SlashGeo

Yesterday Google announced the new Google Maps, including several significant changes. It's going to be available this summer, and there will finally be an iPad version of the Google Maps app. The Google Geo Dev blog tells you how to use the new look for your maps today via the Maps API. The Google Earth Blog (not from Google) shares an entry on Google Earth integration in Google Maps might mean the demise of the Google Earth Plugin. APB also shares and entry about the Three New Geo APIs for Android: Fuse Location Provider, Geofencing, Active Recognition.

Snippets from the announcement: "

• Every click draws a new map highlighting the things that matter most 
  Like a friend drawing you a map to her favorite restaurant, with only the roads and landmarks you need to get there, the new Google Maps instantly changes to highlight information that matters most.
• Easier to find the best local places
  In addition to a customized map, we’ve also made it easier to uncover the best local gems. Search results are labeled directly on the map with brief place descriptions and icons that highlight business categories and other useful information – like restaurants that are recommended by your Google+ friends.
• Amazing imagery for exploring the world
  Of course, no map would be complete without amazing images for exploring the world. The new carousel gathers all Google Maps imagery in one spot enabling you to fly through cities, walk canyon trails, climb mountains, and even swim the oceans. And on a WebGL-enabled browser, like Google Chrome, the carousel is also where you'll find the Earth view which directly integrates the beautiful 3D experience from Google Earth into the new maps."

The best way to get an overview of what's new is certainly to watch this 2 minutes video:

Hi,

I would like to let you now about Button TrackR. This is a coin-sized wireless device that communicates to your smartphone or tablet to help you keep track of your commonly misplaced items. If the user is about to leave an item behind, the phone and device will notify the user & take a GPS snapshot of where the item was left. If the item goes missing, our new Crowd Sourced Tracking technology can be used to receive live gps updates of where the lost item is. To learn more about how the Button TrackR can help you and your readers, visit our Indiegogo campaign at http://igg.me/at/ButtonTrackR/x/2866976 or check out our latest press release at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/5/prweb10724983.htm.

If you have any questions, please contact me or our CEO at chris@phonehalo.com.

Thanks for the support!

Ariel Rothbard

Phone Halo

M (209) 345-6726

www.PhoneHalo.com

Chris Holmes shares a pretty insightful and informative letter in an entry named 'Opening Esri'. Esri's closer relationship with open source started with providing code on GitHub last September and even up to last February's official entry named going open source with Esri.

From the Chris Holmes entry: "So I wanted to give to Esri a measurable roadmap of actions to take that would signal to me a real commitment to ‘open’. [...] Each piece of Esri technology ideally could be used stand alone with other pieces. Stated another way, there should be no lock-in of anything that users create – even their cartography rules. [...] it is a business risk, since it opens up more potential competition. But it’s also a big business opportunity if done right. And reaches beyond mere business to being a real force for good in the world, becoming a truly loved company, with lots of friends."

InfoQ have published a talk by Gary Gale (@vicchi) called "The Ubiquitous Digital Map (Abridged)" giving a half hour potted history of the digital map. Worth a watch (but not as full screen as you'll miss the slides!) as knowing where we came from might help to understand where we are going.

IEEE GOLD Section Quebec announces a DL event organized in collaboration with Centre de Recherche en Géomatique (CRG) - Université Laval on 23 May 2013 in Laval University, Quebec City. Paul E. Gartz member of the Boeing Technical Fellowship,former president of IEEE AESS, and IEEE global lecturer is the invited speaker. With over forty years of experience in large-scale and multi-billion dollar programs on commercial, defense, and civil project in aerospace and communications industries, Paul will talk about “Systems-of-Systems (SoS) & Systems Engineering” and “How Geomatics Apps are Changing the World through SoS“ in two exclusive sessions (morning and afternoon). The third session (evening) is dedicated to networking among the participants.  

For more info, contact Kyarash Shahriari <kyarash.shahriari@ieee.org> or visit the event page.

When: 23 May 2013

Where: Room #2320, Pavilion Kruger, 2425, rue de la Terrasse, Université Laval, Quebec City

Speaker: Paul E. Gartz, member of Boeing Technical Fellowship, former president of IEEE AESS, IEEE global lecturer

Event Program:

9:00 am – 10:30 am: “Systems-of-Systems (SoS) & Systems Engineering / Educating 21st Century Engineers”

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm: “How Geomatics Apps are Changing the World through SoS”

5:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Networking

GeoNews by Alborz Zamyadi  <alborz.zamyadi.1@ulaval.ca>, Students’ Representative in CRG Board.

