GIS Day Canadian Style eh!

Loads of GIS Day activities have been planned north of the 49th according to ESRI Canada... the following events are taking place. More than 70 countries will participate in holding local events. A number of Canadian government organizations, businesses, colleges, and universities are taking part in this year’s GIS Day:

• Northern Alberta Institute of Technology – Edmonton, AB
• University of Alberta – Edmonton, AB
• Queen's University – Kingston, ON
• University of Western Ontario – London, ON
• University of Western Ontario – London, ON
• University of Ottawa – Ottawa, ON
• SIAST Woodland Campus – Prince Albert, SK
• Town of Whitby – Whitby, ON
• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada – Yellowknife, NT
• Carleton University – Ottawa, ON
• Municipality of Chatham-Kent – Chatham-Kent, ON
• Elsipogtog First Nation – Elsipogtog, NB
• Rainy River First Nations – Fort Frances, ON
• Region of Peel – Mississauga, ON
• ESRI Canada – Ottawa, ON
• Ducks Unlimited Canada – Regina, SK
• University of Saskatchewan – Saskatoon, SK
• Memorial University of Newfoundland – St. John's, NL
• Coast Mountain Bus Company – Surrey, BC
• McMaster University – Hamilton, ON
• City of Lethbridge – Lethbridge, AB
• Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority – Utopia, ON
• ESRI Canada – Toronto, ON
• University of Guelph – Guelph, ON
• City of Moncton – Moncton, NB
• University of Waterloo – Waterloo, ON
• University of Windsor/City of Windsor – Windsor, ON
• University of New Brunswick – Fredericton, NB - Nov. 15
• University of New Brunswick – Fredericton, NB - Nov. 14 - 21
• University of New Brunswick – Fredericton, NB - Nov. 29, evening
• University of New Brunswick – Stanley, NB
• City of Saint John – Saint John, NB
• Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre – Sault Ste. Marie, ON
• Safe Software – Surrey, BC
• Town of Banff – Banff, AB
• Annapolis West Education Centre – Annapolis Royal, NS

Mobile Media Developer podcast series

Somethign for you mobile techies... The Khronos Group has launched the first in their Mobile Media Developer podcast series. In this new series, the developers behind the industry standards for 3D, 2D, video and audio for mobile devices describe how the new technologies work and how they can be used by developers, carriers and manufacturers to create applications for mobile phone, handhelds and game consoles. See Podcast web pages at http://www.khronos.org/podcasts/

Geoconnections annual report 2006 available - state of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure

GeoConnections was formed in 1999 to develop the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI), an online resource that helps Canadians find, access, and share location-based data. Their Annual report now available at www.geoconnections.org - You can learn more about GeoConnections and how it is helping Canadians tackle some of the country’s most pressing challenges. The program’s 2005-2006 annual report, available now, delves into this topic—and many more, including:
· The growth and importance of location-based information
· The Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI)
· GeoConnections’ 2005–2006 achievements
· Priority area overviews and success stories
· Projects and partners
· Financial and operating highlights from 2005 to 2006
· GeoConnections funding opportunities

the Ultimate KML tool?

I was serching around this evening (using the spanky GIS data search engine I created using Google coop tool) and noticed an interesting Google ad that got my attention. It read "The ultimate KML Tool" (I was searching for "kml" related information. The ultimate kml tool it was referingn too was Manifold.net. The selling point the ad is making is that you can create custom google Earth layers and why pay more for less... interesting ad and i must admit I didn't realize that Manifold.net writes out to KML. What's your ultimate KML tool??

ABC 2006 Google Earth US election maps.. yawn!

Not sure if anyone else noticed this or not but did you catch the graphics that are being used by ABC news and Good Morning America etc... to show the results of the election? The graphics that show the electoral boundaries extruded as 3D objects on top of a nice white map is totally boring to say the least. I'm amazed that with all the data floating around that the cartographers for the news giant used Google earth to display these images - not that there's anything wrong with that, however, my thinking is that the images displlayed could have been made to be a little more exciting. Simply put, the maps are boring and are not in any way indicative of what you can show off using Google Earth. Did you see any maps that got your attention? the simple, white State map with 3D objects is about as plain as can be and looks like it was thrown together in about 5 minutes. If you want some decent results you might consider looking at http://www.electoral-vote.com/. Note, election results are easily viewed inn google earth via the 2006 election guide layer - see Google Earth - Layers - 2006 Election Guide.

2007 BE Awards of Excellence Student Competition

Something of interest for you budding designers and architects... Bentley is once again giving students a chance to win. Four Winners Will Receive BE Awards and Scholarships During BE Conference 2007 In Los Angeles, California. The competition is broken into two categories: college/university andmiddle school/high school. Of interest... The students and student teams participating in this year's middleschool/high school competition are being asked to design a school of thefuture. See www.becareers.org/awards

Online training in photo-interpretation/remote sensing - Grad level

Applications are now being accepted for three photo-interpretation/remote sensing ONLINE 3-credit courses which are offered over the Internet at the College of Extended Learning, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. FOR 4313 Digital Image Processing in Remote SensingThe course is designed for anyone with little or no remote sensingexperience.
FOR 5303 Remote Sensing of Natural ResourcesThe course is designed for anyone with experience in digital imageprocessing, but very little or no experience in the remote sensing theory. FE 3306 Applied GeomorphologyThe course is designed for civil, geological and forest engineers whoneeds skills in the use of photo-interpretation for road layout.
Course details and registrations can be found at:
for FOR4313: http://extend.unb.ca/oalp/courses/for4313_en.php
for FOR5303: http://extend.unb.ca/oalp/courses/for5303_en.php
FE3306: http://extend.unb.ca/oalp/courses/fe3306_fr.php

Google Mashup provides retail locations and number of Sony PS3 on hand.. clever

Another interesting mashup used for marketing purposes... I have to admit, at first I was thinking.. where the heck is the news in this item, however, as I looked a bit deeper I found it to be a rather cool application using google maps. PS3seeker - http://ps3seeker.com/ - is helping consumers locate a retailer in their area that will be stocking PS3s. Simply enter a ZIP code and a gmap will show up highlighting local retailers along with the expected number of PS3 s that shouold be on hand... quite cool and clever!

Top ten tornado prone metro cities

This tidbit of interest to your storm chasers... Boston-based CDS Business Mapping, LLC a leader in online hazard mapping announced its list of the top ten tornado prone metro cities.  This list is based on the RiskMeter Online’s Tornado Model, which predicts the severity of tornadoes for any location in the Continental United States.  According to a report just released by the RiskMeter Online, the following top ten tornado prone metro-cities are as follows:
1.) Aurora, CO (100)
2.) St. Petersburg, FL  (92)
3.) Houston, TX (90)
4.) Hollywood, FL (87)
5.) Sioux Falls, SD (72)
6.) Little Rock, AR (72)
7.) Dallas, TX (69)
8.) Ames, IA (63)
9.) Oklahoma City, OK (62)
10.) Bloomington, IL (59)