Friday, October 30. 2009

OSM in Uganda

Just yesterday I noted AfricaGIS was held in the capital of Uganda, Kampala. Google had quite a presence in part because of new efforts to map the country. Today, there's word that OpenStreetMap is also active in country as part of a DevelopmentSeed effort. Locals are using QGIS for mapping and uploading data to OSM.

Ironic that the final line in Jonathan Bennett's report is: "Now imagine if some proprietary software company or mapping data provider had got involved?"

- ZDnet Blog

Thursday, October 22. 2009

FOSS4G Coverage II

Mateusz Loskot offers a video of Paul Ramsey's keynote offers a video of Paul Ramsey's keynote.

Mark From the Inside Looking In raves: the video "has been all the talk on Twitter. If you haven't seen it yet, you should do so."

Iki Maska rounds up some presentations on his blog: "A somewhat ordinary presentation by Ingres." "Raul Vera from Google on a subtle but profound shift in spatial paradigm, predicting that in mid 2011 the majority of location searches will be from mobile devices and this requires a different point of thought ("I'm lost!" is actually a very rare use case)."

The Map Guy(de) talks about the new FDO Toolbox.

Kate Lundy, Senator represented the Australian Capital Territory, offers the full text of her presentation at the conference.

Tuesday, October 20. 2009

#FOSS4G Coverage Roundup I

iTWire offers Geospatial expert predicts “epic explosion” in location related services.

Of note: "[Andrew] Ross has been a part of Ingres’ open source geospatial project and said that Release 10.1 of Ingres’ open source geospatial code would be available in the second quarter of 2010."

SciAm on Google Earth Saving Indigenous Peoples

The publication rehashes a story in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle.

Using a technology-rich form of ethnographic mapping, a philanthropic side of the Moutain View, Calif.–based company, Google Earth Outreach embarked on a collaboration with Almir and the nonprofit Amazon Conservation Team to keep tabs on nearby clear cutting [in Amazonia] while recording aspects of the tribe's land and daily life in hopes of drawing attention to their struggle.

Of note: No Google Earth images are in the article. Instead: "Image of satellite view of deforestation in the Brazilian state of Rondonia, which is the same state in which the Surui tribe's reserve is located, courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon via Wikimedia Commons." I'm not sure why the publication chose not to include imagery from Google Earth, but it highlights more open alternatives.

- Scientific American

Monday, October 19. 2009

OSM Atlanta Mapathon Video (From Fox)

From Fox 5 in Atlanta offers this 6 minute video including interviews with mappers and OSM's Thea Clay, OSM Community Ambassador for the Southern US. Fox, like many, are not comfortable with OpenStreetMap as one word.

Thursday, October 15. 2009

Update: Coming for the iPhone: Old Map App

Update: Just got the good word that the app has been renamed Historic Earth and is now available. Further, it's now a partnership with Historic Map Works, and accesses that organization's "exclusive collection of more than 30,000 geo-referenced maps."

[Marketing comment] Martin did his social media homework! His e-mail reminding me that I wrote about the app earlier was key in getting me to provide this update. A generic "we launched e-mail" may not have caught my attention.

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