GPS in Pay Phones!

With all the hoopla about location-enabling cell phones, this story out of Canada is amusing, if not sad. Apparently a fellow was essentially stealing phone booths, saying they were to be replaced. He’d take the coins out then sell the booth for scrap. After some police work, he was caught, but now Canadian phone company Telus is putting GPSs in the pay phones, just in case they are nabbed.

Tracking College Kids via Cell Phone?

Ok, I know about tracking little kids via GPS watches or cell phones, and could possibly see why one would do that. But an AP article notes one Dad who tracks two college kids. Do kids not go to college (and parents send them and often fund part or all of the experience) to let them practice being independent? I put 1000 miles between myself and Mom and Dad in part to chart my own course, but in part to give them limited access to me. This, I believe, is good for both parties, assuming the child is really read for independence. If you kid is not ready to live without Mom and Dad tracking him or her, he or she is probably not ready to live independently and do such things as attend college out of state.

Mapdex Grows

Many have noted the value of Mapdex.org, a website that allows searching for geospatial Web services, specifically ArcIMS ones. Recently two sets of goodies were added: the ability to search via geographic location (via text, e.g., address) and the ability to integrate the results with Google Earth. The latter requires turning ArcIMS into GE for which a script is provided.  (Via OgleEarth)

Google Adds NOAA Images to Google Earth

Ogle Earth notes even more new data for Google Earth is now available. NASA, Carnegie Mellon University, and Google created an overlay for the 3228 post-Hurricane Katrina images collected by NOAA (through Sept 2nd).

Stefan also points out that Google Maps is still the easiest way to get user collected data out onto the Web due to its interface. Google Earth requires far more work. And of course, from a user perspective, Google Maps requires no download and is far less intimidating to the novice interactive map user.

Forbes on Google Mapping and Katrina

Google is Everywhere. That’s the title of an article in Forbes highlighting how Google Earth and Google Maps are aiding the sharing of information about Katrina.