This makes perfect sense to me. Say you want to capture images (or I guess any sort of sensed data about a place) but for whatever reason, poeple just don't go there. What if you could "guide them there" with the lure of more points or prizes or the like? It's my understanding that Waze already does that as it tries to complete its maps of road networks in the United States. And, a new mobile phone based running game tries to entice you to run faster (from the Zombies!).
A paper from Northwestern Univeristy suggests that the mechanics work just as well for having individuals on foot take and share phots at places of interest. If they need to shoot the ghost, and it happens to at the location where data is needed, the player will oblige. The researchers make it clear that players are told exactly how the data they capture will be used and how/if their personal information will be attached. Thus, this is not really "coerced geographic information."
- VentureBeat
by Adena Schutzberg on 03/26 at 03:00 AM |
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A new addition to ChicagoShovels.org, Adopt-a-Sidewalk will allow residents to request help in shoveling via a map.
- NWI Times
Forget OSM and Google Maps, Hillsborough, NJ is using GreenMap.org for its community mapping efforts.
- Hillsborough Patch
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the British Astronomical Association’s Campaign for Dark Skies are calling for ‘citizen scientists’ to take part in Star Count Week.
From January 20-27 stargazers will be asked to count the number of stars they can see within the constellation of Orion with the naked eye.
This effort is in Cheshire and yes, the results will be posted on a map. Data is gathered via Survey Monkey.
- Ellesmere Port Pioneer
by Adena Schutzberg on 01/19 at 03:00 AM |
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Narrow your search further:
cheshire,
chicago,
crowdsourcing,
greenmap,
hillsborough,
light pollution,
location based services,
nj,
shoveling,
star count,
state and local government,
vgi
The patent application was discovered on Thursday by AppleInsider and is titled "Relevancy Ranking for Map-Related Search." It "describes how an iPhone would optionally report a user's present location, via GPS, to help Apple improve its search results."
Abstract
The following relates to ranking search results consisting of locations or recommending locations to visit based on recorded data representing visits by a plurality of users to the locations represented as search results or recommended locations to visit. The data representing users' visits can be recorded by receiving data anonymously reported by handheld communication devices carried by the plurality of users. A handheld communication device, which is carried by a user, can report to the system the user's present location optionally associated with a time stamp. The handheld communication device can report either a single location coordinate or a collection of coordinates gathered over time.
It's assigned to former Placebaser Jaron Waldman and Sr Director Product Marketing at Apple, Chad Richards and the app dates back to March 2010
- AppleInsider
by Adena Schutzberg on 09/09 at 03:48 AM |
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Dovel has released MyFoodAlerts.com.
The application uses public feeds from FDA, USDA, and CFIA and, using semantic technology, analyzes recall data. The application then translates the information into a user-friendly map interface accessible at myFoodAlerts.com. Data about the feed is also published into the data.gov format.
And, no, I do not know what the data.gov format is...
- press release
Water Canary analyzes water samples by using light and measuring what wavelengths to draw conclusions. A red light flashes to alert the user to a potential water problem.
The idea is not to use the device (currently built by hand and running about $200) to test water, but rather to collect data points for further investigation. The device was shown off at TED.
- Mashable
A study used GIS to explore the impact of avgas (a type of gas used in aircraft) on levels in the blood of children near airports in NC that use it. The FAA is looking at regulations on the gas.
Methods: We used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to approximate areas surrounding airports in which lead from avgas may be present in elevated concentrations in air and may also be deposited to soil. We then used regression analysis to examine the relationship between residential proximity to airports and NC blood lead surveillance data in children aged 9 months to 7 years while controlling for factors including age of housing, socioeconomic characteristics, and seasonality.
The result suggest higher levels in the blood for children up to 1000M from the airport with the most pronounced effect within 500M.
- EHP
by Adena Schutzberg on 07/18 at 03:00 AM |
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The Mayor Huntsville, AL is looking for ideas to improve the city.
You can submit your ideas through an interactive map on the city's website, huntsvilleal.gov/downtownideas/, or via a new Facebook page, "Bright Ideas: Downtown Huntsville."
The city also plans to place a chalkboard on various downtown street corners over the next few weeks where passersby can write their suggestions.
- Al.com
Hollaback!, which launched as an app and website where victims of sexual abuse could report incidents, plans to launch a new app in March 2012 that will let bystanders report cases of sexual harassment as well.
The new network will be called "I've Got Your Back," and the group is currently raising money for the project through the crowd-funding site IndieGoGo.
The group is crowdsourcing funding and data to empower those victimized by sexual harassment. The goal is not prosecution of perpetrators, but awareness and empowerment.
- CNN
Australians are using their own version of SeeClickFix called Snap Send Solve. It's from Melbourne tech developer Outware Mobile. It's Iphone only now, but an Android version is coming. While SCF has ArcGIS Server at the back end, it's not clear what powers SSS.
- FutureGov
by Adena Schutzberg on 06/29 at 02:33 AM |
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