Get listed in the Geo Tech. directory / GISuser SuperPages (Beta)

Heads-up, we just added GIS/Geo tech directory (Beta) to the site. Please feel free to add your listing if you have "geo" related apps, services, or ??? See details
Feel free to submit suggestions for new cats or whatever you may have to contribute.

ESRI UC 2009 abstracts due

FYI, ESRI UC 2009 abstracts are apparently due in tomorrow... see more at the UC Homepage. ESRI UC 09 will take place July 13-17, 2009 in San Diego CA.

Trulia Rolls out Trulia Pro program for the real estate industry

Interesting to see an innovative business model roll out.. .case in point, the new Trulia Pro Program. The popular real-estate mashup resource is now offering users a chance to advertise and make some cash while at it. What will make this so effective I think is the established reputation of Trulia as a true online leader in real estate search as well as the heavy focus on the real estate market and the ability to enhance offerings and branding for the real estate professional. The service enables clients to take advantage of featured listings and local spotlight ads to help with branding. See more at http://www.trulia.com/truliapro/

Geospatial Line of Business consolidating Federal geospatial-related investments

A useful resource for you Geospatial technology business owners and Federal contractors... GLOB has a vision of developing a a more coordinated approach to producing, maintaining, and using geospatial data, and will ensure sustainable participation from Federal partners to establish a collaborative model for geospatial-related activities and investments. A number os useful public documents are available at http://www.fgdc.gov/geospatial-lob

location-based services (LBS) news round-up, week of Oct 15, 2008

If LBS is your thing then be sure to check out the latest recap from the LBSzone is the latest edition of the LBSzone Alert. Loads of interesting items this week including a tip about a great mobile industry review, a cool neo-geographer presentation, updates on a mobile GeoPDF solutions, tips for LBS job posting, a feature covering such topics as Time to First Fix, and Nokia's effort to iTarget the iPhone. These and much more in the latest edition!

Get your LBS fix!

Another Mobile industry Review show

Have you see the MobileIndustry Review yet? If not, check out the latest edition filmed in London. Goog ol James Whatley is up to his usual self, hopping around an a coffee and red bull induced frienzy. Enjoy as he runs around asking people to show him their mobile... I love the chick with the dead N78!
Then there's the Nokia 6820 user.. nice, bet you haven't seen one of those for some time now! And a killer scene with the 3 US dudes that aren't carrying their phones with them (you know, roaming charges!) a tip, when in Europe check out one of the carrier shops and grab yourself a pre-paid SIM for cheap cheap, enabling you to actually use your device, if anything else you can use unlimited data while there! And then the lady with the iPhone thats getting slooooooower and sloooooower.. gee, haven't heard that complaint for some time! Enjoy the show and thanks guys!



Mobile Industry Review Show - Week 41 from Mobile Industry Review on Vimeo.

Lidar Survey: Your Input Is Requested

Just down the orad from yours truly, Carry and Associates (Longmont CO) wants your help in a Lidar Survey. Details... Members of the lidar community are invited to complete a brief survey, available on the company website at www.caryandassociates.com. An executive summary of the research will be sent (in early 2009) to all respondents who provide their email address. Most questions are multiple choice, so the survey goes quickly. The path through the survey depends on the answers given; many respondents will be able to complete the survey in 5-10 minutes.

Reminder - Nokia is Calling All Mobile Innovators

In a first-of-its-kind chance to let mobile application developers showcase their own innovations, Nokia is inviting entries for a global contest. This contest for innovative mobile applications consists of 3 major categories:
Eco-challenge – This challenge is for assisting Nokia in creating mobile devices, software and services that reduce mobility’s global environmental impact and help people make sustainable choices.

Emerging markets - Applications which help empower the people in developing countries. Emerging Market solutions would include applications providing health information and data access, apps offering low-cost infotainment, SMS-driven apps that inform rural agricultural workers of the best time and place to bring products to market, as well as literacy and general education solutions.

Technology showcase – “Killer applications” which reflect the truly cutting edge mobile technologies or as Nokia says “technical kung fu”! Open to all technologies, including if it runs on S60 or Series 40 – or a Nokia Internet tablet (maemo applications).

And if you win the contest Nokia will distribute the winning applications through its own channels. Plus you get a hefty cash prize and a trip to Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona.

Submit your applications by December 15, 2008 and get a lifetime chance to make your innovation reach out to the wide world.

Winners will have a chance to show off their apps at the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, participate in meet and greets, and win up to $25,000

For more details visit: http://www.callingallinnovators.com/home.asp

The long awaited 3 year NAFTA TN visa

This interesting tidbit comes to me via an immigration lawyer who provides loads of goodies... Joe Grasmick (See grasmick.com). Joe has followed the NAFTA TN visa for years now and apparently has the scoop on the long awaited 3 year NAFTA TN visa, apparently now a reality!

