Thursday, August 28. 2008

Poizner Pushes "Pay as You Go" Insurance for California

Steve Poizner is currently the insurance commissioner for California. Before that we knew him as founder Strategic Mapping and SnapTrak. Word is he may run for governor in 2010. For now, though, he's pushing for an option for insurance that would be tied to actual mileage, one that would ideally drop miles travelled and thus air pollution. Thirty other states already have this option. Oh, and no GPS is allowed; it would invade privacy. Odometer or other device readings would be used to confirm mileage.

I'm not sure I follow the logic:

The Environmental Defense Fund estimates that if 30 percent of Golden State drivers participate in this new form of voluntary coverage, the state could avoid 55 million tons of carbon dioxide between 2009 and 2020 -- the equivalent of taking 10 million cars off the road. This would save an estimated 5.5 billion gallons of gas and $40 billion dollars in car-related expenses.

Is the logic, "If I pay more to drive more, then I'll drive less?" That's working "somewhat" with the recent high gas prices. How can they know it'll take 10 million cars off the road? Here in Massachusetts I get a break because I drive fewer than 5000 miles/year. How much lower would my rate be on such a plan (we don't have one here). Would I drive even less? I doubt it, but I'm the first to say that lifestyle issues in my compact city are very different than those in much of California.

- San Francisco Business Times

Predications/Insights from Jeff Holden, the CEO of Pelago (Whrrl)

[on the future] - One is that Amazon ( NSDQ: AMZN) will become a hardware company and the second is something he's banking on?that Apple's ( NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone will evolve from a niche device to one that gains double-digit market share.

- [on what distinguishes Whrrl] "Foot-streaming" is the reason why Holden believes that they can demand high rates for their ads. Foot-streaming is the act of tracking where people go using GPS: "You are able to say people?who go to these places?also go to these places." Sound familiar? Amazon does that all the time, by showing people what other people buy when they buy a particular book. "This has never been done in the physical world."

- [on competitors] Loopt is like candy because you can see where your friends are, and with Yelp, likely only 1 percent of the audience is really engaged, he says.

- mocoNews.net

Wednesday, August 27. 2008

Podcast: Storage and Management of Spatial Data on an IBM System z Mainframe

In this interview, we speak to Dan Wardman, Vice President for Information Management Software and Frank Butt, Manager, DB2 for z/OS Query Runtime, tech search and spatial support for IBM. Our topic is "The storage and management of spatial data on an IBM System z Mainframe". Spatial support is an important feature available for DB2 9 for z/OS as it provides the capability to store and retrieve spatial data from any application via standard SQL. We also discuss applications as well as IBM's relationship with ESRI.
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For more information about IBM's spatial solutions you can download a whitepaper on this topic or visit the IBM website.

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Remote Sensing Predicting Grape, Wine Quality

French wine consultancy body ICV and Infoterra are partners in a service that provides small scale data on vineyards. From information such as water stress and grape composition it can predict the quality and quantity of grapes some 6 weeks before harvest. That in turn can save money and help distribute the "good grapes."

- Reuters

Toyota Grant to Fund Environmental Literacy Education with Geotech

The grant ($300,000) goes to Lehigh University (I spent a summer there in high school) to build professional materials for teacher and curricula for middle school environmental literacy.

The program will rely on geospatial information technologies (GIT) to help students analyze information and data on three core topics: energy, climate change and the impact of human activity on the environment. Issues such as urban and suburban sprawl, water resource usage, pollution, and ecosystem management will be included in the curriculum.
...
The WELIM [Web-enhanced Environmental Literacy and Inquiry Modules] initiative is a pilot program that directly addresses both concerns simultaneously using GIT. The technologies, which range from handheld GPS systems to Web satellite imagery, help students explore geography and collect data while becoming more familiar with their environment.

- press release

Ubisoft Studies Terrain Technology; To use GeoEye Imagery in HAWX Game

Ubisoft's team for Tom Clancy's HAWX air combat game did its homework: it visited USGS and EROS "to understand the concept of topographical 'underpinning' to create a realistic representation of the earth."

Then it decided to use GeoEye imagery in the game, including shots of Rio de Janeiro, Cape Canaveral and the Middle East.

The game is expected in 2009.

- The HD Room