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Policy Wonks For GIS and Emergency Management

Posted: November 20th, 2008, 4:07am CET

Tags: Rocket City Geospatial

I heard one of the best talks by a self-professed "policy wonk" every given...and it was about GIS too. Sandra Lucas of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency gave a cogent argument for getting only the right tools (not the most tools) into the hands of field emergency management workers. A beltway veteran of 23 years, Lucas provided some insights into being the liaison between politicians and first responders. Her remarks could be boiled down to a caution...watch out for "bright shiny objects, i.e. BSO's. Sometimes the tools with the most wiz-bang are not the best for the first responder who needs only the tool that gets them information that's fast and good. A big fan of GIS but not a technologist herself, Lucas was forceful in stating..."right tool, right job."

BIM/GIS Integration

Posted: November 20th, 2008, 12:00am CET

Tags: Rocket City Geospatial

The focus in this session was the increasing need to integrate building information models and GIS. The first speaker, Don Murray of Safe Software, talked about the need to address 3D BIM data as a new data type. "From our standpoint, BIM to GIS is just another kind of spatial data transform [our job is to get users] to be able to move it around to where they want it we had vector and then raster, and now we have this 3D BIM stuff," he said.

Keith Cooke of ESRI and Steve Milroy of Microsoft gave the next presentation as a tag-team. The duo discussed how ESRI's products integrate with Microsoft Virtual Earth. Essentially, you can think of ArcGIS as doing the analytical "heavy lifting" on the back end, and Virtual Earth as a 2D- and 3D-based visualization tool to help make decisions. Milroy offered the example of a plume model in downtown San Francisco.

David Kingsbury of Autodesk made some bold statements about the 3D revolution. He said, "We are right now on the verge of a whole new paradigm of using spatial data. In the next 5-7 years, we will think of everything in a 3D context, in an object context. It's a requirement that CAD, BIM, GIS, visualization and collaboration come together now." He also addressed how the GIS industry is relating to this change: "There's a big of a firestorm among the vendors right now rushing to [prepared for] this switch to 3D."

Spatial Data Management session

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 11:52pm CET

Tags: Rocket City Geospatial

Three interesting speakers gave presentations during this session on Wednesday at the Rocket City Geospatial Conference. Each addressed a different topic under the loose category of spatial data management.

Joel Lawhead of NVision talked about Oracle Spatial, Oracle Locator and ESRI. NVision is a company with 44 employees that does GIS-related projects. He said, "Oracle [usage] is steadily on the rise." When the company was founded in 2002, they did no Oracle work, but now about 40% of their projects involve Oracle, and the company has hired an Oracle specialist. He described a variety of projects the company has helped with one for the Department of the Interior's Mineral Management Service, and one for the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD). The last application he mentioned was one that was built just for fun a tracking application for the TV program, "Deadliest Catch." It shows boats going out to supply the fishing boats that are trying to land that deadliest catch.

Damon Dougherty of Bentley Systems talked about the "geospatial federated approach" to spatial data management. According to Dougherty, the federated approach combines the traditional spatial search of GIS with the unstructured text search style of a search engine like Google. The example he gave was highway projects in New Hampshire. The federated search allows you to look for the GIS data as well as the graphic data and business data. As Dougherty put it, it's all about "finding information in chaos."

Bruce Westcott of Intergraph is known in the industry as being the "metadata guy." He talked about the fact that we need to move past the "withered business case" for building metadata into databases. He described that business case as one built on good will and desire to do the right thing: "You should produce metadata because other people might want to use it." That business case, for the most part, has not been successful, especially in cases where an internal mandate or business case isn't present. Westcott suggested that reexamining the legal tradition in the US of accessing government-produced data for free would be appropriate. Government entities would be given an incentive to include metadata if there was the possibility of generating revenue by providing access to the data.

Dangermond Acknowledges GIS Professionals on GIS Day

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 11:32pm CET

Tags: Rocket City Geospatial

It's always special to be with somebody on their birthday. Being with Jack Dangermond on the 10th anniversary of GIS Day (which falls during Geography Awareness Week) is in that same category. During his keynote presentation at the Rocket City Geospatial Conference in Huntsville, AL on Wednesday, Dangermond (president of ESRI) made special mention of the occasion. His central theme was honoring GIS professionals and what they do in the context of making the world a better, and more sustainable, place.

While cataloging numerous applications (planning, transportation, land information systems, public safety and law enforcement, managing natural disasters, natural resource management, social issues, and human health), Dangermond discussed mapping foreclosure patterns. He ran an animation that clearly showed the pattern of higher numbers of foreclosures two hours away from major metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. "It isn't the downtown areas, or even the near suburbs, but way out the consistent pattern of increased gas prices caused the foreclosures. Geography tells that story. GIS is about telling stories."

Dangermond highlighted the following trends.

Growth in the number and sophistication of "Fusion Centers" (centers built around the country to support emergency management)
Increasing popularity of mashups, which will bring the notion of GIS to "virtually everyone"
Increasing integration of imagery
More support for mobile applications (LBS)
Geobrowsers are becoming the norm
Content (not just data) will become an integral part of GIS, and it will be delivered by services.

