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DBAs and Librarians - More Similar Than I Realized

Posted: July 31st, 2008, 2:17pm CEST

This comment posted by "Jill" and featured at SSWUG (SQL Server Worldwide Users Group) is worth a read.
Google Responds with Motion to Dismiss on Street View Private Street Case

Posted: July 31st, 2008, 2:05pm CEST

Tags: google

A Pittsburgh couple on a private road sued the company in April stating it had no right to drive up the road and photograph the house. Google's paper asking for a dismissal were filed in July and posted on the Smoking Gun yesterday. Google's argument boils down to, "there is no privacy" and "we as a society allow people to walk up to our doors all the time."

- New York Post
Is a combined survey/GIS department in your county's future?

Posted: July 31st, 2008, 1:37pm CEST

Tags: Surveying

It may be in Hall County, Nebraska.

Hall County Surveyor Casey Sherlock proposed to combine his existing Surveyor Department with the existing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Department (which is currently under the county's information technology director) at a total cost of $200,648. The "deal?" Separately the two departments had a budge of $204,000 for the past fiscal year. The proposal also included a $20 raise for Sherlock.

- Grand Isle Indepedent
Pitney Bowes Ad on Location Intelligence in New York Times

Posted: July 31st, 2008, 3:10am CEST

Tags: MapInfo

In the "there's something you don't see everyday" department comes this ad which accompanied my daily e-mail from the New York Times. While in the geospatial arena we speak of location intelligence (we even host a conference by that name) I'm hard pressed to imagine New York Times readers as savvy as they are, know what it is. Perhaps that's the point?
California Giving Visibility to GIS Coordination

Posted: July 30th, 2008, 9:58pm CEST

The office of the CIO for the State of California is coordinating a newly-formed GIS Cooridination committee. Two press announcements (1, 2)have been made so far within the recent months. The CIO has released a video (see more below)that explains some of the initiatives and we will also be reporting with a more in depth interview with some of the committee members in a forthcoming article.

Continue reading "California Giving Visibility to GIS Coordination"
Garmin Misses Expectations, Delays Nuviphone

Posted: July 30th, 2008, 5:06pm CEST

Tags: gps

The basics, from Bloomberg:

Profit, excluding a gain from a sale of Tele Atlas NV shares, was 94 cents a share, compared with the $1.01 average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Sales rose 23 percent to $911.7 million, Garmin said in a statement today, falling short of the $959.1 million analysts had projected.

Sales expectations were cut in half to 23% based on consumers holding back. Further, with so many PNDs already in the market, competition from TomTom, prices have dropped to encourage those without a device to buy.

Shares fell $5.91, or 13 percent, to $39.15 this morning, the largest drop in five years.

The Nuvifone will be delayed for at least 6 months until the first half of 2009; it was originally to be out this fall and account for 10% of sales. There's also speculation the proposed sale price of the Nuvifone, about $300, will drop to match the new iPhone.
Microsoft and European Environmental Agency Sign Five Year Deal to Map Water Quality

Posted: July 30th, 2008, 4:15pm CEST

Tags: microsoft

Network World has the story (press release) of "Eye on Earth" a site that show water quality scores of 21,000 swimming sites across Europe in five languages: Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, German and English.

Continue reading "Microsoft and European Environmental Agency Sign Five Year Deal to Map Water Quality"
Old Poll, New Poll

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

Tags: Poll

A few weeks back, we asked: Has the jump in gas prices changed where you spend your time?

Of 20 respondents, there was a surprisingly even distribution.

35% Yes, I spend more time closer to/at home.
35% No, where the locations where I go are about the same.
30% No, but I visit the more distant ones less frequently.

Next up, let's get to brass tacks. I recently wrote an editorial about moving to a Mac. More than one response suggested GIS people can't use Macs. So, let's see what those who visit this blog are using. Vote on the lower right hand side of our main page.
Microsoft VE to be in ESRI's ArcGIS Online

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

Tags: ESRI

The press release came out yesterday and was picked up by a number of blogs, though few had any immediate comment. I'm in the same boat. It crossed my desk and I didn't get an immediate sense of a world changing event.

That said:

- ESRI rarely announces anything new before the User Conference.

- Delivery of Virtual Earth content via ArcGIS Online was hinted at in the ESRI UC Q & A (including pricing: $200/year per ArcGIS seat).

- ESRI has yet to officially launch ArcGIS Online; that's coming next month.

- ESRI's "Google" announcement at Where was rather "hands off," that is required seemingly little partnering. This is different from a business standpoint since I have to believe Microsoft will receive some money from each subscription for its data.

Now, back to my "world changing event" comment. The reason this doesn't seem world changing is that it's a small step toward the future: a future of servers and services and the cloud. In this new ESRI vision, there are no "map servers" only "GIS servers" that provide data and key service. Users consume them via the Web, ArcGIS Explorer, on mobiles, and for perhaps a select few, a desktop GIS. To implement this vision, ESRI needs a different kind of partner, one that can help enable this vision. Thus, partners like Microsoft (VE and other things) and Adobe (Flex), are playing different roles than in the past. I suggest users keep their eyes open at ESRI UC for other clues that point to this type of future.
Hardiness Zone Map: Stay Tuned

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

The San Francisco Chronicle tells the story of the latest Zone Hardiness Map, the map the USDA puts out to guide the nation in what plants will grow where. The latest updated map was based on a 15 year set of data and looked quite different from the one before. in particular, zones were shifted north. So, why did the USDA reject the draft map in 2003? An official statement from USDA: "It wasn't GIS/GPS compatible. The scientists said it couldn't be incorporated into existing models. The 'yes or no' decision was made at that point, even though other issues were being raised."

