ACME labs mashup with Google maps, USGS DRGs, DOQs, and more

Got a tip off (thanks Jim!) about a clever mashup from ACME labs.. I think I actually saw this a while back but its cool to revisit! According to the developers, ACME Mapper 2.0 is a high-precision general purpose mapping application, based on Google Maps with a bunch of things added on. At first glance it looks like the vanilla google maps but look deeper and there's much more... In the upper right corner are some buttons that let you change the type of map. ACME Mapper adds the Topo and DOQ types, which are not in standard Google Maps. These come from TerraServer's Web Services. In the lower right corner you can optionally have an overview map widget. In the lower right you have the Control Panel. This lets you do all sorts of stuff. All the controls have 'tooltips', so one way to find out what something does is to move your mouse over that item - a short description will pop up. So, users can easily view a Google map of any area, a hybrid nashup, USGS topo sheet, USGS DOQ, or a color aerial photo mosaic... SWEET! See http://mapper.acme.com/

USGS topo sheet, Fort Collins, CO

USGS DOQ

City of Nanaimo and more kudos from the media - here's details on what Nanaimo serves up for Google earth users

The City of Nanaimo, BC (that's on Vancouver Island where I used to live) is getting some great attention thanks to some recent comments from Gogole CTO Michael Jones made at GeoWeb event, Vancouver. An article hit the Victoria Times Colonist online but really didn't say too much unfortunately. From the article... With the quick click of a mouse, Google Earth will provide any Internet user with a 3-D image of buildings in downtown Nanaimo or the curved streets that cover the city's north end. That's pretty much all that the reporter provides their readers. Unfortunately they didn't really delve into the who, what, where, when, why or how to really explain the story.. too bad!

Of interest, I noted a year ago how the City of Nanaimo was putting their data up in KML and provided some detailed information about what users could do with these data. See the article here

Interesting to note that The City of Nanaimo is also very proactive AutoCAD house and user of OSGeo technology - aka MapGuide Open Source. The city's "Mapguide & GIS guru", Jason Birch hasn't received mention in any of the recent press.. too bad as Jason has been quite instrumental in getting Google Earth data rolling out of the city's website.. Jason, you still there?? He's also their MapGuide expert and very involved with the open source movement. You can follow Jason on his Random Nodes blog - (hey Jason, where's the link to AnyGeo blog ;0)!!

Of note, the City of Portland has done some cool things with G. Earth and the City of Hamburg (as pointed out by Gearth blog) has some great 3D buildings now available in the Google Earth layer... a great example of what cities could/should be doing with all that great data they have locked up... especially 3D data!

Suggested Web Resources:

• http://www.nanaimo.ca/residents/index_inside.asp?id=468
• http://www.nanaimo.ca
• http://maps.google.com/
• http://citymap.nanaimo.ca/
• http://www.rdn.bc.ca/cms.asp?wpID=419
• http://www.safe.com/
• Notes on using FME to create KML files

MAPPS redefines the requirements for membership

MAPPS expands scope of membership... from the org... A new definition of a member firm in MAPPS, the national association of private geospatial firms, was approved by a unanimous vote of the association's membership during the annual business meeting at the MAPPS Summer Conference. Several levels of membership are now available...

 

Active Member: Any firm whose home office is located in the United States of America and is engaged in the geospatial profession. "Engaged in the geospatial profession" means any private, for-profit organization where one of its purposes is the creation, collection, dissemination and application of geo-referenced graphical or digital data to depict natural or manmade physical features, phenomena, or boundaries of the earth, geospatial intelligence, and any information related thereto, including any such data that comprises a survey, map, chart, geographic information system, remotely sensed satellite or aerial image or data.

 

Associate member: Any firm engaged in the manufacturing and/or supplying of geospatial equipment, services, supplies, hardware or software, that supports but is not engaged in the geospatial profession, any firm not engaged in but with an interest in the geospatial field, and any firm meeting the definition of "Engaged in the geospatial profession" whose home office is located outside of the United States of America may become an associate member.

