them. In the past, the six modules (geotagging, query parsing, geosearch, location finder, save-search-notification, and document density) that comprised the MetaCarta platform were highly inter-related and did not work independently. The objective for MetaCarta is to enable more developers and clients who may want to geo-enable lots of location-based, Web 2.0 applications. MetaCarta is also transforming itself from not just a product company but to offering software as a service (SaaS). MetaCarta says more details will be out on that later this fall. What will be challenging for MetaCarta is offering their applications through a SaaS transaction model based on CPM, which may be appropriate for some news organizations who may want to develop a map indexing view like the one they have on their home page.

New Montana GIS Portal

Posted: September 29th, 2008, 7:01pm CEST

The initial release of the GIS Portal is focused on the needs of GIS professionals. For the general public, the Portal contains an on-line map viewer that anyone may use to view basic maps and air photos of any location in Montana.

"The initial data catalog includes 400 databases and over 200 sample maps from the collections of the Montana Base Map Service Center, the Montana State Library, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, and Flathead County," said [manager of the Montana State Library's GIS section Gerry] Daumiller. "During the next year, our staff will vigorously pursue other GIS data providers and help them add their data and maps to the Portal."

- Montana Business

WSJ on IP Geolocation

Posted: September 29th, 2008, 2:31pm CEST

The article reviews its use for marketing, compliance and fraud prevention. The usual suspects appear: Digital Envoy, Akamai and Quova.

Google Comes to Washington to Sell Cloud Computing to Feds

Posted: September 29th, 2008, 2:28pm CEST

Tags: google

The Washington Post reports on the new 18 person office in Reston Town Center aimed at educating and then selling to the feds.

Google wants agencies and the firms working with them to give "cloud-computing" a try. That means, for example, using Google Maps and Google Earth to visualize massive amounts of information, or using Google's search tool to organize internal data, and storing that information on Google's servers "in the cloud." The enterprise versions of the tools, which come with extra storage and security features, cost around $50 per user, per year.

I figured Google already had a sales office there.

Have LBS? Don't Need Post Codes

Posted: September 29th, 2008, 1:14pm CEST

Tags: lbs

Damien Mulley makes that argument regarding Ireland (which has yet to implement post codes) but it runs into a snag: An Post (the Irish post office) owns the best data about addresses and OSI (Ordnance Survey Ireland) owns the best maps of the country. And they won't share. If they do, there's no need for post codes.

- Times Online

TechCrunch: Apple LBS Social Networks Not Ready for Mainstream Usage

Posted: September 29th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: Social Networking

Mark Hendrickson comes to that conclusion in The State of Location-Based Social Networking On The iPhone. Among the things that need to be enhanced: location updates in the background (Apple does not allow this yet), stability, ability to invite friends knowing they are supported handsets.

There's a round up of the six most popular apps including Moximity which headed to private beta last week. One differentiator: it's launching in one geography at a time. First up: hometown of Austin, TX. Also unique: the app pulls in your contacts from Facebook who are also on the service. There's more coverage of the company in its local paper.

Visa Commits to Mobile Launch on Android - including LBS

Posted: September 26th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: lbs

The first implementations will be for Chase cardholders. "The first applications will allow cardholders to receive notifications to their mobile devices about transaction activity on their accounts; obtain offers from a range of merchants; and use the built-in location-based technology developed by Google to map nearby merchants where they can redeem Visa offers and locate ATMs that accept Visa." Are we finally going to see the long talked about location-based offers?

- ITWire

The Microsoft Vision for Tagging Reality

Posted: September 26th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: microsoft

This demo was shown at the Emerging Technology Conference at MIT yesterday:

In what was perhaps a more compelling demo, [Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig] Mundie showed a video of a woman in Seattle looking at a live scene through the camera on an ultra mobile pc device. On screen, the client was pulling data from a web based service to tag items in the scene the names of buildings, the number of public transportation buses, information about how far away taxis were via GPS, etc. Thats the sort of useful, real world application that makes Microsofts vision of the future exciting.

Microsoft sees a bit of client-side computation, whereas Google sees a "dumb client" per blogger Josh Catone.

- SitePoint blog

Two Louisville Geo-Related Companies Look to Tax Incentives for Growth

Posted: September 26th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: gis Jobs

HelloMetro, based in Southern Indiana, is considering a relocation to Louisville, where it could expand, adding 15 jobs.

Spatial Data Integrations, a Louisville company, plans a new freestanding building. It would also add 15 jobs.

- Business First

Web 2.0 Hype Paper Wins Top Presentation at AGI

Posted: September 25th, 2008, 5:27pm CEST

Tags: Conferences

We just wrapped up the final session of the AGI GeoCommunity '08 Conference. I'll be providing more about key papers and ideas over the next few days. But I want to share what just happened because, frankly, it confuses me.

