Tag Archives: Bing Maps

Batch Geonews: The Book of OSM, Geomancer, SPOT 7 Satellite, Tracking Poop, and much more

Here’s the recent geonews in batch mode. On the open source / open data front: On Kickstarter now, don’t miss this opportunity to contribute and buy ‘The Book of OpenStreetMap’ by Steve Coast himself, the one that started this avalanche From Associated Press, Geomancer is open source tool to help journalists easily mash up data based on shared geography And ...

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Batch Geonews: Google Drone Delivery, Galileo Satellites Failures, 100 New 3D Cities for Bing Maps, 1M NYC Buildings in OSM, and much more

Here’s the recent geonews in batch mode. On the open source / open data front: A webinar Friday next week named Introducing the QGIS Academy Project Nice to see, Over 1 million New York City buildings and addresses imported to OpenStreetMap Because that’s the kind of maps we want to show our friends, Showing geotagged photos on a Leaflet map ...

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Batch Geonews: SOTM Overview, ArcGIS Online Updates, Google Earth for Teachers, and more

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. With FOSS4G next week, I expect exciting news soon!

On the open source / open data front:

  • OpenStreetMap's State of the Map ended, here's an outsider overview, keywords: growing and healthy
  • It's been a while since we mentioned that one, New MapProxy 1.6.0 released, a reminder, "It caches, accelerates and transforms data from existing map services and serves any desktop or web GIS client"
  • GeoMoose is now officially an OSGeo project, reminder, it's an "Open Source Web Client JavaScript Framework for displaying distributed GIS data"
  • Paul shows us Census Mapping Made Easy with open software

On the Esri front:

  • Esri added Landscape Layers to ArcGIS, "over 60 layers are available at your fingertips as input to geoprocessing models and for the creation of beautiful and informative interactive web maps"
  • Here's for next Tuesday, Check Out What’s Coming in ArcGIS Online
  • Esri also introduced GeoEnrichment for JavaScript developers, which helps you "create a web app that’s full of interactive demographic, consumer spending, and lifestyle data for the viewers of your map"

On the Google front:

  • The GEB shares More great Google Earth resources for teachers
  • Google invites us to Explore the Galapagos’ biodiversity with Street View, and why not boats, Kurt shares the R/V Falkor in Street View and still on the same topic, Updated Street View imagery of tsunami-affected areas of northeastern Japan, including the exclusion zone
  • Same old story still making the news, Court Declares Google Must Face Wiretap Charges For Wi-Fi Snooping when collecting data for StreetView
  • In the trivia category, Court Orders Retrial In Google Maps-Related Murder Case
  • Nice to look at, Tri-bridges around the world, three-way bridges

In the everything-else category:

  • Bing Maps got a major imagery update, 13 Million Square Kilometers of Imagery, or 315.92 terabytes
  • Here's a beautiful 4-minutes video on the last 50 years of the satellite industry made by DigitalGlobe
  • Amazon improves its geo offerings with a New Geo Library for Amazon DynamoDB, allowing a basic set of spatial queries
  • Another way Apple Maps will improve, Apple Working to Leverage New 'M7' Motion-Sensing Chip for Mapping Improvements
  • Wired reviews the book The Lost Art of Finding Our Way by Harvard's John Edward Huth
  • An OGC entry named Smart Cities Depend on Smart Location Communication
  • Efforts mentioned before, 3 million data points collected by Safecast to warn Japan about radiation
  • Yes, the NSA knows where you've been, NSA Can Spy On Data From Smart Phones, Including Blackberry
  • Geoff has an entry on the successful use of satellite imagery to reduce illegal deforestation in Brazil
  • On GhettoTracker and segregation through geospatial knowledge, Could Technology Create Modern-Day 'Leper Colonies'?
  • When geospatial apps goes too far, New Smartphone Tech To Alert Pedestrians: 'You Are About To Be Hit By a Car', this other app might be more useful: Dangerous Neighbourhood? Kovert App Will Navigate With Vibration From Your Pocket
  • In the maps category, Wired offers links and maps on The Geography of American Agriculture
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Batch Geonews: Stamen Map Stack, 1,000 New Street View, Protest Maptivism, D3.js Geo, 270TB of Bird’s Eye, and much more