 

Emeritus Member: Any individual who has been an officer of a firm which has been an active, associate or sustaining member firm for at least the preceding five consecutive years, who has reached the age of 60 years, who has retired from such firm and is no longer engaged in a full time practice in the geospatial profession may become an Emeritus Member.

 

Given this past year's outcome of the Brooks Act Litigation and the opposition to MAPPS' position from several other industry organizations (GITA, UCGIS, AAG, GISCI, URISA) you have to expect that competition for membership should be stiff! Recall the "other" orgs felt that MAPPS position with their lawsuit would limit competition for federal mapping contracts to firms of licensed architects, engineers and surveyors. It is somewhat interesting thet MAPPS now will include membership to "Any firm whose home office is located in the United States of America and is engaged in the geospatial profession" - a much broader membership base indeed. (for more info on this topic see MAPPS Releases Statement on QBS Litigation Ruling  - http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/11909/)

 

See www.MAPPS.org or see more on this announcement at http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/12334/

Forest Fire damage assessment using Definiens Image Intelligence Suite

Recently, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki recently published studies revealing that over 5000 hectares of fir and pine forest in the Mount Parnitha National Park were destroyed by the recent forest fires. Using the Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence Suite, they automatically assessed the distribution of islands of remaining forest within the large area. “We required detailed and accurate results and insights of the Mount Parnitha forest area in a timely manner. The Definiens technology was critical in analyzing and evaluating the damage,” said Ioannis Gitas, Lecturer at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. More details on this application found in this story - http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/12329/. See also http://www.definiens.com/. Of interest to those wanting to test the waters (so to speak), a free demo product (Definiens developer trial) is available for download - see http://www.definiens.com/landing_pages/index.html

Ikonos satellite image of the burnt area with the burnt area highlighted in red

Add Maps to your cutom Google homepage (iGoogle) or your Google MyMaps

Imagine having the following on your desktop and constantly updating for you in real time...
traffic reports
world news headlines
KML samples
photos ser4ved via KML
a world sunlight map
images from Googleplex
Google map search
weather channel maps
virtual earth maps
traffic cams
mapquest driving directions
map of things to do in Sydney Australia
Yahoo! local maps
listing of map mashups from programmable web

These are but a few of the tools (map gadgets) now available via the Google Heomepage (custom) add stuff directory. Its also easy to add these as Mapplets to your Google Maps... The directory is accessed by clicking on the "Add content" link in the "My Maps" tab in Google Maps.

To add "Map" mapplets to your iGoogle custom homepage simply do the following:
- sign in to your google account
- go to your custom home page
- create a new tab, maybe call it "Map Stuff"
- Click Add Stuff (right side)
- Search homepage content using "maps"

For more information including documentation on how to create your own mapplet see http://www.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/mapplets/
Don't forget you'll need an API key - see http://www.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html

Custom homepage showing Map Gadgets!

There's tons of Map Gadgets available to add to your Google MyMaps - this is a great way for developers to get TONS of traffic and Google adwords revenues!

Interstate 35 (I35) Minneapolis Google Maps

I was just looking around on Google Maps to see exactly where the bridge is located that collapsed this evening in Minneapolis. Interesting to see that its actually the main interstate route into the city core - you can see the Metrodome just west of the location where the bridge crossed the Mississippi. Below are images as seen on Google maps.. the traffic map appears grayed out:







Indeed, what a terrible tragedy!

192.com is Mapping Britain with a new online map service

A new player in the local search and online mapping services has emerged over in the UK at 192.com. Using data from the Ordnance Survey and GetMapping (imagery) 192.com provides a fun, interactive mapping service enabling users to search and locate addresses and POIs in Britain. The map service is visually appealing, fast, and the panning is very smooth making it a pretty fun experience. Some details about the service from the developers... 192.com has republished all of its street maps after exclusively redrawing every UK map to incorporate the latest Ordnance Survey data and ensure street labeling was in an easy to read format. 192.com is unique on the internet for labeling 100% of UK streets (typically rival sites name 70-80%) and so uses hand drawn labeling particularly for crowded, historic cities with many street names in close proximity. a new 192.com Journey Planner including a fully interactive travel map and 'real route' directions that accurately navigate around major landmarks and highlight the major distances in your journey; particularly important on unfamiliar routes. Finally, users are invited to link to their address simply by locating an address then clicking the link to this map option. See http://www.192.com/maps