Before lunch Mark Bishop a product manager at MapInfo presented a paper titled "The Hype of Web 2.0." He did a terrific job of defining the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 complete with a picture of Tim O'Reilly and lots of examples of (non-map/non-geo) webpages. Toward the end there was a video of a MapInfo implementation of "slippy maps." AJAX is Web 2.0. The presentation was lively, though Bishop had to encourage audience participation (sort of ironic since Web 2.0 is about that!).

I was a bit antsy since the presentation didn't address geo (much) nor provide any specific suggestions regarding how geo could/should/would take further advantage of Web 2.0. Further, I thought we were all pretty set with understanding, if not implementing, Web 2.0 ideas, so I wondered how this presentation fit into this geospatial conference.

Apparently I was the only one who thought so. The presentation was selected by the entire attendee group as their favorite presentation. Perhaps Web 2.0 has been bandied about so much attendees needed a refresher course and this was it? Perhaps attendees never felt comfortable with Web 2.0 concepts and this was a first definition for them? Perhaps attendees keep their heads down doing their GIS work and don't think much about the technology ideas going on around them? Perhaps this is a difference between the US/UK interaction with technology? Perhaps "favorite" was interpreted in a different way than I did? Any other ideas?

AGI GeoCommunity 08 Keynotes - Day One

Posted: September 25th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: Conferences

There was a triple header opening plenary for the AGI GeoCommunity 08 Conference being held in Stratford-on-Avon. Two private sector players, Microsoft and Autodesk, represented by Sean Phelan of Multimap, now part of Microsoft and Geoff Zeiss of Autodesk, bookended a presentation from Vanessa Lawrence of Ordnance Survey.

All three responded to the event theme: Shaping a Changing World. Phelan took a business perspective, providing some valuable insights for those looking at the economic realities of Web mapping in particular. Lawrence tapped into our, that is, the geocommunitys role, in this changing world as well as noting the current issues at OS. Zeiss focussed on the worlds infrastructure and the challenges it posses to the world and the geospatial community.
Continue reading "AGI GeoCommunity 08 Keynotes - Day One"

Vindigo Shuts Down

Posted: September 25th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: MapQuest

The company among other things developed MapQuest mobile but is best known for its mobile city guides. Thirty people were laid off.

- Moconews

Real-Time Intelligence Visualization-RTIV...new term for your consideration

Posted: September 24th, 2008, 4:13pm CEST

Tags: rfid

Real-time Intelligence Visualization (RTIV), as described in a recent ABI Research report, is a combination of various wireless technologies that can act as an integrated system and more importantly, "actionable business intelligence (BI)." These technologies include RFID, Ultra-wideband (UWB), and Wi-Fi, that are often used separately in certain real-time location systems (RTLS). The report suggest that, "These competitive, yet complementary wireless technologies, approaches, and solutions have historically been treated as independent silos, but they are now converging. In a growing number of end-user environments a combination of technologies is being used. For example, passive and active RFID may be used jointly for fixed and mobile asset tagging; Wi-Fi- and UWB-based RTLS solutions may be leveraged for hospital asset tracking; or a combination of GPS and active RFID may be employed for cargo tracking and security."

I'm not crazy about the term, but the concept, in principal, is sound and coincident with my views on where location intelligence systems are going. The convergence we are seeing in GIS/BI and with real-time data will form the foundation of location intelligent solutions. ABI Research suggests this is more RTIV.

UCrime Mashup Pinpoints Campus Crime...Just Slightly Off on Maps

Posted: September 24th, 2008, 3:57pm CEST

Back in August, UCrime.com launched a website/mashup showing crimes committed at selected colleges and universities around the U.S. The company shares data with SpotCrime.com, another online crime alert mashup. I found the site extremely useful and will benefit students interested in understanding the types and locations of criminal activity on campus.

The maps are Google mashups which is fine. As usual, I selected campuses with which I was familiar and the first one I went to was my alma mater, Rutgers University in lovely New Brunswick, NJ. However, the map was centered on Matawan, NJ, a lovely place in its own right, but definitely not New Brunswick. So, it took some repositioning to get to the RU campus. So, guys at UCrime.com, if you are reading this...please take note that you should center the map on College Ave. New Brunswick.

Reacting to BASIC Contract

Posted: September 24th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: Remote Sensing

Seeking Alpha and The Space Review respond to the recent BASIC announcement.

Says Seeking Alpha, "I think that its obvious from where I stand that the government doesnt need to launch two of their own satellites to compete with what is already available. ...

As far as we are concerned as stockholders, even if this program is approved next year and satellites are launched by early 2013, it does not affect our current investment thesis with shares of GeoEye, especially now that GeoEye-1 has successfully launched, and is almost ready to start taking usable imagery."

