Thursday, February 19. 2009

The Wi-Fi Infrastructure of LBS; Skyhook’s 100 Million Hotspot Baby

100 Million is a big number but that’s how many Wi-Fi hotspots Skyhook Wireless has compiled for its Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS). And that’s also the number of location-based searches that Skyhook can account for in any given day, according to Ted Morgan, Skyhook Wireless’ CEO. “Google does 250 Million searches per day.” So, by comparison, location is making a significant impact in the search business.

Again, according to Morgan, when you understand that even the cellular carriers only do 1 million location-based searches each day, the number of Wi-Fi based location searches is impressive.

So, I asked Morgan what’s happening to LBS especially during the global economic meltdown. Morgan pointed to a couple of factors driving adoption both from the consumer and the software application developer’s perspective.

1. INFRASTRUCURE. The infrastructure is there with more GPS chips on the handset and Wi-Fi hotpots providing positioning technology. In reality, LBS is starting from scratch and things like the iPhone are seeing incredible growth.
2. APPLE. Apple, for example, has an open platform on which to build applications. Software developers can create and launch an app in less than 2 months, and since the opening of the Apple App Store, over 1200 applications have been location enabled. Dealing with a carrier may be a 6-9 month process of bringing an application to market.
3. UNCHARTED TERRITORY: There is no hesitation by app developers to try new stuff; some are looking at different business models and learning to fail fast. Look at Trapster, an application that uses crowd-sourced information to location police speed traps…They’ve had over 400,000 downloads of their application since it launched on the iPhone.

Update: MapQuest Grows Lead Over Google Maps

Now word that Google Maps has overtaken Mapquest in the latest numbers. Based on January unique visits: Google Maps had 42.2 million to MapQuest’s 41.5 million.

- Paid Content

Continue reading "Update: MapQuest Grows Lead Over Google Maps"

Indiana State GIS Conference Moves to Bloomington

The good news is that the university paper reviewed the event. While I think there's a bit of confusion by the reporter between geography and geology, the key points include:

- Bloomington is a good place for the event usually held in Indianapolis
- 300+ attendees, 19 exhibitors
- cool tech included high resolution (survey grade) GPS and Pictometry's energy mapping

I contacted Pictometry about the mention of energy mapping. A rep replied: " I think that perhaps this review inadvertently attributed us to another technology displayed at the conference."

- Indiana Daily Student

BayStat - A Model for Chesapeake Bay Sustainability

Martin O'Malley, Maryland's governor, delivered the keynote address
at the ESRI FedUC yesterday and added to his unique portfolio of GIS
accomplishments. O'Malley discussed BayStat, a performance measurement model for the Chesapeake Bay that supports the conservation of this estuarine environment. By determining the causes of pollution in the Bay, the model hopes to preserve this sensitive environment by increasing the planting of cover crops, reducing pollution from urban areas and implementing best farming practices.

O'Malley has already been instrumental in implementing CITYSTAT (see my interview with O'Malley from last year) while he was mayor of Baltimore and now STATESTAT as governor as well as supporting the mapping of ecologically sensitive areas in the state with his "greenprint" mapping initiative.

Notes on ArcGIS Server 9.3, 9.3.1 & 9.4

Jack Dangermond, president of ESRI, laid out the current vision for the company’s software architecture, as he usually does to open major user conferences. He explained the that four pillars of the ArcGIS solution suit include software product for desktops, server, mobile platforms, and online. “We employ a strategy similar to Microsoft; we have software and services and they are integrated as a single complete system,” said Dangermond. Recapping advancements since the last FedUC, Dangermond explained that many users were happy to deploy some of the advancements featured in ArcGIS server 9.3, which included improvements for desktop applications, cataloging, metadata, open standards, and especially in spatial analysis such as geospatial regression, Gaussian geostatistical simulations and improved proximity analysis. Many small improvement, such as in cartographic labeling often go unnoticed because they are “small things.” ESRI is extending the Geodatabase to support 3D models and most recently have been developing a set of 3D analytical tools that have not been exposed at the user interface (UI) level but will be in ArcGIS 9.4.

Continue reading "Notes on ArcGIS Server 9.3, 9.3.1 & 9.4"

Education Tidbits

Northrop Grumman donated the first of three unmanned remote control helicopters to New Mexico State University. It's an "oldie" - a $200,000 Yamaha RMAX used for crop dusting after 1987. Students in engineering and geography are looking forward to getting it airborne but have some challenges: (1) Northrop Grumman in not providing the (proprietary) software to run the craft; students will need to write their own and (2) they'll need to gain FAA flight worthiness approval and permission to fly. Geography senior Natalie Brooks, wants to work in GIS. She's quoted: GIS is "everything from analyzing aerial photographs to creating maps -- 3D terrain maps, or when they were talking about GPS, sending the signal, that's the kind of thing that I've learned. [Unmanned aircraft] is turning into a big thing, because you don't want to send someone over in a plane and have them get killed."

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona are expected to receive similar craft.

- Las Cruces Sun-News
- press release

The University of Jammu in India has launched a new Masters degree course in Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System. It is the only university in northern India to have a Master's level program.

- Kashmir Observer