In reality it sounds like politics and perhaps a fear of global warming. The latest plan: a new group from the Oregon St will build a new map based on 30 years of data. It's expected...soon. Says the same spokesperson as the above quote: " "Doing this at the GIS level, we can work at a much finer scale than ever before," she explains. "The zone borders will be much more refined."

You can see the maps here.
Hotel Mapping Innovation?

Posted: July 29th, 2008, 2:09pm CEST

Tags: google

A new hotel mapping service addresses a void in the industry. From the press release:

Not a single major hotel travel site shows prices directly on a map. HotelMapSearch.com fills this void with its patent pending price icons and hotel reservation interface.

It's hard to believe this will be the first app to put actual prices on the map, but I must admit, it's very slick and colorful, with very little "clicking" required to explore.

Also of note, the tech behind the site is Google Maps plus something called MapLarge.
Garmin Criticized for Offering GPS Dataset for Bars

Posted: July 29th, 2008, 1:51pm CEST

Tags: Satellite Navigation

This from CokePubandBar.co.uk, which holds a CocaCola copyright:

Garmin offers a digital version of the "Good Pub Guide" for their Global Positioning System (GPS) gadgets. Some, like Margaret Decker, from the Scottish Campaign against Irresponsible Drivers, think that's irresponsible. "It is irresponsible to offer customers directions to pubs. Police campaign to stop drink-driving but the number caught doesn't seem to be falling."

Garmin gives more credit to those who use the system and the database. I wonder if Garmin (and its peers) would get the same reaction if it offered a database of locations of legal gun sellers?
Podcast: How to Read Microsoft's 3D Effort with trueSpace

Posted: July 29th, 2008, 8:00am CEST

Enclosure: [download]

Tags: google

Last week Microsoft announcedthat its recently acquired trueSpace 3D model creator is now free and models created with it can be uploaded as collections to Virtual Earth. What does that say about what Google, Microsoft and the geospatial community think about what tools and data are required for today's maps?

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.
UK Crime Maps Not Sitting Well

Posted: July 29th, 2008, 4:11am CEST

The UK is rolling out crime maps, called MyNeighbourhood.info, for all of England and Wales by the end of the year according to the Times Online (Times of London). Midlands is being used as a pilot city but this kind of information is not exactly sitting well with everyone. Some, like the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors are fearing it will reduce home values. While countries like the US have had crime maps and mashups (remember ChicagoCrime.org; now EveryBlock Chicago) its seems not everyone wants to know about what's going on around them.
You + ESRI Coverage = iPod touch

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 7:06pm CEST

Tags: ESRI UC 08

Here's a chance for all of you attending the ESRI International User Conference to win an iPod touch. Directions Media wants your help covering the event. The best submission (audio or text) will win an iPod touch. You can enter via e-mail , text or phone between Saturday August 2 and Wednesday August 13, 2008. Full details.
What is GIS for the Google generation?

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 3:40pm CEST

Tags: google

Dr Pablo Mateos spoke (on behalf of a missing Alex Singleton) at the 2008 ESRC Research Methods Festival on "What is GIS for the Google generation?"

The ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) is a network of research groups, each conducting research and training in an area of social science research methods.

The slides are here and it's tough to tell from them the exact nature of the discussion Still I tease out:

- need to distinguish GIS from today's visualization (GIS = science, much of the rest = visualization)
- today's users are part of a "volunteered" generation and users of social media
- need to "make sense of" the "points on a map" situation and explore metadata

There are some valuable (if uncited) stats and images.

via Twitter
BizWeek on Walking/Biking Directions

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 3:23pm CEST

Tags: google

The article highlights Google's and MapQuest's walking offerings and local bicycle routing efforts. Of note:

In Broward County, Fla., planners are working on a project that would let users factor in things such as speed limits, traffic volume, lane widths and shortcuts.
The project, shooting for online launch by next summer, has programmers looking at aerial maps and punching key factors into the route-setting algorithms. They also incorporate things like where people or bikers can make left turns but cars can't.

If a car can't make a left turn, a bike can't either. Unless of course the cyclist dismounts and become a pedestrian. (That's rare where I live.)

This week, Google Maps launched a feature that offers walking directions for trips shorter than 6.2 miles. That is being added to a feature already helping visitors find the best mass transit routes.

I didn't realize there was a distance limit. The API would be great for the many sites aimed at race walkers, runners, etc.

But it [Tele Atlas] is open to accepting bike and pedestrian route information from cities and community groups if it can be verified from multiple sources.

