All Points Blog

News from AU: Enhanced PDF for AutoCAD Subscribers

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 12:26:40 -0600

That's today's big news. Funny since not too many years ago it was DWF all the time and PDF with a line through it in Autodesk ads... Too bad there's nothing specific for geo folks in the enhanced PDF (that I can see.)

- press release

Company Behind Lauded Westport 3D Model Goes Under

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 10:27:57 -0600

Westport (Ireland) got its share of fame (Google Earth blog, for example) after AMT3D developed a detailed 3D model of the city and posted it on Google Earth. Today, The Mayo News reports AMT3D shut down in November a victim of the economy and fears in the building industry. The good news, a local company has bought up the assets and will honor existing contracts.

"Cold and Flu Companion" Mobile Phone App

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 09:58:38 -0600

Yep, it's branded with a drug name (Zicam) but it's the premise that I want to examine. The app (Android now, iPhone later this month) allows users to get info on local (input ZIP Code) code and flu info.

The Zicam® Cold & Flu Companion mobile application provides greater detail than this service by showing users the percentage of sick people in any given zip code, what types of symptoms are most prevalent and which ones to look out for in a specific area. The application also keeps users updated on the latest cold and flu news.

Source of this info? Not stated in PR. But you can get the same info (apparently) via this website. (The risk in my city today is low!)

Useful? Some would say yes. Another benefit? Coupons to buy (that's right) Zicam plus directions to nearby retailers. Is something like that a viable way to "opt in" to LBS-based coupons/pushes? We'll see.

- press release

Microsoft Eagle 1: R&D Implementation of Integrated Data/ Maps for Emergency Response

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 07:13:13 -0600

CIO Australia highlights Eagle 1, along with other "in development" technologies. This one sounds all too familiar to me after witnessing many OGC interoperability demos.

Eagle 1 pulls information from multiple databases and uses geospatial mapping technology to create an interactive map that would show, for example, all the schools, military bases, hospitals in the affected area. Plus it would show how many people are in the hospitals, current evacuation models and casualties or danger zones, even a plume model that could show where a gas leak is heading.

There's nothing to note what enables access to all those databases, but there's a note that "the process of configuring the data extractions will likely involve a team of Microsoft disaster specialists."

Quotes of the Week from Nokia World

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 06:17:11 -0600

From Nokia World, being held in Barcelona this week:

"Your social location, or SoLo will become your here-and-now-identity."
- CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo

"Combining the real world with the virtual world, pointing at a building with a virtual compass and being told everything about that building." (Coming soon)
- Markets EVP Anssi Vanjoki

"Theres a company that says they can index the world [Google]; we are going to go deeper - we are going to coordinate the world, we are going to coordinate everything on a map. Not just a map that is standard like a Google Map, but a map that is dynamic, with vector graphics, driving all the roads of the world, making sure we have coordinates for everything there is, with Navteq."
- Markets EVP Anssi Vanjoki

- MocoNews

VentureBeat Picks Five LBS Companies to Watch in 2009

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 06:00:00 -0600

Some are the same old, same old: BrikeKite, Whrrl, Mexens Technology. One I'd never heard of: LBS gaming company Orbster. One, Sense Networks, has already made investors piles of money by allowing them to predict store revenues by tapping into traffic coming and going.

Also noted: FaceBook and MySpace, which have yet to do anything with location, but which "would devastate the location-based social networking industry. No other social network is even close to achieving the same user base as these two."

- VentureBeat

$100,000 Rolex Award for Geo-Archeological System

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 06:00:00 -0600

Chemistry professor Talal Akasheh of Hashemite University of Jordan was awarded the prize (one of five from 1,500 applicants) and will use the funds to monitor development in the 2,500-year old city of Petra, which is threatened by natural decay and the impact of increased tourism. "His geo-archaeological information system (GIS) will map the site and track minute details of Petra, monitoring its physical characteristics, the condition of the monuments and the impact of surrounding development."

