Category: Thoughts

Categories
Technology Thoughts

Beep..beep..beep – The legacy of Sputnik

Moscow Event

I just love working for Google, an organisation happy to celebrate the great technological advances of our times despite criticism from some. I was lucky enough to be asked to present at a event organised by Google in Moscow to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sputnik.

The celebration involved presentations of Sky in Google Earth, Anecdotes from Cosmonauts including Alexander Volkov, a charming man who just happens to hold the joint-record for the longest space-walk in history and was Commander of Cosmonauts at the Cosmonaut Training Centre, and a presentation by Greg Maryniak on the Google Lunar X-Prize.

It would be wonderful if the X-Prize could rekindle the enthusiasm for space and science and technology in general that the original space race developed around the world. Clearly the political motivation is no longer there and that of course is no bad thing, however we are all the beneficiaries of the massive boost in funding for science that the space race produced.

30 years after man set foot on the moon, the mash-up generation will be back with technology that has its roots in the boost in science and technology funding that came as a result of that iconic beep-beep sound.

Written and submitted from the O’Callaghan Mont Clare Hotel, Dublin, using the hotels broadband network.

Categories
Thoughts web 2.0

Web 2.0 and the public sector

I often get asked to talk about the impacts of technology and user expectation change, the Web 2.0 effect, to conferences aimed at public sector audiences. The points I make are also illustrated in the excellent article by Eric Woods of Ovum at silicon.com.

For my old colleagues in various Government Departments around the world this is well worth the read.

Web 2.0 is not like CB-Radio, yes there is a massive amount of hype around the term which is not helpful, however the fact remains that technology change has democratised many of processes of production and communication which has lead to a whole different level of user expectations and demand for greater engagement from citizens.

This cannot be ignored !

Written and Submitted from the Google Office, London.

Categories
GIS GPS Thoughts Transport

The dust settles on NOKTEQ

The Analysts views on the Nokia offer for Navteq makes some interesting reading. Now that the initial excitement is over, the collective view as excellently summarised by Adena at All Points Blog is in some ways surprising.

NokTeq

On many occasions these industry experts describe Navteq and for that matter Tele Atlas as GPS companies, clearly demonstrating a lack of understanding of the GI / PND market.

Navteq and Tele Atlas are classic examples of the “Data is the Intel Inside” O’Reilly-ism, provided a crucial element to a larger solution not just in the navigation space, but to a lesser extent web-mapping, and even professional GIS. It’s interesting however that neither company while still independent was able to achieve brand recognition, to the extent it registered with the consumer – one did not hear “Sorry I will only buy your device if it has Tele Atlas data”.

Clearly Nokia are positioning Navigation, Maps and LBS even as a major part of their offering, in Europe marketing a Nokia PND which competes directly with Tom-Tom. But Nokia (and Tom-Tom) realises I’m sure that the future of personal navigation will increasingly be off-board navigation delivered to mobile devices perhaps delivered through channels independent of both the mobile industry and the automotive industry who are too conservative in their approach.

For the PND potential alone this deals make sense for Tom-Tom and Nokia as they provide control over a major cost of their solutions, what will be interesting in the future will be the relative contribution made by “Cloud” collected data, as organisations like OpenStreetMap, and the new generation of devices start to collect data themselves as they are used. If this grows as rapidly as some expect, it will make there acquisitions appear even more expensive.

Written and submitted from the BA Lounge, Heathrow Airport, using the BTOpenzone 802.11 network.

Categories
Thoughts

Madness !!

If you are looking for GIS stuff, move on.

Jose

As a business, a premiership football team is the property of its owners, so in this case of course Abramovich can do as he pleases.. but the departure of Jose Mourinho is just Madness.

As a result, my predicted squad for the United game on Sunday is.. Shevchenko, Shevchenko, Ballack, Shevchenko, Ballack, Shevchenko, Shevchenko, Ballack, Shevchenko,Ballack and Shevchenko !

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

Categories
Google Maps Technology Thoughts Transport

When the Propellor heads play with public transport..

Last week I was in Norway attending the annual InformNorden Conference, which is an event which covers the issues and impacts of ICT on Public Transport in Northern Europe. To some extent you might imagine this represents a culture clash between largely conservative public sector organisations administrating transport networks and technology providers.

Bus Stop

This is actually not the case, and in the Nordic region in particular, public transport makes excellent use of technology; from journey planning to card based payment systems like London’s Oyster. In most cities it is common to see electronic displays with arrival times of buses/trams subway trains etc.

This has, in most cities, had a noticeable impact on the use of public transport, with increased passenger numbers following the introduction of the technology.

