In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Google are not alone looking at augmented reality glasses, Slashdot discusses a story named Microsoft Granted Patent For Augmented Reality Glasses. Previous Google Project Glass stories.

Their summary with link to a BBC article: ""A patent granted to the U.S. tech firm describes how the eyewear could be used to bring up statistics over a wearer's view of a baseball game or details of characters in a play. The newly-released document was filed in May 2011 and is highly detailed. ... Although some have questioned how many people would want to wear such devices, a recent report by Juniper Research indicated that the market for smart glasses and other next-generation wearable tech could be worth $1.5bn by 2014 and would multiply over following years." - Noticeable differences from Google's version: two lenses, a wrist computer, and wires."

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

On the open source / open data front:

• Here's an excellent summary of OpenStreetMap's State Of The Map US - 2012, on Steve Coast's presentation, Dr JTS shared: "He said that the top thing OSM needs to continue to grow is addressing.  He singled out Google Mapmaker as being a clear and present danger to the growth of OSM."
• James shows us how to easily download OpenStreetMap data from WeoGeo
• There's a new Open Source Geospatial Research and Education Lab established at North Carolina State University
• MediaGoblin, an open YouTube, Flickr and the like competitor, now supports 3D models
• If you're interested by the uDig desktop GIS, there's now video tutorials
• You can publish maps direction from ArcGIS to MapBox Publishing with Arc2Earth Sync
• There's even more and updated OpenStreetMap tiles offered by MapQuest
• Here's how to create dynamic contour maps with server-side processing with WPS, GeoServer and PostGIS 2.0
• GeoServer 2.2.1 has been released

On the Esri front:

• Using ArcGIS Online? There's a the ArcGIS Online Health Dashboard, to let you know if any service is down

On the Google front:

• The GEB tells us about Tracking KMZ file usage with Google Analytics
• Here's an entry on Trekking the Grand Canyon for Google Maps, for Street View of course

On the Microsoft front:

• The ridiculous patent war continues, Microsoft Sues Motorola Over Mapping Patents
• A U.S. State identification game for MS MapPoint

Geo-related Slashdot discussions:

• I had to happen, Apple Maps Accidentally Reveals Secret Military Base In Taiwan
• Remote sensing helped monitor a Huge Geoengineering Project Violates UN Rules on Canada's west coast
• An Arctic Investigation Underway Into Solar Storm Sat-Nav Disruption
• We'll probably see this often, Texas Schools Using Electronic Chips To Track Students; Parents In Uproar
• Implementing geospatial isn't always easy, Uber [mobile app] Gives Up On New York Taxi Service
• Privacy is dead right? How Hair Can be Used To Track Where You've Been
• Reusability, NASA Working On Refueling Satellites

In the everything else category:

• Using Verizon? They sell where you are; Verizon Sells App Use, Browsing Habits, Location (via O'R)
• DM shares an article named Prepare to Get That Job: 20 Challenging GIS Interview Questions, and also related to jobs, GeoSearch Tracks U.S. Geospatial Employment in Q3 2012
• Drones for geospatial? Home-made 3D-Printed Drones (via O'R)
• The promise of WebGL, while this article isn't specifically on geospatial uses of WebGL, it's worth taking a look at the WebGL demonstration video (wait at least until colors kick in, after about one minute)
• Fearing supervolcanos? For those in South America, ESA's story on the 'sombrero uplift' seen by remote sensing, the largest active magma body in Earth's continental crust
• Geospatial brings value? A DM article on Location Intelligence unlocks the power of your data

In the maps category:

• Good timing, United Swing States of America: Presidential Election Battle Map
• Several readers might be interested by North American Cartographic Information Society's Atlas of Design, now available
• APB reports on that the UK Met Crime Map is Overwhelming for Users

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

From the official sources:

• Google introduced 'Google Maps Coordinate': "That’s where Google Maps Coordinate comes in, a new tool designed to improve communication between businesses and their employees in the field.  As the number of mobile employees continues to grow, so does the need for a location sharing solution that works in real-time.  Research firm IDC estimates that there will be over 1.3 billion mobile workers by 2015 (37.2% of the total workforce). Google Maps Coordinate combines the power of Google’s mapping technologies with modern smartphones to help organizations assign jobs and deploy staff more efficiently." See introduction video below.
• There is traffic conditions in 7 new countries and updates in 19 existing ones: "Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Mexico, Peru, Romania and South Africa"
• Google Map Maker (which always makes me think of OpenStreetMap...) is now available in 8 new countries: "Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland"
• Street View is now available in Hawaii

From other sources:

• DM shares an article named A Use Case: Google’s Cloud-based Earth Builder: "Rod Erickson of Next Tier Concepts provides provides a solution using Software-as-a Service (SaaS)."

