Mapserver Foundation meeting comes up with new name - Open Source Geospatial Foundation

Spatial Galaxy has some reports from the Open Geospatial Foundation meeting taking place in Chicago (see http://spatialgalaxy.net/?p=7). So far they note that a new name has been accepted for the foundation... enter the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. Sounds like the org will have a home on the web at www.osgeo.org . IRC transcripts from the meeting are available at http://logs.qgis.org/geofoundation and pictures from the meeting now available at http://www1.mapserverfoundation.org/chicago-pics/images.html

iPod Radio Remote $49 device adds an FM tuner to iPod and iPod Nano

I must have missed this announcement out of MacWorld which is weird since it was the only iPod-related product announcement from Apple - the unveiling of the company’s iPod Radio Remote. This $49 device adds an FM tuner (and wired iPod remote) to a fifth-generation iPod or iPod nano, giving users of newer iPods a feature many of them have long requested. I've been wanting this feature since I started using my kids Nano and now my prayers have been answered... now if I could get an AM radio I could listen to hockey games while in transit.... See more details at http://playlistmag.com/reviews/2006/01/ipodfrmremote/index.php

A nice Tutorial on Backing up your hard drive

This handy article from lifehacker offers up a useful and cheap solution for protecting your data. They walk you through the steps, describe the hardware and software (free) that you need and provide some very useful tips. Why not implement this handy idea as a late New Year resolution.. have you backed up yet this year??? I thought so ;0) See http://www.lifehacker.com/software/geek-to-live/geek-to-live-automatically-back-up-your-hard-drive-147855.php

Volkswagen secures Google to provide Mapping

This from Reuters today...  Volkswagen AG of Germany's American unit on Friday said it is working on a prototype vehicle which features Google Inc.'s satellite mapping software to give drivers a bird's eye view of the road ahead.   The two companies are working with the graphics chipmaker Nvidia Corp. to build an in-car navigation map system and a three-dimensional display so passengers can recognize where they are in relation to the surrounding topography. See http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=1576986

Google's plan for a private alternative to the internet - could it be so?

Does Google want to have it all?? It sure seems that way at times. Case in point, an article from the Times Online (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-2023600,00.html) reports that Google is working on a project to create its own global internet protocol (IP) network, a private alternative to the internet controlled by the search giant. They go on to describe recent recruiting efforts by the company to secure talent with experience in negotiation of dark fibre contracts - Dark fibre is the remnants of late 1990s internet boom where American web companies laid down fibre optic cables in preparation for high speed internet delivery - kind of makes you stop and think, doesn't it?

Preetha Pulusani retires as Intergrpah VP Security, Government & Infrastructure Division

Looks like there's more change going on at Intergraph as just today Preetha Pulisani has stepped down from her role as executive VP of Intergraph’s Security, Government & Infrastructure (SG&I) division (PR http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/8064/). The position will now be that of  Ben Eazzetta, previously chief operating officer of Intergraph’s SG&I division. Interesting to note that in recent months, the SG&I division has lost several long-time staff members that I know of and the company's geospatial user conference (GeoSpatial World) has been disbanded and the company has returned to a corporate user conference where all divisions and users come together... this was the norm several years ago. You have to wonder if this all related to the sudden plunge in the company's stock from over $50 early in Jan to a present price of $38.50 today (See http://www.stock-tracker.net/quote.asp?ticker=^INGR). Good luck to Mrs. Pulusani!

TrailRunner for iPod - route planning software imports GPX tracklogs

Here's some info about a cool new solution for all people that do long distance sports and need to plan their workout routes.  Enter TrailRunner - Route planning for all kind of sports with intelligent iPod directions export. TrailRunner is a route planning software for people who enjoy running, biking, hiking or skiing. The software will import GPX tracklogs or tracklists from GPS receivers and then plot the data on maps. Within the map, TrailRunner can calculate routes for a given distance. You can even export directions as text to a classic iPod or as small NanoMaps to your iPod nano. TrailRunner is free! Check it out at http://TrailRunnerX.com

USGS announces new and improved Website and Earthquake Notification Service and mapping