The Space Review says we hoped for more from commercial imagery companies. "There was never any real possibility that, by the end of this decade, dozens of privately-owned spy satellites would be orbiting the Earth selling their pictures commercially while exposing human rights violations and helping to send polluters and other environmental criminals to jail.

Instead, we have a modest number of highly sophisticated spacecraft and a slightly larger number of relatively simple ones, mostly devoted to governmental purposes, above all military."

ESRI on Twitter

Posted: September 24th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: ESRI

ESRI is expanding its presence on Twitter. Recently I've found:

ESRI
ESRIUC
ESRIEDUC
esridevsummit

Check them out by adding those names to [www.twitter.com] for example [www.twitter.com]

Just as it's blog proliferation required an index, ESRI will soon need an index page for twitter.

Nokia "Indoor GPS" Public Implementation Coming this Year

Posted: September 24th, 2008, 11:12am CEST

This was demoed last year and coverage suggests such technology will be useful for finding seats in sports stadiums, parked cars, or specific stores in malls. Nokias already prototyping the app in 40 of its own buildings. Mapping of public places is also underway.A commercial trial will launch later this year at a shopping mall in Helsinki aimed at, hopefully among other things, figuring out how it can make money. It'll be in Nokia's Beta Labs, too.

- Nokia Conversations

New Poll on Map Hawk - The Media and Remote Sensing

Posted: September 24th, 2008, 9:02am CEST

Tags: Remote Sensing

Most all TV news stations now augment some of their coverage with remotely sensed data such as from Google Earth. Does this use of imageryTell us what you think at Map Hawk...the blog that "watches how the media uses maps."

LBS Advertising by Backpack: Thumbs Down

Posted: September 23rd, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

I totally get advertisements in the backseats of cabs and in elevators. You are there with nothing better to do and ideally the advertising is location-related and thus relevant. The play by Pack Promotions I don't get. Pack Promotions equips individuals with GPS-tracked backpacks that provide static (outdoor, full sun I imagine) and video ads (best indoors or at night, per the website). Individuals wear these at events or anywhere an advertiser wants to get out their message. After the promotion the advertiser receives a map of where the backpack went; not sure how they manage indoor tracking, if at all.

The problem as I see it is that the advertising space is too small to be effective for crowds. Moreover, how does the wearer engage (if at all, that's not clear) if people are looking at their backpack? This just sounds silly. It might receive the same response I saw to a fleet of three "Citizen Bank" branded Segways I saw on my local bike path a few weeks ago. No one seemed to care; they were too busy walking the dog, chatting to a friend (live or on the phone) or in my case, running.

In contrast, wrapping cars and buses in ads works. But those are large platforms that move around. And, it's not rude to watch a car or bus go by! I look forward to when the MBTA busses get wrapped for holiday promotions. My favorite to date: dressing up the busses to look like a dozen donuts!

- Pack Promotions

Old Poll, New Poll

Posted: September 23rd, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: Poll

A few week back we asked for your reaction to Cloud Computing. 83 people responded.

34% Don't know what it is.
26% Will be significant in geospatial.
23% Is not yet stable/secure enough for geospatial.
17% Is just a lot of hype.
2% No opinion.

I suppose that explains the very high hit rate for this post.

Next up: your blog reading habits. Vote on the lower right hand side of our main page.

Podcast: Spatially-enabled Data Warehouse Appliances

Posted: September 23rd, 2008, 8:00am CEST

Enclosure: [download]

Tags: lbs

This week two different vendors, Netezza and Teradata announced spatial extensions for their data warehouse appliances. Our editors explain the new offerings and explore what questions they prompt for geospatial practitioners and well as traditional database administrators. Is one of these solutions in your future?

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.

Google Map Maker for India - Good Thing? Bad Thing?

Posted: September 22nd, 2008, 4:19pm CEST

Tags: google

With Google's opening its Map Maker service for India, is this a good thing or bad thing? The Economic Times provides some details but also offers caution as any uploaded content becomes the property of Google and competes with services like OpenStreetMap which offers to share data through a Creative Commons license. The article raises the valid issue of that in countries that have an historically poor way of updating and distributing (even discouraging) digital map content whether this is the way to go. You can argue about whether Google is fostering economic development or just hoarding data for itself. After my visit to the country last year, I feel that the government is loosening its hold on some data sources. But whether data becomes the property of Google or not, some of it will be shared for public consumption regardless of the policy of the Indian government. Google has already run afoul of the Indian government regarding satellite imagery once before but it's getting harder to corale the masses who see the enormous value in better map data.

