In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Here's the recent open source geonews.

• Geoff anticipates the next step in the evolution of open source geospatial software will be corporate engagement
• MapBox offers you to learn CartoCSS and compositing by customizing Geography Class and the open source TileMill
• We more about why the need for OpenLayers 3.0 to be developed
• Many of you will probably be interested by the State of GeoServer 2012 and State of GeoTools 2012 presentations, related, GeoTools 8.3 has been released
• Here's some partial results on the ArcGIS vs QGIS etc Clipping Contest Rematch revisited
• Via this upcoming introductory course for accessing it using open source software, I learned about WELD, USGS's Web-Enabled Landsat Data products
• You can open MODIS tiles directly in QGIS
• Here's how to add layers to GeoServer using the REST API
• If you have anything to do with New Zealand, head to this mapping New Zealand summary, which extensively uses open source
• This year, the Sol Katz Award has been attributed to Prof. Venkatesh Raghavan

A news article describes the plans of a New Zealand company, Terralink International Ltd, to capture all of the streets in the country in 3D using a vehicle mounted with a LIDAR device.

[Editor's addition] From the article: "Unlike Google, Terralink won't be giving away all its StreetCam3D street-scape for free online. Some footage may go on the web, for example to help people research homes through its property information website Zoodle.co.nz, but Terralink hopes to sell much of the data it collects to the likes of utilities and local government - for example to help plan the $3.5 billion ultrafast broadband network."

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. Again an unusually long edition.

From the open source and open data front:

• Here's two entries on PostGIS 2.0 new features; Typmod and 3D/4D indexing
• You might be interested in learning about GDAL virtual formats if you don't use them already, related to GDAL, here's how to correctly compute the average aspect of a DEM using gdaldem
• There's a Natural Earth Quick Start Kit that includes a QGIS project file, and another entry on adding custom global projections to QGIS
• There's new 2.5 meters imagery of Australia available for OpenStreetMap
• O'Reilly shares a story of another company, StreetEasy, switching to OpenStreetMap data
• In Russia too, with Yandex, they are using crowdsourced maps now
• If you plan to use MapServer as a WFS 1.1.0 client, read this, since apparently it's support is not optimal just yet

From the Esri front:

• Via James, the File Geodatabase API 1.2 has been released and MacOS X is now supported
• About two weeks ago, the ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 4 became available for download

From the Google front:

• Google just introduced more detailed 3D landmarks on Google Maps, take a quick look at the screenshots included
• Google Map Maker is now available in France and Monaco
• You can now get Traffic Conditions in Norway, New Zealand, and Hong Kong
• Ogle Earth offers a detailed entry on conspiracy, Google Earth and the latest war in Sri Lanka
• There's a whole new website for Google Maps API Developers
• The GEB offers an entry on Integrating Street View with the Google Earth Diorama
• Oh, and there's new imagery

From the Microsoft front:

• Bing Maps offers a new look for Pushpins, Popups, and Transit
• And Microsoft announced Bing Maps for Metro Style Apps
• There's new official Bing Maps forums too

In the miscellaneous category:

• APB shares an entry named Facebook Outlines Vision for Location APIs
• O'Reilly shares a story about the impacts of languages on place and location aware tools
• James informs us that iOS is now telling us when an app is using a geofence
• Slashdot discussed a story named Stolen iPad's Reported Location Not Enough To Warrant Search, Say Dutch Police
• Another story on the same site is entitled Pentagon Wants Disposable War Satellites
• Still from Slashdot, a story named Satellites Expose 8,000 Years of Civilization
• And a last one from the same source is named DIY Augmented Reality Heads-Up Display
• Yes, it's been already 10 years of Envisat
• Here's a Q&A on OGC's CityGML standard
• Nokia Drive 2.0 offers interesting features such as offline directions, for Lumia Windows Phones

In the maps category:

• SS shared an entry named New Mapping Tool Shows Potential Radiation Impacts in the United States
• For the astronomers amongst us, TMR shares a Geologic Map of Io and an Atlas of the Galilean Satellites

Here's the recent Google geonews.

