GISWiki.NEWS.Reader » All Points Blog

All Points Blog

Off Topic: Print any web page "nicely"

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 8:01pm CEST

Webware features PrintWhatYouLike.com, a free site that allows you to pick and choose which parts of a website to print (the map, text, etc.) and what to leave out (Flash ads, blank space, etc.). From what I can tell you can't "work on" the site once its URL is added into the dialog box at printwhat youlike.com, but there is a bookmarklet that also you to use the tools directly on a page that already has the map of interest.

Sounds like this may be as useful to me as Jing has become.
Xconomy Interview with Locale

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 4:06pm CEST

Tags: google

Locale is a Boston-based group, one of 10 winners in the Android Developer Challenge. The app uses location to change parameters on a phone or even send a message to Twitter when the phone reaches a destination. The interview is pretty interesting and highlights what is becoming the clear difference between Andoid and iPhone apps:

X: Now that youve created this application for Android, have you thought about building something similar for other devices, like the iPhone?

CJ: We feel like Android is the first operating system to bring everything together that would make our application possible. Our application wouldnt even be possible on the iPhone right nownot for technical reasons but because of the restrictions Apple places in their SDK, where you cant run third-party applications in the background. Other platforms have their own limitations. The openness of Android creates an environment for applications that just arent possible on other platforms.
NGA's Murrett Responds to BASIC Concerns

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 3:57pm CEST

Tags: Remote Sensing

Vice Adm. Robert Murrett, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), told reporters yesterday that commercial imagery would become more important after the government launches its own satellites. He said:

"We are the single strongest supporter of the commercial remote sensing industry. It is absolutely integral to our success and is a fundamental building block for what we do as an agency. ...The point that people need to not lose sight of is what a huge chunk of our mission capability is comprised by the commercial remote sensing industry, and how we have programmed for and embedded it in our architecture in ways that are irreversible for many, many years into the future."

- Reuters
Quote of the Week

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 3:52pm CEST

Tags: Open Source

"It [open source software] is a positive disruption of the status quo."

- Peter Rieks, manager for Autodesk's geospatial products at FOSS4G in Capetown this week, as quoted in IOL Technology
Free Software Mag on OpenStreetMap

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 3:16pm CEST

It's a very positive article; too bad that throughout he refers to OpenStreetMapS.
NSF Grant to Map the Holocaust

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 3:06pm CEST

The National Science Foundation has awarded $430,000 to Alberto Giordano, an associate professor at Texas State University-San Marcos, and Anne Knowles, a geographer at Middlebury College in Vermont to conduct a two-year study focusing on four aspects of the Holocaust: the evolution of the concentration camp system, the deportation of Jews from France and Italy, life inside the Budapest ghetto and the death marches from Auschwitz. This will be first study of the topic using GIS tools.

- Austin American-Statesman
TomTom Shares at All-time Low

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 2:38pm CEST

Tags: Satellite Navigation

Yes, the economy is challenged and yes geo and tech companies are feeling it, too. But TomTom is a bit worse off: analysts fear it may have to "refinance its debt before end-2009 and as consumer spending slows." TomTom's debt is 1.3 billion euros which includes debts from the 2.9 billion it spent on Tele Atlas.

Share dropped to 10.88 euros, the lowest ever. For comparison, share were at 17.5 euros in May 2005 hit a high of 66.70 euros last October 29.

One challenge analysts note is that sat navs have never been tested in an down market - all the recent sales have been in "good times." It's hard for me to think getting a first or upgrading an existing device would be a priority in tough times - UNLESS vendors offer them as money saving gadgets to find cheap gas and create more efficient shorter routes. They'll need to start telling that story right away.

- Reuters
Florida's Efforts at Statewide GIS Coordination

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 2:26pm CEST

GovTech reports on Florida's efforts toward statewide GIS coordination. Of note:

- The state ranks 49th in its efforts for coordination based on NSGIC's rubrick
- The state has the most GISPs
- This is the fourth time the state has tried to develop a coordinating body

The ranking on the NSGIC list is incredibly important - not to put down the state - but to push for it to move up the ladder. The fact that a sidebar highlights the rubrick shows what NSGIC is doing to push forward on its Fifty States Initiative, that is, to develop coordination and ideally a state coordinator in all 50 states. I'm not sure if NSGIC publishes rankings, but if you want to help push your state forward you might want to see how well it does meeting the listed requirements.
A first for NZ: Virtual Earth Implementation

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 1:55pm CEST

Tags: microsoft

Computerworld New Zealand reports on what's thought to be the first implementation of Virtual Earth in that country. It replaces the recently unstable app for the Maori Land Information Base, but provides no new functionality. The "old" app is here and was last updated in 2000. The article reports the company that provided the technology has since gone out of business.

If I understand the article correctly an Oracle/open source solution as well as a Google one were explored before selecting Microsoft in part because of previous use of its tools. The site is not yet publicly available. It was developed by E-spatial of Wellington.
Modeling Wi-Fi Dead Spots

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: Wi-Fi

I'm not sure why this is not referred to as a model, but it sounds like one to me. The goal? Identify dead zones in Wi-Fi networks.

The technique identifies locations at which the network should be tested by combining wireless signal models with publicly-available information about basic topography, street locations and land use.

The app from HP and Rice University was detailed in paper that won top honors at the annual MobiCom 08 wireless conference in San Francisco recently . The good news: it's 90% accurate and reduces the number of locations that need to be tested to just 2%.

- ITNews Australia

- via Slashdot

← October 1 (8 items) October 3 (3 items) →

GISWiki.NEWS.Reader » All Points Blog » October 2, 2008

Feeds

All Points Blog

Off Topic: Print any web page "nicely"

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 8:01pm CEST

Xconomy Interview with Locale

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 4:06pm CEST

Tags: google

NGA's Murrett Responds to BASIC Concerns

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 3:57pm CEST

Tags: Remote Sensing

Quote of the Week

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 3:52pm CEST

Tags: Open Source

Free Software Mag on OpenStreetMap

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 3:16pm CEST

NSF Grant to Map the Holocaust

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 3:06pm CEST

TomTom Shares at All-time Low

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 2:38pm CEST

Tags: Satellite Navigation

Florida's Efforts at Statewide GIS Coordination

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 2:26pm CEST

A first for NZ: Virtual Earth Implementation

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 1:55pm CEST

Tags: microsoft

Modeling Wi-Fi Dead Spots

Posted: October 2nd, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Tags: Wi-Fi