- AME Info

Podcast: Geospatial News and New/Social Media

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 01:00:00 -0600

How does a geospatial news outlet use new and social media? And, what's in it for readers and listeners? Our editors share how Directions Media is using these tools (including some tips for new users of Twitter and podcasts) and look ahead at better matching content and form to reader needs.

Subscribe to Podcast RSS

Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")

Read the show notes

Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index with all the info.

Free Lecture on History etc. of Geocoding Wednesday in DC

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 12:08:23 -0600

This from Robert at the Library of Congress:

December 3, 2008 at Noon

Lecture: Spaces of Calculation: Street Addressing and the Making of
a Geo-coded World, Reuben Rose-Redwood, Kluge Fellow, at 12:00 PM in
Whittall Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E.,
Washington, D.C.

From the website (more info):

Kluge Fellow Reuben Rose-Redwood will explore the cultural and political history of street addressing in the United States, from the late eighteenth century to the present, including the recent shift from rural route and box numbering systems to 911 addresses. More than a mere technical device best left to postmasters and planning professionals, the spatial practice of street addressing is one of the fundamental mechanisms of the production of calculable space and is, in a more general sense, the socio-spatial equivalent to the mathematicization of nature that has dominated modern thought since the Enlightenment.

Update: Nokia Survey Reveals Most "Lost" Cities, Disoriented Countries

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 08:44:00 -0600

Update 12/1/08: Nokia released the press release last week, after the cited article appeared.

--- original post 11/26/08 -----------

A press release (likely released only in Europe, this version is nicely tailored to the UAE) touts a study Nokia commissioned to determine experiences and opinions on getting lost, one's sense of direction and the like. This is another of those surveys that lets the commissioner talk about their solution to whatever the indicated issue is. (See my primer on using this technique for your own press relations.)

Here are the details of the survey:

Research conducted by ICM among 12,500 people in 13 countries during the period of 1 - 23 October 2008. Countries where research was conducted: UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Australia, Brazil, China, UAE, Russia, Singapore, India, South Africa.

Now the "highlights":
Continue reading "Update: Nokia Survey Reveals Most "Lost" Cities, Disoriented Countries"

Terrorists Use Geotechnology

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 07:34:57 -0600

Computerworld and others report that Google Earth, GPS and other tech devices were in use in the attacks in Mumbai. My only thought: We regular folks use these everyday to do our "work," so it's not surprising these folks do, too. Have we not wrapped our heads around the idea that data and technology can be used for good or evil? I guess not.

iBegin Places "Wiki" for informal spaces

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 06:26:28 -0600

Ahmed, who's behind a "lab" site called ibegin.com, sent in this introduction to the sites latest project, iBegin Places.

Continue reading "iBegin Places "Wiki" for informal spaces"

A Collection of Maps on the Mumbai Bombings

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 06:00:00 -0600

These are just a sampling of maps related to the coverage of last week's attacks:

Mapmash offers a timeline map. Reference is to Wikipedia. (Thanks for including source information!)

Continue reading "A Collection of Maps on the Mumbai Bombings"

Irony: Google Uses Undocumented iPhone APIs

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 06:00:00 -0600

No doubt you've heard this: "A Google spokesman confirmed Tuesday that Google Mobile uses undocumented APIs (application programming interfaces) in order to use the iPhone's proximity sensor to prompt a verbal search." (C|net) We do all recall that Google Maps mashups started because someone (Mr. Paul Rademacher, who now works at Google) did something like the same thing, right?

A Map for World AIDS Day

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 06:00:00 -0600

Dec 1, 2008 is the 20th annual World AIDS Day. Global Voices offers this map of HIV+ bloggers and caretakers, and other citizen media related to HIV/AIDS. It's embedded below, along with a link, if the map is not visible.

via Global Voices

Continue reading "A Map for World AIDS Day"