CTIA wireless and automated calling...?

Wow, forget spam mail... I just got an automated phone call and message left on my cell from CTIA (see CTIA.org) regarding the coming CTIA wireless IT show... which, by the way, I'm already registered to attend so why they decided to call me to remind me to attend is beyond me. Add to the fact that the wireless industry association is now sending automated, recorded calls TO MY CELL PHONE and I'm downright annoyed... nice move CTIA... NOT!

The Nokia Wrist Band CP-218 - keep your N95 in place!

A rather odd find but nonetheless quite cool.. Nokia has a product for sale called the wrist band. Simply put, its a sports band type of garment that is designed to keep your smartphone safe and in place while you work out! Going for a jog... simply slide on the wrist band and tuck your Nokia N95 safely inside... ok ,you could put your iPhone in there instead but that would be a bit hypocritical wouldn't it?? Thanks to Phil over at the S60 blogs for the heads-up on this one!

On the Bandwagon

Off topic... I may be relatively new to Colorado but I've quickly become a huge fan of the Rockies this year. It's been hard not to with such a fantastic, young team. I've taken the kids to a number of games at Coors Field and I wish I could attend this final week-end but a travel gig on Sunday is preventing me from that - along with a planned trip to Estes Park to catch the annual elk buggeling spectacle.. stay tuned for some pics and vids from that one! (Brian from TerraGo... are you going to be up there???) Anyway, here's to the Rockies opening up a can of Whop-a@#$ on Arizona this week-end and extending the amazing streak to 15. PS: If your in Denver and heading to the game tonight and need a side-kick let me know ;0)

Amsterdam via Open Street Map

This from the opengeodata blog (http://www.opengeodata.org ), as they are boasting a great milestone 3 years after the fact.. now you can view complete coverage of cool places in Europe like Amsterdam - check out the Amsterdam map (very impressive!) at http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=52.36552943075415&lon=4.896468055666103&zoom=15&layers=B0T

Nokia N95 Customers Will Receive a Free Version of SlingPlayer Mobile

This out of the slingbox camp today.. sling hits the N95 - Nokia N95 Customers Will Receive a Free Version of SlingPlayer Mobile. For a limited time Sling Media is offering Nokia N95 current and future handset owners in the U.S. a discount on Slingbox AV. In addition, all U.S. Nokia N95 customers will receive a free version of SlingPlayer Mobile (a $29.99 value). Complete details can be found at www.slingmedia.com/go/nokia.

Autodesk University (AU) and the unplugged sessions

Pete Kelsey over at "The Dirt" blog informs us not only about the 600+ sessions planned for AU this year but an interesting concept in some "un-plugged"  or "un-conference" sessions (Kelsey links to this wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference) . Create your own session, act as a participant, interact with others etc... what a cool idea! See more info on Kelsey's blog - http://petekelsey.typepad.com/the_dirt/2007/09/au-unplugged.html

 

The deadline to submit your topic is October 15, 2007

USGS Earth as art

Thanks James for this tip... I always love the USGS imagery! Now you can add a widget to your website, blog, or iGoogle page showing you some very cool imagery from the USGS. See below and enjoy! Grab your own code here

Euro coin map excludes Turkey

This reminds of the blunder in Canada a couple of years ago on the hundred dollar bill that was plagued with some "geography" issues on the map... from the Telegraph (UK)... European Union officials have been accused of "political geography" after Turkey, but not the Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, disappeared from a map of Europe designed for new euro coins. Oops! see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/25/weuro125.xml

Support for a competitive baseball team on the Colorado Front Range

Given that the Northern Colorado area and Front Range is a hotbed for geospatial technologies (and baseball!), I thought there might be some of you out there interested in supporting a competitive minor league (13 yr old) baseball team during the 2008 season. Some details... The club is a 13-year-old competitive baseball team affiliated with the Fort Collins Baseball Club. The team is made up of 11 enthusiastic and committed young men who love the game of baseball, and will be playing in tournaments state-wide during the 2008 season - this is a tournament travel team. The team are seeking corporate sponsorships (starting at $100) to help offset the cost to the families on the team. Your contribution to the team is fully tax deductible through the Baseball Club and their 501 C3 non-profit status. Additionally, anyone interested in contributing, I'll also provide you with some value added promotion via GISuser that is valued at at least the amount of your contribution... you'll also receive recognition and promotion directly from the club (banners etc...) feel free to ping me (glenn at gisuser.com) for more info... Play Ball!

