Fortius:  public data repository and social network for geodata

Update 1/24/07: InformationWeek reports the system will go live in February. More tidbits:

- initially will work with just Google Maps
- data stored in GML and KML

- InformationWeek

—original article from 11-17-06

Information Week takes a look at Fortius’ plans for a repository for geodata available for mashups. Fortius is known for its tools to create mashups, but this new site, yet unnamed, will debut toward the end of the year. Details are sketchy at best.

Sean Gorman, the CEO “gained fame” after the Department of Homeland Security said his PhD thesis, which detailed the fiber network of the U.S., should be burned to protect the country.

For Databases…The Survey Says…

Today concludes our 2006 GIS Survey but one interesting statistic that I thought I would share with everyone is the choice of databases. By far the largest number of respondants are using MS Access followed by MS SQL Server. But SQL Server does not support spatial data types without getting into user-defined commands.

The survey also indicated that many who are considering open source technology will be implementing MySQL, which does support many basic spatial operations. So, if you are looking to migrate from MS SQL Server to MySQL, check out this white paper from MySQL: "A Practical Guide to Migrating From Microsoft SQL Server to MySQL."

Oracle Search - Does it work for Spatial?

Last week InformationWeek reported that Oracle was challenging Google with a new enterprise search engine. The subtitle of the article was "Oracle Secure Enterprise Search 10g can locate information in enterprise applications, email and stored documents." So I contacted Jayant Sharma, Technical Director for Spatial Products at Oracle for some clarification to see if there was an implied geospatial functionality that this new engine could leveralge. His response was, "Short answer is no. Longer answer is yes because the SDK lets you build POI (points of interest) search like Yahoo/Google Local have."

IBM DB2 Free Version

Ok, so now Microsoft, Oracle and IBM have freebie databases out there. The IBM version is limited as to what hardware it can run on, but otherwise has no other limitations, with a memory limit of 4GB. I’m behind on what spatial goodies are in the core of DB2 - can anyone clarify that for our community?

-via Slashdot