Dangermond delivered what can only be described as a pep talk for GIS professionals. "Climate and global warming - loss of biodiversity there is no 'bailout' for this increasingly challenging situation. [But] GIS is doing good - it's a counter-balance to some of the negative things that are happening in our society and our world," said Dangermond. "Our world needs a new approach I don't think it will work out without deliberate and conscious thought about how to do things to chart a better future. Right now we are certainly doomed. I travel a lot, I see it, and it's not a good future. On the other hand, what you guys are doing all those things are making a difference. These [applications you develop] are all improving the world."

A Perfect Educational Story for GIS Day Ripped from the Headlines

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 2:13pm CET

Someone pulled post codes for all the members of UK British National Party and plotted them on a Google Map. Despite specific notes that the map was built not on addresses but on post codes, there was confusion about accuracy (though not necessarily privacy concern, from what I read). So, the map was redone as a heat map.

- Guardian

ESRI UK Survey for Geography Awareness Week/GIS Day: Same Old Same Old

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 1:46pm CET

ESRI-UK is retracing the well worn path of "people don't know geography" to stir up interest in Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day. The online survey of 2000 individuals (press release) reveals that most don't know where things are or what's the most widely spoken language in the world. There are also questions about travel and tourism (Have you been to a town new to you recently? A museum?)

The release quotes Dr Rita Gardner, Director of the Royal Geographical Society:

It is particularly encouraging to see that the sample survey recognises map-reading at the core of all good geography whether in schools or in our daily lives as an important geographical skill. If you can read a map you can work out where places are without needing to remember such factual detail. However, there are wider geographical issues of much greater importance to our futures. In the coming years climate change, food and water security will differ in their effects in different
places across the world, further exacerbating world tensions. Geography lies at the heart of understanding, predicting and helping to find solutions to those challenges, and to natural disasters such as hurricanes, many of which transcend national boundaries.

I completely agree with her; alas the survey didn't explore map reading/interpretation skills. A few of the questions posed could have been answered by interpreting the appropriate map including this one: "Rank a list of UK cities, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham and Luton, in the order they are located, from north to south."
I know that "we don't know geography" is the classic way to get press coverage of geography's importance. On GIS Day I want to challenge organizations like ESRI to find new ways to raise the issue. A simple suggestion? A quiz based on a map.

Old Poll, New Poll

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

UK Gov Speeds Survey, Saves Money with GIS

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Tags: ESRI

The UK government saved £700,000 by using geographic information software (ESRI) on mobile computers to produce the latest detailed Countryside Survey. In the past the survey used paper and took two years to complete. The survey of England, Scotland and Wales covers a sort of environmental change detection. This year's data was available the same day the survey was carried out.

The data capture was done in half the time.

- Computer Weekly

Qualcomm/Skyhook Deal: Exit Strategy?

Posted: November 18th, 2008, 2:03pm CET

Tags: gps

You probably saw the PR on Qualcomm's announcement yesterday that it would put Skyhook's locating technology into its location platform. Silicon Insider suggest if things work out it could be a fine exit strategy. Skyhook's funding comes from Bain Capital, RRE Ventures, and Intel Capital.

Yandex API Available

Posted: November 18th, 2008, 1:25pm CET

I wrote about Yandex, an online search engine company, and its map service for Russia when it launched back in September. Now, the API is available.

- HitSearch

Remote sending via thrown "ball" camera

Posted: November 18th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Tags: Remote Sensing

A Scottish company is developing the "grenade-like" device called the I-Ball (cute) which shoots realtime video after being thrown by hand or via a launcher, then again when it lands. The idea is to provide information on "what's ahead" to soldiers. The camera delivers 360 degree views wirelessly.

IT Pro via Slashdot

U.S. Healthiest City? Burlington, VT

Posted: November 18th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

My training partner sent me this link since she recalled I ran the marathon there on Memorial Day and stayed with my aunt and uncle. The Centers for Disease Control put the city on top.

The most interesting part of the article is the comparison of this "top" city in health, with its opposite, Huntingdon, WV. The two are similar in some ways: out of the way, colleges town with mostly white populations. But, Burlington is a bit younger, more community focussed, has more people with college educations and has less poverty.

Podcast: What We'd Tell the World on GIS Day

Posted: November 18th, 2008, 8:00am CET

Enclosure: [download]

Tags: google

GIS Day provides a chance for geospatial practitioners to tell the world about what they and why it matters. Our editors share the key themes they'd want to get across to the public on this special day.

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.

Pitney Bowes Offers Sliverlight-based FireLocator

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 7:57pm CET

Tags: MapInfo

Arthur R. Berrill, Vice President of Advanced Concepts and Technology at Pitney Bowes let us know about the new FireLocator app, currently in beta, thinking it may be of use to readers and those dealing with the current California fires. The app was created by Pitney Bowes Advanced Concepts and Technologies (AC&T) in collaboration with Pitney Bowes MapInfo. It provides geocoding to find fires (current and historical) around specific addresses. Data comes from the usual "fire" places including:

- NASA Modis Data
- Incident Information System (InciWeb)
- GeoMac Multi Agency Coordination (GeoMac)
- California Wild-Fire Zones

And there's other fire-related content including:
- pictures from Flikr
- news from San Bernardino Sun

Underneath you'll find Virtual Earth, Silverlight, BP MapInfo's Envinsa and BP MapInfo's geocoding. This is the first I've heard of AC&T.

You can access a video (movie reel icon) about the app and the "about" information ("i" icon) on the right of the tool/search bar. I didn't see them on my first visit. The main interactive feature (at this point) seems to be the ability to save specific locations which can be visited in the future.

