All Points Blog

GPS Impacts to the Portable Device Market: An Update

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:10:47 -0500

I attended a webinar today conducted by Park Associates on how GPS is influencing the portable device market and specifically the personal navigation device (PND) market. As we are constantly being asked how big any particular segment of the geospatial and LBS martkets are, I wanted to share some of their insights with you:
Continue reading "GPS Impacts to the Portable Device Market: An Update"

What Level of Detail Do You Want to See from Maps in the Media? Take the poll...

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:01:19 -0500

CNN lead the way with fairly substantial usage of Google Maps during the U.S. presidential primary elections. With the general election coming up, how can the news media make it better? More geographic detail? More real-time information? Take the poll at our new Map Hawk blog.

Olympic BMX Course in 3D

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:20:53 -0500

We had a reader ask if any of the AEgis Technologies 3D models of the Olympic venues had actually been shown during the broadcasts because they had not seen any so far. Scott Allman from AEgis provides this response:
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Autodesk U.S. "Sale"

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:15:16 -0500

Ralph Grawbowski explains the why. The details are here. AutoCAD Map 3D is on the list; MapGuide Enterprise is not.

Multimap Execs Take on Top Roles at Microsoft

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:03:24 -0500

Recall that Microsoft acquired UK mapping company Multimap last December. Back in May, Multimap B2C General Manager Jim Cruickshank was appionted Microsoft EMEA director of mapping, local and shopping. Word today that Multimap CEO Jeff Kelisky hs been tapped to be General Manager of a new Commercial Search unit, which covers Live Search cashback, MSN Shopping, local, consumer mapping, Virtual Earth and mobile. It's beginning to look like Microsoft grabbed Multimap as much for its tech and data as for its people.

- Paid Content via Washington Post

Junk Mail Mashup Reveals Rebuilding in New Orleans

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:52:52 -0500

AdAge explains how Greater New Orleans Community Data Center (GNOCDC) is using "junk mail" to help map where the current residents of New Orleans reside. The nonprofit GNOCDC has been working with Valassis Communications' owner of the RedPlum direct-mail operation. Red Plum sends out basically nationwide mailings each month. By luck the company had a 2005 data with which to compare the current state of mailing addresses today. The data is being used to use funds for rebuilding and has saved quite a lot in manual surveys of "who is where."

GNOCDC has linked the data to a Google Map (James Fee and Co worked on this, per a tweet yesterday; I didn't follow up then because he noted a publication called "Adage," of which I'd not heard!). Also of note: Valassis provided much of the data at cost and the historic data and consulting gratis.

Bottom line:

Overall, the Valassis data indicates New Orleans had 146,174 households receiving mail in June 2008, still down 28% from the 203,457 receiving mail in June 2005, two months before the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane and resulting flood.

via Wired blog

Want Turn by Turn Directions on iPhone?

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:33:39 -0500

C|net asks. Thus far: "yes." Mostly, I think they are looking for conspiracy stories about why we don't yet have that feature. The license forbids it, though no one knows quite why.

Geography and Politics Matter

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:14:16 -0500

Alaska Senator Ted Steven's bid to move his trial on 7 counts of making false statements regarding financial disclosure forms will not be held in his state to make things easier for witnesses. Instead, they'll be traveling to Washington DC for the trial. Stevens hoped to limit their inconvenience and make it easier for himself as he campaigns for yet another term as US Senator. Geography mattered in the sense that jury tainting was possible if the trial was held in Alaska. Stevens lawyers pointed out the 4,200 mile driving distance to DC , but federal judges didn't budge.

- LA Times

Baltimore County Save $4M Annually with GIS

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:00:00 -0500

That's what Gov Tech reports based on "a strategic business plan focusing on determining the return on investment and use of Baltimore County's GIS" done by Dewberry.

Web Mapping Ok, but Help?

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:00:00 -0500

After the discussion of the Morris County GIS site that many found slow and complex to use, I was pleased to see the announcement of one for Thomson-McDuffie (that's a city and county in Georgia). I needed no help in using it; it was very GIS geek friendly and I hope regular person friendly. My one concern: there's no help I could find (in Safari).

- McDuffie Mirror

RFID in Hospitals: Not Just for Equipment Tracking

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:00:00 -0500

"Trends in RFID 2008" a study by Spyglass Consulting Group, is based on 100 telephone interviews with IT professionals and medical staff at hospitals with 300 or more beds. It shows much increased use of RFID within hospitals since a previous report done in 2005. The takeaway from a PC World article on the study to me is this:

The payback no longer is simply being able to find medical equipment including wheelchairs. Increasingly, wireless identification and location data is being used to streamline and repair a range of healthcare workflows and business processes.

Photosynth Open to All

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:12:06 -0500

Microsoft's Web service for stitching photos together to make 3D scenes is now available to anyone. Just upload the images and "synth" them. Users are granted 20 GB of space (more if your synths are "cool"). The Photosynth site offers the chance to learn about the technology, view synths and create your own.

- C|net

GeoEye Delays SEC Filing to Restate Earnings

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:39:12 -0500

Last week, GeoEye announced that they had to restate earnings for 2005, 2006, 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 due "a detailed study analyzing its tax accounting methods in which the Company discovered that it had not correctly included cost-share payments received from the U.S. Government under the NextView program in its taxable income," according to a press release issued by the company. Now comes word that the filing will be delayed further because "additional time is required to re-calculate the proper interim period allocations of the penalties and interest related to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's (NGA) milestone cost-sharing payments made to the company under the terms of the Government's NextView contract," again according to information released by GeoEye. The news has tempered that company's stock price which had been on the rise due to the upcoming launch of GeoEye-1 on September 4.

The Michael Phelps of GIS Award Winners

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:00:00 -0500

That'd be Qatar which took home six honors at the ESRI User Conference. Oddly the local paper noted they were for "Satellite Mapping." One was the Enterprise Application Award; several others were from the Map Gallery.

- The Peninsula

Off Topic: for PR folks

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:00:00 -0500

What brands are Twittering? What are they saying? The answer is on quick look is that few GIS brands are (I know NAVTEQ does). Here's a brand index where you can examine those using Twitter. And you can add your organization, as well. It's an informal list; Twitter does not offer an official one

via For Immediate Release