GIS Software Comparison

I found this comparison to be interesting and even useful ... maybe you will too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_GIS_software

After Google (Maps), What?

"After Google, What?" was the name of a course at the iSchool, but Paul Smith of EveryBlock has asked the same of Google Maps. His answer? An open source web mapping stack. Check out his cool article on A List Apart, "Take Control of Your Maps". If you haven't checked out EveryBlock, do so. Their maps are beautiful. We use a lot of these technologies in the lab and in the GIIF, with the exception of Mapnik, which, to my shame, I've tried and failed to install. Update Some responses: a thread on geowanking including a response from Google evangelist Pam Fox, and discussion and response from the author on ALA (for some reason the post isn't on Technorati yet...).

Google Earth Maps Refugee Crises

GENEVA (AP) -- Internet search giant Google Inc. unveiled a new feature Tuesday for its popular mapping programs that shines a spotlight on the movement of refugees around the world.

Users must have downloaded Google Earth, UNHCR maps to access refugee information.

The maps will aid humanitarian operations as well as help inform the public about the millions who have fled their homes because of violence or hardship, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which is working with Google on the project. "All of the things that we do for refugees in the refugee camps around the world will become more visible," U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees L. Craig Johnstone said at the launch in Geneva. Users can download Google Earth software to see satellite images of refugee hot spots such as Darfur, Iraq and Colombia. Information provided by the U.N. refugee agency explains where the refugees have come from and what problems they face. Although not all parts of the world are displayed at the same high resolution, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company has made an effort to allow users to zoom in closely on refugee camps. In the Djabal refugee camp in eastern Chad, which is home to refugees from the conflict in neighboring Darfur, Google Earth users can see individual tents clustered together amid a sparse landscape, and learn about the difficulty of providing water to some 15,000 people. Google says more than 350 million people have already downloaded Google Earth. The software was launched three years ago and originally intended for highly realistic video games, but its use by rescuers during Hurricane Katrina led the company to reach out to governments and nonprofit organizations. Google Earth has since teamed up with dozens of nonprofit groups seeking to raise awareness, recruit volunteers and encourage donations. Among them are the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the U.N. Environmental Program and the Jane Goodall Institute. "Google wants to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," said Samuel Widmann, the head of Google Earth Europe. The company estimates that 80 percent of the world's information can be plotted on a map in some way. Rebecca Moore, who heads the Google Earth Outreach program for nonprofit groups, said the company does not control the information published using the software. Google is considering offering a stand-alone version of its mapping software that can be used by aid workers in the field who do not have an Internet connection on hand, she said. Google said it will also provide nonprofit groups in several countries with training and free copies of its $400 professional mapping software, an offer it plans to roll out across the globe over time. http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/08/google.refugees.ap/index.html

Cool Aerial Photo Art

Michael Light's site: lovely aerial photography.

Skulls, Bones, and Mother Ships

It's probably wrong of me to find a UNOSAT map of recent pirate activity off the coast of Somalia kind of hilarious, but they actually used the skull and cross bones to iconify pirate attacks, and did, in fact, use the phrase "mother ship." I'm sort of ambivalent about the map as a whole. The spatial distribution of attacks is interesting (why so many hijackings around Mogadishu and Mudug?) as are the narratives, but the cartography leaves something to be desired. Land features get an inexplicable amount of detail and attention for a map depicting strictly maritime activity, and the iconography is almost meaningless (we get it, skulls and bones mean pirates). The colors create thematic associations fairly well, but seem primarily focused on the narrative callouts, which are arguably of secondary important to the locations of the attacks. Probably the most interesting data graphic is the bar chart at the bottom, depicting a (significant?) drop in absolute pirate attacks correlating with changes in government. Via humanitarian.info and Nick

ArcExplorer

Check out ArcExplorer - the website, a flash version of the application, and a downloadable version. It's similar to GoogleEarth but allows you to also view data themes overlayed on the map (e.g. the census data, etc.). Looks like there are a few problems too -- like the projection is clearly bias towards USA so if you zoom in on Europe the countries look squished. Anyway, it has potentials... OH, it's FREE. (surprise surprise!)

Encyclopedia of Life Unveils First 30,000 Pages

"The first 30,000 pages of an online Encyclopedia of Life were unveiled today for public “alpha” testing and feedback. Intended as atool for scientists and policymakers and a fascinating resource for anyone interested in living in the world, the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is being developed by a unique collaboration between scientists and the general public. By aggregating for analysis information on Earth’s estimated 1.8 million known species, the EOL will be a foundational resource for helping to conserve the species already known and to identify millions of additional species that haven’t yet been described or named."-From the MacArthur Foundation Newsroom More details are in the 8 page full press release.

UPS and Google Maps Mashup

In the spirit of tracking, I stumbled upon this UPS tracking site: http://trackthepack.com/.

Oakland Crimespotting Folks Talking Today

The folks behind the excellent Oakland Crimespotting are giving a talk today at the iSchool. If you haven't seen the site, it shows crime data from Oakland on a map, with different icons for different types of crime, and allowing you to browse through time using a sliding, expandable window over a bar graph. Pretty sweet use of Flash. Here's the talk info:

Design Futures lecture series sponsored by the Berkeley Center for New Media and the UC Berkeley School of Information TODAY Thursday March 20 5:15-6:30pm 110 South Hall UC Berkeley Mike Migurski and Tom Carden, Stamen Design Visual Urban Data: A Journey Through Oakland Crimespotting A talk about the political, social and technical hiccoughs encountered since the inception of Stamen Design’s Oakland Crimespotting project just over a year ago. The talk will cover the inspirations and influences of the project, and how it relates to Stamen’s recent work in web-based information visualization and mapping. About Stamen Since 2001, Stamen has developed a reputation for beautiful and technologically sophisticated projects in a diverse range of commercial and cultural settings. They work and play with a surprising and growing range of collaborators: news media, financial institutions, artists and architects, car manufacturers, design agencies, museums, technology firms, political action committes, and universities.

Animal Tracking via SMS

Google Maps Mania posted about this interesting use of free web services to track deer. A collar on the deer sends SMS messages to an e-mail account, which creates blog posts that are used to populate a database, which in turn feeds a map. I'm particularly interested in this integration of SMS messaging for mapping, especially after hearing Deborah Estrin speak yesterday. Such methods open up huge opportunities for participatory projects.