In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From the official sources:

• Here's an entry on Belgium's Brussels in 3D in Google Earth, named Europe’s best kept secret revealed in 3D
• Google updated the Help Center of Google Map Maker
• Google is updating their maps data from authoritative sources for France, Monaco and Luxembourg
• Google shared an entry named using search patterns to track dengue fever
• Google's Ed Parsons shared his Location Business Summit slides, a presentation named "Making the most of place", Google Places, of course

From other sources:

• Here's a 3D model of Joplin tornado debris
• Slashdot ran a discussion named Google Wallet: the End of Anonymous Shopping, about the probable upcoming systematic location tracking of all purchases
• It seems Apple Just Renewed Maps and Search Partnership with Google
• The GEB has an entry named Space Archeologists discovering egyptian tombs
• The same site is also enthusiastic about Sony's Project Shiphunt, a fun game using Google Ocean
• And there was a new imagery update on May 31th

Here's the geonews in batch mode, covering the last two weeks, and thus, longer than usual. But first, a quick note to let you know that we updated our open budget after the last donation from WebMapSolutions.com.

From the open source front:

• Quantum GIS is being ported to Android tablets
• Here's SpatiaLite for Android smarphones
• The Java Topology Suite (JTS) is being ported to JavaScript as JSTS
• Paul Ramsey shared his PgCon notes #1 and notes #2, from a PostGIS developer perspective
• We mentioned a few times the 'PostGIS in Action' book, here's a new review from Geoweb Guru this time. Here's the book on Amazon: 
  PostGIS in Action
• We also previously mentioned OpenLayers 2.10, a Beginner's Guide, here's a new review from James Fee, here's the book on Amazon:
  OpenLayers 2.10 Beginner's Guide
• MapGuide Maestro 3.1 has been released, along with its SDK
• Here's about Turning GeoServer into an ImageServer
• EasySDI V2 is now available

From the Google front:

• Today Google announced Google Wallet, enhancing mobile payments with smartphones
• Google Maps 5.5 for Android has been released
• The new Google Correlate tool supports geographic data as input

From the Esri front:

• SS offers a sneak peek at ArcGIS 10.1 improvements
• Via APB, ESRI offers a Live Severe Weather Map
• SS also has an entry named Jack Dangermond Addresses the Origins and Future of GIS
• The latest Arc2Earth allows you to legally use Google Earth imagery in ArcMap
• ArcGIS API for JavaScript 2.3 is now available

In the miscellaneous category:

• APB shares an Oracle Spatial User Conference 2011 Wrap Up and two related entries named Oracle Spatial Clients Have ‘‘Big Data’’ Issues and Oracle Exadata Database Machine the Focus of Oracle Spatial User Conference
• V1 reports on the CNN and Nokia Partner to Map More News and informs us the Ovi Maps brand has died in favor of the Nokia Services name
• MapTogether mentions the Stats America data portal
• James Fee recap GIS on the BlackBerry Playbook tablet from WebMapsSolutions
• APB offers three updates on LightSquared GPS jamming
• MapQuest integrated gas prices in their main maps
• The GEB has an entry on Pix4D, turning 2D aerial photos in 3D
• Here's the track of a tornado seen by the ASTER satellite and from GeoEye

Recent geo-related stories discussed over Slashdot:

• Wikipedia Edits Around the World and Places With the Most Wikipedia Articles
• "Space Archeology" Uncovers Lost Pyramids
• 3D Aerial Photos For the Common Man
• From Austria, the World's Smallest 3D Printer
• Hack Targets NASA's Earth Observation System
• How Companies Are Using Data From Foursquare

In the maps category:

• Ok, not exactly a map, but this world countries OCDE Better Life Index is still pretty and interesting, and you can specify what matters to you and see the matching countries (via IiB)

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From official sources:

• Here's the Grimsvötn’s ash cloud visualized in Google Earth, the Iceland volcano in eruption
• Google updated Google Maps on your mobile browser, specifically smartphones and tablets 
• Learn more here about Fusion Tables dynamic styling
• Here's an entry on Google Map Maker on U.S. campuses
• If you're looking to images and data of Mississippi floods, here they are
• And there was an imagery update to Google Earth and Maps last week, bringing more high resolution imagery to tens of countries

From other sources:

• Here's an update on the collection of weather and storm tracking tools for Google Earth
• Mapperz mentions a new feature being tested, Google Maps Sneek Peek
• An entry on analyzing ancient bays, the Carolina Bays, with hsv-shaded LiDAR DEMs and Google Earth

Slashdot discusses a story named EU Demands Explicit Geo-Location Permissions.

