GeoRSS in “Killer” Mapshup - Your Calendar on a Map

Wired titled it a killer mashup; I just like that it uses geoRSS and Yahoo Pipes.

Blogger Tony Hirst mixed an RSS feed from Google Calendar with some KML generated using Yahoo Pipes as a middleman, to come up with today’s best mashup: your Google Calendar plotted on a map.

Head over to Hirst’s blog for the gritty details, but the process isn’t too difficult. You’ll just need to add the XML output for your calendar (it will need to be a public feed) to the Yahoo Pipe which will then extract the locations and generate a geoRSS feed. Enter that URL in the Google Maps search box and you’ll see all the events plotted out on the map.

GeoTate - Another way to tag photos

The add-on available for several cameras is a clever solution, GeoTate, for tagging images that doesn’t drain the camera battery. Instead of carrying a full GPS chip, the camera uses GPS radio and captures just base information and the actual location is determine by communication with servers after the images are downloaded to a computer. The solution was launched at PMA (the photo show) in Vegas this passed week.
Per engadget, the cameras inlcude a “GPS radio courtesy of New Zealand-based Rakon.” Here’s how GeoTate works:

every time the shutter is triggered, the camera’s memory card briefly captures the raw data from the GPS radio, associating it with each photo. Then, once the pictures have been imported into Geotate’s proprietary client, auxiliary location data is downloaded from a central server, which is then synthesized with the camera data using local resources to establish actual coordinates.

Wall Street Still Wary on Nokia/NAVTEQ

That’s the conclusion of a detailed piece from Medill (that’s the journalism school at Northwestern).

Among the reasons for NAVTEQ stock drop:

- “Nokia has yet to file for antitrust clearance by the European Union, and that’s raising doubts”
- Nokia is waiting to see how TomTom/Tele Atlas deal fairs in the EU
- There’s a chance, about 10%, the deal won’t go through

Chinese Telecom Invests in Data Provider

We may not be as familiar with the companies, but we know about those in telecom buying geographic data providers.

Chunghwa Telecom, the largest in Taiwan, will invest US$2.16 million for a 33.4% stake in Kingwaytek Technology, a subsidiary of a Taiwan-based company focussed on “electronic maps (e-maps).”

- DigiTimes