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From official sources:

• Google participated to TIME's new Timelapse Project, providing an interactive time-lapse satellite imagery map for the 29 last years  - this was also discussed over Slashdot
• Google also shares a short entry named Bridging the gaps with Street View
• Here's was to expect later this week from Behind the Map at Google I/O
• A week left now, An update on the JavaScript Maps API v2 deprecation

From other sources:

• The Google Earth Android app got a nice update, including native Street View support
• Slashdot discussed a story named Tesla's Elon Musk Talks With Google About Self-Driving Cars
• Unsurprisingly, there was new imagery to Google Earth

Specifically on Google Glass Project:

• Let's start with a discussion named Google Glass Hands-On: Brimming With Potential, Dangerous While Driving
• APB links to a Google Glass Navigation Review, and it's pretty positive
• Someone had to ask, Is Google Glass Too Nerdy For the Mainstream?
• This will likely improve, but for now Google Glass Is the Future — and the Future Has Awful Battery Life
• And yes, Google Glass will work with iPhones too

MapBox announced their open source iOS virtual globe named MapBox Earth.

From the announcement: "We just launched MapBox Earth, a free and open source iOS app that combines the power of a 3D globe with MapBox’s beautiful maps. It’s also a great starting point to build your own 3D mapping app - we’re cracking the 3D globe software market wide open by releasing the source code and building in the open. MapBox Earth is a universal app optimized for iPhone and iPad and it includes beautiful preloaded layers based off of MapBox Streets, MapBox Terrain, and MapBox Satellite. You can switch the map layer with a single tap and feel the maps right in your hands, in gorgeous and fast 3D."

We did mention some other open source virtual globes in the past months / years, such as Glob3 Mobile, the Godzi WebGL Globe, OpenWebGlobe, WebGL Earth, and there's even the Google open source 'WebGL Globe'.

Two days ago the new open source iD editor we mentioned a few times has been officially launched, here's the official announcement OpenStreetMap launches all-new easy map editor and announces funding appeal.

From the announcement: "The new editor, codenamed ‘iD’, boasts an intuitive interface and clear walk-throughs that make editing much easier for new mappers. By lowering the barrier to contributions, we believe that more people can contribute their local knowledge to the map – the crucial factor that sets OSM apart from closed-source commercial maps. [...] The new iD editor is a pure HTML5 experience, using the cutting-edge D3 visualisation library. Behind the clear design and intuitive interface is a sophisticated back-end that automatically recommends the most popular ‘tagging’ conventions used by the OSM community."

Numerous sources discussed the new iD editor, you'll find more technical details on iD on the MapBox blog, MapBox built iD, including multiple links to media coverage. Slashdot also discussed two stories, OpenStreetMap Launches a New Easy To Use HTML5 Editor and OpenStreetMap Adds Easier Reporting of Map Problems.

Slashdot discusses a story named Tool Reveals iPad and iPhone User Locations. Not the first time this happens to major location services providers. We can expect Apple to fix this loophole.

Their summary: "A researcher has found that Apple user locations can be potentially determined by tapping into Apple Maps and he has created a Python tool to make the process easier. iSniff GPS accesses Apple's database of wireless access points, which is collected by iPhones and iPads that have GPS and Wi-Fi location services enabled. Apple uses this crowd-sourced data to run its location services; however, the location database is not meant to be public. You can download the tool via Giuthub."

I was abroad last week. I'll catch up the recent geonews in the coming days.

The open source library at the core of most open source geospatial software and numerous commercial geospatial software just got better, version 1.10.0 of GDAL/OGR has been released a week ago. The previous major version 1.9.0 was released about 16 months ago.

From the release notes: "

• New GDAL drivers:
  • ARG: read/write support for ARG datasets (#4591)
  • CTable2: read/write support for CTable2 datum grid shift format
  • DDS: write-only support for DirectDraw Surface format (#5017)
  • IRIS: read support for products generated by the IRIS weather radar software (#4854)
  • MAP: read OziExplorer .map files (#3380)
  • MBTiles: read-only support for MBTiles rasters (needs libsqlite3)
• New OGR drivers:
  • ElasticSearch: write-only support to write into ElasticSearch databases (needs libcurl)
  • ODS : read/write support for OpenOffice .ods (Open Document Spreadsheets) (needs libexpat)
  • OSM : read-only support for .osm / .pbf OpenStreetMap files
  • PDF: read/write support for vector/structured PDF files
  • XLSX: read/write support for MS Excel 2007 and later Open Office XML .xlsx spreadsheets (needs libexpat)
• RFC 39: OGR Layer algebra methods : http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/rfc39_ogr_layer_algebra
• Add a SQL SQLite dialect :  http://gdal.org/ogr/ogr_sql_sqlite.html
• Make GDAL loadable as a SQLite3 extension (named VirtualOGR) (#4782)
• /vsicurl_streaming/: new virtual file system handler designed to read in streaming mode dynamically generated files
• GDAL API_PROXY mechanism to run GDAL drivers in a separate process:  http://gdal.org/gdal_api_proxy.html
• Significantly improved drivers : PDF, SQLite, JP2OpenJPEG
• Add a geocoding client :  http://gdal.org/ogr/ogr__geocoding_8h.html
• Upgrade to EPSG 8.0 database"