TomTom could take the lead here tapping into the cycling, even walking communities... My gut feeling is the money is not there for such an effort, however.
Transit New Zealand Visualizes with Microsoft and Google

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 3:11pm CEST

Tags: google

Transit New Zealand, operator of the state highways, has two different projects going on related to its road network. The "video viewer prototype" a team effort of Transit, Microsoft and Wellington-based e-spatial runs under the Microsoft Innovation Centre and aims to correlate video views of New Zealand roads with location data. Roadrunner or Virtual Highway, as its known on the Web, is two years old and uses GIS from Argonaut and Google Earth. The former has many layers of data and latter "is designed purely to help road users familiarise themselves with the route before travelling it," says Transit spokesman Anthony Frith.

There are plans, say a source to integrate Virtual Highway into the road asset management system. I suspect we'll see more situations like this as both organizations push into public sector enterprises.

- Computerworld NZ
Google StreetView Trespasses Again; CitJ Trespasses on Google?

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 2:33pm CEST

Tags: google

A Press Democrat reporter offers an amusing video showing how Google once again travelled onto private property in California. You can even see the "no trespassing" sign. His article appears on Digital Journal, a community news site.

What's even more interesting to me is an uploaded image associated with the video/text article. Below a screen capture of Google Maps and a StreetView image it says: "Screen-shot of Filmore Street in Maricopa County, AZ, taken using Google Street View.
Google Street View
Public Domain"

This image, as far as I can tell, was uploaded by a visitor to the page. It also appears, at least right now, on the main page of Digital Journal. There are tools to upload images and details about copyright. Public Domain? I don't think so. Fair use? Maybe. I see some irony that the story is about Google not following posted signs and this image appears for perhaps the same reason: someone didn't read the signs!
Rural Areas Top Map of Highest Fatality Roads in the U.S.

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 1:37pm CEST

Tags: google

A new Google Maps mashup, Safe Road Maps, debuts today from the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety. From the site:

This website is a ground-breaking tool that combines information from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System with Google Maps to give you a visual representation of traffic safety across the entire nation. With this system, you can enter an address and view the roads that have the highest number of traffic fatalities in a specified area. You can also view dynamically generated maps that show how public policy has been implemented to improve transportation safety by region. Our hope is that this site brings both increased safety and awareness to transportation policy makers and private citizens.

This is quite an elaborate application, one that takes a moment or two to understand and use. Lots of filtering options should allow the curious to tap into just the geography and situations of interest.

via LiveScience
Tableau 4 Positioning: Between Google Maps and ESRI

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

I was impressed to see basically that description of a the latest version of Tableau, a data visualization application in Intelligent Enterprise. Where did Doug Henschen get that idea? From the VP of marketing:

"For the average worker or business analysts, the 'where' questions often aren't complicated enough to require a GIS tool and knowledge of cartography and map layers," says Elissa Fink, vice president of marketing. "At the other end of the spectrum, MapPoint and Google Mashups are great ways to display data, but they're not intended for analytics. We wanted to make maps part of the analytic workflow within Tableau."

How does that work? The article goes on:

Data elements such as city, state and country are now automatically recognized as mappable dimensions, and users can also assign geospatial rules to selected dimensions.

I saw the PR on the new release last week (I'd never heard of the company) and visited the site but could quite get at what this app was about. The "new features" page highlights the limitation of more and less technical solutions:

Most solutions for mapping require technical knowledge that limits the use of maps in visual analysis. Or maps are displays like mashups which require programming skills and use map images designed for navigation, not analysis. Tableau 4.0 integrates of maps as another view type that rapidly answers questions about data.

Looking at the website, my sense is this another stab at "GIS is too complex, but we make it easy, but don't forget analytics." Oh, and I learned about the embedded mapping tools: "you don't have to know a latitude from a longitude."
Map Hawk - Watching the Media and How it Uses Maps

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 10:46am CEST

Tags: Politics and Mapping

Map Hawk is a newly launched blog that will focus on maps and mapping technology in use by the mainstream media. With the upcoming U.S. elections the Olympics and ongoing world events, Map Hawk will document and explore the use of maps in print, online and televised media. You'll find my coverage both here on APB and at MapHawk.blogspot.com. I hope you'll join the conversation, send comment s, subscribe to the daily newsletter and participate in the ongoing polls. See the first poll on how CNN should improve their mapping capabilities for the presidential election.
Quote of the Day - Definition of "geospatial intelligence" ... "a melding of...ologies and ographies"

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 9:27am CEST

Asked how he would define "geospatial intelligence, retired UK brigadier Nick Rigby, former director of intelligence for the UK Ministry of Defense said, "For me it is the melding of geospatial information [that of data and products] across the spectrum of the -ologies and -ographies with the intelligence disciplines to deliver a capability greater than the sum of the constituent parts - a means of visualising the instance, situation or forecasting the same," said Rigby, who is now a non-executive director with ESRI UK.

He went on to say that, "the geospatial intelligence discipline had become a key enabler in network- or information-centric operations."

--from Jane's
Microsoft Moves Photosynth under Virtual Earth Team

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 2:34am CEST

Tags: microsoft

Update 7/29: It seems the original post, by Christ Pendleton, has been "removed" at the very least. I found another copy here. Ogle Earth speculates on a premature announcement.

