New Geo APIs - 3/21/12

Shutl API: The UK service aggregates offerings from courier services and other shipping carriers to provide quotes for shipping and arrange delivery via the selected provider. It enables expedited delivery or scheduling of delivery within a 1-hour time window. A GPS-enabled tracking service maps shipment progress toward the destination.

API methods support retrieval of quotes from shipping carriers based on specified origin and destination points, carrier delivery terms, and related parameters. Methods also support contracting with the carrier to deliver the shipment. The API also allows access to specific delivery vehicle information.

Weather Decision Technologies API: Weather Decision Technologies is a provider of weather content including science weather detection, nowcasting, and forecasting. WDT's clients include most of the United States' leading weather services and interactive media outlets, as well as governmental, industrial and military weather customers from all over the world. WDT's iMap weather maps are the leading web and mobile solutions for local media. WDT supplies many raw meteorological data products to customers all over the World. These feeds are transmitted using a variety of methods, including proprietary satellite uplinks and the Internet. Documentation is not publicly available.

Autoaddress API: The service provides address capture and validation, with format clean-up and geocoding, for locations in Ireland. Autocomplete functions suggest valid choices during user data entry and apply address intelligence routines to capture and correct accurate, valid addresses. The system can be adapted to an application's address format preferences.

API methods support validation and autocorrection when a user completes data entry, returning status messages, geocoding information, and related application data. Reformat methods modify submitted addresses to match specified configuration options.

Dark Sky API: Dark Sky is an app that predicts the weather using location to figure out when it’s going to precipitate in the immediate future. It is meant to forecast the weather for a given location up to an hour in advance.

The Dark Sky API allows users to query for short-term precipitation forecast data at geographical points inside the United States. It can provide an hourly forecast, forecasts for a collection of points and a list of interesting storms currently happening. The API uses RESTful calls and responses are formatted in JSON.

Onuma WFS API: The Onuma Web Feature Service (WFS) provides access to Onuma's geospatial data resources. This includes the locations and features of buildings, along with other Building Information Modeling (BIM) data. Users can query a specific geographic area determined either by input coordinates or by a drawn area that forms a bounding box. This service also allows users to make Onuma data available to other web services and applications.

Onuma WFS is based on open standards established by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and operates over GET and POST protocols.

- Programmable Web

And a bonus via @howardbutler: A font you can use in your web apps when you want tiny state shapes as a design element. It's called StateFace and is free to use, from ProPublica.      

New “Easy to Follow” Google Maps Dev Tools and other Google Geo News

Google appears to be fighting back [fight OSM, others]. On Tuesday [today] it will announce two new sites aimed at encouraging developers of all skill levels to use its maps for location services and mobile applications. One of the sites has easy-to-follow directions, while the other is a gallery of things people have built with Google Maps.

I don't find the "easy to follow directions" just yet.

- NY Times

Released today [March 14], the newest version of Google Earth for Android and iOS adds a long-awaited feature that should make the mobile mapping experience more like that on the desktop: KML file support.

KML, or Keynote Markup Language, is a file format used to display geographic data in the Google Earth browser. The format can be used by anyone to create and distribute custom map overlays on the Web.

It's pretty sad that the news detailed on the Google Lat Long Blog got so muddled in the Cnet's coverage above. KML is Keyhole Markup Language; it's an open format (sorry encoding standard) now managed by OGC.

- C|net

New Geo APIs - 3/13/12

Utah GIS API: These service provides an instance of the ESRI ArcGIS server to deliver geographic information service (GIS) data for the Utah State Geographic Information Database (SGID). Applications can retrieve vector data describing major features such as roads, airports, municipal and jurisdiction boundaries, and similar public infrastructure. Raster data provides satellite imagery, aerial photos, topographic maps, and other geographically tagged images.

API methods support retreival and mapping of data based on location. Methods allow GET access to feature attributes, feature geometry, and raster values. The API also provides listing of municipal jurisdictions as well as address geolocation.

Mapmyuser API: MapMyUser is a service that provides users with web analytics about their site in real time. The service can track current online users and their activity as well as the number of visitors who are currently live on a website. MapMyUser can also shows the current geolocation of online users on Google Maps. The API gives developers access to analytic data about any website and allows them to use this data within their own applications. The API uses RESTful calls and responses are formatted in XML and JSON.

NCAR Digital Library API: The service provides search against the digital repository of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, part of the National Center of Atmospheric Research. The service can deliver resources based on free-text search or field-specific (advanced) search. Results can be sorted by relevance or by combinations of field-value filters, and limitations can be applied by date range, collection, or geographic location.

API methods support submission of a query as free text or targeted to specific fields in the item description index. Methods also allow specification of a collection to retrieve only items contained in that subset. The API also allows submission of date range and geographic filters and specification of result ordering criteria.

