August 2006
- Flickr Geotagging Roundup
- The Flickr blog reports that 1.2 million photos were geotagged within the first 24 hours. (That’s half a percent of the total.) That post also talks about some of the behind-the-scenes search technology, admits that the maps (provided by Yahoo!,…
- Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax
- Books about Google’s mapping services continue to appear. Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax is a new book about producing web applications using the Google Maps API and your data, whether your data is small and simple…
- Ireland’s Historic Mapping Archive
- Ireland’s Historic Mapping Archive is a new online collection of two 19th-century mapping series from the Irish Ordnance Survey: 1:10,650-scale maps produced between 1837 and 1842, in black and white and colour; and 1:2,500-scale black-and-white maps produced between 1888 and…
- UK Geocoding in Virtual Earth
- Map GIS News Blog Etc. Etc. reports that Virtual Earth/Live Local now has geocoding for the U.K., which means that searching for British addresses is now possible….
- China Cracks Down on Mapmaking
- The Chinese government is going after foreign mapmakers who “illegally survey, gather and publish geographical information on China,” the Xinhua News Agency is reporting (AOL News; Irish Examiner; Shanghai Daily; People’s Daily). It’s not clear to me whether this is…
- Tourist Map Inflames Argentina-Chile Border Issue
- The government of Chile is complaining about an Argentine tourist map of the Andean Southern Ice Field, the boundaries of which do not conform to a 1998 border agreement between the two countries’ presidents. The exact nature of the boundary…
- Tufte on Airport Runway Maps
- Edward Tufte has been asked “to take a look at airport runway maps and how runway incursions might be reduced by better maps”; the discussion on his bulletin board makes for interesting reading, particularly in light of the recent…
- The Accuracy of Online Street Maps
- Cartography has an excellent post about the accuracy of online street maps, made with devastating effectiveness by comparing screenshots of the same location from the different services, most of which, it turns out, are wrong….
- Tele Atlas Introduces Map Feedback
- When it comes to mapping data, the flow is usually downhill: from the mapping data providers to the companies providing it to the consumers (GPS, online maps). The problem, of course, is that the map data may be wrong or,…
- Altair: Using Unmanned Aircraft to Map Forest Fires
- The start of a new joint NASA-Forest Service program to provide real-time maps of forest fires has been delayed until next week, CNet reports, which gives us a look at the program, which supplements satellite-based data with sensor data collected…
- Free the Maps!
- U.S. government data is ostensibly public domain, but as Jared Benedict, the force behind the Libre Map Project, discovered, you still need to pay for it sometimes. Jared was trying to make USGS 1:24,000 topo maps in DRG format…
- Flickr Adds Geotagging
- As anticipated, Flickr has launched an in-house geotagging system. It uses a map-based user interface rather than tags applied by one of the many third-party geotagging hacks, and it does so from within the Organizr. There are video tutorials on…
- Question: Software for a Personal Map Collection?
- M. Krause writes, “I’m starting a small antique map collection and would like to keep track of it on my computer (Macintosh). Is there map collection software available that will keep track of my inventory? I have searched the web…
- Islamic Cartography Blog
- Tarek Kahlaoui, who is working on a Ph.D. dissertation on Islamic cartography in the 13th to 16th centuries at the University of Pennsylvania, has just started a blog on the subject that will include, over time, a bibliography of the…
- 10 Myths About GPS
- GPS Review: 10 Myths About GPS. Mistaken assumptions and received wisdom from the potential buyer’s/consumer’s perspective….
- The Trainspotters of Google Earth
- The Trainspotters of Google Earth is a slideshow from Slate on the phenomenon of Google Earth users finding all sorts of arcane locations and caught images: “As a simulacrum of the Earth, Google Earth provides a safe space for unlimited…
- High School Student Creates Map of Piedmont
- A 15-year-old Oakland high school student has, for a school internship project, created a map of Piedmont, California (a small city of 11,000 people completely surrounded by Oakland) “that shows not only the city’s streets but all its community amenities,…
- Meander
- Macworld reviews Meander 1.2, a $20 Mac application (it’s nagware) that presents an oblique solution to a common problem: drawing routes on online maps. It works on the premise — one that many of us could confirm anecdotally — that…
- Marie Tharp
- Columbia University reports the death yesterday of Marie Tharp, an oceanographic cartographer who worked on the first world map of the ocean floor; she also co-discovered the Mid-Atlantic Ridge’s rift valley. She was 86. A pioneer of modern oceanography,…
- AskMe: GPS for Trip Recording
- Ask MetaFilter: “I’d like to track my route using a GPS, and in the evenings, overlay that day’s trip on a map. For some reason my Google-fu fails me and I can’t seem to find a straight answer to the…
- Book Roundup: Off the Map; Terra Nostra
- Alex and James Turnbull of Google Sightseeeing have put together a book that compiles nearly a hundred of their favourite finds. The book will be published in November, under the title of Off the Map in the U.S. and…
- Burning Man 2006
- Lisa Hoffman’s map of the 2006 Burning Man festival is more colourful than last year’s effort; see her previous burning maps — and much more detailed than the official version (PDF). Via All Points Blog. Update, Aug. 26: Boing…
- Australian Maps Belatedly Discovered
- Two maps held at the National Library of Australia for nearly a century have only recently been identified as original 1697 charts by Vlamingh, rather than printed copies, and as such are the oldest maps of Australia in Australian hands,…
- Hurricane-Ready Sea Temperatures
- Earth Observatory’s weekly mailing is a good way to discover some of the latest satellite imagery, both true- and false-colour; this past week, there was this startling look at ocean temperatures in the hurricane zone. Yellow and up are…
- I’m Back
- Just back from my trip (see previous entry) — I still managed to post a few entries, so you may not have noticed my absence. Back to my regular posting routine shortly….