• APB mentions Google’s Peer to Peer Location Determination Patent Application

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From official sources:

• On the developers blog, they introduced the Store Locator Utility Library: "This open-source library makes it simple for developers to create interactive, useful store locators."
• Last week Google announced you can visit the Amazon with Street View
• You can also now take a train through the Swiss Alps with Street View
• There's a Street View Guide to Japan’s Cherry Blossom Season too
• And finally regarding StreetView, Street View on Google Maps comes to Thailand and explore Poland on Street View
• There's a screencast on debugging a Maps API application with the Chrome Developer Tools
• Here's the official entry on the latest imagery update

From other sources:

• SS informs us of Google's work on an open source field data collection tool called the Open Data Kit: "It supports GPS data collection, the integration of images from a phone camera sensor, the capture of audio, and video. It provides a means to present multiple forms on one device, with automated connection to networks when the device is within range, and automated upload to Google’s Fusion Tables."
• The GEB has another entry on viewing satellites positions with Google Earth
• SS also shares an article on the Google Earth Engine, named Google Promotes Terrapixels for Everyone, that's a long time since we last heard of the Google Earth Engine
• Here's a new rally racing game in Google Earth, using the GE Plugin
• APB informs us that Google got a patent on “Environment” based ads

Or for geospatial purists, via 'satellite navigation systems' for pedestrian. In any case, Slashdot discusses a story named Microsoft Patents Bad Neighborhood Detection.

Their summary: "With the grant of their US Patent #8090532 Microsoft may be attempting to corner the market on GPS systems for use by pedestrians, or they may have opened a fertile ground for discrimination lawsuits. ... Described as a patent on pedestrian route production, the patent describes a two-way system of building navigation devices targeted at people who are not in vehicles, but still require the use of such a device to most efficiently route to their destination. ... For example, the user inputs their destination and any constraints or requirements they might have, such as a wheelchair accessible route, types of terrain they are willing to cross, the option of public transportation, and a way point such as the nearest Starbucks on the route. Any previously configured preferences are also considered, such as avoiding neighborhoods that exceed a certain threshold of violent crime statistics (hence the description of this as the 'avoid bad neighborhoods' patent), fastest route, most scenic, etc."

Remember the recent story on the location tracking patents mess? It goes on with Slashdot discussing a story named Amazon Granted Location Tracking Patent.

Their summary: "A new patent for Amazon just put the company squarely in the location tracking controversy. It covers a system to not only track, through mobile devices, where individuals or aggregated users have been, but to determine where they're likely to go next to better target ads, coupons, or other messages that could appear on a mobile phone or on displays that individuals are likely to see in their travels. The system could also use someone's identity to further tailor the marketing according to demographic information."

Two days ago (yes, I was busy) Slashdot discussed a story named Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Google Chase 'Got Milk?' Patents.

Their summary: "Among the new iOS 5 features is Reminders, which Apple explains this way: 'Say you need to remember to pick up milk during your next grocery trip. Since Reminders can be location based, you'll get an alert as soon as you pull into the supermarket parking lot.' But does Reminders infringe on a newly-granted patent to Amazon for Location Aware Reminders, which covers the use of location based reminders to remind a user 'to purchase certain items such as, for example, as milk, bread, and eggs'? Or could Reminders run afoul of Google's new patent for Geocoding Personal Information, which covers triggering a voice reminder or making a computing device vibrate when a user approaches a location if 'one of the user's events is a task to pick up milk and bread'? Not to be left out of the 'Got Milk?' patent race, Apple also has a patent pending for Computer Systems and Methods for Collecting, Associating, and/or Retrieving Data, which covers providing a reminder to a user whose 'to do' list includes 'get milk' when the user's location matches 'a store that sells the item "milk."'

That should not be confused with Microsoft's pending patent for Geographic Reminders, which allows users to specify reminders such as 'pick up milk if I am within a ten minutes drive of any grocery store.' That all four tech giants chose to pursue remember-the-milk patents — and the USPTO is considering and granting them — is all the more remarkable considering that Microsoft suggested location-based reminders were obvious in a 2005 patent filing, which informed the USPTO that 'a conventional reminder application may give the user relevant information at a given location, such as 'You're near a grocery store, and you need milk at home.' So much for that immediate patent quality improvement promised by the America Invents Act!"

