In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

The project that initially emerged from Autodesk and became MapGuide Open Source just released its version 2.4.

I haven't found a summary of the changes so far. There seems to be numerous improvements to MapGuide OS's core, to Fusion Tools and FDO. Here's what looks like their list of major new items:

• A new service for profiling performance (RFC 110)
• Web Tier directories now include SVN metadata, allowing for the pulling of viewer updates and fixes instantly with a subversion client (RFC 111)
• Path scaling support in Symbol Definitions (RFC 113)
• New Feature Service API for save points RFC 114
• Improved Coordinate System conversion performance (RFC 116)
• IPv6 support (RFC 118)
• Support for enhanced URL information in Layer Definitions (RFC 119)
• Configurable Coordinate System dictonary paths via serverconfig.ini and webconfig.ini (RFC 122)
• Feature Join performance optimizations (RFC 123 and  http://themapguyde.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/improving-feature-join-experience-or.html)
• Toggle-able tooltips for AJAX and Fusion viewers (RFC 120)
• Lots of performance and usability improvements in Fusion (see  this link for an overview)
• Datum Transformation enhancements (RFC 94)
• WMS 1.3.0 support (RFC 95)
• QuickPlot? command for AJAX and Fusion viewers (RFC 96)
• EPSG/SRID code changes (RFC 98)
• WFS 1.1.0 support (RFC 106)
• Watermark support (RFC 108)

My main question when MapGuide Open Source comes to my mind: what's the status of its adoption? I had a lot of hopes for it when Autodesk made MapGuide open source along with providing the financial support for OSGeo's birth, but it seems like MapGuide does not get much love nowadays, at least not as much as competing solutions like GeoServer and MapServer. Any comments?

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

Still in my geonews catching up process, here's the open source-related geonews not shared yet.

• Via LinkedIn I learned about HSLayers and Proxy4OWS,
  • For HSLayers: "HSLayers is yet another JavaScript Mapping framework. You can use it for building rich mapping portals, as well as use it’s parts for improving your simple OpenLayers-based map."
  • For Proxy4OWS: "It is transforming OGC WMS request types from the client, into WCS or WFS requests, so that the target server can accept them."
• For OpenStreetMap, I liked the 'Worst of OSM' page showing failed imports, I guess we wouldn't see this from proprietary providers (via)
• For those unable to move to 2.0, PostGIS 1.5.4 was released
• If you want to learn about GeoExt 2 development
• GeoNode 1.1.1 was released
• And so was MapProxy 1.4.0
• As an indirect user of GEOS, I'm happy that GEOS graduated OSGeo incubation
• The OSGeo also informed us of the First Open Source Geospatial Laboratory in South America and First African Open Source Geospatial Laboratory
• You might have an interest in the Comprehensive preview of MapGuide Open Source 2.4 series
• libais 0.7 was released: "C++ decoder for Automatic Identification System for tracking ships and decoding maritime information"
• APB informs us  that the famous AP, Associated Press, is moving to TileMill and Leaflet for their interactive maps

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 geonews in batch mode, covering a bit more than a week (exception made of a few minor geonews I forgot to mention in our last 'batch mode' edition).

On the open source / data front:

• A new MapGuide Instant Setup utility has been introduced
• Here's a detailed entry on scale-dependent generalization in PostGIS and QGIS
• Here's an entry on time and elevation support in GeoServer
• If you're new to OpenStreetMap or want to introduce new people, here's OpenStreetMap editing for beginners videos
• Plenty geoblogs mentioned the Magicshop Frontdoor (Beta) tool, with which you can easily improve address search results for Bing Maps and OpenStreetMap

On the Google front:

• Ogle Earth mentions Google JV applied for online mapping license in China
• Ogle Earth also mentions the constraints on high-resolution satellite imagery of Israel in Google Earth/Maps
• There's New Building Maker cities available in Argentina and Canada
• Google unveiled the new My Places tab on Google Maps, "which helps you quickly view and interact with your saved maps, starred locations, and rated businesses"
• ​They also introduced descriptive terms in Local Search results
• The GEB mentions the Touristo and Skydiver games for Google Earth
• Some readers like to know when there's new imagery available in Google Earth, well, there is 

