Anything Geospatial

GIS, Maps, Geo and Location Technology by @gletham

Archives for March 2011

Zillow Blackberry App Now Available

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Cool news for BB users who are interested in real estate while on the go. The Zillow BlackBerry App has arrived, joining the industry-leading Zillow mobile app family! Now, users can access Zillow’s popular data on over 100 million U.S. homes, including homes for sale and rent. BlackBerry highlights include:

Built-in GPS technology

  • Zestimate® home valuations, homes for sale, homes for rent, Rent Zestimates, Make Me Move® listings and recently sold data
  • It’s free!See Zestimate value of any home
  • See Rent Zestimate estimated monthly rental prices on most homes
  • Search filters:
  • Map view (high-resolution satellite and street view), list view
  • Search location:
  • Full-screen color photos
  • Supported on BlackBerry OS 5.0 and above


Zillow Blackberry App
Originally uploaded by @gletham GIS, Social, Mobile Tech Images

http://www.zillow.com/blackberry/

Being Social Means Monitor Who’s Talking About You and Engage With Others

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Many of you likely are aware that yours truly has been a long time user of social media, in particular, Twitter. Indeed Twitter is interesting and perhaps new space for many companies. This may be a somewhat sensitive topic I’m addressing but it really does merit some attention. Twitter is much more than simply amplifying your news… you need to engage or try to engage with your followers and those who reach out to you (FYI, a mere mention of your @name on Twitter means someone is reaching out to you) – using a team of Tweeters is a great way to do this. Case in point… I’ve hyped, tweeted, and even promoted company X via Twitter many times yet not once I have I ever received a retweet, a FF, a “thanks for the mention” or even a follow back from company X. Advice, if you make the effort to use Twitter you’ll need to also make some effort to reach out to those that are showing you some Twitter love and you should also monitor who’s talking about you! I’m not saying you need to follow back, retweet or thank every simple person every time they mention you, however, not making the effort to engage with others that are showing you some attention can backfire on you – akin to blowing off someone’s email to you.

How To Give Thanks?

A couple of easy ways to give back some love is by using a Re-Tweet (RT) and simply share something of interest, create a paper.li, add someone to a list, send a weekly Follow Friday wish, or just simply Tweet period replies to those that share something you find interesting – these can go a long way and are fast and simple to do! Don’t simply push an RSS feed and go on auto pilot, Twitter is about conversation and engaging with others. Company X had some cool info to share, however, I elected not to share via Twitter mainly because of their lack of attention – too bad really.

How to monitor Twitter Activity?

A number of useful tools exist to help you monitor who’s speaking to you or about you. Simple mobile apps like Echofon and Hootsuite provide quick access to see who has direct messaged you or even mentioned you. Some clients enable you to setup mobile alerts for Direct messages and mentions. A number of third party apps exist to help monitor activity based on keywords and names, you can even get daily email summaries of activity that involves your company name. TweetDeck is very handy for those that want real time notification… simply load TweetDeck on your PC and run a column that updates as soon as you are mentioned, you can them immediately respond and really impress people.

AutoCAD in the Cloud – Enter AutoCAD WS

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AutoCAD WS is an impressive collaboration tool… no doubt it will gather even more momentum as users flock to Tablets, AutoCAD enabled smartphones, iPads and other mobile devices. Using “WS” users can work in the cloud and do a number of col things like: edit DWG files, collaborate with a team, work on the go with a mobile device (like an iPhone), store files securely online, view a timeline of revisions and more. Check out this video for an impressive look… See also the AutoCAD WS blog for more tips and tricks – follow #AutocadWS on twitter for more.



10 Tweets of Interest From the Geo Twitter Sphere

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Tweets come and go so fast and it’s so easy to miss out on some great tips – I once read that they estimate over 95% of tweets are never even seen! That’s why I like to “fave” items of interest and then periodically share them here for all to enjoy. The following are a few recent Tweets of interest mostly from the Geo Twitter Sphere… enjoy!

  • @lbschat Add foursquare location information to your business’ Facebook page
  • @manomarks We’re now accepting student applications for Google Summer of Code
  • @mashable Sprint Declares War Against AT&T’s Acquisition of T-Mobile
  • @jeffshaner announcement of #Playbook running #Android Apps means #ArcGIS on #Blackberry soon
  • @databasin Interactive map shows sea ice retreat in Arctic
  • @jsteffenson Cool map! RT @spangrud: ‘Best Map’ in journalism
  • @techvibes – Trust us, they’re everywhere: 8 ways to identify a social media douchebag
  • @googlemapmaker – We’re proud to introduce you to our Google Map Maker Advocates, our mapping community leaders for 2011
  • @w2e – The Business of Open Data Just Got Bigger: DataMarket Launches Internationally
  • @LindaHecht – Watching video of #Esri‘s Brent Jones talk about Who Has the Most Accurate Information?