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

From the open source / open data front:

  • Here's an excellent and funny presentation of Leaflet: Past, Present and Future
  • GitHub just added mapping capabilities: any GeoJSON file hosted on GitHub can be mapped with MapBox Streets 
  • Mapnik 2.2.0 has been released
  • Here's CLAVIN (Cartographic Location And Vicinity INdexer) is an open source software package for document geotagging and geoparsing that employs context-based geographic entity resolution (via O'Reilly Radar)
  • A new book available, The QGIS Training Manual, by Rüdiger Thiede, Tim Sutton, Horst Düster, and Marcelle Sutton
  • Here comes QGIS Enterprise, it's QGIS Desktop + Server + Web Client along with support and maintenance contract
  • Yes, in QGIS 2.0 we'll get data-defined symbol properties, and here's on the new QGIS 2.0 APIs
  • Mapbender has been resurrected into Mapbender3: "the back office software and client framework for spatial data infrastructures" 
  • Something new, GeoThink.ca - Canadian Geospatial and Open Data Think Tank
  • Here's some nice javascript examples dealing with projections and other geostuff, mostly from D3.js, some are pretty impressive
  • Here's all OpenGeo presentations videos from FOSS4G-NA, and why not, here's the GeoServer presentation from GeoSolutions
  • About the same time, OpenGeo also launched MapMeter, a monitoring tool for spatial deployments such as GeoServer
  • From the gvSIG blog, I learned about available Emergency mapping symbology

From the Esri front:

  • An entry named From ArcMap to ArcGIS Online: well-prepared geographic information for the web
  • Here's the OGC summary of what happened with the GeoServices REST API standard submitted by Esri
  • There's now ArcGIS Online admin tools available on GitHub
  • News that Esri looks to link CAD Software to ArcGIS Online

From the Google front:

  • Google announced today nothing less than 1,000 new Street View locations to Google Maps
  • Road traffic information is important to Google, Google To Buy Waze For $1.3 Billion and the official Google announcement
  • There was a Google ocean bathymetry update earlier this week
  • Wonder what Google Glasses looks like inside? Via Make, here's What's Inside Google Glass
  • That's a topic we mentioned before, recently discussed over Slashdot, How Google Street View Keeps an Eye on Things Where There Are No Streets
  • A book's voyage recreated in Google Earth: “Sailing Alone Around the World” in Google Earth
  • I tried the new Google Maps interface, and I admit, this is an excellent improvement

In the miscellaneous category:

  • Via APB, the well known Stamen Design launched their Map Stack that makes designing maps free, easy and fun
  • APB links to an article named The Revolution Will Be Live-Mapped: A Brief History of Protest Maptivism
  • In case you missed it, Landsat 8 data is available for download since May 30th
  • Earlier this week, Microsoft announced 270 terabytes of new Bird's Eye imagery
  • Geoff mentions that the Time required to create 3D city models dropping rapidly, now less than a week for a textured 3D model of a whole city
  • Google Glass will have competition, Atheer Offers a Wearable Display That's Glasses, Not Glass, but it's clearly not as sexy or wearable
  • In Apple's iOS new 'Today' feature, there's Traffic Information on Frequently Visited Locations
  • A quick one on 3D printing, "Anti-Gravity" 3D Printer Sculpts Shapes On Any Surface
  • A generic article on drones / UAVs gathering location-based science data easier and cheaper than ever
  • And now those drones can be accurately guided by thoughts 
  • Frank at VerySpatial offers a long entry on the geography of cars
  • The same site made me aware of the course on Teaching World Music with Geospatial Technology

In the maps category:

  • Here's 5 Maps That Show How Divided America Really Is: median income, poverty line, inequality, food stamps, and diplomas
  • Here's a Map of All American Rivers
  • Funny name, WWF's ArkGIS: mapping the changing Arctic landscape
  • Here's bedmap2, an ice and bedrock map Antarctica
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Batch Geonews: 3D Printing Pen, OGC’s GeoPackage Standard, ArcGIS Explorer 2500, Major Bing Maps Updates, and much much more

Here's the geonews in batch mode, unusually covering 4 weeks, thus a much longer issue.

