In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Bloggage update: Hard to believe it's over a year since I left Kuwait - so just out of curiosity I looked for web maps of the area again. Google and OpenStreetMap left a little to be desired in the geography, but Leaddog's Syria GIS Map is very impressive indeed. Then I turn to my old employ's arcgis.com map of a Kuwait University project. It's a full Kuwait Municipality map, with GIS and geodesign of the new university, but also the whole city complete with directions including barriers, which I haven't seen on Google or Bing maps!

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

On the open source and open data front:

• This entry introduces iD, a new open source friendly editor for OpenStreetMap, which uses only javascript (no plugin required like Potlatch)
• If you want to try a full-featured OpenStreetMap maps display, try this version by skobbler

• Here's what's coming to the next QGIS: Better date and time support in QGIS expressions and styles
• Here's an entry on MapGuide Open Source scalability
• In Canada, the Province of Quebec now has its open data portal, a lot of it being geospatial [site in French]

On the Esri front:

• Big news, GeoIQ, which runs GeoCommons, has been acquired by Esri, several bloggers see this move as a reduction of competition, from GeoIQ: "GeoCommons and GeoIQ customers will continue to be supported as we integrate the capabilities of ArcGIS Online and GeoIQ into a next generation platform."
• The ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 5 is now available

In the drones category:

• UAS can stay in the air for a long period of time now, Slashdot discussed a story named Laser Powers Lockheed Martin's Stalker Drone For 48 Hours
• However, another story goes like this; GPS Spoofing Attack Hacks Drones

In the car navigation category:

• Slashdot discussed a story named Ford Predicts Self-Driving, Traffic-Reducing Cars By 2017
• And another one named Boston Using IBM Engineers To Solve Traffic Problems

In the everything else category:

• Certainly using the momentum against Google that is limiting the free use of their Google Maps API, MapQuest shared an entry named Unlimited Free Maps with MapQuest API Community Edition, and whle they do use OpenStreetMap data, MapQuest selected TomTom Maps to power its mobile application
• Direction Mag offers an Overview of Pitney Bowes Software’s Server and Web Technology for Geospatial Applications
• Slashdot discussed a story named MIT Develops Holographic, Glasses-Free 3D TV
• Still want more on Google's Project Glass before it hits the road? Sergey Brin Shows Project Glass Glasses to Journalists (Video)
• APB shares an entry named Algorithm Uses Your and Friends Locations to Predict Your Future Location (within 20 meters!)
• James shares an short entry named Autodesk on the Future of Design
• APB links to the top world cities to live in, based on the Spatially Adjusted Livability Index

In the maps category:

• Ogle Earth has detailed entries named Apple censors iPad Maps app over South Korea and Constraining online maps: The case of South Korea
• It's hot over there? Here's a map of continental US climate changes, 1895-2012
• Two related entries, Renewable Electricity Production Mapped and Mapping Renewable Electricity Generation
• Here's Misleading Language Maps on the Internet and from the same source, Mapping International Languages

• Here's a map of Global Earthquakes since 1898

I haven' t aggregated and shared Direction Magazine articles for a while, there you go! Here's the recent DM articles published in the last month that I found interesting.

• A month ago, DM shared their own summary of ESRI's GeoDesign Summit 2011, a topic we discussed in the past. From the article: "Much of the work of some GIS practitioners is to document "what is." They do not get involved in what's to be. Geodesign is not necessarily something they'll run into. Others who are more tied in to any type of planning and looking forward to the next iteration of the built environment may well run into geodesign."

• If you have interest in the US federal government, this article on the Esri Federal User Conference is for you.

• We discussed a few times geospatial professional certifications, this next DM article named Revisiting the Path to GISP: Is it Time to Add an Examination? provides and update: "Those who found the first implementation of the certification less than satisfactory are likely to be at least intrigued by the new vision, which includes an examination based on the newly minted U.S. Department of Labor's Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM) and other "industry-validated competency specifications." Feedback is requested between February 1 and 28, 2011 via the GISCI website. A decision on implementation is expected in April." Others wonder if crowdsourcing the certification mechanism could work.

• The last DM article I want to share with you is named Demonstrating to Executives That Your Geospatial Solution is Delivering Value. From the summary: "Senior executives often fail to grasp the value that the solution brings because they are not directly connected to it. This article, by PA Consulting’s Ross Smith and Andrew Sheahen, advocates the development of an ROI-based business case that looks beyond the technology and is based upon the business value that will be delivered by the program."

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.org 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 of 2010
• 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 2011 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