Slashgeo

GeoBase User Support writes "What is GeoBase?

GeoBase is undertaken to ensure the provision of and access to a common, up-to-date and regularly maintained base of quality geospatial data for all of Canada. GeoBase is a federal, provincial and territorial government initiative that is overseen by the Canadian Council on Geomatics (CCOG). Through the GeoBase portal, users with an interest in the field of geomatics have access to quality geospatial information at no cost and no restricted use. More on http://www.geobase.ca./

Users have to subscribe on GeoBase to download data. When subscribing, they can authorize GeoBase to inform them of latest developments (approximately 2 — 3 e-mails a year). Furthermore, a newsletter published twice a year is available on the Website.

For any questions or comments please contact:
Client Service
Natural Resources Canada
2144, King West Street, suite 010
Sherbrooke, Quebec, J1J 2E8
Canada
E-mail: SupportGeoBase@nrcan.gc.ca
Telephone: 819-564-4857 / 1-800-661-2638 (Canada and USA)"

Found on the Geoweb Guru blog, here is a snippet of the article :"GIS Cloud has just entered its public beta phase. GIS Cloud is an online "GIS for the web". The 'cloud' in the name refers to it being SaaS (Software-as-a-Service). It is unclear if it is implemented in true 'cloud' fashion (eg. like Amazon EC2 or Microsoft's Azure). Unlike the vast bulk of the "geo-web" systems we cover, this is much more than a simple map viewer/annotator/query engine; but allows more GIS-like data operations. "
Make sure to check the blog for the rest.

Here's your weekly dose of geonews in batch mode. Please allow the less frequent posts lately, I'm quite busy at the moment. I'll also be away next week, so we rely on your contributions and other editors. Thank you for your comprehension.

On the FOSS4G front, the open source GIS uDig 1.2 reached milestone M9. TMR links to a Washington Post article on OpenStreetMap. Plenty of geoblogs/lists pointed to the interesting O'Reilly Radar entry named Rethinking Open Data: "[...] it costs money to make existing data open."

In the Apple front, more from CNET on the iPad and maps (via TMR). APB links to instructions to access Google StreetView on the iPhone (yes you can!). Here's details on a 'GIS app' for the iPhone. Here's an entry comparing free maps and navigation apps.

In other news, several geoblogs mentioned the excellent article on geolocation in html5. It seems the USGS budget cuts hit geospatial as well. NAVTEQ is shutting down Nav4All, used by 27 million users, that uses NAVTEQ data, due to license agreements. Here's an interesting short entry named How KML Succeeds and Fails as a Web Format. Here's another interesting entry named How Coordinates are Referenced in Databases. Here's an interesting graph of artificial satellites by nations, including the functional and non-functional ones.

In the maps category, here's a series of maps on the U.S. State of the Union. Here's various Bing Maps maps of Vancouver, in time for the Olympics. Here's a "Tube Map" of the Milky Way. There's new bedrock maps for the U.K.

Here's recent Google-related geonews. Google added World World II historical imagery to Google Earth: "Images taken in 1943 show the effect of wartime bombing on more than 35 European towns and cities. Imagery for Warsaw, which was heavily destroyed at the time, is available from both years 1935 and 1945." Here's another entry specifically for Warsaw.

The ocean seafloor in Google Earth got updated with new high resolution DEMs. There is a new Ocean Showcase launched that uses the Google Earth plugin. There's an offline installer for Google Earth and updates to the 3D Warehouse and Building Maker. Here's a climate change tour of cold places. There's work to add Google Earth imagery to Microsoft's Flight Simulator. Finally, Google Maps for Mobile adds places and searches syncing capabilities.

An anonymous voxel writes "Geolenz has beta launched a new type of geocoding service, called intelligent contextual geocoding. Unlike traditional geocoding, this one understands the context of a location in both space and time, and provides a rich result of contextual details specific to the location and expressed within a language consistent with the domain. See hands-on demos here. Geolenz is looking to connect with geo-app developers (mobile and web) to explore opportunities for leveraging this type of informative data."

fotoguzzi writes "The Copenhagen Wheel is more than an energy-gathering power-assist for tired legs; it also monitors environmental conditions. A slick video shows how the wheel can report to a smart phone which can then report to a community map. Enough Wheels and you have a good snapshot of sound and air quality in the city. I question the music and the unidentifiable accent of the video, but the ideal seems worth considering. Could the sensors be placed in the phone and leave the Wheel out of it?"

One of the best geospatial SQL databases out there just got better: the open source geospatial database PostGIS version 1.5 has been released. From the announcement: "This release adds a long-wished-for feature to the open source spatial database—direct support for “geodetic” coordinates. [...] With PostGIS 1.5, the new “geography” type is a 100% sphere-aware type, which can be indexed globally and returns answers in meters, using calculations on the spheroid for maximum correctness. It is built on top of a new disk storage and index format, which the existing “geometry” type will also transition to in version 2.0. [...] We expect that the geography type will make it easier for new users to store their data in PostGIS (without having to learn about projections and coordinate systems before starting) and also allow global data managers to store and query international data sets for effectively." See also related stories below.

geocoded Art writes "GeocodedArt.com is a collection of world's greatest landscape, cityscape and seascape paintings, geocoded to Google or Bing Maps. The goal of geocodedArt is to use digital map technology to add context to fine art, and to use fine art to illuminate geography. The criteria for inclusion in this collection are that the image is a recognizable depiction of specific location; the image be in the public domain; and that the image be beautiful, and/or be of an interesting place."

