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Author Archives: Frank

The Proper Way To Play Video Games… and View Data, I guess…

Here’s a cool toy: a twenty four (that’s right.. I said 24) screen display of people playing Quake 3 on 12 Linux machines running (I just have to say it again) 24 screens! Perhaps even more interesting is the 9 screen display playing Warcraft II at 3840×2160 pixels. Notice there’s no bezels on the 9 screen display. That’s what you need to surf Google Earth properly.

New Version of MapGuide Open Source

Autodesk has announced a new version of what used to be Mapserver Enterprise – which was just Mapserver but then combined with Autodesk to be split into Mapserver and Mapserver Enterprise – but has now been renamed MapGuide Open Source (confused yet? I am!) This open source version is hosted by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. The feature set is pretty cool, including an AJAX type viewer, support for a bunch of different file types, a fairly platform independent environment, and what looks like some impressive extensibility features. We at VS haven’t had a chance to play with this product, but I think I’ll move it up on my “to do” list.

Arc Explorer Demo Video

James over at Spatialy Adjusted pointed out that ESRI have published a demo movie of Arc Explorer in action. The file is in Windows Media Format and runs at ever so slightly over a minute ( agree with James – a slightly more universal file format would have been nice). A short demo like this doesn’t show much, but there are a few details that are interesting. They demo doing a bit of spatial analysis. The analysis is clearly written in their model builder stuff you can use in most (if not all) of their current GIS applications, which is handy for non-programmer GIS programmer types (you know who you are!) It’s also pretty evident from the left hand side tool bar the Arc Explorer can add a healthy amount of data from different formats, including Google Earth KMZ files! Look for this product in (I believe) the May timeframe.

Calls for Free Spatial Data in the UK

The Gaurdian has started a campaign to get the UK to publically release spatial data collected with taxpayer money. For those of you unaware, in the UK you pay for publically funded data, which just hampers mapping efforts inside the UK. They’re calling on the British government to follow the US example. I’m sure this is a bit of a hot-button topic amoung GIS professionals in the UK. Here’s hoping our GIS breathern on the otherside of the big pond get a little spatial freedom in the near future!

Trying to Stop Extinction Before It Happens

The BBC has an interesting article about a group trying to pinpoint speicies that might soon be candidates for extinction. The idea is that if you can identify a speicies in trouble before the critical point, you can save more of them (clearly). Apparently this group has identified 20 areas that are prime for human development and thus potential species extinction.

For Our Younger Listeners….. and Frank….

There’s a pretty fancy kids geography newsletter that comes out four times a year.  It has all sorts of neat things to teach kids about geography and geographic concepts.  So sign up your favorite tyke to learn all she or he can about geography.  Remember, GIS experts aren’t born, they’re cultivated over time!
And yes, I did sign up… I figure it never hurts to read material aimed at your own maturity level :)

Biggest Image on the Web

IIPImage has what is touted to be the largest image ever posted on the web. The image is a 86400 x 43200 pixel, RGB, 10.7GB uncompressed TIFF, of….. you guessed it! Earth! It should come as no suprise to anyone working in the geospatial community that a large file viewer like this would be used first and foremost for geographic data. It’s pretty fun to zoom around and see the image detail. This could become a pretty useful tool for anyone wanting to display large remote sensing data.

Via Digg.

National Agricultural Statistics Service Updates Site, Includes Mapping

The National Agricultural Statistics Service updated their site to include a whole host of new ways to get their data, including a fancy new mapping service. The latest data I could find on their map was 2002, but you can really get at what you want pretty easily, either map or table form. One note is that their maps are in SVG format, which is an extenstion put out by Adobe. It allows for some pretty cool dynamic quering of data but it does require a plugin. If you’re into US agricultural statistics, the site is definately worth a look. Here’s the direct link to the site.

GPS Visualizer

Here’s a pretty cool free application for anyone heavily into using your GPS unit. You can upload your GPS data to via typing in coordinates, street addresses, or uploading a file, and this tool will output a map showing your route. The really cool thing is that you can output to a pretty decent set of file types, including jpeg, PMG, and even KML files for use in Google Earth! It looks like the development team is adding features hand over fist, so it would definately be worthwhile to keep an eye on this program’s development.

Well it isn’t in the shape of a whooping crane!

Apparently Microsoft has released the semi-final/latest word on their super-secret Origami project. It’s pretty much what all the rumors had said previously – it’s a “ultra portable” computer. The device is suppose to have around a 7″ touch screen and run full versions of Windows XP, abet optimized for Origami. Later versions are suppose to be under $500 and feature – get this – an all day battery life! The prototypes only run for 15 mins before their battery is drained. I guess Microsoft has a couple of hurdles between 15 mins and all day. However the devices are pretty exciting, especially for field work as I’m certain they’ll include some sort of expansion slot.

UPDATE: CNET has pictures!