Monday, May 5. 2008

No Map Dance for Microsoft, Yahoo

It's over for now between Microsoft and Yahoo (Microsoft abandoned their takeover attempt for Yahoo today), and while you won't see either company's mapping technology mentioned in the reports about the takeover attempt, location technology lurked in the background. Why? Well, the bid for Yahoo by Microsoft was all about strengthening the online presence of Mr. Softy. It's all about advertising, and not just online advertising. ALL ADVERTISING.

Continue reading "No Map Dance for Microsoft, Yahoo"

Twisney - another step forward for mashups?

Some time ago I noted how the next step in mashups (after map mashup 1.0 - putting locations on a map) was sites making their own data. I typically pointed to Zillow as an example. And, you could add any site that included user generated or user corrected data, I suppose. This week I ran into a mashup that is another sort of next step for geospatial mashups: Twisney.com It's built off Twitter, Flickr and Virtual Earth and from that you can probably guess that it's a way to post real time pics/comments to a map of Walt Disney World.

Users send images (via Twitter or e-mail) and put a location/comment in the subject. The site extracts keywords for locations (there's a reference list, but most things you'd think of should work; if they don't real humans figure out the location) and posts the images 'in real time' on the map. By default no contact address/real name is used, but optionally it can be included. There's no registration to use the service, nor a this time, a business model.

A few things make this mashup interesting:

- limited geography
- keywords (not GPS, or any other location technology involved)
- basic e-mail works; more tech savvy folks can use Twitter
- Disney not involved (too bad for them; it'd be a neat addition for its marketing!)
- quick growth with almost no PR (I found one article dated Apr 25 as I write May 3)
- can you imagine this for say the ESRI user conference?

Big shout out to For Immediate Release for noting this app. Frankly, I'm learning more about social networking from that podcast than from just about anything I read. Kudos to Shell and Neville (they are the hosts).

GIS Use in Crime Feels Burden of its own Success

Use of GIS in crime analysis has grown to 23 analysts in Toronto since its introduction in the early 1990s. The data is delivered as "electronic bulletin boards" (not something I'm familiar with) to staff in the field and in patrol cars. Apparently, these are static maps; the hope is to make them interactive using MapXtreme and to integrate other data sources.

“And we’re looking to give the frontline officers the ability to [query directly] and drill down further.”
...
Analysts also have limited ability to bring in data from different sources. “What we are working toward is some type of metadata layer that allows us to...tap into the various different data sources regardless of where they are and be able to display that spatially or in a tabular format,” [the service’s crime analysis training and development coordinator Det. Constable Manny ] San Pedro said.

Sure sounds like users are convinced of GIS use; now it's time to update the technology.

- GCN

Where GIS Gets Lost: Interoperability

That's the premise of Patrick Marshall's article in GCN. He sites high GIS use based on an April survey but offers no figures on interoperability problems. He does however cite specific interoperability problems due to how geocoding is done.

In an April GCN survey, two-thirds of respondents said their agencies already use GIS applications, and most said they expected to use more geospatial data in the next five years. Surprisingly, 67 percent of respondents also reported that their organizations were already using location-based services for tracking vehicles or other assets.

Although hundreds of geospatial applications are blossoming at the federal, state and local levels, they have been developed in large part independently, without common standards.

As a result, an application developed by one organization often can’t digest and work with data collected by another.

There's an exploration of HSIP and its limited availability to all levels of government due to licensing restrictions and query challenges. More interesting is how Sam Bacharach of OGC explains how its standards work, but are not always used.

However, just because most software supports OGC interfaces doesn’t mean that a consultant or vendor will use them. “They know [their own interfaces] better, and it’s to their competitive advantage to keep you tied up with their proprietary interfaces,” Bacharach said.
So he said he advises implementers to insist that any application be customized to use standard interfaces.

Is sharing user generated content social networking?

I ask that question based on a discussion of POIFriend.com, a site that let's anyone share points of interest with others for use in websites and GPS units. There are social aspects - visitors can comment, join groups, create avatars, and send updates to those who originate POI lists. Is that enough to make it a social networking site?

Also noteworthy: the site's business model: paid listings, but no ads.

- Digital Journal

Use your body as a mouse for gaming? How about map navigation?

Popular Science describes a new camera that uses lasers to bounce waves off bodies and a camera to record the reflections. That allows it to track track body movements and even create an avatar in 3D. it can be used to drive the controls of video games and I'd guess mapping apps. I guess that means you could take that near holodeck-like walk in the Rockies or down the bike path here in Somerville. Tech Review offers more details of the technology.

via Tech Universe