|
|
|
It’s short notice, but the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is hosting a briefing in Washington DC tomorrow (Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 2-5 p.m. United States Capitol, Room HC-5) to "discuss solutions to the problems facing the nation’s transportation and water and environment infrastructure and what path the nation should take moving forward." Attendees receive an advance copy of "2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure."
Pocket Lint cites Microsoft and non-Microsoft sources in its report that a beta of the Photosynth-related GeoSynth will stitch together the best user uploaded imagery of places to create a StreetView like panorama of sights around the world. While no official announcement has been made, a beta is expected by year end.
GeoSynth, a stand alone licensable PhotoSynth, was announced last October.
Directions Media is not at the ESRI Business Partner/Developer Conferences this week, but in the spirit of “Do what you do best, link to the rest” (Jeff Jarvis), I happily point you to detailed coverage of the latest ArcGIS Explorer release, 900, on the ArcGIS Explorer blog. Read parts 1, 2, and 3 for the big picture. In short:
Jack Dangermond introduced Explorer 900 as “a big step,” and of course we’d agree. Jack cited the new user experience, the integrated 2D/3D display capabilities, a variety of basemap choices (including Microsoft Virtual Earth imagery, hybrid, and streets basemaps), and presentation capabilities as important aspects of the new release.
That last bit, about the software becoming a true presentation system (think of it as geo-enabled PowerPoint, with simple live access to AGE’s power) highlights for me that “little AGE” is turning into something quite different that I imagined when it was launched as simple visualizer some years ago. ESRI is tuning it, with this feature, to “tell stories” with technology. That harkens back to one of my first geography classes where the instructor explained that maps, thematic maps in particular, tell stories.
Huntsville’s AEgis Technologies is working with DigitalGlobe to try to find wreckage of a plane thought to be lost in Venezuela in February. An unfortunate miscommunication turned GeoEye into “Goi” in the coverage in the Huntsville Times.
[Bob] Edwards [who has been coordinating the search] said that in addition to Aegis, DigitalGlobe and Goi, another satellite imagery company, there are 50 volunteers nationwide who are analyzing the satellite images on their computers.
The British Heart Foundation’s Lake District Twin Peak challenge is a heart-shaped 18 mile hike. Alas, I could not find a map that shows it.
