Thursday, December 4. 2008

Some Good Questions from David and Ralph...

First, David Pogue, of the New York Times is looking for better graphic indicators for "the good to bad" scale. He's not keen on the one used in Consumer Reports (the red bullseye, to open circle to black dot scale). I thought map folks might have some good ideas for him.

Second, Ralph Grabowski at WorldCAD Access (who quoted me in his last issue of upFront.eZine thanks!) wonders if SketchUp will weather the cuts expected at Google.

Tuesday, November 18. 2008

Podcast: What We'd Tell the World on GIS Day

GIS Day provides a chance for geospatial practitioners to tell the world about what they and why it matters. Our editors share the key themes they'd want to get across to the public on this special day.

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Tuesday, November 11. 2008

Quote of the Week

"While I rely on my GPS to compensate for my terrible sense of direction, that price seems a bit high to pay for a 3D map of Chicago and its mostly flat surrounding areas. It's an impressive novelty, but it is still just a novelty."

Scott Nichols wrote that in PC World about the not yet released $599 Navigon 8100T GPS model which uses "NASA terrain elevation data in conjunction with a built-in 3D accelerator" to offer "true 3D."

- PC World in Washington Post

Thursday, October 30. 2008

Google to Sponsor, Provide Keynote for daratechPlant 2009

Daratech, based here in Cambridge, is known for its market reports on PLM, CAD/CAM, CAE, CDM, MPM and GIS. (If you don't know the first few acronyms, don't worry, the folks who do are not too savvy about GIS!) Today I see that Google will not only sponsor daratechPlant, an event focussed on "plant asset lifecycle management," Aidan Chopra, Product Evangelist, Google SketchUp will give the keynote (press release).

Chopra will provide the daratechPLANT audience with an insider’s view on Google’s work in the 3D and geospatial arena, and what might be coming next. He will address how ideas like real-time collaboration, cloud computing and mobile access to information will affect the way companies deal with 3D data, some of the challenges involved in working with 3D information, and how they might be overcome.

So, it sounds like Google is delving further in 3D, beyond just 3D design into many of those acronyms introduced above. It's been my experience that Daratech events are very much "pay to play" so I'd have to guess that Google paid to get this slot. That tells me its even more likely the company will have something to say.

The conference is February 23 – 25, at the Hilton Americas in Houston, so many of the oil and gas folks are within driving distance.

Wednesday, October 29. 2008

An "F" in Marketing Savvy

At GEOINT this afternoon, I approached the Zebra Imaging booth and marveled at the 3-D holographic displays. I wanted to grab a quick photo to use in this blog post but, WHOA..."Excuse me...no photos sir, came the voice." What was that? You're not selling this product? See the press badge? Do you want free publicity? Is it a secret? I know it's holographic but it's not invisible. So, I was handed some marketing literature which quickly made its way into the circular file. That was bad form...So, they still get the blog post but an "F" in marketing savvy. (no hyperlink either)

Tuesday, September 2. 2008

Washington DC circa 1814...Digitally Rendered

The Washington Post published an article about work completed at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's (UMBC) Imaging Research Center which shows a fantastic rendering of the landscape as the city would have appeared circa 1814. Central to the work is a depiction of the unfinished Capitol building as it stand in juxtaposition to other geographic features at that time. The work by UMBC is based on topographic maps and generalized paintings from the era to create a psuedo-realistic 3D model. Watch the video created by UMBC; it's six minutes long but worth it.