Anything Geospatial

GIS, Maps, Geo and Location Technology by @gletham

Archives for September 2009

Lost and Found – The Colorado GIS Portal

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I’m in search of the Colorado GIS Portal, if there actually exists such an entity! Recall a while back I put together a comprehensive State Clearinghouse directory (See HERE). This may seem a little “hohum” to you, however, if you’ve ever tried to search out and document all the “official” State GIS resources you’ll soon realize what a daunting task this can be. One issue that, quite frankly, blows my mind is the frequency of such important resources simply vanishing without a trace leaving would-be users with that familiar 404 error… I guess I must be naive because I’m left wondering, is it really that difficult to coordinate such an effort? The most recent 404 message comes from the CO resource and I’m sure there’s a few others.

I’ll applaud James Fee (@cageyjames) who recently shouted out with a great idea related somewhat to this topic … “Cash for GeoClunkers“. James started a discussion something to the effect that we could use some stimulus cash to rid us of old, broken-down webmaps and GIS web services – really, this is a great idea – forget filling all those portholes, lets invest in some GeoWeb services and pave the way to open access to data! I’m hoping that with the recent launch of Data.gov perhaps this issue will come to surface once again. The Feds have started with a State/Local links page, although with only links to 2 state resources (CA, UT)it’s falling a little short and is disappointing to say the least.. perhaps Data.gov would like to use our State Clearinghouse resources as a starting point?? Please gimme a call and we can discuss, I’ll be glad to help you out! For those of you interested adding a description and link to an official State GIS resource that you frequently use, please Add details and a link to this Directory or list a regional, county, or local resource HERE

Event tip – Nov 7th California Data Camp

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Here’s a friendly heads-up about a cool event I heard about today – California Data Camp. The low-down…The one day gathering is open to developers, journalists, community organizers, policy wonks, students and others interested in working with government data that provides insights and information into California and its communities. A variety of issues will be tackled including computer-assisted reporting, data visualization, data access, data transparency, and data management. There will also be a day-long app-building contest on DataSF.org., the clearinghouse of data sets created by the city and county of San Francisco. The winning team will be awarded a prize. (Source) See http://datacamp.eventbrite.com/

Share your photos and custom videos with Shwup

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I love taking mobile photos and video and so I’m always after cool tools that enable me to share my media… enter Shwup. This service enables users to easily store and share multi-media and best of all you can easily connect to your favorite photo services (flickr, picasa etc…) to access your media and then easily import to create a custom video to share with your friends… very nice! See http://www.shwup.com or follow @shwup on Twitter

Save all your Good Things with Nokia Ovi Maps

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Ovi maps (http://maps.ovi.com) have just added a new feature for registered users – Good Things. Simply put, its a cool way for users to login, store, and share great things that they know about. Simply locate the position of the “Good Thing” on the map, drag a pin to placemark the location, then simply enter details, a description etc… Save to your favorites (add categories as well) and share with the World. Good things are available to all users via an RSS feed of recent additions and you can also contribute your Good Thing to appear on the World’s largest sign post! You can start building you Good Things collection on Ovi Maps at http://maps.ovi.com/goodthings

Ovi Maps Good Things
Ovi Maps Good Things

Browsing Flickr images in Open Street Map

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I have to admit, I’m getting really interested in Open Street Map (OSM) these days, mainly because it seems like the industry is sitting up and taking notice also! Something that got my interest the other day was details of OSM within Flickr, this came via a vey lengthy, and pretty geeked-up article on the Flickr Code blog… I’m still reading it and trying to digest it but in all honesty, its making my head hurt a little! The write up delves into OSM and the how-to’s of tagging photos for use within Flickr. If OSM interest you then I suggest you check it out. Please also take note of a couple of the following references:

Adding the machine tags extra love

description of how OSM metadata is structured

If this all sounds pretty wild to you then jump over to flickr and check it out for yourself. Here’s a cool starting point. Brose this RSS feed on Flickr showing all the photos that have been tagged with the OSM structure  osm:way= or osm:node=

You’ll be presented with a lengthy list of photos that have been tagged to integrate with OSM. For example, see this photo and check out some of the metadata on the right side, in particular, click the part that reads: This is a feature in OpenStreetMap where you are taken to the actual OSM data entry

This is quite awesome!

