Via the OSGeo-Discuss list, I learned about the first release of Acid Maps, an open source tool for real time heatmaps generation.

From the announcement: " Acid Maps is basically a web server that generates interpolated images from a set of valued points in real time. This means that you can use your existing datasets (e.g.: sales, temperature, etc...) to generate advanced visualizations: heatmaps, isolines and Voronoi diagrams.

In addition, custom "client" layers have been created for OpenLayers and OpenScales, thus allowing an easier way to communicate with the server."

A busy week for these geonews in batch mode.

On the Google front:

• Google Latitude is now available for our desktop computers, a reminder; Latitude is Google's tool to share your location with friends and see where there are in real-time on map. And yes, you can get alerts when friends are neaby.
• If you use Google's Panoramio, integrated into Google Maps and Earth, you now have access to new sets of statistics for your photos.
• The GEB answers the question How often does Google update the imagery in Google Earth? And of course, there was another imagery update this week.
• The GEB offers an entry named 8 things to do with Historical Imagery in Google Earth

On the FOSS4G / opendata front:

• Here's an entry on running PostGIS in parallel threads
• Here's a link on a "GDAL Web driver", GDAL filesystem implemented on HTTP
• OpenStreetMap's founder Steve Coast left CloudMade
• SpotMaps images are now available in OpenStreetMap [French link]

On the Microsoft front:

• Here's an entry about new options regarding Enabling the New Style in the Bing Maps AJAX Control.
• Here's an entry on Bing Maps and the use of U.S. 311 issues, specifically for Miami and San Francisco.

On the ESRI front:

• James Fee informs us Esri Added Parcels to Their World Streets Map Service.
• There's a new software called GeoCat Bridge for ArcGIS, to publish using OGC services data from ArcGIS Desktop to the open source GeoServer and GeoNetwork.
• Here's an entry about Trimble Support For ArcGIS 10 And ArcPad 10 Now Available.

In the miscellaneous category:

• The European GNSS (GPS) system GALILEO needs more funding and more time, completion date is now projected to be.
• TMR links to Gizmodo's best navigation apps for iOS and Android.
• IBM launched CityOne, their SimCity-like game to build smarter cities.
• Spatial Sustain discusses a review of online mapping tools usability and accuracy, specifically Google Maps, Bing Maps and MapQuest.
• Regarding augmented reality, APB mentions an app with which you point an airplane with your iPhone and you get info about it (flight number, destination, height and speed).

In the maps category:

• Here's an entry on The Census of Marine Life in Google Earth, "the major international oceanographic research project involving researchers in over 80 countries, who tagged more than 120,000 types of species & millions of organisms over the past decade".
• Here's a Map of all the munitions dumped in Europe after WWI and WWII.
• The Australian Atlas of Mineral Resources has been updated

It's Friday! Here's the geonews that haven't made it into an individual story, in batch mode.

In the open source/open data front:

• The OpenGeo Suite Enterprise Edition version 2.2. was released
• Automated ground control points (GCP) collection is coming to QGIS. There's also an offline editing plugin coming for QGIS. And another welcomed improvement, new class breaks for graduated symbols in QGIS
• Here's tips on upgrading / backuping PostGIS databases
• The UK Ordnance Survey clarified what you can do with their open data.
• Slashdot discussed a story about CycleStreets for the U.K., hopefully someone was quick enough to mention OpenCycleMap that we mentioned in the past.

In the miscellanous category:

• Remember we when mentioned Autodesk's Project Butterfly? It's now announced as and renamed to AutoCAD WS: a web application that allows you to view, edit, and share drawings (.dwg) through a web browser or a mobile device.
• GeoCommons got overhauled. Finder! and Maker! disapeered for the sake of a new interface. It also now supports the time dimension visualizations.
• Microsoft mentioned the TweetHeat Map App: "helping users visualize the [Twitter] public response/feeling towards a product, event or really any topic."
• Google has an entry on Liquid Galaxy, eight 55-inches LCD screens showing Google Earth
• TMR links to an article on GPS reception myths and misconceptions
• Mapperz discusses TripGeo, offering directions with video StreetView
• The GeoNames Ontology version 2.2 has been released
• India's Bhuvan, their virtual globe, has been recently improved
• There will be 3 new UK commercial EO satellites planned, along with a new commercial earth observation company

In the maps category:

• TMR offers an entry named Google Maps Errors and Disappearing Cities
  
• TMR also offers a Roundup of iPhone and iPad Map Apps
• Ogle Earth warns us, the newly available Chinese iPhone 4 comes with a crippled Maps app, there's also a second entry on the same topic
• Kurt details his difficulties encountered to access USGS Topo Maps
• En entry on a New Map Offering a Global View of Health-Sapping Air Pollution
• The FGT blog has an entry on BBC's Dimensions website, showing how big things are relative to one another
• FTG also tells us how to embed a QR Position Code Losslessly Into A Geotagged Picture With QRStamper

Slashdot discusses a story named Map Based Passwords. Their summary: "Discovery is running an article on passwords based on a very specific location on a map. Instead of showing UID and Password fields, the user would simply click on a very specific spot on Google Earth, for example. I wonder how you would make that secure? Also, if you forgot, would you get a message saying 'Your password is the third flamingo on the left on the lawn of Aunt Bessie's house'?"

Discussed over Slashdot, a story named Google Publishes Censorship Map: "Google has released a censorship map showing how often countries around the world request user information and censor services such as Youtube. The US government asked Google for user information 4,287 times during the first six months. Information on China is conspicuously absent."

As you know, with the website migration and my attendance at FOSS4G, there haven't been a 'Friday geonews' batch mode for a while. Well, there it is!

In the LBS category:

• A Slashdot discussion named "Burglary Ring Used Facebook Places To Find Targets"
• O'Reilly discusses local ads, check-ins and place pages
• There's a new Twitter's Tweet With Your Location feature
• If you wonder, RFID is still not secure: "New German Government ID Hacked By CCC"

In the GPS category:

Yesterday, we announced the update and expansion of the parcel coverage available in our ParcelStream™ web service. Our ParcelStream™ customers now have access to over 110 million parcels and we plan to have 120 million parcels by the end. While many people already understand the value of parcel data, we thought this would be a good time to share some thoughts on parcel boundary data and just why we find it to be such a valuable data set. To begin, let’s discuss what exactly parcel boundaries are, this will help us understand their importance. Parcel boundaries are the precise GIS coordinates of a piece of property. Overlaid on top of a satellite or aerial image, they show a mapped image of the exact boundaries of a lot. They allow a potential real estate buyer to "walk" the boundaries of a piece of property from an online map, seeing its proximity to streets and highways, distance from neighboring homes, and access to green space, streams and wooded areas. Parcel boundaries do more than just provide a "bird's eye view" of a piece of property. Once the GIS coordinates of a property are loaded into a map-based platform, they can be combined with additional data sets like school districts, neighborhood demographics and other location information. Governments use parcel data to assess service areas, make predictions and respond to disasters.

ikiMap is a free web service which allows its users to create and share their maps. The objective is to combine the concept of a social network together with the use of cartography and maps. Users can create their own maps (by uploading files in KML, GPX…formats or directly by drawing on the map), vote for other users maps, add comments, create groups of friends, theme channels and more! Users can actually label the map as private and grant access to it only to certain people. ikiMap is a free service, and it's based on freeware: