All Points Blog

Podcast: A Hallway Conversation with Jay Tilley, Senior VP, Sanborn

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:33:00 -0600

Adena Schutzberg interviewed Jay Tilley, Sanborn's Senior Vice President about why 3D data is important and how the industry is overcoming challenges such as cost, data fusion and the integration of real time data. Tilley also speaks to the future gr...Read more

Google Goes Deeper on Real Estate with Place Pages

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:54:36 -0600

Now Google offers a page for each real estate offerings. (Generic "Place Pages" were announced in Sept. [LatLong Blog].) Data is drawn from a variety of sources (multiple listings!), perhaps pushing Google more toward aggregator of than organizer of ...Read more

Seen During Geography Awareness Week IV

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:30:15 -0600

""The woman requested that the deputies Google Earth her house and keep it on satellite surveillance overnight," [Sgt] Dawes said." - A Lake Forest (CA) resident called local police to as for a watch on her house after she heard noises, as report...Read more

Twitter Geo API Available

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:33:38 -0600

It went live yesterday (Twitter blog) and the Twittersphere was excited. The only challenge: it's an API so only developers, not end users, could do anything with it. Further, you can't take advantage of the API from the website, so, no cool locatio...Read more

Computerworld on CloudMade

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:33:07 -0600

Actually, it was MacWorld (both IDG pubs) that caught up with Nick Black, CloudMade founder, to explore why the company and OSM can change the world. - Computerworld...Read more

SimpleGeo: AWS for Location

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:43:53 -0600

Former Digg Chief Architect Joe Stump and Social Thing founder Matt Galligan are now offering a private beta of SimpleGeo, a "new infrastructure for location based services." Per TechCrunch: SimpleGeo is akin to an Amazon Web Services for locat...Read more

AOL Lays Off Workers, Puts Properties up Sale

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:12:19 -0600

AOL which will be sprung from Time Warner at the beginning of next month laid off 1/3 of its workers and reports indicate it's putting its ICQ messaging service and perhaps MapQuest up for sale. Among the possible buyer suggested for the mapping biz:...Read more

Update 5: AT&T Sues Verizon over "Map for That" Map Ads

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:29:00 -0600

In the latest round AT&T responds to Verizon's ads with its own ads. Most reviewers cast them as "lame" and "slapped together." I don't even know who Luke Wilson is, but he runs down a checklist of features (some say with errors) that the two carrie...Read more
Continue reading "Update 5: AT&T Sues Verizon over "Map for That" Map Ads"

KUOW Weekday: The Arts of Maps (Thursday)

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:28:54 -0600

KUOW, based at the University of Washington, hosts its "Weekday" radio program on "The Art of Maps" (9 am pacific) today (Thursday). Maps tell you more than simply how to get from here to there. Nearly any kind of information can be put into a map. ...Read more

Why I got an e-mail from Wolfram Research

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

Colin DeCair at Wolfram e-mailed to let me know about an interesting geosci modeling tool built on Mathematica. I had to do some research but now recall that Wolfram Research (the folks behind the in the news Wolfram Alpha knowledge engine) is also t...Read more

Ordnance Survey maps to go free online

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:04:44 -0600

That's the word from The Guardian, backers of the three year old Free Our Data campaign. Not that they didn't have help from outspoken proponents of making the Ordnance Survey data free(r) to use. Exactly how it will be done is not clear. What we do ...Read more

Autodesk Q3 2010 Down 31% Over Q3 2009

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:43:22 -0600

Revenue was $417 million for Q3 2010, basically flat from last quarter but showed a decrease of 31 percent compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2009. I think it's telling that its core products, AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT showed similar traits: "Combi...Read more

Wisconsin Bill: Stop the Presses on State Maps

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, a cosponsor of the bill states: "This specific bill saves the state taxpayers $250,000 by not allowing the Department of Transportation to print state highway maps," A surplus of more than 400,000 maps will only last ...Read more

Quote of the Week

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

"Technology has changed a great deal since I went to college. We used to take measurements by hand. We now have GIS systems where you can map a boundary. A new person entering the field really needs to have those skills and the new course curriculum...Read more

Oregon Data Portal Opens

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:02:28 -0600

Phase One of the The Oregon Spatial Data Library was launched in November 18 for GIS Day. "The Oregon Spatial Data Library provides easy and convenient ways to find, access and share geospatial data." It's all ESRI-based, including an ArcGIS Serve...Read more

Seen During Geography Awareness Week III

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:48:34 -0600

"Unlike flat paper maps, GIS, short for geographic information systems, allows people to analyze relationships between many layers of information at once." - From an article on Helena 5th graders who attended a GIS Day event at the Montana State L...Read more

