In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Still catching up, here's the recent open source geospatial news.

New software:

• VIa OGD, an easy to use website, OSM2GIS to directly download OpenStreetMap data in GIS formats such as shapefiles and kml
• MapTiler.org (mentioned in 2009), which is an open source map overlay generator for Google Maps / Earth and a GUI for GDAL2Tiles, now has a free Mac App Store version

Software updates front:

• Version 6.5 of the OSGeo-Live GIS software collection has been released, including 50 quality geospatial open source applications installed and pre-configured
• There's Leaflet.draw 0.2 released, and as you can guess it's for drawing/editing vectors in Leaflet
• Via UD, the color advice for cartography, ColorBrewer 2.0 has a no-flash version now
• Updated, MapStore 1.1.0 released
• Also available, GeoServer 2.2.5 released
• And so is GeoTools 8.7 Released
• Another one, ImageI/O-Ext 1.1.6 Released

Everything else:

• Here's an entry on the OSGeo Board priorities
• Related, a nice graph of the Moments in the History of OpenStreetMap
• Hyper-local data and news tool Everyblock closed, and it's open source code will continue as the OpenBlock Project, related, DM shared an article named OpenBlock Rural Finds Three Key Audiences for Open Data
• We love numbers right? At the beginning of last month was a user test between JTS Union VS ArcGIS Dissolve, result: 25 seconds vs 1.5 second in favor of the open source JTS
• Probably of interest to some of you, an entry on Optimizing OpenLayers for Mobile Applications
• DM shares an article named [U.S.] FedGeoDay: Advocating for Open Source, the summary: "FedGeoDay, held in Washington, D.C. this past week, can best be described as an advocacy forum for open source geospatial technology and data. Some of the leading organizations, government agencies and companies invested in open source tech sponsored the conference."
• Another article from the same source, The Arches Project: Turning Open Source GIS into a Heritage Inventory and Management System
• And a last article from DM, Palantir: An Open Source Development Success Story, which is really about leveraging PostGIS, the summary: "In late 2007 Palantir launched Gotham, a new geospatial and comprehensive analytics platform designed to meet the challenges of their vast array of customers. This article provides more information on Gotham that enables data integration, search and discovery, knowledge management, secure collaboration, and algorithmic analysis across a wide variety of data sources."

That's probably our biggest "geonews in batch mode" issue ever. That's the price I have to pay for three weeks of holidays! ;-) I tried to keep only the most pertinent geonews. After reading this unusually long entry, you and I are back to being up to date in terms of geonews.

On the Google front:

• Here's a Google Earth mashup of Fukushima and Chernobyl meltdowns side-by-side
• Google added a Regional Expert Reviewer Program to Google Map Maker
• The tool Shaderlight to create awesome SketchUp models is now at version 2
• Google purchased Zagat Survey, a firm offering local ratings of restaurants and much more  
• And there's new imagery in Google Earth released on September 7

On the ESRI front:

• ArcGIS 10.0 SP3 is coming next month
• Spatially Adjusted has an entry seemingly confirming You Can’t Edit Spatial RDBMS with ArcGIS for Desktop without SDS
• V1 reviews the Esri Map Book, volume 26

On the open source front:

• Via no solo I read this informative QGIS and gvSIG comparison, useful to understand the differences between what are probably the two most mature open source desktop GIS packages available
• The FOSS4G 2012 conference will take place in Beijing, China
• We did mention them before, but only indirectly - here's osmdroid, OpenStreetMap tools for Android (maybe that's what missing for iOS?)
• In case you don't read our geospatial press releases, the OSGeo-Live 5.0 DVD has been released
• If you're interested in Brazilian topography, see this entry on TOPODATA's version of SRTM-DEM for Brazil

In GPS news:

• North Korea forced a US reconnaissance plane to land by jamming GPS signals
• Via Spatial Law, Bangladesh Mandates Use of GPS in Vehicles

In Apple news:

• Autodesk released the 'Lite' version of AutoCAD for MacOS X, in addition to the full version available since a year
• For their iOS devices, Apple is exploring enhancing maps with augmented reality
• APB mentioend Apple's patent application on crowdsourcing data for local searches
• The class-action lawsuit against Apple in South Korea over location data collection has started 

In Microsoft news:

• Streetside is now available for parts of London
• Microsoft shares an entry on the Bing Maps v7 Module CodePlex Project
• Even if Virtual Earth 3D is discontinued, Microsoft posted details to enable you to use it longer
• Microsoft released the Bing Maps 'Windows Presentation Foundation' (WPF) Control
• Here's an entry on the Wall Street Journal using Bing Maps in their hurricane tracking tool

In transportation news:

• SignalGuru system that change your route to avoid red lights
• Regarding tracking and privacy, the NYC mayor wants traffic cameras at every corner

In remote sensing news:

• A critical milestone has been reached for Landsat's LCDM mission in 2012, aka "Landsat 8"
• Both NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X remote sensing satellites have been launched successfully
• The ERS-2 mission is completed, its last image has been taken
• Can you believe that over 700 government satellites will launch in the next 10 years? Obviously not all for remote sensing purposes
• The bankrupted RapidEye has been purchased

In the miscellaneous category:

• It seems UniStrong has 40% of GIS marketshare in China
• V1 shares a perspective named Where Did All the Talk About Spatial Data Quality Go?
• The data provider Infochimps have a new GEO API
• Slashdot discusses a story named Judge Nixes Warrantless Cell Phone Location Data
• Of course I'm a bit too late, but here's a recap of mapping and mobile data for Hurricane Irene
• Here's an entry named Everything you wanted to know about UK Coordinate Systems
• It's confirmed, Kansas is flatter than a pancake
• Do we need another map building website? There's the new Build-A-Map site in Beta
• APB mentions 'Location Aware', a free location-aware task management app for Android

In the maps category:

• O'Reilly shared a map of U.S. job losses
• Here's the U.S. National Parks as seen from space
• Tthe USGS launched their Historical Topo Map Collection