In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Here's the recent Google-related geonews, it covers a longer time span than usual.

From official sources:

• Here's a summary entry of the major changes and updates to Google Maps and Google Earth in 2011
• Google launched today Public Alerts in Google Maps: "If a major weather event is headed for your area, you might go online to search for the information you need: What’s happening? Where and when will it strike? How severe will it be? What resources are available to help?"
• The World Bank signed a greement to use Google Map Maker for disaster preparedness, this just makes me wish even more that Google will join and merge GMM with the OpenStreetMap bandwagon
• On the dev blog, they introduced pyKML, a Python library for manipulating KML
• There's new 45 deg imagery for nothing less than 24 cities:
  • US: Boise/Caldwell, ID; Buffalo, NY; Chattanooga, TN; Cleveland, OH; Denver, CO; Greenville, SC; Houston/Pasadena, TX; Kansas City/Gladstone, MS; Knoxville/Louisville, TN; Memphis/Bartlett, TN; Mobile, AL; Nashville, TN; Pensacola, FL; Racine, WI; Santa Monica, CA; Sarasota/Englewood, FL; Stockton, CA
  • Europe: Baiona, Spain; Basel, Switzerland; Friedberg, Germany; Mannheim, Germany; Santander, Spain; Ulm, Germany
  • South America: Porto Alegre, Brazil
• StreetView is now available in South Korea, for the cities of Seoul and Busan and there's new campus tours in Street View too
• Google is open sourcing Sky Map and will collaborate with Carnegie Mellon University
• On the dev blog, here's about integrating Street View and custom panoramas into your apps
• And another entry discusses heatmap.js and its Google Maps API Heatmap Overlay
• There's an official Google Maps game coming to Google+ next month
• Here's biodiversity tours in Google Earth
• There was a major imagery update the first week of January, here's the details

From other sources:

• The GEB shares his own recap the year 2011 for Google Earth
• Here's an entry on traffic congestion visualization in Google Earth
• If you're curious about the Costa Concordia ship wreck, here it is in Google Earth and satellite imagery
• Here's an entry on wave mechanics in Google Earth
• Here's the North American power plant emissions in Google Earth
• Mapperz informs us that Google Maps U.K. now integrates National Rail Info and Ed Parsons offers an entry on multi-modal travel planning in Google Maps
• APB reports that Android phones now ranks above iPhone when it comes to GPS navigation

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. I've been overly busy lately - like a lot of us are at that time of the year I guess - please allow the unusual delay of this entry. Have a nice holiday break!

On the Esri front:

• Via an Esri email, I learned about the National Geographic World Map to be used as a basemap with Esri products and services

On the Google front:

• Again, there's new 45° imagery available, now for Detroit, Fayetteville, Nashville, Baton Rouge and Huntsville
• The GEB has an entry on Google Earth on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus
• The GEB also shares another entry on using Google Earth in the classroom
• Finally from the GEB, here's an entry named Visualizing Google Analytics data in Google Earth
• Slashdot is discussing a story about British Telecom suing Google over Android, including several location-related patents
• Here's the official entry on last week's imagery update

In the miscellaneous category:

• APB shares their top 10 GIS stories of 2011
• SS informs us that France's Pleiades-1 high-resolution is now in orbit: "Pleiades-1 has a 70cm resolution, mulitspectral views in the visible and near-infrared bands, and a swath width of 20km"
• Read this if you want to grasp how important geospatial intelligence is to the US Department of Defense
• We often mentioned the LightSquared debacle, now they want the FCC to rule now, not a bad idea since they might run out of money in the coming months
• SS also informs us of an hyperspectral imager that can be deployed on UAVs
• We mentioned GeoSMS before, here's the OGC blog the use of GeoSMS for disaster management
• APB informs us that Facebook added Location Tagging to their Timeline Rollout
• Two weeks ago in a PR we mentioned GISLounge's GIS job skills and employment survey
• Also from a recent PR, we never mentioned before the free Dinamica EGO software, now at version 1.8, EGO standing for Environment for Geoprocessing Objects
• V1 informs us that Russia's GLONASS satellite navigation system is officially global again
• Slashdot discusses how the brain's structure changes with your spacial and navigation skills, at least for taxi drivers
• Another location-related story discussed at the same place is named Japanese Use Wild Monkeys To Track Radiation
• Finally from the same source, DigitalGlobe's satellite spotted China's first aircraft carrier
• WebMapSolutions reviews 8 mobile GIS apps for iOS and Android
• Microsoft tells us about the Updated Spatial Features in the SQL Azure Q4 2011 Service Release
• MapQuest updated their Mobile Flash Maps API to v7.0.7, but with Flash for Mobile officially abandoned by Adobe, what's the future of Flash?
• O'Reilly shares a long entry on the Public Mapping Project for gerrymandering the U.S. elections, which we mentioned before
• Hum... APB shares an entry named Confidence Key to Women Doing Well at Spatial Tasks