http://www.stateofthemap.org/ to be held in Birmingham, UK 6-8th Sept 2013 is now open for Early Bird registration. Accommodation on-site at Aston University is also available for those who get in quick.

An interesting article on how researchers from IBM used mobile phone data to redraw the bus routes in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's largest city.

Heroku has just announced support for PostGIS 2.0.

https://blog.heroku.com/archives/2013/4/30/heroku_postgres_geospatial_support_now_available

[Editor's note: Heroku is a "SQL Database-as-a-Service"]

The new Geogratis portal is now online. http://www.geogratis.gc.ca

This release comes with new features including a a dynamic extraction data tool (Clip, Zip & Ship), a new cached Basemap and a new version of the research and discovery API for Geogratis.

Don't wait, sign up, now

Hosted by the Portland Open Source GIS Users Group, this "unconference" will follow a 2-day traditional GIS conference, GIS In Action, which includes an open source track on Wednesday May 1st. GIA has a single day rate for those who only want to attend Wednesday.

This Thursday event will take place at PSU Smith Memorial Student Union. In rooms 298, 329, and 323.

This is a participant-driven event! If you've never been to an unconference before, the format and sessions are determined on the day of the event by the people attending. No idea is too big or too small. Everyone gathers in the morning and decides how to organize it. If you want to present, you throw your idea up on the board, sessions get arranged and rearranged and rooms assigned by the crowd and it just sort of all happens. You have to experience it to understand how well this can work.
 

Schedule

9am - Registration

9:30 - Put sessions in rooms based on votes

10:00 - Sessions start

12:00 - Lunch on your own

5:00 - Adjorn for Geo-beers.

About PDX-OSGIS

PDX-OSGIS is a chapter of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGEO). All are welcome- our group ranges from the geo-curious to the überhackers. We now meet on the 3th Wednesday of every month from 6:00-7:30 PM at various locations.

Check out our Google group here: http://groups.google.com/group/pdx-osgeo

The OSGeo Board is pleased to announce that it has approved the application by the pycsw project to enter the incubation process. Incubation is a stepping stone to becoming a full fledged OSGeo project.

pycsw is an OGC CSW server implementation written in Python.

pycsw fully implements the OpenGIS Catalogue Service Implementation Specification [Catalogue Service for the Web]. Initial development started in 2010 (more formally announced in 2011). The project is certified OGC Compliant, and is an OGC Reference Implementation.

pycsw allows for the publishing and discovery of geospatial metadata. Existing repositories of geospatial metadata can also be exposed via OGC:CSW 2.0.2, providing a standards-based metadata and catalogue component of spatial data infrastructures.

Via APB I learned about the public preview of Microsoft's project codename “GeoFlow” for Excel, which delivers 3D data visualization and storytelling. Considering the dominance of Microsoft Excel in multiple sectors, it may become a popular mapping tool.

From their Excel blog announcement: "GeoFlow lets you plot geographic and temporal data visually, analyze that data in 3D, and create interactive "tours" to share with others. [...] With GeoFlow, you can:

1. Map Data: Plot more than one million rows of data from an Excel workbook, including the Excel Data Model or PowerPivot, in 3D on Bing maps. Choose from columns, heat maps, and bubble visualizations.
2. Discover Insights: Discover new insights by seeing your data in geographic space and seeing time-stamped data change over time. Annotate or compare data in a few clicks.
3. Share Stories: Capture "scenes" and build cinematic, guided "tours" that can be shared broadly, engaging audiences like never before."

Related, Esri Maps for [Microsoft] Office 2.0 was released earlier this month.

