In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Here's the recent Google-related geonews, including the holiday break.

From various sources:

• Here's an update on Google Project Glass, with the feature set and state of its augmented reality apps, APB also shares a summary
• Apparently, Google Maps on Windows Phone 8 was blocked by Google, it's not the case anymore
• The GEB compiled The Year 2012 in Google Earth, a nice summary of what happened on that front
• Slashdot wonders what was spotted in the Chinese desert with Google Earth, and Ogle Earth provide the answers along with a great quote: "It is above all a story about technology racing ahead of our ability to put it into context."
• Updates to the Google Earth Flight Simulator

Here's the recent Google related geonews in batch mode.

From official sources:

• With 100$ kit you can get your own balloon and kite imagery for display in Google Earth, this was also discussed over Slashdot
• You can now easily snap your photos to a location in Panoramio
• There's an entry on remembering the Titanic in Google Earth
• There's a map example from the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with Google Maps API
• The dev blog also shared a Zombie Survival Map that uses Google services!
• Maybe be useful is visualizing U.S. demographics using Google Maps API for Business and a related announcement of Analytics for Google Maps API for Business
• And there was an imagery update to Google Earth & Maps this week, tons of areas impacted

From the GEB:

• The GEB informs us on ways of using Google Earth on Earth Day
• There's New Street View imagery in Israel and Ukraine
• Also on the Titanic topic, the voyage of the Titanic in Google Earth
• And you can now fly a jetpack in Google Earth
• Still from the GEB, view the recently discovered animal-shaped mounds in Peru
• The GEB finally informs us that the unofficial Google Earth Flight Simulator gets a new home and a slew of enhancements

First, I'm sorry for not publishing the "batch mode" version of the geonews for the last two weeks - along with several other responsibilities, taking care of two young daughters at home is certainly fun, but engulfs all available time. In this batch mode edition, there are certainly a few geonews that could deserve their own entry - click on what interests you to learn more!

From the Google front:

• In my previous Google entry earlier today, I forgot to mention the GEB entry detailing even more major improvements of Xavier Tassin's Google Earth Flight Simulator, now at version 0.7
• This one via APB, Google Maps rolls out business interiors in Street View

From the Esri front:

• Via VerySpatial, ArcGIS for Android 1.0 has been released
• Two weeks ago, mandown informed us that the ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 3 Now Available For Download

From the miscellaneous category:

• GeoIQ launched GeoIQ Social, "the first and only product that provides self-service analysis of social media data by time and location"
• On the OGC blog, there's an interesting short entry on "Big Data" vs SDI in geospatial
• Clearly, WebGL is en vogue, mapperz mentiones the new Nokia Maps 3D WebGL, and Nokia is readying LiveView, which blends maps and augmented reality for their upcoming Windows Phone
• Apple expanded iPhone 4S GPS capabilities with GLONASS support and Apple Siri's support for maps and local search is coming to international customers in 2012
• MapQuest refreshed their Developer Network
• The name Atanas Entchev ring a bell to you? He's an active member of the geospatial community and he needs our help, he's facing deportation from the U.S.

In the maps category:

• Mapperz mentions the UK car crash map
• Ok, not exactly a map, but trying to find what are the Wall Street protestors are so angry about, here's a breakdown of income inequality, the Gini coefficient, by countries

Here's the recent Google geonews.

From the official sources:

• Here's the 3-minutes launch video of Google Earth Builder at the Google Geo summit, I like it when Ed Parsons says "Geospatial technologies is moving away from [...] the specialist, it's now available to everyone", since you're reading Slashgeo, you probably are a specialist, should we be afraid or is this just our jobs' natural evolution?
• There's new 45° imagery available for 16 cities: "Europe: Caceres, Spain; Graz, Austria; Montreux, Switzerland; Zurich, Switzerland; US: Bakersfield, CA; Boise, ID; Canton, OH; Centennial, CO; Columbia, SC; Davenport, IA; Des Moines, IA; Enumclaw, WA; Grand Rapids, MI; Kansas City, KS/MO; Lawrence, KS; Los Angeles, CA; Merced, CA; New Orleans, LA; Omaha, NE; Payson, UT; Portland, OR; Springfield, MO; St. Louis, MO; The Woodlands, TX;"
• There's new StreetView imagery of the Swiss Alps, taken from railways
• The tool that allows you to get notified when new imagery is available, Follow Your World, is now available in 43 new languages
• We've been invited to Explore the history of Mexico with Google Earth

From other sources:

• The GEB shares the location of the Turkey earthquake and Gaddafi's death
• The GEB also describe YoubeQ, a 3D social network using the Google Earth plugin: "YoubeQ puts you on a Segway to drive around the globe, with the option to quickly teleport to any location that you wish to visit. You can click on other users to chat with them, collect stamps as you travel the globe, and it has a variety of other features (with many more coming)."
• A week ago the same site offered an entry on what Google Earth can do for responding to the Thailand Floods
• Here's a round-up of the great (American) Football resources in Google Earth
• If you have interest in it, here's how to tweak the Google Earth Flight Simulator
• Last Wednesday, there was new imagery released to Google Maps / Earth

I've been overly busy lately, but give me some time and you'll get all the pertinent geonews. Here's for the recent Google-related geonews.