- Interactive Album of Map Projections
- I like Penn State’s Interactive Album of Map Projections: it’s a truly dynamic tool that redraws a world map (or portion thereof) based on the parameters you give it — including 10 different projections — rather than an interface to…
- Map the Universe
- Blogs about antique maps, rather than the geospatial industry, are few and far between, but a new blog about antique maps and map collecting, plus the usual gamut of general subjects, started last month, with an eerily similar premise: Map…
- Dutch Cadastral and Topo Maps
- It’s in Dutch, so I’m likely missing most of the nuances, but this site — De WoonOmgeving — has both 1832 cadastral and 2000 topo maps of the Netherlands available through the same interface; if both are available for a…
- Reese Donates $100K to Yale for Map Digitization
- Rare book and map dealer William Reese is donating $100,000 to Yale University — a donation that the university will match and add to with a fundraising campaign. The money will go towards digitizing and cataloguing Yale’s maps: the eventual…
- Yahoo! Updates Satellite Imagery for Cities
- Yahoo! reports that it has added high-resolution satellite imagery for nearly 30 metropolitan areas outside the United States, and upgraded the imagery for U.S. cities as well. See previous entries: Yahoo! International Satellite Imagery; Yahoo! Maps Satellite Imagery….
- The British Library’s Hired Gun
- The British Library has hired Robert Goldman, an attorney who specializes in art thefts, to represent it in hopes of tracking down the missing maps that Forbes Smiley has not confessed to taking. The Hartford Courant’s Kim Martineau has a…
- European Rail Networks
- This series of maps of European rail networks differs from other railway maps I’ve seen in that they show not only double-tracking, but also electrification (including voltages), which is not something I previously thought significant, or at least significant…
- Garver’s Surveying the Shore
- If you’re in the Boston area, you might be interested in a presentation by Joseph G. Garver on Tuesday, August 22 at the Hingham Public Library: he’ll be talking about his upcoming book, Surveying the Shore: Historic Maps of…
- Stolen Maps Meeting Kept Private
- The results of Monday’s meeting between libraries from whom Forbes Smiley stole maps will be kept private, the Harvard Crimson reports, though the article suggests that no actions have been ruled out, including private investigators and a civil suit. Via…
- Cook Islands, Tokelau and New Zealand’s Offshore Islands
- Topographic maps of New Zealand’s Offshore Islands, the Cook Islands and Tokelau are available for download from Land Information New Zealand’s web site. The maps are mostly 1:25,000, with a few 1:50,000, and are large-sized JPEGs, big enough to…
- Giclées
- A giclée is a high-quality art print made on a special inkjet printer. It’s by no means exclusive to maps, but it’s a term worth remembering. I first learned about it in the context of a MapHist discussion of fakes,…
- The Power of Projections
- Via Ubikcan (a blog I really wish I’d found out about sooner) comes word of a relatively new book that sounds like an excellent counterpoint/complement to Seeing Through Maps: The Power of Projections: How Maps Reflect Global Politics and…
- On Vacation; Site Updates
- I’m on vacation as of tomorrow, and will be for a couple of weeks. As is typical for me, I’ll continue to post new entries as I’m able to do so — it just won’t be at the same frenetic…
- Thota on Virtual Earth APIs
- Chandu Thota reports that he has an article on the Virtual Earth APIs in the September issue of MSDN Magazine: “In this article, I’ll highlight some of the most salient features of the Virtual Earth APIs and show you how…
- Forbes Smiley Case: Another Missing Maps Update
- Today’s Vinyard Gazette story about the Forbes Smiley case refers to Monday’s meeting of libraries from whom Smiley stole (see previous entry) but adds little new information; it’s mostly a recap, but does emphasize the penalties Smiley faces next month….
