GIS Summer EDU reminder

A reminder - The Penn State master of geographic information systems (MGIS) degree is designed for working professionals aspiring to leadership positions in the field and wishing to pursue a world-class master's degree online. Registration for summer courses begins on May 12, 2008. See More

How many Hispanics in America? How about 45+ million

In an official Census Bureau PR release, the nation’s Hispanic population increased 1.4 million to reach 45.5 million on July 1, 2007, or 15.1 percent of the estimated total U.S. population of 301.6 million. Of note, Hispanics remained the largest minority group, with blacks (single race or multiracial) second at 40.7 million in 2007. See Census Bureau Guidance on the Presentation and Comparison of Race and Hispanic Origin Data for more info

USGS spreads contract around to GeoEye, DigitalGlobe, SPOT

The USGS today announced the award of three multi-year acquisition contracts for high and moderate-resolution satellite imagery to GeoEye of Dulles, VA, DigitalGlobe of Longmont, CO and SPOT Image Corporation of Chantilly, VA. According to the USGS,the contracts will to provide the USGS and other Federal agencies access to commercial satellite data from the U.S. and international marketplace for use in environmental monitoring, land management, energy development, natural hazards mitigation and many other purposes. USGS makes this data electronically accessible to any Federal agency or other user group that falls within the data licensing agreements. See http://remotesensing.usgs.gov

Will you Get Promoted - some tips

An interesting look at the art of promotion - I stumbled onto this blog, I can't recall how, and enjoyed this, perhaps you will also... good luck getting promoted! I like the following advice - work on the best projects, be likable, don't be the hardest worker (ie. the kiss-ass that stays until 8 PM every night!) and be friends with the boss! See details

Inside the Geodatabase Blog

Hey ArcGIS blogger fans, Heads-up. Last month the ESRI geodatabase development team revealed a blog "Inside the Geodatabase". Visitors will findnews and tips about ESRI geodatabases directly from development team. The blog is moderated by Product Engineers Brent Pierce and Jonathan Murphy. See http://blogs.esri.com/Dev/blogs/geodatabase/default.aspx

GeoBC - gateway to B.C's information via Google Earth

I was interested to notice that GeoBC is a sponsor of this year's GeoWeb conference. Even though I'm from BC (since departed) I wasn't familiar with the name. GeoBC is the Province's gateway to integrated Crown land and resource management data and information services. I can't recall what the BC Geo portal was knows as before this (it seems to change names quite often, as do the Ministries). Interesting to notice that Google Earth is very prominent and the service provides many KMLs to users, including the following layers: webmap services (streams, lakes, roads, contours, etc...), parks, and a tour of a peak on Vancouver Island. Check it out at http://geobc.gov.bc.ca/
Note: Data and information for the traditional GIS types is available HERE

Event of interest, Social DevCamp East

Heads up on a cool event, Social DevCamp east is scheduled for May 10, Baltimore Md. This DevCamp is for anyone interested in following where Social networking and the social web is headed. See more Here

GeoTagging with Shozu explained

Are you a mobile camera power user? If so then you know about Shozu (I hope) if not then you should, particularly if you like to blog your photos, flickr them or share them with others. Shozu recently updated to R4 and the geotagging support has been enhanced - to date I was never really happy with the results. Over on the Shozu Blog the team has provided a nice primer on how the shozu GeoTagging works and provides a cool tour of San Fran - see also shozu.com

UCR GIS Summer School

Heads up on the 11th Annual GIS Summer School from UCR Extension - a great opportunity to get a leg up on the competition as you head off to grab that ultimate job! Earn the Certificate in GIS in two months, July 7-August 28, 2008. Some details... This intensive format makes the GIS Summer School particularly attractive to people who live some distance from UCR Extension and to those who have the summer open for continuing education. GIS Summer School instructors are pioneers in the field of GIS. They work in government, private corporations and provide real-world expertise. See details

Manifold marketing to KML users ... wow! Hard to resist those Google ads

I guess I wasn't surprised to see that Manifold.net is promoted via Google ads, although it has to be the first bit of marketing I've ever seen for Manifold - nice to see Dimitri crack open the wallet and push the product as recently seen in Google adwords - although oddly promoted as "The ultimate KML tool". Hey, they may as well grab all the attention they can get from the Google Earth hype since everyone else is doing it. Indeed Manifold seems to be a very fine app although many people seem to think (including yours truly) that one of the main reasons it hasn't taken off "big time" (I'll let you decide what that means) is the lack of marketing - the cheap price tag could also be working against it as well. Please don't take this as a negative look at the product, at $245 Manifold is likely still the best bang for your buck you'll find anywhere for a full-blown GIS, the ultimate KML tool though? You be the judge I guess.

GIS in the Rockies in NOCO - sweet!

