Reducing Voting Locations: Another Use for GIS

In Lake County, IL the number of polling places will drop from 163 to 137. The county used GIS to reassign those who needed a new voting place to one within 1/2 mile of their old one. The drop in locations is driven by the large number of voters using early or absentee ballots - about 1/3 of voters did not go to polling places for the presidential election day last year. The 26, and soon to be 27 polling places that are shut down will save the county $100,000 which will be used to fund unfunded mandates, including, ironically, a vote by mail program.

- Suburban Chicago News

Many Say Apple Buys Placebase

The San Jose Business Journal has the story. And, Caitlin at GISLounge cites the path of discovery. I knew Placebase was gone and I knew Jaron Waldman was at Apple.  But I’ve still not seen confirmation from Apple that this true and have contacted the company for confirmation.

If true, this is pretty cool - I was a big fan of Placebase. (1, 2, 3) Does this mean Apple will have its own in-house mapping apps for all its devices? And for developers to use?

via @gletham