10 Cool Geo, Mobile, Developer events of interest

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Spring is here and that means events, lots of them! the following are 10 very cool, geeky, and heavy, Geo Developer events of interest. Save the date if you really want to get your hands dirty with some code…  10 interesting events coming up this spring/summer:

  1. Data 2.0 – April 4, 2011, San Fran
  2. Location Intelligence USA – March 30-31, 2011, Chicago IL
  3. Where2.0 – April 19-21, 2011, Santa Clara CA
  4. Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 San Mateo, CA
  5. Geoworld summit, May 12, 2011, New York NY
  6. MeeGo 2011 – May 23-25, 2011, San Fran, CA
  7. Telematics Detroit 2011 – June 8-9, 2011, Detroit MI
  8. Future of Web Apps (FOWA). June 27-29, Las Vegas NV
  9. Google I/O 2011 – May 10-11, 2011 San Fran
  10. Apple DevCon 2011 – June 6-10, 2011 San Fran

More details, dates, and weblinks can be found HERE

NAVTEQ map and location content for Panasonic’s LUMIX DMC-TZ20/ZS10, DMC-FT3/TS3 cameras

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I’m really digging this one… Navteq is going to be powering some digital cameras from Panasonic, more specifically, NAVTEQ is supplying NAVTEQ map and location content for Panasonic’s LUMIX DMC-TZ20/ZS10 and DMC-FT3/TS3, the newest member of Panasonic’s  LUMIX Series of digital cameras – this is a no-brainer I think! I love the idea of a map/Geo leader getting behind a camera maker and hyping the GPS and location provisioning. I recall back around 2000 when Kodak actually did this with a device called the FIS-265 (I think) where the big selling point of the camera was the GPS and integration with GIS and mapping software… Kodak dropped the ball and never really steamrolled ahead with the device though… big mistake!

The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ20/ZS10 and DMC-FT3/TS3 features a built-in GPS (Global Positioning System) function allowing geotagged images to be pinpointed via POI data supplied by NAVTEQ. As such, images can be shared with friends and families easily. This built-in GPS system automatically tags the latitude and longitude data of each photo taken, giving users details on where the photos or videos were taken. For example, it could show the name of the Country/Region, State/Prov./County, County/Township, City/Town/Village and Landmark.

See details of the camera HERE

Public Availability of SimpleGeo Storage – spatial database in the cloud

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Some news from SimpleGeo as the company announces that on Tuesday March 29 the anticipated public launch of SimpleGeo Storage will finally roll out. Some details… recall, SimpleGeo Storage is a geographically aware spatial database in the cloud –  a general purpose spatial database that is suitable for a large (and growing) number of applications being created by developers.

In response to the huge demand (in particular from gaming)  from developers for real-time location-aware data the company has been developing this solution for the past 8 months – their  own distributed spatial database technology based on the latest research in multidimensional data structures and distributed database theory. This from Joe Stump, SimpleGeo CTO and Co-Founder,  “Unlike other spatial databases, you don’t have to be a GIS expert to use SimpleGeo Storage. You can quickly, securely, and easily access SimpleGeo Storage from a very simple HTTP API from any mobile device, server, or website in your stack.”

See more details HERE

Filed Under: gis

Event – 2011 Washington GIS Conference

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Soem details of the annual Washington State GIS / Geo Tech event of the year … Make your plans now to be part of the 14th annual 2011 Washington GIS Conference on May 9-11 in Lynnwood. This is of the most popular and affordable local GIS conferences around! Register before April 15 to receive the early-bird conference rate.

Here’s what you can expect:

  • Conference Keynote: The conference keynote speaker is Jack Dangermond with Esri ? one of the most well-known figures in the geospatial industry!
  • Conference Workshops: Attend one of 7 high quality conference workshops on Monday, May 9.
  • Conference Track Sessions: Share your work and ideas with colleagues! Speakers are eligible to attend the Monday workshops for just an additional $10 over the Tuesday-Wednesday registration.
  • Students: Are you a student in a GIS program? Enter the 2011 Dick Thomas Student Paper Competition ? top prize is $1,000 cash!

See more details HERE or jump to the event website

Million Dollar Road Trip Grant – Cast a vote for MyCampMate

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Here’s a really cool opportunity for the guys from the MyCampMate app who are really close and in the running to win an awesome grant from the Million Dollar Road Trip crew – see www.milliondollarroadtrip.com. Some details about Tyler and MyCampMate… Tyler is creating an online community that assists each other by openly sharing the spots, tips, sights, updates and notes of their travel and outdoor finds.  His two main struggles are: reaching and growing his community, and keeping positive momentum in the face of slow growth.  Despite the trying experience of bootstrapping a startup, Tyler is committed and passionate about his idea.

Help a fellow mobile Geo Developer kick start his app by dropping a quick vote… thanks – All it takes is a quick click on a link, thats it!  See Details and Vote HERE

For more info about MyCampMate see – New Trip Based Social Network for iPhone – MyCampMate

Mobile Apps To Help Save Some $$ at The Pump

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With gas prices at the pump soaring one has to take advantage of any help they can get. Some of the best ways to reduce your bill is to reduce consumption, perhaps via maps and routing apps, ride sharing, and tuning up your car. there’s also a number of useful mobile apps that can help. Truecar.com has compiled a list of some of the best mobile apps available to save money on gas:

  • GasBuddy: This application maps or lists gas stations in your current area and can be sorted by distance or price.  The cost is free and is available on both the iPhone operating system iOS3.0 or later and the Android 1.5 and up.
  • iGasUp: Provides real-time pricing data on 110,000 gas stations from credit card transactions. When you start the application, the ten cheapest gas stations are provided closest to your location, based on price. The application is $0.99 and is compatible with the iPhone iOS2.2.1 or later.
  • Waze: Want real-time traffic updates, keeping you from slowing down or idling in traffic? This user-generated data allows users to report traffic jams, accidents, police traps and more. The cost is free and is compatible with iPhone iOS3.0.0 or later.
  • Route4me: This application optimizes your route when traveling to multiple destinations to find the best route to your destinations, allowing for 25 to 35 percent better optimized directions.  This application is free and available on the iPhone  iOS 3.2 or later.
  • Carticipate: Carpooling is another way to help you save on gasoline costs.  This  application enables ride sharing within your network of family, friends and co-workers and matches you to locals going your way. This application is free and compatible with iPhone IOS 3.1.2 or later and also available on Facebook.

See more details HERE in this update

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