For the last post of 2008 I want to provide some numbers according my blog. I started blogging nearly one year ago. I think there was an steady increase of interest in my posts and I want to thank all of my visitors for this interest. The main focus of this blog is in Location Based Services, Geoinformation and Geoweb and related technologies.
This year the blog has more than 70.000 visits which was not expected and is a big success. Among the 240 posts the most viewed are:
There’s a rumour abroad that very soon a whole bunch of new Android phones will come to the market in early 2009. On 26th of January the replacement of the G1, called G2, should be available and should include following differences to the G1 and features:
Android OS
3G capable ( where available)
Full touch Screen
WiFi capable ( no word about UMA)
5 Megapixel camera with aoutofocus and flash
EDGE and GPRS
Instant Messaging
Megatones, HI-Fi tones and wallpapers
Memory card Slot ( up to 16GB)
Mobile Backup
Music and Video Player
Photo Caller ID
Picture Messaging
Real web browsing
Speakerphone
Speed dial
Stereo Bluetooth connectivity ( finally)
Sync with PC ( better than air sync)
Task list
USB interface
Video capture and playback
Video Messaging
Voice Dialing
It is expected that the G2 will not be available exclusive at T-mobile.
Samsung Electronics will release its first Google phone in the second quarter of the next year in North America. The launch of Google phone by Samsung is regarded as a signal of its plan for increasing the shares in the smart phone market by releasing handsets in various operating systems. Also, as Samsung joins the Android group led by Google, the competition among the mobile platforms like Nokia’s Symbian, MS Windows Mobile, LiMo and Apple’s Mac OS X will become fierce. The company is predicted to select a full touch screen phone for a form factor of its Google phone, the one that it adapted to Omnia and Instinct. The Google phone will feature the Google Map based location information service, messenger G-Talk, the G-mail application and Google Search.
An official of Samsung Electronics said, ”We will be able to release Google phone in the second quarter of the next year in the US market.”
TomTom has introduced an online routing service with their IQ Technology. The routing service is currently in beta and an only accessed after registration. They use the latest version of Teleatlas Street data, which is a fully-owned subsidiary of TomTom.
TomTom IQs Routes Technology™ puts the driving information and data of millions of TomTom users into their algorithms to calculate the best route based on actual speeds driven on the roads by the users compared to speed restrictions.
IQ Routes™ technology is available for roads in the following countries:
Western Europe:
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom
North America:
United States, Canada
The routing service include also a Locator Feature, where you can find Cities, Addresses and Point of Interests (POIs) on the map. For the input alternative names in different languages can be used.
Unfortunately I have no detailed information about the used hardware and software running behind this system. The front-end is designed with Flash technology.
I’m currently panning my trip to New York and was searching for a subway map. I found this nice mashup:
The service is called onNYTurf 2 and includes features like search stations, addresses, businesses etc. Beside New York other maps are available: BerlinLondonDC
Google has updated StreetView data for the USA. According to Google the update doubles the coverage of StreetView information in the United States. As you can see in the image the coverage for the USA is quite impressive. Also the coverage for Australia and New Zealand is very good.
The current coverage of the European StreetView information by contrast is still very poor. Beside the Tour de France track of 2008, some cities in France, Spain and Italy you will not find any places where StreetView is available. StreetView cars were seen all over Europe, therefore it can be assumed that there will be a massive update of StreetView data in Europe as well.
Maybe you can rember the G-I-Yes! song. This song was released on the GIS day 2007. Also this year there is a GIS day song is called: Map Of The World As We Know It:
One of the most seen videos on YouTube ever is “Noah takes a photo of himself every day for 6 years“. With nearly 11.5 million views (Dez, 2008) this short clip directs attention and influeces the TV industry.
Sun has recently published the final version of JavaFX 1.0. The new Java technology enables developers to create so-called Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). JavaFX is a Java-based technology in competition to technologies such as Adobe Flash and Adobe Air and Microsoft Silverlight. To develop JavaFX applications Sun provides a plug-in for the NetBeans IDE.
Libraries and web services are part of the JavaFX development platform. JavaFX supports 2D vector graphics and offers effects such as anti-aliasing and alpha blending. With the JavaFX Desktop SE and Java applets Internet services can be used on your computer similar to desktop applications.
JavaFX currently supports Windows XP and Vista with Java SE 1.6 Update 10 and MacOS X with Java SE 1.6 update 5th.
JavaFX 1.0 is now available for download at http://www.javafx.com. Core components, JavaFX Development Environment, Production Suite JavaFX and JavaFX Desktop and the NetBeans IDE 6.5, more than 80 code examples, tutorials and documentation are included in the installation package.
Sun CEO and President, Jonathan Schwartz introduces JavaFX -- the
new expressive platform for creating and delivering rich Internet
experiences across all the screens of your life.
One main focus at JavaFX are mobile devices. But JavaFX Mobile will be available in spring 2009 according to Sun.
The new Nokia N97 Symbian smartphone combines a touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard, GPS and 32 GByte memory. It connects to the internet with HSDPA or WiFi. With Nokia Maps it is possible to find your contacts near your actual location and the GUI can be customized using widgets.
The touch screen in the N97 has a 3.5 inch screen diagonal and displays up to 16 million colors at a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. If you touch the screen, there is feedback through vibration, which should simplify the operations. According to the position of the phone the visualisation is in landscape or portrait mode. A sliding QWERTY keyboard allows easy text entry, although the display is slanted so that it is good to see.
The N97 is the first device from Nokia, which offeres the function of “social site”. For this function the integrated GPS receiver is used. The function “social location” is connected with the software Nokia Maps and displays the location of friends and acquaintances on the map in real time. Of course friends have to activate this feature first. The data arrives over a cellular connection on the device, so that a matching data plan should be posted. It is also possible to share photos or videos, with this new feature.
As you already know from other Nokia smartphones, the newcomer is equipped with Nokia Maps and there is a compass function to orient yourself. As a further innovation in Nokia Maps there is an electronic guide containing information about known buildings. This requires that the user photograph the object. The image is then detected by a server that provides buidling caracteristics. A photo of a movie poster for example, brings a trailer of the film and shows how the film runs movie theaters. The map software can be used free of charge, the full navigation functions can be used additional by paying a fee.
The 5-megapixel camera in 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm measured N97 has a Carl Zeiss lens. For a darker environment a dual LED light will be activated. The camera can record videos with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels at up to 30 frames per second. The integrated media player plays music in formats like MP3, WMA, AAC, eAAC and eAAC and video files of type MPEG4, WMV, Real Video and Flash. The N97 includes 32 GByte of internal memory and provides a slot for Micro SD cards as well.
The UMTS mobile phone operates in GSM networks 850, 900, 1,800 and 1,900 MHz and supports GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA. Wireless technologies like WLAN 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 are on board. The smartphone is equipped Symbian S60′5th Edition, which is designed for touch-screen interactions.
Battery time: 5 hours UMTS/talk, 6.5 hours GSM/talk, 1 week standby and 37 hours of music playback. The Nokia N97 will be available in the first half of 2009 at a price of approximately 660 euros.
Currently there is a huge trend in mapping information comming from sensors. The current city project is dealing with exactly this issue. They provide some very fascinating images and videos on their homepage. The interesting thing about this simulations is that they try to provide real-time visualization and analysis. So they try to combine real-time analysis and real-time visualisation from sensor information and bring them together with telecommunication information.
