Archives for February 2007
China getting tough on Surveying and Mapping Firms
And yet another GIS job site…
Mobile Monday Vancouver to look at location-based services (LBS)
Time: 5:00 – 7:30pm
Venue: Presentation – Hyatt Regency Vancouver, 655 Burrard Street
Reminder, Nokia maps (smart2go) Beta is now available
The free mobile mapping/routing application from Nokia is now available for free download today – although it seems to have been up and down! I finally got my download to work.. a tip.. try the PC download rather than the SMS download of the 3.4 MB file! At first glance its quite cool although I’m a bit unsure about the POI database. As a test i tried entering a search on Fort Collins, CO and a number of POIs seem to randomly appear (many are hotels). I quickly jump to the map and browse around, toggling from a 2D to a 3D (sort of) view. The 3D is simply a tilted view giving a somewhat 3D appearance. The POIs are random in nature and features like ATMs, airports etc.. show up on the map. The app is quite fast… i tried connecting via my wireless LAN and via T-mobile internet connectivity.. beware of this if you don’t have all you can eat data on your mobile plan. I’m still messing around with it but I’ll also try some of the routinng and directions features soon. I lilke the ability to search and them email the results to someone… very handy. Overall for a free app its pretty darned cool. You can get smart2go from www.nokia.com/maps or jump to www.smart2go.com… stay tuned! Note: the app is available for Symbian S603 smartphones and Windows mobile devices also.
A tip for locating Google Earth KML / KMZ files using Google search
A tip… if you’d like to locate some KMLs for viewing in Google Earth there’s a very simple way to search ALL the KMLs available onn the web (they are simple text files remember). Using Google Search simply type in the following string to search for a KML for Vancouver… filetype:kmz vancouver or filetype:kmz nanaimo – notice the vast number of results… you can refine your search or add even more detail if you’d like better results. Similarly, if you’d like to locate an AutoCAD DWF format file try this search string – filetype:dwf nanaimo
Search for MKL KMZ data using Google Search… no problem
A tip… if you’d like to locate some KMLs for viewing in Google Earth there’s a very simple way to search ALL the KMLs available onn the web (they are simple text files remember). Using Google Search simply type in the following string to search for a KML for Vancouver… filetype:kmz vancouver – notice the vat number of results.. you can refine your search or add even more detail if you’d like better results.
ShoZu Adds Geotagging for Flickr, YouTube – now supports GPS enabled smartphones
DWF Toolkit, DWFx, and more on the Autodesk 2008 suite
I’m currently in San Fran. attending an Autodesk PR event introducing us to the latest in the 2008 product suite. Of interest to me is the introduction of DWFx and following the evolution of DWF and where the supporting products (ie. Design Review) are heading. Unfortunately i missed AU a couple of months ago but it looks like the products are all starting to roll out now. DWFx essentially enables users to access design data from within IE without the need for any additional software etc… no downloads! The app is not as robust (rich) as design review but offers a fast and effective solution. For more detailed comments and information about the latest Autodesk solutions i suggest you check out what Scott Sheppard’s Beyond the Paper blog – http://dwf.blogs.com/beyond_the_paper/ – see also http://www.autodesk.com/dwftoolkit to access the latest DWF toolkit. For more on the 2008 products see also http://www.autodesk.com/preview2008
GIS Data Google search utility
A heads up that I’ve recently added about 1400 more GIS resources to be indexed in this very useful GIS focused search utility built using Google tools. Check out the GISuser Geo Search Engine for some very fine results if your searching for free GIS data, GIS jobs, and other geospatial technology resources. More than 4400 hand-picked sites indexed to date.