In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

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:

• In 2008, we presented a world map of undersea internet connections, here's the interactive Submarine Cable Map 2013
• Scary, maps of the U.S. Geography of Sin, and here's the U.S. Geography of Happiness

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.com
• 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 for 2013

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

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 2012
• 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.org
• 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)

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 2012/2017 Esri U.S. Demographic Data Release

On the web maps front:

• We mentioned it before, and here's more details on JS.geo 2013: 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.org, "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

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

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?

This is my tentative to catch up the geonews since my mid-August holidays. Here they are!

On the open source / open data front:

• UDig 1.3.2 has been released with several new features and supports Axios spatial editing tools again
• Since 2008 the USGS provides the Landsat archive, but this entry mentions that a substantial part of the Landsat archive is available on the fast and reliable public Google Earth Engine cloud storage

On the Esri front:

• The free plugin ArcGIS for AutoCAD version 300 is now available
• There's now an ArcGIS Runtime for iOS for ArcGIS.com WebMaps

On the Google front:

• Google made a few Google Maps announcements, including voice guided directions in India, Map Maker in New Zealand and new Street View in 150 university campuses
• In another entry, Google offers a roundup of their August Google Maps related news, most news we already shared with our users
• Nothing surprising, new imagery released on September 1

On the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft shares an entry on overlaying Esri shapefiles in BIng Maps
• Microsoft's Global Ortho Project is complete for the United States, meaning there's high resolution 30cm imagery everywhere in the country
• There's a new Bing Get Me There App for iOS for London, UK
• An entry on Bing Maps V7 AJAX Highlights

In the everything else category:

• James shares a must-read short entry named '80% of Data Is Not Spatial So Stop Claiming It Is', read the comments for insights
• Here's a pertinent entry related to a UN paper, Criticism - Future Trends in Geospatial Information Management: The Five to Ten Year Vision
• Here's an update on the OGC standards and the semantic web (aka Linked Data)
• APB informs us that 22 companies formed the In-Location Alliance to Enhance Indoor Positioning
• O'Reilly links to an article on Yelp Checkins to Measure Geopositioning Accuracy Across Phones
• Slashdot discuss the Location Privacy Act Approved By California Legislature
• Other stories at Slashdot, The Rapid Rise of License Plate Readers and UK License Plate Cameras Have "Gaps In Coverage"
• Big numbers, APB indicates that the GIS market will soon reach between 3.7 - 10.6 Billions, depending on who you ask

In the maps category:

• On APoD, there's a pretty interesting map of hurricane and tropical storms paths (screenshot below)
• An interesting map of the Global Decline in Religiosity
• Some London Olympics 2012 maps: The politics of London 2012 Olympic medal counts

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. It excludes Esri-related geonews since I wait for the conclusion of the User Conference to share an aggregated entry. Also to note, this week some of our users finally get our daily newsletter in their inboxes after an absence of over a year - the problem was that it was identified as 'spam' by a 3rd party filtering system - thanks to the user who reported this issue!

On the open source front:

• It's in a James Fee rant named Google Maps Is More Accurate Because They Say It Is, I learned about the OpenStreetView.org, you guessed it, an open version of Google's Street View
• A few weeks ago, we mentioned FOSS4G 2012 in Beijing being cancelled, here's the related official OSGeo board reaction

• Here's an entry on Creating contour lines with GDAL and Mapnik
• A technical entry named Manipulating GPS tracks in Spatialite
• Time flies, QGIS Is Ten Years Old

On the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft released an impressive 215TB of new Bird's Eye imagery: "spans across the United States and features certain areas in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Tokyo"
• In an entry, Microsoft details the Bing Maps keys, including the limitations of what you can do for free

Discussed over Slashdot:

• Dr. Faragher Answers Your Questions About the Future of Navigation Technology, he's the Principal Scientist at the BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre and NAVSOP supporter

• A discussion on Resources For Identifying Telecom Right-of-Way Locations?
• Australian Consumer Group Wants Geo-IP Blocking Banned "saying it created significant barriers to the free flow of goods and services"
• Samsung Galaxy S3 Stripped of Local Search

