Here's another piece of evidence spatial is mainstream and tied to mobile (as if we needed one):

McObject is offering the Android-ready Perst, a very compact embedded database that includes "R-tree indexes for spatially-oriented applications such as GIS and navigation." Further: "The Perst API is flexible, easy-to-use and very fast compared to alternative commercial Java OODBMSs. "

The database and a demo app, along with the same thing implemented in SQLite (which comes with Android) are avaialble with full source code for download. To be clear, there's an open source license to try, develop and distribute non-commercial apps (free) and a commercial license for commercial apps ($$$).

I can't say I've ever heard of the company or database, the company's other offering, eXtremeDB, is embedded in many mobile and communications devices.

- Press release

Igor Skochinsky did some digging into the Kindle code base and revealed to some goodies hidden inside Amazon's book reading device:

...basic photo viewer, a minesweeper game, and most interesting, location technology that uses the Kindle's CDMA networking to pinpoint its position. There also are some basic location-based services that call up a Google Maps view to show where you are and nearby gas stations and restaurants.

- c|net

Before the holidays you perhaps saw that The Experience B.C. map, from a failed tourist attraction, was available "free to good home." It's half the size of an olympic sized swimming pool. Well, it's got a home: Galey Farms in Victoria. There it will join a sort of agricultural tourist attraction.

Not to be outdone, here's a second big map story from BC. The Challenger Map at 24 x 23 metres was built by forestry millionaire George Challenger and was completed in 1952. It had a home at the PNE B.C. Pavilion until 1997 when it moved into storage. Now, an effort lead by Alan Clapp hopes to repaint the folk art's 196 pieces and put them back together, perhaps to be on display for the 2010 Olympics. It's current home: an Air Canada hangar. Luckily, the company that had stored it since 1997 forgave the unpaid fees. Clapp's vission includes monetary contributions by local businesses and input from school children per the Vancouver Sun.