1Spatial Up for Private Company of the Year

I believe it’s the only geospatial business on the short list for the 2008 East of England Business Awards. Congrats and best of luck!

- Business Weekly

No Need for Google Earth to Find Pot, Use (inappropriately mounted) GPS

There’s been lots of press about the use of Google Earth to track down pot growers in Switzerland. But in California, a deputy used GPS.

A truck with a GPS mounted so it blocked the driver’s view (that’s illegal now in California) prompted the officer to pull the vehicle over. The police dog on scene “noted” the drugs.

Geospatial technology will get you every time!

- ABC News
- Contra Costa Times

Canadian Carriers Must Upgrade E911

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission set a Feb.1, 2010 deadline for has given Canadian wireless carriers to upgrade their 9-1-1 services. The goal is better location determination. All new carriers will need to meet the requirements, too. Several tragedies have forced the new rules which will bring Candian systems into line with U.S. laws.

- TMCnet

Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) Teams with Virgin for Satellite Launcher

Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactics are teaming to develop a platform to launch satellites from an aircraft. The plan per Dr Adam Baker from SSTL: to be able to launch a payload of at least 50kg into a 248 mile orbit. The cost would ideally take a $5-10 million launch down to $1 million.

- Press Association

Google Korea and Yahoo Korea Partner on Mapping Against Common “Enemies”

Korea’s Daum (http://www.daum.net) is number 2 in search (left overs from Naver), but #1 in maps while Naver (http://www.naver.com) is #1 in search (75%). That does not sit well with Google and Yahoo. 

So, the two have partnered to face the common enemies:

Under an agreement announced Tuesday, Google adds “video clips from YouTube (kr.youtube.com) on Yahoo’s map (map.yahoo.co.kr), while Yahoo interconnects its local search service, Gugi (kr.gugi.yahoo.com), with Google’s map (http://www.maps.google.co.kr).”

The sharing should begin later this month, with plans to extend it to the international version of Yahoo’s Gugi services (global.gugi.yahoo.co.kr).

Korea has been one of the few rare markets where Google and Yahoo have struggled to stay relevant, with Naver controlling around 75 percent of the search market and Daum gobbling up the biggest of table scraps.

- Korea Times