Monday, November 16. 2009

Health and Science Tidbits

New maps are pinpointing both the location of those with HIV along with "how sick they are" based on viral load. Those maps, are in turn, helping to better site clinics in the Bay Area. It turns out that the areas with the greatest number of cases may not be the sickest. And, the sickest may be in lower income or other under-served areas.

- New York Times

Two German shorthaired pointers are helping rangers track birds including black grouse at Perthshire's Schiehallion estate in the UK. The dogs track the birds, and GPS tracks the dogs. Then, when a bird is found and flushed out, the ranger identifies the species.

- BBC

Advances in Malaria Research: In the Lab and the Field was held last week online, though its based out of Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute. Among the papers (slides, pdf) was one from Gregory Glass, professor of molecular microbiology and immunology which discussed using GIS and satellite imagery to pinpoint locations at risk.

- Tonic

Quote of the Week

"All our GIS and OSS are in the cloud."

- Barry Nolan, chief operating officer at euNetworks, during a round table discussion on at Global Telcoms Business on cloud computing and telcos

Office of Federal Procurement Policy Admin Nominee Ponders A-76

Daniel Gordon is the nominee to be the administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP to insiders, which I am not!). He'll have to deal with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 (the geospatial one) and its public-private competitions for federal work. FCW's blog has interview with him about it.

- @mappsorg

The U.S.' New Sea: The Salish Sea

The name “Salish Sea” was adopted by the U.S. Board on Geographic names on Friday. The decision followed the same one from the Washington State counterpart.The Salish Sea includes the inland waterway in Washington state and British Columbia but doesn't overshadowexisting names.The name comes from aboriginal peoples of the area and is in widespread use in the area already.

Kitsap Sun

Dutch to Tax Drivers Based on Driving Distance, Road Time using GPS

According to the Associated Press, the Netherlands will levy a tax based on the time spent driving in order to reduce congested highways. When the plan takes effect in 2012, a GPS monitoring system will track the distance, time, and place of drivers who will pay a few cents per kilometer. The tax replaces an annual road tax that amounts to approximately $900 per year for a mid-size car.