NAIP 2009 Color Infrared Released

NAIP Color infrared, June 19, 2009Color Infrared imagery acquired during the summer of 2009 are now available for download from Cal-Atlas.  An index shapefile to identify the location of each image can be downloaded here (ZIP - 727KB).

The National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) is tasked with providing access to high-resolution aerial image data on a state-by-state basis. 

These images are 1 meter resolution, 4 band GeoTIFFs that contain all of the natural color and infrared channels. 

Direct links to all of the California NAIP products are maintained on the GIF's website.  Currently, NAIP data is available for both 2005 and 2009.

Google Earth Browser Plugin

A union of Google Earth and Google Map took place yesterday (4/26/2010) resulting in Earth view. To be able to see the Earth view, you need to install the Google Earth browser plugin. From the LatLong Blog:

Those of you who aren’t as familiar with Google Earth might be wondering how Earth view differs from the satellite view that’s currently available in Maps. First of all, Earth view offers a true three-dimensional perspective, which lets you experience mountains in full detail, 3D buildings, and first-person dives beneath the ocean. The motion is fluid, and you can see the world from any viewpoint. Because Earth view is built right into Maps, you can switch back to cartographic view simply by clicking on the “Map” button. The view will even adjust automatically to a top-down, north-heading perspective as you transition. In essence, you now have all the best mapping tools at your fingertips, all in one place.

Today we are proud to announce the next major step in the marriage between Google Earth and Google Maps -- Earth view.

Smarter Suggest Feature for Google Maps

I tried out the smarter Suggest feature for Google Maps using my home address with mixed feelings. Because the search box is so responsive, some of the suggestions seemed very random as I typed my address. It also gave a list of shops and services, which made me wonder if this was more of an advertising scheme. Why don't you go ahead and try it out and see how you like it? Go to the same ole Google map address: maps.google.com.

The Suggest feature for Google Maps helps you find what you want faster and more accurately by showing search suggestions for the most relevant places, businesses and points of interest as you type. We experimentally launched suggest for Google Maps in Germany, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan a while ago. Since then, we’ve been working hard to improve the quality and coverage.

So from today we’re making the feature available on 10 more domains and in 8 additional languages, including English and on maps.google.com for the first time.

from Google LatLong Blog

New: Geospatial Modelling Environment

If you're a fan of Hawth's tools, be sure to check out SpatialEcology.com's latest product, Geospatial Modelling Environment.

"It combines the power of the statistical software R with the geographic processing functionality of ESRI ArcGIS to drive geospatial analyses.

"It incorporates most of the functionality of its predecessor, HawthsTools, but with some important improvements. It has a greater range of analysis and modelling tools, supports batch processing, offers new graphing functionality, automatically records work-flows for future reference, supports geodatabases, and can be called programatically." - http://www.spatialecology.com/gme/

Lovely geologic quads of SF Bay - 1914

The San Francisco folio, including Tamalpais, San Francisco, Concord, San Mateo, and Haywards quadrangles, California is available as scanned pages (and maps) from the Texas A&M library project.  This folio is part of the Geologic Atlas of the United States, a set of 227 folios published by the U.S. Geological Survey between 1894 and 1945. Each folio includes both topographic and geologic maps for each quad represented in that folio, as well as description of the basic and economic geology of the area. This is Folio 193, published in 1914. This edition has the charming and berkeley-relevant reference: "Geology by Andrew C. Lawson, assisted at various times by students of the University of California." You go Bears.

 Pre- Richmond-San Rafael bridge view of Pt. San Pablo and Richmond

This is the bay bridge plan... Goat Island is Treasure Is., there was a narrow gauge railway from Oakland for shipments to SF and beyond.The repository interface with integrated Yahoo! Maps was developed by the Digital Initiatives -- Research & Technology group within the TAMU Libraries using the Manakin interface framework on top of the DSpace digital repository software.

Geologic Atlas of the United States by Texas A & M University Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Abstract City

Some fun art based on google maps by Christoph Niemann, from the New York Times. Here is one of my favorites, but there are several more on the NYT website.

Lightweight UAV Camera System Demo

Yasuyuki launches the remotely controlled UAVWe enjoyed a fun Geolunch presentation yesterday, where Ben Burford of ISTS America and Yasuyuki Watabe and Masaki Usami from ISTS Japan showed off a new aerial photography system.  

This lightweight camera system is able to capture centimeter resolution image data at a fraction of the weight and cost of a traditional aerial photography system.  They’ve also developed software that can automatically orthorectify these acquired images with only the photos, gps location of the camera, and camera information. 

After presenting their systems capabilities in a slideshow presentation, the developers showed off their UAV with a live demo outside of Mulford Hall! 

Photo of onlookers taken from the UAV (photo compliments of Yasuyuki Watabe)

 You can view ISTS's promotional video here:

casablanca: the google earth prototype

I am so glad someone wrote this up! I was watching Casablanca (1942!) again awhile back, and just loved the intro scene of the earth, europe, and the route from Paris to Casablanca. This blog ((E)Space&Fiction: spatial machinery of fiction) (cool name, right?) makes the case that it was the first proto google earth, and analyzes the technical specifics that presaged Keyhole, etc. Specifically:

• the combination of the spinning globe with a zoom effect on a specific point: Paris;
• the use of a “jump” effect similar to Google Earth to move from one place (Paris) to another (Casablanca); and
• the perspective changes from the vertical view to an oblique perspective of the streets of Casablanca, similar to current street views.

california map society website

The California Map Society has just launched a cool new website.  I am a member, I like these guys and their message. They say it well:

We are passionate about all phases of cartography in its broadest sense. We are fascinated by the potential of remote sensing, GIS, and the tools for today’s digital mapmaking. Yet we love the art and history embodied in antique maps. Understanding man’s continuing change in perception of his environment and world is part of the fun of viewing old maps. And we never fail to delight in the curious forms that maps have taken over the centuries.

Check out the website here.

California Coastal LiDAR Project (CCLP) to be available later this year

The California Coastal LiDAR Project (CCLP) is a collaborative effort to produce high-resolution topography data from Oregon to Mexico, extending from the shoreline up to the 10 m topographic contour. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began a coastal aerial LiDAR collection in October 2009 as part of the National Coastal Mapping Program (NCMP). A combined effort by NOAA and USGS was developed in the latter half of 2009 to conduct LiDAR surveys of the San Francisco Bay Area extending from the Carquinez Strait to outside of the Golden Gate. The two projects are expected to be completed by mid-2010. Datasets will become publicly available by the end of 2010.

http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/opc_cclp_report_final.pdf

http://www.opc.ca.gov/2010/01/mapping-californias-coastal-areas/