In the miscellaneous category:

• Pretty interesting stat: 93% of the top million sites and 89% of the top 10,000 sites on the internet with maps are using Google maps or the Google maps API, this comes from this overview of statistics for mapping technologies
• Directions Mag offers screenshots in an entry named Get Ready for the London Olympics with AEgis’ 3D Models
• Via the AQT [French link], I learned about the Kessler syndrome: "[...] a scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade – each collision generating debris which increases the likelihood of further collisions. One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space exploration, and even the use of satellites, unfeasible for many generations."
• APB tells us that DigitalGlobe and GeoEye agreed to merge
• APB informs us that there is Nokia 4000 Indoor Maps
• Apparently, drones are an hazard to air traffic in Somalia
• The GEB has en entry on Meograph, as multimedia tool for creating Google Earth visualizations
• Long entry on MapQuest iOS Maps API 1.0.1 released and their official announcement of their iOS Maps API
• The US NGA released its Strategic Plan for 2013-2017
• An interesting short entry, Starbucks: 1 Store = $1 Million Investment and GIS Helps Get It Right

In the maps category:

• Via O'Reilly, you can read Google's Ed Parson in an short article named The Future of the Map Isn't a Map at All—It's Information

• TMR shares an entry about Susan Schulten's 'Mapping the Nation' book, focusing on 19th century U.S.

We don't usually make much noise when there is new imagery is provided, but in that case, Microsoft announced Monday 165TB of New Imagery Added to Bing Maps.

From the entry: "Today we’re thrilled to announce the publication of our largest satellite release to date. In fact, this release is larger than all of our past Aerial releases combined! The latest Aerial release includes new Satellite imagery as well as Global Ortho photography. Both releases total 165 terabytes of new data live on Bing Maps. Prior to this, our existing Aerial footprint was 129 terabytes total."

Follow the link to see several screenshots.

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

From the open source front:

• OpenGeo runs an entry named Five things you didn’t know about GeoExplorer

From the major companies front:

• I liked the Google vs Apple mapping discussion from Peter Batty: "Google announces that it is scared of Apple Maps
  [...] Now don't get me wrong, Google is the market leader and Apple has everything to prove." See also his entry named Apple Maps: Predictions and Questions, which are also of course innovations Google could implement. Viva competition! (well ok, I admit I prefer cooperation ;-)
• James has an interesting entry named One Man's Disruptor is Another Man's Incumbent, the incumbents are Google Maps, MapQuest, Esri and Microsoft, and the disruptors are MapBox, Esri and Apple

• Via O'Reilly, the connection between Google Street View and driverless cars: "Now, I’m realizing the biggest Street View data coup of all: those vehicles are gathering the ultimate training set for driverless cars." Read the comments, driverless cars data is not simple

• There's 2 new modules for Bing Maps V7: GeoJSON and WKT reader/writer modules

• The GEB discusses Using StreetView to validate 3D models

Discussed over Slashdot:

• NASA Tool Shows Where Forest Is Being Cut Down
• Autralian Mining Companies Increasing Use of UAVs

• Cognitive Software Identifies America's Brainiest Cities
• John Carmack Is Building a Virtual Reality Headset
• Trained Rats Map Minefields With GPS

In the everything-else category:

• The eoPortal shares an entry named US not losing its foothold in Earth observing satellites, only shifting power
• The eoPortal also mentions a new imaging system produces 3D models of monuments using unmanned aircraft
• On that very topic, DM shares an article named Ten Things You Should Know About Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)
• VerySpatial have an informative entry on geospatial at the upcoming London Summer Olympics and U.K. in general

• AR as entertainment of the future? Kinect and RFID power an augmented reality theme park (via OR)

In the maps category:

• Here's a nice visualization of 56 years of tornadoes in the U.S.

As a bonus for reading till the end, here's a interesting quote: "If a picture is worth a thousand words, a map can be worth a thousand spreadsheets."