BlinkGeo » News

23rdJune

Google Releases Map Maker - What about OpenStreetMap?

Google has officially released Map Maker [via Google Lat Long], a collaborative set of tools that allow users to contribute data for use in countries/regions where Google Maps does not have very good data/coverage. This is taking the concept of crowd-sourcing even more mainstream than the Big G’s efforts in India.

At present, the list of countries where Map Maker can be used is relatively small, but there is the potential for widespread adoption of Map Maker for many more countries where there is limited or ‘bad quality’ geospatial data available.

Some lingering questions remain.

How will Map Maker affect the OpenStreetMap project?

Will Google play nice and make the crowd-sourced data available for use in applications other than Google Maps and in some common format (hint hint, KML)? Who ultimately should own the data?

Given Microsoft’s recent announcement of GoVE, is raster data (e.g., aerial photographs) the next target for user-contributed content for Google Maps?

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4thJune

BlinkGeo Feed Blends - Thematic RSS Aggregation

By Andres | In News

Well, with the help of SimplePie, RSS aggregation has come to BlinkGeo. It was almost too easy, using SimplePie (there’s even a WordPress Plugin).

I am releasing two new Feed Blends into the wild today as a proof of concept for RSS aggregation based on specific geospatial themes/topics:

Online Maps
Combines feeds from the Google, Mapquest, Microsoft, and Yahoo corporate ‘geo’ blogs. A nice and easy way to stay up to date with the news from these major players.

3D Globes
Combines feed from blogs about Google Earth and NASA World Wind (okay, for now there is only one feed in there for NASA World Wind, so it’s more of a Google Earth feed blend).

The feed blend pages include links to an RSS feed that combines the feeds into one, as well as an OPML file that you can use to import to your RSS reader.

So…you can visit a feed blend page as you see fit…or you can subscribe to the RSS feed…or you can take the OPML file and run with it.

You can bookmark the Feed Blends page, which will eventually contain all of the thematic feeds I decide to compile (as time allows).

Enjoy!

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28thMay

PerryGeo Introduces Geospatial Reddit

By Andres | In News

Via PerryGeo: Geospatial Reddit - A democratic solution to geo blog overload?

Makes me melancholy for the days of BlinkGeo Stories (R.I.P.).

In sincerely hope you will register and participate in the Geospatial Reddit. Remember that half the fun is voting, not just submitting your own posts.

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23rdMay

GIS Modeling of Vulnerability to Cyclone Nargis

By Andres | In News

I came across this May 14th article about Cyclone Nargis and the use of GIS to estimate/analyze regions and populations vulnerable to the cyclone. The study, conducted by researchers at Lehman College CUNY and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, produced maps and vulnerability estimates that give additional insight into the tragedy that has affected (and continues to affect) an estimated 3.2 million Burmese. Have you taken action yet to help out?