- Programmable Web

Facebook Outlines Vision for Location APIs

Karan Mangla, an engineer at Facebook details the past and future of Facebook's use of check-ins, Places, tags and future developers APIs in Under the Hood: Building the Location API. This was posted Friday, two days before Facebook shut down Gowalla, the LBS app it acquired three months ago.

There's another somewhat post from earlier in the week: Building Better Stories with Location and Friends

via @JeffHarrison

- VentureBeat rewrote the Under the Hood post for those who prefer their version

New Geo APIs - 2/28/12

Bing Maps Geocode Dataflow API: The Geocode Dataflow API is a component of the Bing Spatial Data Services. The API is used to geocode and reverse-geocode large sets of spatial data. Additional functionality includes creating a job to geocode and reverse-geocode the data, upload data and get the status of a geocode job. The API uses RESTful calls and responses are formatted in XML, JSON, TXT and CSV.

Geo3DModelService API: The Geo3DModelService API, available via SOAP or REST protocols, is a program for generating cross-sectional models of subterranean conditions using geologic data. Users can create models of vertical or horizontal cross-sections with an accompanying key to make the generated map's meaning explicit.

Make The Change API: The service provides access to Canadian community data by mapping postal coded to electoral district identifier, which is the key to mapping districts, or "ridings," and giving access to demographic data. Initially limited to data about federal parliamentary districts in Canada, plans include access to value-added local data to support effective activism in elections.

 

EyeEm API: EyeEm is a photo-sharing and discovery app that allows users to connect through their photos. EyeEm categorizes photos by subject and location, and take the data from a user's own photos to recommend albums of similar photos of friends and like-minded people.

GSMA OneAPI Location API: The GSMA is an association of mobile operators worldwide. Representing more than 800 mobile operators in more than 220 countries, the GSMA supports the standardizing, deployment and promotion of the GSM mobile telephone system. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo.

The GSMA OneAPI is a set of APIs that expose network capabilities over HTTP. The OneAPI location interface allows a Web application to query the location of one or more mobile devices that are connected to a mobile operator network. It uses both REST and SOAP protocola with responses in XML and JSON.

Locaid API: Locaid is the world's largest location-enabling mobile transaction platform. Locaid specializes in location-enabled business applications, services and systems and integrating location feeds into back office systems and databases.

The Locaid API allows developers to integrate location services for uses such as validating legitimate credit card purchases and detecting fraud, automating timesheets for offsite employees, alerting workers to day jobs or tracking assets. The API uses SOAP protocol and responses are formatted in XML.

OpenHazards GetEarthquakeProbability API: The service gathers data from multiple sensor networks and public reports to generate forecasts of earthquake and seismic hazards. It does not aim to predict specific events but rather to generate probabilistic forecasts of risk based on event probability and likely damage, should those events occur. Its goal is to aid in preparation for natural catastrophes that can be anticipated.

API methods support submission of a location for which to generate a forecast along with a radius around that point, a timeframe, and a magnitude threshold. The service returns a forecast of the hazard that an earthquake above the stated threshold will occur within the radius around the stated location within the timeframe specified.

OpenPaths API: OpenPaths is an application that allows users to manage their personal location information. Users can track where they have been, visualize their locations, and share their data on the OpenPaths website.

The OpenPaths API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality and data of OpenPaths with other applications and to create new applications. API methods include posting and retrieving user data.

Pulsepoint API: The service creates a registry of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) who are willing to assist victims of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) near their locations. Members of the registry create entries indicating their willingness to respond and provide contact information. The service accepts notification from a participating agency of a cardiac emergency and contacts registry members near the location.

API methods support creation and tracking of incidents, including notifying agency, time, location, and type of incident. Methods also support designation of medical status of the victim and call status from the responding agency.

SideBuy API: Sidebuy is a daily deal and coupons aggregator that collects all deals from group buying websites and local stores and categorizes them.

Sidebuy API allows you to use Sidebuy's databases in order to display local deals, online deals, travel deals and coupons in your application or website. Deals can be filtered using their categories, prices, savings, locations, keywords and more.

The API uses REST protocol and responses are formatted in XML and JSON. This API is not branded and there is no daily limit for API calls.

Tax Data Service API: The service provides sales and use tax rates by location within the United States and Canada. A list of taxing jurisdictions with authority in a location may also be generated.

World Bank Climate API: The World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal offers information, reports, and data about climate and climate change.

The World Bank Climate API allows developers to access and integrate the data from the Climate Change Knowledge Portal with other applications and to create new applications. Some example API methods include searching and returning climate data points, such as average temperatures and rainfalls and changes in averages and by countries.

API methods accept submission of a five-digit U.S. ZIP code or an abbreviation specifying a Canadian province, then return current sales and use tax rates. If the submitted ZIP code or province matches multiple city/county combinations, multiple sets of data cover each of the taxing jurisdictions.

- Programmable Web