Wednesday, March 26. 2008

IBM Invests in PostgreSQL

For those who've not been following, Sun [corrected, originally said Oracle, oops] acquired MySQL, the folks behind the open source database, that among other things, supports spatial. Today word that IBM is part of a funding round for EnterpriseDB, one the big companies involved with PostgreSQL, another open source database. PostGIS adds spatial functionality to PostgreSQL.

via SlashdotI

Pitney Bowes Head Plans Growth for MapInfo

Martin Murray, PB's CEO said the acquisition went without a hitch and pointed out the company was surprised by the talent it acquired, pointing to Mike Hickey and Mark Cattini. More important the region, Murray sees MapInfo growing to $1 billion in revenue in the next four years. (In fiscal 2006, MapInfo had revenues of $165 million, per the Times-Union.)

- Business Journal Albany

High Court in Singapore Rejects Map Infringement Appeal

The High Court dismissed the appeal made by Virtual Map (VM) against a recent District Court judgment that said its maps were basically copies of those from the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

VM hopes to appeal again, but the court stated the appeal did not sufficiently explain why VM's maps contained SLA fingerprints including "fake" buildings.

- The Business Times Asia

In an amusing twist both organizations are early users of SQL Server 2008, I guess for its spatial capabilities, thought that's not specifically mentioned in an article at HardwareZone.

Not the usual players competing for NZ DOJ/Te Puni Kokiri GIS

"Oracle, Microsoft and open source look likely to fight it out for a GIS project to serve users in both the Justice Department and Te Puni Kokiri [New Zealand Government's principal adviser on the Crown's relationship with iwi, hapu and Maori]." The two groups are looking to work together on one set of requirements.

- Computerworld New Zealand

Chinese Government Cracks Down on Online Mapping Sites

China's Xinhua news agency reports that government feels that illegal mapping and GIS sites threaten state security and thus eight departments will keep a closer eye on them. Presumably, some will be shut down.

The State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping said there are some 10,000 such sites which show maps "without approval."

CBS/Loopt LBS Ads Get Positive Privacy Review

Eric Larkin at PC World agrees with Ari Schwartz, deputy director for the Center for Democracy and Technology: "--though they could do better--the companies are, for the most part, approaching this correctly."

What did they say the companies were doing right?

Here's how it will work, says Cyriac Roeding, executive vice president at CBS Mobile: First, you must opt in (sort of) by enabling the use of location-based services for purposes other than just emergency 911 on your phone. What such services will be called and the steps for allowing them will vary by handset and provider, but the setting will be general and won't mention ads.

If your carrier and you agree to use Loopt, the service will obtain location data from the phone, using cell tower triangulation instead of GPS. At first, only Sprint and Boost Mobile customers will get the service, via CBS Sports Mobile and CBS Mobile sites viewed in their phone's browser. Loopt substitutes a location-based advertisement (for a nearby eatery, say) in place of the potentially less-relevant ad that would otherwise appear on those pages.

Now for the privacy measures: Roeding says that the Loopt/CBS Mobile process won't associate phone location data with the user (by sending a phone number or account name with the location, for instance) and that the service won't save anyone's location data.

- Washington Post