Microsoft adding to portfolio with imaging camera and services courtesy of Vexcel

This from the Rocky Mountain News... Microsoft Corp. is in the process of acquiring Boulder-based remote-sensing company Vexcel Corp. for an undisclosed sum. "The acquisition is part of Microsoft's exciting vision to deliver a dynamic . . . digital representation of the real world that provides the best local search and mapping experience to consumers, businesses and government," said Jerry Skaw, Vexcel's marketing communications manager. The news comes two days after Google Inc. announced it bought Boulder-based @Last Software, also for an undisclosed amountAbout VexcelFounded in 1985, Vexcel Corporation is an internationally recognized remote sensing company specializing in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Technologies, remote sensing ground stations and mapping and photogrammetry systems with offices in the US, Canada, Austria, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and sales operations in China and Australia. In 1999 its Austrian office—Vexcel Imaging GmbH—introduced the UltraScan 5000™ precision film scanning system, today’s best selling photogrammetric scanner, and in 2004 started shipping the UltraCam-D aerial camera. In addition to these aerial imagery collection devices, Vexcel offers the UltraMap-Server for image cataloging, archiving and post-processing. FYI, Vexcel's flagship product is UltraCam, a large-format digital aerial camera... sounds to me like Microsoft plans on enhancing the recently announced "street side" offering with some more imagery.. now courtesy of their own camera! - see http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/8274/ - For more on this see http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_4552066,00.html

Free NAIP ortho imagery downloads and FTP sites - a gift.. here's a TON of free resources with Ortho imagery

Looking for free ortho imagery? Don't stress out, these data are easily available online and you don't need to crack open your wallet even if commercial data providers are offering you free orthoimagery "on sale" even for some slick "Saint Patty's day ortho imagery sale" - don't get caught up in these pitches unless you have some cash to burn! See the following resources for some great leads to image servers and FTP sites where you can access and download free ortho imagery, even 2005 data from the NAIP program - See http://www.apfo.usda.gov/naip.html & see also this awesome wiki with numerous pointers to download sites http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/Sources_of_free_orthoimagery or, for NAIP imagery,
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/GatewayHome.html

You really want some ortho imagery??? Here's a TON of useful links to pretty much every state where you can access and download the latest ortho imagery for free! Next time you want to orthos, save some cash and spend a bit of time downloading for yourself. There's loads of useful tools like GoZilla (See also cnet free downloads) that will enable you to easily and quickly download data from resources.. simply point and click...
So, here's the list of ortho sites for you... happy St. Patty's day, merry Christmas, etc...

