In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

I have a lot of geonews to catchup. You'll get everything that's pertinent (at least from my point of view ;-), but just a bit later than usual. Thanks for your patience!

Here's the recent Google-related geonews. Nothing major, but several interesting items.

From official sources:

• The first update to the Google Maps SDK for iOS
• Google informs us that Ski Resorts are now on Google Maps

From other sources:

• The GEB informs us that Google released 3D imagery in Berne (Switzerland), Anaheim (California) and other cities around the world
• Ogle Earth has an entry named Reconstructing the Chelyabinsk meteor’s path, with Google Earth, YouTube and high-school math
• Related, the GEB has an entry named Mapping meteor impacts
• Still the same source a book named "Google Earth and Virtual Visualizations in Geoscience Education and Research"
• The GEB shares a kmz to watch U.S. watersheds in Google Earth
• The GEB reminds us that we can animate GPS tracks in Google Earth
• You're an Olympics fan? Previewing the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi
• If you prefer Grand Prix racing, Ride along GP tracks from all over the world
• There has been games for Google Earth for a while, but now we're talking about multiplayer games: Two player driving shooter game in Google Earth

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.

On the 2012 London Olympics:

• Here's on the development of the London 2012 SuperMap
• Microsoft shares Olympics bird's eye imagery and maps
• Esri shares 2012 Olympics thematic maps on ArcGIS Online
• In another entry, Using Esri Data to Find the Next Olympians – Part 1
• DM shares links to other London 2012 Olympics maps
• APB mentions telecommunication issues in an entry named Use of Twitter, Social Media Blamed for GPS Data Delay used in Olympic Bike Race Reporting

On the open source front:

• If you're into vertical datums, VDatum 2.3.5 has been released (via Kurt)
• OpenGeo tells us how Thematic map creation with SLD is now much easier with the new Recode, Categorize, and Interpolate functions support in GeoServer
• New to QGIS, HTML map tips in QGIS

On the Esri front:

• Here's GeoMobile for ArcGIS Online - A Free Mobile GIS App for Tablets
• The Esri Map Book, Volume 27 now available
• The Esri Ocean basemap color style available for download

On the Google front:

• Google Map Maker is now available in Australia (and so is OpenStreetMap ;-)
• Planned NYC subway changes are now in Google Maps
• We now get the Kennedy Space Center in Street View for its 50th birthday
• The iconic residence of the UK Prime Minister, Take a virtual walk in Downing Street
• Via O'Reilly, strange images where 3d maps and aerial imagery don’t match up
• Using Google Earth, GE Teach to receive a Geographic Excellence in Media Award
• And there was an imagery update for 25 cities and 72 countries

On the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft announced MapPoint 2013 Released
• There's Expanded UK Transit Directions

A few geostories discussed over Slashdot:

• US Census Bureau Offers Public API For Data Apps
• ACLU Questions Privacy of License Plate Scanners
• The Future of Project Glass (see our current related poll in the right-hand side column)
• Defcon Researchers Build Tool To Track the Planes of the Rich and Famous
• Detecting moving objects, Researchers Turn Home Wi-Fi Router Into Spy Device

In the everything else category:

• The GEB mentions Project Geo, a new Google Plus Hangout web series dedicated to increasing awareness of Geospatial Technology, industry best practices, and GIS resources
• The eoPortal wants us to know that their Events, Images and Job Opportunities sections are now updated and online

In the maps category:

• Here's a really nice visualization of global arms trade
• Here's a map of Melting and Mining in Greenland
• Maps on the Global Geography of Coffee, Tea, and Yerba Mate

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode. It excludes Esri-related geonews since I wait for the conclusion of the User Conference to share an aggregated entry. Also to note, this week some of our users finally get our daily newsletter in their inboxes after an absence of over a year - the problem was that it was identified as 'spam' by a 3rd party filtering system - thanks to the user who reported this issue!

On the open source front:

• It's in a James Fee rant named Google Maps Is More Accurate Because They Say It Is, I learned about the OpenStreetView.org, you guessed it, an open version of Google's Street View
• A few weeks ago, we mentioned FOSS4G 2012 in Beijing being cancelled, here's the related official OSGeo board reaction

• Here's an entry on Creating contour lines with GDAL and Mapnik
• A technical entry named Manipulating GPS tracks in Spatialite
• Time flies, QGIS Is Ten Years Old

On the Microsoft front:

• Microsoft released an impressive 215TB of new Bird's Eye imagery: "spans across the United States and features certain areas in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Tokyo"
• In an entry, Microsoft details the Bing Maps keys, including the limitations of what you can do for free

Discussed over Slashdot:

• Dr. Faragher Answers Your Questions About the Future of Navigation Technology, he's the Principal Scientist at the BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre and NAVSOP supporter

• A discussion on Resources For Identifying Telecom Right-of-Way Locations?
• Australian Consumer Group Wants Geo-IP Blocking Banned "saying it created significant barriers to the free flow of goods and services"
• Samsung Galaxy S3 Stripped of Local Search

In the miscellaneous category:

• Pretty interesting stat: 93% of the top million sites and 89% of the top 10,000 sites on the internet with maps are using Google maps or the Google maps API, this comes from this overview of statistics for mapping technologies
• Directions Mag offers screenshots in an entry named Get Ready for the London Olympics with AEgis’ 3D Models
• Via the AQT [French link], I learned about the Kessler syndrome: "[...] a scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade – each collision generating debris which increases the likelihood of further collisions. One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space exploration, and even the use of satellites, unfeasible for many generations."
• APB tells us that DigitalGlobe and GeoEye agreed to merge
• APB informs us that there is Nokia 4000 Indoor Maps
• Apparently, drones are an hazard to air traffic in Somalia
• The GEB has en entry on Meograph, as multimedia tool for creating Google Earth visualizations
• Long entry on MapQuest iOS Maps API 1.0.1 released and their official announcement of their iOS Maps API
• The US NGA released its Strategic Plan for 2013-2017
• An interesting short entry, Starbucks: 1 Store = $1 Million Investment and GIS Helps Get It Right

In the maps category:

• Via O'Reilly, you can read Google's Ed Parson in an short article named The Future of the Map Isn't a Map at All—It's Information

• TMR shares an entry about Susan Schulten's 'Mapping the Nation' book, focusing on 19th century U.S.

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From official sources:

• My iPad 2 invited me to update iOS's Google Earth to version 7: "With today’s release of Google Earth for iOS you can literally fly through breathtaking 3D city landscapes and images and follow virtual tours of places you’ve never been [...] The growing list of 3D cities include Boulder, Boston, Charlotte, Lawrence (Kan.), Long Beach (Ca.), Los Angeles, Portland (Ore.), San Diego, Santa Cruz, Tampa, Tucson, and the San Francisco Bay Area (including the Peninsula and East Bay) as well as Rome, Italy. [...] Also new in this release is a “tour guide” to show you interesting places to explore." This topic is discussed at Slashdot in a story named Google Outs 3D Maps For iOS Ahead of Apple.
• Google also announced more detailed maps in parts of Europe, Africa and Asia: "And today, we’re launching updated maps of Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lesotho, Macau, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore and Vatican City to do just that."

• As part of the 40th anniversary  of the Landsat satellite program, Google now includes more Landsat imagery: "We’re working with the USGS and Carnegie Mellon University, to make parts of this enormous collection of imagery available to the public in timelapse videos of the Earth's surface. With them you can travel through time, from 1999-2011, to see the transformation of our planet."
• There's new additional panoramic imagery of historic Antarctic locations
• Google also shared an entry named Maps for good: Google Earth Outreach Developer Grants 2012

From other sources:

• The GEB shares an entry on exploring the 2012 London Olympics in Google Earth
• The same source mentions 'Google Earth Studio', a tool for the media, in an entry on Google Earth's relevance for news
• The GEB also shares an entry on exploring fake deserts of the world in Google Earth

• Slashdot ran a discussion named Ox Bow Lake Formation, As Seen By the Google Earth Time Machine
• Tens of sources mentioned that Marissa Mayer, Google's former vice president of Local, Maps & Location Services was appointed CEO of Yahoo

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

From the open source front:

• OpenGeo runs an entry named Five things you didn’t know about GeoExplorer

From the major companies front:

• I liked the Google vs Apple mapping discussion from Peter Batty: "Google announces that it is scared of Apple Maps
  [...] Now don't get me wrong, Google is the market leader and Apple has everything to prove." See also his entry named Apple Maps: Predictions and Questions, which are also of course innovations Google could implement. Viva competition! (well ok, I admit I prefer cooperation ;-)
• James has an interesting entry named One Man's Disruptor is Another Man's Incumbent, the incumbents are Google Maps, MapQuest, Esri and Microsoft, and the disruptors are MapBox, Esri and Apple

• Via O'Reilly, the connection between Google Street View and driverless cars: "Now, I’m realizing the biggest Street View data coup of all: those vehicles are gathering the ultimate training set for driverless cars." Read the comments, driverless cars data is not simple

• There's 2 new modules for Bing Maps V7: GeoJSON and WKT reader/writer modules

• The GEB discusses Using StreetView to validate 3D models

Discussed over Slashdot:

• NASA Tool Shows Where Forest Is Being Cut Down
• Autralian Mining Companies Increasing Use of UAVs

• Cognitive Software Identifies America's Brainiest Cities
• John Carmack Is Building a Virtual Reality Headset
• Trained Rats Map Minefields With GPS

In the everything-else category:

• The eoPortal shares an entry named US not losing its foothold in Earth observing satellites, only shifting power
• The eoPortal also mentions a new imaging system produces 3D models of monuments using unmanned aircraft
• On that very topic, DM shares an article named Ten Things You Should Know About Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)
• VerySpatial have an informative entry on geospatial at the upcoming London Summer Olympics and U.K. in general

• AR as entertainment of the future? Kinect and RFID power an augmented reality theme park (via OR)

In the maps category:

• Here's a nice visualization of 56 years of tornadoes in the U.S.

As a bonus for reading till the end, here's a interesting quote: "If a picture is worth a thousand words, a map can be worth a thousand spreadsheets."