Which Geogadgets are overpriced?

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 2:39pm CET

Tags: Satellite Navigation

PC World has a listing of all the tech gadgets it thinks are outrageously expensive, including a some geo-ones.

GPS Devices with 5-inch (or Larger) Screens
Price: $600 and up
GPS Analyst Craig Ellison says: In general, I found that GPS devices with a screen size of 5 inches or larger seemed disproportionately higher priced with less features compared to the traditional 4.3-inch ones. Such products are the Magellan Maestro 5310 ($800) and the Garmin nüvi 5000 ($600). Sure, Garmin can get away with high prices since its models have a unique featurevoice recognitionthat none of the other products have, but they're still priced way too high.

MSNBC Maps Mayoral Advice for Obama

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 2:10pm CET

Tags: media & maps

MSNBC asked mayors of more than 200 cities in 48 states and Puerto Rico to share their advice and requests with president elect Obama. The result? A Virtual Earth map and the detailed responses.

Al Tompkins (of Al's Morning Meeting) at Poynter.org notes:

The work is remarkable not just for its content but for the interactive display msnbc.com used to tell the story. You will see a legend on the right side of the map that lists the advice by topic. You will also see the responses plotted by city. I have never seen a survey like this one.
...
This is not only worth your time -- it is worth sharing in your editorial meeting as a smart and useful way to tell stories online.

From a Directions Media perspective, I'm pleased to see both Huntsville, AL and Cambridge, MA are represented. This is an interesting way to get a snapshot of what your local officials think are important.

OSM Visits Cambridge (Mass)

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Richard Weait of Cloudmate is coming to visit the Boston Linux and Unix User Group to speak on OpenStreetMap on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm at MIT Building E51, Room 376. I'm going to try to attend.

A bit of GIS history - now offline

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Reed Business Geo, Inc, which owns GIS Monitor [I founded and edited it for five years], has decided to remove its archives from the Web. "Because the GIS Monitor delivered timely news and updates on the state of the industry, the archives of the newsletter have not been migrated to the Professional Surveyor Magazine website."

Earth Observation Magazine, EOM, [which I edited for a year, perhaps less] was also removed, for the same reason.

Military.com's Dark Horse CIA Candidate: Chris Tucker

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Here's what the publication says in brief article highlighting some potential picks for members of president-elect Obama's intelligence team:

Finally, a dark horse candidate for CIA has surfaced. Christopher Tucker, senior vice president for national programs at erdas (formerly known as Leica Geosytems) was the founding chief strategic officer at In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture capital fund. Tucker serves as a board member of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation.

GeoEye Images on Google Maps in January

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Tags: google

That per a blog post at Portfolio.com based on announcement at a GeoEye party last week celebrating the launch of GeoEye-1.

GITA Launches White Paper Series on CIP, Emergency Response

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Tags: Infrastructure

The Geospatial Information Technology Association (GITA) is launching a white paper series, the first of which is titled, "Infrastructure Interdependencies." Bob Samborski, executive director of GITA, says the series is intended to look at the variety of infrastructure elements that are interdependent. The white paper series is indicative of a renewed interest in the crumbling and exposed infrastructure in the United States and how geospatial technology can not only help to support revitalization but point to areas where it might be exposed to terrorism or natural disasters. From the white paper introduction:

"This paper, Infrastructure Interdependencies, is the first in a special White Paper Series entitled, The Geospatial Dimensions of Critical Infrastructure and Emergency Response. It is intended to provide geospatial practitioners with a summary of critical infrastructure interdependencies, reasons why understanding these relationships is vital to effective emergency response, and the important role geospatial technology, data and knowledge can play in addressing our infrastructure-related challenges."

The entire white paper can be downloaded from the Directions Magazine website.

Local Matters Pulls IPO

Posted: November 14th, 2008, 8:14pm CET

Tags: Geospatial business

PaidContent reports that Perry Evans' local search company Local Matters has recalled its plan to go public based on, that's right, the economy. Local Matter filed the paper work to go public in 2006 and it never really went anywhere. I do hope they weather the storm and can give it another go on the other side.

We've written about the company a few times (1, 2).

Virtual Earth Immersive Customer Service Experience

Posted: November 14th, 2008, 3:32pm CET

Yes, that's how a media alert from Microsoft covers how the company can help banks using Virtual Earth. Microsoft will exhibit at the BAI Retail Delivery Conference & Expo.

"Microsoft Virtual Earth. An integrated set of services providing quality geospatial data, rich imagery and cutting-edge technology that helps banks provide immersive online customer experiences, and connect customers with branch locations and services."

I don't think I'm yet ready to get immersive with my bank. I'm still getting used to online banking...

Geomagnetic sensor for "underground GPS"

Posted: November 14th, 2008, 3:25pm CET

Tags: gps

Achi Steel, a steel company in Japan, is testing a new location solution that uses a geomagnetic sensor and an acceleration sensor to determine location underground. The first use? Navigation in underground shopping malls. On the drawing board: very accurate in-car navigation.

- TechRadar

Quote of the Week

Posted: November 14th, 2008, 3:03pm CET

"looking for some good GIS data, not your ordinary kind, anyone know where I can get some of the "good stuff"?"

- via Twitter

GIS Day Communications - How are we doing?

Posted: November 14th, 2008, 1:46pm CET

Tags: education

While one goal of GIS Day is to educate those can attend events on or around that day, another is to simply to get the term and some sense of its meaning/role into day to day parlance. How are we doing based on online content?