http://www.faygis.org/datasearch.cfm
http://www.cast.uark.edu/cast/geostor/raw_DOQ/index.html
http://sal.uamont.edu/pages/nsdd/Arkansas_State.htm
ftp://ccwgov.co.calaveras.ca.us/GIS/Raster_Data/Aerial_Photos/2002_2ft_Color_DOI/
http://www.sonoma-county.org/gis/dataportal.asp
ftp://ftp.ci.corvallis.or.us/pw/gis/orthophotos/
http://casil.ucdavis.edu/casil/kerncog.org/
http://casil.ucdavis.edu/casil/usgs.gov/
http://www.landwateruse.water.ca.gov/basicdata/landuse/digitalsurveys.cfm
http://www.fcgov.com/gis/downloadable-data.php
http://www.udel.edu/dgs/dgsdata/hundreds.html
http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/cgi-bin/MAGIC_DBsearch2.pl?Geography=37811&Loc=0001
http://data.labins.org/2003/MappingData/DOQQ/doqq.cfm
ftp://gisftp.hicentral.com/AirPhotoImages/
http://inside.uidaho.edu
ftp://itoc.in-span.net/
http://cairo.gis.iastate.edu/map.html
http://gisdasc.kgs.ku.edu/kgcc/
http://gis.sedgwick.gov/view/
http://musashi.ogis.state.me.us/catalog/catalog.asp?state=2&extent=24k
http://www.mass.gov/mgis/laylist.htm
http://maps.dnr.state.mn.us/deli/data_search.html
http://www.lmic.state.mn.us/chouse/airphoto_usda.html
http://www.maris.state.ms.us/HTM/DataWarehouse/NAIP.htm
http://msdisweb.missouri.edu/data/naip/
http://nris.state.mt.us/nsdi/orthophotos/
ftp://www.co.missoula.mt.us/Surveyor/Horizx/MR_SID/
http://www.dnr.state.ne.us/databank/fsa03.html
http://www.dnr.state.ne.us/databank/lanc_doqq.html
http://njgin.nj.gov/OIT_IW/index.jsp
ftp://ims.bernco.gov/data
http://rgis.unm.edu/loader_div.cfm?theme=Digital%20Orthophotos
http://www.nysgis.state.ny.us/gisdata/
http://lnweb02.co.wake.nc.us/gis/gismaps.nsf
http://www.state.nd.us/gis/mapsdata/download/
http://www2.ocgi.okstate.edu/2003img1/
ftp://ftp.ci.corvallis.or.us/pw/gis/orthophotos/
ftp://imagery.pasda.psu.edu/pamap/
http://www.edc.uri.edu/orthosf/orthos/2003usda/
http://www.pasda.psu.edu/documents/datalist.cgi/naip
http://www.edc.uri.edu/orthosf/orthos/2003usda/
http://www.edc.uri.edu/orthosf/orthos/2003usda/mrsid.html
http://www.sdgs.usd.edu/register/index.html
http://www.capco.state.tx.us/Information_Clearinghouse/Orthoimagery_main.asp
http://agrc.utah.gov/agrc_sgid/naip.html
http://gis.vcu.edu/datausda.html
ftp://ftp.spokanemaps.com/
http://wvgis.wvu.edu/data/dataset.php?action=search&ID=254#Download

Why pay for arc2earth (A2E)... come on - get a grip!

Ok.. this one is amazing... a reader sends me his response to news about the release of A2E... read on... "Pricing on the arc to google earth???? are you kidding me!!! it should be free! MapInfo's interface to google earth is free. Another reason why I think ESRI is out to pinch me for every penny (realistically thousands of dollars) just my .02 cents - that is exactly what ESRI should charge me (.02) for interfacing with Google Earth!!!!!!! I would gladly pay that price."

 

Well, obviously this reader is totally clued-out and has no idea that the A2E extension is a commercial product that took months to develop and is now being distributed at a very reasonable price to users of a commercial product. Sorry but this kind of naive response kills me... what next?? Any thoughts? The reader also seems to be under the impression that Google Earth is totally free and that serving apps via google is also totally free... think again and read all the licensing, the API is open but there are obviously limitation in your use of these tools.

Starbucks serving up Free Coffee today only - Locate a store near you (Wi-Fi as well)

FYI, if you need a coffee booster and are short on change no worries, Starbucks has a promo going on today (March 15).. go on in an get a Free cup of Joe... US only.. sorry you Canucks! Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-060315starbucks,1,5321105.story?coll=chi-news-hed - if you want to slip away and work while you have your free coffee use this app to locate a store near you that offers Wi-Fi access as well - http://locations.hotspot.t-mobile.com/ or try this store locator at http://www.starbucks.com/retail/default.asp - PS... if you know anyone involved in the MapKi project maybe let them know their site has been attacked... bummer! See http://www.mapki.com/index.php?title=Map_Projects

A good, free human resources publication and employee guide

This publication is focused on Canadian issues, however, it's marketed to companies that have employee relations in Canada and US.  Employee Benefit News Canada is a monthly publication of significance for all benefit providers and human resource professionals alike. The publication covers what's happening in the world of benefits today, with everything from health plans to pension reform and the employee-consumer relationship - you can ask for a free subscription at http://symbiandevzone.tradepub.com/free/ebc/