Wired's Survey Tracks iPhone 3G Speed and Data

Posted: September 22nd, 2008, 4:04pm CEST

Tags: Apple

Wired Magazine asked iPhone users to participate in a study to test 3G speed and data entry. AT&T networking problems seem to be the issue than anything related to the iPhone itself. The survey is capturing upload and download speeds and the results are tracked on a Google map.

Drop.io Adds Location

Posted: September 22nd, 2008, 3:41pm CEST

Tags: lbs

Drop.io is an application that lets users host text, pictures, audio, etc. for sharing on the Web in "Drops." Until now, those drops were named. Now they can be location-based using Drop.io Location. Details on use here.

One can set up and leave "material" in a drop associated with a location on a Google Map. It ties into Loki to use your current location, if you like. You can use the interface to search for or create drops. Once a drop exists you can "subscribe" to is via Twitter, e-mail etc. and receive alerts when its updated. Drops are Web and mobile friendly.

The review at Ars Technica suggests uses like LBS games, LBS advertising etc. I can't see an immediate use for it, but welcome another app to the world of geo.

NZ DigtialGlobe Imagery Service to Debut

Posted: September 22nd, 2008, 3:21pm CEST

Tags: Remote Sensing

The demo and eventual service from e-spatial and valuation and property information company Quotable Value won't be online until later this month, but the buzz is starting. The service will provide government access to the imagery acquired by the KiwImage project, "a joint government project which aims to provide government agencies with high-resolution Digital Globe satellite imagery of the New Zealand mainland, off-shore islands, the Ross Dependency (an area of Antarctica claimed by New Zealand) and selected South West Pacific Islands." The New Zealand Defence Force is data custodian.

The 10-plus TB of .5 meter imagery will be available to government players via the VueNZ service for an annual fee of NZ$70,000 (which includes 50Gb on which to store an organization's own imagery) and served up as ECWP, ImageX, ArcXML and WMS (OGC Web Map Service). The back end is Image Web Server (ERMapper's tool, now owned by ERDAS). A commercial service is expected as well.

First customers include: Australian property information provider RP Data and New Zealand Transport Agency.

- Computerworld

Follow the BBC Box

Posted: September 22nd, 2008, 2:57pm CEST

Tags: Tracking

The BBC is interested in watching the globalization of the world's economy by sending a container box around the world for a year. Track the whereabouts at the BBC...the first contents of the box will be for those who like to imbibe in a dram or two of whiskey.

City of San Angelo, TX Webmap: No Fire Stations

Posted: September 22nd, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

I enjoy reading about new Web maps in the local papers. It's interesting to see what's highlighted about the app. In the City of San Angelo TX I learned that while 50 layers of data are available, the location of Fire Stations is not included. There's no reason given for that omission. Nursing homes and 911 streets with speed limits are also not available. Water tanks and the treatment plan are available. The article does not note this, but its a Freeance implementation.

Also of note:

Attempts with free software [to develop an online website] were less than successful, but a $10,000 Homeland Security grant allowed the city to massively upgrade its mapping capabilities. The new software included the publicly available map, which updates in real time every time a city employee makes a change to any of the hundreds of maps stored on the city's server.

- GoSanAngelo.com

Google Maps and API Now on Same Data: Tele Atlas

Posted: September 22nd, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: google

I saw this via James who saw it via Mike Blumental. The original post is here. I tracked this to source to point out how tough it is to know all the places where Google makes announcements related to mapping.

As James and Mike and others point out, this appears to be an upshot of the NAVTEQ/Nokia deal. I suspect we'll see more "lining up" as Nokia moves further into geo-related pursuits. Tele Atlas owner TomTom is already pretty far into geo.

It's the Economy...& Jobs, Stupid

Posted: September 22nd, 2008, 10:44am CEST

Tags: education

Is your head reeling from the economic and financial crisis? Mine is for sure. The turmoil certainly comes at a coincidental time to our hosting of our first Jobs and Education webinar tomorrow. We understand that our industry is relatively stable and growing because of the ability to create efficiencies and offer unique perspectives and provide analysis that enhances revenue opportunities. However, there is still a need to educate the workforce on what types of employees companies are seeking and what educational institutions are offering with respect to training and degree programs. We are fortunate to be able to have panelists with extensive experience in job training and education including:

Dean Howell, GISjobs Australia - International Job Opportunities

Rich Serby, GeoSearch - U.S. Job Opportunities

Dr. David DiBiase, Penn State Univ. - Online Training for GIS certificates and degrees

Dr. Fred Limp, Univ. Arkansas - on interdisciplinary geomatics degree programs

Michael Johnson, ESRI - jobs in software development, training, marketing, and more

Brian Samolyk, Zymac - Executive Recruitment and jobs in LBS

We hope you will join us...click the link below to register for this free webinar:

[https:]]

Traffic by Cell Phone Movement Biz Funded

Posted: September 19th, 2008, 3:35pm CEST

Tags: lbs

Atlanta-based cell phone tracking for traffic data firm IntelliOne sewed up $14.5 million in investments to bring it product to more markets. Currently only a available in a few markets in the US. the plan is contracts in 18 countries by December 2009 and a contract with a major U.S. cellular service carrier by years end. Those without GPS in their phones will be able to use the service.

