Friday, September 26. 2008

The Microsoft Vision for Tagging Reality

This demo was shown at the Emerging Technology Conference at MIT yesterday:

In what was perhaps a more compelling demo, [Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig] Mundie showed a video of a woman in Seattle looking at a live scene through the camera on an ultra mobile pc device. On screen, the client was pulling data from a web based service to tag items in the scene — the names of buildings, the number of public transportation buses, information about how far away taxis were via GPS, etc. That’s the sort of useful, real world application that makes Microsoft’s vision of the future exciting.

Microsoft sees a bit of client-side computation, whereas Google sees a "dumb client" per blogger Josh Catone.

- SitePoint blog

Two Louisville Geo-Related Companies Look to Tax Incentives for Growth

HelloMetro, based in Southern Indiana, is considering a relocation to Louisville, where it could expand, adding 15 jobs.

Spatial Data Integrations, a Louisville company, plans a new freestanding building. It would also add 15 jobs.

- Business First

Thursday, September 25. 2008

Web 2.0 Hype Paper Wins Top Presentation at AGI

We just wrapped up the final session of the AGI GeoCommunity '08 Conference. I'll be providing more about key papers and ideas over the next few days. But I want to share what just happened because, frankly, it confuses me.

Before lunch Mark Bishop a product manager at MapInfo presented a paper titled "The Hype of Web 2.0." He did a terrific job of defining the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 complete with a picture of Tim O'Reilly and lots of examples of (non-map/non-geo) webpages. Toward the end there was a video of a MapInfo implementation of "slippy maps." AJAX is Web 2.0. The presentation was lively, though Bishop had to encourage audience participation (sort of ironic since Web 2.0 is about that!).

I was a bit antsy since the presentation didn't address geo (much) nor provide any specific suggestions regarding how geo could/should/would take further advantage of Web 2.0. Further, I thought we were all pretty set with understanding, if not implementing, Web 2.0 ideas, so I wondered how this presentation fit into this geospatial conference.

Apparently I was the only one who thought so. The presentation was selected by the entire attendee group as their favorite presentation. Perhaps Web 2.0 has been bandied about so much attendees needed a refresher course and this was it? Perhaps attendees never felt comfortable with Web 2.0 concepts and this was a first definition for them? Perhaps attendees keep their heads down doing their GIS work and don't think much about the technology ideas going on around them? Perhaps this is a difference between the US/UK interaction with technology? Perhaps "favorite" was interpreted in a different way than I did? Any other ideas?

AGI GeoCommunity 08 Keynotes - Day One

There was a triple header opening plenary for the AGI GeoCommunity ’08 Conference being held in Stratford-on-Avon. Two private sector players, Microsoft and Autodesk, represented by Sean Phelan of Multimap, now part of Microsoft and Geoff Zeiss of Autodesk, bookended a presentation from Vanessa Lawrence of Ordnance Survey.

All three responded to the event theme: Shaping a Changing World. Phelan took a business perspective, providing some valuable insights for those looking at the economic realities of Web mapping in particular. Lawrence tapped into our, that is, the geocommunity’s role, in this changing world as well as noting the current issues at OS. Zeiss focussed on the world’s infrastructure and the challenges it posses to the world and the geospatial community.

Continue reading "AGI GeoCommunity 08 Keynotes - Day One"

Vindigo Shuts Down

The company among other things developed MapQuest mobile but is best known for its mobile city guides. Thirty people were laid off.

- Moconews

Wednesday, September 24. 2008

Real-Time Intelligence Visualization-RTIV...new term for your consideration

Real-time Intelligence Visualization (RTIV), as described in a recent ABI Research report, is a combination of various wireless technologies that can act as an integrated system and more importantly, "actionable business intelligence (BI)." These technologies include RFID, Ultra-wideband (UWB), and Wi-Fi, that are often used separately in certain real-time location systems (RTLS). The report suggest that, "These competitive, yet complementary wireless technologies, approaches, and solutions have historically been treated as independent silos, but they are now converging. In a growing number of end-user environments a combination of technologies is being used. For example, passive and active RFID may be used jointly for fixed and mobile asset tagging; Wi-Fi- and UWB-based RTLS solutions may be leveraged for hospital asset tracking; or a combination of GPS and active RFID may be employed for cargo tracking and security."

I'm not crazy about the term, but the concept, in principal, is sound and coincident with my views on where location intelligence systems are going. The convergence we are seeing in GIS/BI and with real-time data will form the foundation of location intelligent solutions. ABI Research suggests this is more RTIV.