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“No-one has ever attempted to map weeds using remote sensing technology on such a large scale before,” reports Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries, Tim Mulherin of Queensland, Australia’s efforts.
The weed in question is lantana which is among the 20 “weeds of national significance.” It forms dense areas so ground observations are limited. Thus the use of satellite imagery and GIS.
The local paper notes the event scheduled 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Cafe at headquarters in Redlands, California.
“The company made no mention of how many jobs it has open but said positions are open software development, finance and customer service, among others.”
Here’s the full press release.
Writing at CMSWatch (that’s content management system watch), analyst Theresa Regli asks that question. She notes the flurry of geo-mashups and explains what MetaCarta offers. Her conclusion:
While this is surely a growing piece of the 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle that is Enterprise Content Management, there’s not necessarily a practical business application for the geo-web in your enterprise. Don’t be too quick to be dazzled by the demo; after all, do you really need your CMS to tell you where the local pizza joints are? MetaCarta claims that 74% of documents on the Internet are “geo-relevant,” or plottable on a map. Is the same true of the content in your enterprise? Will plotting your documents geographically add value to the experience, or enable you to manage or find content more effectively? Perhaps, but as with any software that may look cool on the surface, be sure to assess your real business needs before you invest.
Update: The folks at Connected Tennessee corrected me about the first/second issue. From their note:
Your blog indicates that we misstated the presence of the Internet Speed Map as the first map of its kind, citing a later comment made in the release about out Broadband Inventory Map. That is a completely different type of map. Here is the segment of the release I am referring to:
“Connected Tennessee has also released maps that provide a very detailed picture of where broadband does and does not exist across Tennessee. The first Broadband Inventory Map was released on July 27, 2007. Tennessee is only the second state to benefit from such detailed and accurate maps of broadband availability.”
The Broadband Inventory Map is the second of its kind, following the efforts made by the state of Kentucky under the Connect Kentucky initiative. That is a completely different map, which is made clear in the press release.
I apologize for the error.
—-original post——
First off the oddity: The headline reads:
“State first to offer broadband speed maps”
In the article, there’s this sentence:
“Tennessee is only the second state to benefit from such detailed and accurate maps of broadband availability.”
Apparently, per the press release (pdf), the state is the first with a county by county version of such a map.
That aside, there are two points I want to make about the map - well maps - since the organization offers up all sorts - including broadband density and detailed county maps mostly in PDF and JPG. First, such mapping efforts help reveal tech injustice if that’s the correct term, and can help push economic development. Second, there’s user generated content: those in the state can run a test on the site’s server to have their speed added to the database.
The work, being done at Purdue, depends on not just one sensor in one phone, but the input of many phones relaying sensed information to a central server which can put the “picture” together of say such material traveling down the street.
via Slashdot and reader Larry
