Wednesday, August 5. 2009

Let's Understand Geospatial Cloud Computing

We're putting a focus on geospatial cloud computing at our Location Intelligence Conference this October. We'll have two plenary panels and at least one break out session on this topic. And we've established a subgroup of the LI Conference LinkedIn group which now has over 1000 members. In addition, follow the discussion on Twitter @geocloud.

Plus, we'll have many other resources that discuss cloud computing in general. For example, here's a link to a webinar from OpSource for "Delivering the Enterprise-ready Cloud." Please join the discussion at our conference, LinkedIn or on Twitter.

Will Geolocation Find a Home on Linux Desktops?

Bruce Byfield provides a rundown of the why, how, history and state of the art for solutions on GNOME and KDE at Datamation.

Personalized Maps

Some years ago I had a chat with Don Cooke about his vision of personalized maps. I recall thinking that I'd want a map of great places to fly kites in New England. He was telling me about MAD MAPS, "Backroad touring maps and travel guides featuring scenic byways and drives for ATVs, motorcyles, and cars." While some people want to collect the data for such maps others just want to use them.

We are far closer to that vision than ever. Print maps as well and online ones are popping up that combine a mode of transport and a theme. I just ran into an article about bike maps that focus on farm stands. Are we getting to a point where online services will let us build these custom "touring" maps by selecting a mode, a theme and a distance? Could I in the next few years have a system that builds me a 45 mile loop in Upstate New York that allows me to visit apple orchards? Or could I have it route me by car to hit minor league ball parks in the south eastern US?

Google Maps Adds Landmarks/POIs

It was announced on the Google Lat Lon Blog.

TechCrunch has a write up with some insight from Eric Shonfeld about how this might play out:

And as you zoom in more places become visible. At some point the map could become pretty crowded, Google hopefully is looking at search history and click behavior to surface the most important places. Each place on the map becomes a visual search result. I like the direction this is going.

Josh Lowentien at C|net notes: "One thing to note is that the new mapping tiles do not yet appear on mobile devices like the Google Maps apps for iPhone and Android."

Old Poll, New Poll

Earlier this summer we asked: "What's your preferred format for electronic publications?"

Off the 144 respondents, there were clear preferences for good old PDF and HTML.

PDF - 63%
HMTL - 30%
FlipBook (or equivalent) - 5%
Something else - 4%

Next up: What motivates you to view a geospatial video online? Vote on the lower right hand side of our main page.