Thursday, March 6. 2008

Google Pulls StreetView Images Per U.S. Government

"We have been contacted by the military," Google spokesman Larry Yu said. "In those instances where they (the U.S military) have expressed concerns about the imagery, we have accommodated their requests."...
The images that worry the Pentagon include views of bases, including security at the entrances to those installations.

"It actually shows where all the guards are. It shows how the barriers go up and down. It shows how to get in and out of buildings," said Renuart, commander of U.S. Northern Command.

- Reuters

Amazingly, a Google crew asked for and was given permission to film in one base.

Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, chief of the U.S. Northern Command, said Thursday that that the decision to issue a formal ban was made after at least one Google crew requested and then was permitted access to a base, identified in the message as Fort Sam Houston. He said he was concerned that allowing the 360-degree, street-level view could provide sensitive information to potential adversaries and endanger base personnel.

- AP

Pearls of Wisdom from FME User Conference

Peter Batty provided the keynote at this week's event being held in Vancouver. He mentioned disruptive technology. Said a conference goer on the topic, "We've already been disrupted." That's right. The trick now is how to react to and best use the disruptions.

Only recently did FME users hit a wall, a wall about which Safe was not aware. There's a limit of 9000 transformers in a workspace. Two user hit it within two days of one another recently. It's since been fixed.

"People in the field love it most, VPs next most."
- speakers from Burns and McDonald on their FME/Google Earth geospatial dashboard which compiles, CAD, GIS, imagery, work management and other data for a transmission project in Connecticut

RunningMap.com Updated

Word from Lat49 (the ads in maps folks) that a partner's app, RunningMap.com (from GeoSport Mapping Inc) has been updated. I confess, there are now so many services (free and fee) to save your routes, I never visited this one. The updates are user accounts and the ability to save maps as public or private. Also, the site is no longer in beta (I think....) and hopes to make money via the Lat49 ads. One other key point: the site is built on Yahoo! Maps and has been since 2006.

Business Weekly Question Mike Sanderson of 1 Spatial

The take away quote: "The future is a 3D world!"

- Business Weekly (UK)

NAVTEQ: Advertisers May Soon Pay for your GPS Map Updates

"We're still a licensing fee based company. ...More and more we're looking at advertising to make revenue."

- Clifford Fox, Navteq's senior VP map division, as told to ZDNet.com.au (did anyone else notice that ZD filed for bankruptcy (G4) this week? Yikes!)

- C|net

Teachable Moment: How long is the Iditarod Trail?

The Anchorage Daily News reports on why there are so many answers - so related to the changing route, others to technology, others to history... Interesting stuff.

No matter the "best" answer for this year's course - to be determined this year with GPS devices aboard a number of sleds - I'll be remembering "1049." Why? That's what Hobo Jim quotes in the song: Iditarod Trail.

Hey, Give me team and a good lead dog and a sled that’s built so fine
Let me race those miles to Nome, one-thousand-forty-nine
Then when I get back to my home, hey I can tell my tale
I did, I did, I did The Iditarod Trail