The Plainfield Sun (suburban Chicago) offers an event notification, but with the headline "Event to spotlight new technology." There's no real discussion of what GIS is, in fact the acronym is not written out. Still, the nature of the topics suggests something about what it's role; the event covers "how the village uses the technology to improve services by demonstrating some of the applications including collecting field data utilizing GPS, the village's addressing process, crime mapping and Web GIS." I am surprised by "new" in the headline. It suggests to me that either GIS is "new" (we know it's pretty old...) or new to the area (if it is, that's not clear and based on the above discussion, it's pretty entrenched there).

The Sherwood Voice (Arkansas) notes its event and the keynote speaker from the National Weather Service who will speak on GIS and its use in tracking tornadoes that hit the area in February. Cool speaker! Again, GIS is not written out or defined. The article does note local and national sponsors, which is nice and may help those new to GIS figure something about it.

The University of New Hampshire already held its event, its 10th and the student newspaper not only wrote out what GIS stands for but profiled the types of people (700) who attended. Alas, it too stayed away from defining GIS is. I've attended the UNH event in past years; it's terrific!

Camp Pendleton is only to "it's [sic] 2nd annual" Geographic Information Systems day according the the Pendleton Scout and also doesn't describe GIS in detail. I do appreciate the goal, which does not include younger students: "The program was designed to encourage Marines, sailors and civilians to learn about the importance of geography and GIS technology."

What should we take away from these examples?

Continue reading "GIS Day Communications - How are we doing?"

Connection Between Small Portable Nuclear Plants and Geo

Posted: November 14th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Kirk Kuykendall at The Memory Leak helped make a connection that I missed. This week there was quite a bit of buzz about an "affordable" small time nuclear plant (details)from a company called Hyperion Power Generation. I heard about it on Buzz Out Loud... The connection? The CEO is John R. (Grizz) Deal, the founder and lead at LizardTech back in the day. He has a lot of energy experience as well as startup experience. One to watch...

Google Maps Flu Trends

Posted: November 13th, 2008, 4:32pm CET

Google is using their search technology to spot trends in possible flu outbreaks. Based on the location from which searches are performed on the word "flu" for "flu shot," Google.org has created a map of the level of possible flu activity. I'm assuming they are geolocating by IP address. The page on "How does this work" does not specifically say how it is compiled other than by millions of aggregated searches. Google has done this for allergy season and has compared their trends with that offered by the CDC.

Kansas Geological Survey Online Maps Challenge Private Industry

Posted: November 13th, 2008, 1:47pm CET

The Kansas Geological Survey upgraded its online map technology recently. (You may have seen the press release.)

John Morrison, owner of Wichita-based Red Top Weekly News Service, which provides updates on the oil and gas industry in Kansas is a "competitor." It too offers online maps. While others have explored, then dropped lawsuits since the data is public and the Survey is obliged to make it easily available, Morrison just sees his subscriber rates going down.

Still, Morrison has a value add (just like Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ do):

He said he does call operators to confirm information but that's what makes his service "a little more complete and accurate" than what the KGS's interactive map provides.

It sounds like it's time to look for other ways to distinguish his offerings...
- Wichita Eagle (Kansas.com)

TechCrunch: Loopt Looks for Sale/Investment

Posted: November 12th, 2008, 4:50pm CET

Tags: Social Networking

Loopt is perhaps the best known of the "friend finder"/location-based social networking apps that run on cell phones. TechCrunch reports the company hired the investment band Allen & Co. to find a potential sale or investment partner.

VentureBeat suggests a sale is unlikely considering what it considers and insane valuation: $500 million. The article also notes that Loopt is up in the top apps in the Apple AppStore. Why? It's featured in iPhone TV commercials!

New NPR President Confident about Hyperlocal

Posted: November 12th, 2008, 3:40pm CET

PaidContent got an interview with newly appointed president and CEO of National Public Radio, Vivian Schiller. She comes from the New York Times and has no radio experience. The geotidbit of note:

-- Hyperlocal: Schiller has watched start-ups and big media alike fail to crack the hyperlocal conundrum. She thinks NPR is well-positioned to actually do it. So many companies have started and folded trying to win in local hubs. Big news organizations spend hours wondering how do I create the hyperlocal presence, you dont have the infrastructure. NPR can do it. It already has the trust and the infrastructure in every town and campus in America. I want to find a way to create indispensable local media hubs.

Telecoms.com on PND vs. Smartphone

Posted: November 12th, 2008, 2:55pm CET

Tags: lbs

Telecoms.com delves into the convergence of PNDs and cellphone nav offerings. There are some great quotes here including:

His [Orem Neilson of Telmap's] enthusiasm is not shared by Steve Crammond, a partner at PA Consulting. Crammond believes that the PND suppliers, led by US firm Garmin and Dutch vendor TomTom, are not under threat from the mobile sector. "The PND manufacturers supply something that people need. It does something useful, it sells well, it's got a good price and it doesn't seek to replicate anybody else's services or facilities. It's not broken and it doesn't need fixing. What is broken is the mobile sector's ambition to create vast amounts of service revenue out of LBS on phones," he says.

Perhaps, but there is another competitor - pre-installed in-dash solutions from the auto manufacturers. But, there is a lag on that...