Their summary: "Apple, Google and employers are already contravening new European Union rules that will require companies to get explicit permission from users before any geo-location data can be used to track them, whether for the purposes of targeted advertising or monitoring employee behavior. This could be the start of the next big privacy argument. The hopes of companies planning to use geo-location data to push products and services to mobile device users have taken a beating in the European Union, following a pronouncement from the European Data Protection Supervisor, Peter Hustinx."

Here's the Friday geonews in batch mode, exceptionally covering the last two weeks. We're now up to date regarding geospatial news!

From the open source front:

• You can influence what the OSGeo priorities should be with this quick survey, here's funding ideas partial results
• Here's an entry on Sextant, a geoportal solution from IFREMER
• In a maintenance release, GeoTools 2.7.1 is now available

From the Google front:

• Google Transit is now available in Washington DC
• Google shared an entry named Make beautiful interactive maps even faster with new additions to the Fusion Tables API
• Google Places now supports in-business 360-degree perspectives, in another entry, the new Google Places API is described
• The GEB compares Nokia's new Ovi Maps 3D vs Google Earth
• The GEB discusses using Google Earth to confront government lies about damaged rainforest in Sarawak

From the ESRI front:

• Andrew Zolnai has en entry on ESRI's Change Matters website to compare satellite imagery, and that's possible thanks to Landsat imagery dating back to 1972 now available through ArcGIS Online

From the  Microsoft front:

• While we mentioned it before, Kurt too is, as I am, enthusiastic about Microsoft's free Photosynth iPhone / iPad 2 app
• There's a New Bing Maps iOS SDK
• Microsoft invites you to See AJAX 7.0 in action with the new interactive SDK

In the miscellaneous category:

• The MapQuest for Android Navigation App got updated and improves GPS capabilities
• Slashdot discusses using credit card transaction locations to determine CO2 footprints
• Spatial Law mentions a California Bill that would regulate 'Precise Geolocation Information'
• Vector One argues on Why Now is a Good Time to Invest in Geospatial Technology Stocks, and here's entries specifically on Trimble and DigitalGlobe stocks
• SS informs us Moscow Upholds Limits on the Resolution of Satellite Imagery

In the maps category:

• TMR links to an excellent series of 12 static maps of the 2011 Canadian federal election results 
• Mapperz mentioned WeatherSpark Beta, a Google Maps mashup to visualize historical weather patterns
• The FGT blog mentions Free Marine Chart Views, Plus An Online Waypoint/Route Editor With GPS Export
• Here's a New York Times's Natural Disaster Map for the U.S.

Here's the recent Google geonews for the last 7 days.

From the official sources:

• Google announced that Google Earth is now optimized for Android-powered tablets, which includes fully textured 3D buildings
• Google announced the Distance Matrix API web service, providing "a chart that showed the driving distance and journey time between pairs of major cities"
• Google shared an entry named Using the power of mapping to support South Sudan
• There's a new Google Earth Outreach Developer Grants Program
• Traffic information is coming to Google Maps in Sweden and Taiwan
• On the gaming front, here's an entry on the Travel Game and Google Earth as a gameboard
• And there was yet again a new imagery update for Google Earth and Google Maps, with tens of countries getting fresh imagery

From other sources:

• About an hour ago the GEB published an entry on High-res imagery of the Mississippi River flooding in Google Earth
• Google Building Maker supports new cities and offers expanded coverage for others, including Fresno, Lake Tahoe, Austin, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego and St. Louis
• The FGT blog mentions a tool to Generate Custom Color Code For Google Maps
• Here's an entry on powerful drag-and-drop capabilities with HTML5 and the Google Earth Plug-in, and another entry named Quickly share locations using the Google Earth Plug-in
• Inevitably, there's plenty of new Osama bin Laden's compound 3D models for you to explore in Google Earth, and there's even fresh imagery of the area taken on May 2nd

First, a quick thank you for all your good wishes via comments and email. While the entire family is doing great, the first few days have been quite busy. I'm confident I'll be able to catch up during this week and ensure you get the best geonews aggregation you're accustomed to!

Via AGISRS, I learned about Google's open source WebGL Globe.

The description: "The WebGL Globe is an open platform for geographic data visualization. We encourage you to copy the code, add your own data, and create your own. [...] Features:

• Latitude / longitude data spikes
• Color gradients, based on data value or type
• Mouse wheel to zoom
• More features are under development..."

There has been a few WebGL virtual globes announced recently, including the open source WebGL Earth and OpenWebGlobe.

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. Some of those news could have deserved individual announcements.