​You bet the patent system needs to be overhauled!

That's the story discussed over Slashdot this morning, Apple's New Patent Weapon — Location Services.

Their summary: "Once again, it seems Apple is about to take intellectual property claims to a new level. Apple has been reissued a patent they acquired from Xerox that pretty much wraps up what we know as 'location services' as their own. In the overview, the patent says the system involved will display information specific to the location the device is in. The language used in the patent is broad and powerful. I guess now we wait and see whom Apple will use this against?"

Last time I aggregated articles from Directions Magazine was early March. Here's selected articles published on DM since then.

• While we have already published quite a lot on the upcoming Google Earth Builder product, you might be interested in this additional generic article named Google Earth Builder Launched: Cloud Platform for Geospatial Data Storage and Processing
• DM shared their interesting geojargon survey results, letting us know, out of 538 respondents, which geospatial terms are well known and which ones aren't
• Here's a article named How Much Do GIS Consultants Charge in 2011?, from the tables provided (generated out of only 23 survey responses), the average for all types of GIS work seems to be between 86$ to 111$ an hour
• DM continued to provide regular coverage of GIS certification, this time with these articles: The Great Debate: To Certify or not to Certify, That Is an Absurd Question, Special Session on GIS Certification with David DiBiase, GISCI President, and Sheila Wilson, GISCI Executive Director and a last article on the GISP’s Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct
• Here's an article on the Couchbase company and the CouchDB database system. The article is named Couchbase: Taking NoSQL and Geo to the Next Level. We mentioned GeoCouch in the past.
• Here's an article named Keeping the Patent Trolls at Bay - Defending Your Location-based Patents and Your Business and a related one named Microsoft and Google Fight Back Against Store-locator Patent Suits
• DM shared an article named The Case for Real Estate GIS in China
• In a praise for cloud GIS, here's an article named It’s Time to Change: How SaaS Will Enable the GIS Industry to Move Forward and Engage With New Market Opportunities
• Here's a article on Five Ways GPS Vehicle Tracking Can Reduce Fuel Costs

Here's the recent geonews that haven't made it into an individual story in batch mode.

From the open source / open data front:

• While we mentioned it indirectly in the past, we never specifically mentioned the existence of OpenCycleMap.org, based, of course, on OpenStreetMap
• The "open" MapQuest maps now support worldwide pedestrian and bicycle routing along with transit routes
• An article in Scientific American is using OpenStreetMap data to map the local 'food desert'
• The OpenGeo Suite Enterprise Edition 2.4.0 has been released

From the ESRI front:

• ESRI released their ArcGIS API for JavaScript version 2.2
• A third entry on useful ArcGIS Explorer add-ins III

In the everything-else category:

• GeoCurrents offers an informative serie of entries on Libyan maps: Libya’s Tribal Divisions and the Nation-State, Libya’s Geographical Divisions and the Challenge to National Unity, Libya’s Fezzan: A Bulwark of the Gaddafi Regime
  , Gaddafi’s Saharan Farming Schemes and Libyan Agricultural Hexagons. On the same topic, TMR shares an entry on the Libya Crisis Map
• Rememer that GPS positioning in the U.S. is in danger because of LightSquared? APB shares a followup including the mention of the 'Coalition to Save Our GPS'
• Following the earthquake in New Zealand, there's fresh imagery of Christchurch
• Google and Microsoft have teamed together to sue a patent troll who sued 397 companies over a geotagging patent
• Microsoft offers an entry on modular design and client side clustering with Bing Maps V7
• O'Reilly offers an article on location privacy named Privacy law needs a reboot
• A followup on a previous story, Slashdot discusses a student suing the FBI for planting a GPS tracker on his car. On this topic, SpatialLaw offers an entry named Government's Use of Tracking Technology: More Than A Constitutional Issue?
• It seems the FAA now allows iPad as an alternative to aviation charts
• TMR links to a review of Casio's geotagging camera
• APB mentions that Turtles Use Earth’s Magnetic Field to Determine Longitude
• In a perspective entry, SS asks Is it time for an impartial auditing board on spatial data accuracy?

In the maps category:

• TMR shares a map of the index of potential unrest, on this topic, some claims Google Earth as a Factor in Middle East Unrest
• TMR shares a map of internal U.S. migration flows