Crossing the Border Safely, With LBS

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:40:39 -0600

b.a.n.g lab's Transborder Immigrant Tool is an LBS app built to run on an inexpensive cell phone designed to help Mexican immigrants safely cross the border. From an interview with the team's Ricardo Dominguez: We looked at the Motorola i455 cell...Read more

Garmin Offers Process to Put Your Maps on its Devices

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:58:34 -0600

Essentially Custom Maps allows you to upload georeferenced JPGs onto your device. Per the press release: The first step to creating Custom Maps is to save your existing map in JPG format, either by scanning a paper map or converting a digital file....Read more

Seen During Geography Awareness Week II

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:16:14 -0600

The intro line for the new Turbo Tax: "Like GPS for taxes, TurboTax ® 2009 easily and accurately guides taxpayers step-by-step through their tax return, effortlessly getting them to their ultimate destination - the biggest tax refund possible. " -...Read more

Time Magazine's Top 50 Inventions for 2009 Lacking in Location Intelligent Design

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:05:43 -0600

Time Magazine's Top 50 Invention's list for 2009 seems to lack a entry that was at least location-aware. Unless you count the "Smart Bullet" or "Teleportation" there are no inventions that leveraged location technology or data. ...Read more

Update: First American Data to Power Microsoft "Dallas"

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:30:00 -0600

The rest of the rest of the story, via eChannelLine: [Ray] Ozzie [speaking at Microsoft PDC] also unveiled the next evolution of Microsoft Pinpoint, an online marketplace for Microsoft partners to market and sell their applications. Also available...Read more

Podcast: The Line Between Geo Amateur and Professional

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -0600

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. Subscribe to Podcast RSS Listen Now (to download, right clic...Read more

GIS App of the Day for GIS Day

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:37:47 -0600

Piece County Washington unveiled Where Does The Water Go? for GIS Day. The app "enables users to pinpoint an address or location on a map, and then GIS technology calculates the direction and flow of stormwater based on topography. It traces the wate...Read more

Bentley Announces New Center in Dublin

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:20:35 -0600

The new international Shared Services, Sales and Marketing Centre in Dublin will create 150 jobs. The investment is supported by IDA Ireland (the agency responsible for industrial development in Ireland). - Silicon Republic...Read more

Fedex Senses a Need for Package Sensing

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:13:11 -0600

The new SenseAware platform is a "next generation information service that combines a GPS sensor device and a web-based collaboration platform." Due next spring, the "ride along" hardware can track: "precise temperature readings; a shipment's exact ...Read more

FDA Grants 62K to Wisconsin for TIGER Agro-terrorism Tool

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:48:11 -0600

TIGER stands for Terrorist Incident GIS-Enhanced Response. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the grant (one of four) to Food Safety Division, housed in the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, to encourage new ...Read more

Quote of the Week

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:20:24 -0600

"Having begun in 1993 with three employees, Aruna has grown to employ around 35 people and reports annual revenues of about US$1.7 million." - Growth of Aruna Technology Limited, a medium-sized Phnom Penh company and ESRI's distributor, profiled i...Read more

Office of Federal Procurement Policy Admin Nominee Ponders A-76

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

Daniel Gordon is the nominee to be the administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP to insiders, which I am not!). He'll have to deal with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 (the geospatial one) and its public-...Read more

Geo Soft Launch Central

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:34:25 -0600

Last week USGS made public its new viewer for The National Map (TMN). It's build on NGA's Palanterra 3. I'm confused by the site which says: "Beta URL not ready for wide-distribution until stability testing is completed prior to the end of the calend...Read more

C|net Tackles PublicEarth and OSM

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:59:54 -0600

My personal favorite BOLer (that's Buzz Outloud, C|net's daily tech podcast) Rafe Needleman covers the user generated content site in an article title Crowdsourcing Cartography. PublicEarth launched Monday and is a Google Maps-based POI collection. M...Read more

NE URISA: Trends in Making Integrated Information More Accessible

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:50:00 -0600

Yesterday, to start off Geography Awareness Week, the New England chapter of URISA held a one-day, focussed conference on integrating data (website). I did the keynote and I think the key takeaways included: - Authoritative data is in the eye of t...Read more

Off Topic: Oracle Ditches Traditional Press Releases

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

In the past few years a new form of sharing press information, the Social Media Release (primer), appeared. The idea was to share key quotes, links, facts, videos, images, etc. from which bloggers and other new (and traditional) media types would cra...Read more

