Virtual Earth version 6 API is now available

More out of the Microsoft camp this week... Virtual Earth Version 6 - Now Available. The Virtual Earth version 6 API is now available. The launch included several new exciting features documented in the online SDK.Moving from Version 5 to Version 6 is easy! New features at R6 include:

Multipoint routing

Enhanced Geocoding
Safari support
Traffic Tile Overlay
Bird’s eye pushpin accuracy
Rooftop Geocoding
Ability to use MWS as a routing engine
Customer Identification via Client Tokens
Transaction Reporting (beta)
Localization
MapCruncher (Beta)
SLA
Bulk addition of VEShape
3D collection model
More!

 

See http://blogs.msdn.com/virtualearth/archive/2007/10/17/virtual-earth-version-6-now-available.aspx

Microsoft Virtual Earth goes 3D with 3DVIA

Microsoft® Virtual Earth -3DVIA  - This technology preview introduces Virtual Earth integrated with 3DVIA. Virtual Earth - 3DVIA brings your ideas to life in 3D! Imagine, create and share 3D models within Microsoft Virtual Earth!
    * Imagine your own 3D models
    * Create a realistic visual experience in 3D within the Virtual Earth environment
    * Share your 3D models on the web

 

From Microsoft... “Virtual Earth -3DVIA users will be able to build a world that mixes their future projects and ideas with real-life places, buildings and structures,” said Lynne Wilson, senior vice president and general manager of 3DVIA at Dassault Systèmes. “Through Microsoft’s online geographic location mapping technology and our 3-D modeling and realistic visualization know-how, we have created a new level of realism within Virtual Earth that provides an unrestricted freedom for creativity and innovation.”

 

Users can download Virtual Earth -3DVIA for free and immediately

 

http://maps.live.com/Help/en-us/VE3DVIADownload.htm

Platial Acquires Frappr, Creates #1 Social Map Site

Wow, platial acquires frappr... Platial’s CEO Di-Ann Eisnor says, “We are delighted to have the Frappr community join the Platial family. This reinforces our vision to connect people, neighborhoods and nations around the world. Together, we will make social mapping more accessible, more valuable and a more fundamental part of Web 2.0, encompassing mobile and local search. We will also introduce new, more effective advertising models using social data and location to create greater relevance.“

The company estimates that Platial -Frappr combination represents 25% of all distributed map widgets on the internet and one of the major online mapping sites generally. Di-Ann of Platial shares the following with me... "We're going to be able to provide even more value to users, advertisers and the industry." Good luck! See www.platial.com


See the GISuser Frappr at http://www.frappr.com/gisuser
We're also on Platial at http://www.platial.com/gisuser

More out of the O'reilly camp on the GIS 2.0 front... GIS for Web Developers - New from Pragmatic Bookshelf

A new book from O'reilly just announced today boasts you'll learn how to find the vast amounts of free geographic data that's out there and how to bring it all together. You'll see how to convert it among several popular formats—including plain text, ESRI Shapefiles, and Geography Markup Language (GML). I can't wait to see how yet another expert proposes to the industry how to find these free data - PS - if you point me to another antiquated datadepot I'm gonna puke!

In GIS for Web Developers, author Scott Davis introduces Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in simple terms and demonstrates hands-on uses. With this book, you'll explore popular websites like maps.google.com, see the technologies they use, and learn how to create your own. Written with the usual Pragmatic Bookshelf humor and real-world experience, GIS for Web Developers make the journey an easy one. You can now geographically-enable your own applications using freely available, open source tools and data. But until now, finding the right data on the web has been a problem. For more information about the book, see: http://www.oreilly/catalog/974514098

Apple iPhone development - Does Security nullify an Open environment?

What actually defines open? It seems there's a mixed bag or responses that all seem to have some validity... for example, in a message regarding the recent announcement of an SDK and development environment for the iPhone, Steve Jobbs had this to say... "Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than “totally open,” we believe it is a step in the right direction." So do I understand that we'll likely be seeing an "iPhone signed" requirement for the application developers... if so I wonder how much it will cost to get your apps signed?

