MapStory.org Soft Launches

I got a preview of MapStory.org (or is it Mapstory - the site has it both ways) last week at FOSS4GNA. It was scheduled to launch last Thursday and is now up an running.

What is it? There is no "about" page, so I can only tell you what I think it is. It's a platform for collecting datasets (StoryLayers), amd MapStories (animaged maps of these datasets over times). The intro video talks about sharing what we know about our part of the world and collaborating with others to learn more. The platform shares vision heritage from sites like Platial, GeoCommonas and ArcGIS Online. The datasets are offered in several formats (shapfiles, KML, GeoJSON under a CC license (of some sort) and the MapStories are embeddable (though I was unable to successfully embed one as of yet). 

For now, you need to ask for an invitation to join (a video explains how). Once you log in you can upload data (shapefiles, KML for now), build stories, comment, etc. There are currently 67 StoryLayers and 45 MapStories. They are categorized (crisis, health, culture and ideas, etc.) for better searching. A wider campaign to invite users is expected in a few weeks.

It will be interesting to see this platform mature and see where it goes. The underlying tech is the open source geonode platform for the management and publication of geospatial data.

The idea dates back to 1994, when Chris Tucker got the idea while working as an academic. It's come togehter over the past few years with the last nine months of agressive coding. Tucker expects students to learn quite a bit from these animated visualizations. Tucker also sees the site as a place for "homeless" geodata.

I'm wondering if there'll be confusion with Esri's MapStory effort. I think that work may be in the process of being remamed Story Maps. 

See (ok listen) also: GotGeoint podcast interview with Chris Tucker

FOSS4GNA Panel: Gaps and Voids in Open Source Geo Technology

The Day 1 afternoon panel was titled Gaps and Voids in Open Source Geo Technology. The idea was to have those in the know highlight what was “still” missing in open source geospatial offerings, offer some insights into why and even offer solutions.

The panel included the following folks who were expertly questioned by Sophia Parafina.

• Howard Butler, Hobu Inc.
• Nathaniel Kelso, Stamen Design
• Tom MacWright, MapBox
• Juan Marin, OpenGeo
• Schuyler Erle, Entropy Free LLC

What follows are the key ideas I took away. My apologies to the speakers for not assigning ideas to individuals; I treated you as a collective. : )

Why do open source geospatial software interfaces “suck”?

• Expectations for interfaces change. At first a command line is fine, because you are writing for yourself or for other techies. When people get frustrated and angry, they build more elegant an accessible user interfaces.
• We live at the intersection of bad open source user interfaces and bad GIS interfaces. That’s in part because there is a belief that programmers can build good interfaces. They can’t. Organizations need to hire actual interface design professionals.
• A user interface indicates the maturation of a programmer(s)’ project (meant to scratch an itch, that is quickly solve a problem for an individual or group) to a the development of a product.

Development Seed requested $1 million to fund development of a simple to use user interface for editing OpenStreetMap. Is that too much money?

• No, the user of OSM is changing; this is not too much. Map users are (and should be) data creators and editors, too. 

What is the state of project communities? Should they be large with players from many organizations? Focused around a single organization (such as a company)? Which size grows best?

• More control via a smaller group can mean more steady progress. Larger groups of input and more committers can mean more “pulling in different directions.” Either way can work.
• The smaller the bits of code, the more likely they are to be used in more projects; there is more commonality. That breeds better and more active collaboration and less competition.
• Big commercially funding projects are ok, but giving money for smaller enhancement to core functionality is valuable and necessary. Don’t overlook such contributions.
• As projects mature, organizations are likely to pay for “add-on” type features. It’s hard to draw funding pay for core enhancements, such as restructuring the core when/if needed.

Should shapefiles be replaced with Spatialite?

• The source code open the development of that source code is not. I’m not comfortable with this option.

What are the trends in open source licensing?

• The more liberal licenses are becoming more popular. Why? The cost of internal forking (splitting off from the core development effort and “doing your own thing”) is higher than working on the actual project.
• Licenses are cultural - some organization/industries/geography prefer one type over another. Richard Stallman (of GPL and LGPL fame) says use what works for your project.

How do we make money? Do we follow the beekeeper model? (Developers are bees who sell their services to those who sell their output, aka honey/wax.)

• The real business model is making things work. There are some 400 online galleries to store and share photo galleries, but the vast majority use just two: Flickr and Facebook. Why? They scale and folks stay up at night to keep them running.
• Another model is to be a data integrator. Google is one.

What are your wishes to fill gaps that you see?

• Use same PRJ files
• Geojson growth; institutional support for open source not just GIS, support for basic research
• Software and data need to be more literate and archival - metadata should include what’ what’s wrong with datasets
• A Real-time Game-like Modeling System for the World - real time “what if” modeler
• More cross project collaboration will create superior output

- more coverage of FOSS4GNA

FOSS4GNA Tweets of Note - 4/10/12

International Space Apps Challenge and other GIS Competitions

The International Space Apps Challenge is a 2 day technology development event during which citizens from around the world will work together to solve current challenges relevant to both space exploration and social need. The International Space Apps Challenge will take place on all seven continents – and in space - on 21-22 April 2012.

Locations in which events are currently planned to be held include San Francisco, US; Tokyo, Japan; Melbourne and Canberra, Australia; Jakarta, Indonesia; Exeter and Oxford, UK; Nairobi, Kenya; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; and McMurdo Station, Antarctica. There will be additional events throughout the world and participation by Astronauts on the International Space Station.

How it works

The International Space Apps Challenge is a “codeathon-style” event. A codeathon is a unique event that brings together citizens interested in collaborating on the development solutions that address critical challenges. A codeathon celebrates software development in its most positive context—using minimal resources and maximum brainpower to create outside- the-box solutions in response to interesting problems. Codeathons are technology development marathons, drawing on the talents and initiative of the best and the brightest software developers, engineers, designers and technologists from around the world, who volunteer their time to respond to real- world problems with solutions than can have immediate impact.

At the events, individuals collaborate with others by forming teams focused on solving a particular challenge. The teams compete with other teams around the world to utilize publicly available space and data to design innovative “solutions” to a pre-determined series of global “challenges.”

- Challenge website

The Department of Veterans Affairs launched a new contest today to help the people who help the homeless. It challenges the developer community to create easy, mobile access to resources that the homeless need, when they need it and where they can get it. ...

Five finalists will pilot their mobile applications at JBJ Soul Kitchen, where diners can cover the cost of their meals either through donation or volunteer service.

The contest will be conducted in two phases. Finalists will be judged primarily on their ability to dynamically update information about housing and shelter near JBJ Soul Kitchen. Basic performance criteria is described in www.challenge.gov.

- press release via LBS zone

This contest is a bit easier to enter!

To enter, you must follow@RootMetrics on Twitter, download the RootMetrics Cell Phone Coverage Map app for iPhone or Android devices, run a test of mobile coverage and then post on Twitter EITHER a screenshot of the test results or the color and speed result.

Winners (five randomly selected) can win new mobile phones or cash toward breaking a contract. You can enter until April 2.

- Wireless and Mobile News

New Releases and other Open Source GIS News

OpenGeo Released verison 2.4.5 of the OpenGeo Suite.

- OpenGeo Blog

Ushahidi is now at release 2.2. The group is moving to a monthly release.

- Ushahidi Blog

Want to see the code analysis for GRASS for this month? Who committed most? What languages are used most? What licenses are used most?

- Ohloh

OSGeo announced the release of Proj 4.8.

- OSGeo