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Slashdot notes that many sources say Microsoft is looking to buy part of AOL. Of interest to us is the MapQuest part. MapQuest still does great in the ratings of mapping websites, but is behind in the “open API, mashup” world of Google and Yahoo. It would certainly be interesting to see MapQuest rolled into Virtual Earth.
Jumping ahead of the full launch of Pictometry imagery in MSN Virtual Earth, Microsoft, via MSNBC, today offers access to imagery taken on January 11, 2004 and between September 6 and 11, 2005. Users click on camera icons on the maps of New Orleans to find imagery, or they can key in an address. Microsoft pushed these images out ahead of schedule to help government and other agencies in their work. Images do not exactly match due to restrictions in flying over the area after the hurricane.
Clicking on an icon pops up before and after images side by side. Each is individually “zoomable” or they can manipulated separately. (Via Microsoft Blog)
Coverge of mapping, GIS and geospatial technologies on Sept 15.
Geospatially-Related Funds for Katrina
MAPPS has started a fund to support families of members displaced by the hurricane to get back on their feet.
SurveyingZone established a Land Surveyors and Mappers Relief Fund through the NSPS Foundation Donations are requested for the targeted goal of providing for surveyors and mappers affected by Hurricane Katrina. The NSPS Foundation has the NSPS Foundation Disaster Relief Fund “which will be available for any calamity that affects NSPS members in the surveying, mapping and land information sciences.”
Geospatial Technology Aids in Recovery
“Veltri, a contractor who serves companies’ computer needs, had concluded that rescuers would probably need mobile, self-contained GIS mapping units during a crisis. He said such equipment should be available to incident commanders, not tucked away in government buildings and vulnerable to power failures that can take out telephone and Internet connections.
“The call finally came on Monday. Veltri’s company was called in, on a volunteer basis, to help rebuild wireless communication systems in the New Orleans area. GIS mapping will help technicians and engineers make the best decisions, Veltri said yesterday as he and his team, including Robert Anderson, a consultant from Barrington, drove out of Rhode Island and headed south.”
Providence Journal (Rhode Island)
“The Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC), the research arm of the Department of Economic Development, prepared and recently delivered maps to the U.S. Department of Labor looking at how Hurricane Katrina will affect workers, businesses and transportation systems in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”
Kansas City InfoZine
“Jumping ahead of the full launch of Pictometry imagery in MSN Virtual Earth, Microsoft, via MSNBC, today offers access to imagery taken on January 11, 2004 and between September 6 and 11, 2005. Users click on camera icons on the maps of New Orleans to find imagery, or they can key in an address.”
All Points Blog
GM will soon introduce a system that will automatically do a monthly “health scan” of cars via its OnStar system. It’s no extra charge for the remote sensing. I wonder if someday they’ll do that with our bodies…
A leading cellphone operator in Austria, A1/Mobilkom, provided MIT researchers with data on the density of cellphone call, origins and destinations of calls and the positions of users to study calling patterns. The Mobile Landscapes project created maps for Graz, Austria’ s second-largest city. “This opens up new possibilities for urban studies and planning. The real-time city is now real: a system that is able to continuously sense its condition and can quickly react to its criticalities,” says the project leader. The live maps are on display in Graz from October until January.
