Gowalla Seeks Buyer and other LBS News

The Austin Biz Journal reports Gowalla is looking for a buyer. CNN broke the story which points to Groupon and Google as potential buyers.

- Austin Biz Journal Blog

HipCricket reports that marketers are no longer interested in LBS "games" but in closing sales.

Although marketers and consumers still find value in services that use location parameters for their own sake, they are now more interested in harnessing geographic data to close a sale. 

Nokia Research is courting partners and expanding Bluetooth as part of an initiative on indoor location-based services. The company aims to leverage its handset and mapping products to enable a wide range of services including indoor navigation and retail analytics.

SpatialStream and other GIS API News

From Programmable Web:

AskGeo API: Interactive map, web API and Java library for finding out the time zone information for a given location (latitude and longitude). Submit latitude and longitude, and the API returns the unix (Olson) time zone ID, the Windows Standard Name for the time zone, and the current offset from UTC.

data.gov.sg API: The Government of Singapore offers an online data catalogue at data.gov.sg for data from dozens of government agencies. A number of APIs are available including APIs for maps (wireless hotspots, family services, performing arts centers, monuments, waste disposal sites, parks, hotels, tourist attractions, etc.); traffic (incidents, images, road conditions, parking availability, etc.); tourism (events, places, hotels, etc.); environment (weather conditions, vehicle and appliance pollution datasets, etc.); and library data feeds (eBook catalogues, library programs and locations, new item search, catalogue search, etc.). APIs are RESTful, JavaScript, and ESRI.

Micello API: Micello is an indoor mapping service. Micello offers indoor maps of venues, such as shopping malls, airports, hospitals, and museums. Micello indoor maps can be used for integration with outdoor maps, as well as navigation and wayfinding.

Micello offers two APIs: a JavaScript API that allows developers to embed indoor maps into applications and a Map Web Services API that allows for retrieval and display of indoor maps by location, proximity, and retrieving map information. Public documentation is available, but limited. Interested developers should register for an API Key for full API access.

Moonshadow Mobile API: Moonshadow Mobile works with large databases to visualize “big data” over maps. The Moonshadow Mobile API provides acces to over one billion records related to the US population. Data available includes census data from 2000 and 2010, the adult population database and registered voters database. The API uses JavaScript protocol and responses are formatted in JSON.

OpenRouteService API: The API implements a route-finding service for cars, pedestrians, and bicycles based on Open Standards and Open Geodata. Coverage varies depending on data contributed. It also adds several location-aware services created from OpenStreetMap data: Geocoder/Reverse Geocoder, Directory Service, Accessibility Analysis Service, and Emergency Route Service. Please contact the providers prior to using the API. They are interested in spreading the usage of OpenRouteService in academic and non-profit projects.

SpatialStream API: The API provides a series of programming interfaces to simplify the integration of advanced spatial intelligence into existing applications. It creates a SaaS geospatial platform for developing location-aware information applications on top of common mapping platforms. The service was designed to facilitate the rapid development of embedded GIS and consumer mapping applications without needing to be a GIS expert. In addition to REST services, specialized client APIs are available to work with Google and Bing map controls.

Android Devices Get Indoor Mapping

An upgrade of Google’s mobile mapping service released Tuesday includes directions within stores, malls, airports and transit centers in the U.S. and Japan. ...

If the floor plan is included in Google’s index, the software pinpoints a user’s location with a blue dot. The user can then figure out where the nearest bathroom is in a mall or find an airport’s gate for a departing flight. The software is programmed to automatically change to a different floor in a building when the user does.

Big Box stores like Home Depot and Ikea are in as are 18 U.S. airports. The service uses wi-fi to locate users, but I would not be suprised if NFC is not used soon (APB coverage earlier this week).

There's been a bit of a push toward better indoor mapping and location detection in recent weeks as we discussed on a podcast this month.

- Google Blog Announcement

- AP

- Site to upload your floor plan (APB coverage of indoor mapping in Oct)

Other links:

• Indoor Maps availability
• Google Maps Floor Plans Content Guidelines:
• Add your floor plan

Geography Degree No Good for Astronaut Candidates and other Education GIS News

Word from NASA as it begins looking for the next crop of astronauts is that those with geography degrees need not apply.

The following degree fields are not considered qualifying: 
— Degrees in Technology (Engineering Technology, Aviation Technology, Medical Technology, etc.) 
— Degrees in Psychology (except for Clinical Psychology, Physiological Psychology, or Experimental Psychology, which are qualifying) 
— Degrees in Nursing 
— Degrees in Exercise Physiology or similar fields 
— Degrees in Social Sciences (Geography, Anthropology, Archaeology, etc.) 

I wonder if a physical science focused geography degree would be ok? I wonder if NASA folks know geography strattles the line? I wonder if folks fighting for geography education in Congress realize NASA doesn't count it as science? I don't have to worry; I'm not tall enough to be an astronaut.

- Washington Post Answer Sheet

Fully Funded PhD Position for UK Student at Newcastle University in Geo/Climate Topic

- "job posting"

The UA Wild Cat Research and Conservation Center is initiating three years of monitoring jaguar occurrence and movement in the U.S. borderlands area using cameras and DNA analysis from scat collected in the field. Results will inform future management and conservation practices.

USFWS got funding from the Department of Homeland Security as mitigation for the effects of border-related activity. And, you'd think a GIS would be a great way to manage the data. Maybe. But first, GIS will help locate the cameras!

To determine the most promising sites to place cameras, the team will use an approach called geographic information system, or GIS. With GIS, various landscape variables such as topography, water features, land use status and measurements such as distance to human infrastructure are digitally mapped to predict the best probable locations to place the cameras.

- UA News

Copenhagen’s New Map and other International GIS News

An interactive map of Copenhagen has been launched to aid the City Council’s efforts in tackling marginalised areas of the city.

The map gives users the opportunity to view the city according to a variety of social and economic factors such as education, income and average living space.

- Copenhagen Post

Looking for a place of worship in Birmingham [UK]? The Birmingham Faith Map, a unique website, will guide you to every church, chapel, mosque, temple, synagogue,and other religious meeting place in the city. The site was launched during Interfaith Week, at Birmingham Anglican Cathedral, by Birmingham City Councillor Alan Rudge, Cabinet Member for Equalities and Human Resources.

Pasco Corp., Japan’s largest provider of digital maps [and authorized distributor of ESRI and ERDAS products in Japan] , plans to buy companies overseas because of the near-record high yen and surging demand in emerging markets caused by construction booms.