Foursquare API Arrives

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:16:13 -0600

It's live. Mashable says the API is key to the company living up to its potential. The article goes on to align Foursquare with Twitter, a company that made its mark in large part from developers apps. Oh, and The Next Web suggests Facebook may buy F...Read more

Seen During Geography Awareness Week

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:12:35 -0600

" Individual invitations with maps is a new, product and service exclusively from Astonishingcards. This revolutionary program will draw a map from the front door of each and every recipient to the front door of the event. In addition, Astonishingcar...Read more

Opening Up Sensor Data

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:50:46 -0600

The EU-funded Sensors Anywhere (SANY) program offers the technical means to allow the free exchange and use of environmental monitoring data regardless of its source. It supports OGC standards. Several pilots are underway tracking air, water and land...Read more

NY Times on User Generated Map Content

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:31:18 -0600

In an roundup the paper looks at editing Google's business and POI listings, Google's use of user generated contents, OpenStreetMap and the challenges of managing the politics inherent in mapmaking. Quote of note from Michael Goodchild: "As far as we...Read more

Quote of the Week

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

"All our GIS and OSS are in the cloud." - Barry Nolan, chief operating officer at euNetworks, during a round table discussion on at Global Telcoms Business on cloud computing and telcos...Read more

Dutch to Tax Drivers Based on Driving Distance, Road Time using GPS

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:17:00 -0600

According to the Associated Press, the Netherlands will levy a tax based on the time spent driving in order to reduce congested highways. When the plan takes effect in 2012, a GPS monitoring system will track the distance, time, and place of driver...Read more

The U.S.' New Sea: The Salish Sea

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

The name Salish Sea was adopted by the U.S. Board on Geographic names on Friday. The decision followed the same one from the Washington State counterpart.The Salish Sea includes the inland waterway in Washington state and British Columbia but doesn...Read more

Simplicity Software has New Meaning for Topo Map

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

Simplicity Software has added a new feature to its offering for sales automation, CRM and eMarketing for those involved with buildings. It basically adds views of the buildings. The new feature is called "Virtual Topo Maps." From what I understand, t...Read more

OMG! Map Usability Test!

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:36:53 -0600

This is for users, not mapgeeks... Props to Greater [second "Greater" added per comment] Greater Washington for putting together a test to measure if the new WMATA (Metro) bus map is better than the old one. ...Read more

Ducks Unlimited Touts Page Views for Migration Map

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

The organization reports 1.5 million page views within the site's first two months. The map launched Sept 1. The map, powered by Bing Maps, didn't seem to be working correctly for me. (Perhaps it's a Safari thing?) I could find no legend (or I don...Read more

Podcast: A Hallway Conversation with Stefan Knecht, CIO United Maps

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:59:00 -0600

Adena Schutzberg interviewed United Maps CIO and co-founder Stefan Knecht about the challenges of collected and conflating data across Europe (and the U.S.), the challenges of mapping public transit and why only a small percentage of cemeteries appea...Read more

GISer Gets Job at Letterpress Company

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:33:26 -0600

The company is Invitations by Ajalon Printing and Design, based in Santa Rosa, CA and the new employee, Dean Tisthammer, will work in the wedding invitation division. With Dean on board, invites will presumably include maps. He's graduate in Geograph...Read more

Update: TownMe: An LBS API

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:02:00 -0600

Update: Released. - TechCrunch ...Read more
Continue reading "Update: TownMe: An LBS API"

Health and Science Tidbits

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

New maps are pinpointing both the location of those with HIV along with "how sick they are" based on viral load. Those maps, are in turn, helping to better site clinics in the Bay Area. It turns out that the areas with the greatest number of cases ma...Read more

NAVTEQ and Other Awaiting Changes to Illinois Freedom of Information Law

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:01:20 -0600

The state law is set to change come January and it may change if counties can charge for geospatial data and may open the licensing of that data. NAVTEQ wants a copy of Whiteside County's data. The company is happy to pay, but disputes the current...Read more

APB Gets More Social

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

We've added a "share this" toolbox to each All Points Blog post that allows visitors to share our content via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media options. We've done the same over at Directions Magazine. Just like we learned in kin...Read more

Another Biz Model for Cell Phones: Location-based Pricing

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0600

The technology is from Telecordia and called dynamic discount tariffing. It was launched in Africa in September. There MTN, Vodacom and Safaricom offer between 45 and 95% discounts. It's now likely to be launched in India. My question: how will...Read more

TomTom iPhone App Update

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:44:19 -0600

This is probably a good time for an update considering Google's new Android-based free Google Maps Navigation and the talk it may come to other platforms, include the iPhone. Among the goodies in a new free update, now pending approval in the AppS...Read more