Here’s the last batch-mode edition, covering most of December. Might interest some of you, Slashgeo’s posts are now mirrored on Google+. Have an excellent holiday break.

On the open source / open data front:

• More support for the standard, GDAL GeoPackage raster support
• Reading, The Book of OpenLayers 3, completed
• And another one announced, 2nd edition of Learning QGIS with a new chapter on expanding QGIS with Python
• OpenLayers 3 now support Drawing Points with WebGL
• WPS, an update to the ZOO-Project 1.4.0 release
• All pieces in one suite, OpenGeo Suite 4.5 released, and you don’t have to write SLD anymore
• Nice Ski maps styles available as open source from MapBox

On the Esri front:

• A new version, ArcGIS 10.3: The Next Generation of GIS Is Here
• You might also be interested in What’s new in ArcGIS 10.3 for Server
• Many will be interested by Now Available: Explorer for ArcGIS on Android
• Useful, ArcGIS Online supports GeoJSON
• New capability, Lossless CityGML support in ArcGIS
• A book review: Building Web Applications with ArcGIS

On the Google front:

• Google deprecated the Google Earth API to be turned off in December, this means no more Google Earth Plugin, and you can migrate to OpenLayers 3 and Cesium for such needs
• Why not? Do some holiday (window) shopping with Google Maps
• Looking for Google My Maps? Map this way—Google My Maps now in Drive, also includes a few more capabilities
• New addition, Drive by Dubai with Street View
• You can also Look at the new 3D in New York City
• Wired has an article named The Huge, Unseen Operation Behind the Accuracy of Google Maps

Discussed over Slashdot:

• Location privacy with a smartphone is really an illusion, Researchers Discover SS7 Flaw, Allowing Total Access To Any Cell Phone, Anywhere
• Hopefully, Uber Limits ‘God View’ To Improve Rider Privacy
• 6,000$, Startup Helps You Build Your Very Own Picosatellite On a Budget
• Sensing, Satellite Captures Glowing Plants From Space
• Where are you cheater? Study of Massive Preprint Archive Hints At the Geography of Plagiarism
• Babel, Want To Influence the World? Map Reveals the Best Languages To Speak
• Making 3D printing more accessible, U.K. Royal Mail Pilots 3D Printing Service, if that’s within your interests, 3D Printer Owner’s Network Puts Together Buyer’s Guide

In the miscellaneous category:

• You’re into education? Look at the reports on the analysis of the supply and demand for geospatial education and training
• O’Reilly on where UAVs will fly, One more word on drones: Warehouses
• Actually, if drones matter to you, here’s a useful summary named from Spatial Law: The Year of the Drone
• And since it’s so popular, International Conference on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Geomatics - August 30 / September 2, - Toronto,  Canada
• Skydel’s Software-Defined GNSS Simulator,apparently the first real-time, full band, software-defined GPS & GLONASS simulator
• Getting smaller and smaller, DARPA Prepares to Launch “Satlets”
• Lidar, How a Flying Laser Built a 3-D Map of a Massive Alaskan Forest
• GeoA has an article on Mappt, claiming to be the most advanced GIS Android app
• Includes a map, NPR’s Incomplete Story on “Trimmigants” in the California Marijuana Industry
• Interesting partnership, Nokia HERE now powers Chinese Baidu with global map data, and Here navigation app is officially on Google Play
• Nokia is also into autonomous cars, as shown in this article named Autonomous Cars Will Require a Totally New Kind of Map

In the maps category:

• A book review: Cartographer’s Toolkit:Colors, Typography, Patterns by Gretchen N. Peterson
• Scary map and graph included, was Earth’s warmest year ever recorded and Satellite Map Shows Evidence of a Dangerous Arctic Warming Feedback Loop
• You can’t hide, Map showing asteroid hits of past 20 years
• Glass half full?, Interactive map of global corruption
• In the U.S., this map shows the probability of your city to have a White Christmas and yes, You Can See Our Holiday Lights All the Way From Space
• A bit late for that, but for geogeek woman, Christmas gift? Check out custom-made map clothes
• That’s another cool geo-gift, MapWheel – a custom orientation wheel, but it ain’t cheap