GIS Dev Cafe

Open source has created a stir the last several years in IT(Information Technology), for which I feel the industry did and maybe still does not understand what role open source should and does play as a piece or whole of a corporate infrastructure. I have tried to remain on the outskirts of the issue on the growing demand for open source in GIS and geographic mapping packages, until I read on another Geoblog that we need open source in order to defeat ESRI as well as the UC conference rumblings about big bad ESRI and happy innovative google(Sorry, no direct quotes here, you can easily google ESRI UC and Google to get exactly the idea). Now note, I am not a paid or unpaid supporter of either company or any of the open source GIS companies as well. What my motivation here is, to point out that OPEN SOURCE DOES NOT HAVE A MOTIVE!!!! Continue Reading »

4 Comments »

In a recent post on Google Earth Design, Rich Treves interviewed Steve Chilton,Chairman of the Society of Cartographers. In this interview Chilton reflects on trends in modern cartography and map production, referring to the new breed of map producers as NeoGeographers. Further Chilton simplifies NeoGeography/NeoCartography to the production of maps over the internet and credits the users as simple and uncaring of traditional cartographic and geographic principles. While I am sure this definitely is the case for some of the internet mapping producers, I feel his description to be an extreme oversimplification of who is producing geographic content published on the internet. So this raises the queston what is NeoGeography and how should it and its producers be defined?
Continue Reading »

10 Comments »

NASA and Microsoft have teamed up to provide a very unique way of exploring NASA’s launch sites and facilities. Using Microsoft Live Labs’ Photosynth technology, one can tour the launch pad and other areas of NASA. Also, there is additional information and links from MSNBC’s website including a launch platform for the various NASA tours. But this is not just a series of photographs strung together to produce a series of pictures, Photosynth actually interpolates a series of images to create a 3d environment that can the be navigated by the user, creating a very interesting and unique user experience. Continue Reading »

No Comments »

It is obvious we live in a digital information age, data is transformed into information and is presented immediately in real time and in your face. The internet is the medium of this age, this cultural paradigm, the dispenser of information and interpretation. Only recently has the realization, transformation and diffusion of spatial data into meaningful digital thematic cartographic representation has truly begun to be realized. Big internet players like Google maps and Microsoft Earth just start to scratch the surface of providing a means for everyday users to understand their spatial surroundings. Almost every month or every week there appears to be a new geoapplication, geoplugin, geoenhancement or geotool aimed at giving the average user the power to leverage their spatial world in new and meaningful ways. Continue Reading »

2 Comments »