More Beer Mashups.. woohoo chicago is now mashed

Yet another beer mashup is now online... Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Chicago.com, Inc., Your Chicago Search Engine(sm), is excited to announce the launch of a very special section of the Web site at Beer.chicago.com (http://beer.chicago.com). As the name indicates, Beer.chicago.com is the largest interactive guide to bars, clubs and pubs within the Chicagoland area with information on hundreds of bars and thousands of drink specials. Chicago.com is the "Craig's list" equivalent for the Chicago, IL area and a decent place to tour for more info and leads to anything in Chicago. Heading North and looking for beer? Check out the Beer Hunter mashup at http://www.beerhunter.ca/

News release formats and some guidelines for more effective online news distribution

Distributing your company's news... everyone's doing it... enter the press release. If you or your company is working hard then you need to spread the word, however, in order to effectively get the word out and have your news picked up on you need to be careful and be sure to follow a few simple rules.

- format your news according to a generally accepted news release layout - a couple of samples... http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/3/prweb108269.htm / http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/02/prweb351715.htm

- DON'T USE ALL CAPS IN YOUR TITLE

- run spell-check (ok, I've messed up on this one before too!)

- list a run date and if you are sending news in advance, clearly state that NEWS IS UNDER EMBARGO TILL DATE XXXX in the first line of your message

- provide details of a contact person, web address, and email address

- don't simply send your news release to everyone (i.e., all gis lists, newsgroups etc...) take some time and find a few editorial contacts and maybe your business partners and associates.

- don't send to every news editor on the planet... if it's GIS news send to GIS and technology editors... I just got a news release on a new garbage can cleaning solution... nice!

- past the entire news release as ASCII TXT into the body of your email. Be sure to copy from a simple text editor that doesn't use special characters (i.e.. notepad, txtpad). Special characters (like those pesky TM and (R) trademark symbols tend to get garbled in the translation from email to web.

- don't send ZIP files.. sorry but most editors won't have time to mess around uncompressing your files

- don't attach high resolution images that total 1, 2, or even 5 MB in size. If your news is going online the editor will want a low-res (max 60KB) image in either GIF or JPG format - max 600 pixels in width

- when sending your news send from your email client using the BCC option. I can't tell you how many people use CC or simply email everyone using the TO function.. thanks for providing me with all those valuable contacts though!

- don't format using PDF unless you have to. PDFs are an option is necessary, however, distilling PDF docs to txt for use on the web takes time and once again can result in some mistakes etc... if you have to attach as a document simply use MS Word. Embedding images within the Word doc is great too!

- Don't know where to start? Simply grab a major company's news release from a newswire service (online) and use that as a template and a starting point. One you write the release, get someone else to read it and mark it (Q/C) up for you

- be sure to follow up and thank the editor for running your news ;0)

 

This list is by no means complete, however, I regularly get items that go against some or even all of these "rules".

GLOBE at Night to help scientists map light pollution around the world

News of an interesting science project spanning the Globe...  GLOBE at Night -  a special project of The GLOBE Program (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment), a worldwide science and education program managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and Colorado State University (CSU). Students from more than 17,000 schools in 109 countries have participated in GLOBE, reporting over 14 million environmental observations. This will be the first GLOBE activity to engage students in astronomy.   GLOBE is a partnership between the United States and more than 100 countries. More info available at  http://www.globe.gov/globeatnight & http://www.globe.gov

Arc2Earth (ArcGIS to Google Earth) Officially released today

Chances are you heard or saw this already but hey, the word is simply too cool not to share on the blog... Brian Flood has officially announced the commercial release of arc2earth today via arc2earth.com. Arc2Earth can export data in several different layouts. All of these layouts are useful in different ways from within Google Earth. Some are good for preserving the exact cartographic characteristics of the map and some are better for 3D extrusion and user interaction inside Google Earth. Pricing for the solutions ranges from $99 to $299 per seat. See http://www.arc2earth.com/products - congrats Brian & Jack!... hey, with Google just buying Sketchup maybe you guys will be next ;0)

