Categories
GIS Thoughts

Graticule

Graticule 2005

This weekend I’m travelling to India to deliver a keynote presentation at Graticule the first International conference on positional technology and Location Intelligence to take place in India. Understandably perhaps the focus on these technologies has been in the west, however this is changing.

India not only offers highly skilled engineers and scientists who are advancing the industry globally, but also has an enormous potential market for the next generation of “location aware” applications. I’ll report back on the conference here next week.

Categories
GIS Technology

Mapping Hacks – a challenge ?

Jo Walsh reports on the Mapping Hacks website on the debate I attended at the society of cartographers conference on public access to data, and comments that the investments made on GPS and Photogrammetry by the OS is “viably unnecessary, easily outsourceable techno-toys.”

OK Jo – why don’t you try and capture some data to the OS specification the details are here (3mb pdf), without access to the ‘toys’ of the trade.

As I have noted before I think there is a place for open geodata and await developments with interest, but this is a case of somebody without a true understanding of the professional geographic information industry pushing an agenda despite the facts.

I would have liked to post this challenge on the mapping hacks website, but you can’t leave comments…

Categories
Technology Thoughts

If you go down to the tube today…

You had better not take your laptop…

Like many of my fellow tech workers in London, I carry my powerbook plus other kit in a rucksack and following the events of 7/7 have joked about how we must appear to others.

This is no longer a joking matter however and the extent to which the “security services’ are using the terrible events of July to restrict personal liberty was reported in todays Guardian (pdf). David Mery had a night out from hell after making the mistake of carrying a laptop on the tube in his rucksack and owning the type of equipment we all take for granted at home, you know scary stuff like usb hubs, gps receivers and maps !

We all want to be kept safe, but not to the extent that we all become suspects of CCTV checklists, you defeat terrorists using intelligence and politically removing their motivation – not alienating the general population.

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