---

From Chris Pendleton's Blog:

No longer is Photosynth just a Live Labs research project - it no(w) has full funding and backing from the Virtual Earth team. It helps that we get all of the people that worked on it too.

Recall that Photosynth can take a pile of photos of the same location/feature, "match" them up, and display the "photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next." The general consensus, with which I agree: its closer to being a real world product. It's a good thing Chris mentioned this; the Photosynth blog's last post was Sept of last year! I guess they've been busy with other things.
Loopt Offers New (Cheaper) Deal to Carriers

Posted: July 25th, 2008, 2:22pm CEST

Tags: Social Networking

I don't exactly follow this, but here's what I understand from VentureBeat. Maybe a reader can help explain the flow of money...

(1) There's a "cost" (I guess in money?) to get the GPS location from a phone's chip. Each time to you (a developer) does it, you "pay."

(2) Loopt (one of these developers) struck a deal with Sirf and Qualcomm (they make GPS chips) for a flat fee to get the GPS data.

(3) Thus, Loopt can offer its service to the carriers more cheaply.

So says, VentureBeat:

What does this mean? Nearly every phone with a GPS chip right now will be able to use the Loopt application for a much better deal.

The carriers and handset makers still have to buy into this new plan, but you can be sure that is going to happen now that Loopt has this deal.

That I read as: the carriers are more likely to carry the Loopt app since it "costs them less" via this deal. End users use Loopt for free, so this is really about putting Loopt on more carrier networks, so it's THE LBS app out there. The other motivation, says a source close to the action: a forthcoming ad app for Loopt.
Audio: Interview with GeoEye CEO/CFO

Posted: July 25th, 2008, 1:31pm CEST

Tags: Remote Sensing

Chris Fernandez at Seeking Alpha provides a summary article/podcast, mostly touching on the business side of things, though there is talk of how GeoEye outshines competitor DigitalGlobe.
Rolta Finalized Acquisition of US BI Company; Won't say Which One

Posted: July 25th, 2008, 1:18pm CEST

Tags: Geospatial business

Update: 7/29/08: Word is out: it's WhittmanHart Consulting, the consulting Division of WhittmanHart Inc., a Chicago company.

WhittmanHart Consulting (WHC) is a management and technology consulting services firm that delivers solutions with a unique blend of industry relevance, business process innovation and technology expertise. The company is recognized today as an industry leading provider of consulting services in the Business Intelligence (BI) arena, particularly focused on the Hyperion software technology acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2007. WhittmanHart, Inc. will retain and continue to operate WhittmanHart Interactive, its leading interactive agency, in a standalone capacity.

- Moneycontrol

--- original post 7/25/08 ---------

They'll share the name within two weeks.

- Sify
My Big Fat Greek GIS Contract

Posted: July 24th, 2008, 10:00pm CEST

In a press release picked up from Forbes today, Intracom IT jv of Greece has signed an 11.2 Million ($17.5) deal for the Greek Information Society to develop a GIS for urban planners, engineers and citizens for the prefectures and municipalities in Greece. The press release isn't posted on the Intracom IT website yet and with some digging it was hard to determine which GIS was chosen for the project. But in snooping around I did find that Intracom has in the past implemented ESRI solutions.
LBS Giants Qualcomm and Nokia Settle Lawsuits; Qualcomm Ups Guidance

Posted: July 24th, 2008, 3:42pm CEST

Tags: lbs

Two of the biggest movers and shakers in LBS, Qualcomm (QCOM) and Nokia (NOK), announced that all outstanding lawsuits had been settled. Under a 15-year agreement, the two companies have resolved difference covering various Qualcomm patents for use in Nokia devices. In a separate announcement, Qualcomm announced (PDF) their Q3 results and revised guidance slightly downward for the remainder of the year but it did not dampen the deal with Nokia; QCOM stock soared 20% in earth trading today.
Microsoft Make trueSpace Free, Ties it into Virtual Earth

Posted: July 24th, 2008, 3:19pm CEST

Tags: microsoft

This is the next phase after Microsoft acquired Caligari (apb post) and its trueSpace 3D toolkit last year.

Chris Pendleton at the Virtual Earth, Evangelist's blog explains and provides an answer to "how to make money with 3D."
Further Convergence of Maps and Social Media

Posted: July 24th, 2008, 2:08pm CEST

All the talk is about LBS and social media, but I think the folks at Trails.com have a valuable proposition, too. The site now offers not just searchable maps, but a full social network build on Pluck. Unlike freebies such as FaceBook or MySpace, the business model here is subscriptions (you get map downloads, trailguides non-subscribers cannot access) and I suspect the powers that be figure an "exclusive" social network is another key draw.

- press release
NASCIO Releases Brief on Geospatial Resources

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

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released a new issue brief called "Where's the Data? Show Me -- Maximizing the Investment in State Geospatial Resources." It's a PDF download and you need to answer one question (no e-mail required) before downloading.

NASCIO is interested in GIS: It ranked in the organization's Top Ten list of Priority Technologies for 2008. The 23 page report includes NSGIC's input as well as a call to action for CIOs. It's a nice compilation, but nothing new to those on the inside.

via GovTech
Online Atlas of Ocean and Great Lakes Offers Downloadable Data

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

From a press release from the state of New York, emphasis mine:

Under the auspices of the New York Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Council, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Pete Grannis and Secretary of State Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez today announced the launch of the New York Ocean and Great Lakes Atlas, which allows the public to incorporate hundreds of data sets of New York State's resources into an internet-based atlas.

...
The atlas is an online mapping program that makes it possible to download data into Google Earth Geographic Information System (GIS) software. Currently, more than 200 data sets that contain information on such resources as storm drains, wetland boundaries, underwater vegetation, park locations, and fisheries are available through the atlas. Eventually, more than 900 datasets will be included. The atlas can be accessed at WWW.NYOGLATLAS.ORG .

The data can also be downloaded in shapefile and MapInfo formats. I wonder why if the vision is that users will want to view the data layers in Google Earth, the Council opted to build an atlas on other technology. I can't tell which technology is in use, in a quick look, but it certainly is not as flashy as Google Maps/Earth.
How do drive time maps save fuel?

Posted: July 23rd, 2008, 5:23pm CEST

Tags: Oops

An Internet-based map store put out a press release offering custom drive time maps. The selling point: they save gas. There's no real explanation of how they'd be used for that purpose and I can't think of any.

Update 3:26 pm: Based on the comments below I realize I didn't define drive time maps. That was an error. Here's the definition, a fine one, from the vendor of the maps in question: "Highlights drive time range limits." Such maps define the boundary of how far a driver can go from a specified point in a specified time. The vendor suggests 5, 15, 30, 45 and hour ranges, but will accept any value you choose.
Columbiana County Ohio Drops TIGER Maps for 911

Posted: July 23rd, 2008, 3:55pm CEST

Update 7/24: An article in today's SalemNews.net by the same reporter includes: "The NAVTEQ maps will cost $7,875 for an annual subscription." The original article cited below still includes the $77,875 value which per comments below is incorrect.

--- original post 7/23/08 -------

I was surprised to see the county was using what are refered to as Tiger data for E-911. In testing they were not found to be very good. Further, the company that provided them (not named in a Review article) was not responsive enough. Thus, the county will move NAVTEQ data. Cost:

The annual map subscription will cost $77,875 with quarterly updates. The cost to import the maps had not been determined at the time of the meeting.

The plan is to move to the NAVTEQ data and eventually to street centerline data currently under development.
Going Local (2 mile limit) with CLIF

Posted: July 23rd, 2008, 3:40pm CEST

Yeah, yeah, CLIF BARS, SHOTS, etc., endurance athletes seem to either love or hate them. (I confess liking the Shot Blocks, though I'm now favoring the woman friendly Luna Moons just because they are smaller.) This is the second year of the company's Two Mile Challenge, which urges people to use a bike for trips of 2 miles or less. These trips make up 40% of all car trips. Further, 90% of two mile trips are made by car! (Yikes, I say after just returning from 25 miles on my bike.)

To support the challenge, Clif offers tools to configure a bike and of course, a Google Maps mashup to find your 2 mile radius, along with key destinations in and out side of it. It's quite elegant and even includes user suggested POIs.

Per the press release, "since launching the first 2 Mile Challenge in September 2007, nearly 20,000 people have used the mapping service." This is the first I'd heard of it.
Rear View Mirror GPS Comes to US August 1

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

Tags: Satellite Navigation

DSUS Technology of China will offer a GPS-integrated rear-view mirror featuring Navigon Mobile Navigator 6.5, "Reality View and 12 map updates from FreshMaps."

The DSUS SmartMirror has a four-inch screen for GPS maps, built-in Bluetooth capability and a back-up camera. Price: $799.

- US News/Jalopnick
Podcast: Autodesk Series #1 - Asset Intelligence and Visualization

Posted: July 23rd, 2008, 9:51am CEST

Enclosure: [download]

Tags: Open Source

In the first of a series of podcasts from Autodesk, three of the company's leading technologists provide a foundation for understanding how government agencies can better utilize geospatial information. Geoff Zeiss, director of technology, David Kingsbury, Sr. Industry Manager for State and Local Government, and Pete Southwood, Geospatial Technical Evangelist conduct a roundtable discussion of Autodesk's Feature Data Object, or FDO, an open source solution that is embedded in many of the company's industry solutions. Autodesk's ability to integrate CAD, GIS, spatial databases, Excel spreadsheets, and imagery is truly unique and crosses into engineering design, which forms the foundation of integrated asset intelligence.

For more information on FDO see:

The Autodesk website or the Open Source Geospatial Foundation website.

Subscribe to Podcast RSS

Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")

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TomTom Beats Q2 Estimates, Stock Jumps

Posted: July 22nd, 2008, 2:48pm CEST

Tags: Geospatial business

Second-quarter profit beat analysts' estimates pushing the stock up as much as 2.95 euros, or 18 percent, to 19 euros. That was the biggest gain since TomTom first sold shares in 2005. Revenue was down due the acquisition of Tele Atlas, things seem rosy: "Despite all the hassle in the financial market, all the bad headlines, people are still buying navigation devices,'' Chief Executive Officer Harold Goddijn said.

- Bloomberg
Stuart Nixon's NearMap Acquired

Posted: July 22nd, 2008, 2:28pm CEST

Tags: Remote Sensing

Stuart Nixon? The guy who founded ER Mapper, now part of ERDAS.

NearMap? The company he founded in Australia after leaving ER Mapper. It offers technology, including the HyperPod aerial camera system, to take and process high resolution images ortho and oblique, far more cheaply and quickly (a city in a few days) than other solutions. The vision: imagery for mapping portals, governments real estate, etc. no older than 1 month.

Now, the news: Ipernica acquired NearMap for AU$4 million plus shares and options and a AU$1 million investment.

- ITWire
- Western Australian Business News (includes official announcement)
Quote of the Week

Posted: July 22nd, 2008, 1:31pm CEST

"Though deciphering the CD's information requires skills with Geographic Information System (GIS) software, intended users of the CD include state and local governments, homeowners, homebuyers and real estate agents."

- The Deseret News, describing a new CD of data on geological hazards for urban parts of Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah, Wasatch and Weber counties.
1 in 50 in UK Survey Blame Crash on SatNav

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

Tags: Satellite Navigation

British insurance company Direct Line carried out the survey for the newspaper The Mirror about satnavs and accidents. Highlights:

300,000 motorists have crashed because of a device
1.5 million drivers have suddenly veered in busy traffic while following a device's directions.
Five million have been sent the wrong way down a one-way street.
One in 10 drivers with a satnav says following its instructions made them take a dangerous or illegal turn.
ESRI Lands Nearly $8 Million NGA Contract

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

Tags: ESRI

The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency has awarded $7,914,778 for the development of a prototype to address "data fusion within a geospatial environment," according to a DoD statement. Work will be done at Redlands to be complete by July 18, 2010.

- PE.com
Discover Examines History, Future of Satellite Imagery

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

Tags: Remote Sensing

Not much new to those who follow imagery, Google and privacy issues, but a nice roundup.

- Discover
Podcast: MISO and ESRI: Current Status and the Future

Posted: July 22nd, 2008, 8:00am CEST

Enclosure: [download]

Tags: google

MISO are Microsoft, IBM, SAP and Oracle, the big enterprise players in the market today. All have a toe or more in GIS, but all also have a tie to ESRI. What's the state of those relationships and what new players also want and need to hook up with the big E? Our editors explore these questions and toss in a few other letters, G, A and B into the alphabet soup.

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Official Beijing Olympic Venue Map Disappoints; BBC Goes Interactive with VE

Posted: July 22nd, 2008, 12:11am CEST

I've been hunting around for the best maps of the Beijing Olympic venues. I've been disappointed so far with what I've found. Seems like Beijing released an official standard map of the event that everyone is copying, but its a very static and not very helpful. However, the BBC is using Microsoft Virtual Earth for their olympic venue map and they've done an absolutely fantastic job. It's icon driven; click on the icon; see a snapshot of the building and get the events that will take place; click on the event and you'll see the Brits that will compete. The BBC site was launched July 16.
SocBut: The Local Social Network

Posted: July 21st, 2008, 2:36pm CEST

Tags: Social Networking

Yes, the name does sound odd, but when you realize it's short for Social Butterfly, and pronounced "sock boot" perhaps it's more appealing. The idea behind SocBut is a social network where you include your ZIP Code and a distance to just receive messages from others within that area. It's sort of "hyperlocal" social networking. Conceptually, it's great, but it suffers the same challenges other locally based networks have: creating critical mass to make it interesting. Recall that Meetro died because of this challenge. That said, I give the founder credit for giving it a go and doing the intro video himself.
Quote of the Week

Posted: July 21st, 2008, 2:13pm CEST

Tags: lbs

"For me, we've always been a believer that Sony Ericsson has done a lot in the past and had a good portfolio. But they've got settled in a comfort zone; they do music and digital imaging very well, but these are now a given for consumers. People are looking for something else now, and that's GPS and browsing and Internet services. Sony Ericsson is going there with the X1 [due in the fourth quarter] but that's just one product."

Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi on Sony Ericson's disappointing earnings report and plan to cut 2000 jobs, speaking to ZDnet UK via ZDnet Asia.
Mapplr: No Maps

Posted: July 21st, 2008, 1:51pm CEST

There are slews of new press releases about new map-based websites. Most are "just another" map of hotels or homes for sale. I like the name Mapplr and the PR describes the site as: "Mapplr (www.mapplr.com) is a publisher of hip and stylish hotels, restaurants, and cafes worldwide."

The most interesting thing: no maps. Yes there are lists of favorite hotels including pictures and links, but no maps. I guess they missed the trend of maps being a requirement for such sites.
Nigeria Moving Forward on Nationwide Mapping

Posted: July 21st, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Stakeholders have announced support for a digital map and enterprise GIS. The President of Nigerian Institution Surveyors, Dr. Sola Atilola supports the plan noting its key to development. However he didn't offer a specific return on investment.

The project has the following components; Geodetic Control and Digital Aerial Photo Acquisition; Determination of Geoid Model and establishment of Continuous Operating Reference Station and Orthophoto, Contour Lines and Digital (vector) Mapping; GIS Database and Enterprise GIS; Bathymetry Survey of Lagos lagoons and creeks; supply of equipment and training and public enlightenment/education.

- PunchNG
Nigeria Moving Forward on Nationwide Mapping

Posted: July 21st, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Stakeholders have announced support for a digital map and enterprise GIS. The President of Nigerian Institution Surveyors, Dr. Sola Atilola supports the plan noting its key to development. However he didn't offer a specific return on investment.

The project has the following components; Geodetic Control and Digital Aerial Photo Acquisition; Determination of Geoid Model and establishment of Continuous Operating Reference Station and Orthophoto, Contour Lines and Digital (vector) Mapping; GIS Database and Enterprise GIS; Bathymetry Survey of Lagos lagoons and creeks; supply of equipment and training and public enlightenment/education.

- PunchNG
The Latest on iPhone GPS and its Small Antenna

Posted: July 18th, 2008, 2:44pm CEST

Tags: Apple

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDnet tackles it revealing contradictory statements from Apple, the source of NYT's David Pogues "small antenna" statement and a blog all about GPS and the iPhone (Steffen Breitbach's iGPS).
SAP, Oracle Increase Software and Support Prices

Posted: July 17th, 2008, 5:26pm CEST

Tags: Oracle

The Wall Street Journal reported today that SAP and Oracle will increase fees on software and support fees. SAP will be increasing maintence fees from 15% to 22% of the cost of the initial software license. Oracle will raise software license fees from 15% to 20% in the U.S. while prices in Europe held steady and some regions experienced a decrease in price.
Arrington: Facebook, MySpace Blow it on iPhone without Location

Posted: July 17th, 2008, 3:40pm CEST

Tags: lbs

Michael Arrington at TechCruch (via Washington Post) chastises the two social networks because while they offer effective and popular apps for the iPhone, neither added in location, something he says is the only way to draw new users.

But while both applications are useful for heavy users, they won't drive new users to the services because they failed to leverage the killer iPhone feature - location awareness.

He acknowledges privacy concerns, but seems convinced these can be managed. It does seem these and other players are simply "late to the party" giving Loopt, Whrrl and others a jump on the mobile platform.
Loopt Privacy Issues - Not Location Related

Posted: July 17th, 2008, 3:00pm CEST

Tags: lbs

To my amazement this kruffufle is not about sharing one's location, but rather unintended invites going out, per an InformationWeek blog. To Loopt's credit, it addressed the issue, apologized and fixed the problem.
Disposable LBS Apps

Posted: July 17th, 2008, 2:47pm CEST

Tags: lbs

Stan Schroeder over at Mashable write on his idea: Location-Aware Disposable Apps For The iPhone. The iPhone part is just obligatory hype since any mobile with location sensing could support the concept.

So, what is the concept? It's not really disposable, but location-activated installation for apps. One example: when you are near the train station an app would "pop up" for installation with train times. Or, when you walk by restaurants, you'd see pop up installs for menus or reviews.

The comments tend toward, "don't pop up things I don't want" and are worth reading. The real answer in my mind is a broker for such services. The end user would select what sorts of apps they might find interesting and have the broker only pop those up. The categories might be: business, food, transportation, entertainment, etc. The other half of the story is the "disposable" part. Would it be possible for the app to "uninstall" automatically when the user "leaves" the area of interest? That'd be ideal for those who forget to dump unused apps.
Quote of the Week

Posted: July 17th, 2008, 2:21pm CEST

"Digital cameras now come with built-in global positioning system receivers that note the exact longitude and latitude of each picture taken, data that are readable by map services, called neogeography."

- Bill Sones and Rich Sones Ph.D. in the Deseret News in a Q & A column question about the new geographers.
Going hyperlocal

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

I've watched the hyperlocal news discussions with interest, but rarely do I feel the need for local news beyond a subscription to the local paper and signs and banners in the square (Davis Square). Today however, I needed, ok wanted, the hyperlocal news. The small restaurant across the street, Supreme Kitchen, had crime tape on it and a broken window when I left to have dinner with my Dad at about 5:30 pm. This is not the sort of place that would be robbed or where there'd be a fight. It's across the street from the hospital and just a few blocks from the fire station.

When I got home I planned to find out what happened. Before I could I listened to the message on the answering machine. It was from the police. Apparently on Saturday there was a hit and run two blocks from me. (The nine year old who was stuck will fully recover, thankfully.) The police, using our reverse call out tool no doubt, were asking neighbors for any information to help track down the perpetrator.

So, how did I find out what happened at Supreme Kitchen? I thought about the hyperlocal sites I'd heard of (Boston and surrounding are not a prime candidate yet) and immediately went to Google News. No luck. Then I went to Google's blogsearch. Bingo. The "other" local paper's blog had the story with cheeky headline ("Do you want eggs with your reckless driving?") and photographs.
Podcast: Interview with Safe Software and WeoGeo on Cloud Computing

Posted: July 17th, 2008, 8:00am CEST

Enclosure: [download]

Tags: Special Topics Podcast

Safe Software and WeoGeo are partnering to bring spatial ETL (extract, transform and load) technology to the cloud. Not sure what the cloud is? Not sure how geospatial technologies can take advantage of it? Safe's president Don Murray and WeoGeo's CEO Paul Bissett tackle these topics and prepare you for your future in the cloud.

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Redlands Prof Discusses Disease Tracking in Rwanda on BBC

Posted: July 16th, 2008, 1:28pm CEST

Tags: Health

The BBC offers an article and audio clip from it Digital Planet program featuring Max Baber from the University of Redlands. The audio, but not the text explains the data collection using GPS.
State of Nebraska Mandates County Assessor GIS

Posted: July 16th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

I didn't know that. Per Superior Express the state has mandated GIS for all county assessors. Nuckolls County, about which the article was written, just received two bids. It's not clear to me from the article if the mandate is direct or if it's because the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service, formerly the Soil Conservation Service) no longer provides paper mapbooks, but only digital data and the Nebraska Property Assessment Division requires county assessors to use new soil codes in that digital data for assessment purposes by Jan. 1, 2009. In either case, its an interesting way to get GIS into those counties that don't yet have it.
CNN's Multi-touch Wall Jr. Will go to Conventions

Posted: July 16th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

UPI reports via Hollywood reporter that CNN has a smaller sized multi-touch wall that will be onsite at the Democratic and Republican conventions later this year. This is covered under UPI's entertainment news. Political correspondent John King who drives the board noted it would show an "electoral map of the United States, along with any other information event planners deem necessary."
"Let us know if you enjoy weekly crime maps in print"

Posted: July 16th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

I thought this was an interesting headline in the Shenandoah Valley News Leader. The real question in the article by the paper's data editor is essentially, should the paper continue the challenging process of creating a print map, or just offer the interactive one. When you read about the steps required to make the print one (Windows, Mac, replacing lost decimal places, complex mapping software...) you get a sense of the answer.
ESRI Podcast Series #7: What's New in ArcGIS Mobile 9.3

Posted: July 16th, 2008, 9:07am CEST

Tags: ESRI

In this podcast, Myles Sutherland, ArcGIS Mobile Product Manager at ESRI, discusses what users can expect with the latest release of ArcGIS Mobile 9.3. Myles talks about the new ready-to-use mobile application as well as productivity enhancements to the ArcGIS Mobile Software Developer Kit. He also highlights a number of the mobile events at the upcoming ESRI International User Conference.
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BI Apps for the iPhone

Posted: July 15th, 2008, 3:52pm CEST

Tags: Location Intelligence

Oracle and Pentaho have announced the support for bringing business intelligence (BI) applications to the iPhone. I see this as a more important game changer that could potentially unseat RIM as the perferred business communication device that also brings location technology into the mix. While Pentaho, an open source BI application, have already created a way to integate Google Maps with their software, Oracle has been pushing Oracle Maps more than a Google Maps mashup. The image below is from a Pentaho application.
Geomarketing at Work

Posted: July 15th, 2008, 1:05pm CEST

Tags: Geospatial business

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

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Posted: July 31st, 2008, 2:17pm CEST

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Tags: google

Posted: July 31st, 2008, 1:37pm CEST

Tags: Surveying

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Tags: MapInfo

Posted: July 30th, 2008, 9:58pm CEST

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Tags: gps

Posted: July 30th, 2008, 4:15pm CEST

Tags: microsoft

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

Tags: Poll

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Tags: ESRI

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Posted: July 29th, 2008, 2:09pm CEST

Tags: google

Posted: July 29th, 2008, 1:51pm CEST

Tags: Satellite Navigation

Posted: July 29th, 2008, 8:00am CEST

Enclosure: [download]

Tags: google

Posted: July 29th, 2008, 4:11am CEST

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 7:06pm CEST

Tags: ESRI UC 08

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 3:40pm CEST

Tags: google

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 3:23pm CEST

Tags: google

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 3:11pm CEST

Tags: google

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 2:33pm CEST

Tags: google

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 1:37pm CEST

Tags: google

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 1:00pm CEST

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 10:46am CEST

Tags: Politics and Mapping

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 9:27am CEST

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 2:34am CEST

Tags: microsoft

Posted: July 25th, 2008, 2:22pm CEST

Tags: Social Networking

Posted: July 25th, 2008, 1:31pm CEST

Tags: Remote Sensing

Posted: July 25th, 2008, 1:18pm CEST

Tags: Geospatial business

Posted: July 24th, 2008, 10:00pm CEST

Posted: July 24th, 2008, 3:42pm CEST

Tags: lbs

Posted: July 24th, 2008, 3:19pm CEST

Tags: microsoft

Posted: July 24th, 2008, 2:08pm CEST

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Posted: July 23rd, 2008, 5:23pm CEST

Tags: Oops

Posted: July 23rd, 2008, 3:55pm CEST

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

Tags: Satellite Navigation

Posted: July 23rd, 2008, 9:51am CEST

Enclosure: [download]

Tags: Open Source

Posted: July 22nd, 2008, 2:48pm CEST

Tags: Geospatial business

Posted: July 22nd, 2008, 2:28pm CEST

Tags: Remote Sensing

Posted: July 22nd, 2008, 1:31pm CEST

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

Tags: Satellite Navigation

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

Tags: ESRI

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

Tags: Remote Sensing