Nokia 3D Maps Includes “Legitimate Utility”

Vlad Savov, at The Verge, argues the latest update of Nokia 3D Maps is not just pretty, but useful.

Nokia's web-based Maps 3D client has grown exponentially more useful today with the introduction of new search, directions, and social sharing options. You can now explore any of 25 cities around the world by items of interest, check out reviews of local businesses where available, and obtain walking or driving directions to any destination within the city limits. Routes can then be shared on Facebook, Twitter, or via the conveniently provided shortened URL, and the same can also be done with any locations on the map. The whole experience is accompanied by grand, sweeping animations that zoom you in and out of locations. Maps 3D was always a very pretty exhibition of the world's most popular cities, but now that it's added legitimate utility to its arsenal, we're only left to wonder when we'll see it as a native app on our Windows Phones.

- The Verge

Mastering Geocoding in Middle School and other Education GIS News

As their computers warm up and students log in, April Salas assures them, “We’re going to learn two new things today. What took me six months to learn in college, you’re going to learn in three days.”

Her geographic information systems classroom was about to embark on mastering the art of geocoding, and “joining” data using a leading GIS software program, ArcMap 10.

I'm not sure if the first paragraph or the second make me more uncomfortable. It really too her six months to learn geocoding? Why? And, will the students master the process of geocoding - aka pushing buttons - or will the understand the goal and the challenges along the way. I'm also disappointed this article makes no mention of Geography Awareness Week or GIS Day.

- Record Gazette

Duke unveiled a new online map Friday that includes 3-D models of 325 buildings across the campuses. The map also includes satellite views and traditional two-dimensional street maps and offers overlays that display details such as dining locations and parking permit requirements, photos related to the buildings and videos linked to specific campus locations. The map is fully functional on mobile devices.

- Duke Today

Tulsa Community College is hosting a treasure hunt for GIS Day sponsored by ERGIS and GISCI. I figured it was a geocaching-like hunt. It's not.

GIS Day is a free event that invites the community and students to learn about TCC’s GIS Certificate program, to network within the geospatial community and to discover GIS career options. The day includes a scavenger hunt in which participants will use GIS technology to find items, and there is a cash prize. For complete rules, click HERE.

That page describes three different hunts: beginner (find things), intermediate (find things and note lat/lon) and advanced (find things, take picture, make a map). There are cash prizes, too. I'm curious to see how that plays out in downtown Tulsa.

- press release

Apple Acquires C3 Technologies

One of the hot technologies at CES this year was from C3 Technologies. It makes a 3D data capture/creation solution. (APB coverage) Apple has confirmed it aquired the company last year. Now, there's all the speculation about how it will be used and connected to Poly9 (APB coverage) and Placebase (APB coverage), the other two mapping companies Apple now owns. Three C3 staffers are already on the iOS team while the rest of the company remains in Sweden and is now referred to as the Sputnik division.

- PC Mag

DataAppeal: Create 3DGeo Infographics

DataAppeal is a Web-based, data-design visualization application that allows users to transform their location-based data into infographics through the creation of 3D and animated maps.

So says The Next Web on the site, currently in beta. TNW also says the app is open source (not that I see from the site) and makes 3D infographics (but DataAppeal does not use that term) from Excel spreadsheets (yes, they must be specially structured and are limited to a maximum of 5000 rows per file.). Do we need another Google Fusion Tables? Is the 3D that compelling? Are these infographics or just maps? I guess I'm not yet seeing the compelling distinguishing feature. The tool is currently free.

- The Next Web

MapGL and other Google Geo News

Last week Google announced an update to Google Maps that makes it more 3D without a plug-in. The tech behind it is called WebGL and Google's implementation for Maps is called MapsGL. WebGL is supported by four of the five top browsers (versions of Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera are in, Internet Explorer is out). Using WebGL reveals 3D buildings on the otherwise 2D maps of Google Maps, shadows based on time of day and some more elegant transitions from one view to another.

So, what is WebGL? "WebGL is a new technology that brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the browser without additional installed software." It's software that takes advantage of a the hardware's GPU, so you need both the a compatible browser and the right hardware to test it out. (I wrote about GPUs in Directions Magazine.) The library is managed by the Khronos (corrected TWICE per comments, was "Chronos," then Kronos but now correct!) Group (a standards organization) was released as version 1.0 this past March.

- Google Blog

Danny Sullivan reports that the new Siri voice automation on the new iPhone 4s disappoints in the Google Maps department. He could not, with voice, get to the details of a query as he would have liked.

- Search Engine Land

Google Maps breathren, other Google efforts, have been "fired" as of last week. The announcement prepares for the demise of Google Code Search, Google Buzz and Buzz API, iGoogle (I use that!), Jaiku and the University Research Program for Google Search.

- Crazy Engineers

Creating a map on Google Maps allowed the language technology group to add places and points of interests and even upload videos providing information on that location in Cherokee. Cherokee is one of the many languages that Google supports.