On the open source / data front:

  • With the GeoPackage standard in the oven and its opportunity to replace the aging shapefile format, read this very pertinent summary named Takeaways from OpenGeo’s Comments on OGC and the Proposed GeoPackage Specification
  • An interesting entry on TileMill for Raster Analysis
  • In the same vein, expanding TileMill's Building Symbolizer to Visualize Complex 3D Structures
  • EasySDI V3 is now available
  • The open source virtual globe Marble 1.5 is now available for MacOS X

On the Esri front:

  • A book review of "Python Scripting for ArcGIS" by Paul A. Zandbergen
  • A new version, and here's what’s new in ArcGIS Explorer Desktop 2500
  • The ArcGIS Query Analysis Add-In is available for download
  • Here's the ArcGIS Online World Topographic Map February updates and here's the previous update
  • ArcGIS applied to tennis, Using spatial analytics to study spatio-temporal patterns in sport
  • APB shares a Esri Federal GIS Conference News Roundup

On the Google front:

  • Google announced that Public Alerts for Google Search, Google Now and Google Maps available in Japan
  • The official entry on Expanding Street View in Europe
  • The GEB again mentions Tracking Satellites in Google Earth, this time linking to the new SightSpaceStation website

On the Microsoft front:

  • A new Bing Maps Tech Preview at TED Conference: "a new twist: the ability to mine Flickr for geotagged photos and overlay onto Bing Maps streetside imagery for a perfect visual lock"
  • Bing Maps got a major overhaul, 46.7 TB of new imagery and a Silverlight version of Bing Maps... I though Silverlight was abandoned?
  • Here's the entry on the New Top of the World and High Resolution Satellite Imagery
  • An entry on Bing Maps REST Service Tips & Tricks
  • And New to REST Services: Elevations API and 3D Elevation Models with Bing Maps WPF
  • And training for apps builders, Bing Maps for Windows Store Apps Training Kit

Geospatial-related discussions over Slashdot:

  • Startup Uses Radiation Fear To Map Cellphone Coverage
  • Fox News: US Solar Energy Investment Less Than Germany Because US Has Less Sun, comparing maps, it's simply far from the truth
  • The US Redrawn As 50 Equally Populated States
  • Drones Still Face Major Hurdles In US Airspace and AirBurr UAV Navigates By Crashing Into Things
  • Canon Demos New Head-Mounted Augmented-Reality Display
  • Texas Bills Would Bar Warrantless Snooping On Phone Location

In the everything else category:

  • A lot of sources mentioned 3Doodler: The World's First 3D Printing Pen, while not entirely geospatial-related, 3D printing is mainstream now
  • APB shares an entry on a Free e-Book on Online GIS which compares ArcGIS Online, CartoDB, CloudGIS, GeoCommons, MangoMap and MapBox
  • Trying to amend myself for not having shared this before, here's How Interactivity Works with UTFGrid for web maps, along with a visual demo, and an example using OpenLayers
  • APB has an entry named U.S. House Representatives Introduce Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act
  • Everything is a geospatial sensor, Rain tracked with mobile network
  • A milestone release, MapBox iOS SDK Goes 1.0.0 + New Features
  • MapQuest Introduced Free Travel Blogs to help people share their travel adventures
  • Mapperz mentions that the USPS Mapping Tool allows you to pick your own delivery routes
  • APB links to an article named How Google And Bing Maps Control What You Can See

