An interesting update to the AutoCAD portfolio today... The Autodesk Civil Engineering portfolio now includes: · AutoCAD Civil, which provides civil engineering technicians, drafters and surveyors with a focused design and documentation solution · AutoCAD Civil 3D, which provides a more comprehensive civil engineering solution with analysis and simulation capabilities for the civil engineer and designer As a result, AutoCAD Land Desktop 2009 will be the last release of Land Desktop and moving forward, the company will be focusing resources on the development AutoCAD Civil and Civil 3D. See more at www.autodesk.com/civil.
Interesting to see this Virtual Earth Application demo for the Texas Wildfire service aka. the Texas Wildfire Data Browser Demo. Developed for the Texas Forest service, the app has been built by Data Transfer Solutions (DTS) with the help of Sanborn (correct me if I'm mistaken please) - the DTS crew (think Dave Bouwman and Chris Spagnuolo) appears to be aggressively working on applications developed on ArcGIS Server, Virtual Earth, and Google Maps (naturally!), you've likely heard of them, if not I'm sure you will! Browse the app and use the layer toggles to view fire locatyions, wildfire threats, surface fule hazards and more
Geo technologies are changing the way millions manage their businesses and live their lives. Rapid advances in geolocation technologies – and what individuals and companies have built on those technologies – present new marketplaces for businesses and services, and not just the expected mapping and location services.
Geo functionality is everywhere, and more geo data is being created and freely disseminated than ever before. This emerging technology space, growing in tandem with Web 2.0, has been called Where 2.0. In this report, Andrew Turner and Brady Forrest map out the new generation of geo products and services, identify the major players, and show how your business can leverage the power of Where 2.0.
"... people are looking through their cloud of information to discover what is pertinent to them where they are and when they’re there—a trend we call Where 2.0."
Always cool to see interesting terms and buzzwords flying around... one interesting word recently spotted on Twitter was "ArcTarted"... hilarious... wonder what other "Arc" terminology is floating around out there??
here's a pointer to "the definitive" guide to Web2.0 office apps... pretty darned decent although a few categories may be missing... check out apps to manage your contacts, database, calendar, expenses and more... nice! see http://o20db.com
Looks like google has taken it upon themselves to serve up an excellent mashup showing election results from the 2008 election. Jump to the app and search by State to see voting results, see also the fundrace, track Obama's life journey and more... very well done. See http://maps.google.com/help/maps/elections/
the map above shows results from the Democratic race in Colorado (Blue = Obama, Yellow=Clinton) pretty darned Blue!
Forum Nokia has announced the winners of the 2008 Code Camp Competition - CityLite by MSCorp of Coral Springs, Florida. A mobile guide to night life and Flickret a mashup that combines the Flickr photo-sharing app with MapQuest APIs. The contest aimed at inspiring Forum Nokia Code Camp attendees to build Web Runtime (WRT) widgets and Flash applications. See more
iPhone 3g aka. the iPhone 2 was unveiled this week by Steve Jobs at the "Apple lovefest"- iPhone 2.0 software update for existing users is coming soon. Some of the features sported by this popular device include: built-in GPS (A-GPS) support for 3G networks additional language support enhanced email handling MobileMe for managing your email, calendar, contacts etc... 3.5 inch display 8GB or 16GB flash drive WiFi adn Bluetooth 2 megapixel camera with photo geotagging (not sure what that means or how it will work) and much more.
Some notes from Job's speech... Thinner at the edges, full plastic back, solid metal buttons, 3.5 inch display, camera, flucsh headphone jacks (applaus) improved audio (dramatically). Jobs noted in a demo that the device will open a large attachement in seconds, comparable to Wi-Fi speeds! 5Hours of talk time on the battery, 5-6 hrs of browsing, 7 hrs or video watch time, 24 hrs of audio (clap!)... great performance and great battery life. New.. GPS (huge applause)... location services is going to be a big deal.. it's going to explode. Locastion data from cell towers, WiFi, and from GPS.
Sounds cool but teh real selling point of this bad boy will be the $199 price tag (with 2 year contract) and for $100 more you get 16 GB and it comes in white too! - I'm not sure if the device will be handled by more carriers yet (like perhaps T-Mobile, but I doubt it) See http://www.apple.com/iphone/
A tip for those of you that have a need to distribute PR releases to media outlets. If you send your PR electronically, like most companies do, and you find a need to send your news via a Document (MS Word, Works etc..) or even worse, via PDF (why people send PDFs is beyond me), then make sure you also simply copy and paste a simple text version of the PR within your email. I'm sure you'll find that the interest in your news will increases dramatically. Oh, and if you decide to send your PR as a ZIP file with docs, images etc... forget about it - I doubt if anyone will go to the effort to look and see what you've sent them. Also remember, include a SHORT title and contact info, and make sure your news actually is news (sorry but the fact that you just hired a new GIS analyst or tech isn't of interest to most).