Mark Gretton is TomTom's engineering director: "We proved that there was a real market need, which was to get people from A to B when they didn't know where B was. We're beyond that point now and we've realised that the number of times you drive to B when you don't know where B is, is actually not that often, unless you're a professional driver."

Right, thus PND providers must offer more - including a connected solution - with search, music etc. That leads to monthly fees, something most PND buyers are not yet fully ready to embrace, per the article.

TomTom's Mark Gretton sums it up: "The only thing you can say today is that navigation is a real market; a service for which people are prepared to pay. All that other stuff, all those other applications, it's just speculation. We don't know whether or not it will prove valuable to people."

That's to say, navigation people will pay for - at least as a one off payment for a device. Now, can the same be said for LBS with the same amount of confidence?

Which areas voted for prop 8 in California?

Posted: November 12th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Tags: media & maps

With a majority voting for the proposition (that would ban gay marriage overriding a State Supreme Court ruling) there's lots of finger pointing in the gay community. But, there are also maps of which areas voted for and against.

The Sacremento Bee reports that areas with many domestic partnerships (via state records) voted against, and provides a map.

The LA Times provides maps with no interpretation. It also offers a bubble map of funding.

KCRA provides a green and red map of the results. (I thought those were not high on the cartographer palette because of color blindness issues. See for example Cynthia Brewer's work cited here.)

Save the Date for LI 2009...Oct. 5-7, Westminster CO

Posted: November 12th, 2008, 2:12am CET

More information will be forthcoming but we ask you to "save the date" for the Location Intelligence Conference 2009.We'll be at the Westin Westminster Hotel in Westminster, Colorado, just outside of Denver toward Boulder from Oct. 5-7. Topics for your consideration:

How do retailers prepare for natural disasters (think: Wal-mart and Katrina)?
Will the financial crisis lead to new site selection strategies for retail bankers? (think: relocation and closing retail banks...where to go?)
Where will the mortgage crisis affect economic development (think: Florida where 29% of houses are facing negative equity. See New York Times)?
Is location-based advertising a solution in search of a mobile device?
Will the decennial census truly yield sufficient demographic data for marketers? (Think: American Community Survey...will it work?)
Insurance and re-insurance...How do you define risk these days?
What kind of location intelligence do you need about your competitors?

And we'll certainly talk about technology:

Data warehouse appliances burst on the scene...a replacement for spatial databases?
BI...have the BI vendors bought into LI yet?
Platforms and portfolios...software vendors want to bundle you up. (see our podcast from yesterday)
Satellites and imagery...do we really need .25m data? What realtors and real estate developers really want.

Got an idea for a session at LI? Tell me.

This Two-Year Old is a Better Geographer than You

Posted: November 12th, 2008, 1:53am CET

Tags: Location Intelligence

If you have not seen this YouTube video of Lilly, the World Map Master, you need to because it will make you cry with joy. The fact that a two-year old can find Fiji, Turkey, South Africa and scads of most other countries on the map is awesome. As we approach National Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 16-22), and GIS Day (Nov. 19) next week, take note that the geographic literacy of most elementary schoolers, not to mention adults, is abysmal. Lilly makes up for us all.

Continue reading "This Two-Year Old is a Better Geographer than You"

USGS Raises Awareness of "the big one" LA Style in the Great SoCal ShakeOut

Posted: November 12th, 2008, 12:28am CET

Tags: USGS

According to a story in the Wall Street Journal today, Los Angeles is 178 years overdue for "the big one," a massive earthquake of approximately 7.8 magnitude. So, in order to alert residents of the region to the dangers as well as how to prepare for a huge temblor, the USGS, in conjunction with the California Earthquake Authority, the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) at USC, and sponsors like Home Depot and State Farm Insurance, is making November 13 the Great Southern California ShakeOut, essentially a massive earthquake preparedness drill. According to the WSJ, it was hard getting people excited about the drill, though...until the 5.4 magnitude shaker during this past summer in LA. Then people began to take notice that his wasn't such a bad idea and people started signing up to take part at the "ShakeOut" website. But it's also being billed as a huge "block party"...kind of a marketing ploy to get people excited. The USGS has a wealth of research reports about the scenario that will be staged. See the YouTube video produced by the SCEC below:
Continue reading "USGS Raises Awareness of "the big one" LA Style in the Great SoCal ShakeOut"

Garmin Takes a Pass on SuperBowl Ad this Year

Posted: November 11th, 2008, 1:42pm CET

A company spokesman for Garmin says its decision to sit out was "unrelated to the economy."

Garmin was in for the past two events with ads that failed to impress me, but that others enjoyed.

- Wall Street Journal

Quote of the Week

Posted: November 11th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Tags: Satellite Navigation

"While I rely on my GPS to compensate for my terrible sense of direction, that price seems a bit high to pay for a 3D map of Chicago and its mostly flat surrounding areas. It's an impressive novelty, but it is still just a novelty."

Scott Nichols wrote that in PC World about the not yet released $599 Navigon 8100T GPS model which uses "NASA terrain elevation data in conjunction with a built-in 3D accelerator" to offer "true 3D."

- PC World in Washington Post

RFID-based Social Networking - for Dogs and their Humans

Posted: November 11th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Tags: rfid

It's called a SNIF Tag and it comes out of SNIF Labs, a company formed by grads of MIT's Media Lab. The idea:

The tag itself a small device that attaches to a dogs collar essentially records the pets movements and, in some cases, social encounters, and then uploads that data to the Internet. An owner can find out by logging onto the companys site whether their dog has been playing, resting or running around.

