A fellow has used the WSJ article cited below (per one less authoritative source) as the basis as a lawsuit against Apple for sharing data, including tangentially, location data, without user permission.
Social media like Facebook may be the next iteration of children’s pictures on milk cartons. There’s a new app from UB students to share such alerts on the platform.
- The Next Web (via horrid, probably not so legal PDF hosted by UB)
What the world needs: door unlocking via Foursquare. Yep, some MAKErs in NYC built it to open the door to their company. Geek out!
The Wall Street Journal shares it findings about iPhones and Android devices sharing personal and location information without the user’s consent. This work basically confirms other findings from earlier this year.
According to a survey of 3,000 IBM researchers, the next five years will bring smaller, longer-lasting batteries, 3D holograms, increasingly personalized GPS systems with real-time parking spot information, citizen scientists who donate personal data to scientific research, and computer heat repurposing—the heat from data centers used to, say, warm up buildings).
And yes, some are already out there! Plug: Join us for an interactive webcast with IBM’s Jeff Jonas in February!
The suggested (but not mandated) guidelines came out Dec 23.
The Pipelines and Informed Planning Alliance has issued a set of guidelines to head off catastrophes like the San Bruno blaze that killed eight residents, injured many more and leveled 38 homes.
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The recommendations include requiring local governments to get maps of all transmission lines in areas where development might take place, and requiring utilities to coordinate projects planned near a transmission line with developers. It also includes measures to speed emergency response and evacuation in the event of a leak or explosion.
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The government is making grant money available to fund city websites that enable the public to go online and map the area’s pipelines, he said.
China’s State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) announced that the final date for awarding online map service licenses will be extended until March 31, 2011 (from end of 2010), which gives Google a bit more time to figure something out. Google has yet to submit an application; Microsoft’s is already in.
Word is that “Google sent a representative to attend the SBSM’s second training session on online map service standards.” That a good sign the company is working on it per one source. One Google competitor noted calls from Chinese developers who use the Google Maps API looking for solutions should Google Maps shut down.
Work has already begun in Newnan, GA on a $40,000 tree inventory and assessment project. The work will be done by Royal Forest Management and is funded by a $20,000 Urban and Community Forestry Grant and $20,000 in matching funds from the 2007 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. The data will go into the GIS, which “which plots the city’s topography and is used as a resource in project management.”
Hall County in Georgia used ARRA funds for its new high-resolution aerial photography. The last aerial data cost $230,000. It’s viewable at gispublic.hallcounty.org.
An interactive bike map was developed by Tallahassee-Leon County (FL) Geographic Information Systems (GIS) staff, and was modeled off the “Ride The City” app for the iPhone. The website “provides a map listing locations of on-street bike lanes, shared-use paths, streets with “sharrows” that indicate vehicles are to share the roadway with bicyclists, off-road trails and more.” A mobile app and printed version are planned. Tech: ArcGIS Server, with a unique interface.
