Developer World Wiki competition: Win a P1 smartphone

Heads up as this one is wrapping up... you can win a very cool phone that wil turn heads... The Sony Ericsson Developer World Wiki is now editable by all registered Community members - expanded beyond the previous setting of Junior forum members or above - and to celebrate this, we are launching a competition where the most innovative use of a UIQ 3 API published as a Wiki article will win a new P1 smartphone. The submission deadline is August 27, 2007 - See http://developer.sonyericsson.com

FYI - USGS Elevation Query Web Service - get elevation for your location

The Elevation Query Web Service returns the elevation in feet or meters for a specific latitude/longitude point from the USGS Seamless Elevation data sets hosted at USGS/EROS. The elevation values returned default to the best-available (highest resolution) data source available at the specified point. Alternately, this service may return the value from a specified data source, or from all data sources. If unable to find data at the requested point, this services returns an extremely large, negative value. See http://gisdata.usgs.gov/XMLWebServices/TNM_Elevation_Service.php

LiveContacts localizer now supports nokia N95 - plots mobile locations on Google maps

The LiveContacts localizer (frind finder app) is now supporting Nokia N95 and other S60 3rd edition devices. The application plots positions from people in Google Maps. It is a Mashup for people that want to share their positions with their friends, but also for adding content (Photo's and spots) with others. FYI, Livecontacts is a solution from the Dutch company webintegration that facilitates the exchange of location based information between trusted contacts. A bundle of applications is offered to both consumers and businesses. The core of the system contains position information of the registered users. The whereabouts of users can be based upon their mobile phones (GSM CellID), GPS coordinates or IP addresses. See more at http://www.livecontacts.com

A new blog about Agile practices for GIS Development

Chris Spagnuolo, GIS Project Manager and Certified ScrumMaster has informed us about a new blog about Agile practices for GIS Development http://www.ChrisSpagnuolo.com

Chris is a proponent of Agile project management methodologies and software development practices. He has implemented Scrum (an Agile project management process) in his local developer office. Since the implementation of Scrum, his office has consistently met performance, financial, and utilization goals as set by both his organization and his client base.

From Chris:

I have recently started a new blog called Chris Spagnuolo's GeoScrum! It will provide reflections on implementing and using Agile practices (and Scrum in particular) on Enterprise GIS and GIS development projects. Please take a look at http://www.chrisspagnuolo.com Hopefully you'll find it interesting and maybe even useful on your own projects, even if they're not GIS related.

New today - Google earth Sky - view the stars above you in Google earth

You Google Earth fans and those of you interested in learning more about Google Earth will really get a kick out of a new feature in Google earth today - Stars! Imagine, look up in the sky, rotate the view, zoom in to clusters and constelations etc... available today via google earth.  From Google...  the new tool is claimed to enable users to view and navigate through 100 million individual stars and 200 million galaxies using high resolution imaging and overlays.Users can access Sky by choosing a menu item from Google Earth which then enables them to navigate the heavens in a similar way they currently navigate streetscapes of cities - http://earth.google.com/sky

Tutorial - Create a Google MyMap, add your flickr photos from a Mapplet, then embed Tutorial - Create a Google MyMap, add your flickr photos from a Mapplet, then embed Tutorial - Create a Google MyMap, add your flickr photos from a Mapplet, then embed

As of this week, adding a Google map, or even better, your Google "MyMaps", to your webpage is a snap (pardon the pun). You know how simple it is to embed a youTube video into your blog? Well, it's that simple. Here's a short tutorial to show you how simple it actually is. We'll create a custom google MyMap, add a Mapplet, embed some photos from our flickr account, save the map, and embed it within a website (in this article)... no problemmo! To finish I'll offer up a couple of photo geotagging tools for those of you with GPS-enabled cell phones and a tool for mannual geotagging for those with no access to GPS. If you enjoy Google maps, flickr, and geotagging photos then this tutorial is for you.

A photo tip - embed your flickr slideshow into your blog in seconds

Wow, just stumbled onto an awesome flickr slideshow tool... you know that I'm a flickr fanatic, however, I didn't know about this app so I hope you enjoy as much as I do... this one will be really handy so be sure to bookmark this post! FlickrSlidr allows users to easily and quickly embed a flickr slideshow into your website(or blog). Alter the size, the flickr set to display, and then mess with the speed. See below for a slideshow of my 2007 ESRI User Conference photos.. enjoy!



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Embed your Google map (MyMap) into your blog, or website with youtube-ish ease!

Another cool tidbit today out of the Google camp is embeddable maps in your blog.. think embed a youtube video into your blog and you'll know what I mean. Google has made it way simple to now embed your custom google maps (MyMaps) into your website. Simply open a map, click the "link to this page" link (upper right), copy the code, then embed into your map! Screenshot of this is below and the actual embedded map is provided at the bottom.. way cool.. thanks Google Maps team!

