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

Convergence? Not for Jamais Cascio

Jamais Cascio is a researcher at the Institute for the Future. His vision of the future doesn’t have converged devices that do it all.

But in a few years, all these devices will be far more specialized. You might have a special pocket-size electronic map that’s just for grabbing maps off the web and displaying them in a simple format. At the same time, every device you own will become computer-network-ready. Instead of having a 50-inch plasma-screen TV and a computer monitor, you will just have a big flat-screen monitor that you can use to tune into Torchwood or read your favorite blogs. Why have two monitors when TV and the web are both streamed over the Internet, anyway?

Annalee Newitz at Metroactive

Media Critic on CNN’s “Magic Board”

I love that media critics are critiquing mapping technology - not the maps so much, but the tech. This from Troy Patterson at Slate:

The best shtick going on CNN this election season is its wall-sized touch-screen interactive map of these United States. Lou Dobbs last night called it a “magic board,” about which claim Wolf Blitzer was politely skeptical: “I don’t know if it’s magic, but it’s very, very sophisticated.” Let’s split the difference and call it nifty. At the board, chief national correspondent John King would call up county-level results in Texas or project what advantage Hillary Clinton could gain in delegates by winning some caucus by such-and-such a margin. The board is an impressive tool, and the only catch is that CNN mostly uses it to demonstrate exactly how impressive the board is.

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