Sketch.Up gets Googled - Google buys @Last Software

@Last Software, parent company of Sketch.Up - 3D software has been acquired by Google. From the company... Here’s the story. We got to know a bunch of Googlers while we were building the Google Earth Plugin for SketchUp, and it quickly became apparent that we could really stir things up together. At first, it was kind of hard to imagine; after all, we'd been blazing our own trail for so long. But after we kicked it around awhile, it started to seem right. One thing led to another, and here we are. This is one of those wonderful win-win situations; it would have been impossible for us to feel good about this acquisition if we didn't feel our culture, our users and our mission would be in good hands. See http://www.sketchup.com/

Learning to Think Spatially

I got wind of this from an EDU list but thought it was worth sharing. The national academies press not only sells books but also has complete titles available for viewing online. OF interest, this title called Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Curriculum (2006). The book delves into the concept of Spatial Thinking and also takes a look at Spatial Thinking in the k-12 context. Check it out at http://fermat.nap.edu/books/0309092086/html/

Naked Booth babes at Technology Trade Shows... what's next??

Naked booth babes sporting body paint spotted at CeBIT... Thanks to Darla Mack (http://darlamack.blogs.com) for the heads-up on this topic... always of interest to exhibitors at conferences, how to entice people to your booth? You can give away gadgets, have an iPod raffle, hire a juggler, or, how about some naked booth babes (well, almost naked if you remove the body paint)?? I have to admit, this definitely wouldn't fly at a Geo event (although it would get some attention...) but at wireless trade shows like CeBit, CTIA, 3GSM, where some 30, 40, or even 100,000 people attend you have to stand out in order to get noticed. Darla notes that we've seen a return to the era of sex selling, however, I don't think we ever left... it's always been effective at selling. How much further can we push the boundaries though?? My take... I agree with darla... it's tasteless... maybe some wireless fashion would be in better taste... it can still be sexy, but maybe leave a bit to the imagination. Of note, one big name technology event even has a website devoted to "booth babes"... http://www.e3girls.com/ ... what next?
(Image source: Darla Mack)

Open Source Geospatial on the hunt for a new logo

From the OSGeo Project... The Open Source Geospatial Foundation needs some creative minds to help us develop the "look" for OSGeo. In return you will receive recognition, the satisfaction that comes from helping the cause, and $50 worth of free swag featuring your new logo (sometime after the contest closes, obviously). As well, the top five entries get copies of MapGuide Studio, donated by Autodesk! See complete contest details posted at https://www.osgeo.org/content/news/news_archive/logo_contest.html - The logo should be in color, but should also look good in gray scale, be capable of rendering in one-color and two-color processes, and should be visible against both white and black backgrounds.

College fight song ring tones for your mobile

ok, slightly off topic here, however, if you're getting into the spirit of March madness, here's a cool solution enabling you to locate and download your favorite school fight song to your mobile device. http://www.oasysmobile.com/fighttones - sorry but there's a small charge associated with the downloads.

New software helps users that are color blind work with computer graphics

This solution could open the door to many more individuals looking for a career in GIS... A simple interactive software program called eyePilot(TM) enables anyone, no matter what kind of vision they have, to work more effectively with color-coded information and graphics. Designed as a "floating window" that is easily dragged-and-dropped over any web page, document or computer application, eyePilot allows users to quickly and more accurately view and work with color-coded information. Developed by Tenebraex Corporation, designers of innovative optical products for businesses, individuals and the military, eyePilot is available today at http://www.colorhelper.com/

New Mag... Phone+ Magazine covers off Mobile Computing

I love free stuff and I get loads of free magazines etc... (why pay when loads of companies give away the stuff!) A new title I just picked up on looks rather interesting - Phone+ Magazine. The  Magazine serves channels for communications, content, computing and CPE. These include carriers, resellers and solutions providers -- feature content planned for the near future will touch on VoIP, Broadband wireless, Wi-Fi, MNVOs, Interoperability and more. The magazine is now available (free) to our US-based readers.PHONE+ includes feature articles covering topics of interest to service providers and solutions providers of all types and across all market segments. The publisher also releases several special interest pubs each year as well including an industry directory... More info and a form for a free subscription is available at http://symbiandevzone.tradepub.com/free/pho/ (Sorry but US-based recipients only)