In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

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

Andrew made me aware of the Open Source Routing Machine (OSRM), a lightning fast routing engine built on OpenStreetMap data with draggable routes.

From their main page: "The Open Source Routing Machine (OSRM) is a C++ implementation of a high-performance routing engine for shortest paths in road networks. It combines sophisticated routing algorithms with the open and free road network data of the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project. Shortest path computation on a continental sized network can take up to several seconds if it is done without a so-called speedup-technique. OSRM is able to compute and output a shortest path between any origin and destination within a few miliseconds. Since it is designed with OpenStreetMap compatibility in mind, OSM data files can be easily imported. A demo installation (currently offline) is provided by our friends at Geofabrik. OSRM is under active development.

The key features of OSRM are:

• High Performance Routing Algorithm
• Easy import of OSM data files.
• Written entirely in C++ and available under the GNU Affero General Public License for anyone to use.
• Ability to handle continental sized networks.
• Influenced by current and ongoing academic research. [more info]"

It's certainly not the first time we talk about routing with OpenStreetMap data. For example, in 2008 we talked about the OpenRouteService. And you'll get much more by heading to the routing page in the OSM wiki.

Analysis of weekly snapshots of the OSM Planet file shows fast and steady growth in road coverage. This is positive news for any organization looking to adopt OSM. BEYONAV's analysis (performed using BeyoViewer, a highly efficient rendering and analysis package) goes back to the end of 2009, and the pace of growth is steadily accelerating.

[Editor's note, also from the landing page: "The OSM dataset in it’s entirety grew nearly 75% in 2011, and over 150% — more than doubling in size — over the last two years. On average, over 96,000 kilometers of new roadway were added every weeks during 2011, compared to 64,000 kilometers of new roadway each week during 2010. The pace of the growth is very steady. Even at the very small time interval of seven days, the standard deviation of how much data is contributed to OSM each week is remarkably low."

Also from the landing page: "OSM is widely considered to have the most complete cartographic record of our planet outside of possibly Google Maps which incorporates OSM with their own proprietary mapping data." - I wasn't aware that Google uses OpenStreetMap data to some extent. Can anyone confirm? That would be great news!]

It's rare there is such great news for open geospatial data. Here's the "Welcome, Apple!" entry from the OpenStreetMap Foundation. Of course there are initial quirks, but it's a start and it's excellent pushing in favor of OpenStreetMap data.

From the welcome message: "The desktop version of iPhoto, and indeed all of Apple’s iOS apps until now, use Google Maps. The new iPhoto for iOS, however, uses Apple’s own map tiles – made from OpenStreetMap data (outside the US). [...] The OSM data that Apple is using is rather old (start of April 2010) so don’t expect to see your latest and greatest updates on there. It’s also missing the necessary credit to OpenStreetMap’s contributors; we look forward to working with Apple to get that on there."

Of course, Slashdot is also discussing the news and MacRumors provides more insights: "Daring Fireball's John Gruber later clarified that Apple was still using Google Maps for the Places functionality in iPhoto for iOS but that maps for Photo Journals and slideshows were coming directly from Apple. [...] Toward that end, Apple has been working hard to beef up its own in-house mapping expertise over the past several years, acquiring several small companies including Placebase, Poly9 and C3 Technologies."

For the U.S., Apple is apparently using TIGER data. If you're curious, here's a nice tool to compare Apple tiles (based on OSM) and OpenStreetMap tiles. If you're eager for more coverage from the generic web sources, APB offers more links.

Related, you know I've been looking for an iOS editor of OpenStreetMap data for a while, and the great news is that the new open source OpenStreetPad project for iOS is exactly this!

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. My challenge in life is to find out what not to do - too much enthusiasm impacts focus. But don't worry, I'm not dropping Slashgeo just yet ;-)

From the open source and open data front:

• Here's an open source Kinect hack named Depthcam, doing live streaming of 3D points cloud via your webcam
• Via Simon, I was reminded about Graphserver, an open source multi-modal trip planner (we mentioned Graphserver in early 2009), on the same topic, here's OSM Explorer, for basic routing and spatial functions using OSM data on Windows (via OGD)
• MapQuest updated their OpenStreetMap tiles and mentions more OSM switchovers, such as FourSquare and in another entry, they updated MapQuest for Android
• Here's an entry on light styles for OSM layers in QGIS, making OSM great as a base map
• Quebec City is the latest city to open its data, with layers in shapefiles and kml, and here's an entry on Honolulu opening its data
• The OSGeo-Live DVD version 5.5 is now ready

From the Google front:

• Street View on Google Maps now available for Russia
• The GEB introduces Diorama, a presentation tool for Google Earth, helping you tell a story in Google Earth
• The same blog also look a the Power of Ten, the Google Earth version
• Google explains the enhanced search in Google Earth 6.2
• Here's an entry on the iNaturalist app and website using georeferenced pictures to document nature
• The GEB wonders if historical imagery is coming to Street View?
• And yes, there was fresh imagery released about two weeks ago and another round today