- Atlanta Business Journal

Mobilize LBS Panel Summary

Posted: September 19th, 2008, 2:59pm CEST

Tags: lbs

GigaOm provides the summary of comments from Skyhook, Google, Yahoo titled "Location, Search and Context: The Noise and the Opportunities" at the one day event. The key idea: location is not an app in itself, its an enabler for apps. I agree. The intro suggests the "walk by a coffee shop and get a coupon" is tired. Commenters point out that it can't be tired if no one has yet seen it! Conclusion: we are in the early days (still).

More coverage from Vator
more coverage from CIO

Patent Watch: Microsoft's Modular GPS

Posted: September 19th, 2008, 2:52pm CEST

Tags: microsoft

The patent application is titled: Modular Expandable Mobile Navigation Device

Abstract
An expandable system for mobile navigation facilitates a modular implementation of structural units to add desired functionality to a base navigation device. The system is embodied as a handheld mobile navigation device in one arrangement, including a base unit housing containing circuitry for determining a geographic location of the navigation device and a module unit housing containing circuitry for delivering additional functional activity. In particular, the base unit housing includes a primary interface for interconnecting with a secondary interface of the module unit housing, to enable signals generated or handled by a circuitry component of the module unit to be relayed to the circuitry of the base unit housing. Additionally, the module unit housing is configured to be releasably attached directly with the base unit housing upon the primary interface and secondary interface interconnecting with one another, to form the mobile navigation device as a physically connected package.

The picture in my head? Some Lego block you click together to make different kinds of devices out of a core nav block.

Colorado CIO on GIS for DNC

Posted: September 19th, 2008, 1:50pm CEST

Tags: google

"In Colorado state government, we are pursuing an enterprise approach to GIS that aligns with our enterprise architecture development in IT overall. Also, this new application of Google Earth and ESRI technology can be easily reused in a wide range of situations." That from Mike Locatis, CO CIO.

Among those sharing information to keep an eye on the DNC: "National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), FEMA, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado Governor's Office of Information Technology (OIT), Colorado departments of Public Health and Environment, Public Safety, Military and Veterans Affairs, and Transportation, the city of Denver's geospatial technologies office (DenverGIS) and Public Works Department"

- Government Technology

Next Week: AGI

Posted: September 19th, 2008, 1:37pm CEST

Tags: Conferences

I look forward to meeting readers at the AGI conference next week. I'll be on the closing panel. Martin Daly has already answered many of the questions posed in various sessions, but I think it'll be educational to see how we reach his suggested conclusions. ;-)

Report on Cloud Computing

Posted: September 18th, 2008, 3:24pm CEST

Use of Cloud Computing Applications and Services is the latest report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. It's geared to casual vs. corporate, but we all know that home tech use eventually makes it to the workplace in some form. (For example, Yammer could be thought of as the corporate version of Twitter.)

Microsoft Planning Russia Data Acquisition for Virtual Earth

Posted: September 18th, 2008, 3:14pm CEST

Tags: microsoft

"Several days ago Microsoft corporation and two Russian companies held a meeting, where current state of Virtual Earth project has been discussed."

It sounds like 3D models and flyovers with the UltraCam are in the works.

- Russia-InfoCenter

How to get users to use GPS more...

Posted: September 18th, 2008, 2:55pm CEST

Tags: Satellite Navigation

Sensis (owned by Telstra), a provider of online mapping systems (Whereis) and data for GPSs in Australia did some research:

"Consumer research conducted by Whereis claimed that most GPS users only use their devices for unfamiliar routes or non-routine driving."

So, how to get users to "get more" out of it?

"However speed limit information adds a second motivation for consumers to purchase a GPS unit and increases the value the consumer gains from their purchase, according to the company."

- SmartHouse

Students (and others): Read this!

Posted: September 18th, 2008, 2:33pm CEST

Tags: education

Amy Gahran over at Poynter details why a blog is Media Career Insurance. I could probably rewrite the argument and suggestions for GIS careers, but it'd be redundant (besides, she's a better writer than I...)