In the maps category:

  • We presented a world map of undersea internet connections, here's the interactive Submarine Cable Map
  • Scary, maps of the U.S. Geography of Sin, and here's the U.S. Geography of Happiness
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Batch Geonews: Voxel.js Minecraft-like, QGIS for Android, Side-by-Side Router, and much more

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

On the open source front:

  • 3D and open source with WebGL mixed with games gives you Voxel.js: Minecraft-like Browser-Based Games, But Open Source, which can certainly be reused for other geospatial projects
  • Never mentioned here before, an QGIS for Android in development, and on a similar topic, QGIS Globe works again
  • OpenStreetMap's new editor named iD gets a new home and updates, ideditor
  • After last year's success, NASA launches second International Space Apps Challenge, open data and open source
  • MapBox-related news:
    • Of course, MapBox Maps Now Embed On Twitter
    • You can now embed MapBox interactive maps in Apple iBooks Author software
    • An entry on Using Google Fusion Tables to Add Real-Time Feeds to MapBox Maps

On the Esri front:

  • The ArcGIS Online World Topographic Map first updates

On the Google front:

  • A nice Side-by-Side Router, allowing you to see directions for driving, transit, bicycling and walking on a same map
  • You can learn a bit more, Details of Google's Project Glass Revealed In FCC Report

In the miscellaneous category:

  • Microsoft shares a Bing Maps for Windows Store Apps Training Kit
  • And if developing for iOS, Apple Reaches Out to LBS Developers with iOS 6.1 POI Search API
  • Pretty interesting on the future of 3D photography, Light Field Photography Is the New Path To 3-D
  • Not the first time we hear about similar protections, In Brazil, Trees To Call For Help If Illegally Felled
  • Satellites (including footprints) and iPad / iPhone: New iOS app to view the SES Astra satellite info
  • I did not know that February 2nd is World Wetlands Day
  • Interesting on the Future U.S. Workforce for Geospatial Intelligence, the world needs need more geospatial experts
  • Which is also true considering 95% of of Public Safety Agencies Under-utilize Computer Mapping and GIS
  • A topic we discussed recently, Analytics for people, the next big thing in retail
  • If you have an interest in check-ins, 500 Million Foursquare Check-ins Visualized

In the maps category:

  • A different kind of map, Swiss Historical Maps Allow Journey Through Time In Your Browser
  • Map of the Geography of Abortion Access in the US
  • On the geography of languages, here's entries named World Maps of Language Families, World Maps of Language Families, Continued, and Remaining Language Families and Geographical Language Groups
  • Let's close this batch mode edition by another funny xkcd on mapping

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Batch Geonews: Landsat 5 Decommissioned, GeoPackage RFC, Geocoding Client API in GDAL/OGR, Drone Stories, and much more

This is an abnormally long version of our 'batch geonews' edition, covering the news since the holiday break.

On the open source & open data front:

  • This entry discusses the new geocoding client API in GDAL/OGR
  • Good news, QGIS gets built-in Oracle support, along with New QGIS PDF and HTML manuals and New QGIS Symbol Packages
  • James informs us on the GeoPackage Comment Period is Open, GeoPackage what? Read this previous entry named OGC Draft GeoPackage Specification - Finally the Shapefile Format Replacement?
  • James is also enthusiastic about D3.js for its map visualization capabilities
  • More in the useful chaining Rendering Transformations in GeoServer
  • In case you missed the press releases, GeoTools 8.5 released and GeoServer 2.2.3 released
  • Freely available course named Java Open Source GIS Development - From the building block to extending an existing GIS application
  • Here's an entry on using PgRouting with Mapserver

On the Esri front:

  • The ArcGIS API for JavaScript Version 3.3 Released

In the miscellaneous category:

  • It's really the end now, mission accomplished, Landsat 5 will be decommissioned (via VS)
  • Follow this link if you have an interest in 30+ years of LAI and FAPAR data for Your research use
  • Microsoft shares an entry on Getting started with Bing Maps Windows Store Apps
  • Here's an interesting top 10, Top 10 Spatial Law and Policy Stories from
  • DM shares an article named Intergraph Retools, Revamps Entire Geospatial Product Suite
  • Beidou, aka as Compass, China’s GNSS, is now available for Commercial Use in Asia
  • O'Reilly discusses the inevitability of smart dust, where geospatial-aware sensors are to be found everywhere
  • Here's geospatial studies of atmospheric lead as a dangerous pollutant
  • Here's a funny xkcd cartoon on 'simplifying' map directions

A bunch of minor geo-related stories discussed over Slashdot:

  • Nice use of drones: Drone Photos Lead to Indictment For Texas Polluters
  • Also on drones: Researchers Seek to Use Drones For Brushfire Forecasting
  • A real-time map of those bushfires was up: Australia Is On So Much Fire, You Can See It From Orbit
  • Remote sensing satellites in jeopardy thanks to the fiscal cliff: Going Off the Fiscal Cliff Could Mean Missing the Next Hurricane Sandy
  • Slashdot just discovered OpenFlights, which we mentioned years ago: Visualizing Personal Flight Data With OpenFlights
  • Benefits and inconveniences of being tracked: Disney Wants To Track You With RFID
  • Also on RFID: Texas High School Student Loses Lawsuit Challenging RFID Tracking Requirement and Texas State Rep. Files 2 Bills To Ban RFID In Schools

In the maps category:

  • Pretty interesting map, one that more or less works both upside down and... upside up! (screenshot below)

Batch Geonews: JS.geo, Instant StreetView, 3D Printing, Drones, Autodesk in the Cloud, and more

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

From the Esri front:

  • An interesting entry on Designing the next generation of online Topographic Maps
  • There's an ArcGIS Online World Topographic Map New Design which includes High-resolution imagery for South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Afghanistan
  • The Esri U.S. Demographic Data Release

On the web maps front:

  • We mentioned it before, and here's more details on JS.geo: A Meeting of Javascript Mappers in Denver
  • There's a new site to give you Instant Google Street View (direct link)... worth trying, it's really fast
  • Also Google-related, the GEB talks about GPS4Sport that combines GPS with Video and Google Earth
  • On Apple Maps
    • Rumors of OS X 10.9 to Include Siri and Maps Integration
    • A lot of geoblogs mentioned that Apple axed the head of its mapping team, Richard Williamson (more here)
  • Microsoft added New Imagery Added to Windows 8 Maps App & Bing Maps
  • The MapBox iOS SDK hits version 0.5.0
  • Two weeks ago, TomTom launched its SDK for LBS Apps, including maps, geocoding, routing, traffic

In the miscellaneous category:

  • Launched less than 10 days ago, MarineRegions, "towards a global standard of georeferenced marine names" (via Kurt)
  • A slashdot story named French Company Building a Mobile Internet Just For Things
  • While 3D printing have most of its applications outside of geospatial, I found interesting that it's really going mainstream as demonstrated by Staples To Offer 3D Printing Services, an O'Reilly story named Printing ourselves, the state of 3D Printing Patent Suits (via OR), and yes, you can 3D-print your own drone
  • More news about drones:
    • The Make magazine offers a gift guide for aerial drones (via OR)
    • But beware, High Levels of Burnout in US Drone Pilots (via OR)
  • VerySpatial offers an entry on Forensic GIS and the Role of Geospatial Technologies for Investigating Crime and Providing Evidence
  • Apparently, there's Nokia offline maps available in Firefox OS (alpha)
  • If you're excited by OGC standards
    • There's the development of an international standard for 4D archaeological data
    • And soon, Augmented Reality Standard ARML 2.0 in its Final Stage
  • If you're in the U.S., you'll be interested by the GAO Report on Federal Geospatial Data Coordination
  • You wonder about earth observation satellites from Russia? Here's news about the Resurs-P with 3-m hyperspectral capabilities and other Russian satellites
  • As part of Autodesk University, you'll find the Autodesk CEO saying “I do believe that everything is moving to the cloud.” and an entry indicating that Autodesk's future is in the cloud

