Microsoft looking at acquisition of Yahoo!... wow!

Yes indeed its true.. apparently the company has already turned down a $50 billion offer... yikes! Word on the street and from the NY Post has it that this is indeed taking place right now... more at http://www.nypost.com/seven/05042007/business/bills_hard_drive_business_peter_lauria_and_zachery_kouwe.htm

Mobile Monday set for next Monday in Palo Alto at Nokia Research Center

Are you interested in mobile technologies, location-based services, or wireless application development? If so and your near "the valley" be sure to take time to get over to Mobile Monday next week. The next event will be held at the Nokia Research Center in Palo Alto. See More information at http://www.mobilemonday.us/?p=176

Huge news in the survey world... Hexagon (Leica) scoops up Allen Precision

Some HUGE news this morning as Hexagon has made it official and purchased Allen Precision - pretty much the biggest survey dealer in the US! According to sources, Hexagon is owned by Leica. The company (Allen) is based in Duluth, Georgia and employs 41 people. More details on the buyout found at http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/11510/

A New Search Engine devoted to Google Mashups

The other day I decided to incorporate some of the fantastic links I have stored in my "goodie bag" and create a search utility that indexes only mashup and map mashing related resources. The results so far are very good and will enable you to easily search and locate mashups on any topic you like. Looking for a New York mashup? no worries.. how about beer or maybe sexual predators... no problem. Check it out and feel free to send me your favorite "mashup" links and I'll be glad to add them to the DB - Jump to the Mashup Search Utility HERE - somewhat related you can also try the GISuser Search Engine (4000+ sites indexed) - an awesome tool for locating free GIS data and quality hand selected GIS resources!

Contribute to Wiki and win a Nokia N95

Hey developers, here's a cool chance for you to win a skookum new Nokia N95... a cool $600 smartphone - high res video, GPS, 5 MP camera and more... simply contribute to the new Forum Nokia wiki and you could win... nice! See more on this opportunity here

GISuser Today from May 4, 07

Today at GISuser (from today's newsletter)... In the news today I'm pleased to share details of some very interesting GIS projects that were brought to my attention this week in the 2007 BE awards (that's pronounced "bee" awards, not "bee eee" awards) - see today's spotlight for more. Are you looking for Mashups? In a bit of a "Beta" test I've created this Google Mashup Search Engine... check it out, try a search for beer and see what you get! If you happened to visit GISuser yesterday you may have noticed the frontpage spotlight turned onto a cool app called GeoGarage. Simply put, the app is billed as the first geospatial image web server compatible with Google Maps and Google Earth - more info available HERE. Finally, are you linked in? In case you're new to the service Linked-In is an online professional network developed to help members stay in touch with colleagues and maybe even get in touch with work opportunities. It's an ideal way to maintain a backup of your contacts, partucularly useful if you happen to change or leave your job on short notice. Of interest to some of you is this document designed to help you make the most of Linked-In... enjoy! Finally, are you searching for Geospatial RFPs? Try this handy resource... a free trial is available to our users.. .Good Luck. Have a fun-filled Kentucky Derby Saturday is that's your cup of tea or Mint Julip! Today's GISuser newsletter is archived HERE

Grocery Retail Online and ESRI news... huh?

Is it just me or do you find it odd that Grocery Retail Online is running PR from ESRI about a new pipeline industry manager (coinicidentally the new Manager is a friend of mine from Fort Collins - now living in Redlands) - weird man! See Here

UWM GIS Certificate Program update

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has offered a GIS Certificate program since 1991, awarding 83 certificates in that time. Currently, there are over 40 students enrolled in the post-baccalaureate program that requires a total of 18 semester credit hours of courses from a variety of departments on campus. Admission - You must have a Bachelor's Degree and a 2.75 GPA. Second, you must complete a graduate non-degree application form (a link is available at the site).  Then, you complete an Admission to GIS Certificate Form.  The main UWM GIS site at:  http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/GIS/ contains a number of links about GIS activities on campus. Details about the program are available at the UWM GIS Certificate web site: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/GIS/edu_degrees.html

Blogger & Podcaster Magazine launches

This announcement just came my way... I wonder if the editor of the mag has a blog? A new trade magazine chronicling the “new media titans” now taking over the Web and airwaves launches this month in print, digital and podcast forms. Blogger & Podcaster Magazine, believed to be the first publication to launch simultaneously in 3 distinct formats, promises to deliver news, features, tips and profiles written for, and by, those who want to use these thriving online media to leverage their voice and expand their businesses opportunities. At present, industry watchers estimate there are more than 80,000 podcasts and 60 million blogs available via the Internet. Those figures should grow exponentially as technology improves for both creators and consumers. Business applications for both blogging and podcasting also are expected to expand. See www.bloggerandpodcaster.com

GeoGathering 2007 scheduled for next week

An event reminder for those of you interested in GIS for oil & gas... GeoGathering 2007 is a first of its kind event dedicated to providing oil and gas gathering system professionals a venue to share their experiences and best practices with geospatial information while learning about current industry regulations and GIS solutions. This conference will provide valuable insights into the process of GIS enabling your organizations and what role the technology could play in your day to day operations. Speakers will address topics ranging from integrity management and gathering system regulatory requirements to field data collection and GIS based system analysis. Conference location, lodging discounts and the presenters schedule available at www.GeoGathering.com - the event takes place in Estes Park, Colorado
 

new book on geospatial Web technology and web 2.0

The Geospatial Web -- How Geobrowsers, Social Software and the Web 2.0 are
Shaping the Network Society is book summarizes the latest research on the
Geospatial Web's technical foundations, describes information services and
collaborative tools built on top of geo-browsers, and investigates the
environmental, social and economic impacts of geospatial applications. The
role of contextual knowledge in shaping the emerging network society
deserves particular attention. By integrating geospatial and semantic
technology, such contextual knowledge can be extracted automatically - for
example, when processing Web documents to identify relevant content for
customized news services.

Arno Scharl, Klaus Tochtermann (Eds.)
Advanced Information and Knowledge Processing Series
2007, London: Springer, ISBN 1-84628-826-6

With a Foreword by Patrick J. Hogan, Program Manager of NASA World Wind
www.geospatialweb.com - the book will be available May 18

Version 5.0 of the Virtual Earth API now available

Over at the MSDN blogs Virtual Earth program manager Andy McGovern has
come up with the following update: "we've been busy poking around the
Virtual Earth forums and blogs, listening to corporate customers and
mashuppers alike, and coming up with a list of the top features and fixes
that would make the best mapping API even better—better for end users, but
mainly better for you, the developer. We think you'll like what we've come
up with." The following are just some of the new features:

import polylines and polygons using GeoRSS feeds.

enjoy the same bird's eye panning experience from Live Search Maps that
you know and love.

programmatic control of the mini map: show it, hide it, and move it around.

center a bird's eye scene on a latlong more accurately.

faster page load time with a compressed map control code base that is
approximately 25% of its uncompressed size (from around 500kb to around
130kb).

initial map now loads faster because we stopped fetching an extra ring of
invisible tiles around the map view.

choice of two smaller navigation dashboards.

Find method: you can now remove any or all of the Find method side
effects, like the automatic map view change and the automatic display of
pushpins.

Note, an updated virtual SDK is also available - see
http://dev.live.com/virtualearth/sdk/ - Source:
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1533006&SiteID=1