What makes Nokia and the symbian OS the global leader is the fact that there exists a robust, open development environment in the S60 platform. Granted, Nokia won't allow applications to run on S60 unless they are signed but does this make things any less open... I'll take the security any day. Related links - http://www.apple.com/hotnews/ / http://www.s60.com & see also https://www.symbiansigned.com

Leica Geosystems announces ERDAS IMAGINE + ER Mapper

Recall this acquisition... Leica has announced what it has planned for the products. Several of ERDAS IMAGINE’s raster and geometric modeling tools will be incorporated into ER Mapper Professional. A new release of Image Compressor is also planned for 2008 and the free trial version will continue to be offered. Additionally, ER Viewer will implement compatibility with the Microsoft Vista operating system. Recall previously this year, Leica Geosystems also acquired IONIC and the technology of Acquis. See www.gi.leica-geosystems.com.

Garmin explores traffic in UK - Top Ten Worst/Best Roads in Britain

New research by YouGov for Garmin found that endless traffic jams (84 per cent), accidents (35 per cent), boring scenery (26 per cent) and confusing road signs (20 per cent) are to blame. The following results have come out of the research findings...

 

Top Ten Worst Roads in Britain
1) M25
2) M6
3) Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham
4) North Circular in London
5) Oxford Circus
6) M1
7) Hanger Lane Gyratory in London
8) South Circular
9) M62
10) M5
 
Top Ten Best Roads in Britain
1)  A591 between Keswick and Lake Windermere in the Lake District
2) A82 Glasgow to Fort William in Scotland
3) A38 from Exeter to Plymouth
4) M48 across the Severn Bridge
5) A696 from Newcastle Upon Tyne to the Scottish Borders
6) A3 overlooking the Devils Punchbowl in Surrey
7) A1 or A167 when you see the Angel of the North
8) A537 out of Macclesfield
9) A25 from Dorking to Guildford
10) Oxford Street in London
 
Top Five Most Memorable Drives
1) Going on a holiday
2) Taking your baby home from the hospital for the first time
3) Going to your wedding
4) Going on a road trip with friends
5) Going on a romantic drive/date
 
For more information, visit www.garmin.co.uk

Apple unveiling a SDK for iPhone application developers

Apple announced today its unveiling a SDK in February to allow the development of native third-party Applications on the iPhone McAfee comments on a move to create a developer framework for the iPhone... I received this from McAfee today... McAfee has not yet seen any attacks created specifically for the iPhone. However, history has shown that product success draws in attackers. At McAfee, we've been dealing with cyberattacks for almost 20 years. "Apple opening up the iPhone and iPod Touch is great news, promising a richer user experience and additional innovation," said Jan Volzke, head of global marketing at McAfee Mobile. "We're glad that Apple acknowledges the risk of mobile attacks. Just like Apple we want to make sure users are protected from malware and privacy attacks." According to the labs, the iPhone SDK to include security in it's design - more on this can be found over at www.avertlabs.com

social.fm now has a mobile client (S60) woohoo

you may think big deal... but today there's great news for anyone with a S60 mobile smartphone (like the Nokia N95) as social.fm has released a mobile client. I just downloaded it and am testing as I write this.. its awesome... social music networking at its best.. simply search for a song, add to my favorites and listen... anytime anywhere.. SCORE! See www.social.fm or you can catch the news over on symbianone - see http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/4943/108/

new features available in Arc2Earth V2

An update has been released for the popular Arc2Earth. The following enhancements are now supported:

 

New Formats - KML, KMZ, GeoRSS (Simple), GeoRSS (GML), GeoJson
Saved target location for automated exports
File Comments - Add custom comments or copyright to every file created
Atom Name and Link Support
Amazon S3 Storage - Store all of your exported files on S3 automatically
KML 2.2 Schema Support
Additional labeling options
Field Formatting using ArcMap's built-in support
Custom Time Formats for KML TimeStamps
KML Region Support (Vector, Raster and Vector Data as Raster Tiles)
Extra KML - Add custom KML tags to export (Document and Individual Layers) Many bug fixes
and much more
See http://www.Arc2Earth.com

