Categories
Thoughts

Neogeography v Paleogeography : Round 1

An interesting comment trail at All-Points blog, the ages of geography argument will continue until both sides learn from each others approach, and yes there is stuff to learn from both sides.

The debate continues

The establishment (Paleogeographers) need to understand the value of “Openness” it all it forms, API’s, Licensing etc. and massive potential of users of GI to improve it, while the neo-geographers could do well to understand the requirments of enterprise users, where these are different from the mainstream.

However I would point out that many who regard themesleves as ‘Neogeographers” are happy not to be regarded as GIS people.. now what does that tell you ?

Written and Submitted from the Calistoga Lodge, Napa Valley, using it’s free wifi network.

Categories
Thoughts web 2.0

The Bubble video

Along with all the other blogs.. here is the Bubble video by SF band the Richter Scales.

Funny but not enough to make Diet Coke come out of my nose… Guess you need to be in the video or at least in the video to really appreciate it.

Written and Submitted from the Google Office, London.

Categories
Data Policy opensource

OpenAerialMap – Think Open Street Map for imagery..

Open Aerial Map

As happens in this world of constant communications, I heard of the new OpenAerialMap site via an IM chat with Jeff Johnson of PictEarth on Sunday lunchtime !

The idea behind OAM is for it to become an online repository for community generated aerial photography, sourced from Kites, Low cost UAV’s , etc. I’m sure many still see the creation of Open Source imagery captured by amateurs as a Joke, but then people were not serious about OSM !

It’s true that OAM cannot really replace the global systematic cover offered by satellite imagery or the professional aerial photography producers, but for applications where discrete imagery is required of a particular location at high resolution, or to cover a specific event or activity (high temporal resolution) there is a niche which can be filled by this imagery, and the services like OAM which distribute it.

As with OSM, OAM can work because the tools to both capture and distribute this type of Geodata have become democratised to the extent where it is possible for the amateur to respond to events faster than the professional,and to make that data available without the restrictions of conventional licensing. Although the distribution of large amounts of imagery represents all sorts of new challenges in developing a robust operational system.

As with traditional mapping, we are not looking at a replacement to the traditional top-down centralist approach to the creation of Geodata, however there is now at least an alternative, that may become more significant over time.

I wonder if there are plans to use include Geobase SPOT data set of Canada ?

Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.

Categories
Thoughts

Another thing I have in common with Steve Jobs

fake_edparsons.jpegIt seems along with the generous stock deal, G5 jet and impeccable taste, it seems that I too now share with Steve Jobs a Fake blog. I really have no idea who is behind it, other than I pretty sure it’s not Daniel Lyons or Vanessa Lawrence 🙂

Perhaps those paleogeography-tards are trying to get to me !

Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.

Categories
iphone N95

So farewell N95

Now a full committed disciple of the iPhone, its time to say farewell to the my Nokia N95 which has joined hundreds of others on eBay, there is a depressed market if ever I saw one.. when I last looked there were 1600 phones on the market.

Technically the Nokia device is superior to the iPhone, it has 3.5G network access, a fantastic camera and of course GPS, but the U/I is just so much better and it just works, I’m not seeing the signal strength issues some have reported, but O2 really need to get the EDGE network extended quickly, although the Cloud wifi system in London works really well.

So now all we need is for Apple to update their Maps application to use “My Location”…

Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.

Categories
LBS Mobile

Look no GPS !

This is just so cool, and having used it over the past few months around the world, it actually is improving with time as other users improve our cell database. Another great example of the power of cloud-sourcing and another shot in the arm for the prospects of LBS – as a platform not an application.

This is really just the first step..

Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.

Categories
Google Maps

There are hills in them there maps…

Without much fuss we added an extra button to Google Maps todays and brought relief to cartography fans everywhere… sorry that is the worst pun I could come up with.

The terrain view is offers another perspective of our world and for some users, like those interested in outdoors recreation for example, is really vital.Terrain

Written and submitted from the Malmaison Hotel, Birmingham, using it’s free wired broadband network.

Categories
Google Maps Thoughts

Our Dumb World : Who needs the CIA World factbook now..

Our dumb world

The Onion a great news magazine and website from over the pond brings us their version of the World Fact Book in the form on a new Google Maps mash-up Our Dumb World – The worlds countries summarised into simple info bubbles, you need look no further for a comprehensive world view.

Written and Submitted from the Google Office, London.

Categories
Data Policy Thoughts

F**kwits

Anybody seen this dataHas anybody seen this data ?

If so, please return it in the envelope provided, as the owner would quite like it back.

Lisa, I think was a little shocked this evening when I jumped of the sofa and started swearing at the TV news.

Dear readers outside of the UK, I must explain.. the Government department responsible for taxation in the UK sent a dump of a database containing detailed personal and financial details of 25 million people (nearly half the UK population) on a couple of CD’s in the mail and it has gone missing !!

As an IT professional this is wrong on so many levels it really defies belief, why store personal information including address, national insurance details, Date of Birth etc in the same database as peoples bank details?, why dump them to a CD and not use the government secure intranet which has costs tens if not hundreds of millions to develop and operate, why not encrypt the data ?

The list just goes on and on.

The government say – don’t worry we don’t think the database has fallen into the wrong hands – well I don’t feel very reassured.

Now I’m just trying to convince Lisa to change her bank account, as she along with every mother/carer in the country has their bank accounts security compromised by these idiots !!

UPDATE

Looks like the data has been found.. don’t you just love the British sense of humour ?

ebay

Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.

Categories
Data Policy Ordnance Survey Thoughts

Geodata suppliers – lessons from the music industry..

I got myself in trouble on a number of occasions with my old boss when I drew the obvious comparisons between the Geodata industry and the Music Industry, and how Geodata providers needed to move with the times..

It is therefore interesting to see that a least one music industry boss is recognising the mistakes of the past/present… to quote Edgar Bronfman of Warner Music..

“We used to fool ourselves…We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won.”

Remember this is not always about making information free, it is about making it accessible..

There is a lesson there for leadership of a number of .gov.uk organisations don’t you think ?

Written and submitted from Starbucks, Horseferry Road, using my three 3G modem.