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has unveiled a new design of its earthquake website and a new Earthquake Notification Service (ENS). According to the USGS, increased demand and server loads have forced their hand and thus the update and redesign.. good idea! Users of the service will find maps to be front and center in the new UI with a World map and USA map featured prominently on the home page. Clicking a map brings up more detail where users can then obtain detailed information on recent events. The “Earthquake Center” section has information on the latest earthquakes, past earthquakes, and earthquake lists and statistics. ShakeMaps, RSS feeds, seismogram displays and other real-time products can also be found here.  Check it out at http://earthquake.usgs.gov -- for more information about the new application you can see the announcement at http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/8061/

cNet uses Google Earth Imagery in Identify the NFL Stadium contest

cNet (news.com) has come up with another clever contest using imagery from Google Earth.. funny, I could have sworn that clipping and reposting images from Google Earth on a commercial website was against the terms of use?? Anyway, the cool contest is taking advantage of all the hype surrounding this week-ends Super Bowl (you know, Sea Hawks vs Steelers) Users are shown images of a number of NFL team stadiums (very cool imagery actually!) A clue is given on each and contestants must try to match the stadium to a team. See http://news.com.com/Images+Satellite+Super+Bowl/2300-1026_3-6034188.html?tag=nefd.lede

BlockRocker Google mashup.. sell anything fast and free

This clever mashup from a Winnipeg, Manitoba native (I actually lived there back in my high school days) enables users to easily add items for sale and list in the online classifieds... this is much like the familiar Craig's list concept, however, this app was developed as a mashup and uses geography as the application's main selling point... i.e. search based on geographic location. Each item listed has an associated balloon that brings up detailed information, contact info, images, etc.. when clicked.. very clever and useful... See http://www.blockrocker.com

AmericaView announces summer intern program

The AmericaView Summer intern program, conducted in collaboration with U.S. Geological Survey Center for Earth Resources Observation and
Science (EROS) and South Dakota State University's (SDSU) Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence (GIScCE), is designed to help
graduate and advanced undergraduate students learn how to apply satellite remote sensing imagery and related geospatial technologies to
applied research, and in so doing to encourage the student's progress in their chosen degree program. There are 3 projects comprising 8 intern positions: Two projects are located at EROS, with one student intern position each; one project is located at the Center of Excellence, with 6 student intern opportunities. The projects are 10 weeks in duration and will be conducted June 5 to August 11. Eligibility is limited to graduate students or advanced undergraduates (juniors or seniors) in good standing who are enrolled in a degree program at a university that is participating in an AmericaView member consortium. Program details and application materials may be obtained online at: http://www.americaview.org or http://americaview.usgs.gov

Microsoft IE 7 beta - have you tested it yet?

Just an FYI, developers and hackers have been messing around with the latest web browser now in Beta from Microsoft, IE 7 . A preview is now available from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/ie7/default.mspx. It boasts a new, streamlined (cleaner) interface, tabbed browsing, enhanced search (if you like MSN) also enabling simultaneous searching from multiple resources, RSS support, and enhanced security... I'm gonna take it for a spin tonight!

Looking for a new smartphone? check out the BenQ - WiFi, quad band and PDA-like functionality...sweet!

I was recently checking out what mobile device make BenQ has been up to... in doing so I came across an amazing new mobile device (smart) that should be of interest to anyone currently using or considering using a Blackberry, Treo, or symbian smartphone.. enter the P50... this device is sweet! Features that got my attention include (but not limited to): built in antenna, large screen with PDA-like functionality, Built-in WiFi 802.11b, loads of bundled apps like Skype and instant messaging, voice recognition, and office apps. 1.3 mega-pixel camera/video, Java game support, quad-band GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900, Built-in Bluetooth & IrDA, Fast USB Syncing, SDIO Support,  SD/MMC Memory Card and loads more... check it out at .. oh, it runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile - see more details at http://www.benq.com/NewProducts/product.cfm?product=13

GeoExpress 6 provides some handy new functionality for users of imagery and rasters

Users of satellite imagery and large raster datasets will be interested in checking out the latest release of GeoExpress from Lizardtech. This affordable solution is a breeze to use and offers users quick and convenient access to commonly needed functionality like reprojection, mosaicing, color balancing (matching) and area of interest encoding. I had a tour of Lizardtech's facilities and got a first hand look at the product - see details at http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/8029/28/. At r6 they also offer some nice, flexible licensing and the requisite free demo is also available for download.

