Monday, December 1. 2008

Free Lecture on History etc. of Geocoding Wednesday in DC

This from Robert at the Library of Congress:

December 3, 2008 at Noon

Lecture: “Spaces of Calculation: Street Addressing and the Making of
a Geo-coded World,” Reuben Rose-Redwood, Kluge Fellow, at 12:00 PM in
Whittall Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E.,
Washington, D.C.

From the website (more info):

Kluge Fellow Reuben Rose-Redwood will explore the cultural and political history of street addressing in the United States, from the late eighteenth century to the present, including the recent shift from rural route and box numbering systems to 911 addresses. More than a mere technical device best left to postmasters and planning professionals, the spatial practice of street addressing is one of the fundamental mechanisms of the production of calculable space and is, in a more general sense, the socio-spatial equivalent to the mathematicization of nature that has dominated modern thought since the Enlightenment.

Update: Nokia Survey Reveals Most "Lost" Cities, Disoriented Countries

Update 12/1/08: Nokia released the press release last week, after the cited article appeared.


--- original post 11/26/08 -----------

A press release (likely released only in Europe, this version is nicely tailored to the UAE) touts a study Nokia commissioned to determine experiences and opinions on getting lost, one's sense of direction and the like. This is another of those surveys that lets the commissioner talk about their solution to whatever the indicated issue is. (See my primer on using this technique for your own press relations.)

Here are the details of the survey:

Research conducted by ICM among 12,500 people in 13 countries during the period of 1 - 23 October 2008. Countries where research was conducted: UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Australia, Brazil, China, UAE, Russia, Singapore, India, South Africa.

Now the "highlights":

Continue reading "Update: Nokia Survey Reveals Most "Lost" Cities, Disoriented Countries"

Terrorists Use Geotechnology

Computerworld and others report that Google Earth, GPS and other tech devices were in use in the attacks in Mumbai. My only thought: We regular folks use these everyday to do our "work," so it's not surprising these folks do, too. Have we not wrapped our heads around the idea that data and technology can be used for good or evil? I guess not.

iBegin Places "Wiki" for informal spaces

Ahmed, who's behind a "lab" site called ibegin.com, sent in this introduction to the sites latest project, iBegin Places.

Continue reading "iBegin Places "Wiki" for informal spaces"

A Collection of Maps on the Mumbai Bombings

These are just a sampling of maps related to the coverage of last week's attacks:

Mapmash offers a timeline map. Reference is to Wikipedia. (Thanks for including source information!)

Continue reading "A Collection of Maps on the Mumbai Bombings"

Irony: Google Uses Undocumented iPhone APIs

No doubt you've heard this: "A Google spokesman confirmed Tuesday that Google Mobile uses undocumented APIs (application programming interfaces) in order to use the iPhone's proximity sensor to prompt a verbal search." (C|net) We do all recall that Google Maps mashups started because someone (Mr. Paul Rademacher, who now works at Google) did something like the same thing, right?