From the open source / open date front:

• Regarding the FOSS4G 2011 conference, the community can now vote to determine the program of the FOSS4G 2011 conference, and there will be an Introduction to Geospatial Open Source day-long event
• The final version of MapGuide Maestro 3.0 has been announced
• OpenStreetMap has been recognized by the United Nations Foundation
• OpenStreetMap data can be used in the X-Plane flight simulator
• GeoTools 8.0-M0 has been released
• Here's a new review of the PostGIS in action book, which is now available on Amazon:
  PostGIS in Action
• Talking about books, here's the new Locate Press, focussing on publishing on open source geospatial projects
• O'Reilly offered and article named open source tools look to make mapping easier
• GRASS GIS now has a barb module

From the Google front:

• Ogle Earth shares a long entry named Finding Osama Bin Laden’s Abbottabad mansion with Google Earth, with numerous screenshots
• Slashdot runs a story named Your Location 'Extremely Valuable' To Google
• The official Google Lat Long blog shares an entry named Post-tornado mapping in Google Maps and Earth
• Slashdot also discussed a story named Using Google Maps To Simulate Tsunamis

From the ESRI front, Mandown shares several entries, including:

• ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 2 Released
• Learn The Basics Of Developing Applications With The ArcGIS API For iOS and ArcGIS API For iOS 1.8 Now Available
• ArcGIS Viewer For Flex 2.3.1 Released and ArcGIS API For Flex And ArcGIS Viewer For Flex 2.3 Released

In the miscellaneous category:

• VerySpatial shares iOS Apps for learning Geography while APB mentions the MagicPlan App to easily map your house
• MacRumors shares a story named Apple Hints at Future Turn-by-Turn GPS Directions With Traffic for iPhone
• On the same topic, Slashdot ran a story named Share Your iPhone Location Data Like You Mean It
• While SS shares an entry named Where’s the Geospatial Industry’s Response to ‘Locationgate’?
• The timing was ripe for O'Reilly to share an article named What does the attention around tracking mean?, especially in the context of online payments
• V1 informs us that Russia's Putin Invites Sweden Into GLONASS
• MapQuest is celebrated 15 years of existence
• It's been a while since RFID has been mentioned, Slashdot discussed a story named Hotel Tracks Towels With RFID Chips

In the maps category:

• TMR shares an entry named Mapping Long-Term Radiation Exposure at Fukushima too bad Japan lost one Earth Observation Satellite on Tsunami Mapping Mission
• TMR also shares an interactive map of oil production from 1960 to 2010

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From the official sources:

• Today's Prince William and Catherine Middleton Royal Wedding was featured in the Google Earth Plugin.
• Google offers post Japan earthquake panoramas in Google Earth
• There was an entry on celebrating Earth Day (that was a week ago) and an invitation to celebrate Arbor Day with Save the Redwoods League and Google Earth
• Google also have an entry this week's imagery update, with plenty of countries getting fresh imagery

From other sources:

• Ogle Earth offers an article named Google Earth Builder: A potential solution to the map censorship conundrum in China, India
• The GEB mentions the launch of the Earth Knowledge Portal which uses the Google Earth Plugin
• Here's an entry on tracking tornadoes in Google Earth
• The GEB forecasts updates to all versions of Google Earth coming this summer
• Here two entries on how beautiful 3D models can be in Google Earth
• And if you're more into gaming, Ships version 1.5 has been released, a ship game in Google Earth

With the Easter break at the door, here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

From the Google front:

• The GEB offers an entry providing more information on Google Earth Builder announced yesterday but to be available in Q3 and APB sums up how the media views Google Earth Builder
• Google updated the photo clusters interface in Google Earth
• You can see the real-time edits done by contributors to Google Map Maker
• And there's new imagery available in Google Maps/Earth

From the open source/data front:

• APB informed of WorldMap (alpha), an open source experimental platform designed for viewing and interpreting maps collaboratively
• A U.S. national biomass dataset is now available
• The FOSS4G 2011 conference preparation is doing well, with almost 300 abstracts submitted. I can also confirm now that Slashgeo.org is a media partner of the FOSS4G 2011 conference

From the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft launched the free Photosynth iOS app to capture and share panoramas
• Seattle's SoundTransit now offer transit directions in Bing  Maps

In the miscellaneous category:

• The GEB offers two excellent summaries: Where 2.0 2011 -- Day One and Where 2.0 2011 -- Day Two
• Also from Where 2.0, SS shares a summary of Jack Dangermond's talk on the cloud enabling intelligent web maps
• MapQuest added a few new features detailed in this entry named Cycle Route Planner, Aerial and Languages
• VerySpatial mentions the 'Where on Earth' landmark-association game
• Slashdot discussed a story named Scientist Creates 3D Scanner App For iPhone
• and another one named Michigan Police Could Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops