Avisen Reverse Acquires 1Spatial

I don't follow the mechanics of the money, but basically it seems Avisen (a busness enterprise solution provider, best I can tell) is aquiring 1Spatial at an 11% discount over its value last night at market close.

Its bid for 1Spatial values the location-based information solutions player at about £4.74m, an 11 per cent discount on its closing share price yesterday. On completion, the enlarged firm will transition to a single 1Spatial brand.

Avisen chief executive Marcus Hanke will be chief executive and 1Spatial chief executive Nic Snape, will be managing director.

- ChanneWeb
 

Liberia’s Forest Dwellers Map Illegal Logging and other International GIS News

Liberia

The Liberian press reports on the county's Forestry Development Authority (FDA) effort to curb illegal loggnig. Green Advocates International is leading the project with funding from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Green Advocates International would mobilize semi-illiterate local forest communities to use GIS-GPS community mapping tools in implementing the project. The project builds on more than five years of work by Green Advocates International in empowering local communities in the country with the appropriate tools, technology, knowledge, skills and expertise to help communities protect their rights and resources.

The group Lead Campaigner Cllr. Alfred Brownell said that local communities would be trained to gather and record Global Position System (GPS) reference information using touch screen Hand Held Computers (HHC) relating to illegal logging. Speaking at the launch of the program on Saturday, October 1, 2011 in Yarkpa Town, Rivercess County, Cllr. Brownell disclosed that the GPS reference data would be use to produce a map of the illegal logging activities and reference areas.

- All Africa

The Philippines

Google formally announced today the launching of Google Maps Philippines – a search platform that provides Filipinos local geographic information such as online maps, satellite imagery, addresses and businesses listings – on their PCs and mobile phones.

Another Woman Uses GIS to Explore Marine World and other Education GIS News

In the Gulf of Thailand, where [SFSU] Associate Professor of Geography Ellen Hines conducts her field work, fishermen, scientists and policymakers know very little about the vulnerable marine life that lives locally.

But she does in part because of the use of GPS and GIS.

- SFSU News

The New Zealand Geospatial Office in collaboration with Eagle Technology has produced a prototype application, currently known as the Educational GIS web portal which aims to introduce the value of GIS to students in New Zealand High Schools.

- FutureGov which seems to source, but does not cite the NZGO blog (please cite, it's the right thing to do!)

H Ramachandran, Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi argues for geography in a piced titled "How to Save the World." In it, he cites some skills those pursuing GIS will/should learn.

Basic skills required are the ability to isolate similarities and diversities, observational skills, the ability to create mental maps and abstraction, and the ability to unravel the relationship between physical and human attributes. It is important to have an ability to analyse, correlate and synthesise as well as to write clearly and cogently. 

Austintown [OH] Fitch [high school] senior Alex While, 17, created a commemorative sign for Ed Wilhelm, a cross country runner for Fitch in the late 1970s who died while trying to save a girl from drowning in 1979. The sign, which also shows a map of Austintown Township Park and the current cross country course route, was installed at the finish line inside the park.

Local Food Map and other Crowdsourcing GIS News

Founded by Karl and Cara Rosaen, Real Time Farms (RTF) is a new crowd-sourcing online food guide that is every foodie’s dream, acting as a restaurant guide, local farm source map, and food artisan storytelling hub all wrapped up into one. As their website boasts, “As crazy as it sounds, our vision is to collectively document the whole food system. We are powered by the people!” You can search for farms, food artisans and farmers markets in your area by simply typing in your zip code.

- Triple Pundit

 KaBOOM! announces the Scary Playgrounds: Let's Find 'Em & Fix 'Em contest, running from October 5-25, 2011. Winners will be announced Monday, October 31.

Participants are asked to capture photos and note the location of the scary playgrounds on a map. It seems to submit one you MUST download a phone app (that's LAME). Winners receive funds to fix the playgrounds. Kaboom is also behind a crowdsourced nationwide Map of Play to help parents get kids outdoors.

- press release

The OccupyTogetherMap will allow those participating in the various Wall Street protests to document what's going on. It's built on Ushahidi. Like other such maps of late, there is no way to know who is behind the map or what they plan to do with the data. Shouldn't that be on the website? I know from a tweet that @lisawilliams is involved and CivicMIT/Media Lab but that info is not on the website/map. Would you put data on a map made by people/orgs unknown?

via @agharan

The New York Pubilc Library is looking for help georectifying maps. Learn to do it and then help out in your spare time!

Help NYPL build the geospatial library of the future! This workshop (which takes place the three times a month) will get you oriented with the a set of tools the Library has developed (available at maps.nypl.org) that enables librarians and the general public to add valuable geographic context to old maps. The workshop will focus on the core activity of the website: georectification, or "warping" maps. This means overlaying digital images of historic maps onto a contemporary digital map (similar to Google Maps), transforming them into tiles of a virtual atlas.

- NYPL via @NYPLMaps