It is not easy to find a GIS web app builder that takes you all the way from the basic initial steps of familiarizing yourself with HMTL, CSS, and JavaScript to fairly complicated web applications. Building Web and Mobile ArcGIS Server Applications with JavaScript, by Eric Pimpler has two main advantages: first, you can use high-quality GIS data (or at least data that is specific to your needs), and second, you can create light apps that work quickly over a number of different devices. You’re not likely to have obsolete apps using HTML 5 and JavaScript, so it is good that the text guides you and helps you use HTML 5 and JavaScript.

The book is very logically organized, and it takes you step by step through the entire process. You start by creating a base map, and then add layers of data to the map, and then have it all display as a web page. You’re able to add different types of data layers, which include tiled, dynamic, and feature. The section on adding data layers is very robust (as it should be), and it’s followed by adding Graphics to the Map. It’s important to keep in mind that the graphics layer sits on top of the other layers – so, some data management / housekeeping / filing protocols and customs are very helpful here. In this book, the basemaps are provided by ArcGIS Online.

For a person who does not work with GIS data or ArcGIS every day, it’s probably best to work through the examples and see how they’re being developed. In that case, I’d look at chapter 8, “Turning Addresses into Points and Points into Addresses,” and then work through the example a couple of times. The chapter covers geocoding, which is at the heart of web mapping applications. It’s the way you turn physical addresses into latitude and longitude coordinates.

The book clearly demonstrates how to write and test the JavaScript code in the JavaScript Sandbox, and then it gives you a chance to practice. I also like the little tips and tricks – example, use Notepad++ instead of Notepad for coding (to avoid the extraneous code problems of Word, etc.).

In addition to Geocoding, there is a very clear and easy-to-follow chapter on using Geoprocessor, which is very good for developing models.

The appendix gives an example of using ArcGIS templates and also Dojo in order to develop user interfaces. This section alone is worth the price of the book. The instructions are very clear and the screenshots appropriate and easy to follow.

Some of the chapters contain a great deal of code and not perhaps as much detailed explanation as might be useful for people who are fairly new. It would not be a bad idea to have more call-outs in the code to point to what exactly is happening.

Overall, this is a great manual – very practical and extremely timely.

Just a last thought -- when you first read the title of the book, Building Web and Mobile ArcGIS Server Applications with JavaScript, you may immediately ask yourself two questions: first, why ArcGIS and why not Google Earth or Google Maps integrated apps?; and second, why JavaScript?

First, ArcGIS Server is the most popular and widely-used platform for developing GIS applications for the web. It uses many different dynamic map sources, and is not tied to just one (such as Google Earth). So, if you use ArcGIS Server, you can incorporate the best possible map sources / GIS information.

Second, JavaScript works really well with modern web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari), and it works well with HTML 5. This allows maximum flexibility with mobile applications. Using JavaScript in web applications will optimize performance because the applications are dynamic and do not have to return to the server for data. As a result, they are very responsive and use-friendly, not to mention that they are also faster.

Bloggage update: A lot of (virtual) ink has flowed around opening up data. Everyone is getting into the act, from White House and Whitehall (UK Cabinet Office) to the number of open data hits. In my blog and its companion catalog, I showed many examples of data uploaded, served up and linked in to my web services. 

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

From the open source / open data front:

• FOSS4G announced their opening keynote speaker, Mike Bostock of D3.js fame
• This was published as a PR, Extending QGIS Just Got Easier with The PyQGIS Programmer's Guide
• In the same category, Book Review: PostGIS Cookbook
• 3D in open source GIS is getting to a nice state, 3D viz with QGIS & three.js
• Open source PGRestAPI, a Node.js REST API for PostgreSQL Spatial Entities
• New versions, GeoTools 11.0 released and so was OSGeo-Live 7.9
• News from GeoGit, GeoGit in Action: Distributed Versioning for Geospatial Data
• Interesting news from OL3, OpenLayers 3 Vector Rendering: Topology-Preserving Simplification
• OpenStreetMap and open data generate plenty of offsprings, from OpenSnowMap to OpenLoveMap
• And the question of the license is never fully closed, OpenStreetMap: Is share-alike restrictive for spatial data?

