Categories
Google Earth

My new wallpaper..

GE Panorama

This week I’m catching up with people at the Googleplex in Mountain View, more mind expansion for me… one of the most drop dead cool things I have seen however has come from London and the increasing impressive Digital Urban blog.

Andy and his team at CASA, part of UCL are really extending what we understand his possible in developing three dimensional city models, but in a very practical way. One of the oldest postings describes making panoramas from Google Earth, one of which is now my Macbooks new desktop wallpaper. These images really are things of beauty. Gentle reminder though guys… You should not strip the Goggle logo off the images !!!

The most recent posting describes importing Sketch-up models into the Oblivion Game Engine !

This is a must subscribe blog ..

Written and submitted from the Googleplex , Mountain View.

Categories
GIS Thoughts

GeoTEC – GIS Conferences the Canadian way..

GeoTEc 2007

This week I’m in Calgary at the GeoTEC 2007 conference, where I was asked to deliver the Keynote and it is proving to be an interesting contrast with conferences back in the UK.

Outside of user conferences and a few academic conferences, it is unusual to find particularly technical presentations and workshop sessions – things that appeal to me and the “hands-on people” in GIS.

Well that is certainly not the case here, taken at random from the programme..

Advanced LIDAR processing;

Intercomparison of DEM Terrain and Watershed Attributes Derived from Three Independent Sources;

Google Earth adds a New Dimension: Dynamic Time based Data Display;

and The 1901 Census as a indication of the Spatial Existence of a Letis Homeland.

Matt Ball and his team have developed a strong technical programme which has attracted over 1000 people to Calgary, and most of those will have had to fly here, arrange accommodation etc.. In Canada at least there is a strong demand for such content – and this is the 21st GeoTEC conference.

I have often had the debate with people back in the UK why we don’t have such strong technical programmes at UK conferences, which end up often only with “Hello I’m from [organisation A] and I did this with my GIS, and here is [Vendor X] who helped me do it”, or lets bash the OS (easy target) and “Why does nobody listen to us”.

Answers on a postcard, or maybe I can convince Matt to come and run a conference in the UK.

Written and submitted from Hyatt Hotel, Calgary, using its in-room wired network.

Categories
Google Maps LBS neogeography

LBS and actionable content..

Like myself you may have been using the mobile version of Google Maps for the last year or so and it works very well, the application is well adapted to mobile devices – if you look carefully you will see that it uses a different rendering to the normal browser based Google Maps – mobile cartography needs to be different !!

Google Maps Mobile

This week a new version of maps was released in the UK which starts to really deliver on the potential of location based services, now like our American cousins we have up to date points of interest information available, so that if you try to search for a business you will actually find one now..

It’s not new or unique but what I think is really important here it that the content about locations is actionable, so if I search for a pub in London called “The Garrison” I am presented with a map, directions to the pub from where I might be, its address and telephone number which if I click on actually is dialled by the phone – remember the N95 and suchlike actually have telephone capability as well as GPS, WiFi, cameras, coffee machines etc. in them as well 🙂

Content that is actionable is key I believe to LBS finally taking off, a map on a screen is not enough, it’s still often easier to ask somebody for directions, but how likely is it that they will know a pub’s telephone number or its opening hours..

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

Categories
Google Earth Google Maps neogeography

Google LatLong blog

latlong blog

So you may have been wondering why I have not really written a huge amount about Google so far here.. well unlike my previous employer Google is well versed in the business of blogging and the Geo team have been working on a team blog which is now online at Google LatLong – Enjoy !

Don’t worry, I will still keep writing here 🙂

BTW make use of the “What we are reading section” these are links to some of the most dynamic blogs on the internet.

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

Categories
GIS

The return of the NRSC

NRSC logoAs a youngster, OK MSc Student.. we all wanted to work for the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) an organisation based in Farnborough with loads of exciting technology – GEMS workstations, Prime mini computers, tens of megabytes of disk storage, and a national remit to evangelise and exploit Remote Sensing.
This week the BBC announced the launch of the ‘Green eye’ technology centre, just multiply the old NRSC by 100 and you have some idea of the progress made in Earth Observation in the last 20 years..

A who would have though we would have sub meter imagery of much of the world available to anyone on their home computer !!

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

Categories
GIS

KMS A model for Ordnance Survey ?

Today I presented a Keynote to the Partner Conference of Kort & Matrikelstyrelsens or KMS the Danish National Mapping Agency, and as a organisation it represents an interesting contrast to Ordnance Survey. There is in Denmark a clear separation between the capture and use of core geographic information for government use and the commercial exploitation of that data.