In the maps category:

• While I'm a bit late for Christmas gifts, VS mentions interesting typographic maps of various U.S. cities on sale, VS also links to reasonably priced 'vintage' geography gifts
• Here's OWNI's list of Best Maps of 2011, a few of them previously mentioned here
• Discussed over Slashdot, a New All-Sky Map Shows the Magnetic Fields of the Milky Way
• O'Reilly shares this British map of traffic casualties

First, I'm sorry for not publishing the "batch mode" version of the geonews for the last two weeks - along with several other responsibilities, taking care of two young daughters at home is certainly fun, but engulfs all available time. In this batch mode edition, there are certainly a few geonews that could deserve their own entry - click on what interests you to learn more!

From the Google front:

• In my previous Google entry earlier today, I forgot to mention the GEB entry detailing even more major improvements of Xavier Tassin's Google Earth Flight Simulator, now at version 0.7
• This one via APB, Google Maps rolls out business interiors in Street View

From the Esri front:

• Via VerySpatial, ArcGIS for Android 1.0 has been released
• Two weeks ago, mandown informed us that the ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 3 Now Available For Download

From the miscellaneous category:

• GeoIQ launched GeoIQ Social, "the first and only product that provides self-service analysis of social media data by time and location"
• On the OGC blog, there's an interesting short entry on "Big Data" vs SDI in geospatial
• Clearly, WebGL is en vogue, mapperz mentiones the new Nokia Maps 3D WebGL, and Nokia is readying LiveView, which blends maps and augmented reality for their upcoming Windows Phone
• Apple expanded iPhone 4S GPS capabilities with GLONASS support and Apple Siri's support for maps and local search is coming to international customers in 2012
• MapQuest refreshed their Developer Network
• The name Atanas Entchev ring a bell to you? He's an active member of the geospatial community and he needs our help, he's facing deportation from the U.S.

In the maps category:

• Mapperz mentions the UK car crash map
• Ok, not exactly a map, but trying to find what are the Wall Street protestors are so angry about, here's a breakdown of income inequality, the Gini coefficient, by countries

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. Some of those news seem important enough to deserve their own entries, but I dare share them in a single one. Yes, that's another unusually long post. Normal posting frequency should resume next February!

From the open source / open data front:

• SS shares an entry named MIT Releases Smartphone Data Tracking Tools as Open Source Software, it's called Funf
• There's now an OpenStreetMap Inspector, a quality evaluation service to help improve OSM data
• Here's a short entry on using OpenStreetMap data, tidbit: the entire database is 250GB
• Here's an entry on generating contours using GDAL (via shell or QGIS)
• Paul explains Indexed Nearest Neighbour Search in PostGIS
• Here's the FOSS4G 2011 WMS Performance Shootout 2011 slides, and I haven't shared this yet, James Fee's Guide to what was important at FOSS4G 2011

From the Esri front:

• Mandown reports that Esri updated their deprecation plans for ArcGIS 10 and 10.1
• SS indicates Esri Releases a Map Story on Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions

From the Google front:

• Finally, single-language labels made their way to Google Maps, that's making it much less confusing
• Here's in simple words why Google offers Google Maps / Earth
• Ogle Earth shares an entry on using Google Earth to hunt illegal mining in Goa, India

From the Microsoft front:

• Bing Maps added detailed airport maps, 42 U.S. airports so far 

In the miscellaneous category:

• SS reports that TomTom Launched a Geospatial Platform with Oracle: "The service will offer geocoding, vehicle routing and mapping information, all hosted on Oracle’s 11g database."
• V1 writes about INTERGEO, the German geospatial conference that attracted 17,000 attendees, making it one of the largest geoconferences in the world (the largest?)
• James Fee linked to the U.S. and Canadian top 10 largest cities GIS web maps
• We mentioned it before, but here's another article on the completion of the ERS satellite missions after 20 years
• O'Reilly shares an entry named Why indoor navigation is so hard and another entry on the state and future of local news
• If you have interest in the GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification), here's data model diagrams
• MapQuest launched a Mobile Flash Maps API
• VerySpatial mentioned the National Geographic Challenge game for the PS3, XBox360 and Wii
• On a more serious topic, VS shares an entry on The Geography of the Death Penalty

