Expected to be announced at cebit next week a new generation of tomtom navigation systems will bring a larger screen, and the ability to play mp3 files downloaded via a pc application, which will also sync new mapping and points of interest databases. Think of iTunes for maps!!
So device convergence continues….
Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.
In these days of shabby reporting of technology stories in the mainstream media, it’s really refreshing to see the BBC’s Newsnight reporter owning up to writing a poor story on BitTorent and putting things right with a well argued online article addressing the issue with more balance.
Now if only the media could get the stories accurate in the first place, but as Adam Livingstone points out in the media’s eye the internet is populated with paedophiles and terrorists!
Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.
My hero as a six year old growing up in south west london, Peter Osgood the ‘King of Stamford Bridge’ made nearly 400 appearances for the Chelsea and scored 150 goals, but will always be remembered for the winning 1970 FA Cup and 1971 Cup Winners’ Cup runs.
There has been much comment around the GI blogosphere about the Microsoft Local Live teams latest development a “street” interface
Although a little difficult to drive (hint – use the shift key to stick to the roads) it is great fun !
This is a really interesting highly interactive interface development, and is yet another example of what can be done with AJAX programming – but really how useful is it.
I really don’t want to come across as critical of the developers here, they are trying new stuff out and developing eye catching applications quickly, but this is in my mind an exciting experiment, and a contrast to a9’s yellow pages approach to providing local information.
Is this the future of local live – i don’t think so
There is good reason while the abstract cartographic representation of spatial data has endured, it is because it produces representations that are easy to use and which are effective at communicating large amounts of geospatial information in one go.
While the street interface local live have developed is fun to use, I would argue it is easier to the traditional “virtual earth’ map or image interface to find local information even though or because it is more abstract.
But as a tool for developing a “sense of place”, communicating those qualitative aspects that make San Francisco feel different to London – then this is fantastic.
Architecture styles, street signs, red buses… all of these visual clues are important aspects of geospatial information we have as an industry ignored until now.
Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.
I came across a great video last night at the tao of mac blog, what if the Microsoft package design team was responsible for creating the iPod box..
The video (beware wmv format) is funny but contains a really powerful message, how often do we in the geospatial industry over complicate the design of our products and how they are marketed?
I well aware of the argument that GIS tools are designed for professionals, and therefore will be complicated – but complicated does not have to mean poorly designed.
Is there an Apple Computer in the Geospatial Industry ?
As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, The AGI Technical SIG is organising a meeting in Cambridge on the 27th April, there is now a detailed agenda.
The use of Open-Source software has become increasingly prevalent in many areas of information technology. For example, the majority of web sites run on open-source web server software e.g. Apache, Tomcat etc; operating systems such as Linux, BSD etc. have an increasing share of the market; open source web browsers are also increasing in popularity e.g. Firefox, Galeon etc. This event aims to investigate what the benefits and pitfalls of Open-Source are for the GIS community. Speakers will describe the impact of open-source software in various sectors and illustrate these with examples from both the research and commercial GIS communities.
Address
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET
Programme
10.00 Registration & Coffee
10.30 Welcome – BAS
10.35 Introduction to Open Source in GIS – Martin Daly
11.00 Open Source GIS Server Systems – Norman Barker, Research Systems Inc.
11.30 Coffee Break
11.45 An introduction to MapGuide Open Source , Giulio Pagan, Autodesk Consulting
12.15 Census Interaction Data Service – Oliver Duke-Williams, Leeds University
12.45 ICEDS: using open source software to serve data and maps of the globe at full resolution – Jeremy Morley, University College London
13.15 Lunch
13.45 Developing an OGC Compliant Web Mapping and Download User Interface for the Satellite Image Data Service hosted at MIMAS – Gail Millin, Manchester University
14:15 MIDAS – Marine Information System based on OGC-compliant Open Source Software – Wyn Cudlip, QinetiQ
14.45 Coffee Break
15.15 CADDIE Crime and Disorder Mapping Application, Robin Brooke, Infotech
15.45 Q&A Session – Chair, Ed Parsons
16.10 Tour of BAS Facilities
17.00 Depart
AGI Member Price: £60+VAT = £70.50
AGI Non Member Price: £90+VAT = £105.75
To register visit the AGI website here
Earlier this year I was a guest on a BBC radio programme looking into Geospatial technology, one of the topics of debate was the growing industry of tracking. Now the BBC has followed this up on their World Service Programme Click this week.
Although the report perhaps overplays the accuracy of mobile phone based tracking it does fairly in my view cover the ethical issues of tracking, identifying a potential loop-hole in the UK industry guidelines.
Still in these days of “security” driven government legislation, I sometimes think we worry about the wrong things.. it’s not your partner or parent you need to worry has the potential to track you.
I still believe the usefulness of your location being discovered by a service provider with your permission is hugely valuable and is something that will result in the growth of a whole family of new embedded geospatial applications.
Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.
I have always had a great deal of time for Sanjay Kumar and his team behind the excellent Asian GIS magazine, GIS Development, and was very happy to contribute an article for their embedded GIS issue.
I don’t think GIS Development and the geospatial activities taking place in Asia, and in India and the Middle East in particular, get enough exposure in the West. Although there are many governmental restrictions in these regions, this is not always the case, and countries like the UAE are moving ahead very quickly.
But what we really need to wake up to is the quality of the technology and the GI professionals coming out of India, I would really suggest you take some time to look at the GIS Development website, its a great resource.
The most talked about conference of last year, was Where 2.0 and organisers O’Reilly have now opened the 2006 Conference for registration, this year a few miles south in San Jose.
Well worth a visit for the non traditional GI industry view of the world.
Over the next day or so you will see press releases announcing that Ordnance Survey has signed up to be the sole agent for Pictometry in Great Britain. Pictometry is the technology that fuses oblique aerial photography, with orthomodels and geospatial feature data to produce a roamable intelligent images from which you can interrogate spatial data and make accurate measurements.
Microsoft Live local has a basic version of pictometry data, which they call “Birds Eye Images” available for selected US cities. – As a Brit though this makes be think of Fish Fingers !!
This is clearly a bit of a departure for the OS as we will be distributing more than just information, Pictometry is one of the first geospatial fusion products, where to provide very rich information in an intuitive way, there needs to be a very tight binding between the source data, processing algorithms and the client application – in some ways this is similar to the route adopted by geo-exploration products like Google Earth.
Over time I have no doubt that there will be more standardised data models and methods to allow these types of applications to become more interoperable but we are today taking our first steps.. exciting times indeed and a great way to give users access to the rich geospatial data “behind the map”.