From the Esri front:

• Here the What’s New in ArcGIS Online (March)
• Esri announced Routing Enhancements to ArcGIS Online
• They are also Introducing the Find, Edit, and Filter app for ArcGIS Online

From the Google front:

• Wearables are inherently geospatial, I make links between the new Android Wear project and this O'Reilly article named Wearing the future
• Google Maps now supports GeoJSON, Maps made easier: GeoJSON in the JavaScript Maps API
• A followup on a previous story, Hands On: Project Tango, Google’s 3D-Scanning Phone for Makers, also, Google's Project Tango Headed To International Space Station
• An upcoming webinar named Combining Google Maps and Google Search to Empower Decision Making
• Embedding Google Maps, Adding the new Google Maps to your website just got easier with the new Google Maps Embed API
• There's a lot to love with the new Google Maps, but GeoAwesomeness shares 4 things I hate about new Google Maps
• Ok, if you have some free time, here's a nice game to discover the world, guess where the StreetView you're shown actually comes from with GeoGuessr
• New data, Explore America’s most endangered river on Street View and Hawaii too, Aloha from Google Street View
• Drown your town, Using Google Earth to predict sea level rise
• Art and map content gives us Art from infrastructure: the art of Google Maps

Geo-related discussions over Slashdot:

• An open discussion on the Easiest To Use Multi-User Map Editing?
• You car is being tracked, Vast Surveillance Network Powered By Repo Men
• Still on privacy, Cops Say NDA Kept Them from Notifying Courts About Cell Phone Tracking Gadget
• It could have been another service, Using Google Maps To Intercept FBI and Secret Service Calls
• The Navy too, Navy Database Tracks Civilians' Parking Tickets, Fender-Benders
• And why not track all cars? L.A. Police: All Cars In L.A. Are Under Investigation
• Visualization, Key Routes and Communities In London's Bike Rental Network
• For now, Using Handheld Phone GPS While Driving Is Legal In California

In the everything else category:

• We mentioned a few times iBeacons, here's you chance to catch up, O'Reilly publishes an article named iBeacon basics
• Bing Maps Developers blog is shut down, what does this say about Microsoft's interest in mapping technologies?
• The father of GIS died, and it's time from an history lesson with this entry named Geospatial computerization in the 1960s: The Canada Land Inventory
• For yourself or colleagues? Another open geospatial course, Skills for the Digital Earth, Open for Registration
• I have failed to make it work, but it's based on Leaflet and MapBox, a new virtual globe AtomJump Javascript 3D Earth API
• While not under Google's wings anymore, it is still alive and well, SketchUp and a refreshed 3D Warehouse released
• MapBox, one of the popular geoenterprises, is Launching Mapbox Enterprise, which is essentially the same great MapBox services for aimed at large clients
• Indoor mapping being revolutionized, Wired's We Mapped Our Boss’ Office With This Slick New 3-D Camera
• Indoor mapping is a la mode, TomTom enters “Indoor”
• Tablets and geospatial; First app for LiDAR data visualisation on iPad
• Routing challenges, Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit
• Talking of transit, Apple Maps to Include Transit Directions, Improved Points of Interest Data in iOS 8
• There's the 17th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science next June in Spain
• A Spatial Law perspective on UAVs in the US
• Meanwhile, more EO satellites gets into space, Planet Labs' Flock 1 comprised of 28 Earth observation Cubesats deployed from ISS
• Bathymetry? Worth a look, Satellite-derived bathymetry at sub-meter level from EOMAP and Satrec Initiative

In the maps category:

• This MapBox overlay is pretty nice, Global Elevation Data on Satellite Imagery
• A map of solar time vs clock time for each timezone, How Wrong Is Your Clock?
• Hungry? Country maps made of food

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. I've been struggling with many fires, I currently publish much less frequently than usual, but don't worry, everything major is in there!