From official sources:

• Google proudly announced there has been over one billion downloads of Google Earth, clearly Google Earth and Maps were the symbols of a new era in geospatial technologies 
• Google also announced new countries 'graduating' from Google Map Maker: Afghanistan, Antarctica, Ecuador, Georgia, Guatemala, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Honduras, Iraq, Norfolk Island, Saint Pierre & Miquelon and Saudi Arabia, and shares a related entry on Google Map Maker efforts in Afghanistan
• Google Maps added a "My Location" default "From" location to directions, removing the need to type your current address location
• Slashdot noted that there's now an 'helicopter view' for driving directions in Google Maps
• Yes, the famous Google pushpin has been redesigned, amongst other changes of look
• Google Earth Outreach is now present in Canada, Google Lat Long also shared a story on Canada's boreal forest, the world's largest intact forest
• Here's a bunch of minor Maps API news
• And another developer-oriented entry is tips on mapping your business

From other sources:

• Some users might be interested in those tips to make Google Earth Flight Simulator easier to use
• There was new imagery made available to Google Earth yesterday and new 3D trees in Portland, Oregon
• Via APB, Google will use INRIX for real-time traffic for 8 european countries

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. Some of those news could have deserved individual announcements.

From the open source / open date front:

• Regarding the FOSS4G 2011 conference, the community can now vote to determine the program of the FOSS4G 2011 conference, and there will be an Introduction to Geospatial Open Source day-long event
• The final version of MapGuide Maestro 3.0 has been announced
• OpenStreetMap has been recognized by the United Nations Foundation
• OpenStreetMap data can be used in the X-Plane flight simulator
• GeoTools 8.0-M0 has been released
• Here's a new review of the PostGIS in action book, which is now available on Amazon:
  PostGIS in Action
• Talking about books, here's the new Locate Press, focussing on publishing on open source geospatial projects
• O'Reilly offered and article named open source tools look to make mapping easier
• GRASS GIS now has a barb module

From the Google front:

• Ogle Earth shares a long entry named Finding Osama Bin Laden’s Abbottabad mansion with Google Earth, with numerous screenshots
• Slashdot runs a story named Your Location 'Extremely Valuable' To Google
• The official Google Lat Long blog shares an entry named Post-tornado mapping in Google Maps and Earth
• Slashdot also discussed a story named Using Google Maps To Simulate Tsunamis

From the ESRI front, Mandown shares several entries, including:

• ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 2 Released
• Learn The Basics Of Developing Applications With The ArcGIS API For iOS and ArcGIS API For iOS 1.8 Now Available
• ArcGIS Viewer For Flex 2.3.1 Released and ArcGIS API For Flex And ArcGIS Viewer For Flex 2.3 Released

In the miscellaneous category:

• VerySpatial shares iOS Apps for learning Geography while APB mentions the MagicPlan App to easily map your house
• MacRumors shares a story named Apple Hints at Future Turn-by-Turn GPS Directions With Traffic for iPhone
• On the same topic, Slashdot ran a story named Share Your iPhone Location Data Like You Mean It
• While SS shares an entry named Where’s the Geospatial Industry’s Response to ‘Locationgate’?
• The timing was ripe for O'Reilly to share an article named What does the attention around tracking mean?, especially in the context of online payments
• V1 informs us that Russia's Putin Invites Sweden Into GLONASS
• MapQuest is celebrated 15 years of existence
• It's been a while since RFID has been mentioned, Slashdot discussed a story named Hotel Tracks Towels With RFID Chips

In the maps category:

• TMR shares an entry named Mapping Long-Term Radiation Exposure at Fukushima too bad Japan lost one Earth Observation Satellite on Tsunami Mapping Mission
• TMR also shares an interactive map of oil production from 1960 to 2010

Here's recent Google-related geonews.

From the official sources:

• Google changed its basemap data for ten countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa and Switzerland. Google already switched to their own data for the U.S. and Canada in the not so distant past.
• Following a previous entry Costa Rica and Nicaragua boundary in Google Maps, Google Lat Long and Ogle Earth discuss the matter
• Google Maps tiles have been significantly updated for Japan
• There's contest for SketchUp 3D modelers
• You can now perform spatial queries in Fusion Tables

From other sources:

• An entry on using SketchUp to model interiors
• An excellent flight simulator for Google Earth
• Here's an entry on the state of the Berlin Wall, as seen using the Google Earth Plugin
• An online tool for Satellite Tracks And Visibility In Google Maps
• We mentioned BatchGeo a few times in the past, via APB I learned that BatchGeo was forced to disable extracting geocoded coordinates because it's a violation of Google's Terms of Service. We rarely saw similar enforcements as far as I can remember.