Here’s the recent geonews in batch mode. Slashgeo has recently been a victim of a hack and was hosting some ‘commercial’ links on a hidden sub-site — nothing users would have found out unless they were directed to this parallel site by a third-party. We addressed the issue and, while it never directly impacted the Slashgeo you’re used to, I’m happy this bump is behind us.

From the open source / open data front:

• Real success, 2 million contributors to OpenStreetMap and if you want to read a lot about OSM, here’s 489 Pages about OpenStreetMap
• Here’s Peter Batty’s Review of FOSS4G-NA, I learned a lot in this review, including about the state of vector tiles and Leaflet development, well worth reading
• PostGIS 2.1.6 Released, and here’s a short and to the point entry named PostgreSQL 9.5 features of interest to PostGIS Users
• GeoTools 13.0 has been released and so was the SDI package deegree 3.3.14 released
• The major FOSS4G conference will take place in Bonn, Germany
• The FOSS4G-India conference has been announced for June 8-10 in Dehradun
• QGIS:
  • Handy QGIS plugin SCP 4.3 allows for downloading from the entire archive of Landsat 4, 5, 7 and 8
  • Also a QGIS plugin of interest if time matters to you, Time Manager 1.6 – now with feature interpolation
  • Useful, Datum transformations with NTv2 grids in QGIS: the easy way
  • Yes, you can even run QGIS on Raspberry Pi 2
• CityGML still gaining ground? Berlin 3D Portal provides CityGML data for 550,000 buildings
• More open data, from the UK this time, New Ordnance Survey OpenMap Released

From the Esri front:

• Vector tiles again, Mapbox Vector Tile Specification adopted by Esri
• Time and multidimensions in ArcMap, Introducing the Dimension Explorer
• New on ArcGIS Online, Map Gives New Insights into Global Population

From the Google front:

• For developers, Hello Places API for Android and iOS
• Street View everywhere!
  • River-based StreetView in Europe, Drift dreamily down the Danube
  • Discover, From sea to shining sea: A Street View tour of the U.S.
  • In India too, Zoom with a view: Visit India’s stunning monuments online
  • And Brazil, Mapping Brazilian islands, above ground and under the sea
  • And to the top of the world, Growing up in the shadow of Everest
• Too much spare time? Pac-man PAC-Maps A new way to navigate the streets of Google Maps, April 1st is tomorrow, not today!

Discussed over Slashdot:

• Useful UAVs, Laser Imaging Drone To Hunt Out Unexploded Bombs In War-Torn Nations
• All the Internet anywhere, European Commission Proposes “Digital Single Market” and End To Geoblocking
• When there’s money, Uber To Turn Into a Big Data Company By Selling Location Data
• Postgresql and geospatial data mentioned, Michael Stonebraker Wins Turing Award
• They’re coming, Self-Driving Car Will Make Trip From San Francisco To New York City

In the everything else category:

• There’s now Landsat data now on Amazon Web Services, and related, Mapbox’s Landsat-live project: Maps with the most up-to-date Satellite imagery and here’s the official announcement, Landsat-live goes live
• VerySpatial links to the Geospatial Data Reform Act introduced in US Congress
• Privacy, right? Ars acquires 4.6M license plate scans from the cops, for Oakland
• Given the amount of Excel users, Microsoft Power Map, How to make a killer map using Excel in under 5 minutes with PowerMap plugin
• It isn’t surprising that it will have geospatial-related apps, ‘Citymapper’ and ‘Transit App’ Offer In-Depth Looks at Transit Experiences on Apple Watch
• Still alive, Nokia’s HERE navigation app is back on iOS with offline maps

In the maps category:

• Travel like a Queen, the Queen of England’s 47 maps of places you should avoid
• Drama unfolding, Watch Arctic Ice Cover Hit a 30-Year Low
• Spare time? DIY Beautiful Map of the World, Burned Into Scrap Wood
• Let’s end with a funny xkcd interpretation of an upside-down map