What is special about Geospatial?

EveryScape is a web service similar to Google StreetView but it allows also indoor navigation. Therefore it is possible to navigate though the streets of an city and go inside buildings along the city. Of course only public buildings are recorded.

EveryScape uses Adobe Flash technology for visualisation.

“EveryScape’s patented HyperMedia Technology Platform allows anyone with a browser to experience a first-person, eye-level walk down a scaped street, gathering and sharing information on businesses and attractions, entering a store and shopping, checking the menu and reviews of a restaurant or the upcoming performances of a theater.”

United States

• Aspen, CO
• Beverly Hills, CA
• Boston, MA
• Breckenridge, CO
• Cambridge, MA
• Laguna Beach, CA
• Lexington, MA
• Miami, FL
• New York, NY
• Philadelphia, PA
• San Francisco, CA
• Snowmass Village, CO
• Steamboat Springs, CO
• Washington, DC

China

• Beijing, China

Poland

• Krakow, Poland

I’ve uploaded the keynote of this years AGIT from Mike Goodchild with the topic ASSERTION AND AUTHORITY: USER-GENERATED GEOGRAPHIC CONTENT. As said in one previous post he talks about Web 2.0 mechanisms for compiling and distributing massive amounts of information volunteered by users and the role of Geographic Information in this context. He shows some differences between traditional approaches to generate geographic content form authoritative sources. The talk includes some examples for volunteered geographic information (VGI); the motivations that drive it, its accuracy, its value to science, its preservation, and a number of other issues. In his opinion (and also mine) VGI is likely to play an increasingly important role in spatial data infrastructure in the coming years.

I’m sorry for the video quality. I’ve recorded the video using my standard digital camera and as you see not from the best location of the Audimax in Salzburg. Despite this I hope you can enjoy the talk.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

An interesting service that shows some simple functionality of the Google Earth Browser API is the 3D Singapore Explorer. On the site you can click on famous locations and you will fly to the selected location and zoom in with a specified viewpoint.

A lot of similar services are coming up right now. I’ve seen nearly the same service for other cities like Hong Kong, where tourist or shopping places are shown.

[via: http://www.earthsg.com/3dsingapore/]

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

Typing on a mobile device my be very cumbersome. Google also recognized this disadvantage and provide a voice search for Google Maps for mobile devices. They give a short tutorial how to do voice search. unfortunately it is only available for some blackbarry phones, but I assume it the service is accepted by the user, more phones will be supported.

But how it is written on the site?

“Using your voice is optional. You can always type your searches as usual.”

[via: http://www.google.com/mobile/blackberry/maps/voicesearch.html]

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

Will it be the next step in HCI after multi-touch?

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

Today the AGIT 2008 will end and in my opinion it was a great event.

Starting with the keynote from Mike Goodchild with the topic ASSERTION AND AUTHORITY: USER-GENERATED GEOGRAPHIC CONTENT. He talks about Web 2.0 mechanisms for compiling and distributing massive amounts of information volunteered by users and the role of Geographic Information in this context. He shows some differences between traditional approaches to generate geographic content form authoritative sources. The talk includes some examples for volunteered geographic information (VGI); the motivations that drive it, its accuracy, its value to science, its preservation, and a number of other issues. In his opinion (and also mine) VGI is likely to play an increasingly important role in spatial data infrastructure in the coming years. Form the content of the presentation most thinks are well known and is not new anymore but it is an experience to see such a keynote live.

There are several other great talks covering many different areas of Geoinformatics. For example there was a talk about the Geoportal of Rheinland-Pfalz from the WhereGroup using Open source Web-GIS solutions, or one talk about the use of GIS in the Austrian Federal Ministery of Interior (BMI). A. Zipf and P. Neis talk about OpenLS and OpenStreetMaps in OpenRouteService.org. In another Block he explains the processing of Digital Terrain Models (DTM) via Grid computing.

Of course the quality of the talks and presentation is very broad. They range from product presentations for different companies of the GI sector, which are more or less advertisements to sophisticated and high quality talks with academic background.

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

Tomorrow the GIForum starts and the day after tomorrow AGIT 2008 begins. I will submit a poster presentation with the topic “Scenario Visualisation and Comparison for Spatial Decision Support” as coauthor. You can see the poster below.

Click on the image to get a larger view. I’ll try to post some articles during the AGIT.

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

Nokia is planning opening up Nokia Maps for the Desktop and synchronizing information between desktop and mobile phone. Therefore they are working on a browser frontend for their maps and navigation service Nokia Maps, which is optimized for the PC. The user should be able to plan a route on the PC and is shown the information on the mobile after synchronizing. I can be assumed that Nokia Maps will be embedded into the Ovi-platform. Currently the product is under development and will not be available before fall 2008.

In general it can be said that Nokia make a lot of effort providing geospatial solution for the mobile world. Nokia has announced to deliver 35 to 40 million mobiles, which have built-in GPS chips.

[via: golem.de]

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

Today the shipping of ArcGIS 9.3 starts. To find a list of all improvements ESRI is providing a pdf document with new features. Also a video is available shows some new function of ArcGIS 9.3. Visit following link to see the presentation.

Video: http://esri.com/flashmedia/arcgis_desktop_93/arcgis_desktop_93.html

[via: esri.com]

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

The Carinthian University of Applied Sciences has introduced a Web 2.0 Social Media Award, where Blogs, Video- and Photoportals could be presented.

I applied with this blog for the contest and was affirmatively surprised that I won a great price. I was honored with the 2nd place at the FH Summertime 2008 event.

I’d like to seize the change and thank the Jury which consits of Markus Lipp (GF Kleine Zeitung DIGITAL), Markus Miklautsch (EDV-ART), Petra Antenreiter (PR/Marketing FH Kärnten), Christian Müller (GF Webwerk), Ed Wohlfahrt (PR und Social-Media-Berater), Karin Stefitz (FH Kärnten). Additional congratulations to the other two winners of the Award.

Link: http://socialmedia.fh-kaernten.at/

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.