Batch Geonews: 89% Use Google Maps, New Google Maps UI and iPad app Available, Esri UC Round Up, and much more

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. Several interesting bits in there that may have deserved a full entry, but it's Summer time and I'm on holidays :-)

On the open source / open data front:

  • Remember Maki, the open / free cartography symbols? Maki got significantly improved and even gets an API
  • Announced, OpenGeo dives deeper into QGIS, along with the OpenGeo Suite 3.1 release
  • Jody shares his experience on OSGeo and LocationTech software foundations and their different cultures
  • Getting closer, OpenLayers 3.0.0-alpha.3
  • A success story in the Netherlands, Open standards open source projects for sharing geodata among provinces saves €4.5 million
  • A book review of 'Interactive Map designs with Leaflet JS Library How-to' by Jonathan Derrough

On the Esri front:

  • Lots of Esri news in the Round Up of Directions Magazine Esri UC Coverage 
  • A popular template, Map Tour story map template updates
  • James goes on with ArcGIS for Minecraft this time
  • Overview for Using the power of Amazon EC2 to build ArcGIS Server map caches

On the Google front:

  • Bang! 89% of websites that use mapping technologies use Google, while that may not be the exact figure, it does mean something
  • The new Google Maps interface is available to all, but you still have to opt-in, it's *really* an improvement
  • I'm amongst the happy ones, The new Google Maps app for iPhone and iPad is here
  • This goes along with the SDK version 1.4, Street View, indoor maps, and an updated map design in the Google Maps SDK for iOS
  • Jumping in, Google joins LocationTech
  • Indoor mapping everywhere, Where are we going to eat? See inside before you decide!
  • New places, On top of Mt. Fuji with the Street View Trekker and Scaling the heights of the Eiffel Tower
  • Still on a parallel track of OpenStreetMap, Growing the Google Map Maker community in Europe
  • And today, there is new imagery again

Geonews discussed over Slashdot:

  • Cheer up, Spatial Ability a Predictor of Creativity In Science
  • Another one, Disney Algorithm Builds High-Res 3D Models From Ordinary Photos
  • 3D printing for the masses, eBay Dips Toes Into 3-D Printing Market With iOS App
  • In case your weren't certain, U.S. DOJ: We Don't Need a Warrant To Track You
  • If you have a car, you can be tracked, "Smart Plates" Could Betray California Drivers' Privacy
  • And why not, ACLU Study Says Police Cameras Create Database of Our Movements
  • But some good news, Texas School District Drops Embattled RFID Student IDs; Opts For Cameras
  • Unsurprisingly, New Android Eyewear Wants To Compete With Google Glass
  • We mentioned what3words before, and now over Slashdot, Describe Any Location On Earth In 3 Words
  • What's in an Interactive Nukemap, Now In 3D

In the miscellaneous category:

  • Exposing online devices, Shodan lets you search and find the physical locations of online devices
  • On Apple, Apple Acquires Locationary to Address Location-based Big Data and Acquires HopStop for public transit  … and according to Slate,  Apple's Maps Strategy Is Working Just Fine
  • An interesting discussion on mapping millions of dots and making great maps out of it
  • Via OR, an architecture book and design book named Operative Design: A catalogue of spatial verbs
  • OR shares a interesting quote: "We’re all carrying little networked laboratories in our pockets. You see a photo. I see millions of light-sensor readings at an exact coordinate on the earth’s surface with a time resolution down to the millisecond. The future is combining all these signals into new ways of understanding the world, like this real-time stream of atmospheric measurements."
  • BIM is there to stay? 71% of AEC professionals in annual UK survey see BIM as the future and Widespread adoption of BIM by national governments

In the maps category:

  • This was a hot topic in the U.S. recently, Mapping the Trayvon Martin murder case
  • Maps of Global Patterns of Tobacco-Related Economic Issues and another one on tobacco consumption
  • O'Reilly shares an Interactive map: bike movements in New York City and Washington, D.C.

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