More info about Imagery for the Nation

I just caught wind from the ND GIS listserv about a program called, "Imagery for the Nation."  First proposed at the 2004 NSGIC (National States Geographic Information Council) conference, it was further detailed at the 2005 conference.  The message noted that a lot of work has been and is going on behind the scenes.  The current plan calls for a business plan to be developed this spring. If if the federally-funded program moves forward, the Imagery for the Nation program will provide nation-wide aerial imagery on an annual basis for most states.  States will have the ability to "buy-up" from the default 1m, natural color, leaf-on.  States will be asked for their imagery requirements.  More information can be found at http://www.nsgic.org/committees1/documents/Jan%2016%202006%20Imagery_for_the_Nation_Flyer_NSGIC_V14.pdf (6 MB PDF)

Battle of the mobile Portals has Yahoo! edging Google and Mapquest... for now

A report on Mobile Search branding has released some interesting findings. In the early lead we find Google (Search), Yahoo! (maps), ESPN (Sports), and The Weather Channel (Weather) are at the head of the pack.  From M:Metrics, they have found that Yahoo! is the most popular mobile content brand. During the quarter ended December 2005, 12.8 million U.S. mobile subscribers accessed Yahoo's services in an average month -- 4 million more than second-place AOL. MSN and Google follow, with about 7 million subscribers accessing their mobile offerings each month during the fourth quarter.  In the area of maps and directories, Yahoo edges Google and Mapquest, but by a slim margin. More info can be found at  mmetrics.com

The Mysterious Flying Car via google earth (down-under) simply won't go away!

The mystery of the flying car in Perth, Australia just won't go away. I noticed just today that the Sydney Morning Herald just ran an item on the topic (See http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/01/30/1138469638185.html). I have to admit, I noticed last week there was a flurry of activity surrounding this topic but I really wasn't that interested in learning more about it. After seeing yet another news item published today curiosity got the best of me and I looked a bit deeper. Low and behold it really is an interesting item, although hardly the first time a "UFO" has been spotted. For fun, and if you have absolutely nothing better to do tonight (except maybe catch the next episode of 24!), check out the in-depth report at the guardian that goes as far as listing several actual photos from the position in question... nice bit of investigative reporting!!! See http://www.theregister.com/2006/01/25/flying_car_launch_site/ - FYI, you can load this KMZ in Google Earth to see the flying car for yourself - http://www.theregister.com/2006/01/23/flying_car.kmz

A quick look at ESRI's ArcWeb Explorer Beta

From ESRI...  ArcWeb Explorer is a Web-based map viewing application based on Macromedia Flash 8. The ArcWeb Explorer uses vector mapping technology to render maps quickly in the browser instead of having the server render them.  See http://www2.arcwebservices.com/v2006/solutions/awx.jsp for details

You can check it out for yourself at http://redlandsarcweb.esri.com/explorer/index.jsp. Running a "sporadic" wireless connection from my laptop, I managed to connect but my speed wasn't too great.. either that or this app is a bit of a pig.. I'm not quite sure yet! At first glance the biggest turn off is the lack of panning which I've become totally accustomed to when using AJAX map servers (i.e.. think of Google, local.live, etc...). Out of habit I keep trying to pan but this forces a zoom rectangle... totally annoying!
Option menus available to users include Navigate, Find, Directions, and Map styles. The find works ok and is fast, quickly taking me to a location. Searching for Seattle, WA obviously returns a quick "hit" although if you want to locate a place like "Starbucks", Seattle, WA there's no POI DB like that at the time. The street maps look pretty nice and major features and landmarks are provided (e.g.. Greyhound bus station etc...), so far though the pan and zoom using the nav tool is pretty slow.. maybe there's simply too many users testing it.

Testing the Navigation tools... cached zoom levels obviously come up fast, however, clicking the - key to zoom out caused about a 3 second delay for me and place names seemed pretty cluttered on the display. Panning... clicking the ""W" or "E" nav option to pan resulted in about a 3 second delay in regenerating the new display... it didn't seem very transparent or seamless either as I waiting for black areas to fill in with detail. The left and right arrows didn't seem to accomplish anything for me at times so that left me a bit confused. After moving around a bit it turns out the arrows function as a "page forward" page back" option... I find this a bit confusing as they really do look like they would be meant for navigation like functionality like panning - Mouse-over tips would be really nice as an additional feature and would have clarified this a bit, however, a bit a customization can easily fix this, after all this is a beta test. For now I'm still messing around... what are you finding??