From official sources:

• Here's another entry providing even more information on understanding how the Maps API usage limits affect your sites
• Google shared another entry on indoor mapping in Google Maps
• Street View goes to Belgium
• Here's the official entry on on the ski and snow edition of the Street View special collections
• For those using the Google Maps API, here's Four Tips for Improving Your Mobile Web Map App
• They also have an entry on visualizing water and energy solutions in a warming world
• Here's a story about using Google Fusion Tables along with Google Maps
• Via Ed Parsons, here's a short nice stop-motion movie using Google Street View named 'Address is Approximate'

From other sources:

• If you don't want to use Fusion Tables, here's how to Dynamically Map your Google Spreadsheets with GeoCommons
• You might be interested in previewing the 2012 London Olympics in Google Earth
• Kurt reminds of what Google Oceans is all about
• Ogle Earth today shared an entry named Iran missile base post-explosion imagery, now hi-res in Google Earth
• In Google Earth, you can see Captain James Cook's circumnavigation of New Zealand
• Here's NASA using 'Google Earth Portable' in Canada
• Oh, and last weekend, there was another round of imagery update to Google Earth

Just a little snippet explaining how an open source information sharing system, Spatial Information Services Stack (SSIS) will be used as a common model to share environmental information between agencies in New Zealand.

[Editor's addition] From the article: "The partnership will use an open source information sharing system called Spatial Information Services Stack (SISS), which was developed in Australia. SISS systems can be built on top of any local database, allowing the sharing of information across disparate systems, and because it is a freeware solution the initial setup costs are relatively low."

Here's recent Esri-related geonews.

• James Fee made me aware of the ArcGIS for Home Use program. "For a $100 annual fee, the ArcGIS for Home Use 12-month term license" including most of the main ArcGIS extensions. "The ArcGIS for Home Use program is available worldwide."
• ArcGIS Explorer Build 1700 is now available, with several new features: GPS Integration, Spatial Selection, Raster Georeferencing, Geotagging, Legends In Contents, Portal Connections
• Esri's GeoServices REST API is in the process of becoming a vendor neutral OGC standard
• Mandown mentions the details of Esri’s Java Platform Strategy
• APB links to Esri's ArcNews Summer articles
• Mandown also has an entry named ArcGIS Online Updated With Full New Zealand Coverage And Freely Available Regardless Of Use

Here's the "Friday" geonews in batch mode a bit late.

From the Google front:

• Google offers yet another imagery update, including fresh imagery over Japan, but also high resolution imagery in tens of other countries
• There's also new 45 degrees imagery in about 10 new locations
• The directions provided by Google now offers public transit automatically if it is a good alternative to driving to your destination
• If you're like me and think that Google Earth is great but the globe doesn't look good at small scales, here's an updated Blue Marble to make Google Earth look nice from high above
• Here's an update on TriDef product to use Google Earth in anaglyphic 3D, works even in StreetView
• The GEB discusses using the Google Earth plugin for energy efficiency 3D tours in the context of the Home Greenover Project
• Here's the Battle of Fort Sumter in Google Earth, right from the American civil war in April 1861

From the open source/data front:

• The Marble virtual globe version 1.1 has been released
• Via OGD, I learned about OpenStreetBlock, providing textual description of a city block based on a lat long
• The Geocaching.com website includes OpenStreetMap
• Here's an entry on Polygon Triangulation via Ear-Clipping with Delaunay Refinement and another one on Slope/Aspect/Elevation using JTS
• There was also an announcement of a VMWare-powered GIS Virtual Machine for open source geospatial software
• Kurt reports on geolocation plans at 'Camp KDE'
• The OpenGeo Suite Community Edition 2.4.1 has been released

From the Esri front:

• James Fee mentions words from Esri that the File Geodatabase API will support all 4 platforms and 32/64 bits and be released in mid-May