From the open source / open data front:

• Dubbed as the Shapefile replacement, we discussed the GeoPackage standard several times, next week March 5 there's a webinar about it
• Certainly useful, GitHub adds visual history for maps, visualizing geojson updates directly on a map
• In case you missed the press release, open source 3D city platform ViziCities released on GitHub
• The power of open data, At Sochi Olympics, Crowdsourced OpenStreetMap Trounces Google Maps
• And if you wonder, Sochi was not mapped for Olympics and look at the nice maps you can do with open data - Sochi, with love
• News of OpenLayers 3 currently in beta 2, OpenLayers 3 Is Coming, Creating a custom build of OpenLayers 3 and there's even The book of OpenLayers3 is coming
• Using MapServer on Windows? Announcing MapServer MapManager 1.0
• In other updates, what's new in QGIS 2.2 which by itself could have deserved it's own entry, GeoTools 10.5 released and Rasterio 0.6
• Interesting entry on PostGIS bugs

From the Esri front:

• An article from readwrite, Esri Enables Federal Agencies To Open GIS Mapping Data To The Public
• We mentioned it last November, Introducing Esri’s Geotrigger Service: Welcome to the Future of Geofencing
• There's CityEngine key new features
• And What’s coming in ArcGIS Online March
• APB also offer Top 10 Take-Aways from the Opening Plenary of Esri’s Federal GIS Conference

From the Google front:

• Here's a very interesting article from Frank Taylor on the future of Google Earth, which apparently is being left aside in favor of Google Maps
• Google is Introducing Google Maps Gallery: Unlocking the World’s Maps
• The Canadian north in Street View, Wandering in the footsteps of the polar bear with Google Maps
• And it goes to India too, Discover the Taj Mahal and other iconic Indian monuments on Street View
• And a frequent topic, Monitoring the World's Forests with Global Forest Watch
• And if you don't like OpenStreetMap and open data, Expanding Google's Map Maker community in Southern and Eastern Europe
• A book review, Google Maps JavaScript API Cookbook
• Pretty nice and useful, Visualizing Google Search Results overlaid over 3D buildings

Discussed over Slashdot:

• DIY, Radar Expert Explains How To Cheaply Add Radar To Your Own Hardware Projects
• Video, not just photo anymore, New 360-Degree Video Capture Method Unveiled
• After autonomous cars, Terrafugia Wants Their Flying Car To Be Autonomous
• Don't tell me you're surprised, Lumia Phones Leaking Private Data To Microsoft
• That's not fun for their users,  Major Vulnerability In Tinder Dating App Allowed User [ Location ] Tracking
• Cellphone tracking, Death By Metadata: The NSA's Secret Role In the US Drone Strike Program
• And some of the time there's hope, ICE License-Plate Tracking Plan Withdrawn Amid Outcry About Privacy
• And there's the good uses, A New Use For Drones: Traffic Scouting
• Not surprising, Australian Police Deploy 3D Crime Scene Scanner
• A New Interactive Map For Understanding Global Flood Risks and here's a related article
• It's not going well for our oceans, 3D Maps Reveal a Lead-Laced Ocean
• It's actually from DigitalGlobe, Google Earth's New Satellites
• Car navigation, Dead Reckoning For Your Car Eliminates GPS Dead Zones
• And cars will chat together, Government To Require Vehicle-to-vehicle Communication

In the everything-else category:

• Interested in Lidar? Read LIDAR Format Wars: Towards an Open Future and it matters, Report predicts that low cost LiDAR will be disruptive in next 5 years, also related, LiDAR Data Quality Standards, Certification Discussed at LiDAR Forum Session
• Here's a list of Free GIS Apps on the Google Play Store
• Earlier this month, the 'father of GIS, Roger Tomlinson, passed away
• It has been a while since we discussed The State of CAD and GIS Integration
• A new article on What Skills Does A GIS Analyst Require
• An anniversary this month, Celebrating 25 Years of Not Getting Lost Thanks to GPS
• Groups on Earth Observations? What is GEO
• Microsoft, 15 New 3D Cities Available in the Bing Maps Preview App
• Law, California Appeals Court Rules State Law Doesn't Prohibit Driver Use of Smartphone Maps
• VIa OR, Mapping Twitter Topic Networks: From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters
• Via OR, after iBeacons and many others, here's the Nokia Treasure Tag
• OGC news, OGC Activities and Mobile Industry Trends and the Candidate OGC IndoorGML standard available for public comment
• Amazing what you can do for fantasy locations, If Middle-Earth Were Real, These Exquisite Shots Would Be Its Vacation Brochure
• Here's a fake mapped town that became real, Agloe, the Paper Town Stronger than Fiction
• New online courses, New Geo MOOC: From GPS and Google Maps to Spatial Computing

In the maps category:

• Over Canadian national news website, there was a mention of the map of legal cannabis in the U.S.
• Syria over Wired, Hyperlocal Neighborhood Maps Reveal the Chaos in Aleppo
• Nice map, A Map of U.S. Intercity Bus and Train Routes
• The First online Global Freshwater Biodiversity Atlas

And thanks to Andrew Zolnai for his recent donation to Slashgeo, we wouldn't be there without the community!

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. I don't aggregate geonews as frequently as I used to but the content is there and I hope to return to an increased frequency later this Winter. Are you German? If so, you might be interested in these efforts to have Slashgeo translated in German.

On the open source / open data front:

• The 20 millionth edit in OpenStreetMap, entry that includes some interesting stats such as 1.5 million registered users and 2,17 billion nodes in the database
• Yes, the FOSS4G-CEE is now transformed in a recurrent FOSS4G-Europe conference
• The City of Montreal's textured 3D buildings are now freely available in CityGML
• Some releases, GeoServer 2.4.4 Released, Rasterio 0.5, GeoTools 10.4 Released
• Good news, Brazil's open data and open source satellite monitoring system dramatically reduces illegal deforestation in the Amazon
• From MapBox, new interactive heatmaps plugin, they also shared their beautiful woodcut-inspired map for the entire world, MapBox also gets Customizable maps in Tableau
• It's coming Odyssey.js to "help journalists, bloggers, and other people on the web publish stories that combine narratives with maps and map interactions" (via APB)

On the Esri front:

• From Esri's blog, 10 open source projects every JavaScript geo dev should know about
• SAP being pretty common in the enterprise, Esri Maps for SAP BusinessObjects released!

On the Google front:

• From the official source, Introducing Slovenia Street View and updating Russian imagery
• And of course, Mapping the Sochi Winter Olympics in Google Earth
• They can do that too, How Google identifies house numbers in Street View
• Interesting on WebGL and more, 4 reasons why Google’s Lego-Maps is not your average tech demo
• I haven't seen the movie yet, Every Earth view from “Gravity” identified in Google Earth
• Mountain lover? Awesome Google Earth image of Mount Everest from NASA
• And why not, Snowboarding in Google Earth

Discussed over Slashdot:

• In the U.S.? Map of Publicly-Funded Creationism Teaching
• Locating workers all the time, Virtual Boss Keeps Workers On a Short Leash
• Privacy once again, EU Secretly Plans To Put a Back Door In Every Car By
• Location leaks via Angry Birds and Google Maps, NSA and GCHQ Target "Leaky" Phone Apps To Scoop User Data
• Using Android and care about your privacy? The App That Tracks Who's Tracking You
• Crowdsourcing located tweets, Rome Police Use Twitter To Battle Illegal Parking
• Thanks open data, Open Data Tells NYC Residents Where the Rats Are
• Another indication that 3D printing is getting mainstream, Dell Partners With MakerBot To Resell 3D Printers and Scanners and World's First Multi-Color, Multi-Polymer 3D Printer Unveiled
• History meets digital, Atlas of US Historical Geography Digitized
• Impressive hack, Finnish Hacker Isolates Helicopter GPS Coordinates From YouTube Video Sounds
• Satellite for near real-time measurements of global rain and snowfall
• Mapping outer worlds, First Global Map Outside the Solar System
• You were certainly convinced already, Why We Need OpenStreetMap (Video)
• We knew about that already, Mozilla Is Mapping Cell Towers and WiFi Access Points

In the miscellaneous category:

• Nice, France To Make Older Spot Images Available to Researchers for Free
• It's easy to agree with, Why Leaders Should Learn Geography
• A new initiative GI-N2K, Geographic Information: Need to Know, towards a more demand-driven geospatial workforce education system
• Convincing, LiDAR pushes archaeological revolution
• Location-driven music, Ryan Holladay: To hear this music you have to be there. Literally
• Build your own GPS, no kidding, over Make: Finding Your Way with GPS
• Stilll from Make, Using Quadcopters for Photogrammetry
• Nothing surprising there, How geolocation may play a bigger role in future newsgathering
• Wired on There’s a Science to Foot Traffic, and It Can Help Us Design Better Cities
• Also from Wired, How the U.S. Maps the World’s Most Disputed Territories
• GPS accuracy: GAGAN, India's SBAS (similar to WAAS) is now operational

In the maps category:

• Ok, that's strange / map geeky. Vend they fir jug 45679: the Map Hiding Under Your Fingers
• As always, Brian Timoney is pretty pertinent, In Praise of the Static Map
• A map of scientific research, The Research Map of the World
• Informative, The Last 40 Years Of The World’s Refugees On A Single Map
• And scary, If all the Ice melted: National Geographic’s Interactive map on Rising Seas

(late) bloggage update: Global vector datasets on AWS, see the opportunities and challenges.

I wrote a decade ago at Esri that accuracy in geological mapping and interpretation, need no longer be a compromise of computer system speed and storage capacity. Well it appears like we are finally getting to achieve that with the variety of platforms available to we the people as data democracy starts to gain traction.

Bloggage update: My previous post on Standards and Metadata stated how careful documentation and appropriate metadata high-grades any information that is shared online by giving origin, context and other information. It helps build bridges and I quipped a well-known tear down this wall that also closed my second last post on free data and apps.

The first batch geonews edition!

On the open source / open data front:

• An informative update on the OGR OpenFileGDB driver to read Esri's file geodatabase format
• Plugin to display QGIS 2D maps in 3D in a web browser via three.js
• Interesting predictions and trends, Juan Marin’s Predictions for and Paul Ramsey’s Predictions for and MapBrief Geo Predictions
• We never mentioned the open source data portal software before, but it supports geospatial data pretty well
• Via OR, MapGive — U.S. State Dept launches OpenStreetMap contributing tool “to help humanitarian efforts”, and the State of the Map will be held in Buenos Aires
• Some software updates, MapGuide Maestro 5.1, Geopaparazzi 3.9.0 is out, SAGA 2.1.1 released, Mapbox.js v1.6.0
• Using open source software to answer Will the sun shine on us?
• Talking of the sun, News from Marble: Introducing Sun and the Moon and Planets

On the Google front:

• Really worth taking a look to Climate Viewer 3D: The Google Earth Climate Change, Pollution and Privacy Viewer
• A new book, Google Maps JavaScript API CookBook
• Viewing the Topography of the Thermohaline Circulation of the Oceans in Google Earth
• There's New 3D imagery in Tokyo and other Japanese cities
• From Slashdot. Google Removes "Search Nearby" Function From Updated Google Maps
• Why not, Creating artwork based on Street View
• If genealogy is within your interests, Genealogy through Google Earth