Slashdot discussed a few geospatial-related stories:

• Don't you wish you were a student again, Put On Your 3D Glasses — Class Is About To Start
• Not the first time we hear such news (from any OS phone), HTC Android Backdoor Leaks Private User Data, including GPS locations
• US Military Seeks Non-Cooperative Biometric Tracking Technology
• A story named California Governor Vetoes Ban On Warrantless Phone Searches, including GPS logs
• An on the same theme, a Senator Goes After 'Brazen' OnStar Privacy Shift
• With a search, you'll find plenty of similar stories, German Researchers Crack Mifare RFID Encryption, in other words, RFID can be of great use, but can't be considered secure 
• There's also a story about using stereo-vision mapping to visualize the oldest submerged city

In the maps category:

• TMR shares a few map books for Fall 2011
• Here's the first global map of ocean salinity
• Here's the Japanese tsunami mapped in detail for the first time

In the coming days, I'll be at Géomatique 2011, the major geospatial event in the province of Québec. Slashgeo is a media partner of the event.

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode covering the last two weeks. It's a bit longer than usual.

On the open source front:

• Almost two weeks ago, the OSGeo released their 2 minutes video promoting the FOSS4G 2011 conference, Slashgeo is proud to be a media partner
• The FGT blog offers a long entry on the portable version of gvSIG, an open source GIS - portable meaning running from a USB key with a host computer with no intallation required
• Several sources mentioned that Canada's British Columbia opened their province-wide open data portal, with plenty of geospatial data in it
• While we mentioned the its preview in May, here's more documentation on the upcoming GeoRepository, an advanced authorization manager for GeoServer
• ImageI/O-Ext 1.1.1 has been released
• uDig 1.2.2 has been released too
• There's a PostGIS Drupal module in the works

On the Google front (well, new since yesterday):

• Public transport directions of London is now available in Google Maps
• Google details the new Google Maps version 5.8 for Android, adding photo uploads and My Places
• Mapperz tells us how to load OpenStreetMap data in Google Earth via FME with BBOX.ME

On the Microsoft front:

• Most visible changes for users are updates to the Bing Maps road map style, they even offer a 9-pages guide to detail what 's new
• APB reports that Microsoft will use Gigwalk to enhance Bing Maps search results
• Microsoft announced Bing Maps updates to Account Center, REST Services, and Documentation
• Another entry enumerate what's new in the Bing AJAX Map Control

In the miscellaneous category:

• O'Reilly links to a free shapefile of the TZ timezones of the world
• SS mentions the GeoTime software that "displays movement over time in an intuitive manner"
• Here's an article on the technical, scientific, historic and political background to the GPS system
• On the topic of the future of GPS, V1 shares an entry named the Significance of LightSquared Debate to Europeans and APB shares ESA's reaction to LightSquared potential interference with Galileo
• MacRumors have an entry named Apple Pays $946 in Korean Lawsuit Over Location Data Collection, New Class Action Suit Coming
• In the funny category, APB mentions (video included) ToyToyota's Backseat Driver GPS iOS game for kids that uses the real-time itinerary of the car

Discussed over Slashdot:

• 3D Hurts Your Eyes
• Chief NSA Lawyer Hints That NSA May Be Tracking US Citizens
• Google Grabbed Locations of Phones, PCs
• Undersea Cable Map Shows Where The Data Pipes Are

In the maps category:

• SS shares an entry named eLEAF Maps the World’s Water for Food Security
• Ready for the hurricane season, the UK Met Office launched their Storm Tracker (beta), with free and paid versions, and on the same topic, the GEB offers an entry on tracking hurricanes in Google Earth
• V1 mentions Africover WebMap from the UN, offering geodata for Africa
• O'Reilly have an entry on cellphone connections in the U.S.

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From official sources:

• Two entries on Google's updated Google Maps for Android to version 5.7, including several new features:  transit navigation (beta),  updated directions, improved search suggest, photo viewer for Places pages, downloading map areas for offline use, a scale bar and a measuring tool
• Google added ten of thousands of new 3D buildings to Berkeley, California; Cologne, Germany; and The Hague, in the Netherlands
• Google shared a summary of the geospatial content at the Google I/O 2011 conference
• StreetView is now available for Monaco

From other sources:

• The GEB introduces Tribus Organum, an Illustrated history of the world using Google Earth
• The GEB also mentions the 2011 Tour de France in Google Earth

Byron Como has released a new map of the City of Baghdad, Iraq for the
Android tablet platform on the Amazon.com app store. The map is
published in five parts.

http://www.amazon.com/Travelers-Encyclopedic-City-Baghdad-Iraq/dp/B00540...