These days your online presence, professional and otherwise, is part of your resume. When I started out in GIS I recall reading that the best way to "become known" as an expert was to write articles in your field. I didn't set out to do that, exactly, but the early writing I did in print certainly got me known and ultimately here at Directions. Now, however, everyone, CEOs, tech folks and everyone in between may be called upon to host or contribute to a blog or blogs related to their positions. Why not make it easier for potential hires to evaluate your writing skills/thinking/creativity/personality/how you react to criticism/etc. on your blog? Be yourself, but be professional. Consider the geoblogs/bloggers you read: Would you hire any of those folks? Inquire about the products the company behind them offers? If you read them even somewhat regularly, you get a sense of them, or an opinion at the very least.

I have my Penn State MGIS students post videos and reports to personal blogs and then have their peers offer questions and comments. I want them to get a feel for writing and reading blogs in a "professional" setting. I have no doubt they'll be reading and likely writing them at some point.

ESRI E-book Gathers Essays on Geography and GIS

Posted: September 18th, 2008, 2:02pm CEST

Tags: ESRI

Reader Matt shared that ESRI has pulled together a series of articles done for ArcNews into a free e-book on GIS Best Practices: Essays on Geography and GIS (pdf). They are all by academics but focus on different areas and topics. I can see these being valuable for educators - online and otherwise.

Food: 1,500 Miles to You?

Posted: September 17th, 2008, 3:22pm CEST

The meme in the press: "On average, food travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate." (In the U.S.)

Response from Slate's Jane Black: "There's just one problem. It's only sort of trueand only if you live in Chicago."

She tracks down where the number came from, how it's misused and the implications.

Another Appliance with Geospatial Support

Posted: September 17th, 2008, 2:55pm CEST

Just a day after Netezza announced its spatial extension for its appliance, Teradata (one "r") notes (press release) it too has such support: "The Teradata 12 software foundation provides full features and advanced functionality for traditional analytic needs while also providing uniquely sophisticated extensions for newly emerging requirements like geospatial, in-database mining, and data encryption." I found no explanation of the geospatial extension on the company website, only the download (Teradata Geospatial Extension, 34 Mb pdf).

DBMS2 looked at the claims and notes "Teradata thinks its geospatial data management capability is better than competitors, and that this is an important indicator of Teradatas general overall greater sophistication."

Ok, so we have a war of words. My suggestion to the appliance companies: If you want to sell these appliances within the geospatial community, you may want to do a bit more to educate us on what these things are and we need one in the first place. Perhaps the BI folks and some IT folks are very familiar with appliances, I'm not sure the hardcore geospatial practitioners are.

VentureBeat: Other Platforms Will Push Apple to Support Background Location Tools in iPhone

Posted: September 17th, 2008, 2:33pm CEST

Tags: lbs

VentureBeat follows up on Brady Forrest's piece noting the limitations of the iPhone related to automatic continuous location determination.

[Pelago, maker of Whrrl, CEO] Holden sounded much more optimistic about the other platforms [than the iPhone] that Whrrl is running on or will soon run on. Phones such as RIMs BlackBerry running on networks such as Verizons should allow for LBS background features eventually. Likewise, Googles upcoming Android platform will have background location features. Applications like Life360 depend on it.

When these are released and if they become as popular as Holden thinks they will, expect the pressure to be on Apple to follow suit.

GM Volt: Smart Enough to Know the Distance Home and Maximize Resources

Posted: September 17th, 2008, 2:19pm CEST

Tags: lbs

Senior staff from GM announced a new feature at a blogger townhall yesterday: the car will be able to calculate the distance home and use the gas engine to charge the battery, ideally to get you home before the 40 mile range runs out. Once home you can plug it in. Not surprisingly, the tech behind this feature is suspected to be GPS-based.

- Japlopnik

Student iPhones, Complete with Campus Mapping Apps

Posted: September 17th, 2008, 2:08pm CEST

Tags: Apple

Back in the day, I believe it was Dartmouth that provided every freshman with a Mac. Now, several schools are handing out, or asking students to pony up for iPhones. Some even include custom apps:

The Abilene Christian University iPhones have an interactive map feature that can track the phone and give directions to the student's next class.

This suggests two things to me:

(1) The blurring, as we mentioned on this week's podcast, of the rational for such a device. While the schools are looking for interactivity in the classroom, there are also safety, social and in time business uses. Best start them on all of those early!
(2) The customization of the device for a particular user community. This is not a new idea, but often an effective one to jumpstart interest.

- From Tufts Daily (Tufts University) in the Llama Ledger (Simon's Rock, greatest student newspaper name ever!)

Geospatial Research We Probably Didn't Need, or Perhaps We Did?

Posted: September 17th, 2008, 1:55pm CEST

"A new survey from TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com) confirms that location is the top ranked factor in determining that a hotel is great." That statement leads a press release for Seeyourhotel.com. The details of the survey are in this press release from TripAdvisor.

Continue reading "Geospatial Research We Probably Didn't Need, or Perhaps We Did?"