The tag, $300, or $200 is bought now online, uses active RFID/accelerometer and base stations (your computer) to determine the dog's activities and if its been frolicking with its dog buddies. That data is uploaded to a secure site where the dog's human can see what he did all day. Ideally, it allows for a pair or more of dogs' people to hook up. The first year of full service comes with the tag. It's $89/year after that.

I'm not a dog person, but I know dog people and how they like other dog people. And, I have to believe in rural areas where dogs roam free (not my city) this would be fun. And, with just active RFID, the tag will not help find Rover if he's lost.

- TMCNet.com

Podcast: Platformization - Marketing or Solution?

Posted: November 11th, 2008, 8:00am CET

Enclosure: [download]

Tags: google

Players in the geospatial arena are offering grouping of products referred to as platforms or portfolios to address enterprise needs. Bentley this week announced its V8i portfolio. A few weeks ago Microsoft rolled out its Single View Platform. Are these launches just marketing efforts or is there more?

Experts: Satellites Not Great in Finding Downed Planes in Rough Terrain

Posted: November 10th, 2008, 1:56pm CET

Tags: Remote Sensing

The Press-Enterprise (San Bernardino) has a reality check article highlighting how satellite imagery and other remote sensing tools are just not that helpful in finding survivors (or even wreckage) of downed planes in rough terrain. Recent efforts to find ex-Israeli paratrooper David Katz and Steve Fossett were unsuccessful even with experimental radar and infrared tools. In the end, people in the area found the two crash sites. John Pike of Global Security has the last word:

With Fossett, they mounted a pretty good-sized effort. Most people aren't worth that much money," Pike said. "I would look for the development of more rugged (crash-activated) beacons.

(Not sure what's going on with the map accompanying the article...)

GIS, Photos Help Las Vegas to Reneg on Wal-mart Liquor License

Posted: November 10th, 2008, 1:03pm CET

A part-time poly sci professor at UNLV took the lead in warning the planning commission about how the many alcohol retailers in his neighborhood already cause much of the crime and vandalism in his neighborhood of Stewart Place. But the City Council voted 7-0 to ok a liquor license for Wal-mart. So, David Dupalo got tough. He worked pointed to work by University of California, Riverside researcher Robert Nash Parker in addressing the City Council that shows how "Parker used Geographical Information System (GIS) technology and found that the higher the density of alcohol outlets within a geographic area, the more likely the area was to be plagued by gang violence.". He took pictures of the impact of drunk drivers on property in his neighborhood. He noted that within approximately a 1.2-mile radius of his housing development, at least 85 businesses are licensed to sell liquor. And, in the end, the Mayor moved the Council change its mind. It did: 7-0 against the Wal-mart liquor license.

- The UNLV Rebel Yell

India to Launch "countrys first indigenous geomatics software" in December

Posted: November 10th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) developed the software, which includes GIS, image analysis and GPS support. It does not yet have a name, for now it's called Indigenous GIS and IP Software or IGIS. It also has no price, but will be "competitive." Reviews have been positive at least from ISRO staffers. Why launch an in-country solution? It will:

- be more compatible with Indian satellites
- save money
- make India self-reliant in geo-software

India Express states that much of the geospatial industry's Rs 950 million in 2006-07 went to "foreign players like ESRI, AutoDesk, Bentley Systems, Leica Geosystems, InterGraph and PCI Geomatics."

It's interesting India didn't develop an open source source solution.

TeleNav offers Connected GPS; Berkeley/Nokia Work Traffic via Cell Phones

Posted: November 10th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Tags: gps

TeleNav is known as the company that provides voice directions on your cell phone. Now it's in the hardware business with the $300 TeleNav Shotgun. That includes 3 months of service - monthly service starts at $11 and packages are available. It's a connected solution, not using wi-fi, as the Dash Express (the company is now out of the hardware biz) did but rather GPRS (cell network).

Continue reading "TeleNav offers Connected GPS; Berkeley/Nokia Work Traffic via Cell Phones"

Why didn't (put name here) think of that?

Posted: November 10th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

You've been there - at the beginning of the day to drop off your (or someone else's) kid at school or at the end of the day to pick him or her up? You know the chaos? The challenge to park and then find the youngster? The stress?

Here's an idea out of the UK: Have kids find parking locations a five minute walk from school. That way the adult and the child get some exercise. Brilliant! And, the children are using measuring wheel (not sure why since this sounds like a time, not a distance idea) to find such locations.

- Northumberland Gazette

Google Wants You to Know

Posted: November 7th, 2008, 2:53pm CET

Tags: google

This from Christiaan Adams, a GIS and Google Earth specialist at Google:

Google.org just launched an exciting new grants program that I wanted to share with you. Google.org Geo Challenge Grants will award grants to NGOs around the world to create projects using online mapping tools, such as Google Maps and Google Earth. The program is an open application process that will award grants up to $100,000.

Maps are a powerful way for organizations to display and share data, promote ideas and issues, and plan and organize activities. Online mapping tools can help the world visualize and understand information, problems, and solutions - whether locally or globally. We've found that well designed maps can help organizations operate more effectively. They can convey the importance of your cause in a visual, compelling way. And, they can give individuals from around the world a chance to experience the work you do. We want to help organizations use these kinds of tools to advance their work in the areas of global development, climate change and global public health.