On the Microsoft front:

• An entry on The Value of Bing Maps Spatial Data Services

In the miscellaneous category:

• Mapperz informs us of the Yahoo! Maps APIs Service Closure, due 13th September 2011     
• James Fee summarizes What Was Up at the Pitney Bowes Business Insights Conference, with news of MapInfo 11, and APB has more on MapInfo Spatial Server
• APB shares a long article named Intergraph and ERDAS: From GeoMedia to IMAGINE-The Big and Little Picture for this Geospatial Marriage, Spatial Sustain also shares an entry on the same topic, named Intergraph ‘Reinforces the House’ Under Hexagon
• A study concludes that Schematic Transit Maps Affect Passengers' Travel Choices
• Slashdot discussed a story named New Projects Use Phone Data To Track Big Cities' Mass Transit Use
• Slashdot also offers a story named NASA's Aquarius Launched To Help Map the Oceans' Salt
• Still from the same site, we learn the Nissan LEAF Leaks Speed & Location To RSS Feed
• And last story from that site, if you're interested in tools to map wifi networks, this discussion named What's Killing Your Wi-Fi? will interest you

In the maps category:

• The Strange Maps blog offers maps of the U.S. States, with what they do best and worse, worth a quick look of you're American
• Slashdot mentions a map of the Universe called the 2MASS Redshift Survey
• Not a geographic map, but O'Reilly has an article on generating a map of your LinkedIn contacts with InMaps, I found the result pretty interesting

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode, covering the last 10 days.

From the open source front:

• With GDAL being widely used, here's a comparison of the efficiency of various compression algorithms of GDAL
• Here's an entry on the rule-based styling feature of QGIS
• Here's another review of the OpenLayers 2.10 Beginners Guide by Jody Garnett, a particularly well documented review
• Here's the interesting raw survey results on the priorities of the OSGeo, looks like people want a certification program from the OSGeo
• Here's MapGuide Application Development tips

From the Esri front:

• Here's an entry named Demystifying The Esri Landsat Image Services And ChangeMatters Viewer

From the Google front:

• O'Reilly offers an entry on Google Correlate, named Your data, Google's computing power, with an example using US state-based data
• Here's tips on building useful tours in Google Earth
• Here's their official entry on the latest imagery update for Google Earth / Maps

In the miscellaneous category:

• There's a series of entries on the new GeoCommons 2.0, with details and screenshots, some aggregated highlights,  and how GeoCommons can work with Google Fusion Tables
• TMR informs us Pentax announced a GPS unit for its Digital SLRs
• Here's an entry on the updated MapQuest Android app
• TMR informs us that Garmin added cameras to the GPSMAP 62 Series and announced new eTrex and Rino GPS units
• Here's an discussion on the evolution of monolithic vs. distributed architectures in GIS
• V1 discusses how Greece economic woes partly come from lack of maps and GIS
• V1 also offers a perspective named How Do Geographic Information, Mapping and GIS Connect with News Media Today?

In the maps category:

• TMR links to an interactive map of pedestrian deaths in the U.S. down to the local level with StreetView of where the deaths have occurred. From 2000 to 2009, 47,700 pedestrians were killed in the United States
• Here's a dramatic map of the state of fish stock in the Atlantic
• TMR links to a map of measles cases across Europe
• NASA released a new map of carbon stored in tropical forests

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 geospatial open source / data news for the last 8 days or so.