From Grasmick... "the long-awaited regulation giving TN professionals 3 years of status at a time. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has increased the maximum period of time a Trade-NAFTA (TN) professional worker from Canada or Mexico may remain in the United States before seeking readmission or an extension of stay. This final rule changes the initial period of admission for TN workers from one to three years. This makes TN periods equal to the initial period of admission for H-1B professional workers. Eligible TN nonimmigrants can receive extensions of stay in increments of up to three years instead of the prior maximum one year period.


This is huge for US employers of Canadian workers or Canadian companies that hire US workers as the TN visa is now good for 3 yrs at a time and more important, this enables companies to by-pass the dreaded H1B application process.. what many call a total nightmare! This is very huge for workers too... as a former TN visa holder I can tell you that working in a country with a permit only valid for one year increments is a total pain in the arse and leads to endless immigration dealings and head-aches! See more on immigration dealings at http://www.uscis.gov

Disclaimer: please do not use this information as legal advice and always verify immigration and visa related information with UCIS

Zoocasa Mashes up real estate listings with neighborhood data in Canada

Another nice effort at a Googlemaps real estate mashup from Zoocasa. A nice UI and very appealing, and I really like the way you can simply search by neighborhood - quite useful! I found the initial search mechanism to be not very useful, however, once I dug a bit deeper I started coming up with results that were of interest to me. I'm not sure how or where listings are being scrapped but I got the impression the resource is not totally complete with ALL listings on the market. Nonetheless, a decent mashup and the site does offer up loads of information on neighborhoods, providing a useful research tool for someone looking to relocate to an area they might not be familiar with - nice! - see www.zoocasa.com

Doing The Green Thing - Take 2!

Are you doing the green thing? Maybe, maybe not but if you're interested in learning about how you can be more green then you'll enjoy http://www.dothegreenthing.com

I've just been checking out their latest update to the site, scheduled to be released in a couple of weeks. Dothegreenthing offers up some great idesas and encourages users to:
walk the walk - get around without maching power
stay grounded - less air travel and less CO2 emmission
smarter consuming - shop wise
easy on the meat - do you know how much water it takes to create feed for cows??? It's downright amazing!
human heat - turn down the heat and put on a sweater or jumper
plug out - stop leaving on all those electronic devices
Stick with what you have and don't consume so much - why update that laptop every six months just so you can look cool??


Below is a video from the new site introducing you to the Green Thing and showing you just how easy it is to be more green


Meet Green Thing from Red Davis on Vimeo.

I've been a member for a few weeks now but I've been "green" for much longer than that. I'm happy to say that over the past year I've managed to get my electric and gas bills down about 20% just by being more aware of the power that I'm consuming. Other green things I've done:
- changed out all the lights to enviro friendly bulbs
- unplugging cell phone cables and only using energy efficient cables
- more recycling (my weekly curbside recylsing is about 3 or 4X greater than any of my neighbors - you tell me, how can one family of 5 produce only one little bag of recycling material in a week??
- smarter driving including better routes, fewer trips, more ride share, more walking
- composting garden materials
- not purchasing products with huge, wasteful packaging

Mashup Camp - Learn, Hack, Compete!

Save the date for Mashup Camp... November 17-19, Mountainview / San Jose, CA at the Computer History Museum - the un-conference for the mashup developer community. Of note, seems that this event will overlap somewhat with the iPhone Live event, Nov 18 in San Jose. The theme of mashup camp this year - Learn, Hack, Compete! Who's coming to mashupcamp? See the Wiki


Finally, the focus of this year's event will once again be the best mashup contest, where attendees will decide on the coolest mashup created for the event. Here's how the contest works:

On Day One of Mashup Camp, attendee will be exposed to several APIs through quick-and-dirty Speed Geeking sessions and more in-depth Chalk Talks. Attendees should pay close attention to the tools described by the solution providers on Day One. Prizes will be awarded by each Solution Provider at the end of Mashup Camp for the best usage of each tool in an original mashup! In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to award a prize to the best solution provider tool.

Day Two of Mashup Camp offers attendees the opportunity to discuss the use of these APIs with their peers while working on the development of original mashups in the Hack Den under the watchful eye of Mashup Camp Hack Masters.

Day Three is competition day! On this day, Camp attendees will travel in small, organized groups from table to table as competing mashup developers present their mashups for review. Each developer will have about 5 minutes to convince each group that visits his or her table that their mashup is most deserving for one of the Best Mashup Contest prizes on offer.