In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

As Jackie says it, after "3 years and 1251 revisions in the making. The 1.0 final version of FDO Toolbox is finally here."

​The FDO Toolbox is described as a "multi-purpose geospatial tool to create, analyze, process and manage spatial data. It is written in C# and uses the Feature Data Objects (FDO) API".

And we can head to the OSGeo website for a reminder of what FDO is: "FDO Data Access Technology is an API for manipulating, defining and analyzing geospatial information regardless of where it is stored. FDO uses a provider-based model for supporting a variety of geospatial data sources, where each provider typically supports a particular data format or data store. FDO (“Feature Data Object”) is free, open source software licensed under the LGPL."

We mentioned FDO quite a few times in the past. I'm no expert, but I believe FDO is mainly used and part of Autodesk's MapGuide Open Source and is sometimes considered as a competitor to GDAL/OGR. What have I missed?

Here's the usual Friday geonews in batch mode.

From the open source / open data front:

• A Wall Street Journal article on OpenStreetMap getting noticed by Microsoft and MapQuest
• Autodesk's CEO shared interesting comments on open source and MapGuide: "He commented that the effort has been a success based on the large number of users, but that Open Source was a bit of a ‘last gasp of the commoditization of desktop software.” He mentioned that the push toward mobile and cloud computing have eclipsed the interest in open source as a means to extend software capability, and that the phenomenon in the geospatial space that made this the right move doesn’t translate well to other markets that Autodesk serves."
• If you're into MapGuide and FDO, see this MapGuide Wishlist and this FDO wishlist
• An entry named 3D visualisation and DEM creation in QGIS with the GRASS plugin
• Also about QGIS, an overview of QGIS for MapInfo users, an entry on Quick graticule in QGIS and a new QGIS 1.6 brochure is available
• An entry about a workflow for creating beautiful relief shaded dems using GDAL
• libspatialindex 1.6.1 has been released
• OpenGeo Suite Community Edition 2.3.1 Released

From the ESRI front:

• The new ESRI Technical Certification Program has been announced
• ArcGIS 10 Data Interoperability Extension Service Pack 1 Released
• ArcGIS API For Microsoft Silverlight/WPF And ArcGIS API For Windows Phone 2.1 Now Available

From the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft reminds us of their nice Destinations Maps map app
• Bing Maps introduced mall directory maps

In the miscellaneous category:

• Three Russian GLONASS satellites were lost in the Pacific at launch
• Nigeria is launching two new OE satellites next February, the first one was in 2003
• SS shared an entry on Autodesk’s Project Galileo, promising to meld CAD, GIS and BIM
• Here's a followup entry on Free Shapefiles of Countries of the World
• A friend sent me a link to this article named Five good reasons why publishers should care about geolocation
• The U.S. Census Bureau started providing 2010 Population Estimates

In the maps category:

• An informative entry named the Uses and Misuses of the Mercator Projection
• Maps of Internet users and Internet penetration
• A map of Forest Restoration Potential

Here's the weekly batch of geonews, finally on a regular Friday.

On the ESRI front:

• Recently, ESRI open sourced the ESRI Geoportal Server. Some twitter users were quick to mention that you still need ArcGIS Server software to use the Geoportal Server. [UPDATE: see comments below, it seems such a license is not a requirement after all.] To me, that's still a nice step. Their definition of a geoportal: "A geoportal is a gateway to Web-based geospatial resources, enabling users to discover, view and access geospatial information and services made available by their providing organizations. Likewise, data providers can use the geoportal to make their geospatial resources discoverable, viewable, and accessible to others."
• The popular blog SpatiallyAdjusted shares some elements that could be improved about the ArcGIS 10 user interface

On the open source front:

• O'Reilly discusses a new open source software called WEAVE (Web-based Analysis and Visualization Environment), which obviously include a mapping component
• If you're into FDO, you'll be happy to learn of the new SequentialProcess for batch mode processing
• QGIS gets new label tools
• Remember Polymaps? The open source mapping framework Polymaps is now integrated into GeoCommons

In the miscellaneous category:

• REST and RESTful was widely discussed in the past few years in the geospatial community, including within ESRI, the open source and OGC rings. Thanks to this entry named Richardson Maturity Model: steps toward the glory of REST, I think I finally correctly understand what REST is about! ;-) (sorry I don't remember how I ended up on that article)
• TMR informs us MapQuest launched My Maps last June, with the same name of the similar feature provided on Google Maps, basically allowing you to save and share user-created maps
• SS shares a long perspective entry named What forces are at play in the evolution of geospatial industry sectors?
• NAVTEQ acquires the 3D modeling company named PixelActive
• APB informs us Yahoo has launched a new service called Local Offers: "that it said will give users information about local merchants along with coupons and information on deals at stores in their neighborhoods."
• Kurt shares interesting thoughts on GIS, followed by What is GIS? A workflow definition

In the maps category:

• Here's the evolution of active Facebook users by region
• A nice entry on The Human Development Index in Africa and Across the World
• SS shares an entry named Mapping Opportunity in America
• While I was aware of it, we mentioned mentioned it yet. The GEB discusses the USGS "Earth as Art" beautiful collection of Landsat imagery

Via the OSGeo-Announce list I learned about the release of the open source Feature Data Objects (FDO) version 3.5.0. While FDO is at the core of several Autodesk software, it's used by other products too.

Here's the new features for version 3.5.0:

• Bug fixes from 3.4.1 release
• Data Value Type Conversion.
• Parameter Binding Direction Enhancement.
• Reader Access By Index.
• Detailed Exception Support.
• Multi-polygon support for SHP Provider.
• Spatial operator combinations support.
• Setting Query Fetch Size.
• Direct Access to ArcSDE Through the KingOracle Provider.
• Add a PostgreSQL Provider Based on the GenericRDBMS Framework.
• Enhanced API Thread Support.
• Full 64-bit Windows support.