pygeometa is a new open source Python package to generate metadata for geospatial datasets. Users can manage simple configurations to generate geospatial metadata in a variety of formats. Features: simple configuration: inspired by Python’s ConfigParser extensible: template architecture allows for easy addition of new metadata formats flexible: use as a command-line tool or integrate as a library pygeometa is available ...

Locate Press LLC, March 10 - Locate Press is pleased to announce the release of The PyQGIS Programmer's Guide in both paperback and PDF formats.

PyQGIS, the blending of QGIS and Python, provides the means to extend and enhance the functionality of QGIS by writing scripts and plugins to implement new features and perform automated tasks.

The PyQGIS Programmer's Guide makes getting started with QGIS customization easy. After a brief introduction to Python, the guide moves on to cover the QGIS Application Programmer Interface (API), writing and running scripts, building a plugin, and writing a standalone application.

An extensive chapter on Tips and Techniques is included, providing examples of common tasks encountered while developing with PyQGIS.

The book is designed with examples and exercises to aid in mastering PyQGIS while providing an enhanced learning experience. All code used in the book is freely available from the website.

The PyQGIS Programmer's Guide is compatible with QGIS version 2.x releases.

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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

While we mentioned the Fiona a few times since, with the recent 1.0 release, here's more about it. Fiona is an open source OGR API for Python.

From the official page: "Fiona provides uncomplicated Python interfaces to functions in OGR, the best open source C/C++ library for reading and writing geographic vector data.

Fiona is designed to be simple and dependable. It focuses on reading and writing data in standard Python IO style, and relies upon familiar Python types and protocols such as files, dictionaries, mappings, and iterators instead of classes specific to OGR. Fiona can read and write real-world data using multi-layered GIS formats and zipped virtual file systems and integrates readily with other Python GIS packages such as pyproj, Rtree, and Shapely."

In the 1.0 announcement, Sean summarize what it offers:

• Simplicity and less code.
• Familiar Python types and protocols like files, dicts, and iterators instead of classes specific to GIS.
• GeoJSON style feature records.
• Reading and writing single and multi-layer files.
• Reading zipped data, too.
• A handy command line tool that upgrades "ogr2ogr -f GeoJSON".
• Comprehensive tests.
• 15 pages of narrative documentation.

And yes, Fiona is already updated to version 1.0.1.

Here's the recent open source and open data geonews in batch mode.

• Statistics Canada, aka StatCan, will offer a lot (but not all) of its data under an open data license beginning February
• OpenStreetMap now has nothing less than 500,000 registered users, here's new tile sets for the Transport Layer and the MapQuest Open layer, and V1 discusses the idea of OpenFarmMap
• Here's an interactive QGIS tutorial by Harvard's Lex Berman, a detailed entry on the creation of Map Books in QGIS via the EasyPrint plugin, a first glimpse at the pgRouting layer for QGIS, and more on the fusion of QGIS Desktop with web technologies
• Mike at OpenGeo discusses the Esri white paper about using an hybrid approach; using both open source and proprietary GIS software
• A few sources mentioned the 'Public Mapping Project' which develops the open source 'District Builder' redistricting software, this was also discussed over Slashdot
• PostGIS gets GeoJSON support and here's an entry on Topology cleaning with PostGIS
• If you're into Python, here's Kurt lecture on writing KML and SQLite with Python
• We just shared with you the new global GMTED dataset, here's how to seamlessly access to remote Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data with GDAL
• GeoSolutions shared an entry named Serving Meteo data with GeoServer, GeoBatch and GeoNetwork: the LaMMA use case 
• DM shares an article from a Slashgeo editor, named Open Source Software and OGC Web Services: Life-saving Components in Québec’s Emergency and Disaster Management
• Geopaparazzi 2.5.0 has been released

Geoweb Guru offers a review of the book "Python Geospatial Development" by Erik Westra. From the review: "Python is ideal for "swiss army knife" geospatial operations, but the book concentrates on the development of applications including geospatial databases and Django-based geospatial web applications. [...] All things considered, this is an excellent introduction to geospatial processing with Python. It leans towards building web applications, but should also be useful for people working offline. The book is an overview, and should introduce the various libraries, and applications. However, coverage is quite shallow in places. For example, it might show you how to use Python with PostGIS and GDAL/OGR, but you will need to look elsewhere for good coverage of PostGIS and GDAL/OGR topics." A search will reveal that Python is often mentioned along with geospatial. GeoDjango was also mentioned a few times. On Amazon: [amazon 1849511543 full]

Here's the Friday geonews in batch mode.

From the open source / open data front:

• A third entry in the series of the Free Shapefiles of Countries of the World, focusing this time on small countries
• Mapperz mentions FacilMap Beta, that aims to group together layers of various OpenStreetMap projects
• An entry on OpenPisteMap, for mountain sports
• Via Kurt, here's NOAA's new bathymetry data viewer
• There's a new offline editing plugin for QGIS
• GeoNetwork opensource v2.6.2 released
• Shapely 1.2.8 has been released

From the ESRI front:

• SS summarizes Jack Dangermond's opening talk at the GeoDesign Summit and shares a second entry named Exploring the Esri Approach to GeoDesign
• James praises for Python in ArcGIS

In the miscellaneous category:

• There has been quite a few entries on the Australian flood maps, the best one I found is from VerySpatial
• Here's the Top 10 Spatial Law and Policy Stories
• Via APB, here's DigitalGlobe's Top Ten Imagery Related Events of the Decade
• APB mentions that a Japanese Company Achieves 3 cm Accuracy for GPS
• GLONASS-enabled phones are coming in March
• Here's Cédric's seven geo predictions
• Kurt mentions the Earth Observer iOS app
• SS mentions Satellite Monitoring Employed to Prevent Civil War in Sudan, supported by actor George Clooney
• Slashdot ran a story named 'French Use Space Tech To Find Parking Spots'

In the maps category:

• A map of North American English Dialects
• An entry on Michael Zeiler's Solar Eclipse Map Website