On the Apple front:

• Description of an Apple Maps App with Interactive Data Layers Detailed in New Patent
• Will this concept catch up? Apple's iBeacon Technology Brings New Possibilities for Location-Based Gaming
• Nokia's HERE not popular enough? Nokia Pulls 'HERE' Maps App for iOS, Citing iOS 7 Changes That 'Harm the User Experience'

Discussed over Slashdot:

• Yes, this is coming, Swarms of Small Satellites Set To Deliver Close To Real-Time Imagery of Earth another related entry is named Planet Labs to capture near-continuous whole-Earth imagery from 28 five kilogram satellites
• If you're a regular Slashgeo reader, you know this already, Why the World Needs OpenStreetMap, and it's time to migrate 'en masse' according to The Guardian
• On privacy, It's Not Just the NSA: Police Are Tracking Your Car
• But you know what? Carmakers Keep Data On Drivers' Locations From Navigation Systems
• And here's a confirmation, Ford Exec: 'We Know Everyone Who Breaks the Law' Thanks To Our GPS In Your Car
• But there's always hope? Recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Settlement Will Make It Harder to Collect and Share Geoinformation In US
• First step before commercial drones, Feds Announce Test Sites For Drone Aircraft
• For fun, CES: Building Self-Guiding Lego Robots for Fun and (Maybe) Profit (Video)
• There are still wonders to discover, thanks to geo, Lasers Unearth Lost 'Agropolis' of New England
• Tracking bees, Scientists Glue Sensors To 5,000 Bees In a Bid To Better Understand Them

In the everything else category:

• A geodesy dream? Affordable Arduino-Compatible Centimeter-Level GPS Accuracy
• Using LIDAR data? Read Format Wars Episode V: LIDAR, why? Esri Launches its Own Propriety Compressed LiDAR Format: .zlas
• An article on Spike, creating 3D models of buildings and things with a smartphone, not the first app of that kind but that one comes from a GIS company
• Free map online course from Coursera to begin in April
• You already know what IFTTT recipes are? Here's you'll learn about geoenabling triggers with geofences and more
• Here's about SenseFly, a drone for taking oblique imagery
• A generic entry on the Cocktail of Technologies for Smart Cities: The role of Geospatial Tech
• Wired on Tracking the Secret Lives of Great White Sharks
• Let's talk about our privacy again, DARPA’s 1.8 gigapixel ARGUS-IS: The Ultimate Surveillance System from above?, that's 1.8 gigapixels and 12 frames/second, 24/7
• On the SPOT remote sensing satellite family, up to SPOT 7, The new SPOTs
• On 3D printing, yup, really mainstream now, Adobe Adds 3D Printer Support To Photoshop and here's about the open source ' slic3r ' — converts a digital 3D model into printing instructions for your 3D printer (via OR)

In the maps category:

• On mapmaking, The Hidden Meanings of Maps: Design and Colors
• Beautiful, A woodcut inspired map for city streets
• Jonathan provides a book Review: A History of the World in Twelve Maps
• And here's A look at twelve maps that changed the world
• Don't we all like beautiful maps? Wired shares The Most Amazing, Beautiful and Viral Maps of Year
• Here's a map you have to see, would you believe how big is Africa? Mercator projections are messing with our perception of the world

Here what's probably our latest geonews in batch mode entry, have a nice holiday break!

From the open source / open data front:

• Boundless published a OpenLayers 3 & Google Maps API Compared
• Python and raster data? Introducing rasterio
• Here's an entry on the 25m European Digital Elevation Model (EU-DEM, Version 1)
• Much more efficient, OpenStreetMap's Redesign Goes Live! More Focused, More Inviting, More Map, and still on OSM data, Disability Mapping with OpenStreetMap
• In updates, GeoTools 10.3 Released and GeoServer 2.4.3 Released and MapGuide Open Source 2.5.2 and MapBox.js v1.5.0
• Beautiful, Using the 25m EU-DEM for shading OpenStreetMap layers

From the Esri front:

• A summary of What’s New in ArcGIS Online (December)
• Still breathing, ArcGIS 3.6 for Flex Released

From the Google front:

• Having kids? Join Santa and his elves in the countdown to Christmas Eve
• An entry telling you how to Create your own Street View
• The Bing Maps architect Blaise Aguera y Arcas is joining Google
• Google is improving maps in Building Better Maps in Brazil, Israel, and Russia
• You might be interested by National Geographic shares rich map content with the world via Google Maps Engine
• There's the classic, New Google Earth Imagery – December 6

In the everything-else category:

• If you haven't heard of the GeoPackage draft standard yet, read this, OGC's Geopackage standard enables geospatial data sharing for mobile devices
• Things do change, Open Geospatial Consortium updates its vision, mission, policies and procedures
• A new Eye in the Sky, First Images form Skybox’s SkySat-1 Released 
• An interesting read about How Can Geography Literacy Be So Bad At The Age Of Google Earth?
• Wired shares an entry named 6 Reasons to Get Over Your Fear of Coding and Start Making Better Maps
• The rise of GeoMedecine? A 10-minutes TED talk about named Your health depends on where you live
• Apple geo-related news:

  • Geofencing to Unlock Vehicle Functions Detailed in New Apple Patent Application

  • iBeacon Technology Tapped to Unlock Location-Specific Newsstand Content on iOS Devices and ​Apple Updates Apple Store App with Support for iBeacon Systems, but Apple is far from being alone in that race,  Qualcomm Launches 'Gimbal' Bluetooth LE iBeacon Competitor

• If you're not already convinced autonomous cars going to happen;
  • Ford Self-Driving R&D Car Tells Small Animal From Paper Bag At 200 Ft.

  • Nissan Leaf Prototype Becomes First Autonomous Car On Japanese Highways

  • Volvo Plans To Have Self-Driving Cars In Swedish City of Gothenburg By

• Geo and privacy:
  • If there was doubts, NSA Tracking Cellphone Locations Worldwide
  • An extreme scenario, Meet Jack, or What The Government Could Do With All That Location Data
  • But there are watchdogs? FTC Drops the Hammer On Maker of Location-Sharing Flashlight App
  • and hope, Boston Police Stop Scanning Registration Plates, For Now
  • but it's really everyone, Indiana State Police Acknowledge Use of Cell Phone Tracking Device
  • and sometimes it's good, New GPS Tracking Bullet May Render High-Speed Police Chases Obsolete
• Not that surprising, Need Directions? Might Not Want To Ask a Transit Rider
• We heard lots about drones, now it's time for SkyJack, a hacking system taking control of drones and the discussion on the topic, How To Hijack a Drone For $400 In Less Than an Hour - talking of Drones, that's impressive Drone Footage of Bangkok Protests
• In Canada? The new Canadian Geodetic Vertical Datum of (CGVD2013) recently launched
• Reality surpasses fiction once again, New MIT Camera Takes 3D Photos in the Dark
• You see, geospatial is evenin our heads! Memories Are ‘Geotagged’ With Spatial Information, Penn Researchers Say
• Underwater, First 3D topography of Great Barrier Reef derived from EO data
• A discussion about National GIS for India

In the maps category:

• Wired shares Some of the Year’s Best Images of Earth From Space, nice indeed
• Income distribution across the US, Census Bureau: Majority of Affluent Counties In Northeast US
• Here's a long review fo the Barrington Atlas iPad App
• Bitcoin? Coinmap – The Interactive Map Of Brick And Mortar Locations Accepting Bitcoins
• Wow, take a look at The “underwater waterfall” of Mauritius Island

