In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. Yes, on a Saturday! I'll be away for the next three weeks and dare delay my family's departure to feed you with these.

From the open source front:

• Mentioned before, the open source map design tool TileMill reached version 0.4.1   
• Some recent improvements of QGIS: an extraction projection tool for QGIS, a new MapInfo to QGIS style converter and Shield Labels for QGIS
• Not the first time it happened, a briton got arrested during his OpenStreetMap mapping activities, yes, that was before the recent London riots
• O'Reilly offers an entry named Open source maps tell data journalism stories in Afghanistan
• Paul Ramsey of the PostGIS fame shares interesting arguments on the open source vs proprietary debacle
• Here's an entry on generating elevation maps from along-track stereo pairs using the open source Orfeo ToolBox
• We told you ourselves a few times, but here's how James Fee telling us Why You Can’t Afford to Miss FOSS4G 2011

From the Esri front:

• The File GeoDatabase API version 1.1 has been released, in includes a .NET wrapper and bug fixes
• James Fee mentions PgMap and QMap to connect to spatial databases with ArcGIS 10.1 without SDE

From the Google front:

• In their learning series, here's an entry on GIS with Google Earth and Google Maps
• Google shares an entry on famine crisis relief in the Horn of Africa
• Here's the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall in Google Earth
• Google invites us to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial with Google Maps

On the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft updated their Bing Maps Account Center with three main improvements: Direct Publishing of Data Sources, Map Navigation for Data Editing, and Enhanced POI Data Search
• Here's an entry named KinectFusion Provides Low-Cost and Accessible 3D Interior Mapping

In the miscellaneous category:

• The Spatial Law blog shares a long entry named Geolocation and Privacy: Are We Going the Right Way?: "However, many of bills are so broadly written that if they were to become law they could apply to a broad range of geospatial products and services, including satellite and aerial imagery, GIS and GPS."
• VerySpatial mentions the launch of the augmented reality Layar Vision app to "recognize real-world objects and then trigger digital content based on that object"
• The GEB shares satellite imagery on the Japanese Tsunami that created some massive icebergs
• MacRumors details an Apple patent on schematic maps: "[...] a new maps application that could display a simplified subset of information most relevant to a user seeking specific information or routing."
• In special remote sensing news, Slashdot mentions a camera reaching its target by being thrown by a grenade launcher
• MapQuest tells us how free listing works on their MapQuest Local Business Center

In the maps category:

• O'Reilly discuss maps of the recent London riots
• Mapperz mentions the release of USGS historical maps

Having two daughters at home does require a lot of energy! That's why this edition of the 'pertinent geonews in batch mode' covers the last two weeks.

On the open source front:

• A new GeoServer 2.1 workshop is freely available
• From the OSGeo-discuss list, I learned about Open Indicators Consortium's Weave (in beta), an open source visualization environment supporting geography
• The MapFish Framework version 2.2 has been released
• ImageI/O-Ext 1.1.0 has been released
• uDig gets its plugin Image Georeferencing View at version 1.0
• The Orfeo ToolBox 3.10 and Monteverdi 1.8 have been released
• GeoTools 2.7.2 has been released

On the Google front:

• Google their biggest ever update of Street View imagery, available for 13 countries: Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Romania, South Africa, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
• Google added lots of oblique 45 degrees imagery to Google Maps
• If you visited Google Maps, you probably noticed the new interface

On the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft announced that Bing Maps unveiled exclusive high res imagery with Global Ortho Project
• They also offer a new Microsoft Local Impact Map
• Their dev tip is Uploading Excel Data to the Bing Spatial Data Services

In the miscellaneous category:

• Via AGISRS, I learned about the charter edition of LiDAR Magazine is available free online
• Via email, I learned about the new online SDI Magazine, SDI meaning spatial data infrastructure in this context
• Regarding MapQuest, you can save maps and directions to your mobile and you can now add your business to MapQuest
• APB mentions TimeClock for iPhone, an app that logs your time spent at a specific location, such as work 
• MacRumors details the diverses mapping companies for iOS 5 in an entry named Evidence in iOS 5 that Apple is Building Its Own Mapping Solution
• Via a Twitter friend, I tried Rome's '3 Dreams of Black' interactive 3D music "video" in WebGL, reminiscent of Arcade Fire's interactive Google Maps / StreetView video

Slashdot ran a couple of geo-related discussions:

• Supreme Court To Weigh In On Warrantless GPS Tracking
• Tracking Bracelets for Autistic Kids and Senior Citizens
• Franken Bill Would Protect Consumers Location Data
• Weather satellites are losing funding

In the maps category:

• TMR shows a map of the increase of the new Normal Temperatures, years 1971-2000 vs 1981-2010, for the U.S., scary
• The same site mentions ESA's map of of the Arctic Sea Ice
• MapTogether mentions Mapnificent, allowing you to learn how far you can go from a certain point in a certain time using public transit