Thursday, February 28. 2008

Google: Please Add "Bike There"

A statewide bike advocacy e-mail list circulated a request to sign a petition that encourages Google to add a "Bike There" option along side it's "Drive there" and "Take public transportation" buttons for getting from A to B. You can find a link to it at Google Maps Bike There.

I'm a bike commuter and recreational rider, so I'm all for more information on the safest, "best" routes. My questions are:

Has Google ever added content to Google Maps because of a petition? I'm not saying this won't work, just curious about a precident.

How labor intensive will it be to collect bike route data in comparison to say public transit data? I know there's bike data out there and more and more communities are hiring bike coordinators (my city and many neighboring ones do) but pulling together nationwide or even big-city wide data is a challenge beyond public transit.

What's the return for Google? As much as we love to think Google Maps is all about us, it's at least in part about advertising.

Could/should this be a mapplet? I know this means it's not right in the interface, but it'd be available and perhaps quicker to implement than waiting for Google to take up the challenge.

Wednesday, February 27. 2008

And Now, Autodesk is Slammed for Reporting Good Earnings

You have to wonder what investment analysts are thinking. Autodesk (ADSK) reports record revenues of $599 million for Q4 2007, a 20% increase of last year's numbers and the stock is slammed over $6 per share, a roughly 15% drop. But here is what get's them nervous. Their earnings release included the following statement: "For fiscal year 2009, the Company is maintaining its previously provided revenue guidance range of $2.425 billion and $2.475 billion. However, the company is lowering its previous estimate of earnings per diluted share."

BAM! And the stock tumbles. But what is bad news for some, is good news for others. The Motley Fool has a different take in their pronouncement that "Autodesk Will Rise Again." ADSK was selling for $50 per share as recently ad December 28^th.

Quote of the Week

A researcher at Chrysler told me that navigational systems in cars have an 80%-20% rule, only it's more like 95%-5%. 95% of the time gps is used by 5% of the people, and the majority of those folks are salesmen, and on the road most of the time. 95% of the time we get into our car, we know how to get to where we are going, and don't need directions. This may be changing as features like "best route" and "congestion avoidance" are added, but still seems to ring true.

- Leslie Rule writing at Media Shift Idea Lab (a PBS blog)

Google Maps Search by Neighborhood/Rating

The new addition was announced yesterday. Ok, I get user ratings, but neighborhoods are interesting! Well, not so much for me. I did my generic local search "somerville coffee" and was offered the chance to refine by neighborhood. Alas, the neighborhoods (just 3) were in Boston (Fenway, Downtown, Kenmore Square).

- Mashable

GPS-enabled Phones for OneCall

I found this in an article about updating OneCall in Ontario, Canada, but the pilot program is in Virginia.

Excavators at a Fairfax County, Virginia site are using their GPS (Global Positioning System) enabled phones to walk the entire perimeter of proposed excavation areas.

After the outline of the area is complete, a file of the demarcated perimeter is sent to a one-call centre.

- Daily Commercial News and Construction Record

AdNav - Ad Supported Navigation

The name says it all. AdNav refers to itself as a GPS Solutions Marketing Company. The idea is to subsidize satnav distribution by hotels, car rental agencies, airlines and make money by offering ads on the devices to local businesses. The platform is called Boomerang and it allows the partner to customize the data offered. Among the offerings are weather, directions, Internet access, city guides. Among the partners are Tele Atlas, CustomWeather, Ask and others. I didn't see any listing of who's advertising yet.

While very clever, my sense is that regular business travelers will be in the habit (soon) of using their phones for such things. Vacationers are a more likely target, but they'll have to learn of the offering before they pick up the NeverLost enabled car at Hertz.

via SmartCompany (Australia)