In the miscellaneous category:

• O'Reilly offers an article named 3 big challenges in location development
• V1 offers a perspective on if it matters to compare GPS to GLONASS to BEIDOU
• V1 also reminds us that the SPOT satellite is now 25 years old
• V1 offers a short entry on routing ships based on waves and weather

In the maps category:

• Via internal mail, I learned about this dispersion modeling animation of the Japan tsunami debris over the Pacific, in 3 years, the patch of debris will be close to California
• Mapperz mentions an interactive site for visualizing official New Zealand 1:50,000/250,000 topographic maps
• O'Reilly offers an article named Maps aren't easy on maps and journalism

Here's the recent Google-related geonews. I'm pretty certain most of you learned of the major 8.9 magnitude Japan earthquake near Honshu that happened a few hours ago. We'll share news of it when related maps and geospatial news will be available. You're always welcomed to contribute.

From the official sources:

• Google announced new 3D imagery of central London’s buildings and trees in Google Earth
• Japan's Hiroshima Peace Memorial in now available in Street View and the GEB mentions other new Street View imagery in Japan
• Google is encouraging Latitude adoption with check-in offers in Austin, Texas
• Google Maps now allows you to find electric vehicle charging stations
• A few days ago, Google shared post-earthquake images of Christchurch, New Zealand
• The Photos layer from Google Maps is now available to Maps API developers

From other sources:

• The GEB mentions another way to build 3D building models using satellite imagery via a stereographic pair
• The GEB has an entry on using Google Earth to map all facilities in Haiti that need Internet access
• The GEB mentions a detailed Shaker village modeled in Google Earth, head to Wikipedia to learn who Shakers are

Here's the recent geonews that haven't made it into an individual story in batch mode.

From the open source / open data front:

• While we mentioned it indirectly in the past, we never specifically mentioned the existence of OpenCycleMap.org, based, of course, on OpenStreetMap
• The "open" MapQuest maps now support worldwide pedestrian and bicycle routing along with transit routes
• An article in Scientific American is using OpenStreetMap data to map the local 'food desert'
• The OpenGeo Suite Enterprise Edition 2.4.0 has been released

From the ESRI front:

• ESRI released their ArcGIS API for JavaScript version 2.2
• A third entry on useful ArcGIS Explorer add-ins III

In the everything-else category:

• GeoCurrents offers an informative serie of entries on Libyan maps: Libya’s Tribal Divisions and the Nation-State, Libya’s Geographical Divisions and the Challenge to National Unity, Libya’s Fezzan: A Bulwark of the Gaddafi Regime
  , Gaddafi’s Saharan Farming Schemes and Libyan Agricultural Hexagons. On the same topic, TMR shares an entry on the Libya Crisis Map
• Rememer that GPS positioning in the U.S. is in danger because of LightSquared? APB shares a followup including the mention of the 'Coalition to Save Our GPS'
• Following the earthquake in New Zealand, there's fresh imagery of Christchurch
• Google and Microsoft have teamed together to sue a patent troll who sued 397 companies over a geotagging patent
• Microsoft offers an entry on modular design and client side clustering with Bing Maps V7
• O'Reilly offers an article on location privacy named Privacy law needs a reboot
• A followup on a previous story, Slashdot discusses a student suing the FBI for planting a GPS tracker on his car. On this topic, SpatialLaw offers an entry named Government's Use of Tracking Technology: More Than A Constitutional Issue?
• It seems the FAA now allows iPad as an alternative to aviation charts
• TMR links to a review of Casio's geotagging camera
• APB mentions that Turtles Use Earth’s Magnetic Field to Determine Longitude
• In a perspective entry, SS asks Is it time for an impartial auditing board on spatial data accuracy?

In the maps category:

• TMR shares a map of the index of potential unrest, on this topic, some claims Google Earth as a Factor in Middle East Unrest
• TMR shares a map of internal U.S. migration flows