Aaron's cincemasapes are beautiful artistic workings of original Street View images.. very atmospheric
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Author: Ed Parsons
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Google SketchUp Competition
Once again the Google SketchUp team are running a Competition for 3D modellers to build a model of their local neighbourhood. It’s not necessary to add every building of course but do as many as you can to represent what makes your local town or neighbourhood special. From past experience the real driving motivation here seems to be civic pride and the wish to put the places we love “on the map”
To take part..
1. Make 3D models of the buildings in your neighbourhood using SketchUp.
2. Upload your models to the Google 3D Warehouse.
3. Create a 3D Warehouse collection to contain your models.
4. Complete the Competition Entry Form.
The motivation to add user generated content remains an interesting area in this era of mass participation mapping, while some communities focus on the development of tools and processes, others such as many in the 3D warehouse community strive to produce the most detailed and accurate representations of the world as possible. An increasingly important community are the casual users of mapping products who want to provide “quick fixes” to the errors they come across using them.
These different motivations of course lead to the development of different mapping applications and platforms, as historically there has never been a single universal map of the world, so in the future we will continue to have the choice of geospatial content reflecting more closely the needs of different user communities, as they now have a hand in creating them.
Written and submitted from home (51.425N, 0.331W)
The UK launch of Google Earth Builder at the Science Museum.
Google is supporting the EU Hackathon in November and is offering travel expenses to selected individuals !
The deadline to apply is October 17, and the Hackathon takes place November 8th and 9th, at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Applicants must be citizens or residents of the EU.
All expenses will be covered for selected hackers, and winners along each of the two tracks will receive €3,000.
Application, and more info, here.
Written and submitted from the Google Offices, Dubai (25.095N, 55.162E)
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Heres to the crazy one
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GPS monitoring nuclear weapons testing..
This is a interesting article from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists which discusses the use of GPS to monitor Nuclear weapons testing. It appears that even underground weapons testing causes major atmospheric disruptions which result in GPS timing and hence location errors.
Initial results from analysis of North Korea’s second alleged nuclear test in 2009 produced not only seismic waves as expected, but created an atmospheric shockwave in the region which impacted the GPS reception of GNSS receiving stations in Eastern Asia.
The article seems to suggest another role of the rapidly expanding network of GPS stations used for local RTK networks.. Test Ban Treaty monitoring ?
Written and submitted from home (51.425N, 0.331W)
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Patent madness mapped !
Despite my fondness for most of the things that are developed in Cupertino’s factory of dreams, Apple’s fondness of software patents is one of their least pleasant characteristics at the moment. If it’s not bad enough trying to protect the very idea of a tablet computer by patents ( imagine if someone had down that with laptops ?) this patent, is in effect trying to patent the process of cartography !
To illustrate just how ludicrous software patents have become, the image below displayed electronically could be in breach of Apple’s successful patent !
Clearly there is a need for Patents, but the current process by which almost any vague idea or any concept even with considerable prior art is granted a patent has to change.
Written and submitted from home (51.425N, 0.331W)
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The return of the Apple sticker
You may remember my concerns with continuing the tradition of putting an Apple Sticker on my car, in a time when it so common to see Apple Computers that the cult was no more. Well thanks to eBay I have found salvation, a vintage rainbow Apple Sticker now adorns my car, demonstrating that yes I am an Apple enthusiast of the old school !
Thanks Andrew for the inspiration !
Written and submitted from home (51.425N, 0.331W)
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Google Enterprise GEO Roadshow
For the first time in the UK Google Earth Builder, the cloud based geospatial publishing solution will be demonstrated at London’s Science Museum on the 13th September.
Google Earth Builder, allows organizations to upload and manage data from multiple departments and create custom layers then share these maps with employees to view on Google Earth and Maps.
Think of it as Google Docs for GIS !
The event registration site is here, if you are looking to make the most of your existing GIS investment and spatial data sets, it should be an important event.
Places are limited so register early !
Written and submitted from home (51.425N, 0.331W)
I was invited to speak at the annual INSPIRE conference in Edinburgh last month. INSPIRE remember is the European Commission programme supported by national legislation to build a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for European Environmental data. I was asked specifically to address how INSPIRE can foster innovation and “smart growth”.
These are excellent topics to discuss in relation to SDI development, SDI’s I’m afraid are still designed and where built operated almost solely from the perspective of data providers rather than users. INSPIRE is in some ways a victim of this mindset, although there is a clearly defined user in the form of European Commission organisations. Here the issue is one of scope to really maximise the innovative potential INSPIRE, organisations need to gone beyond the strict requirement to make their information available to the Commission and share as widely as possible by adopting the principles of Open Government Data.
Written and submitted from the Google Offices, New York, USA (40.741N, 74.004W)