A Traveler's Encyclopedic Map To the City of Baghdad, Iraq is an
up-to-date map of Baghdad. This app was created with modern, open-source
software. The map shows detailed representation of streets, mosques,
shopping areas, and government centers. Car repair shops and gas
stations are also represented. The map features vibrant colors and
descriptive icons with a detailed legend. A handy series of distance
rings shows the scale. The app comes complete with a north arrow and
Mecca direction finder.

Here's the geonews in batch mode, covering the last two weeks, and thus, longer than usual. But first, a quick note to let you know that we updated our open budget after the last donation from WebMapSolutions.com.

From the open source front:

• Quantum GIS is being ported to Android tablets
• Here's SpatiaLite for Android smarphones
• The Java Topology Suite (JTS) is being ported to JavaScript as JSTS
• Paul Ramsey shared his PgCon notes #1 and notes #2, from a PostGIS developer perspective
• We mentioned a few times the 'PostGIS in Action' book, here's a new review from Geoweb Guru this time. Here's the book on Amazon: 
  PostGIS in Action
• We also previously mentioned OpenLayers 2.10, a Beginner's Guide, here's a new review from James Fee, here's the book on Amazon:
  OpenLayers 2.10 Beginner's Guide
• MapGuide Maestro 3.1 has been released, along with its SDK
• Here's about Turning GeoServer into an ImageServer
• EasySDI V2 is now available

From the Google front:

• Today Google announced Google Wallet, enhancing mobile payments with smartphones
• Google Maps 5.5 for Android has been released
• The new Google Correlate tool supports geographic data as input

From the Esri front:

• SS offers a sneak peek at ArcGIS 10.1 improvements
• Via APB, ESRI offers a Live Severe Weather Map
• SS also has an entry named Jack Dangermond Addresses the Origins and Future of GIS
• The latest Arc2Earth allows you to legally use Google Earth imagery in ArcMap
• ArcGIS API for JavaScript 2.3 is now available

In the miscellaneous category:

• APB shares an Oracle Spatial User Conference 2011 Wrap Up and two related entries named Oracle Spatial Clients Have ‘‘Big Data’’ Issues and Oracle Exadata Database Machine the Focus of Oracle Spatial User Conference
• V1 reports on the CNN and Nokia Partner to Map More News and informs us the Ovi Maps brand has died in favor of the Nokia Services name
• MapTogether mentions the Stats America data portal
• James Fee recap GIS on the BlackBerry Playbook tablet from WebMapsSolutions
• APB offers three updates on LightSquared GPS jamming
• MapQuest integrated gas prices in their main maps
• The GEB has an entry on Pix4D, turning 2D aerial photos in 3D
• Here's the track of a tornado seen by the ASTER satellite and from GeoEye

Recent geo-related stories discussed over Slashdot:

• Wikipedia Edits Around the World and Places With the Most Wikipedia Articles
• "Space Archeology" Uncovers Lost Pyramids
• 3D Aerial Photos For the Common Man
• From Austria, the World's Smallest 3D Printer
• Hack Targets NASA's Earth Observation System
• How Companies Are Using Data From Foursquare

In the maps category:

• Ok, not exactly a map, but this world countries OCDE Better Life Index is still pretty and interesting, and you can specify what matters to you and see the matching countries (via IiB)

Here's the Friday geonews in batch mode, exceptionally covering the last two weeks. We're now up to date regarding geospatial news!

From the open source front:

• You can influence what the OSGeo priorities should be with this quick survey, here's funding ideas partial results
• Here's an entry on Sextant, a geoportal solution from IFREMER
• In a maintenance release, GeoTools 2.7.1 is now available

From the Google front:

• Google Transit is now available in Washington DC
• Google shared an entry named Make beautiful interactive maps even faster with new additions to the Fusion Tables API
• Google Places now supports in-business 360-degree perspectives, in another entry, the new Google Places API is described
• The GEB compares Nokia's new Ovi Maps 3D vs Google Earth
• The GEB discusses using Google Earth to confront government lies about damaged rainforest in Sarawak

From the ESRI front:

• Andrew Zolnai has en entry on ESRI's Change Matters website to compare satellite imagery, and that's possible thanks to Landsat imagery dating back to 1972 now available through ArcGIS Online

From the  Microsoft front:

• While we mentioned it before, Kurt too is, as I am, enthusiastic about Microsoft's free Photosynth iPhone / iPad 2 app
• There's a New Bing Maps iOS SDK
• Microsoft invites you to See AJAX 7.0 in action with the new interactive SDK

