Patch and MapQuest are Getting Together

Your local Patch site might have an article like the ones I saw for Duluth and Chevy Chase yesterday. It highlights how Patch now hosts live traffic thanks to MapQuest.

Google Chooses Inrix for Traffic Data in Eight European Countries

Contract to implementation: 45 days.

Geekwire calls the deal "multi-milion dollar" and has some quotes from CEO Bryan Mistele .

Patent Suit Against Layar, Glympse, Trulia (and others) for using Traffic Information

Traffic Information (a Texas LLC) is suing a long list of financial and geo companies (below) for infringing on U.S. Patent No. 6,466,862 issued Oct. 15, 2002, for System for Providing Traffic Information. 

Abstract:

A system for providing traffic information to a plurality of mobile users connected to a network. The system comprises a plurality of traffic monitors, each comprising at least a traffic detector and a transmitter, the traffic detector generating a signal in response to vehicular traffic and the transmitter transmitting the signal. A receiver receives the signals from the traffic monitors. A computer system is connected to the receiver and is further connected to the network. The computer system in response to a request signal received from one of the users transmits in response thereto information representative of the signals transmitted by the traffic monitoring units. Alternative systems for gathering traffic information are disclosed.

Travel News: Inrix, HopSpot

On Wednesday INRIX released an updated version of INRIX Traffic for Windows Phone 7. "This community-powered traffic app provides WP7 users up-to-the-minute traffic information and traffic forecasts for drivers routes which saves time, money and reduces frustration traveling to the places they go every day." You get: real-time traffic conditions, incidents along your route, and traffic impacting events in your area and these new features:

1. Traffic Forecasts: Look up to 8 hours ahead to see what you can expect when you hit the road.  Nobody likes to be late and this feature helps drivers determine the best time to leave based on how traffic conditions are expected to impact travel times.
2. Quick Reporting: Report accidents and police activity along your route to help other drivers save time and travel safely.
3. Landscape Mode: For additional versatility based on viewing preference.

It's free from the Microsoft App Marketplace.

- INRIX e-mail

HopStop has a new tool on its website (soon to be added to apps): it "allows commuters searching for local directions to their next destination to quantify the positive impact of their transit-based travel on the environment, as compared to driving a car, and to identify the best transit route in order to minimize their carbon footprint."

- HopStop e-mail, press release

NCIS Map Marks Areas Sailors Should be Careful and other Government GIS News

The map - provided to crew members of the first ship to arrive for Navy Week in the Port of Los Angeles - fast became the topic of discussion on Thursday, turning up in stories on national blogs, out-of-town newspapers, television stations - and, of course, on Facebook.

It outlined the downtown as a "high drug use and distribution" area [in San Pedro, CA].

While locals don't find their city unsafe, business took the initiative to help the visitors feel welcome in the local shops and restaurants. It's not clear the source of the data.

- Daily Breeze

The latest highway map from the State of Ohio includes a single barcode. It can be scanned with a cell phone to get up-to-date traffic information. I wonder if people will use it or simply bookmark the traffic website?

- Columbus Dispatch

Officials with the Muskegon County [Michigan] Family Court put GPS tracking units in court cars last month to find out if workers were going to where they were supposed to during the day.

The GPS units showed that the workers were doing things like going home, going to the gym and a golf course instead of keeping track of juveniles' whereabouts.     

Two workers resigned and one was disciplined. "You have nothing to worry about unless you are doing something wrong..."

- WWMT

It's a bit confusing to look at the Hutchinson Kansas interactive neighborhood health map.

Why? First off, it's map of the state of the districts based on many criteria: crime, "the value of the property, its age, whether it was owner occupied or a rental, physical deficiencies of the housing, the value of renovations, repairs and new construction across the city, crimes and their locations, median household income and whether housing units were occupied"etc. Second, it's not too interactive. If you click on a distrct you open a PDF of data. So far as I can tell, that's the limit of the interactivity. On the positive side, it does look like a valuable tool to hone in on areas in need of assistance and the local paper who created the map details how itw as created.

- Hutchinson News