- Los Angeles Mapped; Jo Mora
- Boing Boing links to Los Angeles Mapped, the online version of an exhibition of historical maps of Los Angeles on display through January 2007 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The maps on display are diverse in both subject…
- UK Stops Hiding Sensitive Sites
- The British government has decided to scrap the “sensitive sites register,” meaning that about 50 high-security installations will now be able to be mapped on Ordnance Survey maps, The Independent reports; the register was defeated by publicly available information from…
- Flickr Group: Old Maps
- Another Flickr group: Old Maps. Featuring scans of. See previous entries: Flickr Geotagging Group; Art of the Road; Feel Small Project; Flickr Users’ Map Photos. See also Map Site Directory: Flickr….
- Haret Hreik, Before and After
- Another New York Times graphic about the Israel-Lebanon conflict, this one showing before-and-after satellite imagery of the Haret Hreik neighbourhood of Beirut, home to Hezbollah’s headquarters and, uncoincidentally, the scene of many Israeli bombings. Via La Cartoteca and Very Spatial….
- All Points Blog Podcast
- The folks behind All Points Blog/Directions Media have started podcasting; podcast URL….
- QGIS
- QGIS, an open-source, multiplatform GIS application, has a blog by its developers. Via James Fee, who’s been covering QGIS for a while….
- Will Flickr Get In-House Geotagging?
- For those of us who have our photos on Flickr, geotagging tools that integrate with that photo-hosting service are, of course, of considerable interest (see previous entry). But, given that Yahoo! owns Flickr now and also has a respectable mapping…
- Google Maps Now Has Saved Locations
- Saved locations come to Google Maps — if you have a Google account, that is. Locations you search for will be automatically saved by default; you can add them manually as well. See also Google Maps Mania….
- The Cartography of the Tropics
- Vermessen: Kartographie der Tropen (“Between Cancer and Capricorn: The Cartography of the Tropics”) is an exhibition taking place at the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin until August 27. The site is in German, but the introduction has been translated into English;…
- Missing Map Overlap
- The Harvard Crimson reports on the growing concern that Forbes Smiley may have stolen more maps than he admitted to, and on a meeting of affected map libraries this Monday: “But at least four of those libraries, including the Houghton…
- Google Earth: Flickr Browsing Tools; Enterprise Blog
- If you have a Flickr account and are interested in geotagging, don’t miss Frank’s roundup on Google Earth Blog: Three Flickr Photo Browsing Tools for Google Earth — the point of which is to allow you to browse geotagged Flickr…
- More Map Blogs; StumbleUpon
- If you’re sick of hearing about Google Earth and would like to hear more about NASA World Wind, have I got a blog for you: The Earth Is Square. It’s not dedicated to World Wind per se, but it’s frequently…
- Yale Issues Statement About Smiley Investigation
- Yale University issued the following statement on August 1: Several recent news stories have mischaracterized Yale University’s views regarding the federal investigation of map thefts by E. Forbes Smiley. Yale is confident that the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office…
- Globe and Mail: LAC ‘All Over the Map’
- A follow-up article by Val Ross in today’s Globe and Mail about Library and Archives Canada’s attempt to bid on a copy of a map they already owned ascribes it to a lack of corporate memory and staff knowledge: “The…
- Geotagging Indirectly: ZoneTag, Sony
- A bit more on geotagging — adding geographic coordinates to digital photos. One the one hand there’s having a GPS-enabled camera; on the other there’s adding latitude and longitude manually. Some options in between the two extremes are emerging which…
- Forthcoming Books
- Two forthcoming books on the horizon: A to Z GIS: An Illustrated Dictionary of Geographic Information Systems (Amazon), a terminology guide from ESRI Press (press release); and Google Earth for Dummies, which is self-explanatory (via Google Earth Blog)….
- DigitalGlobe Imagery Exclusive to Google
- Ben has posted an e-mail exchange to the Geowanking mailing list that confirms that, according to a DigitalGlobe representative, “Google has signed an exclusive agreement with us to display our full-resolution imagery on the web,” which means that Google Maps…
- Give Geography Its Place
- Speaking of geographic literacy, David Rayner wrote to tell us about Give Geography Its Place, a grassroots campaign to give geography a higher profile in the UK, and to call it geography, damn it: We are a group of…
- Blog Roundup
- Glenn is moving Anything Geospatial back to BlogSpot (see previous entry); if you’re accessing it via anygeo.com (see previous entry) the changeover will be automatic, though you may want to update any RSS subscriptions. Recent first-year blog anniversaries for, and…
- Harvard’s List of Missing Maps
- Last month Yale issued a list of missing maps; today Harvard has done the same: I have a copy of their list (two pages, 25 KB, PDF file). See previous entries: Stolen Harvard Maps to Be Returned in September; Forbes…
- Google Awarded for Katrina Help
- Google has received an award for its work — by the Google Earth team and others — during the Hurricane Katrina crisis. Think back to that time and recall how so many people absolutely relied on imagery imported into Google…
- Boston Globe on Libraries’ Suspicions About Smiley
- Kim Martineau’s latest article (see previous entry) has been picked up by the wire services, but the Boston Globe has a new article on the matter of whether Forbes Smiley took more maps than he’s confessed to, with, as you…