Here's an example project. The Dreaming New Mexico initiative seeks to encourage adoption of clean electricity and to move New Mexico away from dirty, polluting power plants. Using the Google Earth API (browser plugin), Dreaming New Mexico shows some of the choices available to New Mexico as it considers a move to sustainable clean energy. Click here to view the site.

Applications, which are open to NGOs around the world are open now and will close on December 22. (We hope to continue with further application rounds next year.)

There are 3 levels of funding. A US$5,000 grant is enough to complete a small mapping project or a prototype of a more ambitious map project. Examples include maps such as the Women for Women project locations. A US$25,000 grant is enough to complete a substantial mapping project using one or more data sources. The map will typically still use a fixed data set vs a dynamically updating data source. Examples include maps such as the Appalachian Voices Mountaintop Removal Layer with associated "Are You Connected?" interactive website noted in this case study. A US$100,000 grant is enough to complete a more dynamic mapping project, or a system that will enable the production of maps across a number of scenarios. Such a project might include tools that the grantee as well as other organizations could use to quickly create maps of a certain type.

To learn more about the program, check out our website which has a description of the program, FAQs and the application. Also, for other ways that Google can help your organization, check out our Google for Non-profits site.

Windows 7 Location API: No "By App" Control

Posted: November 7th, 2008, 2:20pm CET

Tags: microsoft

The big news last week was Microsoft's Professional Developer's Conference (PDC). That event, I learned via TWIT, is typically held a full year before regular folks will see a new operating system from the company. This year the event focused on Windows 7 (desktop ) and Azure (cloud computing).

This week in LA is an event called Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), an event focused on the hardware side. C|net reports from there on the implementation of the location API in Windows 7 and one thing that's missing: the ability to limit which application uses location information. Why is that not in the API? It seems to go back to authentication of apps: Windows doesn't have a reliable means of determining that an application is what it says it is, so any attempt to limit the location to a specific application would be easily spoofable, according to Microsoft program manager Alec Berntson.

Previous implementations were so clunky, says the article, few developers bothered to use the API. The folks from Microsoft admit they'd like that sort of feature and have in on their Christmas list, but are not promising anything. On the whole developers spoke positively about what they saw in Windows 7; it's hard for me to imagine Microsoft will leave this whole with all the pressure from other OSs and apps in the LBS space. My solution: use Fire Eagle to manage which app gets location info...

Obama's "Houdini" Computer - Making Non-voters Disappear

Posted: November 7th, 2008, 1:50pm CET

Charles Lin, a starff writer for The Tech, MIT's newspaper, describes the technology at work behind the volunteer effort in New Hampshire.

In addition to having motivated ground troops, the Obama campaign is incredibly technologically advanced. The Obama campaigns computer is named Houdini. It has a list of every single registered Democrat, Barack-leaning independent, and Obamacan. Each voter shows up as a black dot on a Google Map. The campaign records statistics on each of these voters, tracking the number of times each house has been canvassed, called, persuaded, and mainly badgered into voting for Obama.

When they do finally vote, the dot disappears from the screen, hence the name Houdini. Our job, as we learned when we arrived, is to make every single dot disappear.

FriendFeed Supports Geotagging/GeoRSS

Posted: November 7th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Tags: Standards

First off, for those not yet using FriendFeed, it's a service that allows you to collect all the feeds, blogs, tweets, etc. of your friends in one big feed. You can also collect all of your feeds, blogs, tweets to publish in one feed. It's a service I use, mostly to be involved in the For Immediate Release FriendFeed Room.

Anyway, VentureBeat found that the service rolled out support for geotagged posts and GeoRSS feeds. What that means in that anything collected via FriendFeed that has geo information, now includes a mini Google map of the location. Why might FriendFeed add geo? One founder is Bret Taylor, once Google Maps Product Manager.

From "Show me my house" to "I won't share my ZIP Code"

Posted: November 6th, 2008, 8:31pm CET

(1992) When I started in GIS, the most common question to me when I demoed at trade shows was "Can you show me my house?" Then of course, I couldn't, though today any nine year old can do so on any number of websites.

(2008) Here's a quote from a recent article describing a new geospatial app demo. "As women, we didn't want to provide them with our zipcode, [sic] but this would have made possible for a visitor to see [a 3D rendering] of his or her home address."

I think that speaks volumes!

The Geography and our Newly Elected President

Posted: November 6th, 2008, 7:50pm CET

It's been just about two days since the world learned Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States. Now its time to parlay him and his geography into marketing.

Platial

Platial sent out an e-mail to its users inviting them to add to and them embed in their own sites a map of where they were when they learned Obama was elected. That's a fine time-sensitive marketing effort, no question. It made me think of the big question that perhaps prompted the question: Where were you when JFK was shot/died? The difference between these two questions? In the case of JFK people were going about their normal lives not expecting such a tragedy. In the recent election, virtually everyone in the world, save those disconnected for one reason or another, knew there was a U.S. election going on and knew that it was likely Obama would win. So, the where question or even the "what were you thinking" question, doesn't have the immediacy or compelling nature at least for me.

I am curious, as the media seems to suspect, about how people feel about the US electing its first president, but the interest is in a different vein.

Somerville

I live in a city that borders Boston, called Somerville. It's famous as the place that invented Fluff. Alongside that historical tidbit, residents learned this year we can call Barack Obama a fellow resident. He rented a room in the city when was as Harvard Law School. In fact, I run by the building every Thursday night. So, leave it to the local paper to headline this week's issue with: Somerville Resident Elected President. It's a little bit of pride, a bit of marketing and basically true.