Business Week Q&A on Retail Location

Posted: September 17th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: Location Intelligence

Nothing new to the experts, but a nice review, especially since it quotes one of my classmates now at PB MapInfo.

Google to Open Lively to Game Developers

Posted: September 17th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: google

Were about to open up the API for interactive gadgets meaning games, said Lively creative director, Kevin Hanna, in Venture Beat. The Virtual World, described by some as "empty" and "a failure" is a success at Google. There are no plans at this time to monetize the environment.

Survey: Redlands Character is Slipping Away

Posted: September 16th, 2008, 2:32pm CEST

Tags: ESRI

A report by economist John Husing for Redlands' proposed economic development strategy reveals that sentiment, along with 60 suggestions to improve the city's fortunes. The report was presented last night at a city council meeting. The bottom line: "Redlands has the ambitions of an historically wealthy community without the income to achieve them."

Among the suggestions:

Redlands should help mapping software developer ESRI with expansion, staff recruiting and transit-oriented housing for its large number of younger, single employees, Husing recommends. ESRI has about 2,000 high-tech workers with average salaries of $75,000 a year.

- Press Enterprise

Poizner Sets up Exploratory Committee for CA Governor Bid

Posted: September 16th, 2008, 2:24pm CEST

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, founder of two geospatial companies, launched an exploratory committee to for a possible run for California governor in 2010.

- East Bay Business Times

Podcast: Three LBS Events, One Takeaway: One Device for Work and Play

Posted: September 16th, 2008, 8:00am CEST

Enclosure: [download]

Tags: gps

Editor in Chief Joe Francica ran the LBS gauntlet last week by attending NAVTEQ Connections, CTIA and the SiRF Location 2.0 Summit. The big takeaway is the power of a single device to manage one business and personal life on a single location-enabled device. In the last year, Francica explains, LBS has become part of the enterprise. He and Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg explore the changes that have come with this growth.

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Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index with all the info.

What Would Google do With GeoEye?

Posted: September 15th, 2008, 2:30pm CEST

Tags: Remote Sensing

Seeking Alpha's Eric Jackson ponders that very question.

Highlights:

By owning GeoEye, Google would own the proprietary images it captures from its satellites. There would continue to be the need to invest in future satellite launches to stay ahead with the most up-to-date technology but Google certainly has the capital and the interest in space to do this. Owning the satellites also allows Google to develop the tools and unique services which can become integrated into Google Earth but (perhaps more importantly down the road for Google) its Android operating system which it will roll out on future mobile handsets (think highly unique location-based services here).

...

GeoEye is a more compelling potential acquisition target for Google than DigitalGlobe for two reasons: (1) it has the newest satellite in space today with the most advanced features and (2) it has a cadre of tools for using the images which their private competitor DigitalGlobe lacks. These tools came, in large part, from the MJ Harden acquisition done last year by GeoEye. More tools, from Google's perspective, means more usage of Google Earth from its clients and therefore more usage of Google Search and Apps.

Jackson thinks a deal by the end of the year would make sense as planning goes ahead for GeoEye 2.

PA Fed Judge Says "No Personal Location Data without Warrant"

Posted: September 15th, 2008, 2:24pm CEST

Tags: Routing, Tracking, Logistics

In the past, investigators were able to obtain a person's location information if they could convince a judge it was relevant to the case. Now, Judge Terrence McVerry of the Western Pennsylvania U.S. District Court upheld an earlier ruling that that's not good enough. A warrant, ideally confirming probable cause a crime was committed, is required. The ruling does not apply across the U.S.

- Wired

Off Topic: Back to Basics $100 device for mobile e-mail only

Posted: September 15th, 2008, 1:28pm CEST

It's called Peek and costs $100 plus $20/month for service. I can deliver e-mail from up to three accounts (corporate not yet supported). It has no GPS, Web browsing, mp3 player, etc. and you can pick one up at Target or online. I like my devices simple so this is the first mobile e-mail device I've even been curious about.

Another reason it may be successful, offers a Frost and Sullivan analyst: "He said there are 264 million cell phone subscribers in the United States. But only 15 million of them are using their cell phone to access their e-mail."

- San Francisco Chronicle

For the PR Folks and CEOs: Michael Hyatt on Defending Your Brand

Posted: September 15th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Michael Hyatt is the CEO of Thomas Neilson Publishers. Most importantly, though he's the CEO of a company with a brand. He's got some great stories to tell about Defending Your Brand Online online. Basically, he's saying you need to monitor what's being said and done with your brand and respond accordingly.

Are your marketing/press relations/communications folks keeping an eye out for your company's brand? If not scary things can happen. ExxonMobile already got brandjacked (story in the Industry Standard).