AT&T and Garmin Bringing Consumers the Navigation Phone

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The Garmin nuvifone G60 will be available beginning October 4 only for AT&T customers in the U.S. in AT&T stores and online at www.wireless.att.com. According to AT&T, the nuvifone G60 provides one of the easiest-to-use location experiences available because it is the only phone to fully integrate the world’s best selling GPS navigator with voice, data and mobile web. “The nuvifone weaves location into nearly every facet of its functionality making it ideal for people who depend on location to navigate everyday life,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO. Some cool functionality:

  • The nuvifone G60 has the same core features as a high-end Garmin nuvir and comes preloaded with maps and millions of points of interest (POI) for North America.
  • receive turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions that speak street names to millions of destinations
  • has a “Where am I?” feature so users will know their exact latitude and longitude coordinates, nearest address, intersection
  • full HTML browser

For full device specs see Garmin or check out the announcement here

O’Reilly Where 2.0 Conference 2010 – Now Accepting Speaking Proposals

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From the team at O’reilly Media, they want people that are pushing the boundaries of location-enabled
technology. If you are working on cutting-edge mobile projects, rich  data, analysis tools, or augmented reality they want to hear from you.  Geo programmers, researchers, early stage startups, garage hackers,
social media mavens, CTOs, entrepreneurs, and product developers are  invited to submit proposals to speak at Where 2.0. Submit your proposal now at http://en.oreilly.com/where2010/public/cfp/78

Here are just some of the topics we’ll be exploring this year at Where
2.0:
-Mobile applications
-Local Search and Advertising
-Location Aware Devices
-Augmented Reality in the Real World
-3D Immersive Imagery
-Crowdsourcing
-Crisis Mapping and Disease Awareness and more! Proposals Due Oct 13

The Nokia Booklet 3G mini laptop – you Want?

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Announced at the recently held Nokia World event in Germany, Nokia will soon be rolling out a “booklet”, basically a small, portable PC. Would you want one? Tough to tell at this early stage but those of you that would like the latest and greatest gadget you may want to get in line for this one. The following are some of the system specs that I dug up:

– available in 3 colors, Black, White, Blue (changeable covers)
– rugged looking aluminum casing with a brushed nickel look and feel
– 2CM thick
– 1.2 KG
– 3G/HSPA ready
– WiFi
– hot swappable SIM card functionality – this is really what interests me… it sports a SIM card slot thus telling me that I can connect to the Internet anytime and anyplace I have access (hopefully via 3G)
– onboard assisted GPS
– Accelerometer
– integrated Ovi Maps
– front facing camera (think video chat) 1.3 megapixel
– Bluetooth
– built-in SD card reader
– 10.1 inch display
– HDMI port for Video out
– up to 12 hours battery life
– runs Windows 7
– Intel Inside (Intelr AtomT Z530, 1.6 GHz processor)
– 1 GB DDR2 RAM
– 120 GB Hard drive
– built-in stereo speakers
– 3x USB slots

See more at http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/mini-laptop/nokia-booklet-3g

No word yet on where/when you’ll be able to get one although I have heard the rumored price to be around 600 Euro so I’m expecting a price tag of between $800-$1,000 US – ouch! I have to say, at first glance I’m thinking that at about $600 I’d be giving this one a really close look.. at $1,000 hmmm

Cartopac Webinar – Connecting Your GIS to the Field: Office to Mobile Workforce Integration

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Mobile and web technology has greatly improved the field data collection process for virtually all departments needing to access the field data. Those of you interested in this popular topic might wish to consider taking in an online webinar being offered by Cartopac

Learning Objectives:
. Identify how mobile technology can help the field and office
. Define the essential requirements to successfully deploy mobile applications
. Understand the advantages of using digital forms versus paper-based forms

Who Should Attend:
GIS Managers; Field Technicians; Operation and Project Managers; Industry Directors
Date:   October 8, 2009
Time:  9:00 am (PDT) – 10:00 am (PDT)
Registration: http://www.cartopac.com/demo/WebinarSignup.aspx

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