From the Esri front:

• Here's why ArcGIS 10.1 will be the “Biggest Release Ever”
• Here's Esri’s Federal GIS Conference Wrap Up
• Here's the recommended System Requirements For ArcGIS 10/10.1
• Mandown also shares an entry named Using ArcGIS.com For Quick Visualisation Of GPX Files

From the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft announced the Bing Maps and Nokia Release of a Unified Map Design

In the miscellaneous category:

• DM asks an interesting question, Should All GIS Users Learn to Code?
• While not all are geo-aware, this is an awesome categorized list of infographic tools and resources, because beauty matters when conveying information (via Thierry)
• The book "How Maps Change Things: A Conversation About the Maps We Choose and the World We Want" by Ward Kaiser is free in pdf for this month
• We previously mentioned that the world time zones database was in jeopardy, well, it's not anymore, EFF Wins Protection For Time Zone Database
• Here's an entry on OGC mobile case studies
• Here's a Product Review of BusinessWebMap by TexMobile
• Slashdot mentions the link between GPS navigation and in-car voice commands in Siri To Power Mercedes-Benz Car Systems
• APB informs us that DigitalGlobe published an image of damage to Homs, Syria

In the maps category:

• APB shares the map of sleep in the U.S.
• Slashdot discussed a story named LIDAR Map Shows Height of Earth's Forests
• Another story from the same source is named Need To Find a Hackerspace In Africa? Check This Map
• If your into astronomy, check this TMR entry on Moon maps
• Mapperz mentions Bristol's solar power hotspots map

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 geonews in batch mode.

From the open source and open data front:

• BrainOff shares a few examples of capabilities offered only by OpenStreetMap because of its open nature
• V1 mentions ReadyMap, using OpenLayers to render 3D models directly in the browser
• Here's a way to enhance raster contrast with gdal_lightner, with may makes its way as a QGIS Plugin
• Sean made me aware of pygp, a python geoprocessing package
• Here's a short but interesting article named  The GeoWeb, Citizen Science and Open Data
• Harvard's WorldMap reached version 1.0 and they're looking for participants, we mentioned WorldMap in the past

In the everything-else category:

• MapQuest Releases Native Mobile Mapping APIs for Android and Apple iOS, and yes, you can use OpenStreetMap data with it

• And there's now live traffic cameras in MapQuest too

• SS shares a nicely done 2-minutes video of the OGC on the value of geospatial and standards

• DM shares more information on Pitney Bowes's Geosk geodata platform, we mentioned Geosk last december. From the article: "Geosk is a platform for finding and using geospatial data. It combines a data as a service (DaaS) offering with a data management product. At its heart, Geosk is a completely scalable data management system that allows our customers to share their data with any user they choose, including their customers. Around this data management system we wrap an e-commerce engine to help our customers buy and sell premium geospatial data."

• Slashdot discussed Canada's Massive Public Traffic Surveillance System, which involves license plate reading, a topic covered a few times already
• DM offers an article on socio-demographic structures in Germany
• SS informs us a 3D model of Bangkok is now publicly available
• SS also informs us of Ericsson's Geo Location Messaging API, I wonder how it relates to GeoSMS
• In two entries, V1 explore to potential synergies between music interfaces and controllers and geospatial

In the maps category:

• O'Reilly shares a map of Mexico's drug war
• WunderMap now has historical weather maps for you
• Here's a map of the U.S. showing terrain by using only the roads
• SS shares an entry named Energy Use Data for all of New York City Released in Map Form

​This batch mode edition is unusually long. It covers the past month and a bit more. Yes, that's way too much and I won't try to repeat the experience ;-) Here's what I considered pertinent enough to share with you. Exceptionally, in some cases I haven't gave attribution to the source of the news, thank you for your comprehension.

On the geospatial open source front:

• I just recently became aware of PostGISonline, a site for testing and learning spatial SQL
• You can now create and manipulate SLD (the OGC Styled Layer Descriptor standard) in Python with python-sld
• Via the AGISRS list, I learned about OpenQuake.org, for calculating seismic hazard and risk at any scale, which of course ingest geospatial data and outputs maps
• Here's WherePost.ca, which crowdsources the location of mailboxes and post offices for Canada
• Here's the Switch2OSM website promoting OpenStreetMap, OpenStreetMap might go indoor too
• Still on the OSM topic, V1 shares an entry on the use of OpenStreetMap data in agriculture
• Here's an entry on the future of GeoCouch and CouchDB
• GeoServer gets database-level security
• There's now a plugin to run Python scripts in QGIS
• Here's about improvements to the QGIS rule-based rendering
• On a similar topic, here's a guide to beautiful reliefs in QGIS
• Did you know you can add Google Maps, OSM, and Bing Maps directly in QGIS? You can via the OpenLayers plugin - hey, there's even a Profile plugin
• There's an updated book published by Gary Sherman, now named The Geospatial Desktop , subtitled Open source GIS and mapping
• GEOS 3.3.2 has been released

