The company Urban Mapping has developed a new kind of paper map, which allows to visualize different layers on a co called Panamap. With their so called MapAction Technology the user can change the view angle to look at different layers of the map.
This is how it works according to their homepage:
- Artwork for three views of Manhattan is created and optimized for visual performance. This requires a detailed understanding of typeface, line orientation, color contrast and a host of additional subtle but significant design concerns.
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The three Images are interlaced by alternating horizontal strips from each. The resulting compound image is calibrated to a specially designed polymer lens substrate. Lenses contain between 60 to 200 micro-lenses per inch, depending on the desired outcome. This is mounted to a backing, die cut and packaged.
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The underlying technology essentially fools the human eye. By rotating the map, the angle of viewing is changed and one of the resulting three layers can be viewed (as demonstrated in the Flash demo at the top of the page).
A flash based demonstration and a video can be found on the official homepage of Panamap.
[via Panamap]
The European Environment Agency (EEA) launched the Eye on Earth – Water Watch campaign for Europe. The idea is that everyone gets information about bathing site all over Europe.
Through the new portal users can rate beaches and share their comments with others. So it is easy to get an overview about the cleanness of a beach. From the technological site EEA is working together with Microsoft using their Virtual Earth platform to visualize geographic information. Everyone can monitor beach water quality along the coasts and of lakes and report quality concerns.
Water quality of the Wörthersee. Click on the image for larger view.
Official introduction on the homepage of the EEA:
Every year, millions of Europeans spend their summer vacations by coastal or inland waters. The quality of the bathing water at their destination can be a key factor in deciding where to go. Now with Eye on Earth, holidaymakers will not only be able to check the latest information available on the water quality at their possible destinations, but also read comments posted by others who have already been there.
“Bathing water information is only a first step in our collaboration with Microsoft. We will gradually expand this two-way communication platform to include other environmental information, such as biodiversity and air quality”, said Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the EEA.
The bathing water application retrieves information from more than 21,000 monitoring points across Europe. For all these bathing sites, the portal presents information from recent years. For some countries, including Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Portugal and Slovakia, the portal also displays the latest 2008 rating available.
Eye on Earth allows users to zoom in on a given section of the coast or riverbank, both in street map or bird’s eye viewing formats. A ‘traffic-light’ evaluation (red, amber, green) of water quality based on scientific monitoring methods is supported by similar ratings reflecting the experiences of people who have visited the bathing site.
As part of the five-year partnership announced last May, the EEA and Microsoft will continue to develop the Eye on Earth portal by adding new sets of environmental information.
Link: http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/heading-for-your-favourite-beach-is-the-bathing-water-clean
Yahoo has launched their contibution of “track your location” sites with the release of Fire Eagle. The basic idea behind Fire Eagle is to become the link between your location and the services that you want to give your location to. You can feed your location to Fire Eagle from your GPS unit, cell phone, laptop, etc, then their applications can use it for whatever task you give them permission for. Even though it has just launched, there are a large number of sites already using it (e.g., Dopplr, Facebook, etc.), many of which tie into Google Maps.
In other words, Yahoo’s Fire Eagle, what I like to call a meta-app because it manages many location-enabled apps, is now open to all.
Links:
[via Google Earth Blog]
Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.
Since ArcGIS 9.3 ESRI provides a JavaScript API of ArcGIS Server.
The video shows how to build powerful business applications by dynamically querying information contained in map layers.To query geometry properties you can use the esri.arcgis.gmaps.Query class.
More information for developers can be found at: http://resources.esri.com/arcgisserver/index.cfm?fa=jsapis
Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.
Currently (4th - 8th August) the International ESRI User Conference takes place in San Diego, Convention Center San Diego, California. More than 13,000 people from 123 countries are attending the conference. You can follow the most important news about the conference at the official blog. The next conference is planned on July 13–17 2009.
Attendee Map: http://www.esri.com/events/uc/welcome/attendeemap.html
Blog: http://blogs.esri.com/Info/blogs/ucblog/default.aspx
Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.
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