Google Pack includes some cool software essentials

Thanks to Rob Elkins (http://myesri.blogspot.com/) for a tip on this one from Google -  Google Pack is a collection of free software essentials (you may already have many of them on your PC). the pack includes picassa, google earth, a free 6 months Norton AntiVirus (special edition) , google toolbar, and more... pretty cool stuff... make sure you grab firefox as well! See http://pack.google.com/pack_installer_required.html

O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference set for June 13-14

The thrust of the program for the 2006 conference will answer the question "where's the value"? Also from the announcement... Drill down topics and themes for 2006:

- Yellow pages data providers
- Online local advertisement systems like Google, Yahoo!, MSN
- Demographics information
- New geo map hacking world
- Money-making mash-ups and hot start-ups
- Mobile, like uLocate and Plazes
- Security applications (fraud detection, tracking, surveillance), geospam, privacy
- Enterprise integration of Google Maps, open source tools, etc.
- Adding mashups into small business internal purposes to help efficiency, increase revenue
- Map visualization techniques

See http://conferences.oreilly.com/where/

 

Geospatial Foundation meeting - how lively will it be?

With the coming Geospatial Foundation meeting scheduled for Feb 4 in Chicago you have to sit back and wonder how this meeting will pan out... wouldn't you just love to be a fly on the wall on that one! Looking through the foundation's discussion list archives (http://lists.mapserverfoundation.org/pipermail/discuss/)  you can see that debates are frequent and discussions are lively (case in point, see the ongoing topics on what to name the foundation, legal issues, and how to handle existing trademarks like MAPtools etc...) - one can only imagine that the meeting next month will be extremely lively. As one member planning on particpating in the meeting has mentioned to me... you have to wonder what will be resolved "with so many cooks in the kitchen ". Should be interesting to follow. A reminder, you can find th Foundation's website at http://www.mapserverfoundation.org/

 

GIS weblog trial on my Opera community

I've been testing the Opera my community and weblog system.. so far I have to say its very slick! You can see the trial at http://my.opera.com/gisuser/... there was a blogger migration tool although it didn't bring in existing posts.. not what I would call a "migration".. if all goes well I may switch over to Opera full time.. until then, I'll mirror this blogs content there... stay tuned! Are you familiar with my Opera? What's your take on it? Cheers

 

Mapgrab update - grab an image from a Web Map Service

Thanks to Joe Kerski on the edgis list for a heads up on this one... From the Czech Republic comes this clever free (General Public License) command line tool, MapGrab, which will grab an image from a Web Map Service and deliver it complete with georeferencing information. The website notes that it is "Especially intended for personal or educational use" and warns that one should be aware of "possible legal restrictions when using data created from public map servers." See http://webak.upce.cz/~uozp/mapgrab/mapgrab.html

National System for Geospatial-Intelligence Statement of Strategic Intent

From the NGA... Jan 12, 2006, NGA News Release: "National System for Geospatial-Intelligence Statement of Strategic Intent Available Online" NGA recently released the National System for Geospatial-Intelligence (NSG) Statement of Strategic Intent, a vision for the future of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT).  See PDF at http://www.nga.mil/NGASiteContent/StaticFiles/OCR/nga0601.pdf

A VerySpatial Podcast half-year episode featuring interview with Peter Morville

This announcement from our friends at "Very Spatial"... VerySpatial, LLC is pleased to announce that we have reached the 26th episode of A VerySpatial Podcast, which features an interview with Peter Morville, noted author and information scientist. A VerySpatial Podcast premiered with its first episode on Geography and geospatial technologies in July 2005. The podcast is intended to be a weekly source of information that is supported by a blog accessible at http://veryspatial.com. The featured guest for Episode 26, Peter Morville, is the author of Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become (2005) and co-author of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-scale Web Sites (2002) both from O’Reilly Media, Inc. A VerySpatial Podcast is available for direct download from http://veryspatial.com/podcast.php

A useful primer and tips on ECW

Ever wondered about ECW? Fear no more... there's a new primer on ECW that should fill you in and get you up to speed. This posting from the Digital Earth weblog walks you through the who, what, where, when, , why and how of ECW... nice stuff! See http://www.digitalearth.com.au/2006/01/14/tips-on-ecw-image-compression/#more-138

Geospatial Foundation Meeting announced for Chicago

A snippet of info from a recent message posted to the Free GIS list...  In order to help move along the process of starting an "open source  geospatial foundation" there will be a face-to-face meeting in  Chicago, Westin O'Hare, on February 4, 2006, hosted by Autodesk. In  conceiving of this meeting, we have tried (and will continue to try)  to follow these principles: Inclusion. Members from a number of different open source projects  have been invited (see the list so far below) and Autodesk has offered to pay the travel costs of some of these invitees in order to  ensure they can attend if they cannot afford it otherwise. Anyone else is also welcome to attend physically or virtually -- If you are interested in attending to represent one of these communities as a user or you want to propose adding a project to this list, please send an email to: chicago <at> mapserverfoundation.org. See also www.mapserverfoundation.org or see the entire message at http://lists.mapserverfoundation.org/pipermail/discuss/2006-January/000349.html

BlackBerry to support Google's mapping and IM

This from the AP out of Canada...  BlackBerry e-mail devices will soon support the Google Talk instant-messaging and Google Local mapping programs, the handheld maker said Thursday, extending the Internet titan's push to put its services on mobile devices.  The BlackBerry version of the popular Google Local service will let users view maps and satellite images, find local businesses and get driving directions on their handsets. For more on this see HERE

MillionDollarWeightLoss.com SNAGS MillionDollarHomepage.com last pixels for 38 per pixel.. savvy move or dumb-ass award.. you tell me!

On the lighter side.. I can't decide if this is a brilliant business move, or if the company should be awarded the "dumb-ass" of the web award... read on... The PR headline reads... MillionDollarWeightLoss.com SNAGS THE LAST 1000 PIXELS -Online weight loss marketer outbids the competition for the final ad space on MillionDollarHomepage.com - The final 1,000 pixels of the MillionDollarHompage.com, a new Web site that serves as a conduit for advertisers to gain exposure by purchasing blocks of pixels that will link to their own home page, was purchased today by Elijah Kliger of Brooklyn, NY, director of business development at Netnutri.com for the new Web site www.MillionDollarWeightloss.com. The one million pixels on the page were originally sold off at a price of $1 per pixel. Demand for the remaining space on the site was in such high demand that Las Vegas odds makers were predicting that the final 1,000 pixels would be sold for $1million at auction. Kliger’s winning bid for the final 1,000 pixels of this historical eBay auction was $38,100, far less than the highest bid of $160,000. So... we have MillionDollarWeightLoss.com buying 1,000 pixels for $38K - LOL

Google now inserting paid ads into maps on Google Local

From searchenginewatch... David Galbraith spotting that Google now appears to be inserting paid ads into maps on Google Local. For a search on hotels new york, he's spotted "blue pins" that correspond to what may be new sponsored links that come above editorial listings to the left of the map. No surprise and actually, quite innovative, check out this sample search http://www.google.com/local?hl=en&lr=&q=hotels&near=New%20York,%20NY where paid links appear in a blue bubble icon. The funny thing is that the paid-for links actually appear smaller than the hits that the search turned up, however, the bonus is that paid listings get a guanteed return... pretty interesting. See source: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060112-115634

 

Free Enhanced, Collarless Digital Raster Graphics (DRG) Available From USDA

A reminder... Looking for data? The Geospatial Data Gateway provides One Stop Shopping for natural resources or environmental data including enhanced (collarless) Digital Raster Graphics (DRG). This is nice score as a commercial datadepot actually offers these same data for a cost of $4,000 ... OUCH!!Enhanced (collarless) digital raster graphics are (DRG) available for download via the USDA Geospatial Data Gateway, additionally, the status of all EDRGs (1:20k, 1:24k, 1:100k, 1:250k) are available via  Interactive (ArcIMS) map via the NRCS. See See http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/  For a status map See http://www.ncgc.nrcs.usda.gov/products/datasets/drg/status-maps.html

Apple Throws hat into Location Based Services (LBS) with trademark application for Mobile Me

Reuters has reported the following...Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) has filed to trademark the phrase "Mobile Me" for use in a wide range of businesses, furthering speculation it could introduce an iPod phone.  From the article... "We believe this is further indication of (Apple's) strategic direction to extend its iPod + iTunes and Mac franchises into new business areas including smart phones, value-added mobile content services, and the broader consumer electronics space," American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu wrote in a note on Thursday. See http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh28220_2006-01-12_19-33-50_n12335935_newsml

 

GISuser Today from Wednesday Jan 11

 MAC users are excited today as Google have finally made available Google Earth for MAC OS... see the announcement below or jump HERE (http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html)  to download Earth for MAC and take it for a test drive. Consultants take note, several new RFPs have been posted including a huge proposal from Geomatics Canada in the next phase of the National Imagery project... see the RFP section for details. Loads of news announcements to speak of today since Monday, including word of the 2005 GIS Web Application Awards Winners, a "skookum" card for digital stereoscopic monitors, more $$ dished out in Clearview contracts, and a report out of SRIinstitute concerning new Initiatives and Legislation for 2006 Support the Commercial Remote Sensing Industry. For fun check out the 2006 Bloggies and cast a vote for your favorite - See http://2006.bloggies.com/. Speaking of blogs, the latest posts to the photoblog include some pics from the Emerald City from a recent trip... enjoy!  Most recent Spotlight... GISuser Spotlight on Education... EOS Provides Online Introductory to ArcGIS Training

 

Some Recent PR updates:
 2005 GIS Web Application Awards Winners
 GeoConcept’s G-OLAP brings live updating to online thematic maps
 Google rolls out Google Earth for Macintosh
 GSDI Supports Fifteen Projects with Grants
 BOXX launches superlative workstation for Visual Effects professionals
 2-day hands-on workshop for GIS users at all levels
 Smart Data Strategies, Inc. awarded the registered trademark Real Property Intelligence
 Vexcel Canada Completes Northern Canada Mapping Projects
 VELOCITIE Provides Upgrade Support for Mobile GIS Application at WPSC
 GSDI-9 Call for Abstracts, Papers
 Graphic Technologies, Inc. Celebrates 10 Years
 Matrox introduces world's first single-card solution for digital stereoscopic monitors
 Avineon Continues to Provide GIS Support for MAF/TIGER Mapping Project for the U.S. Census Bureau
 Curtin University of Technology selects ER Mapper's Educational Site Licenses program
 GeoSpatial Training & Consulting, LLC Releases Google Maps For Your Apps! Virtual Training Course
 Autodesk Official Supplier and Championship Sponsor of the 2006 FIRST Robotics Competition
 Autodesk Named One of FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to Work For
 New Initiatives and Legislation for 2006 Support the Commercial Remote Sensing Industry
 Space Imaging Awarded Additional $24 Million ClearView contract
 York County PA, Renews Pictometry License Agreement

 

GIS Job Opportunities:
POSITION OPENINGS IN THE UNIVERSITY-WIDE GIS INITIATIVE - The University of Redlands has launched a major, university-wide initiative designed to integrate geographic information systems (GIS) into teaching, research, and administration. Already the University is building a reputation as an innovator in this important field. As part of its next phase of GIS expansion, the University is embarking on a substantial program of recruitment. (University of Redlands)

 

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Programmer - City of Spokane

 

Installation Coordinator, Edmonton Albertaa - TELUS Geomatics

 

See http://www.gisuser.com/newsletter/jan112006.html

Orbimage Buys Space Imaging, creates World's largest commercial imaging company - GeoEye

Perhaps strategically timed just after the ClearView award announcements, Orbimage has snapped up Space Imaging in yet another shake-down in the remote sensing business. They result is a new company, GeoEye, billed as the largest remote sensing company in the World. From the news... GeoEye is the world’s largest commercial satellite imagery company with a pro forma combined revenue for 2005 of approximately $160 million. The purchase price was approximately $58.5 million less amounts which were paid by Space Imaging on its existing debt as well as certain other adjustments. See details at http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/7848/ or For more information, visit www.geoeye.com.

 

Of interest... Where's the sun - 8 hours of sun in Vancouver

I knew this time of the year was depressing, particularly here in the Pacific NW (Vancouver) but now its getting our of hand... Environment Canada has reported that Vancouver BC has seen a whopping 8 hours of sunshine in the past 25 days... NICE!  Apparently the nice climate attracts business, visitors, and residents to the areas, however, I just can't see it... hopefully this won't last... until then I'll grab the umbrella.

U.S. National Grid

This item of interest recently came from Delorme... U.S. National Grid Available in XMap - If you're not already familiar with the U.S. National Grid (USNG), chances are you soon will be. Recent initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels have been promoting the idea of a consistent and uniform grid coordinate system that will provide an efficient reference mechanism for all location-based systems and services. To that end, the USNG has emerged as the preferred reference system and presentation format for National Spatial Data Infrastructure applications. For more information on the USNG, visit www.fgdc.gov/usng.

GIS Job - GIS webmap contractor needed for Gulf of Mexico webmap project

This request for a mapping contractor came through to us at GISuser --  We need your help on finding a programmer that can help us put a interative map on the web. We are a small company that provides flight following to helicopter companies in the gulf of mexico. We would like to field a map that would show the gulf of mexico oil lease blocks and have overlaid on that the helicopter positions from our live data base and also weather. Please let me know if you know of an individual or small company that could do that with us. Details: contract work, map IMS to be run out of Houston, TX. End result will be a dynamic living map with around 5 levels of over lay with at least 2 levels being live data being continuosly forwarded to the maping server -- Contact: DataFlyt Software maps-at-dataflyt.com - ref: GISuser contract webmapper.

Off topic... only in Canada eh!

Off topic here, but aimed at you hockey lovers (like me). Nice job to Orca Bay and the NHL for having the Vancouver Canucks play the Maple leafs tonight in Vancouver.. this will be the only meeting of these 2 popular teams this year. Here's the kicker... the game is obviously sold as (as are ALL Canuck home games) and the game is only on Pay Per View... NICE job trying to get those fans back NHL! Pay per view.. kiss my #$## you guys, I'll listen to the game on the radio for some great commentary... only in Canada eh! My rant for the day ;0)

MAC World 2006 pics and more

Didn't make it to MAC World 2006? No problem, check out MAKE for details from the show (http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/01/makes_best_of_macworld_san_fra.html) including loads of pics in this photoblog http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmtorrone/sets/1813496/

Gut a hundie buring a hole in your pocket? MoWH.com Launches Offering HTML Tags for $100

Mosaics of Web History (MoWH), located at http://www.mowh.com, officially opened for business today. Instead of offering pixels for sale, this new site gives visitors the ability to purchase the very fabric of the internet — HTML code; specifically, tags. Users either design a standard or use the tag to display a button image of their own design. Each button features the owner's message in its title attribute (which is visible by mousingover the button). Pushing a button takes the visitor to the owner's website of choice. Buttons are displayed on the http://www.mowh.com website for a term of five (5) years.

NPR slams Google Maps, mapquest and others.. gimme a break!

In yet another humorous article about Google's poor maps - actually guys, the data provided to Google, mapquest, MSN, and others are licensed from data providers like Navteq and Tele Atlas. Nobody ever claims that these data are perfect and they are frequently updated based on user feedback and regular QC by the vendors. To say that "google's maps are inaccurate" is ridiculous... Google serves up the data, they don't create it or own it. About NPR, they have made a mountain out of a molehill because one specific directions exercise led them on a sidewalk rather than a road.. sure, there's problems with the data but these are small quirks in the data that will be sorted out. Typically some local knowledge is always good to have when you interpret directions that are provided to you via web services.. gee, one dude on a news list actually suggested a class action lawsuit because of this.. my lord.. based on what?? LOL - See story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5140674

Google Maps For Your Apps! Virtual Training Course

Eric from Geospatial Training has sent this  info my way which may be of interest to you budding map hackers/mashers... GeoSpatial Training & Consulting, LLC, a provider of virtual and instructor led GIS training courses, is pleased to announce the release of its latest virtual training course entitled "Google Maps For Your Apps!". This course is designed to enable you to take advantage of Google Maps for your website.  You will learn how to create maps, add map controls for user interactions (zooming, and panning), programmatically alter the map extent, add points of interest to the map, add custom icons, geocode addresses on the fly, read addresses from a database or XML file, and display aerial photography.  See http://www.geospatialtraining.com/catalog_googlemaps.cfm

ANN: NRCan Energy Ambassadors Student Competition

Over the past three years, post-secondary students across Canada have earned $60,000 in cash awards simply by submitting a course project to the Energy Ambassadors student competition – an annual event that showcases the talents and ideas of young Canadians.Sponsored by Natural Resources Canada's Office of Energy Efficiency, the competition selects projects related to energy efficiency – specifically, how using energy wisely reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. The 20 Energy Ambassadors selected each year raise awareness of energy efficiency, not just by participating in the competition, but also by networking with government and private industry leaders. See http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/corporate/awards/ambassadors/about-the-competition.cfm?attr=0

Reminder The Starkey-Robinson Award - DEADLINE January 15th, 2006

The Starkey-Robinson Award gives recognition to high quality graduate research that furthers understanding of the geography of Canada. The Award is adjudicated annually by the Awards Committee of the CAG. Eligibility for the Award is based on the completion of a thesis or comparable work at the Masters or Doctoral level at a Canadian University within the preceding 2 years. Nominations for the Award should be submitted to the CAG Office by Departmental Chairs or Graduate Supervisors by January 15th, 2006. Each nomination should include a brief statement (maximum two pages) outlining the topic and findings of the work and explaining its significance for the geography of Canada. An extract from the thesis (or equivalent) of a maximum of eight pages may be attached to the nomination. The Award is a cash prize, currently a single award of $500. The number and value of awards made annually will be determined from time to time by the Executive Committee of the CAG. In any year, the Awards Committee may decline to make an award. Nominations and accompanying documents must be submitted electronically to cag@geog.mcgill.ca. The CAG will accept ONE nomination for the Award from each Geography department with a graduate program.

CBS Reports on USGS Moving Shop to Denver

From the AP... The U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed its decision to consolidate its nationwide mapping operations in Denver, despite objections from lawmakers in Missouri, where an existing mapping operation will be closed, Sen. Wayne Allard said Wednesday. The new Geospatial Technical Operations Center will absorb operations currently done in Rolla, Mo., Menlo Park, Calif., and Reston, Va. The move would force 187 Rolla employees out of their jobs within a year. "This will be a major boost for Colorado's satellite imagery industry," said Allard, R-Colo., who learned of the decision from Interior Department Under Secretary Mark Limbaugh. See cbs4denver http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_011145001.html

Google Maps For Your Apps training announced

Something of interest for those of you wishing to dabble with the Google map API... GeoSpatial Training & Consulting, LLC, a provider of virtual and instructor led GIS training courses, is pleased to announce the release of its latest virtual training course entitled "Google Maps For Your Apps!". More info about this can be found in this announcement at http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/7813/ or go directly to http://www.geospatialtraining.com/catalog_googlemaps.cfm

Search for Map Services with MapDex & the Mapdex toolbar (ArcMAP)

Another goodie for those of you interested in locating web services and looking for a nifty new toolbar for use in ArcMAP... In our most recet GISuser Spotlight on Web Services... We look at Mapdex, the place to search for geographic data - Looking for data or map services? Look no more... Mapdex (www.mapdex.org) is a global index of 1,781 servers, serving 32,433 map services, containing over 400,000 GIS Layers, covering more than 4,000,000 columns. Taking it one step further, now you can even add a Mapdex toolbar in ArcMap providing you with direct access to the service. By default, the service returns hits based on a geographic search, resulting in servers providing access to DOQQs, aerial photos, and orthophotos. More about Mapdex and the Mapdex toolbar for ArcMAp is now authored at http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/7829/

