Wednesday, March 25. 2009

Does Open Access to Digital Cadastre Stimulate the Economy?

Dennis Klein at Boundary Solutions, Inc shares that his cover article (pdf) [original link now fails - thanks to DM for letting me know] in the International Association of Assessing Officers (IOAA) Journal Fair and Equitable attempts to answer the question. It covers a panel held at the organization's annual meeting last September. The answer: looks like it does; more research is needed. Also in that issue: Nancy Von Meyer and David Cowen address a "Parcel Early Warning System" that may aid in monitoring, analyzing and responding to economic conditions (sorry, could not find PDF of that article).

ASPRS Historic Videos on YouTube

As part of its 75th anniversary ASPRS has released a series of short historic videos. The first five are now posted on the ASPRS Channel on YouTube. More info on the project at ASPRS film page. Funding for the initial set of five videos was provided by ASPRS sustaining and individual member contributions and the project will continue through this year.

Sprint May Make More Gadgets "Always Connected"

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sprint is already in talks with Garmin and Kodak, among others to put their GPS receivers and cameras in constant connections with the Internet. Sprint already provides the connectivity for Amazon's Kindle e-book reader. That connectivity comes "free" with purchase for the life of the device.

The significance to geospatial? This is another step towards using location in new ways. The camera can upload images whenever they are taken, the GPS can share its location. And, the network can be the source of location, as well, for devices that need it.

One other thought: Having more devices with their own connectivity may help keep convergence down a bit. Why use the less than optimal camera in a phone when the camera has its own connectivity?

Local Matters Evans Give Startup Advice

The Startup Junkie Underground (I kid you not!) reports on a presentation by Local Matter (and MapQuest, Jabber) entrepeneur Perry Evans. As usual he has some straight shooting advice for those doing any sort of startup.