Anything Geospatial

GIS, Maps, Geo and Location Technology by @gletham

Archives for December 2008

FGDC Publishes Highlights of 2008

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Just published by the FGDC, highlights from 2008. The theme for this year’s report is how geospatial data provide critical support for wildfire response. Other items covered in the report include updates on the following topics:

1. Geospatial Line of Business
2. National Geospatial Advisory Committee
3. Fifty States Initiative 2008
4. International Activities
5. Geospatial One-Stop
6. Standards
7. Imagery for the Nation
8. New Executive Committee

the 50 States
the 50 States

This year marks the third year of the Fifty States Initiative. The primary focus of the Fifty States Initiative is the development of strategic and business plans for geospatial coordination statewide. As of September 2008, 17 States had finished developing their plans and several additional States had plans that were nearly completed.

See details on the report HERE

Creating Maps and the Network Effect – a great read!

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Let me share with you this excellent article I ran into that covers off some recent history of web mapping and looks at the effect that community input, mobile devices, user-generated content etc… are having on the creation of maps and webmaps. The author, Sean Gorman (think FortiusOne and GeoCommons) does a nice job of discussing how mobile devices have introduced active and passive data from users and how indeed there exists a potential to explode with the emergence of mapping and GPS technology on mobile phones (think loopt, brightkyte, whrrl etc…) Sean sums it all up nicely in the end by commenting… “We risk being deluged by so much data that we are not able to make sense of it all or use it in a meaningful way. At the same time there is real power in the mass of data that is being unleashed for public consumption.”  See the article over at Vodafone

Filed Under: gis

My 7 Cool things Of The Day – accuweather, Qik, switch, TNRIS, PocketFinder and Tweet Of the day!

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iPhone App of the day – Accuweather for iPhone – AccuWeather.com, the popular Weather Authority, has launched a Location-aware application for iPhone. The free app provides access to an array of weather forecast information, it offers weather alarms and health indices. Benefits to users include:
– Location-aware, limiting the need to enter user locations
– 5-day local forecasts with high and low temperatures and sky conditions for day and night
– Hour-by-Hour Forecast

Blackberry app of the day – Qik for Blackberry enables the device users to stream live video to their free Qik account. Share your videos with contacts and friends or embed on your blog or webpage afterwards.

S60 App of the day – Switch is a clever tool that ships on many Nokia S60 devices. It enables you to quickly and easily switch devices. Using BlueTooth technology, the app connects your old phone with the new one and copies all your important data. See more including a video demo here

Google G1 (Android) App of the day – PocketFinder allows a family member or friend to view the location of your Google Android phone worldwide from any computer or smartphone at anytime. PocketFinder for G1 enables usersto stay connected and benefit from every PocketFinder feature including real-time location, zone and speed alerts, instant messaging, and travel history. The app is available as a free two week trial from the Android shop, after that there’s a small monthly fee.

Tweet of the day – @andrewhyde RT @Penguin: The Homeland Security Terror Alert Threat Level is Orange, so Santa is NOT allowed to enter US airspace tonight. Sorry kids

Twitter Add-on of the day – My Twitter Notebook is a place for you to collect notes for yourself. You send the notes with twitter (Direct Message tweetnote) and you can also get them your page on this site. As an example, The command “D tweetnote gettag #todo” will send you all of your to do items.

Free GIS Data Pick of the day – TNRIS, Texas Natural Resources Information System provides fast, simple search and access to free GIS data products (many as SHP files) for the State of Texas. Access bathymetric data, satellite imagery, USGS Topos (DRG), elevation data, soils information and much more .

TNRIS - a wealth of Texas GIs data
TNRIS - a wealth of Texas GIS data

A bonus tip… check out Posterous.com for a way cool “web2.0-ish” way to share your photos, documents or ??? Simply email your media, create a custom landing page (optional) and share your stuff with anyone… this is very, very slick!

Top Symbian Mobile OS Features and Spotlights for 2008

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From SymbianOne.com – 2008 was a busy year for the Symbian ecosystem. Many noteworthy moments took place including the arrival of the Nokia N95 8GB in the USA, the release of comes with music, the Samsung INNOV8, a new look for Forum Nokia, the 10 year celebration of Symbian, a shift towards open source and the launch of the Symbian Foundation – read on for a recap of Symbian OS related features highlighted here at SymbianOne this past year – enter Symbian 2008, a recap.

Samsung INNOV8 Symbian OS smartphone with 8GB digital camera
Samsung INNOV8 Symbian OS smartphone with 8GB digital camera

amazon.com has best online holiday shopping season ever

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The economy may be down but its not out! Seems amazon.com just experienced the best online holiday shopping season ever…  Amazon.com’s 14th Holiday Season Is Best Ever with over 6.3 million items ordered worldwide on the peak day, Dec. 15 – a record-breaking 72.9 items per second shipped to over 210 countries. Some Amazon.com 2008 Holiday Facts
* Amazon.com sold enough “Breaking Dawn” books that stacked end to end they would reach the summit of Mt. Everest eight times.
* During the period from Nov. 15 – Dec. 10, Amazon sold one copy of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 every 2.5 minutes.
* The weight of all GPS devices sold from Black Friday through December equals the combined weight of 151 Mini Coopers.
* Amazon sold enough high-performance headphones that everyone attending the last three Super Bowls could grab a set and rock out.
* Amazon Grocery sold enough coffee to give each resident of the highly caffeinated city of Seattle a cup per day for two months.
* Amazon sold enough Coldplay CDs that laid side by side they’d stretch from Seattle to Violet Hill (a street in London and the album’s first single) and more than halfway back.

Walt Disney World Survey Marker Pin

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A cool pin collection featuring the special survey markers that are hidden around the resort.. this from Amerisurv.com… Patty Winter, the author of the Disney World article that appeared in our September 2007 issue e-mailed me recently to let me know that Disney World has released a HIDDEN MICKEY PIN – FUN ICONS – SURVEY MARKER five-pin set. Patty went on to say, “They aren’t being sold, so short of wandering around WDW looking for a cast member to trade with, the only way I know of to get one is on eBay. There have been quite a few available there.” Find out more HERE

Disney World survey marker
Disney World survey marker

Filed Under: gis

Best of GISuser Spotlights and GEo Technologies 2008 – Part 3 of 4

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More best of for 2008… From Q3, 2008 we offer up a recap of GISuser spotlights and news items that got out attention… noteworthy moments included news and features from the 2008 International ESRI User Conference, the expansion of Earthcam, a feature on LBS apps for iPhone, a look at an exciting Digital Pen Technology from Adaptx, a trip to Oce Chicago’s HQ to see the ColorWave 600, a trip to Helsinki Finland for Nokia OpenLab08, Situational Awareness at the DNC, and the launch of GeoEye – see details in this feature



A video moment from the ESRI User Conference – ArcPad at 7.1

Filed Under: gis

Tales from the Gypsy and your chance to score the Akoha VIP Starter Deck and Pay it Forward!

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Over on the Gypsybandito blog, my social networking buddy, CT Moore, has posted details of a cool give-away that he just rolled out. The “gypsy” is giving away an Akoha VIP Starter Deck to one lucky commentor – just check out this blog post, make a comment, and you could score a cool prize. Big deal you might think.. well, read on and I’m sure you’ll change your tune! [Read more…] about Tales from the Gypsy and your chance to score the Akoha VIP Starter Deck and Pay it Forward!

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