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

On the open source front:

• Both Leaflet and MapBox are current hot topics, today you get both in the same announcement: Announcing MapBox.js 1.0 with Leaflet
• With open data, there's no limit to new services... here's OpenSnowMap.org, leveraging OpenStreetMap and MODIS snow cover data (via OGD)
• GeoTools 9.1 has been released
• And GeoServer 2.3.1 too
• Here's the open source OSCAR-js javascript map API, which "extends OpenLayers and uses popular UI libraries (jQuery UI and YUI)"
• The FOSS4G CEE 2013 conference completed their Keynote Speakers lineup

On the Google front:

• The GEB informs us that Google Earth 7.1 has been released, with enhancements mostly for the Google Earth Pro 7.1 version
• Google is Celebrating the 50th country on Street View, with Hungary and Lesotho being the latest additions, with expansions in Poland and Romania
• For those interested, The Boston Marathon Manhunt in Google Earth
• If you prefer Ice Hockey, here's The world of Hockey in Google Earth
• Canadian Public Alerts are now included in Google Now, Google Search and Google Maps

In the everything-else category:

• Here's the U.S. New Strategy for Earth Observations, directly from the White House: "The new Strategy outlines a process for evaluating and prioritizing Earth-observation investments according to their value to society in critical areas such as agriculture, global change, disasters, water resources, and weather."
• The Spatial Law blog offers a summary on Privacy of geolocation: the new European and American law
• Indications that Facebook and Google Would Like Apple to Feature Them More Prominently on iOS
• An interesting entry on crisis cartography
• Discussed over Slashdot, Should California Have Banned Checking Smartphone Maps While Driving?
• Also discussed by the same site, Why Local Is So Damn Hard For Startups: Foursquare Borrows $41M To Try Again
• On standards, interesting read the consequences of the GeoJSON 1.0 axis order policy (via James)
• Also on standards, in this OGC blog entry, you'll learn about the efforts related OGC OpenPOIs Registry: "A database of points of interest information containing names and point locations for millions of businesses and civic places across the globe"
• The GEB tells us about the new Geo3D Market website, a place to buy and sell 3D models
• APB informs us that Microsoft Updates Maps App in Windows 8
• From the same source, a definition of geoblocking: "Geoblocking is the system used to limit your access to the internet, based on your geographic location."

In the maps category:

• APB links to a Greenpeace Map of the Arctic, nicely wrapped I must admit
• In Vietnam, you may get a 2,400$ fine for National Map violations
• A New chart shows the entire topography of the Antarctic seafloor in detail for the first time
• Via APB, an article named Can quality of life be mapped?

Spring is here, time to get outside and enjoy the warm weather!  Pixeostar has released a new location based GPS mapping app, called Blipp, that is great for the outdoors! This free app allows you to mark your memorable moments on a map and share them with Facebook friends. Imagine you are hiking up a mountain and you get a notification that 3 years ago your best friend was engaged there – how cool! From big events like weddings to smaller ones like catching your first fish, if it’s important to you, you can share it with Blipp.  Sharing life’s events with friends is important, and sharing them on an interactive map makes it even more special - it’s a great way to stay connected.

Contest Information:
To help promote Blipp we decided to run a contest. Check out official rules here: http://www.blippapp.com/contest/

At the end of the contest (April 30th) we will randomly select 1 entry and that winner will receive a Garmin Handheld GPS .

Please download the app here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blipp

Open Jump 1.6.1 released on 12 April 2013!!!

Great lightweight PostGIS geom viewer. Now can write back to PostGIS too!

http://sourceforge.net/projects/jump-pilot/files/OpenJUMP/1.6.1/

Version 1.6.0 New Features

• adding support for GeoTIFF with transformation matrix georeferencing courtesy of Nicolas Ribot
• add arrange view horizontally and vertically to the view menu
• add a PostGIS writer including 5 options to create a PostGIS table, to insert rows or to update an existing table.
• add a "selection" parameter option to RunDataStoreQueryPlugIn
• add Dynamic Attributes based on beanshell snippets + persistence in openjump project files.
• add Tools > Generate > Create Point Layer from Attribute Table
• add Tools > Edit Attributes > Join Table... to attach attributes from an one layer to another layer based on a unique ID field
• add 6 plugins derived from Noder plugin available in LayerView context menu
• add Merge selected features in place in LayerView context menu (FR 3506380)
• add Offset curve plugin
• add View > Map decoration > NorthArrow plugin
• add densifier function in Tools > Analysis > Geometry functions (FR 3516240)
• add Tools > Edit Attributes > Add 3D Geometry Attributes plugin
• add Tools > Edit Attributes > Add Geometry Attributes plugin

[....]

Jump, jump everybody jump.