Registration is now open for the 21st annual GIS in The Rockies Conference (see pics from last year) - September 10-12, 2008, The Ranch, Loveland, CO. Cool to see that this event is in NOCO this year, just up the road from yours truly - nice! Should be cool to meet up with people right here in my backyard here in Fort Collins... no doubt there will be a few Fat Tires and Easy Street Beers thrown back during the 3 days. Gimme a ring if you plan on making it here! See http://www.gisintherockies.org

Speaking of events, GITA, just south of here in Aurora, CO has announced a call for papers for the 2009 Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference, slated for April 19-22, at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla. Tampa is a great place and loads of fun, maybe too much fun! I've found in the past that many people tend to piggy-back events in Tampa with a family vacation (I know I took the fam. to Busch Gardens one year) some speculating low numbers sitting in on sessions - hopefully that won't happen next year. Of note, one of the best GITA events I've even attended was back around 2000 (or was in 99?) here in Denver, CO, hopefully one of these years the conference will return. It's a great venue and I know that there's many GISers out there that enjoy LODO after the long days. See more at www.gita.org/gis

RADARSAT-2 data now available

Looks like MDA has now made RADARSAT-2 data products available for sale. Some background info... Launched December 14, 2007, RADARSAT-2 offers unparalleled imaging flexibility, dual polarization and full polarimetric imaging options, high-resolution and a highly responsive programming and delivery ground segment. See more www.mdacorporation.com

Brightkite location-based social networking in Beta

On the topic of location-based social networking, have you heard of Brightkite yet? It's one of those cool, Twitter-like social networking apps that takes advantage of location-based tagging. The service enables users to meet people and discover others that share an interest in places that you visit. BrightKite is currently in an invite-only Beta. I was interesting in seeing that the company is setup in Denver in a trendy loft and has recently received some funding - looks like some competition for Spatial Networking perhaps! Indeed social networking is hot, add to the mix a mobile, location- aware application and you have a cool idea. You have to wonder though, is there room in this space for more players or will Twitter and Jaiku rule? Also, like map mashups, how will these services be monetized?

Google Maps Directions Gets help with addition of Street Views

Are you a Google Maps directions fan? I know I couldn't get to and from our ball tournaments every week-end without them! Well now, users of this service will notice that Street View is integrated with directions. At each turning point in your list of directions you can now view a street view image of the intersection (if available). A nice touch to a very useful service. I know I could have used this a couple of weeks ago when I had written directions but had some confusion at an off-ramp. To use this feature simply ask for directions from Google Maps and click the little camera icon beside each drive segment.

10-day predictions of path and intensity of hurricanes and tropical storms

This one comes out of the insurance industry as Guy carpenter has announced a new forecasting tool - WSI LiveCat Forecast. According to the company, WSI LiveCat Forecast is a service for the insurance marketplace that provides accurate 10-day predictions of the path and intensity of upcoming hurricanes and tropical storms. Beginning on June 1, 2008, for each named tropical storm or hurricane, WSI LiveCat Forecast will issue:
Track and intensity forecasts for each named tropical storm or hurricane, twice daily, up to 10 days out; Landfall probability forecasts that are dependent upon storm-specific track uncertainty rather than historical error statistics; Weather forecasting skill comparable to or better than the National Hurricane Center. And get this, WSI LiveCat Forecast is available either online or via GIS shape files. More info here

Global Mapper v9.03 Released

Global Mapper has today announced the release of an update to Global Mapper with v9.03 Enhancements include:
- Added support for loading Tiger 2007 Shapefiles with full attribution and automatic styling and type assignment.
- Added support for loading OpenStreetMap (OSM) and Vulcan3D files.
- Added support for exporting to Delft3D (.ldb), TomTom OV2, and Vulcan3D format files.
See more at http://www.globalmapper.com

The Airborne1 ASPRS PowerBall Give-Away

I'm always interested in new, clever give-aways at conferences. Recall the Magellan find your match buttons, or perhaps the Jeopardy parody game show give-away? These were cool and now Airborne1 has a good idea for those who visit their booth at ASPRS this week. Just drop by Booth 418 and you'll get a PowerBall Ticket from the crew! Good luck - see also www.airborne1.com
Is your company planning a fun contest or give-away? What's the coolest contest you've seen at a Geo event?

Tips for reducing that cell phone bill

With gas prices soaring here's a tip that could help you cut your cell phone bill down a bit, enabling you to have a bit more change for fuel! If you use data on your mobile then you know that data plans are quite costly. Something to keep in mind, check your carrier's data plan rates as they constantly change. If a new plan comes on or your existing plan gets reduced then you need to formally ask your carrier for the reduction, otherwise they will gladly keep taking your hard earned cash. Something else to consider, drop your data plan on months when you don't need it. I've had "all you can eat data" for the past 2 years at a rate of about $30 per month. Not a bad deal but there's been many months when I simply don't use it that much. For months when you don't travel much or don't expect to use the data then drop it from your services, when you need it again simply add it back on - T-Mobile (and others) will gladly do this. I just dropped mine this month and now I simply surf onto free Wi-Fi when I need it and I found out that when I add it back on the rate is now $19.99 p/month instead of the $29.99 p/month i was paying.