Monday, August 31. 2009

LA Times "My Map" Map of Latest Fires

It's here.

There's lot of great detail and time stamps for all additions. I'm still looking a way for creators of such map to source the data points. Are they from LA Times reporters? Officials? People on scene? How can one contribute?

There will be more, not fewer of these sorts of maps from the media and other interested parties. We need tools to give the maps (and orgs behind them) appropriate "authority." One solution I ran into when looking at the H1N1 maps was from Rhiza Labs app which sits on top of Google Maps.

via @ManoMarks

Wednesday, August 26. 2009

Google Crowdsources Traffic: Will that kill waze?

Lots of buzz in the last day or so about Google using data from those using Google Maps Mobile to compile and share traffic data - especially for rural routes. (See for example Ars Technica.) It's been around in some areas for a while.

Several comments I saw said basically, "Waze is dead, Google killed it." Hang on - recall the Waze business plan while it includes sharing traffic data is about developing a base map from its users' travels, then selling that geodata. I don't know if it will work, but it's a very different money making proposition than say...Google's.

iPhone May Support LBS But Apple Needs Some Geography Marketing Insight

I love my Mac and my two iPods. I'm even ok with the e-mails about new products - like the new OS coming out on Friday.

Today I also got an e-mail about a new Apple Store opening at Liberty Place. I figured it must be around Boston because Apple knows I live around Boston. But I'd not heard of Liberty Place. It sounds fancy - like Copley Place in Boston. Maybe there's a new "Place" in Boston and I'm just not paying attention? Or, maybe there's an error and it's not in Boston? The announcement includes no address (street, city, state) so I had to click through on either the "Apple Story, Liberty Place" link or the "Get Directions" link. I learned the store is in Dedham, MA about 20 miles south of Boston. Oh, ok.

It gets funnier. The "Get Directions" link uses Google Maps, but not so well!

Monday, August 24. 2009

Yelp Mobile: Bing Maps on Blackberry, GMaps on iPhone

TechCrunch notes the launch of the Yelp Blackberry app (Yelp is a restaurant review service) and the difference in map platform. So, why go Bing when Google was used for the previous app on the other platform?

Per the article: "Yelp says that Bing was used because the search engine provided map tile access, which was essential for movable maps on the app."

Thursday, August 20. 2009

Google Doubles Potential Map Makers; Shares Africa Data with NGOs, Non Profits in Africa

MG Siegler at TechCrunch describes Map Maker as a "wiki style" Google Maps and that's about right. The latest announcement from Google ups the number of countries in which people with accounts can add and make changes to the map database. These may or may not make it to the actual online maps.

More interesting is this tidbit, which Google reached out the Siegler to share - which seems to have gone unnoticed: Google is "extending our Kenya pilot and making the entire dataset of Africa fully available for download by non-profits, government agencies and individuals to create and enhance their own non-commercial map-related projects. More details are available on our download site." It's an interesting license but I'd still steer people to OpenStreetMap for a more open one.

- Google Lat/Long Blog post

Tuesday, August 18. 2009

Podcast: The Free Business Model and Geospatial

How do you benefit from giving technology away? This week we look at a trend - all sorts of things (data, technology and Web services) are being offered for free across the technology landscape. It's happening in geospatial too. So, here's today's question: How will companies' free offerings compete with one another?