Netezza to Announce Spatial Extension to Data Warehouse Appliance

Posted: September 12th, 2008, 9:26pm CEST

Tags: MapInfo

We in the geospatial world have over the past decade or so wrapped our brains around spatial extensions for databases. Im the first to admit, it took me quite a bit of time to get used to the idea that geometry was just another field like data and number. Now we are sort of blase about yet another database adding a geospatial type. Thats good because I need to blow your mind just a little.

Next week Netezza a data warehouse appliance company will announce its spatial extension to its database. It has a database?you ask. Ive never heard of it. You and me both! But I spoke to Jonathan Shepherd, who heads the geospatial initiative at Netezza, who gave me the lowdown. Peter Batty was also on the call. He's been hinting at this for a while.
Continue reading "Netezza to Announce Spatial Extension to Data Warehouse Appliance"

Microsoft Confirms New Version of Virtual Earth for Sept 22

Posted: September 12th, 2008, 8:01pm CEST

Tags: microsoft

A Microsoft spokesperson states: "We can confirm that there will be a release on Sept. 22. However, we have nothing new to announce today stay tuned for more details.

I contacted Microsoft when I read these details that appeared on the Web on Thursday. Update 9/15: The document has been removed from the hosting website.

Watch Live Shots/Animation of Galveston Storm Surge

Posted: September 12th, 2008, 7:54pm CEST

WeatherBug offers current image and animated images.

This is one of WeatherBug's more than 380 cameras across the entire Gulf Coast. Cameras show live images of conditions. Several of WeatherBug's weather stations are also located at sea on oil platforms in the Gulf Coast. You can find more Texas weather stations and camera here.

Changes to Survey of India's Map Publishing Policy

Posted: September 12th, 2008, 2:30pm CEST

Excerpt from "Across an Unmapped Land" by Ravi Vyas in the Telegraph

There are other geobrowsers too [beyond Google Earth] and between them the whole world would be mapped in the minutest detail. It is against this backdrop we have to see the anachronistic requirements for the reproduction of Indian maps in books and periodicals. Under existing copyright laws, any map of India, and this includes historical maps dating back to Vedic times, has to be cleared by the Survey of India, failing which the publication can be confiscated. The Survey of India checks the authenticity of external boundaries vis-à-vis Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and the coastal boundaries that includes all the islands on the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. This is an expensive and time consuming process.

However, because of repeated requests from publishers to simplify the checking procedures, the survey has made a small change: you can reproduce maps of India if you use outline maps provided by the survey. But these maps cannot be traced or reproduced photographically because the survey thinks that some distortion of boundaries takes place while doing this. If these rules are not followed, then the publisher or distributor has to add a disclaimer stating that the maps does not represent the authentic boundaries of India.

The question that is often asked is whether these regulations are at all necessary with the technological advance in communications and when information is easily available on the internet.

I suppose the change is a step forward, but clearly larger ones are needed.

US State "Personality Map" Coverage: Where are the maps?

Posted: September 12th, 2008, 2:05pm CEST

Tags: media & maps

I guess researchers and/or some of the press have not figured out that if you want to report on science that uses a map, you need to have a map!

The news is a report, "The Geography Of Personality; A Theory of the Emergence, Persistence and Expression of Geographic Variation in Basic Traits" currently running in Perspectives On Psychological Science. You can read the abstract free but the article requires a fee. Thus, I don't know if the article provides a map or not. In any case, the UK's Telegraph (the lead author is a US-born Cambridge professor) sums up the research: "The results revealed clear patterns of personalities - neuroticism is highest in the east along a line stretching from Maine to Louisiana - the "stress belt"" but provides no map. Most of the U.S. papers that covered the story that I read focused on the "local" personality traits (good!) but had no maps either.

But wait, McCLatchy Newspapers did the work. That organization provides an interactive Flash-based map built on the findings.

For tips about getting mapping stories to the media, listen to the podcast I did with conversational media consultant and content strategist Amy Gahran on the topic.

Battlestar Gallactica or Google Maps? Court Currently Not in Session

Posted: September 12th, 2008, 1:42pm CEST

Tags: Oops

A truck driver in the UK was driving erratically. When pulled over, officials found a laptop with episodes of the TV sci-fi program. While the trucker at first pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, there was an attempt to get him to plead not guilty, which failed.

His solicitor Nigel Beeson said: "My client's case is 'Yes, I was driving along, yes, I did have my laptop on the dashboard but it had a Google map or whatever on it.' In other words, he was using a large version of a sat nav and "Looking at a map would not be dangerous driving."

- Chester Evening Leader

Google Responds to MapSpam

Posted: September 12th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: google

MapSpam is where individuals "hijack" a business location as their own.

GISWiki.NEWS.Reader » All Points Blog » September 2008

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Posted: September 23rd, 2008, 8:00am CEST

Enclosure: [download]

Tags: lbs

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