Wednesday, September 3. 2008

Geologic Mapping Payback for Canada

The Financial Post reports that Canada is about to invest $100 Million over five years to finish the geologic mapping of Canada begun 166 years ago. And the projected payback for mapping and understanding the resource potential could be enormous. According to the article, "A 1999 study found that a $1-million investment by government in expanding the geoscience knowledge base will lead to $5-million in private sector exploration. In turn, this will lead to the discovery of new resources worth $125-million. Keeping in mind that those are 1999 numbers and that today mineral resources are worth considerably more, we can all see that Ottawa’s new $100-million has a potentially huge economic payoff for all Canadians."

Quote of the Week

"They've given us a makeshift map," Mokriakow said. "We've tried to stumble through it."

Sgt. George Mokriakow with the St. Clair, Ill., Sheriff's Department on how well he knows the area in St. Paul, home of the Republican Convention, where he's on duty supporting local police, in the National Journal.

After Five Years, Virtual World There.com Goes Mac

I point this out mostly to illustrate how slowly this whole virtual world phenomenon is crawling forward. There.com, founded in 2003 cost a bundle to create and the company behind it almost folded. I'd heard nothing about it for some time, though I must say even Second Life has not been making news of late, either. And, Google's Lively seems to have arrived with a thud.

Along with Mac support the more "teen friendly" world now offers an IM system (even available when you are not playing the game) and a FaceBook plugin. While those are not revolutionary ideas, clearly keeping those virtual world separate from our communications worlds no longer seems practical.

- C|NET

Electric Gettysburg Map Still has no Home

More than a year ago I noted the huge old map was too big to move from its building, which is being torn down, so the plan was to cut it up. Now an update:

No one's yet claimed ownership, but the Park Service is speaking to six organizations interested in taking it. It would be donated to a non-profit or government agency. The plan is to cut up the map, mitigate issues with embedded asbestos and have it out by October or November. The building is to be demolished in December and the area returned to how it looked during the battle.

The savetheelectricmap.com website, developed by Jon DeKeles of Post Falls, Idaho, in April, is still fighting the good fight.

- York Daily Record

First Sighting: MapGuide Enterprise Website

It's odd to see this first sentence about an Iowa County website: "Plymouth County's success with owning and operating a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) website will soon be known around the world." The lead to the story is not that the county has a GIS website, but that Autodesk has decided to profile it as a success story "that will be published in the company's trademark magazines, displayed at GIS conferences and on its website." I'm not sure what a "trademark magazine" is.

One limitation on the "known around the world" front: IE only for now, but an upgrade is in the works.

- LeMars Daily Sentinel

Kudos: Valerie Hastings, Village of Plainfield, IL

I'm reading between the lines here, but it's my hunch Ms. Hastings, GIS Manager in Plainfield is behind something important: the village submitted address information to both Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ after calls from residents concerned their addresses were not found in online maps and sat nav devices. Not only that, but the article in the local paper lists all the places those who are still unhappy can go to provide corrections.

I've read too many articles that "complain" about errors and don't follow through with any sort of action or suggestions for residents to take action. So, kudos to Ms. Hastings.

- Suburban Chicago News