Tuesday, August 12. 2008

Fire Eagle for All

In other words, Yahoo's Fire Eagle, what I like to call a meta-app because it manages many location-enabled apps, is now open to all. BlinkGeo cited a twitter post announcing the news. Otherwise, it's not yet hit the newswires or the blogosphere. Apparently Greg Sterling from Search Engine Land was there at the Brickhouse when Tom Coates gave the word, but his post is not yet public (I'm guessing he posted it, then pulled it back - I do that now and again...)

I think Fire Eagle is a great thing; though I'm not sure how it'll make money (if that's its goal) and if the required critical mass of players (there are more in the gallery than last time I looked) will sign on to support it.

---
Some updates now that the announcement has made the rounds.

There are the usual "this invades privacy posts/articles":

Yes, Fire Eagle's cool. It also freaks me out - where Charles Cooper at C|NET misrepresents the tool "(Fire Eagle's not an original idea. There's also Loopt, a cell phone-based service that allows people to track and communicate with friends, as well as Whrrl and Brightkite.)" even though a video below with Rafe Needleman indicates there are no other similar tools at this time. Dan Gilmartin of ULocate pipes in the comments.

Privacy worry over location data - The BBC quotes The Centre for Digital Democracy after the announcement: "while these services will be a powerful force in our lives they are a potential privacy nightmare." The article goes on to note the deeper issue, that other sites (not Fire Eagle) may store location data: "Some blogs note however that while users can purge information from Fire Eagle, this will not delete location data collected over time by authorised sites." Fire Eagle makes it policy quite clear.

Privacy Advocates Are Not Pleased With Yahoo Fire Eagle - dbTechno alleges that headline, but cites no one in particular.

I personally think most people don't understand that Fire Eagle alone does nothing. To use it, you need to hook up apps that determine your location (like those on your phone/laptop/etc. - and pay attention to how they use your location data) and then to apps that you want to use your location data (like for finding local restaurants, etc. - and pay attention to how they use your location data). Yahoo sits in between and brokers the information. I think it's a great way to manage location information and privacy as you can turn off or fuzz up data from the collection side before its passed on the use the data side.

With the open release several more applications have been added to the Gallery, which now you need a Fire Eagle login to access. Some of the new ones: SPOT (the messenger for when you need help), Dash (so you can update Fire Eagle from your in car GPS), BrightKite (so you can provide your location from Fire Eagle to use in that social network).

iPod touch contest ends Wed!

Just two more days to send in your contribution to our ESRI User Conference coverage. The best submission receives an iPod touch. What did you see that wasn't covered? What one thing caught you off guard? What new technology/tip/vision will you implement back in the office?

Write it up or give us a call for a chance to win!

Full details here! Must be received by end of the day Wednesday (tomorrow!)

WorldChanging Profiles Stanford's Spatial History Project, Mannahatta Project

WorldChanging is one of the great blogs (I was told to read it everyday and I do) and this week profiles two projects relevant to geospatial:

Stanford's Spatial History Project "is bringing together approaches from history and geography, employing GIS and other technologies to find new ways of understanding how the past unfolded in different places."

The Mannahatta Project (I ran into this at the New York State Geospatial Summit) uses "spatial history tools to mentally strip back the years and imagine Manhattan before the arrival of Europeans."

Mapping News from the Newspaper Biz

From Editor and Publisher comes two stories related to newspapers and maps.

First, maps.com's Classified Concepts revamped its online mapping tools for papers to allow more than one category to be posted on a map. So, now instead of a map for open houses and another for garage sales, papers can save money with a single map with both layers. (Sort of funny coming from a GIS perspective, no?)

Second, the Chicago Sun Times has partnered with EveryBlock (the hyperlocal news and informations site). Now Sun Times readers can access "Your Block" right from the paper's site to get at hyperlocal data. No details of the business deal were noted.

SiRF Plummets on Patent Suit Ruling

Shares of Sirf plunged 24% to $2.44 Monday after word spread that the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled its chips infringed on several Broadcom patents. The Street notes this is just one in a number challenges in recent years:

According to iSuppli, an industry research firm, Sirf had more than a 90% share of the market for GPS chips in cell phones in 2006. In the first quarter of 2008, Sirf's share had dwindled to 36%, while Texas Instruments(TXN - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) had grabbed 35% and Infineon(IFX - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) had 21%.

SiRF now has little to offer a buyer and the analysis seems to point straight down for the GPS chip maker.

Podcast: A GIO for DOI: Implications and Questions

Last week Secretary Kempthorn announced plans to appoint a Geographic Information Officer, a GIO for the Department of Interior. After having a week to ponder the announcement, our editors raise some practical and political questions about the position and who may fill it.

Subscribe to Podcast RSS

Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")

Read the show notes

Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index with all the info.