Within government agencies there is a free flow of information with little restriction to allow goverment activities to be carried out and services provided to the citizen. All commercial applications of geographic information are served by a group of partners of KMS who all have access to the national datasets via a range of web services implemented using OGC WxS services, including feature serving. Something the OS has been experimenting with for 5 years…
KMS have added to the standards to allow e-commerce tracking of usage and the correct licensing to take place.

Importantly KMS do not compete with their partners in serving these commercial markets.

Technically this is a great solution, which seems to be working both for the customers of KMS and its dynamic partner community and there is complete clarity as to the respective roles of each within the market.. it is nicely summarised by the following statement on the KMS website

The National Survey and Cadastre creates and maintains geodata, which professional firms use to produce maps and mapping products.”

If nothing else, this should be food for thought for the OS with the government response to the OFT report expected any day now…

Written in the BA Lounge, Copenhagen Airport and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.

Categories
GIS

GI-Days 2007 – Young Researchers Forum announced

I was passed this “call for papers” this week for the GI-Days 2007 a GI Research Forum event in Germany aimed at Young Researchers. Sounds like a fantastic opportunity, I will try to attend myself !

GI-Days 2007
Young Researchers Forum
September 10-12, 2007

Münster, Germany
http://www.gi-days.de
——————————

TOPICS AND TARGET GROUP

GI-Days 2007 will provide a platform for young researchers worldwide to
present their work from all sectors of geographic information science.
The range of topics will be comparable to the well established series
of GIScience conferences, focusing on emerging topics and basic
research findings.

GI-Days 2007 will bring together young researchers from the field of
geographic information science. We encourage PhD and Master students
as well as post-docs to submit papers. Participants of GI-Days 2007
will learn about the diversity of currently ongoing research projects
and receive feedback on their research in a constructive and
international atmosphere.

Short papers (max 1000 words) can be submitted to present research
results, visionary ideas and work in progress. All papers will be
reviewed by at least three members of the program committee. Papers must
be written and presented in English. All accepted papers will be
published in the ifgiPrints series (with ISBN).

We invite you to be part of the up-and-coming generation of geographic
information scientists meeting at GI-Days 2007.

Possible topics include, but are not restricted to:

* Spatial data infrastructures
* Geospatial semantic web
* Geographic information in Web 2.0
* Geospatial web services
* Geospatial ontology engineering
* Semantic annotation of geospatial data sources
* Similarity and geospatial concept representation
* Sensor web services and sensor networks
* Location-based services, mobile and ubiquitous geo-computing
* Space time analysis and modelling
* Privacy in information management
* Algorithms and data structures
* Functional programming in geo-applications
* Self-organizing maps
* Map-algebra services
* Disaster and risk management
* Social aspects of geospatial information
* Dealing with uncertainty in geographic information
* Cognitive aspects of spatial knowledge

TUTORIALS

GI-Days 2007 will provide a platform for young researchers worldwide to
The paper presentations will be followed by a tutorial program tailored
to the interests of starting researchers:

* The In’s and Out’s of Writing a Thesis.
Dr. Francis Harvey, University of Leicester, UK
* Funding Acquisition.
Dr. Christoph Brox, University of Münster, Germany
* Utility of Logic and Formal Methods for the GIScientist.
James Hood, University of Exeter, UK.
* How Does Geoinformatics Business Work?
Dr. Adam Sliwinski, con terra GmbH Warsaw, Poland.

SHORT PAPER DEADLINES

Submission deadline May 21.
Notification June 24.
Camera-ready manuscripts July 19.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