New GPS-Enabled BlackBerry Curve

First U.S. Introduction of BlackBerry Curve 8310 Brings Built-In GPS and New Colors (titanium and red) to Popular Handset -- AT&T Inc. and Research In Motion (RIM) have announced the availability of the BlackBerry Curve 8310, which adds the power of built-in GPS (Global Positioning System) to the popular BlackBerry Curve, which was first introduced in the U.S. through AT&T. In addition to GPS, the new BlackBerry Curve 8310 advances the original design with two new eye-catching colors for AT&T customers.  With the BlackBerry Curve 8310 handset’s built-in GPS capabilities, customers can take advantage of location-based applications and services such as TeleNav GPS Navigator, which provides GPS-enabled turn-by-turn voice and on-screen directions that feature colorful 3-D moving maps and traffic alerts with rerouting. Customers will find TeleNav GPS Navigator useful in vehicles as well as while walking.  The new BlackBerry Curve 8310 from AT&T is available now for as low as $199.99 with a two-year contract and mail-in rebate in all 1,800 AT&T retail stores nationwide, online at http://www.wireless.att.com

The American Surveyor - Amerisurv Blog launched

Kudos to Marc Cheves, publisher of The American Surveyor Magazine and Amerisurv.com. Marc has just started his Amerisurv Blog over at http://amerisurv.blogspot.com/ - billed as a blog for land surveyors by land surveyors, the Amerisurv blog topics include surveying, mapping, cartography, GPS, and other geospatial technology "hot topics" - good luck Marc! If it's half as interesting as the magazine the blog will no doubt have some great material

GISuser newsletter for Oct 16, 2007

Sorry to ping this but looks like our newsletter blasting service is under repair today so there's a slight delay.. FYI, the latest edition of the newsletter can be found online at http://www.gisuser.com/newsletter/oct162007.html

From this edition: ... the Smartphoneshow is underway in London, the Where2.0 call for action has been announced, CTIA is just around the corner, and the news simply won't slow down! If mobile is your thing then the symbian lovefest taking place in the UK is what you want to be following. Just today S60 has announced that the Symbian Os has added a touch UI... this is huge as symbian will now be able to offer the funky touch UI that Apple has made popular with the iPhone. Google maps has now been integrated into the Symbian OS which will make it much easier for developers using the Open environment to port their google mashups and other LBS apps to mobile... essentially its a free, native Symbian C++ version of Google Maps for mobile... this is huge! I could go on and on but you can catch all the Symbian related news over at LBSzone or in the SymbianOne coverage. In the news, congrats to DigitalGlobe as the first images from WorldView 1 have been made available. Also under the topic of new... di u know that you can view uTube vids within Google Earth now? Check it out under the featured content layers. Finally, congrats go out to Ted Florence, president of Avenza Systems Inc., who was recently elected to the IMTA Board of Directors . Oh, one last thing... on Friday I realized there was a new Google maps mobile client so I downloaded it and tested it out on a symbian device... it's awesome! (see more here).

Symbian Smartphone Show Symbian C++ version of Google Maps Mobile

From The Symbian Smartphone Show... Symbian Limited today announced that Google has made available a free, native Symbian C++ version of Google Maps for mobile that was developed by Google for Symbian smartphones. The new version of Google Maps for mobile will provide users with an extremely fast and responsive mobile version of Google's award-winning mapping and location services software for Symbian smartphones. The client is available for download for S60 3rd Edition on Symbian OS-based phones at www.google.com/gmm
symbian

google

2008 NSDI Cooperative Agreements Program

The announcement for the 2008 NSDI Cooperative Agreements Program has been posted on Grants.gov. A short description of this year's categories and a link to the full 2008 NSDI CAP announcement can be found at http://www.fgdc.gov/grants/2008CAP/2008CAPschedule . Federal agencies are not eligible to apply for CAP awards under this announcement.

moblog

A test post via mobile email

--
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Register now at http://www.cortado.com/free!