My interest in the conference was in talking to these public transport operators to get access to their schedule information to include in Google Transit, a project to bring routing using public transport to users of Google applications, like Google Maps and Google Maps for Mobile.

This complements the operators own web-sites by providing schedule information alongside other points of interest data and imagery, users can always click through to the operators own web-sites for real time information and service updates.

Technology like this really can make a big difference in terms of making public transport a more acceptable solution for many, knowing a bus will be at you local bus stop in 6 minutes might just stop you jumping in the car to make the same journey. Or knowing that there is a tram stop 1 minute away from the cinema and that there is a tram arriving there 15 minutes before the movie.

Imagine your commute to work downloading tunes to your new iPod Touch via wifi using the pilot system running in Helsinki at the moment. This system which by providing broadband internet access on a proportion of the bus and tram fleet in Helsinki, means that it is possible to track these buses and trams in real time using a Google Maps application – very cool.

Realtime Bus map

Following along with the transport technology theme, this post was submitted from the 13:00 London-Edinburgh GNER train service somewhere outside Peterborough, using the onboard wifi service.

Categories
Google Earth Thoughts

Flying Google Earth

F-16AM

As with all software Easter Eggs who first finds them is open to debate, Marco’s Blog a blog by a South African student has at least been reported in a couple of places..

Well it’s a bit of fun, and actually if you are into to VFR flying (looking out of the windows rather than using instruments) it’s a pretty good expereince. As many have noted the SR22 is easier to get started with than with the F16 , which is way sensitive.

Just don’t expect the FAA to allow hours on Google Earth to count towards your ticket 🙂

Written and submitted from the BA Lounge, Gatwick Airport, using the BT Openzone network.

Categories
Mobile Nokia N95 Thoughts Vodafone

Are Vodafone trying to hide a data billing issue ?

In the effort to find lower cost wireless data access I like I’m sure many others signed up to the new Vodafone “Mobile Internet” tariff for data access on my N95.

This offers be 120Mb of data per month for £7.50 or $15.00 – not brilliant value but OK !

So imagine my surprise when I got a monthly bill for well over £100 ($200), of course I went straight to the vodafone website to check my bill, but all I got was this..

Vodafone online billing

The online billing part of the Vodafone website has been broken for at least the last week ? Could this be anything to do with vodafone billing its customers the old and very expensive tariff for data by mistake ?

I waiting now for a paper bill to see why my last months bill is three or four times what it usually is – some coincidence don’t you think ?

Check you bills vodafone customers !!

Written and submitted from the M11 Services, using the BTOpenzone wifi network.
(Glamourous life this !!)

Categories
Thoughts

The first CD meme..

Brothers in ArmsListened to the latest TWiT podcast on the tube this evening, which had a great segment “What was the first CD you bought”, as it is 25 years since Music CD’s were introduced by Phillips and Sony.

It seems i share the dubious honour of sharing Dire Straits, “Brothers in Arms” as my first purchase with John C. Dvorak.

Maybe I am just becoming a Cranky Geek and should just accept it, the music has dated, but as Dvorak says there is still no better way of showing off your Hifi system.

So share the pain, can you remember the first CD you bought ?

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

Categories
Google Earth Technology Thoughts

Ogle Earth TV

Stefan Geens the man behind the fantastic Ogle Earth blog, has put together an amazing DIY TV show using Google Earth and Wirecast.

Everyday the tools that where once only in the hands of the professionals are now available to the professional-amateur, although I think Stefan may have another career on IPTV waiting for him! 

Written and Submitted from the Google Office, London.

Categories
Apple Thoughts

AppleWorks the end at last..

I loved Appleworks ( previously know as Clarisworks) and it has been finally retired with the addition of the numbers spreadsheet to Apples iWork suite. Not sure where the MacDraw like drawing application replacement is but never mind.

ClarisworksThe long life of Claris/Applework is both a reflection on the perceived dominance of Microsoft Office and a focus on Apple else where, but it is also interesting to note that is was always a very popular application all the way to its end because it was very simple, fast and well integrated. I have only just managed to stop my wife using it exclusively and moved her onto to Pages/Word.

Few users of Office use more than 10% of the capabilty of their applications and while in a business seeting there is always someone who might use more, this is not the case for the vast major of home office, and personal users.

I’m sure there are lessons for GIS designers in recognising the demand for simple applications that offer 10% on the functionality of a tool kit desktop GIS system but to 99% of the users – there are still people hanging on to their copies of ArcView 3.x I’m sure?

Written and Submitted from the Google Office, London.