Embedding your google map is now a breeze, with youTube embed-like functionality!

See my Google MyMap below! Note: I've altered the default size

View Larger Map

Real time traffic updates in Google earth

We've had traffic updates available in Google maps for some time, however, the Google Lat/Long blog has informed us that real-time traffic reports are now available for viewing in Google Earth.. nice! Simply enable teh traffic layer and view updates... pretty simple.



Toggle on "Traffic" in layers


Traffic updates available by clicking on the dots - sample image shows Denver area traffic

Manage and share your trips with Dopplr

A cool travel sharing service for those of you on the road a fair bit from Dopplr (see also the dopplr blog). The app is currently in private Beta, however, if you beg you may get yourself an invite. Create a profile, submit details of your travel calendar, and share with colleagues. The app also has the requisite Google maps API integration so you can map your trips. It sports a very nice UI and the back-end is quite user friendly as well.... nice stuff. We'll likely see this one roll-out soon. See http://www.dopplr.com/traveller/gisuser

WHERE Developer Program Developer Contest

Sign up, build a GPS enabled app, enter to win... A new contest announced by WHERE - No phone needed. No mobile development experience needed. All you need is a good idea, your web development skills, and the tools available through the WHERE Developer Program. The WHERE Developer Program provides a way to quickly publish your location-based application and content on mobile phones.

 

The Developer Program includes:
- Access to the GPS that is embedded in many popular mobile phones
- A simple markup and scripting language that allow you to create full-featured BREW/J2ME mobile applications that run within the WHERE consumer handset experience
- Phone emulators, documentation, and samples for building your WHERE application
To sign up for teh program and the contest see http://developer.where.com/jin/devwelcome.jin

Event of interest from Sys-con - AJAX World

An amazing event planned for this September in Santa Clara... AJAX World offers a ton of interesting topic sessions including:
Web 2.0 / Enterprise Mashups
Enterprise AJAX
RIA Frameworks & Toolkits
Security & Performance
 Hot Topics
iPhone AJAX Applications
Platform Choices
Advanced AJAX
Laszlo Diamond Track 
120+ sessions by more than 140 speakers

 

Other session topics to include:
Enterprise Comet  Cool Hacks  OpenAjax Hub 1.0 and Beyond 
Google Gadgets for the Enterprise  The Fat Client Is Back  Back to the Browser Wars 
Challenges and Solutions  Improve Existing AJAX Apps  AJAX RIA and SOA Strategy

 

Save the date, Sept 23-26, 2007 - see https://www3.sys-con.com/sep07/registernew.cfm

Geotagging / Geolocating your flickr photos with Yahoo! zonetag and locr - a short tutorial

ok... more on the geotagging photos sent to flickr via shozu and my Nokia N95 GPS-enabled smartphone. I've recently been doing some research to figure out exactly how to geotag my photos, and get them up on flickr then view on a map. From the outside looking it one would think, "no problemmo", however, things are not often as simple as they would seem. Luckily there's a couple of good third party apps that work very well. Those of you that depend on out of the box functionality that wil accomplish this will have to try again!

My research has led me to believe the following:
- there's much confusion out there about this.
- it's a total pain in the arse to accomplish using the Nokia N95 out of the box
- it's not as simple as blogs and other write ups lead you to believe
- many people seem to be having trouble with many different aspects of this.
- some people seem to be experiencing difficulties uploading via shozu from the Nokia N95 - I have yet to see any issues with this.
- apparently you can tag photos from N95 directly with GPS coords if you run sprt tracker or load the maps application - I've yet to be able to accomplish this seemingly simple task.

Enter Yahoo! Research labs zonetag and locr. Zonetag from Yahoo! has just recently come out with a version that supports Symbian S60 3rd edition devices (Nokia N80, N95, 6110 etc...). The application is very simple to use and it works. Simply install zonetag, setup your preferences (I'm still tweaking these) load the app, connect the GPS to grab your fix, take a photo, upload to flickr... it's as simple as that! Once on flickr your photos will have a hyperlink to map the photo and the coordinates will display when you view the photo on a map. So far I've had excellent results with this application.

Locr (www.locr.com) operates in a similar manner. Install the app, setup an account, connect to GPS to get a fix, snap a photo, upload to flickr and to locr if you wish. Your photos are maintained in a locr account and from the mobile device you can also view your photos or photos that are near you. Once feature I'm not big on is that the application takes over the camera and you don't seem to get the full functionality from your device. This contrasts with Zonetag where you use the camera in the same mode that you normally would with your device.

Please note, you should have an all you can eat data plan to use these applications otherwise the results (and your next phone bill) could be scary! I use shozu for uploads normall, however, it seems that when using zonetag or locr you are actually bypassing the shozu functionality... I'm not worried as I can use al teh data I want. Stay tuned for more on these apps. Overall, I give locr a 3.5 out of 5, zonetag gets 4.5 out of 5!

