Sensing the soil using GPS

There's a cool post over at Ars Technica today about using high-precision GPS to measure soil moisture. To do so, you need a survey-grade unit, but it's still really cool. And the story behind it is even better.

Apple announces iPhone SDK — with Core Location!

Apple announced the software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone today. While you won't be able to distribute or run your apps on an iPhone yet (that'll come in June), you can download a beta of the SDK today (if you can get to the site -- it's been a bit busy). The SDK is free to download and develop with, but distributing apps will require a $99 per year fee for Apple to host and market your goods. You decide the price, free or otherwise. The even bigger news for geo-minded people, though, is that Apple is opening up their programmatic interface with the "Locate Me" feature in Maps.app. Called Core Location, developers will be able to use a documented API to develop apps with location awareness.

Podcasts are so 2004

Apple has recently filed a patent for podmaps, podcasts' spatially enabled cousins. Apparently they plan on dynamically assembling maps, directions, and spoken guides to be loaded on your iPod and help you get from A to B. Sounds like an innovative way to bring interactive maps to those who aren't interested in cell phone data plans. Check out the filing with a bit of commentary

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Historic maps galore

If you have a hankerin' for historic maps (*cough* Maggi *cough*), take a look at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Historic Cities site. Lots of maps scanned from old books or stand alone maps. Search and browse by year, city, or even your favorite old-timey cartographer. We know you all have one.

QGIS screencasts help you get a jump start

The folks over at the QGIS blog have posted two screencasts to help get you started with QGIS and its GRASS integration.

Major map search engines support GeoRSS

Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft have all announced that they now support the GeoRSS standard. This standard allows RSS feeds to provide a location that corresponds with the story in the feed.

Google mashups galore

Over the past few months, I've run into some cool Google Maps mashups. Check and see.

• Berkeley Crime Maps: Take a look at the what, when, and where of crime in Berkeley. Don't look too long, though, or you'll want to move.
• Housing Maps: Now that you've been staring at Berkeley's crime maps for too long, you probably want to move. These guys have you covered. All housing posts on Craigslist for the past few days are geolocated. Click on the pin to preview the post. Very cool.
• Gmap Pedometer: Moved to that new location finally? Not sure how long your running route is? Gmap Pedometer is a slick way to take care of this without the clickety-clack of a real pedometer. I like.

Double quick remote sensing

NASA and the European Space Agency each have websites that provide satellite imagery that's only hours old. Called Rapid Response by NASA and Meris Image Rapid Visualization by the ESA, both systems provide near-real time imagery from moderate resolution sensors (MODIS from NASA and Meris from ESA). Data is free to download.

Google Earth travels through time

Google Earth has added a few historical maps to their featured content. To get there, open the "Featured Content" folder then the "Rumsey Historical Maps" folder and pick your poison. Via CNET and Slashdot

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Track those satellites

The Union of Concerned Scientists has a cool database that will tell you the name, owner, country of origin, use, mass, and many more details about 828 satellites that may or may not get you in trouble. The data is downloadable in Excel and plain text formats. Even better, you can get email notifications about when the list is updated.