Thursday, May 29. 2008

GIS helps Manage NASCAR Fans

Police and others in Dover, Delaware are now using GIS to better respond to issues related to the large crowds that come to town twice a year for the races. Credit is given to "Gary Nowak, the city's new geographic information system chief," for writing a computer program with the required data. The systems runs on laptops and helps law enforcement respond to situation in the Dover Downs "campgrounds" where tailgaters gather. Apparently near real time data is added, but it's not clear how. Says the local paper: "The program details the status of crowds around the racetrack."

- Delaware Online/The News Journal

To get the rest of the story, read this article from ESRI. It notes the underlying technology and how the data are updated.

Using ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Mobile software from ESRI, staff operating in the command center and in the field can visualize where disturbances, code violations, accidents, and other incidents occur.
This view of the entire race, with real-time event data being posted by field personnel using ArcGIS Mobile, provides the command center with a common operating picture that can be shared with other personnel in different locations. The server-based GIS provides an enterprise platform that can be accessed using browser-based desktop or mobile clients. It makes extensive capabilities available without having to install any special client software and without training.

The project won an ESRI SAG Award in 2007.

China Earthquake Geospatial Research Portal

It's being developed at Harvard.

The CEGRP website is a gateway to maps, GIS data, and GIS analysis to facilitate and to share research efforts focused on the recent earthquakes in China.

Building upon the Task Force initiative of Bao Shuming (China Data Center) and Lin Hui (Institute for Space Earth and Information Science), the CEGRP will collect, document, and distribute GIS datasets and related information to assist in ongoing research.

The CEGRP has support from the Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis and the Harvard Fairbank Center for East Asian Research.

And, they are looking for content.

> GIS layers and datasets related to the earthquake zone

> Photos and narrative documentation of specific sites

> links to agencies conducting GIS analysis about the earthquake

> historical and demographic information related to the earthquake region

> FTP files to our server for distribution and archiving on CERAP portal

- via Twitter

Washington Post Offers Sponsored Mapshup Widget

Clickz reports on this, the paper's 25th widget called Washington Area Apartment Finder:

Apartment hunters in the Washington Metro area can use the widget, which is being sponsored exclusively by residential real estate company The Bozzuto Group, to find apartments based not just on number of bedrooms or price, but by how far they are located from any Metro station. A mash-up of the Metro map and customized Google maps will provide a snapshot of the various listings available.

Here it is, embedded. Is this the future of mashups and part of their business model?

Teachable Moments Courtesy of the Blogosphere

The response the "Biggest Drawing in the World" in the blogosphere (noted here at APB, with appropriate skepticism in the comments) helped get clarification (it was there, in red, yesterday) from its creator. In particular, that the drawing was not made by a suitcase holding a GPS that travelled the globe on DHL vessels. As suggested by many, GPS wouldn't work inside a suitcase inside a plane/boat. And, the paths tracked don't make any sense; some stop in the middle of the ocean. Video below.

Also this month, the Air Force withdrew, at least temporarily, an ad that included misleading narration suggesting a single strike against a single satellite could take down cell phones, crash bank machines and disable GPS navigation. Again, the blogosphere pointed out the misleading part (it'd take downing several satellites to do those things). Video below.

These are great stories for instructors to use to help students understand how technology works and to highlight that you can't believe everything you read or see in a video!


Biggest Drawing in the World


Air Force "Above All" Ad

Combatting MapSpam

Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land has an interview with Google's Director of Product Management for Local, Carter Maslan about MapSpam, that is inappropriate listings appearing in local searches. Bottom line: they are working on it. Most interesting comment:

SEL: What about cases where people want to appear in results for areas where they don't have a physical location (e.g., a "service area"). Is Google going to address that scenario?
CM: Yes, we will. We currently don't allow for service areas, but we recognize that many businesses don't have physical locations and are working to accommodate those businesses. We recommend that businesses without a physical location register themselves as a single business listing using a PO Box.

Google Gears and Location Privacy? Not Yet.

This from C|net's coverage of Google I/O - the company's developer event - specifically demos from Chris Prince, a lead Gears engineer. Recall that Gears is technology that allows Web apps to work, even when not connected to the Internet.

Gears still needs to handle privacy, though, when it comes to sharing location information with Web sites, he added. "There has to be permission for using location data. We haven't figured out the best model yet," Prince said.

Two words: Fire Eagle.