slashgeo.org

The GRASS GIS Development team has announced the release of the new major version GRASS GIS 7.0.0. This version provides many new functionalities including spatio-temporal database support, image segmentation, estimation of evapotranspiration and emissivity from satellite imagery, automatic line vertex densification during reprojection, more LIDAR support and a strongly improved graphical user interface experience. GRASS GIS 7.0.0 also offers significantly improved performance for many raster and vector modules: “Many processes that would take hours now take less than a minute, even on my small laptop!” explains Markus Neteler, the coordinator of the development team composed of academics and GIS professionals from around the world. The software is available for Linux, MS-Windows, Mac OSX and other operating systems.

Detailed announcement and software download:

About GRASS GIS

The Geographic Resources Analysis Support System, commonly referred to as GRASS GIS, is an Open Source Geographic Information System providing powerful raster, vector and geospatial processing capabilities in a single integrated software suite. GRASS GIS includes tools for spatial modeling, visualization of raster and vector data, management and analysis of geospatial data, and the processing of satellite and aerial imagery. It also provides the capability to produce sophisticated presentation graphics and hardcopy maps. GRASS GIS has been translated into about twenty languages and supports a huge array of data formats. It can be used either as a stand-alone application or as backend for other software packages such as QGIS and R geostatistics. It is distributed freely under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). GRASS GIS is a founding member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).

Here’s the recent geonews in batch mode.

On the open source / open data front:

• That’s fast development, the open source Web GIS Turf 1.4.0 has been released with several new interesting features, if you don’t know Turf, look at it now, it’s part of our geofuture
• I learned about OpenChargeMap in this discussion named Japan Now Has More Car Charging Points Than Gas Stations
• Bug fix for a major software, GDAL 1.11.2 released, and if you know what Docker is, GDAL in Docker
• It’s coming, the first beta of MapServer 7.0 is now available
• Maker-style with OGR, your own woodcut maps visualization
• Two new GeoServer Books
• An interesting entry on open standards for 3D geospatial data and the entry on the 3D geo software
• Tidbit; Paul Ramsey is moving from Boundless to CartoDB
• Thanks Mexico, Improving OpenStreetMap with Mexico’s new open data

On the Esri front:

• Google is working with to transition Google Earth Enterprise and Google Maps Engine customers to Esri, several competitors have seen this change in Google’s focus on geospatial as an opportunity, open source software benefits too, Monster Milktruck ported to Cesium and OpenGeo Suite & Google Maps Engine
• Here’s the official entry on ArcGIS Pro – Reinventing Desktop GIS, on the same topic, an entry on Spatial Analyst in ArcGIS Pro and another one named Analysis & Geoprocessing in ArcGIS Pro: Frequently Asked Questions and while we’re at it, Learn ArcGIS Pro with online lessons
• For mobile users, Collector for ArcGIS v10.3 is out
• Global Ecological Land Unit map at a stunning 50m resolution, New Map Shows the World’s Ecosystems in Unprecedented Detail

On the Google front:

• A how-to for the now-free Google Earth Pro, Google Earth Pro importing addresses
• Makes sense, Airport Using Google Glass For Security and Passenger Information

Discussed over Slashdot:

• Noise levels, New Map Shows USA’s Quietest Places
• There’s still places to discover, Drones and Satellites Spot Lost Civilizations In Unlikely Places
• About drones; FAA Proposes Rules To Limit Commercial Drone Use and Hundreds Apply For FAA Drone Licenses and NoFlyZone Aims To Keep the Airspace Above Your Home Drone-Free
• Makes sense right? Police Organization Wants Cop-Spotting Dropped From Waze App
• If you had doubts, you are tracked, DEA Cameras Tracking Hundreds of Millions of Car Journeys Across the US and it includes DEA Planned To Monitor Cars Parked At Gun Shows Using License Plate Readers
• The geopuzzle that lies ahead, DOT Warns of Dystopian Future For Transportation
• The germans are at it too, Germany Plans Highway Test Track For Self-Driving Cars
• A good use of location tracking, Uber Will Add Panic Button and Location/Journey Sharing In India
• Something we’ve seen a few years ago, Employees In Swedish Office Complex Volunteer For RFID Implants For Access
• More data, NASA Launches Satellite To Observe Soil Moisture, WIRED also has an article on the topic A New Satellite Will Watch the Western Drought from Space
• A satellite that served for 13 years, QuickBird satellite mission ends
• Map included, By the Numbers: The Highest-Paying States For Tech Professionals