In the maps category:

  • Interesting maps, U.S. Geography of Personality: The United States of Mind
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Batch Geonews: OpenLayers Cookbook Reviews, Wearable LiDAR, More Apple Maps News, Most Expensive Cities Map, and much more

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode, covering a way too long time-span.

On the open source / open data front:

  • GeoWeb Guru reviews the OpenLayers Cookbook by Antonio Santiago Perez: "The book is formatted as a series of 60 'recipes' that demonstrate how to perform various tasks." And here's another review on the same book.
  • Some Province of Quebec open geodata and public WMS layers (in French)
  • There was some OSGeo-Incubators announcements, the ZOO-Project, Opticks, OGC TEAM Engine and the Marble Virtual Globe are all part of the OSGeo incubation now
  • The Cartaro CMS in now available as beta
  • GeoTools 8.2 has been released
  • Here's how to create a nice seafloor map using shaded relief and open source software

On the Esri front:

  • Several sources pointed to the ArcGIS Online Service Credits Estimator

On the Microsoft front:

  • For those interested, Bing Maps SDKs for Windows Store Apps Now Available

Geo-related stories discussed over Slashdot:

  • Nokia Keeps Quietly Mapping The World
  • The Case That Apple Should Buy Nokia
  • 3D input device: Microsoft's Hand-Gesture Sensor Bracelet
  • And Microsoft Patents 1826 Choropleth Map Technique
  • Image classification crowdsourcing: ForestWatchers Lets Anyone Monitor A Patch of Forest
  • LightSquared Wants To Share Weather-Balloon Frequencies for LTE
  • An academic Android trojan that take pictures of your home and more, PlaceRaider Builds a Model of Your World With Smartphone Photos
  • Can Foursquare Data Predict Where You Live?
  • That candy bar that tracks you, Nestle's GPS Tracking Candy Campaign

More on Apple Maps from MacRumors and APB:

  • Apple's 3D Maps and Imagery See Incremental Improvements
  • Apple Turning to Select Retail Store Employees to Help Improve Maps for iOS 6
  • Insiders Detail Steve Jobs' Role in Apple's Mapping Effort
  • APB tells us Why is the Press Still Talking About Apple Maps

In the miscellaneous category:

  • O'Reilly warns us of drones for warfare
  • Yes, Wearable LIDAR Sensors for Mapping (via OR)
  • APB informs us of MyDigitalGlobe cloud service to make DigitalGlobe imagery more discoverable with OGC catalog services (CWS): "A unique feature of the service is that alerts can be set to notify a user when a new image is added to the library of a specific area of interest."
  • For those in hydrography, look at the U.S. National Hydrography Dataset Plus Version 2

In the maps category:

  • It's worth taking a look at the Information is Beautiful Awards Winners, it's not all maps, but still pretty
  • Via Mapperz, here's the CEC North American Environmental Atlas which is actually pretty interesting
  • A Google Maps of Ancient Rome, via OR
  • Here's a map of the The World’s Most Expensive Cities
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Apple Maps Does Not Have a Monopoly on Map Errors, See These Glaring Errors in Bing Maps iOS 6 App

With the furor and all the press over errors in Apple's mapping application, we checked out Bing Maps on an iPhone 5 and immediately ran into obvious label errors.

Chicago's Navy Pier is labeled the Magnificent Mile which is actually an upscale retail district along Michigan Ave. approximately one mile to the west.

Also, the Municipal Water Treatment Plant is labeled River East, which is actually a district about half a mile to the west.

What are some of the most obvious map errors you've come across recently?

 

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