geo2web.com

::: via :::

Google MapMaker Coverage Expands

Google want ‘users’ to add content to areas that have poor or limited digital mapping coverage.

Please remember the content you generate will become Google’s however they will not take responsiblity to any errors.

The concept is great - but OpenStreetMap have been doing this for years, there data is downloadable and very useable in GIS (Global Mapper reads it directly) as other mapping packages can.
Google seem to be stepping on OpenStreetMaps toes this time, with the new areas including, The Isle of Man where OSM have superior data.

So if you want to get your hands on the data for use afterwards your best bet is to help create data and pump it into OpenStreetMap. Now with 50,000 registered users and 5,000 active monthly users.
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Beginners%27_Guide

Anyone noticed Georgia wasn’t on the expanded list…?

See OpenStreetMap data in a mapping package directly…
http://mapperz.blogspot.com/2008/04/openstreetmap-data-in-globalmapper-fast.html

[Read more →]

::: via :::

For those of you in the states who went to the Microsoft MIX show this year, you got a first hand look at what’s coming down the pike at Microsoft. MIX is THE HOTTEST show for online service (well, IMHO, of course). I presented a Virtual Earth session which included the tech preview of the Virtual Earth Silverlight map control. Well, that show was in Las Vegas, NV, USA and not everyone from around the world goes to the show in Vegas so we have a show called REMIX which is essentially the same (or very similar) content but in localized formats and done in different locations around the world. It’s kind of like a rock tour! Anyway, this year at Microsoft REMIX UK you’ll see a glaring void in the agenda where Virtual Earth should be - this is done intentionally.

We’re having a Virtual Earth UK partner event during the REMIX UK show, dubbed Virtual Earth UK New Partner Day. Sounds like a British holiday. It’s a whole day dedicated to Virtual Earth! So, you can go to REMIX on Sept. 18, then go the Virtual Earth Event ALL DAY LONG on the 19th. You can OD on VE.

Johannes Kebeck will be running the show and Dr. Neil will be flying up from the land of Oz to give you one heck of a show and a jam-packed day of VE content. The agenda for the Virtual Earth UK New Partner Day consists of 5 sessions, plus lots of tea and crumpets. Register. It’s free.

CP

[Read more →]

::: via :::

I saw this yesterday, but needed to find an explanation I understood before writing about. Thankfully, my favorite lawyer on IP issues, Andy Updegrove (I met him when I consulted to OGC and he spoke at Directions Media’s Location Intelligence Conference in past years), is interviewed by Computerworld, so now I can explain it!

Here’s the case:

Kam Industries used some open source code that allows train folks to program chips in model trains. The code was released un an Artistic License. That’s not one I know much about - but it’s OSI approved and has a copyright from the PERL Foundation. That license requires users to “give credit to the author, identify the original source of the files and describe how the new code has been changed, among other conditions.”

The author of the code, Robert Jacobsen felt Kam Industries violated the terms and violated the software’s copyright. A requested injunction to stop Kam from using the software was denied in US District Court. The news this week: the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned the ruling.

The big deal: when infringement happens, the infringee (the holder of the license) can argue copyright copyright infringement not just breach of contract. Why’s that significant? Now to Mr. Updegrove:

That distinction is important, says Andy Updegrove, an attorney with Gesmer Updegrove LLP in Boston who studies licensing issues. Under contract law, the remedy is monetary damages, which aren’t likely to amount to anything involving open-source software that is given away, Updegrove says.

However, statutory damages - money awarded for a violation of law - can be awarded for copyright infringement without requiring proof of monetary damages, Updegrove says. Also, people can recover attorney fees for copyright infringement cases, he says.

“And, most importantly for licences such as the GPL, it means that your rights to use the copyrighted work at all disappear,” Updegrove says, referring to the General Public License, widely used for open source software.

[Read more →]

::: via :::

Fig 1 a sample ASP .NET 3.5 website running on a GoGrid server instance GoGrid is a cloud service similar to AWS.( http://www.gogrid.com ) Just like Amazon’s AWS EC2, the user starts a virtual server instance from a template and then uses the instance like a dedicated server. The cost is similar to AWS, [...]

[Read more →]

::: via :::

They Might be Giants
Actually no - this is Ned Kelly.

View Larger Map
Via: Street View Fun

I Bought the T-Shirt

These t-shirt designs are available from custom t-shirt company Zazzle. Hmm.. copyright issues?

Google Maps Cloning

Photoshop Disasters has discovered this Google Map satellite view, which does look like a clear example of clone stamping in Photoshop (check out the similarity of the white trees). The comments to the post on Photoshop Disasters suggest some very plausible theories as to why Google would clone this imagery, for example, covering up a nuclear attack, covering up a black hole, covering up the Super-Secret Treehouse Lair of Cooldom, the Giant Trojan Clog the Dutch are developing to invade Belgium.

America’s Drunkest Cities

It’s Friday so you might be planning a little drink tonight.Or, if you live in one of the cities featured on this map, you might be planning a bigger drink.

The America’s Drunken Cities map is from the prolicic Google Mapper Virender Ajmani. Virender also had time this week to develop:

The Detroit Mayor Map - Detroit mayor Kwarme Kipatrick has been in a little trouble lately. This map follow the media’s reaction to his exploits.

Beijing Olympics Map - This map shows the latest Olympics videos posted to YouTube automatically geo-tagged on a Google Map.

[Read more →]