Monday, December 8. 2008

Today in History: GPS Goes Civilian

Wired tells the story of what happened in 1993. (Wow, not that long ago...)

GPS-less iPhone in Egypt; What will Chinese iPhone not have?

Back in October I noted that Egypt (among others) has a ban on GPS (except with a special license). Apparently Apple removed the GPS capabilities to sell the phone in Egypt (at a much higher price than in other areas). Now the question becomes what to do in China? A deal might include revenue sharing with the government and removal of GPS and wi-fi.

New York Times (via Venture Beat, which also provides comment)

Video: UNOSAT Maps Chronicle Somali Pirate Attacks in Gulf of Aden

UNOSAT, an U.N. organization based in Switzerland, uses ESRI technology to map pirate attacks in the Gulf of Eden (video supplied by ESRI).

Other maps can be viewed at the UNOSAT website.

If you've read enough NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas Data Collection Stories

consider this one from ChinaView that profiles changes seen by an engineer of the army mapping service in that country.