Illinois

The AP notes that Illinois and Chicago expect more tourists to visit.

Have you seen another other uses of "presidential geography?"

Bentley Launches V8i; Notes from the Press Conference

Posted: November 6th, 2008, 7:45pm CET

Tags: Bentley

In a press conference call today, CEO Greg Bentley provided some additional details (see press release) about the launch of the company's V8i, a portfolio of software solutions for engineering design.
Continue reading "Bentley Launches V8i; Notes from the Press Conference"

GPS Market Value Drops 21%

Posted: November 6th, 2008, 2:51am CET

Tags: Satellite Navigation

The value of the worldwide market for car navigation devices fell 21 percent in the third quarter per research firm Canalys. Much of the drop can be attributed to lower prices, but encroachment of handsets helped, too. The firm also puts Garmin back atop the marketshare heap at 35%; TomTom in #2 with 29%.

- Reuters

UK's "Show Us a Better Way Contest Winners" include Mapping Apps

Posted: November 6th, 2008, 2:26am CET

The contest's five finalist have been selected in the contest aimed at letting the public show the government how to better communicate information. It launched in June and ran until the end of September. Each of the five finalists receive part of the £80,000 prize funding from the Ministry of Justice, Department of Communities and Local Government, and Cabinet Office. The big winner will be announced on Saturday.

Among the finalists are apps that:

locate public restrooms
locate mailboxes
show school boundary areas
enable route planning for bike trips

- The Guardian

Quote of the Week

Posted: November 5th, 2008, 2:37pm CET

"It looks too close to call. You see Barack enjoying a lead of a couple hundred thousand votes. But that's early. Oh no. We're calling it for Obama. Ohio for Obama. Excuse me. All right. There we go....We did not call Ohio? I apologize folks. I'm told that we are not calling Ohio. That the checkmark was misplaced. Maybe it's the one that was supposed to go to Wisconsin and it went to Ohio. You know, we got a lot of maps and stuff to fool around with here tonight...every now and then, somebody puts a check in the wrong place and look what happens."

- Brit Hume, explaining an "oops" in FoxNews' coverage of election night via PopWatch

Poor Maps Lead to Maximum Fines in Quecreek Disaster

Posted: November 5th, 2008, 1:38pm CET

Administrative Law Judge Robert Lesnick fined PBS Coal Inc. and Musser Engineering $55,000 for their negligence which led to nine deaths in the mine in 2002.

The judge found that the companies "knowingly mapped the Quecreek No. 1 Mine based on questionable information, knowingly placed their production agenda ahead of caution, and then directed their miners into areas that tragically turn out to be 'undiscovered country.'"

...

The judge found that Musser used an inaccurate map to determine where to mine, and later got a second map that was not dated or marked final by a surveyor. Given the uncertainty, the judge said, "A reasonably prudent person would have erred on the side of safety and taken additional precautions."

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration had suggested fines of $5,000 for each company.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Pitney Bowes MapInfo Q3 Earning Down 39%

Posted: November 5th, 2008, 1:00pm CET

Tags: MapInfo

Company officers pointed to large investments in R&D and marketing, but also cited the weak economy slowing large enterprise purchases. Revenues were up 7%.

- Albany Times Union Blog

Track US Election Results with Google Maps

Posted: November 5th, 2008, 12:25am CET

Tags: google

You can track the election results in real-time for the presidential, senate or house elections...or if you are reading this after the fact...see the results.
Continue reading "Track US Election Results with Google Maps"

In this Election Cycle...It's All About the Map

Posted: November 4th, 2008, 11:50pm CET

Tags: Politics and Mapping

In my 'geocentric' world, if Google Earth didn't excite your feelings about maps and mapping technology, then this year's U.S. presidential election should have told you it was 'all about the map.' Since the summer, I've been blogging at our other publication, Map Hawk, about how the media uses mapping technology. Many of the maps in use by online media outlets were using Flash technology, some were on Google, and some still just static maps. Because of the nature of our red vs. blue leanings, it has been somewhat easy to identify the country's persuasion best by putting them on a map. More so than at any time in the past, maps are the platform to more easily convey results. They technology has been there, and as CNN has so marvelously shown, the display technology has been there as well. I suspect this has changed the way the mainstream media will forever report news. It already has because of the use of Google Earth was prevalent before this, but the specificity with which the campaigns where pinpointing candidate rallies and thus the emphasis on certain states and districts, maps became both the reporting mechanism...and sometimes the news themselves. And that's where the use of the technology must eventually lead...much greater detail must be paid to reporting the results at the precinct level (not just county), real-time information I suspect will be more readily available as results could be reported electronically, and there will be an ever greater use of web services to support news flow. We've seen maps, GIS, and other forms of location technology in this cycle come to the forefront plus websites like TwitterVoteReport and other social networking platforms display geospatial information. I guess maps really are..."cool."

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Enclosure: [download]

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Posted: November 17th, 2008, 7:57pm CET

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Posted: November 17th, 2008, 2:10pm CET

Tags: media & maps

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Tags: education

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Tags: Social Networking

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Tags: lbs

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Posted: November 11th, 2008, 8:00am CET

Enclosure: [download]

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Tags: gps

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Tags: google

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