Related weblinks:

• my locr and zonetag photos on flickr
• zonetag
• locr

Flickr account holders can easily sign up for a zonetag key and start using it

Photos uploaded to flickr using zonetag - the title is automatically loaded with your location - notice the "map" link

The photo appears exactly where I took it on the map!

Zonetag GPS connect function on N95 (left) and locr application as seen on the device (right)

The John Edwards Twitter

Not sure if your from the "Edwards Camp" but it you are then make sure you follow John via the John Edwards twitter... http://twitter.com/johnedwards

3259 followers and growing. Not sure if that number will get him into the White House but it can't hurt!

Wirecast + Ogle Earth = Google Earth TV

Cool stuff from Stefan over at Ogle Earth as he's put together a very clever demo of some wow technology. Using software from Wirecast, his notebook, a green sheet, and Google Earth he's put together Google Earth TV. It's a bit rusty (don't give up your day job to become a news caster Stefan ;0) but you get the point of the type of thing "anyone" can accomplish using the right tools...nice stuff! Video provided via YouTube.

What do you do with Google Earth - share you favorite app, KML, KMZ or ?

What's the coolest, strangest, most interesting, most innovative or most useful thing that you like to do with Google Earth? Many of us regularly use G. Earth to track hurricanes, sightsee, check out National Geographic magazine, shop for real estate, or ??? I'm interested in hearing about what you'd must have Google Earth utility or tool is. Please share a small description and a website and/or KML link... I'll be summarizing some of the findings and sharing with readers. Respond with a comment or simply blast your submission to googlefun@gisuser.com - what's one of my favorite things to do in Google Earth? Well, I like to check out the recent earthquakes recorded by the USGS (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/catalogs/eqs7day-age.kmz) its also cool to explore the Arctic. On a related note, I also am a fan of shopping on craigslist so the allurstuff app is way cool for an interesting gmaps mashup! Once again, send your submission to googlefun@gisuser.com

Seeking MapInfo and MapXtreme developers - anyone interested?

A contact of mine has been searching to fill a consultant role that meets the following skillset: proficient with MapMarker from MapInfo and MapXtreme. Additionally, the client is pretty much a Microsoft C# shop so this would be a consideration. Anyone interested? If so blast me an email and I can put you in touch. The client is in North Dallas area and mainly does flood determination work for insurance purposes.

Tele Atlas LBS Innovator Series Maps in Apps Contest - now open for applications

Tele Atlas today has announced the Tele Atlas Maps in Apps 2007 contest is now accepting applications. Maps in Apps is part of the Tele Atlas LBS Innovators Series, an ongoing program held in conjunction with Tele Atlas DeveloperLink(SM) to help foster innovation and enable application developers to increase their visibility, credibility and success with key participants in the industry including investors, carriers and technology providers.  See more at http://www.lbszone.com/content/view/2208/2/ and http://www.teleatlas.com/LBSseries

New Global Mapper User and GIS community resource - Global Mapper Forum

Paul from GlobalMapper tells us about a new online resou4rce dedicated to supporting the popular application - Global Mapper Forum.
Recall: Global Mapper supports viewing of dozens of the most common data formats:
* DLG-O    * DRG     * DOQ    * DEM     * DGN
* DTED     * DWG    * DXF     * SDTS DLG    * SDTS DEM
* ECW     * MrSID     * ESRI Shapefiles    * E00

GlobalMapper is  a must have resource for anyone that works with USGS data, particularly the pesky SDTS data format!

http://www.globalmapperforum.com

CAG Geography week update (Nov. 12-17)

This Geography week update comes via Dr. Barry Wellar, Program Director, Geography Awareness Week ,
Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) - With less than three months until Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 12-17), the target of ten websites for Transportation Day will be met with relative ease. Wellar notes that things are not moving as quickly for the other Theme Days, and assistance is needed to identify and select websites to be featured on the respective Theme Days. The Theme Days with openings for involvement, and the names and email addresses of contact persons, are as follows:
1. Weather and Climate Day
2. Water Day
3  GIS Day
4. Food and Health Day
Background information on GAW 2007 has been posted on the CAG website in The Correspondence File. The Correspondence File can be found at http://www.cag-acg.ca/en/geography_week_2007.html

Yahoo! research zonetag for flickr now supports Symbian S60 3 (ie. Nokia N95)

Great news.. I just noticed that Yahoo! research labs popular zonetag application now supports symbian OS S60 3 devices (like the 6110 and N95).. this is awesome if infact it works! Given that Nokia's interface for actually getting GPS tags written to the photo EXIF totally sucks, this may be a very welcomed addition... stay tuned. One note though... I just tried getting the app via txt message download and the form doesn't seem to be working for t-mobile numbers.. stay tuned. See http://zonetag.research.yahoo.com