Archives for September 5, 2012

Elop and Ballmer Take the Stage in New York to Announce Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 8 Devices

September 5, 2012 by gisuser

So, Sept 5, 2012 and Nokia rolls out their much anticipated announcement of their first Windows Phone 8 powered devices, the feature-rich and impressive Nokia Lumia 920 and the slightly smaller, more lightweight 820 – it seems Nokia is following a theme whereas the “900” series is the higher end, “wow” device that the true mobile geeks and Nokia fanatics drool after, whereas the 800 series is reserved for the masses, sports slightly less functionality but will likely be more widely available and at a pretty sweet price point – don’t discount the 800 lineup!

The live Nokia event featured not only Nokia CEO Stephen Elop on stage but he was also joined and supported by Microsoft CEO and legend Steve Ballmer. I admit I was a little late to the event, although I did manage to get a good look at the two new devices. The devices impressed me and they were pretty much what I expected. the 920 is sweet, it sports a very rugged and solid design, the camera seems amazing, and the Windows Phone 8 inside is much needed. The 920 boasts the City Lense service, which I really found to be just another Augmented Reality (AR) app – perhaps being supported by Nokia map and POI data will make it more impressive but on stage it didn’t really wow me. The camera, the solid build, the durability, and Windows Phone 8 experience did impress me though.

Balmer and Elop on stage at the livestreamed Nokia Lumia event

Source: Uploaded by user via Glenn on Pinterest

ArcGIS and Enabling the Fifth Part of a Successful GIS – People

September 5, 2012 by gisuser

Still looking for more info on ArcGIS Online and reasons for your org to consider it? Esri’s Bern Szukalski (@bernszukalski) has done a nice job in a recent blog post titled “Enabling the Fifth Part of a Successful GIS” where he takes a hard look at the end user, however, he goes on in the post describing AGO and provides some awesome user examples courtesy of some power users in Utah at UDOT (See the UPlan website). Most noteworthy in the article are the following snippets that I picked up on and found very shareworthy:

Every successful GIS has champions that helped lift it
the real value of ArcGIS Online is not so much the features and functions that it provides; it’s the transformation it can create in the way organizations think about, and use, GIS
Data previously locked in disparate files or proprietary applications could now be easily accessed by anyone
User expectations are for live, dynamic maps shared via a link that users find in their inbox.
UDOT execs refer to the benefits of AGO… “it’s changing the discussion about GIS.”
Frank Pisani, UDOT’s GIS manager – “Historically I had to be the gatekeeper to all Web publishing,” Frank said. “But now with ArcGIS Online I can empower my users to manage and deliver their own content in an organized way.”

See more (including a video) Bern Szukalski of Esri discusses ArcGIS Online and Software to support the people

See also what Rory had to say in his post, our Geo-Future is Bright