Google rolls out Google Earth for Macintosh

New from the official googl earth weblog has it that a MAC version is now available - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/google-earth-in-mac-world-pc-too.html - The Mac version runs on OS X 10.4 and up - users can download the MAC version here - http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

Minimum System Configuration
OS: Windows 2000, XP, or Mac OS X (10.4)
CPU: 600MHz
Free Hard Disk Space: 400 MB
System RAM: 128 MB
Video RAM: 16 MB
Screen Resolution: 1024x768, 32-bit color
Internet: 128 Kbps ("broadband")

Census Bureau Releases State Population Estimates for the Adult Population

Just published... Internet tables showing the estimated July 1, 2005, population age 18 and over, along with the percentage of the total population belonging to this age group, for the nation and each state. See http://www.census.gov/popest/datasets.html or http://www.census.gov/popest/states/files/SC_EST2005_18+POP_RES.txt

Have you tried the Mapdex Toolbar

I need to credit James Fee (http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/) for a tip about this one (although I've been a mapdex fan for a little while)... Mapdex is a global index of 1,781 servers, serving 32,433 map services, containing over 400,000 GIS Layers, covering more than 4,000,000 columns... now you can add a toolbar in ArcMap providing direct access to the service - http://www.mapdex.org/MapdexToolbar/

Time for the 2006 Bloggies

Obviously I'm not interested in being a recipient of an award (my blog is simply for recreation as my true efforts go into the development and maintenance of GISuser.com, a leading commercial GIS news portal) but there's a few great GIS blogs out there that may make the grade. Check out http://2006.bloggies.com/ and nominate your favorite blogs for a bloggie!

National Geographic Awards in Cartography

Geography/GIS Students take notice... National Geographic recognizes student research in the mapping sciences with awards sponsored through different organizations:
- British Cartographic Society
- American Congress on Surveying and Mapping
- Association of American Geographers
- South African Student Award
Entries must be postmarked by January 27, 2006.
Please send entries to:
Professor Rob Edsall
Department of Geography
600 E. Orange St.
SCOB Bldg Room 330
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona 85287-0104
E-mail: robedsall@asu.edu
Phone: +1 608 310 9653
See http://www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/caward/ for more info

GIS Career Opportunities, The University of Redlands

POSITION OPENINGS IN THE UNIVERSITY-WIDE GIS INITIATIVE - The University of Redlands has launched a major, university-wide initiative designed to integrate geographic information systems (GIS) into teaching, research, and administration. Already the University is building a reputation as an innovator in this important field. As part of its next phase of GIS expansion, the University is embarking on a substantial program of recruitment. (University of Redlands) See details at http://www.gisuser.com/component/option,com_jobline/Itemid,132/task,view/id,756/

 

Avatech brands AutoCAD KML Writer as Earth Connector

Looking for a way to extract AutoCAD data so users can view in Google Earth? Avatech has a nifty solution (in Beta). Avatech experts have developed Earth Connector, a Google Earth add-in currently in beta form, for use with AutoCAD. It works within AutoCAD 2006 and 2005 by using the ExtractKML command, and lets you place CAD objects into the Google Earth worldview. Check out http://www.avat.com/products/software/avatech/extractkml/extractkml.asp for 2 MB download - Autocad 2005/2006 required.

Landsat 8 budgeted for $338 million

Next-generation LANDSAT is in the works... this from an article in the ArgusLeader... "The next satellite might eventually be dubbed Landsat 8 and is budgeted for $338 million this fiscal year. The memo from OSTP also said the government's goal is to make Landsat a permanent program rather than a series of independent missions."  The announcement of a new satellite was made quietly just before Christmas. See http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060107/NEWS/601070315/1001