Autodesk donates coordinate system and map projection technology to the geospatial open source community

More news on the open source front today as Autodesk has announced its intent to donate the source code for CS-Map to the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. From the company... The donation of CS-Map, software from recently acquired company Mentor Software, will enable all open source geospatial projects to have access to powerful coordinate conversion technology, enabling them to support the projections and transformations necessary to support over 3,000 coordinate systems worldwide and giving them access to capabilities not previously available to the open source community. Autodesk believes that this donation will help to accelerate innovation for the larger geospatial community through faster development cycles and lower costs. This donation will free many customers and developers from the cost or need to re-engineer coordinate conversion technology and, thereby, “reinvent the wheel.” See more

Tele Atlas Announces launch of 3D features for LBS apps

This out of Tele Atlas as the company rolls out highly detailed Tele Atlas 3D landmarks and elevation models. According to the company, developers can add recognizable building representations that enhance screen images in in-car and portable navigation systems. Also, the 3D content enables local search applications on mobile devices to more closely match what users actually see in their surroundings. The company says they will make available more than 400 detailed 3D (three dimensional) landmarks of notable North American structures for use in navigation devices and location-based applications. Currently, Tele Atlas 3D landmarks in North America are available for more than 400 structures in 14 major U.S. and Canadian cities including: Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Toronto and Washington, D.C., with images spanning from the legendary Fenway Park in Boston to the historical Washington Monument in D.C. See below for images of Maple Leafs Garden (Toronto) and General Motors Building (Detroit)

GM Building, Detroit

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

See more

URISA and NENA partner up on Addressing Conference

Save the date - The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) have announced a new name for its joint conference. The 2008 conference will be the first one presented under this name: The URISA/NENA Addressing Conference. The conference will take place April 7-10, 2008 in Portland, Oregon. See http://www.urisa.org/conferences/Addressing/Info

3D SpaceNavigator Mouse Now Supported By ArcGIS Desktop

3Dconnexion, developers of that very cool 3D mouse we've seen used for Google Earth has now migrated to the ESRI environment. The company has just today announced the device is now supported by ArcGIS. Recall, with the SpaceNavigator 3D mouse, users apply very slight movements to the device’s controller cap to seamlessly fly through 3D terrain... some people have difficulty using this at first, however, once you get used to it, navigating through 3D datasets is way cool! See www.3dconnexion.com or see the announcement here

Washington / California Wind on the water mashup

Thanks to John over at LizardTech for sharing this cool mashup of interest to those needing wind.. maybe you surf, windsurf ,fly kytes or maybe kyteboard... the application so far has been developed for the Pac NW (Washington and B.C, Canada) and California users and shows hot recreational spots where wind is an important factor. Click on a station location and retrieve real-time wind-speed data, barometric pressure, Web cameras, and forecasts.. nice! See:
Washington - http://www.windonthewater.com/washington.htm
California - http://www.windonthewater.com/california.htm

IronKey secure USB flash drive - for sensitive government, military and enterprise networks

Here's something cool for those of you that pack data and sensitive docs around on a USB drive... IronKey: Enterprise Special Edition, a secure flash drive designed for use on sensitive government, military and enterprise networks. Some of the featrues include:
- Hardware-Encrypted USB Flash Drive: With its strong hardware AES cryptography and authentication, there is no need to install additional hardware, software or drivers.
- No Administrator Privileges Needed: Unlike many other encryption products, the IronKey does not require Administrator privileges on Windows XP or Vista.
- Designed for Enterprise Networks: The IronKey performs dynamic drive letter mapping for use in enterprise environments with network-mapped drives.
- Tamper-Resistant and Waterproof: The IronKey is designed so that it cannot be physically tampered with or disassembled by a determined hacker. The IronKey has also tested, passed, and exceeded military waterproof standards (MIL-STD-810F).
- Easy to Inventory: Each IronKey has a unique, easy-to-read serial number, making it easy for IT managers to inventory the devices.
- Assists in Regulatory Compliance: The IronKey helps organizations meet regulatory requirements such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley and GLBA.
- Rugged and Durable: Unlike plastic USB drives, the IronKey’s rugged metal casing is filled solid with epoxy, making it both tamperproof and waterproof.
See ironkey.com

Schmap boast Schmap for Mac, online guides, an open developer platform, and customizable widgets using Google, Yahoo! or Microsoft maps

Schmap, the developer and publisher of those very cool, free guides and Schmapplets has not only just passed the 30 million download mark, but they also have some cool updates. Most recently, the company is boasting Schmap for Mac, online guides, an open developer platform, and customizable widgets.

Schmap for Mac - Schmap desktop guides are now Mac compatible: Schmap Guides for both Mac and Windows can be downloaded for free at www.schmap.com.

Schmap Guides online - Readers who don’t require all our desktop functionality can now browse Schmap Guides online, complete with the same content as their desktop counterparts. Schmap Washington DC, for instance, can be browsed online at www.schmap.com/washingtondc.

User authored “schmapplets” - open platform for users to author their own map-integrated travel or local content. A showcase selection of user authored schmapplets can be viewed at www.schmapplets.com.

Customizable map widgets - simple for anyone to customize a map widget for a website or blog, with choice of size, color, city and map or satellite image via Google, Yahoo or Microsoft. Schmap map widgets can be customized at www.schmap.com/widgets.

More about Schmap Guides:
Online and desktop travel guides available at www.schmap.com.
30 million desktop travel guides downloaded since March 2006.
Guides include photos from 50,000 travelers and local residents.
200 worldwide destinations schmapped.
Unique platform integrates maps and travel guide content.

See more about Schmap and schmapplets in the article at http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/12070/

Tha sample widget below uses the Yahoo! maps API