In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Here's the "Friday" geonews in batch mode a bit late.

From the Google front:

• Google offers yet another imagery update, including fresh imagery over Japan, but also high resolution imagery in tens of other countries
• There's also new 45 degrees imagery in about 10 new locations
• The directions provided by Google now offers public transit automatically if it is a good alternative to driving to your destination
• If you're like me and think that Google Earth is great but the globe doesn't look good at small scales, here's an updated Blue Marble to make Google Earth look nice from high above
• Here's an update on TriDef product to use Google Earth in anaglyphic 3D, works even in StreetView
• The GEB discusses using the Google Earth plugin for energy efficiency 3D tours in the context of the Home Greenover Project
• Here's the Battle of Fort Sumter in Google Earth, right from the American civil war in April 1861

From the open source/data front:

• The Marble virtual globe version 1.1 has been released
• Via OGD, I learned about OpenStreetBlock, providing textual description of a city block based on a lat long
• The Geocaching.com website includes OpenStreetMap
• Here's an entry on Polygon Triangulation via Ear-Clipping with Delaunay Refinement and another one on Slope/Aspect/Elevation using JTS
• There was also an announcement of a VMWare-powered GIS Virtual Machine for open source geospatial software
• Kurt reports on geolocation plans at 'Camp KDE'
• The OpenGeo Suite Community Edition 2.4.1 has been released

From the Esri front:

• James Fee mentions words from Esri that the File Geodatabase API will support all 4 platforms and 32/64 bits and be released in mid-May

In the miscellaneous category:

• O'Reilly offers an article named 3 big challenges in location development
• V1 offers a perspective on if it matters to compare GPS to GLONASS to BEIDOU
• V1 also reminds us that the SPOT satellite is now 25 years old
• V1 offers a short entry on routing ships based on waves and weather

In the maps category:

• Via internal mail, I learned about this dispersion modeling animation of the Japan tsunami debris over the Pacific, in 3 years, the patch of debris will be close to California
• Mapperz mentions an interactive site for visualizing official New Zealand 1:50,000/250,000 topographic maps
• O'Reilly offers an article named Maps aren't easy on maps and journalism