On geospatial open source:

• The Autodesk-supported web mapping software MapGuide Open Source 2.2 was released
• Here's a preview of GeoRepository, and advanced authorization manager for GeoServer and the new GeoServer-Manager, a simple Java client library for GeoServer
• OpenGeo introduced the OpenGeo Gallery, to answer the question 'who uses the open source software that OpenGeo supports'
• There's the first release of Image Georeferencing View for uDig 1.2.1
• GeoTools has a new User Guide and so does Sextante GIS
• Shapely 1.2.10 has been released

On open geospatial data, mostly OpenStreetMap:

• We mentioned the book last September, and now Geoweb Guru offers a review of the book 'OpenStreetMap: Using and Enhancing the Free Map of the World'. From the review: "Due to the overview nature of a wide range of different applications and projects, it is likely that quite a bit of the book will become out of date quite quickly. It is also likely that the data model will evolve."
• Here's an entry on directions (and correcting erroneous routing behavior) with OpenStreetMap
• Spatial Sustain shares a perspective asking Is Open Location the Next Open?
• Here's a screenshot of JOSM on a tablet

Despite being on April Fool's day, this is real recent geospatial open source / open data news.

We mentioned a few times efforts related to OpenStreetMap in 3D, now the OpenGeoData blog shares news about the new major version of OSM.globe and OSM-3D: "The "osm.globe" combines the free geodata from OpenStreetMap with digital elevation models offering a global interactive 3D experience made completely from free or crowdsourced geodata. [...] It is now also possible to drape different OSM maps or satellite imagery onto the elevation model. Further the 3D globe now can be integrated into a web-site as Java applet (featuring a JavaScript API), as well as Java Webstart application or users can download and install it as Java Desktop application."

If you're like me, you'll want to take a look at the OSM-3D screenshots and maybe the videos too.

In other news:

• APB mentions the possibility that ESRI open sources the File Geodatabase API
• Here's an entry on converting a GeoTIFF color palette to the Symbology Encoding standard
• Here's an entry on OpenStreetMap and transportation
• The City of Montreal is getting ready to open its data [in French], including geospatial datasets
• The FGT blog discusses the geo-related services in the open source Data Science Toolkit
• Here's a FAQ on the integration of MapGuide Open Source and Google Maps and part 2 of the Maestro 3.0 walkthrough
• Via mapperz, if you're looking for some April Fool's fun, take a look at OpenWhateverMap.org

Here's the Friday geonews in batch mode.

From the open source / open data front:

• FGT mentions OpenCPN, an open source marine navigation software
• A year ago we mentioned MapGuide Maestro 2.0, the map authoring tool for MapGuide Open Source, they're now at MapGuide Maestro 3.0 and here's part 1 of a comprehensive walkthrough
• Here's an entry on Debian 6 "Squeeze" and its full support of geospatial software
• There's now a tour for the OpenGeo Suite
• APB shares an entry on Oregon TriMet moving from ESRI to geospatial open source software
• GeoCommons is doing fine, with now over 50,00 unique datasets and 400,000 attributes that you can map

From the ESRI front:

• The FGT blog shows screenshots of ESRI's Sketch-A-Map website to manually annotate maps
• Geogeeks offers an entry named Learn The Benefits Of Earning An Esri Technical Certification
• The FGT blog mention ESRI’s GovMaps.Org Beta website, currently offers a searchable catalog of 88  data layers

In the miscellaneous category:

• Kurt mentions NASA's GeoPapers tool, similar to their Google Spatial Scholar proposal
• APB mentions the upcoming SpacialDB, a new commercial spatial database that "Instead wouldn't it be great if you could just sign up and instantly load location data and access spatial functions from your existing app? SpacialDB is built to do just this."
• O'Reilly discusses Cartagr.am, a web map that displays geolocated images as basemap
• SS has an entry on the new U.S. government Geospatial Platform website
• Vector One has an entry named smart forests, wiring nature with geospatial technologies
• SS mentions that Drones Fly Imagery Missions Over Japan

In the maps category:

• Here's cartogram that shows earthquake risk vs population
• TMR links to a map named The 12 States of America that show how income inequality has fractured the nation and how median income has changed over the last 30 years
• Via SS, here's a forecast map of the nuclear radiation plume from Japan