* Pragya Agarwal University College London
* Fernando Bacao Universidade Nova de Lisboa
* John Bateman University of Bremen
* Jörg Baus Saarland University
* Kate Beard-Tisdale University of Maine
* Brandon Bennett University of Leeds
* Roderic Bera University College London
* Lars Bernard University of Dresden
* Susanne Boll University of Oldenburg
* Stefano Borgo Laboratory for Applied Ontology, Trento
* Boyan Brodaric Geological Survey of Canada
* Gilberto Camara INPE Brazil
* Christophe Claramunt Naval Academy Research Institute
* Max Craglia Joint Research Centre, Ispra
* Matt Duckham University of Melbourne
* Max Egenhofer University of Maine
* Sara Fabrikant University of Zurich
* Fred Fonseca Penn State University
* Andrew Frank Technical University of Vienna
* Christian Freksa University of Bremen
* Sven Fuhrmann Texas State University
* Mark Gahegan Penn State University
* Chris Gold University of Glamorgan
* Mike Goodchild University of California, Santa Barbara
* Francis Harvey University of Leicester
* Stephan Hirtle University of Pittsburgh
* Piotr Jankowski San Diego State University
* Marinos Kavouras National Technical University of Athens
* Alexander Klippel Pennsylvania State University
* Menno-Jan Kraak ITC, Enschede
* Antonio Krüger University of Münster
* Werner Kuhn University of Münster
* Lars Kulik University of Melbourne
* Patrick Laube University of Auckland
* Rob Lemmens ITC, Enschede
* Michael Lutz Joint Research Centre, Ispra
* Harvey Miller University oif Utah
* Daniel Montello University of California, Santa Barbara
* Marco Painho Universidade Nova de Lisboa
* Edzer Pebesma University of Utrecht
* Lutz Plümer University of Bonn
* Hardy Pundt Hochschule Harz
* Martin Raubal University of California, Santa Barbara
* Wolfgang Reinhardt Universität der Bundeswehr, Munich
* Femke Reitsma Edinburgh University
* Claus Rinner Ryerson University, Toronto
* Andrea Rodriguez Universidad de Concepción
* Monika Sester University of Hannover
* Takeshi Shirabe Technical University of Vienna
* Kathleen Stewart Hornsby University of Maine
* Ulrich Streit University of Münster
* Eleni Tomai University of Athens
* Ignacio Torres National Autonomous University of Mexico
* Ubbo Visser University of Bremen
* Agnes Voisard Fraunhofer ISST and FU Berlin
* Monica Wachowicz Wageningen University
* Stephan Winter University of Melbourne
* Mike Worboys University of Maine
* Andreas Wytzisk 52° North

CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION

General Chair Eva Klien
Program Chairs Florian Probst and Carsten Keßler
Tutorial Chair Jörg Müller
Local Chair Sven Schade

CONFERENCE FEES

Early registration until 6th July
Students: 60€
Regular: 160€

Late registration
Students: 90€
Regular: 190€

Tutorials: 15€

Conference fees include:
* Conference proceedings
* Coffee and lunches at conference
* 22 € conference dinner on Monday (drinks not included)
* Guided city tour on Tuesday

Tutorial fees include:
* Tutorial materials
* Coffee breaks

FURTHER INFORMATION

Check http://www.gi-days.de for further information. Please address all
correspondence to info@gi-days.de.

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

Categories
GIS neogeography OGC

Mass-market standards

This week finds me in Sunny Zürich one of Googles Global Engineering hubs, learning how  the Google machine works and trying to catch up on a weeks worth of email..

Last week while I sheltered from the storms lashing New York, (so much for spring as the best time to visit !!) with the family, the OGC held a TC/PC meeting in Ottawa and is appears that considerable progress has been made in beginning to adopt the new “mass market” standards KML and GeoRSS.

This is really great news and will help I believe to bring geographic information to a wider community of users and will allow the creation of a  community of spatial data developers, who will be is the position to easily publish their own information.

With this new user community in mind I think it is vital that we communicate clearly what are the most appropriate technologies to use and when, for example I can easily imagine some confusion in the minds of potential users as to the choice of GeoRSS , KML or simple GML as the format of choice to publish their simple geospatial information.

The relative benefits of these formats is clear in my mind (at least i think it is) I’d be interested in your views dear reader ?

Written and submitted from the Hilton Zurich Airport Hotel, using its wifi 802.11 network.

Categories
GPS

Suffering from a slow N95 GPS ?

Having taken delivery of my new Nokia N95 this week, as much as I love all of the rest of the phone the performance of the GPS and in particular it’s speed to obtain it’s first fix was driving me mad – to the extent I went back to the vodafone store to talk to their experts – you can tell I was desperate.

n95 gpsThe store guy looked at the sky, no doubt hoping to blame some clouds, but disappointingly for him there were none, talk to Nokia he suggested we don’t deal with the satellite stuff.

Now I got thinking, the maps application has a network settings option to specify a network connection, I assumed this was for just downloading maps. Now the phone would sit for up to 30mins trying to obtain a signal from a collection of satellites that did not appear to be there, what if the phone was actually trying to use the network to update ephemeris data? some form of assisted GPS provided by Nokia ?

My default network setting was set to use the standard contract settings, in the past I have had problems with these with other applications, so I updated them using the neat Nokia Settings tool – and all of a sudden I started to get a fix in less than a minute.

So the moral of my story at least is.. if your shinny new N95 GPS seems slow – change the default network settings – obvious !!

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

Categories
Google Maps Thoughts

A new urban cartography online

Ok so my head is still spinning… but I just had to comment on the latest development to Google maps which went live yesterday and which provide a “2.5D” view of some major US cities and Tokyo – I just love the simpicity of this rendering, it povides the much needed sense of place, but does not make the existing information or user generated “my-maps” content any less clear..

Ny25D

I’m off on vacation with the family next week in NYC so I will put this to the test…

Now how cool would it be to see the UCL London city model rendered like this !

Sometimes less is more..

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