Category: opensource

State of the Map Slides

Here are my slides from the State of the Map Conference in Manchester, as is my way I’m afraid on their own they don’t mean a great deal, but in due course all the presentations will appear as podcasts, so you can follow along.

For me I got the feeling that the momentum behind OpenStreetMap is really building with interest from “Professional” GI companies increasing and in some cases beginning to either use OSM data or adopt similar methodologies. Which reminds me, Dominic over at Geometrybag has a great script to import OSM into ArcGIS.This week I’m at the Cambridge Conference, an invite only conference aimed at senior people from the worlds National Mapping Organisations. (update – there are podcasts of many of the presentations here ) This evening the prestigious Hotline Lecture was given by Martin Sweeting, of SSTL the guys who are having amazing success building micro-satellites, built from commercial off the shelf components which are competing successfully with the traditional large and expensive satellite systems.I could not help but think of the obvious parallels now with mapping.Written and submitted from the Cambridge Conference, Cambridge, using the free CC2007 wifi network (Great Job Mr Bridges !!!).

Data Policy Google Earth opensource

The next step in Open Geodata ?

Post author By Ed Parsons
Post date June 22, 2007
5 Comments on The next step in Open Geodata ?

Projects like OpenStreetMap have proved that it is possible to replicate professional ground survey using low cost consumer grade GPS to create vector data sets that have the potential to complete with commercial datasets. Today I came across a website which describes a technology that could do the same for aerial imagery. Pict’Earth describe combining low cost devices which many of us already have to develop a very low cost real time aerial surveillance platform.

Using a Nokia N95, Imagery and positional information is captured and sent to the ground live during flight on a low cost model aircraft and displayed in Google Earth in near real-time. This imagery can be shared via the web with any internet connected google earth client, anywhere in the world.

Alternatively the same information can be post-processed to produce geo-referenced photo mosaics.

This is just amazing !! Ok so its not orthophotography, but then for most applications that’s not needed, key other than some good software, is the use of the N95, a 5 megapixel camera, a commuincation device and a GPS is a small cheap package – and you thought it was a phone !

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

Google Earth Google Maps neogeography opensource

Google Developer Day – BBC leads the mash-ups revolution..

Post author By Ed Parsons
Post date June 4, 2007
4 Comments on Google Developer Day – BBC leads the mash-ups revolution..

As a follow up to the Google Developer Day event last week , Silicon.com has a great article on the adoption of mash-up culture at the BBC and their brilliant backstage project.

GDD Pin For other content owning organisations BBC Backstage sets a great example highlighting the way that forward thinking licensing of information can really aid the innovation process and develop truly useful new content driven sites.

During my time at the OS we made no secret of the fact that Backstage was an inspiration to the OpenSpace project.

Just imagine the mashups which could be created if other content owners in the public sector were as open.. indeed in just this last week, we are beginning to see a more innovative approach to publishing content with the reporting of Brents use of google maps and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency decision to publish some of it’s charts in KML.

A point I made during last weeks London Keynote (about 30 mins in, but its well worth listening to the great Chris di Bona) is that there are still huge amounts of geographic information still to be liberated from existing corporate silos, in addition to the user generated content we are beginning to provide the tools to create.

When you think about it, this is less a technology issue that it has even been – this is now really about information policy..

Written and Submitted from the Google Office, London.