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

From the open source / open data front:

• Nice, there's new Maki icons - don't remember? That's open pixel-perfect icons for web cartography
• You're into PostGIS? There's PostGIS Add-ons now, including 15 new functions
• Everything about OpenStreetMap and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, including an impressive OSM before and after comparison - collaboration and open works.
• The OSRM - routing engine for OpenStreetMap has been updated
• And still on the same vein, Drone Imagery for OpenStreetMap
• There were several notable updates: MapStore 1.4.0, GeoTools 10.2, GeoServer 2.4.2 and Geopaparazzi 3.8.0

From the Esri front:

• There's a big ArcGIS Online Update coming on December 10, here's the improvements
• New basemap data for Denmark

From the Google front:

• A new opt-in cleaner way to embed Google Maps in websites, the drawback is the new terms of service now allow Google to add ads, don't say you were not aware
• New to StreetView, Take a hike with Street View through U.S. National Parks and Parks Canada
• Via Ed, on why datums matters, a Scientific American article named What Happens to Google Maps When Tectonic Plates Move?
• Over Slashdot they discuss a story named Google Maps, Lasers Reveal Vatican Catacombs
• Also discussed over Slashdot, Street View floats into Venice

In the everything else category:

• More high resolution satellite imagery coming our way, Relaxing resolution restrictions on satellite imagery, and from the same source, an interesting entry on Nanosatellites for 4D (time + 2D/3D) Earth observation
• Nice pictures, Slashdot discusses ISS Astronauts Fire-Up Awesome 'Cubesat Cannon'
• We mentioned it before, and now Microsoft Releases “3D Builder” Touchscreen 3DP App
• Still on 3D, Apple is to buy Israeli 3D sensing company PrimeSense ​and here's a nice summary of How Apple Could Incorporate PrimeSense Technology Into Its Products
• Apple also started testing iOS 7's iBeacons in retail commercial areas and a Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Over Apple's Location Tracking in iOS
• Something we saw before, throw the camera in the air, get a 360×360 image from 36 2-megapixel lenses
• Those working with Microsoft map tech, here's How to Extend Your App with Talking Maps
• Privacy works both ways? Boston Cops Outraged Over Plans to Watch Their Movements Using GPS
• In a school tracking failed, Students Tracked In UK College Via RFID For 1-3 Years
• Tracking is omnipresent already, LoJack To Release Tracking Devices For Consumers, Insurance, and Auto Makers
• Slashdot discusses Scientists Proposing Satellite Early Warning System For Forest Fires
• On a similar topic, Wired has an entry named Incredible High-Resolution Interactive Map of the World’s Shrinking Forests
• Google too have an entry named Mapping the world’s deforestation over time
• Bicycles and GNSS navigation, Hammerhead System Offers a Better Way To Navigate While Cycling
• There's a new MapQuest navigation app, anyone uses it and can comment?
• VR headsets coming our way soon, The Science Behind the InfinitEye's Panoramic Virtual Reality Headset
• Ok, this isn't something I was expecting, Smartphone + Bike + Google Maps = GPS Art

In the maps category:

• Want to learn more on special projections, Projection Smackdown: Cahill’s Butterfly vs. the Dymaxion Map
• Looking for special maps to give at Christmas? ODT's South Up Maps and equal area maps might interest you
• Andrew, a regular contributor to Slashgeo, offers 30 maps around the world collected over time
• Wired shared an entry named 5 Maps That Could Help Solve Some of the World’s Most Daunting Problems
• Via VS, something we'll probably hear more often in the future, mapping Bitcoin
• U.S.: do you live in the right zip-code area? The Washington Post maps America's "Super Zips"
• Not the season, but here's Golf course maps and Mapping a golf course
• Don't get depressed by the Global Depression Map
• Isn't it Thanksgiving in the U.S.? A Real-Time Map of Travelers Suffering From the Thanksgiving Storm