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Officially called Google Research Datasets, the service was going to offer scientists a way to store the massive amounts of data generated in an increasing number of fields. About 30 test datasets had already been uploaded. This certainly had potential for managing huge geospatial datasets.
The service will close in January per an e-mail to its beta testers.
- Wired
Andy Hayler notes that Pitney-Bowes will officially settle on its software division name on January 1. It’s Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI). And, while he’s impressed with the parts that make it up, Group 1 and MapInfo, he sees a challenge for the newly branded division:
Critical to how well growth targets are met will be clear positioning of the new organisation. Group 1 and Mapinfo have both been around for some time, and so it is important that PBBI clearly articulate what the combined offering brings to customers i.e. why the combined group is more than just the sum of its parts. If it can make more of the geospatial connection than it currently does in its marketing then it could be interesting, since clearly the kind of value queries like “tell me all the houses in this area that lie within a flood plain” will only work properly if you have good quality data, and the combination of GIS capability and strong data quality software could be a compelling proposition.
There’s a new, free app for the iPhone that provides details about Washington DC aimed at inauguration goers. Besides maps and tourist info it includes a countdown to the big day and a proximity tool that tells you how far you are from where the event will ultimately be held. Cool.
Who’s behind it? A DC law firm and a PR firm. Patton Boggs and Qorvis Communications.
This is a strange new world of “location-based advertising.” The moto of the PR effort: Qorvis and Patton Boggs, Navigating Washington.
This application was developed (they call it “mobilized” by PointAbout.
- AppScout
“How do you plan for an event that some are calling the largest in U.S. history? You get a map that’s almost as big as the city itself.
Okay, that’s an exaggeration.But at a morning news conference, the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee showed reporters a 40-foot-by-40-foot map that they are using to plan for President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration Jan. 20, going over things as diverse as security to portable toilets to video screens.”
That’s the description from the Washington Post article that accompanies pictures of photographers taking pictures of the map. I’m glad I’ll be watching from a distance.
Back in the day, getting money out of NYC for slips and trips on uneven pavement or potholes was pretty easy. Too easy. So the city passed a law stating payment would not be made unless the hazard was communicated to the city 15 days prior to the accident. Enter the lawyers, specifically the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. They started the “Pothole Map” and paid for people to document the hazards. When the city would not accept the map as communication, the lawyers sued and won. But now, a judge isn’t convinced; when the mark on map doesn’t accurately match the situation on the street, he’s ready to deny claims.
