Looks like Geogeeks will be converging on San Fran this June for another SOTMUSA – State of the map USA. The organizing committee, via their blog, have invited geeks to plan to connect with other mappers, skill up on mapping, learn how to work with OpenStreetMap data, hack on the latest OpenStreetMap improvement from June 8-9, 2013. Taking place over the week-end so work commitments won’t interfere, the main conference will feature a series of community-led sessions on OpenStreetMap case studies, related technology, mapping parties, ideas and tools to help us improve the map, and much more. Check out last year’s schedule for an idea of what’s in store. Follow the event on Twitter @sotmus
Archives for February 2013
The Budget Planner and Don’t Fail to Plan
Indeed the old saying “most people fail to plan” rings true and with tax season here it’s always a great time to put a plan into place for the coming year… forget about last year if it was a financial mess… but this year doesn’t have to be! Consumer.gov has rolled out a resource with loads of basic tips (they may be basic, however, many people fail to do the simple things) and some handy resources, like this budget worksheet [PDF]. Some quick tips from the resource:
[Read more…] about The Budget Planner and Don’t Fail to Plan
Friday Fun – So, that’s what an Internship at Google is Like!
Ever wondered what it would be like being an intern at Google? Well, thanks to Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson we’ll all have a chance to see this summer – enter The Internship! In typical Google “wow” fashion, the official trailer release for the movie was rolled out on a live Google+ hangout hosted by Conan O’brien
Geophotography Webinar Series
Here’s details of an interesting educational event series taking place in the near future thanks to the folks at Carlton University (and others)… The workshop is being convened to help geoscientists improve their photographic skills to enhance the creation and use of geo-imagery in our research and instructional practices. The individual workshop sessions will be recorded, and a streaming video will be posted following the session. Participants are asked to register for and attend all sessions. The goals of the workshop are to:
- Introduce geoscientists to the equipment, methods, and “best practices” that will help to improve your own photographic expertise for research and teaching;
- Explore ways to use photographic expression to convey meaning and understanding to student and community audiences;
- Introduce geophotography across the geoscience curriculum
Mapping Global Energy With the Global Energy Mapper
An innovative product from Blue Marble Geographics and Spatial Energy enables users to visualize and map Global energy resources – Energy Mapper. With energy specific symbols, data sets and layer options available for direct access from Global Mapper, users are able to access their Spatial on Demand imagery seamlessly to their Global Energy Mapper desktop application with the tools, terminology and symbols you demand for your energy-based projects. The app converts, edits, prints, tracks GPS, and allows the user to utilize GIS functionality on their own datasets. In the latest release, Global Energy Mapper 14.1 provides a dramatic increase in LiDAR processing and display speed. See more info HERE
Source: bluemarblegeo.com via Glenn on Pinterest
The Canada Google Kiss Map Lets You Kiss and Tell – and Map it!
Ah yes, another Valentine’s Day is here and that can only mean one thing… another great excuse to make cheezy maps and apps – enter the Canada Kiss Map! Well, actually it’s not just for Canada as you can drop a kiss marker anyplace on the World map, however, it was designed in Canada (I guess). Use the kiss map to search for a romantic place where you smooched your sweetie, leave a marker, share the story behind the kiss… awwwwww! See http://canadakissmap.com
Source: Uploaded by user via Glenn on Pinterest
Geo/Location Tech Jobs Hangout #1 – Wanna Talk Jobs?
This week I’ve been thinking a little harder about starting a hangout… you know, a live video webchat hosted by google, archived on Youtube, with a guest and discuss something of interest to the Geo industry. I’m thinking of starting a weekly/bi-weekly jobs related hangout. The idea will be to chat briefly (5-15 minutes) with a rep from a Geo company who’s hiring and get some details like what kind of challenge is there finding qualified leads, what are you offering etc… Should be fun and I see this as being quite useful! – have a listen to my pitch (3 minutes) and please contact me if you’d like to participate.
Yes Indeed, Another Canadian hangs out with James – me!
I got a surprise message this morning from James Fee and decided, with about 3 minutes warning, to hangout with him in his weekly, Wednesday morning hangout to talk geo, and a few other topics! If you have a free hour and 3 minutes to kill stream this in the background and listen to James and I as we talk Geo, kickstarters, mapbox, Landsat, Python, ESRIUC, Metalachi, baseball, dogs, Amazon, DevSummit, DevMeetup, data viz, and a bunch of other topics.. we basically covered just about anything you can think of!! Feel free to drop a comment here if you have any feedback or input on any of the topics we covered… via the James Fee Youtube Channel
What Is Big Data?
Big Data… the buzz word is flying around all over the Internet, but have you ever asked yourself what the heck is big data exactly? Geospatial pros have worked with “big” data products forever it seems, however, all of a sudden data has apparently gotten very big! So, what is Big Data? Esri has tackled this question and has a special resource to provide an answer.
This from Esri… Big Data is popularly defined using the Three “V”s, defined by Gartner1as follows:
Cool Gadget Video – Nokia JBL PowerUp Wireless Charger Speaker
I recently acquired a cool wireless charger / speaker from Nokia, the JBL PowerUp charging device. This portable device is an ideal way to connect almost any audio device (smartphone, tablet, ghetto blaster or ??) either wirelessly over Bluetooth or by cable. Once connected the sound is pretty stunning and the speaker can be hidden away on a bookshelf. Control the speaker from a distance of up to 30 feet using your smartphone or tablet and coolest of all, the speaker has NFC and can charge a NFC enabled Nokia Lumia smartphone as well. Check out this first look unboxing as I connect an iPad to the speaker using a cable and by Bluetooth.