Slashgeo

Here's your weekly dose of geonews in batch mode.

On the Google front, you can now refine Google searches by location, with the "Nearby" tool in the Search Options panel. Google also announced the winners of their StreetView trike contest. There's also Athens in 3D. If you wonder how crazy it can get, here's an entry named solving a murder with Google Earth. There's also new imagery in Google Earth, including Chile. Here's an entry on heat maps with Google Fusion Tables.

On the Microsoft's front, here's a two-parts article on Integrating OpenStreetMap in Bing Maps. Bing Maps also just released their biggest imagery update ever, 6.7 million square kilometers.

On the ESRI front, we mentioned last week the podcast about ESRI's position on open source, via GGNB I learned about the new ESRI page about their position on open source software. The ArcGIS API For JavaScript 1.6 Now Available. And ESRI also announced their new World Topographic base map (screenshots included).

On the FOSS4G front, here's how to create contour lines in QGIS. There's also a new Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) mailing list.

In other news, several geoblogs mentioned that Platial is turning off their services. APB offers an entry named GIS Used to Help Decrease Stroke, Heart Disease, and Cardiovascular Risk 25%. There's also an entry about large shapefiles on small screens using a drawable spatial index. Engadget does a head-to-head comparison of three GPS smartphone navigation systems: Google Navigation, Ovi Maps, and VZ Navigator. TMR also points to the testing of the SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger.

In the maps category, via Mapperz, I learned about ProtectedPlanet, the latest initiative of the World Database on Protected Areas. Here's a named Which Burger Chains Dominate the U.S. Landscape? Here's another map, linking the affordability of housing and transportation in the U.S.

Via O'Reilly, I learned about the free (but not open source?) software named SaTScan. What it is? "SaTScan is a free software that analyzes spatial, temporal and space-time data using the spatial, temporal, or space-time scan statistics. It is designed for any of the following interrelated purposes: * Perform geographical surveillance of disease, to detect spatial or space-time disease clusters, and to see if they are statistically significant. * Test whether a disease is randomly distributed over space, over time or over space and time. * Evaluate the statistical significance of disease cluster alarms. * Perform repeated time-periodic disease surveillance for early detection of disease outbreaks. The software may also be used for similar problems in other fields such as archaeology, astronomy, botany, criminology, ecology, economics, engineering, forestry, genetics, geography, geology, history, neurology or zoology. "

Slashdot runs yet another geo-related story, this one named Google Awarded Broad Patent For Location-Based Advertising. Their summary: "Mashable has a report of a patent that just issued (6-1/2 years after filing) — apparently Google now has a lock on location-based advertising. It's not clear that the search company intends to assert the patent against any other companies (such as emerging rival Apple), but it's useful as leverage. Here is the patent."

Bertrand writes "Hi people at slashgeo, I am a long time reader of slashgeo, big fan of your work as a geospatial professional, and this is the first time I am submitting a link. I am currently working with a partner on a project called RadarVirtuel.com, that we started last summer and that we are currently developping on our free time, besides our day jobs. Our goal is to display real-time aircraft traffic on the web, using all latest geospatial technology. In order to do so, our system is based on a network of contributers (private persons, companies) owning some ADS-B receiver and willing to share their data with us. In exchange, we make their data available online for anyone, and we will develop advanced services for them to analyze airplane traffic. We believe that this information can be useful for various needs (locating an airplane for personal or business purposes, computing statistics), and notably it can lead to a better public understanding of what happens above our heads. Our coverage area is mostly over Europe, thanks to the many aviation enthusiasts we have here. But we would love to have the same coverage over USA, Canada (all over the world, actually), and we hope people will want to contribute to our project everywhere. We hope you will be interested by our project, and that you will want to share this story with your readers. Since my English is not perfect, do not hesitate to write me if you have any question. Bertrand." See also related stories below, including the OpenFlights database.

There is plenty of geoblogs sharing information on Chile earthquake mapping efforts. Brady Forrest of O'Reilly offers several links in an entry named 'Lessons From Haiti Will Aid Chile'. Off the Map offers other links, including Ushahidi Chile situation room. The Map Room offers map screenshots of the tsunami wave. The GEB offers satellites images and links. Map Hawk criticizes the New York Times maps for being highly confusing. Finally, both Google and OpenStreetMap offer their whole set of resources for the Chile earthquake response.

A friend sent me a link to the open source project Sourcemap.org. From their about: "Sourcemap helps you find and share the stories behind products. Your everyday product choices have a significant impact. Some decisions have impacts that stretch across the world, whereas others are regional. [...] We want to empower organizations to connect with their consumers by sharing their product stories. Sourcemap is an open source project dedicated to tracking, documenting, and mapping where all of the components for our everyday goods come from. We believe transparency is the first step towards global supply chain improvement"

Here's the last geo-related story that Slashdot discussed over the weekend: Repossession Men Using New Technology To Track Cars. Their summary: "The NY Times has an article about how real-time license plate scanning is changing the car repo business. MVTRAC is one of several companies providing technology to track car license plates automatically, in order to populate private databases. This new tech is used by car repo companies to help banks or other lenders repossess cars; by police to find stolen cars or to locate ticket scofflaws; or really for whatever application MVTRAC and its competitors feel like pursuing, as the new-found industry lacks any kind of government oversight."