Tuesday, November 17. 2009

Podcast: The Line Between Geo Amateur and Professional

If anyone can make a map today, what is it that distinguishes the amateur from the professional when it comes to geospatial? Is it training? Perspective? Tools? Our editors weigh in.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Education, GIS Jobs, Real-Time/Dynamic Data, Directions on the News Podcast, Geospatial Business at 01:00 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, November 9. 2009

Schmidt: Google Will Not Publish Real Time Satellite Imagery

Just in case you were wondering:

Schmidt said Google only publishes satellite data that is a month old, indicating that Google would consider it creepy to publish real-time satellite data.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Remote Sensing, Real-Time/Dynamic Data at 06:00 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, October 27. 2009

MSN Direct to Shut Down at End of 2011

Microsoft noted considering shutting down the data service that powers live local data (traffic, weather, gas prices) for some GPS units (among other devices) back in May (APB coverage). Now the official word the service will shut down Dec 31, 2011.

Devices that use it will continue to work, they just won't have access to the data sent over FM signal. The system is pretty old (2004) and was part of the SPOT, or Smart Personal Objects Technology, initiative which now operates in 134 cities.

- Radio World

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Microsoft, Real-Time/Dynamic Data at 09:39 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, October 13. 2009

Podcast: Google Maps Changes US Base Data, Adds Parcels and Crowdsourcing

This past week Google prompted a flurry of discussion by announcing some changes to its data and functionality in Google Maps. There’s new data and new feedback tools and some anxiety in the geospatial world. Our editors separate fact from fiction and offer our take on the implications of these changes.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, Open Source, Databases, Traffic, Directions on the News Podcast, Geospatial Business, Tele Atlas, NAVTEQ at 01:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, September 15. 2009

How few cell phones are needed to track traffic?

"Results suggest that a 2-3% penetration of cell phones in the driver population is enough to provide accurate measurements of
the velocity of the traffic flow."

That's just one conclusion of a study titled Evaluation of Traffic Data Obtained via GPS-enabled Mobile Phones: the Mobile Century field experiment (pdf) from UC Berkeley's Institute for Transportation Studies.

- via Docuticker

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Traffic at 06:16 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, September 8. 2009

TomTom Shares OpenLR Standard: What is it?

The press release says:

OpenLR has been designed for traffic information systems and dynamic route
guidance, and is available as an open-source technology a
http://www.tomtom.com/page/openLR. It can easily be adapted to the requirements
of system integrators, and the technical community can contribute with their
ideas to improve it.

Location data can range from static road sign information to highly dynamic
traffic and weather situation information as well as safety-critical information
- anything that needs to be accurately linked to a specific piece of or position
on the road network. The OpenLR technology allows location content providers to
reference any location on any navigable map, completely royalty-free.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Open Source, Standards, Real-Time/Dynamic Data, Satellite Navigation, TomTom at 06:17 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |