Friday, August 7. 2009

Using Satellite Imagery to Locate Trees for Urban Cooling

The Brisbane City Council (Australia) is using satellite technology to pinpoint the hottest locations in the city. The plan is to use the heat maps to locate 10,000 new trees to be planted in the next year.

The project is part of the mayor's 2 Million Trees project, which aims to cover 40 % of the city in shade by 2026.

Sorry there are no details of which satellite's imagery was used or which bands...

- Northside Chronicle

What to do if your GPS Fails

Jalopnik has the answer from Ben Wojdyla in article titled: How to read a paper map like an old-timer.

via Gizmodo

Waze Business Model: Collect Data and License It

I noted waze when it came out for the Android beginning in May of this year. This week it debuted for the iPhone (press release) with commentary from the company's community geographer, Di-Ann Eisnor. (It seems she still holds a position at Platial.)

Continue reading "Waze Business Model: Collect Data and License It"

Geoweb Map Interactive Internet GIS Map Applications

Montgomery Township New Jersey announced it has put its maps online. Officially, the apps are referred to as Geoweb Map Interactive Internet GIS Map Applications. I think that's a bit long for a name but I do count 18 different apps on the intro page. The apps are powered by Rolta's (Orion's) OnPoint.

Former NASA Official Convicted of Steering Money to Geosystems Research Institute

One time (2001-2003) NASA chief of staff, Courtney Stadd, 54, returned to Washington in 2005 to help with a transition to a new administrator as a special government employee. During that time he was accused of steering government funds to the Mississippi State Geosystems Research Institute, one of his consulting clients. He was convicted of using his government job for his own benefit and making false statements yesterday. He faces up to 15 years in prison at sentencing scheduled for November.

There is no indication of any wrongdoing on the part of the Institute, which received $9.5 million while Stadd was back in Washington.

- Washington Post via reader Duane

Mapquest Adds Premium Datasets

Yesterday MapQuest announced new premium data available for use with its MapQuest Platform Enterprise Edition.

The Premium Data Sets include:

US boundaries:
-Address Parcels, Cities, Counties, States, ZIP codes, Neighborhoods, School districts, Congressional Districts, and Core Based Statistical Areas (including MSA's).
US Census Data (2000):
-Broken down by Block, Group, Tract, ZCTA, City, County and State
-Over 400 Categories to choose
Premium Business Listings:
-13+ mil US and 2+ mil Canada Business Listings
US Public School Locations:
-Includes over 102,000 public schools.
* US Traffic:
Incident and Flow data

I asked the source of these datasets, particularly the neighborhood data. Mapquest's reply: "MapQuest utilizes a variety of 3rd party sources to provide data as part of the Premium Data Sets Package." The company notes these data partners.