In the everything else category:

• More geo from Facebook, Facebook gets more location-aware with Place Tips and iBeacons
• Good news, new Latin America Geospatial Portal launched
• There has been several rumours about Apple acquiring data for their own Street View or self-driving cars, Mysterious Apple Van Captured on Video in Palo Alto Residential Neighborhood and Hundreds of Apple Employees Working On Apple-Branded Electric Vehicle
• It’s running towards you! Mapping the Microbes of the New York City Subway
• Nice visualizations, The Greenland Ice Sheet in 3-D and not good news, Perennial Arctic Sea Ice Continues to Shrink
• Time for an 1h video? ‘Big Earth Data’ documentary freely available in German, French and English
• Ready for an online course? Skills for the Digital Earth
• A topic we haven’t touched in a long time but is still pertinent, Safe Software’s Ultimate Guide to CAD & GIS Integration

In the maps category:

• Map of US federal land as percentage of total state land area

It has been possible to get driving directions from OpenStreetMap data for quite a while, but what’s new and major is the capability to get directions directly from OpenStreetMap, meaning more competition to Google Maps and similar services. This is also discussed over Slashdot.

From the announcement: “Well, the first thing to note is that the philosophy of OpenStreetMap is not to offer a one-stop-shop on our main website, but to create truly open data to empower others to do great things with it. So there has already been fantastic OSM-based travel routing for many years, on excellent websites such as OSRM, Mapquest, Graphhopper, Cyclestreets, Komoot, cycle.travel… the list goes on and on. But all of those things are on other websites and apps, so people don’t always realise that OpenStreetMap has this power. What this latest development has done is really neat: the OSM website offers directions which are actually provided by third-party systems, but they are included in the main site via some crafty JavaScript coding. So as well as being really handy in itself to have directions available, it helps “first glancers” to see all the things they can do with OSM.”

Cartoview is an open source web framework for managing and deploying  geospatial and business Applications, the architecture of Cartoview makes it easy to efficiently develop and maintain and deploy GIS enterprise applications. The Cartoview App market offers a variety of apps that are simply deployed directly from the browser, the apps allow you to easily handle your spatial data under ESRI and OGC standards, create maps, interact with users and manage your business. Use Cartoview to manage and publish your geospatial data, host your mapping applications, integrate with the ArcGIS platform and much more.

Cartoview covers and serves local government , state government , emergency management , crisis mapping , business management , road safety , citizen engagement and much more solutions. The metadata management through cartoview supports INSPIRE , CSW and OGC standards. Cartoview is licensed under the Apache License Version 2.0 which grants you the right to customize, extend, modify, repackage, resell, and many other potential uses of the system. 

For further details you can find more at Cartoview website  and NYC demo.

It’s obvious to anyone in the geospatial industry that Google Maps brought a wind of fresh air. They were not the first ones (e.g. OGC’s WMS standard exists since 1999) and MapQuest was popular at the time, but Google successfully increased global access to interactive maps thanks to Google Maps and Google Earth. Google Maps turned 10 years old and the official Google LatLong blog offers a summary of its milestones.

From the official entry: “[…] before, you’d remember the days when we were all dependent on paper maps, print-outs, post-its and sometimes even a compass for directions! Getting from point A to B is something we do all day, every day—from finding the fastest way to get to work, to dropping the kids off on a carpool route, to meeting friends for drinks at a new spot—so it should be as easy as possible.”

Other geospatial-related Google news:

• We already announced it, but here’s the official words that Google Earth Pro is now free (discussed over Slashdot)
  • Related, Google Earth Pro map making tool
  • This too, Google Earth Pro: Viewshed tool
  • And finally, Google Earth Pro Movie Maker
• Everywhere, Google Street View comes to Bangladesh
• Ridesharing competition, Google To Compete With Uber, Uber To Explore Autonomous Transportation and The Prickly Partnership Between Uber and Google
• The GEB has a pretty interesting entry on the future Google Earth, especially in light of changes to management, no new features for about 2 years, the recent focus on web-based tools, etc