USC and others Share Mapping Data via an API

The University of Southern Canlifornia

USC Map Data API: The University of Southern California’s Map Data API provides a RESTful interface for retrieving content from the University’s online map. The API supports JSON and JSONP formats. Users can search for locations, building codes and names, and a variety of map metadata.

Weather Source

Weather Source API: Weather Source is a service that provides weather data. Weather Source provides weather data for clients in multiple industries for multiple purposes. Weather Source provides historical weather data and reports, weather forecast data, and astronomical reports.

The Weather Source API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Weather Source with other applications and to create new applications. Some example API methods include managing account information, retrieving weather history data, and retrieving astronomical data.

Navitia.io

navitia.io API: Navitia.io is an API that helps people access and use public transportation data. It provides services for performing journey computations, getting line schedules, finding next departures, and discovering isochrones. Isochrones are locations that can be reached in the same amount of time from a person's starting point. This part of the API could, for example, be used to discover which stations could be reached within the next 60 minutes.

The street network used by navitia.io is extracted from OpenStreetMap, and all of the public transport data comes from networks that provide their timetables as open data.

Forecast

Forecast API: Forecast is a weather application that provides weather forecast information for locations. Forecast aggregates numerous weather data sets and combines them for users to search and return weather forecast information by place.

The Forecast API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Forecast with other applications and to create new applications. Some example API methods include returning current weather conditions and retrieving forecasts for periods of time.

- Programmable Web

Jack Levis, UPS, Keynotes Location Intelligence 2013

Jack Levis, is known to many readers as “the UPS guy” in the Penn State Public Broadcasting production The Geospatial Revolution. He gave the opening keynote at this year's Location Intelligence Conference in Washington, DC. He basically backed up his now-famous quip about how UPS used to be a trucking company that used technology, but is now a technology company that happens to use trucks.

He reviewed what analytics are by highlighting their use in “data driven insight.” Organizations focus on first gathering their data together and putting them in order, gaining insight from them and making predictions with them. Said another way, they take data, turn theminto information, then to knowledge. Analytics come in three flavors:

• descriptive - where we are
• predictive - where we will be
• prescriptive - what we should do

As use moves through these “levels”, more data, more expertise and more return can be expected. UPS captures more data both by using is DIAD mobile terminals (described as driver's "assistants" and four location data points captured for each stop. UPS also captures data about its vehicles and has learned that a vehicle that is an outlier in its performance is likely headed for a breakdown. Those vehicles are taken in for service before their planned maintenance cycle. Levis compared it to the Sesame Street game “one of these things is not like the others.”

Implementing analytics technology at UPS required updating every UPS procedure, including the details in the now 74 page drivers manual. Those changes have meant reducing 85 millions miles driven/year, 95% less time spent on training, 8M gallons less fuel used, 85K fewer metric tons of CO2 expelled.

The future looks bright. Even now customers can customize (for free) their delivery preferences (leave the package if I’m not home, leave with a neighbor, etc.) and even designate a delivery window within two hours. Levis and his colleagues want to go beyond prescriptive analytics to what he calls "clarovoyance," knowing what problems will pop up before they do. 

Also in the future: a Nova episode with David Pogue that puts a spotlight on UPS’ use of analytics. Levis shared that Pogue did not stand a chance when competing with his routing optimization tools. In fact, he "fake fired" Pogue!

The Q&A was far-reaching but two questions, actually their answers, were startling. The first was about UPS use of real time data (weather, traffic, etc.). It currently does not use any. Why not? Adding it in along with the complexity of just its stops is too much. If real time is added, it will be real time data about if trucks leave a stop early or late. The other question was about UPS plans to sell its very detailed and accurate address data. While discussions have occurred and continue to occur with UPS mergers and acquisitions team, Levis hinted very few industries need the detail it does (he did note working with some emergency response teams). Further, he observed, trying to sell or license data people think should be free, doesn’t work to well.

Esri’s Timely Severe Weather Map

Update: Moore, Oklahoma Tornado Public Information Map, too.

Esri shares:

Get the latest info on the ground as it happens. Esri’s live Severe Weather Map allows you to view continuously updated tornado reports, wind storm info, weather warnings, and precipitation. The map also pulls in geotagged social media including tweets, video, and photos.

GeoNews from Asia: Alibaba Gets into Mapping, the Man behind Esri in APAC

China's largest Internet company Alibaba has made a significant investment into AutoNavi, a key provider of mobile maps and directions. Alibaba is handing over $294 million for a 28% stake in AutoNavi Holdings, which boasts a 100 million-plus user base and  30% ownerhip of the mobile mapping applications downloaded in China.

- Forbes

A rather rambling article on innovation and business in Singapore popped up this tidbit:

ESRI, in turn, is linked to Singaporean entrepreneur Wong Fong Fui, who runs the conglomerate Boustead, which has an exclusive country license to ESRI GIS software in Southeast Asia and Australia. 

Wong is known as a turnaround specialist, having helped the loss-making unfocused QAF with a market cap of US$15 million; then in 1988, built the Gardenia bakery brand in Singapore into a $500 million food business by the time it was sold, and now Boustead, which he bought for $14 million in 1996 has a current market value of $580 million. 

- Jakarta Post

Where are the ACA Eligible in Illinois and other Health GIS News

Health & Disability Advocates has released an expanded interactive mapping tool that shows where uninsured Illinois residents live, highlighting who will be eligible to gain some form of coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

It's an update of a map from last year with more data from the American Community Survey. One goal is to identify people who can take advantage of the Affordable Care Act; they are typically the ones least informed about it.

- Chicago Business

Dr. Murray Mittleman, the director of cardiovascular epidemiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was the senior author of a study exploring the impact of living near a highway to kidney function. It was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

"What we found was that among individuals who had a history of having had a stroke, people who lived closer to major roadways had a [decrease] in their kidney function," he said. "The closer an individual lived to a major roadway, the bigger the [decrease] in their kidney function we observed."

- SCPR

Eau Clare Wisconsin is pondering creating a "fat map" of the city as part of its comprehensive plan. Ideally, it would map individual's BMI (without detailed personal info) to find patterns of high obesity.  These areas would be targeted with interventions like community gardens and new walking paths. The idea is quite controversial.

- WAOW