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.

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.

This week Adena Schutzberg offers a condensed verison of the presentation she gave last week at the NYS Geospatial Summit, in Skenateles, NY. It focuses on the challenges of finding, accessing and moving Web-based content both geospatial and otherwise, and highlights some technologies and tools addressing those challenges. She also looks into the future and predicts what she expects to see in these areas in the coming months and years.

PINPOINT ACCURACY: CNN was reporting on the huge tornado that ripped through Windsor, Colo., days ago when a reporter demonstrated how Google Earth makes it possible to zoom right in on the area that took the hit.

The eye in the sky showed the United States, then focused more and more tightly until there on the camera was an aerial view of the firehouse in Windsor, our Windsor. Wrong Windsor, but still very cool.

Detention of Gujarat fishermen and their boats by Pakistan may soon become a thing of the past. The state government is all set to roll out a cutting edge security edifice that will not only prevent vessels from crossing into Pakistani waters, but also identify each and every fisherman on the sea.
...

The hi-tech system will work on a combination of Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) creating a geo-fence – a kind of virtual fencing along the IBL between India and Pakistan.

The City of Dyersburg will again take advantage of the latest technology to address an age-old problem with the beginning of its pavement management program.
Using GIS and GPS technology, city officials will soon have information on street and sidewalk conditions throughout the city at their fingertips. The data can then be used to determine where problem areas like potholes, cracks and rough spots are and which streets to repair as funds allow.

All week last week, volunteers and city employees armed with GIS mapping tools and tape measures counted, measured and made notes of every tree in three city parks.
...
The workers identified the GPS location of each tree by latitude and longitude; identified individual tree species; measured tree height and circumference; measured the amount of shade provided by each tree; and evaluated the overall health of the trees.