Google making deals with BC Government on imagery - Nanaimo setting a fine example as an early adopter

Google was making a few headlines in BC at last week's GeoWeb event.. apparently the company has been discussing with the government the possibilities of providing users with additional 3D imagery and other data obtained from the BC Government. From the article... "In a Friday address at GeoWeb 2007 and later in an interview, Google Earth chief technology officer Michael Jones said Google Earth has been in talks with the provincial government, and if the initiative goes ahead B.C. would be the first Canadian province to supply information on such things as traffic and mineral resources to the mapping service. "The provincial government has been talking with us about providing data so that all citizens in the province who use our service will have the best possible data," said Jones. Jones met Thursday with Agriculture and Lands Minister Pat Bell to discuss the initiative." One paragraph in the article got may attention.. regarding the little town in BC that I used to live in... some municipalities are already doing this. Jones said Nanaimo is the most active city in the world when it comes to supplying geographic data to Google Earth. He predicted there will be a time when municipal, provincial and federal geographic information will be shared universally.
"With Nanaimo, they have mapped nearly every conceivable thing using Google Earth and Google Maps," said Jones. "Their citizens have more information about their city than the people of San Francisco." Kudos to the city and in particular Jason Birch! Funny, I was just looking around Google Earth this week-end with my family and was telling them, just wait until our city (Fort Collins) makes high-res imagery and other 3D data available to add to the Google Earth viewer... Nanaimo is setting a fine example although they were very early adopters... the early bird! See http://earth.nanaimo.ca/

See Vancouver Sun Article

Globe and Mail looks at mobile Navigation, Tele Atlas, Navteq

Suggested Reading... Globe and Mail looks at mobile Navigation, the recent Tele Atlas purchase by TomTom, and data provider Navteq in a lengthy new article. This detailed piece looks at the data collection process conducted by the key playerrs in mobile navigation and local search. See http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070727.gtnavigate0727/BNStory/Technology/home

Twitter on your N95 with Twibble

Do you Twitter (www.twitter.com)? If so I just located a cool twitter client that supports GPS-enabled devices (like the N95) - Twibble. See http://www.das-zentralorgan.de/twibble#install - see twitter.com if you don't know what I'm talking about!

See Who's Twittering about the iPhone on Google Maps

A clever mashup shows you exactly and and where people are twittering about the iPhone. The app mashes up twitter, google maps, and Ning to produce a display of twitterers.. see http://twitterphone.ning.com/

Coming to a City near you - ESRI Seminars (Free) on GIS in Public Works

ESRI is offering up a free road-show seminar series focused on the public utilities sector. Taking place in a number of cities this fall,
attendees of the seminar will discover how to benefit by using the geographic approach of GIS to integrate and support critical business functions such as
- Asset management
- Work order management
- Mobile data collection
- Capital improvement planning
- Executive dashboards
- 311/call center integration
- Work force management and automation
See www.esri.com/pwseminar

 

Dates:
Sep 18  Boston, MA

 

Sep 20 Hartford, CT

 

Sep 20 Raleigh, NC

 

Sep 25 Atlanta, GA

 

Sep 27 Baltimore, MD

 

Sep 27 Orlando, FL

 

Oct 2 Columbus, OH

 

Oct 2 Houston, TX

 

Oct 4 Newark, NJ

 

Oct 4 Kansas City, KS

 

Oct 4 Dallas, TX

 

Oct 9 Detroit, MI

 

Oct 9Phoenix, AZ

 

Oct 11 Milwaukee, WI

 

Oct 11 Denver, CO

 

Oct 16 Portland, OR

 

Oct 18 Seattle, WA

 

Oct 23 Sacramento, CA

 

Oct 25 Anaheim, CA