In the miscellaneous category:

• The MapQuest for Android Navigation App got updated and improves GPS capabilities
• Slashdot discusses using credit card transaction locations to determine CO2 footprints
• Spatial Law mentions a California Bill that would regulate 'Precise Geolocation Information'
• Vector One argues on Why Now is a Good Time to Invest in Geospatial Technology Stocks, and here's entries specifically on Trimble and DigitalGlobe stocks
• SS informs us Moscow Upholds Limits on the Resolution of Satellite Imagery

In the maps category:

• TMR links to an excellent series of 12 static maps of the 2011 Canadian federal election results 
• Mapperz mentioned WeatherSpark Beta, a Google Maps mashup to visualize historical weather patterns
• The FGT blog mentions Free Marine Chart Views, Plus An Online Waypoint/Route Editor With GPS Export
• Here's a New York Times's Natural Disaster Map for the U.S.

Here's the geospatial-related discussions that took place over Slashdot during the last 7 days. From my personal experience, there's often more value in the Slashdot user comments than in the news themselves, so don't hesitate to take a look at their user comments. Half of those stories from Slashdot are related to Google and location tracking.

Slashdot discussed a story about Marlinspike's Android Firewall that Constrain Location Tracking. The summary: "The first dynamic Android firewall, dubbed WhisperMonitor, has been released by respected security researcher Moxie Marlinspike. The firewall will allow users to stop location-tracking apps and restrict connection attempts by applications. Marlinspike, whose company created the application, designed WhisperMonitor in response to the incidence of location tracking and malware on Android platforms. It monitors all outbound connection attempts by applications and the operating system, and asks users to permit or block any URLs and port numbers that are accessed."

Another story discussed is named Google Sued For Tracking Users' Locations. The summary: "Two Android phone users are suing Google for $50 million in the wake of revelations that their phones might be tracking their locations. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on April 27, is seeking class-action status. The plaintiffs, Julie Brown and Kayla Molaski, are residents of Oakland County. The two say in the suit that Google's privacy policy did not say that the phones broadcast their location information. Further, they say Google knew that most users would not understand that the privacy policy would allow for Google to track users' locations." Apple was sued for their location tracking last week. According to Boy Genius Report, iOS tracking will be addressed in version 4.3.3, which is due out within a couple weeks.

Slashdot discussed a story named Google's South Korean Offices Raided, and the relation with geospatial is obvious in the summary: "The Seoul police raided Google's office in Seoul, S. Korea today on suspicion that they have illegally collected users' location data, without consent, for advertising purposes. Google claims to be cooperating with the investigation."

Now, not related to Google directly but still on the location tracking theme, Slashdot discussed a story named Battle Brews Over FBI's Warrantless GPS Tracking. The summary: "The FBI's use of GPS vehicle tracking devices is becoming a contentious privacy issue in the courts, with the Obama administration seeking Supreme Court approval for its use of the devices without a warrant, and a federal civil rights lawsuit targeting the Justice Department for tracking the movements of an Arab-American student. In the midst of this legal controversy, Threat Level decided to take a look at the inside of one of the devices, with the help of the teardown artists at iFixit."

Slashdot discussed a story named Cracker-Size Satellites To Launch With Endeavour, the summary: "Obfiscator writes with news of the upcoming deployment of satellite-on-a-chip devices measuring just 3.8cm x 3.8cm x 0.2cm. The satellites are set to launch with Endeavour on its final flight. "These three miniature satellites are being launched as a proof-of-concept. As such, they're being deployed in very low orbit, and should return to earth fairly quickly in order to avoid becoming dangers for other satellites. 'They each contain seven solar cells, a microprocessor, an antenna and amplifier, power storage in capacitors, and switching circuitry to turn on the microprocessor when the stored energy is enough to create a single radio-frequency emission.' Due to their size, atmospheric drag would slow them down without burning them up, allowing them to study the uppermost atmosphere of wherever they are deployed next: Venus, Titan, Europe, and Jupiter are all possibilities."

Here's another story on Crowdsourcing Radiation Monitoring In Japan. The summary: "A new open- and crowdsourced initiative to deploy more geiger counters all over Japan looks to be a go. Safecast, formerly RDTN.org, recently met and exceeded its $33,000 fund-raising goal on Kickstarter, which should help Safecast send between 100 and 600 geiger counters to the catastrophe-struck country. The data captured from the geiger counters will be fed into Safecast.org, which aggregates radiation readings from government, nonprofit, and other sources, as well as into Pachube, a global open-source network of sensors."