Geoweb Guru shares a short technical overview of MapGuide, both the Enterprise and Open Source versions. From the review; "MapGuide is a web-based map platform that includes both server and client components. It is currently available in two forms: "MapGuide Open Source" from the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) under the Lesser GPL license; and as "Autodesk MapGuide for Enterprise" directly from Autodesk. [...] The open source version lacks connectivity to data stores to a number of data stores (eg. Oracle), AutoCAD integration, and localized versions. As would be expected for an open source application without a commercial support license, it also lacks additional quality assurance and formal support - both are included with purchases of MapGuide for Enterprise licenses. [...] Despite the design successes of the MapGuide architecture, it has been criticised for a number of limitations. Most MapGuide applications have to rely on a client plug-in, ActiveX control, or Java applet. This client-side plug-in is then controlled using JavaScript. [...] Although MapGuide ships for both Linux and Windows, it is generally recognised as being very Windows-centric." See also related stories below.

Here's the announcement of a new open source project named Pro4J. From the annnouncement: "My main focus for a while has been working on a Java port of the popular PROJ.4 projection library. [...] To answer the question of "Why another Java projection library?", the main reason is that PROJ.4 is popular, well-tested and well-documented, so it seems like a good idea to make it available in the Java world. [...] OSGeo is hosting the codebase as part of the MetaCRS umbrella project. There it lives in the good company of Proj4JS, CS-MAP, spatialreference.org and of course PROJ.4." See also related stories below.

Stefan Knecht writes "In times where Maps and Navigation go for free, United Maps premiers Walk & Ride — solid hyperlocal maps with everything included but the cost of infamous data roaming charges: no Internet connection necessary, no stress abroad. Works on iPod Touch or iPhone with maps so nice that we still dare to sell it at the cost of a short taxi ride. Walk & Ride packs a punch with its unique details and extensive information that other maps don't show. The City Maps are as comprehensive as they're accurate, showing the entire area, not just the city center:

        * all buildings with outlines and accurate house numbers
        * the complete index of all roads, streets, and paths, including all crossings and short-cuts
        * thousands of POIs (points of interest) that other maps don't show — with addresses and lots of helpful information
        * fully selectable scale of up to 1:500 — perfect for pedestrians
        * no infamous international data roaming charges: all vector and offline
        * true multi-modal route calculator, accurate to the house number for three route types: on foot, by railbased public transport systems and by car

Available in German, English, French, Italian and Spanish. More information and Screenshots: http://walknride.com/" We mentioned Walk & Ride last December.

knecht writes "TomTom promising daily map updates In an exclusive article [in German], the German business magazine WiWo (Wirtschaftswoche) quotes TomTom CEO Harold Goddin: „Bis Ende des Jahres werden wir alle ein bis zwei Tage aktualisierte Karten zum Download anbieten“ (German original) "Until end of 2010 we'll offer downloadable map updates every two days." (rough translate) Well, the year is still young, things may happen and the quote is fairly vague on detailing exactly what will be updated. Missing streets?" Here's previous TomTom stories.

I received notice of a free ERDAS webinar. Here is the announcement as is : " Register Now for this webinar on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 11 a.m. (EDT)

Companies are always making claims that their product is bigger, better, stronger, and faster than their competitors – but how often do you truly see or experience this claimed difference? Since launching ERDAS APOLLO, we have unashamedly broadcast that we are the fastest, most powerful geospatial enterprise system for managing and delivering massive amounts of imagery.

In this webinar, you will experience the speed of ERDAS APOLLO firsthand, enabling you to clearly see that ERDAS APOLLO easily delivers terabytes of imagery over the internet faster than any other competitive product. Join us for this webinar, and we will prove it. You will also learn about the new features in ERDAS APOLLO 2010 that can save you time, decrease your overall hardware costs and enable you to publish your business data."

Yesterday Slashdot discussed open source alternatives to CAD in a story named FOSS CAD and 3D Modeling Software?. Their summary: "I work at a privately funded, open source, manned, return to the moon mission — Yes really, and Yes, we really are going to put man (and woman) back on the moon. Since we are open source, we want all of our tools to be, too. What we are looking for is CAD software that we can feed into Blender (or the like) to do 3D modeling with. Many of the engineers have tried working with Blender and Art of Illusion, but have not been pleased. They want to just draw the parts, then feed them to the art people who will run them through the 3D modelers for videos, illustrations and such. What is your preference?" In the comments you'll find out about BRL-CAD, brlcad.org and FreeCAD, but it seems most people there agree that nothing is up to par to commercial software at the moment. See selected related stories below.