DigitalGlobe has rolled out the first images from the WorldView1 satellite

Recall the launch just last month... well, today DigitalGlobe has rolled out the first images from the WorldView1 satellite.

WorldView-1’s first images include half-meter snapshots from:

Houston, Texas, USA acquired October 2, 2007
Yokohama, Japan acquired October 5, 2007
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia acquired October 5, 2007

Recall WorldView-1, built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation with the imaging sensor provided by ITT Corporation, is a high-capacity, panchromatic imaging system featuring half-meter resolution imagery. With an average revisit time of 1.7 days, WorldView-1 is capable of collecting up to 750,000 square kilometers (290,000 square miles) per day of half-meter imagery.

Images can be viewed at: http://www.digitalglobe.com/worldview-1_images.html

Today Autodesk took a 360 degree turn with the launch of Autodesk U-Vis 360 Core

360-degree view of structures and urban areas -- From the company, Autodesk today announced the Autodesk U-Vis 360 Core, a new solution platform that integrates building design, manufacturing, mapping, and infrastructure data and displays it in a single visualization environment. Specifically tailored for federal and state and local governments, solutions built on the U-Vis 360 platform provide a complete and highly accurate 360-degree inside-outside-under view of any structure or urban environment with an easy-to-use interface. The U-Vis platform integrates 'smart' engineering data, filters it according to specific task and then applies the appropriate interface -- either a 2D web or a 3D game engine. The result is that non-technical users at all levels of federal and state and local governments can more easily integrate, visualize and experience complete precision information and data about an urban setting or structure in a digital environment-giving them immediate access and allowing them to make critical decisions more quickly and easily. U-Vis 360 enables users to incorporate existing data from commercial-off-the-shelf software, such as computer-aided design (CAD), geospatial information (GIS), building information modeling (BIM) and databases, to create complete and accurate urban environments for customers' business application and analysis needs. The U-Vis 360 Core supports the development of multiple solutions from the same sets of source data for both technical and professional users. See http://www.autodesk.com/uvis

symbian

Off Topic - NOCO Going Colorado Rockies Wild

Needless to say, all of Colorado is going Rockies wild including our household - hey man, we've been on the bandwagon for some time now and not just the past week... I recall 2 months ago wondering where all the fans were while attending a game because the Rockies were Red hot! Even my own 6 year old is getting into the spirit... enjoy this vid as we prepare for game 4 (hopefully the final game of the (ALCS) tonight! Note: she couldn't quite wait until the 7th inning stretch to belt this one out!

Google earth adds SPOT Image - One world one year layer

A new featured content layer is now available to users of Google Earth. Spot Image is bringing fresh content to Google Earth with a selection of the best SPOT satellite imagery from all around the world. Here's what we hear from Spot... One World, One Year offers a selection of 50,000 SPOT scenes with the lowest available cloud cover acquired within the last year covering some 180 million sq. km. Simply scroll down to the featured content area (lower left) and select the Spot Image tab to reveal the One World One YEar option... toggle the layer to reveal icons. Clicking the icon brings up an image snapshot and options to purchase and get more info direct from the Spot website.

See also http://sirius.spotimage.fr/PageSearch.aspx and see the PR here

Nokia N95 8GB made its debut - global shipments start today

Feature-packed, loads of memory, GPS, Nokia maps and more... Boasting up to eight gigabytes of built-in memory, the Nokia N95 8GB has all the key features of its predecessor, including a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, built-in A-GPS, WLAN, HSDPA and an innovative 2-way slide. The sleek black N95 8GB also boasts a luminous 2.8" (240 x 320) QVGA display, so watching videos, browsing the Internet or viewing maps is a real pleasure. With its expanded memory, the N95 8GB offers up to 20 hours of video or up to 6000 songs - also, keep in mind, this isn't just a cell phone, its a multimedia computer! For more see www.nseries.com/n958gb