If mobile is your thing and LA is in close proximity to you then you might be interested in this mobile geek up… more details over on Matt Singley’s blog
Video Diary: James Whatley on planning MGoLA from Ben Smith on Vimeo.
Archives for April 2009
Check out Autodesk 2010 software at an Imagination tour Stop near you
Heads up, Autodesk is once again hitting the road with their Imagination Tour – these events are a great chance to see the company’s latest solutions (the 2010 solutions) and meet the solution architects and some ADSK business partners. Events are coming up in Vancouver, Dallas, New York, anaheim, Calgary, and San Jose. See more details at http://experience.autodesk.com
A tip, for sessions specific to “GIS” solutions check out the “Infrastructure” topics!
GeCommons maps and Some suggested Swine Flu Map Resources
More on Swine Flu mapping… many people are looking for information about the spread of Swine Flu, as can be expected, the gang at Geocommons has provided some useful information and has some interesting graphics created using their GeoCommons Finder! and Maker! services. Below are some other useful “official” mapping resources of interest: (I would also caution you to be aware of mashups and hacks that are being created by non-official sources!)
GeoCommons – Swine Flu by country
GeoCommons – air passenger travel map between Mexico and USA
Global Diseaase Alert Map – also available as Twitter alerts @healthmap
http://www.healthmap.org/swineflu
global H1N1 Swine Flu map, which is unaffiliated with Google.org and Flu Trends
NAVTEQ Traffic.com gets even better with new look, more features
The already “awesome” and useful Traffic.com web service from NAVTEQ now has a new look and feel and even more functionality. This is a must-use for any frequent traveller, check real-time repots, get estimated travel times, routing, and even email or mobile alerts… fromm NAVTEQ: The new site design and improved features make it faster and easier for drivers to get more of the accurate, real-time traffic information they need to improve their workday commutes and leisure road travel. See more details here or try it at Traffic.com
The enhanced site features include:
· A location-aware homepage greets users with a real-time traffic summary for their city area
· A streamlined, easy-to-use interface offers quick links to site features and content
· New “Search Traffic” and “Browse Traffic” tabs help users easily find information they need
· One-click “Save This Drive” buttons make it fast and easy to personalize MyTraffic alerts
· New, more detailed maps display color-coded traffic flow and incident icons pinpoint hotspots
· A real-time news ticker alerts site visitors to severe incidents in each city area
Interesting H1N1 Swine Flu Influenza heat map
via way of the umapper Twitter (@umapper) comes an interesting H1N1 Swine Flu influenza heat map… nice presentation using Microsoft Virtual Earth API see also direct link here
Visualization Software Drives Rapid Response to Wildfires
An interesting application from Space Time Insight designed to enable preventive action and rapid response to wildfires. Space-Time Insight automatically monitors and alerts personnel about fire locations, their relative priority status, last observed time, wind gusts and direction, relative humidity, fuel moisture levels, temperature, and proximity to critical assets and enables managers to locate and provide step-by-step best practice-based tasking through remediation scripts sent automatically to the appropriate response personnel and through the Space-Time Insight interface. See more details here or jump to http://www.spacetimeinsight.com/
Welcome to Colorado’s GIS Alley – NOCO
An interesting read in the Coloradoan and for the many people who often ask me “why did you move to Fort Collins, CO” here is a great response… From the article – A high concentration of GIS/ geospatial/ location-based companies have selected Northern Colorado as the ideal place to locate their business. Known as “GIS Alley,” this mix of private, public and educational institutions has resulted in a pool of talent, capital and collaboration seen in very few areas of the country.At first glance, geographic information systems, or GIS, could be described as high-tech annotated maps, but with a closer look, it’s much more. And after all, who doesn’t love a great map? See the article here – see also www.gisalley. com and you can usually catch yours stuly at local Geo meet-ups as they happen!
2009 SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology Contest reminder
Contest Registration Open: Monday February 2, 2009 – Friday May 1, 2009 – The fourth annual SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology contest will be held at the 2009 SkillsUSA Championships in downtown Kansas City, Missouri June 21-June 26, 2009 – supported by ESRI and Digital Quest. College/postsecondary students studying GIS, RS, and GPS technologies from across the country are invited to compete. Secondary educators interested in a geospatial competition for secondary students are asked to Austin Smith via phone at 1-877-5Remote or via email at austins at digitalquest.com.See http://www.digitalquest.com/SkillsUSA09/ – Source of inspiration: http://gispathway.com/
Los Angeles County putting Solar Energy on the map via Solar map portal
An interesting mapping application is now available from LA County at http://lacounty.solarmap.org/ – powered by Virtual Earth, the app reveals solar energy installations and also provides information about potential energy savings… impressive! There’s also a handy tool where users can get an estimate of their potential savings fom solar energy. The map enables the county to accurately estimate the solar potential of government facility rooftops and for all residents to view existing solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in the city, including those on residential, commercial and government buildings. It also shows the amount of solar that has been installed per zip code. See more info here

Help A College Student get to the SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology Competition
I’m being a messenger here… SkillsUSA instituted a college/postsecondary-only contest in Geospatial Technology back in 2005. The fourth Geospatial contest will be held at the 2009 SkillsUSA Championships in downtown Kansas City, Missouri June 22-June 24, 2009. Are you interested in helping to sponsor a budding GIS professional and soon to be college graduate to get to the competition?? Read on for details… any help is moucho appreciated!! (you can contact Timothy on Twitter also @gispathway)