On the Esri front:

• Mandown shares how to convert GPX files to Features using ArcGIS 10
• From the same source, Learn The Basics Of Working With The ArcGIS Runtime SDK For Android
• There were updates to ArcGIS for SharePoint, ArcGIS Mobile and to the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone
• James and SS talks about ArcGIS Online as the Esri Content Management System

On the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft announced a few new Bing Maps features, such as traffic incidents and find near route
• They announced the Bing Maps Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Control v1
• There's new Bing Maps V7 modules too along with a new routing engine
• James Fee shares an interesting entry named Bing Maps gets Nokia Brand and Possibly the Boot

On the remote sensing front:

• This is pretty interesting to many: SS shares an entry named USGS Now Offers OrbView-3 High-Resolution Images for Free, 180,000 scenes at 1m spatial resolution available
• China launched their first high-resolution remote sensing satellite, Ziyuan I-02C
• Slashdot discussed the newly released version of Blue Marble high definition (and beautiful) satellite image of the Earth from the Suomi NPP satellite
• Slashdot is running a story named Who's Flying Those Drones? FAA Won't Say and related, O'Reilly mentions OpenPilot, open source UAV with cameras
• And another named Launch Your Own Nanosatellite Into Space

On the GNSS / GPS front:

• It's coming, car makers are preparing for augmented reality driving
• Not exactly GPS but via radio-tagging, see the nice and short video of whale 3D paths in the ocean
• Slashdot is also discussing a story named New Mexico Is Stretching, GPS Reveals
• MapQuest launched an html5 app-like site for Android and iPhone for using MapQuest

In the miscellaneous category:

• The 7 geo predictions for 2012 of Cédric are interesting 
• Microsoft's Flight Simulator, renamed Flight, will be available for free next Spring, with paid extra content
• We never mentioned it before, but now Indiemapper is free, it "helps you make static, thematic maps from geographic data by bringing the best of traditional cartographic design to internet map-making."
• SS mentions the new alliance between Autodesk and Pitney Bowes, APB also discuss this new relationship
• SS also shares an entry named Safe Software’s Expanded Role as a Conduit Between Sensors and Systems
• The U.S. EPA in their Locations Challenge introduced a crowdsourcing project of georeferenced photos of environmental problems
• Slashdot ran a discussion on assembling your own 3D printer
• The OGC shared a summary of the Eye on Earth Summit held in December
• Another OGC entry was named Status of the OGC's Water Resource Activities
• DM shares an article named GIS Adoption and Use on College Campuses: An End-of-Year Review and Look Ahead to 2012
• The GEB mentions a new 3D San Francisco website
• I found interesting the possibility of a .data TLD
• A new free iPad app: GeoViewer from LizardTech, supports MrSID format and more
• It's been a while since we mentioned them, GISCorps were recently in 7 countries, including Libya

In the maps category:

• APB summarizes this: Comparing Maps of Obesity and Car Travel
• Here's an entry on cleanly using symbols on maps
• Here's U.S. routes as a subway map and the U.S. National Wind Energy Map
• Fox News shared a map with missing or wrongly placed countries
• TMR shares an obligatory animated map of rising global temperatures since 1880

Marble 1.3 has been released with lots of new gems: Marble — the virtual globe and world atlas — now integrates with KDE Plasma. By allowing for coordinate and bookmark searches, Marble can be opened directly from the Plasma search bar.

The new Elevation Profile shows the incline of routes, which can be edited interactively.

Stargazers can view and track Earth satellites thanks to Marble participation in the European Space Agency (ESA) Summer of Code in Space.

During Google Summer of Code, Marble gained initial support for display of .osm (OpenStreetMap) files in vector format.

Owners of the Nokia N9/N950 are the first to receive the new mobile application Marble Touch.

Further details can be found in the feature guide.

Slashdot ran discussion last week named OpenStreetMap Reports Data Vandalism From Google-Owned IPs.

Their summary: "Following reports of misconduct by Google employees in Kenya and India, It has been found that Google IP addresses have been responsible for deliberate vandalism of OpenStreetMap data. While it is unlikely that this was a deliberate or coordinated attack by Google HQ on the competition, multiple such reports does raise the question of whether or not Google has become too big to effectively enforce its 'Don't be evil' philosophy across its massive organization."

While I haven't read as much as I'd like yet about this issue, the following Register article informs us that Google kicked out two contractors that would be to blame.