MySpace CEO: Friend Finding Apps a Ways Away

Mike Arrington at TechCrunch did an interview with Chris DeWolfe, MySpace CEO, at Davos. The key bit on LBS:

Michael Arrington: In terms of location based services I think there’s major applications for advertizers and that’s what we’re currently excited about and then um, you know the whole notion of taking photos and having the exact location…

Chris DeWolfe: I think there’s major applications for advertisers and that’s what we are really excited about. And then the whole notion of taking photos and having the exact location stamped on those photos and being able to upload them directly, that’s been great. We have that. And being able to write a review since location based services now get you within a couple meters of your exact location where you are at, so if you are at a restaurant and have a really good meal, you should be able to write a review directly from there . So we are really excited about the advertising side of things. In terms finding friends or meeting new friends, I think that’s a ways off. And meeting new friends based on a location service sounds a little creepy to me.

California CIO Wants a GIO

Government Technology is reporting that California may create a GIO position. That’s the word from state CIO Teri Takai, who “wants” such a position.

Open Source Bike Map for Oregon County

Albany, OR and Linn County, OR are very proud of its new multi-participant online bike route map. Among those involved: Linn County Geographic Information Systems, Albany GIS, the Albany Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission and local cycling clubs.

Also cool: it’s powered by MapServer.

Corvallis Gazette Times

(Mapping) Robots in Every Building?

PenBay Media and its partner’s mapping robots are featured in an article at AutomatedBuildings.com. The article discusses the role robots can have in BIM and their value once they “know their way around.”

The short article highlights that just as we mention GPS or LPS when talking about LBS, we should mention indoor locating when talking about BIM.

Springer Launches AuthorMapper

The scientific publisher Springer launched AuthorMapper this past week.

The free tool visualizes research and trends on a Google Map and on a timeline. Per Springer, you can use it to:

- Easily locate reviewers, authors and experts in similar fields
- Run a variety of queries by keyword, discipline, institution, author and more
- Discover the geographic areas where specific topics are being researched
- Identify new and historic literature trends
- Link and connect seamlessly to published content
- Discover wider relationships in the scientific community

Some materials are not available as they are behind a pay wall. You can search only for open articles and embed the results of a query of a website.

- Springer announcement

Hat tip to reader Duane.