In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Geopaparazzi 3.4.0 has just been released to the android market. This version has one major feature: support for vector data from Spatialite databases. This opens up a new world for android based mobile devices. This is how it looks like when one uses it by overlaying a scanned Finnish orienteering map and the results of some  hydrologic/hydraulic analyses: old, new and extracted watershed boundaries and channel lines.

Well, the other major feature added to the release gets a bit in the shadow of Spatialite, but it might be even more important to some users: RFID tag reading in custom forms through NFC or bluetooth.

If you are interested  you can read the whole story here.

We just released Geopaparazzi 3.3.0 in the market. There are a couple of small enhancements and a feature we think most people will like.

• sketch pad for forms (the feature we think most people will like)
• enhanced forms
• geo-sms are now sent through the system app
• better geocoding ui

The most important feature for this release is for sure the sketch pad, that allows user to draw their notes out in the field.

Check out the release post for more info.

A new version of Geopaparazzi is out in the market: 3.2.0 (or at least it should be soon, lately google play takes some time to get in sync)

The list of news is quite nice:

• huge enhancement of forms with support for multiple tabs, fragments for tablets, images and map screenshots, date widgets...
• integration of forms with kmz export
• style enhancements on kmz export
• send simple notes and bookmarks info via sms
• geocoding via google services
• osm routing via openrouteservice
• measure tool is back
• opening of geoSMS by geopaparazzi in offline mode
• editing mode for geonotes with forms
• support for rendering themes through style maps for offline maps
• battery level visible in map mode
• gps connection status visible in map mode

Read more about it here.

Here's the recent open source-related geonews in batch mode.

In software updates:

• GeoServer 2.1.4 had been released
• And so was GeoTools 2.7.5 released

• Geopaparazzi 3 has been released too, more here
• And as an indirect user of it, I'm happy that GEOS 3.3.4 was released too
• The OpenGeo Suite 2.5 was released, with updated Linux packages

In other news:

• If you missed it, see this informative comment from the DB4GeO developers, including comparing it to PostGIS 2.0 3D capabilities
• Regarding QGIS, here's fixing invalid geometries with Quantum GIS, another entry named SLD Support and other QGIS 1.8 Style Features
• For GeoServer, Accurate datum shift and full transformation control in GeoServer
• Here,s a summary of the FOSS4G-CEE Conference in Prague

• Here's an entry named GeoWebCache Tweaks Checklist

• And we haven't mentioned OpenStreetMap yet, improving the OpenStreetMap Profile Page for more Social Interaction

Geopaparazzi 3 is out. A lot has changed since the last 2.6.1 release. The most important changes are for sure:

• the support for OSM vector maps (so you won't ever miss a tile again)
• custom maps tilesets that allow to load complex GIS layers

All new features of this release are described here. The main source for users is the project's wiki.

Here is how this new release looks like:

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

From the open source / open data front:

• This interesting entry by Paul Ramsey on the challenges of polygon intersections when the polygons are huge and involve multiple cartographic projections, a case study in PostGIS
• Via Geonames, I found out that SRTM-DEM CGIAR-CSI is now at version 4.1, but I failed to find what's changed since version 4
• Geopaparazzi 2.6.0 has been released
• APB shares a few interesting OpenStreetMap news, including raising $800k to build maps for pedestrians

From the Google front:

• Here's an entry on the jQuery UI module for the Google Maps API
• In Google Maps, links to directions have been added to the saved locations in My Places
• There's the first Map your University competition with Google Map Maker
• Here's realistic SketchUp renderings using Maxwell
• And there was new Google Earth imagery released last Friday

In the everything-else category:

• Here's a pertinent O'Reilly article on the NoSQL movement
• mattwynn shared an entry named Why ESRI (as is) can’t be part of the open government movement
• The OGC mentions the Geospatial World Forum 2012 to be held in Amsterdam in April
• Here's a link to an article on the need of location standards for business intelligence, there's an OGC GeoBI DWG too
• Directions Mag offers an article named Safe Software Execs Address the State of GIS and FME 2012 and another one named Business models for LBS shift to freemium and advertising
• Slashdot reports that LightSquared will try using lawyers to save their plan to mess with the GPS spectrum
• Via O'Reilly Where, I found this infographic on the local and location-based advertisement ecosystem
• Are you ready? China’s Geographic Information Industry Takes the Lead Globally
• Here's a 5-minutes video on Microsoft Layerscape, I wasn't impressed - should I be? Spatial Sustain has an entry about it
• APB shared an entry named Pitney Bowes Software CEO O’Hara Discusses Autodesk Relationship and Software Strategy
• Slashdot shared a story named Scientists Print Cheap RFID Tags On Paper
• And another one from the same source named Australian Police Spying On Web, Phone Usage [including location data] With No Warrants

In the maps category:

• SS mentions the NASA release of a New Global Forest Height Map
• Slashdot ran a story named FCC Maps the 3G Wasteland Of the Western US
• APB shares a crowdsourced map of Iranian nuclear sites

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 2012
• 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 GMTED2010 dataset, here's how to seamlessly access to remote Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data 2010 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

Here's the recent geospatial open source and open data news.

New and updated software:

• In case you don't follow our press release section, Geopaparazzi 2.4 has been released, a reminder: "Geopaparazzi is a tool developed to do very fast qualitative engineering/geologic surveys."
• And so was MXD2Map version 1.0, "MXD2map is a free converter for the generation of UMN MapServer-compatible Map files from ESRI ArcGIS MXD files."
• degree 3.1 web services have been released
• ImageI/O-Ext 1.1.2 has been released
• Here's about POIProxy, "a service that handles requests to any public POI service providing a well defined REST API"

Other open source software-related news:

• SS shares an entry on InSTEDD GeoChat - not be to confused with Esri's GeoChat or the other open source MapChat - InSTEDD's open source GeoChat "is a collaboration tool that allows anyone to chat, report and get alerts on their phone"
• All the talk videos of FOSS4G 2011 and State of the Map 2011 are now available
• Here's an entry on QGIS's pie charts for symbols

In the open data category:

• Montréal, Canada, joined the increasing number of cities opening their geospatial data to the public [French press release]
• V1 mentions the Alberta Oilsands map-based portal, which he qualifies as open and transparent
• Mapperz discusses Openptmap, an OpenStreetMap-related effort to show public transport lines

There has been lots going on about geopaparazzi in the last year.

Customizations have been in the fields of disaster management and waste management, find a short description here.

There has been talk about integration with the ODK project.

With the new android based tablets there has been talk to get more features from BeeGIS into Geopaparazzi to bring the field survey on those new, lightweight, nice cozy, smart devices.
 

Our (HydroloGIS) objective has been to release the project as free in the market (it has been free and open source from the very start) once we had the money in we needed to buy the book to learn android development. Well, we got more, we got to develop customizations and it is about time that we finally release it free in the market.

So it is official, Geopaparazzi is now not only free as in speach, but also as in beer!

We would like to express our gratitude to all those that supported us through the buying of the application!

We also hope this will attract developers to contribute to the project.

We recently wrote a small article about the history of Geopaparazzi here.

Cheers!

Last time we mentioned Geopaparazzi, they were at version 1.1. Recently, Geopaparazzi 2.3.0 has been released.

A quick reminder of what it is: "Geopaparazzi is a tool developed to do very fast qualitative engineering/geologic surveys. Even if the main aim is in the field of surveying, it contains tools that can be of great use also to OpenStreetMappers as well as tourists that want to keep a geo-diary.Geopaparazzi is now available on the Android Market."

From the what's new for 2.3.0: "New features:

• integration of the osmdroid project (brings multitouch, minimap, scalebar, enhanced rendering, multiple tile sources...)
• enhanced tools in slider over map
• support for bookmarks"