Hello everyone. I want to step outside of the box for this post and give a link to a GIS Professional Salary Survey that I am trying to get together.

If you are a GIS Professional, please follow this link.

Also, if you could please send the link (http://bit.ly/4A6PJd) to any GIS Professional you might know, that would be appreciated!

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, my master’s thesis is getting pretty crazy and I am swamped at work. I thought I’d take this time, however to wish everyone a:

HAPPY GIS DAY!

So, if you don’t know now OpenStreetMap is an open-source mapping application that allows anyone to edit their main map. Think of it as the Wikipedia of mapping. They recently released a pdf with some interesting stats about usership and editors. I understand that OSM started in the United Kingdom, but I am still shocked at the lack of participation of Americans. More shockingly, Germany is far ahead of everyone else! Check out the below pie graph to see the breakdown (Click on the image below to get the original article).

Google has just released what looks like a deathblow to the current way we use navigation. With the release of Google Map Navigation for Android 2.0, we now have a free navigation program that is included with our phone OS (as long as you are running Android 2.0, of course). No longer do we have to carry another device for navigation; goodbye Tom Tom, I don’t need you no more!

We will have to see what the actual impact this is, of course. The Apple iPhone has had a few navigation applications so far, and none have been a real show stopper. However, none has had the backing of Google on Google’s OS. I am definitely looking forward to getting my Motorola Droid phone when it comes out, and this application is just hightening my excitement!

What do you all think? Do you think this is going to be the end of stand-alone navigation devices? Watch the video below to see the new application in action.

Reading an interview with Ev Williams and Biz Stone (creators of the website Twitter) on TechCrunch, I found a particilarly interesting question and answer.

Q: Geolocation.
Ev: We are building geolocation into Twitter. We’ve had fledgling support on profile. And you can search by location we determine in fuzzy way. Location is huge. Reason we’re excited about geolocation, we don’t know how it will change our business. We’re releasing location in the API, eventually in our interface.

In the newest ESRI ArcNews, there is something that the GeoHackr is going to be very interested in…

New JavaScript APIs!

ArcGIS Web Mapping APIs are now available for free for all noncommercial use, allowing mapping and GIS capabilities to be more easily embedded, consumed, and deployed in Web or desktop applications.

Don’t worry if JavaScript isn’t your cup of tea. ESRI has released APIs for Silverlight and Flex as well. I will focus on JavaScript here at GeoHackr because it is the easiest to run (there is no software installation required). ESRI even give us a few map layers to try our maps with; however, if you can run a map service you can run any layers you want.

We will get into the coding in more depth later, but to get started all you need to do is put your map service url in the below code:

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      function init() {
        var map = new esri.Map("map");
        var tiledMapServiceLayer = new esri.layers.ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer("http://your server.com/MapServer");
        map.addLayer(tiledMapServiceLayer);
      }

Get your map services running and stay tuned to see what we can do with ESRI’s new JavaScript APIs!

On Slashgeo, I saw an article on a class offered online via Utah State University. The class is titled Geoprocessing with Python, and it is definitely something I am going to look into. I have been on a kick lately to try and really hone my python skills and I think this class is going to be very helpful!

For a better understanding of the basics of python, I have been reading Dive Into Python (pdf, html) Here’s hoping that this online class will be a good supplement to the book.

Happy reading!

Broke on TechCrunch two days ago, Loopt aquired Y Combinator startup GraffitiGEO.

Loopt is a phone-based application that “shows you who’s around, what to do, and where to go.” And GraffitiGEO is a phone-based application that allows you to tag your location. I can see why Loopt would show an interest in GraffitiGEO, and I am very excited to see what comes out of this acquistion!

This is definitely a shot towards foursquare, but I am hoping that this acquistion will just force both Loopt and foursquare to pick up their games!

This is just another example of the phone-based location-aware applications are picking up steam and are really going to hit it big. I have already talked about the up-and-coming applications that are going to support “augmented reality,” but this acquistion just shows that there are other parts of this genre that are alive and kicking.

It is interesteing to note that both of these application started on the iPhone. I am always amazed on how the iPhone has opened the world for us geographers. Having what comes to a mini-computer as a phone really allows for these applications, and with these application location-aware geography, to come into the lime-light.

The BBC is running an article on Atlanta Georgia and their attempt to be “the world’s most digitally mapped city.” This article is interesting on two different accounts. On one hand you have a city that is taking a concerned effort in making themselves more accessible. This is a great step forward and I feel many more cities need to follow suit.

On the other hand, you have great publicity for one of the greatest open-source projects that is around today; OpenStreetMap. For those of you who do not know what OpenStreetMap (OSM) is, wikipedia has the following explanation:

OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world.

The maps are created using data from portable GPS devices, aerial photography, other free sources or simply from local knowledge. Both rendered images and the vector graphics are available for download under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence.

OpenStreetMap was inspired by sites such as Wikipedia — the map display features a prominent ‘Edit’ tab and a full revision history is maintained. Registered users can upload GPS track logs and edit the vector data using the given editing tools.

[caption id="" align=“alignleft” width=“500” caption=“VBA Error Popup”][/caption]

Reading James Fee’s blog the other day I noticed this article about what is coming up in ArcGIS 9.4. One note that caught my eye was this:

ArcGIS 9.4 will be the last release of Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA); we will no longer support VBA beyond the ArcGIS 9.4 release. Microsoft no longer promotes or updates VBA.

Just a heads up, if you were hoping to get your proposal to give a presentation during Where 2.0 but missed yesterday’s deadline (see here for more details), you are in luck! The deadline has been extended to October 20th. Again, go here for submissions.

For all you people out there interested in GIS, the US Census Bureau has released the 2009 Tiger/Line Shapefiles. You can find more information here, or download the shape files here.

For all of you that are not into GIS, the Tiger/Line shapefiles are files that gives GIS users all the geographic and cartographic information that is found in the master geodatabase of the US Census Bureau. The geographic information given are features such as streets, railroads, and bodies of water. It also gives attribute data like street addresses and other relationship classes.

And for all of you that might be concerend, these shapefiles do not contain any sensititve or confidential information, so you can breathe easy.

This is always a good time, but I have to wonder how many real GIS professionals out there use the Tiger/Lines shapefiles on a regular basis. If you do, please drop me a line in the comments!

Just found this video explaining what changes have been made to Google Maps. Thought this would be a nice complement to this post here on GeoHackr.

There is only a few days left to submit your proposal to O’Reilly’s Where 2.0! Where 2.0 Call for Participation site is found here. They are looking for proposals for the following:

Proposals will be considered for the following types of presentations:

• 30 minute session


• 75 minute workshop


• Panel discussion


• Where Fair


• Ignite Where: we will be conducting a separate call for Ignite


• Product launch: please indicate in your proposal if you are planning a product launch

For all of you who do not know what Where 2.0 is, below is a list of topics they cover at this conference:

Topics we’ll be exploring at Where 2.0 2010 include:

• Mobile Trends and Devices


• Rich Analysis Tools


• Augmented Reality


• Temporal Information


• Government 2.0


• Machine Learning


• Crisis Mapping and Disease Awareness


• Local Search


• Cartography


• Geo Support in Web Application Frameworks


• GeoStack and GeoBrowsers


• Mapping APIs


• GeoTargeting


• Data Management


• Local Search and Advertising


• Protocols and FormatsRFID Project/Game

The last day for submission of proposals is October 13th, so get writing!

Augmented Reality has really been quite the buzz around the internet lately. And why shouldn’t it be, the idea of programs giving you information on the fly about your current surroundings sounds awesome! But what is Augmented Reality and what is in it for you?

Augmented Reality is the enhancing of the real world with some sort of technical information have enhances the experience. Be it local reviews popping up on your iPhone as you walk past a store, or telling football fans where the first down marker is, augmented reality is becoming more and more relevant.

What does this have to do with geography? Actually a lot! Most of the new up-and-coming augmented reality programs coming out these days have to do with giving the user more information based on their current location. Let’s take a look at the Yelp iPhone application to get a good idea what we are talking about when we say augmented reality and geography are tied together.

[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“320” caption=“Yelp's augmented reality HUD for my block”][/caption]

As you can see, the Yelp application gives you an enhanced experience of reality by feeding you information based on your geographic location. In future posts, we will be discussing what new technology is beings developed to aide in the production of more augmented reality programs and we will show you some code to start you on your way to becoming a augmented reality GeoHackr!

Photo Credit: jntolva

Looks like Google now uses there own data for Google Maps. The information is now under Google’s copyright and not TeleAtlas’s. What this means, I am not too sure; but I am sure there are more changes on the way!

Another option that Google gives you with the new upgrade is to point out your location. This is the blue circle on the screenshot. Not sure what this will be used for now, but it is fun to see where Google thinks you are.

James Fee found parcel layers on his map, but in Connecticut we are not so lucky. I am not sure if Google is slowly adding a parcel layer when they get the information, but again this is something to look forward to!

Peter Batty brought up some more interesting points on Geothought; what is Google going to do with this database they are building? Could they become a competitor to TeleAtlas? If so, I’d be shaking in my boots…

For more information about the changes, see Google Map’s blog.

Today, BrightKite has reached 2 point oh! I have always found BrightKite to be a very interesting website to the geographer at heart. They were one of the first in the field of geolocating yourself, and I have to say that the upgrades in this newest version sound top-notch. The improvements are:

• Live stream updates


• Updated Public API


• Ability to rate posts (thumbs up/thumbs down)


• Favorite Places (used to be Placemarks)


• New user and place statistics


• Updated mobile site: m.brightkite.com


• Persistent location bar


• Improved posting flow


• New UI design


• Improved scalability


• Various SMS improvements


• AJAX improvements


• Bunches and bunches o’ other fixes

There are a lot of great improvements with the upgrade, but unfortunately we are not able to experience them ourselves due to BrightKite being down. So for now, go to their blog to get the most up to date information on the changes.

I know there are a lot of newcomers to the field of location-aware apps, but I have to highly recommend BrightKite for giving the users something unique. Hopefully 2.0 continues the trend and they will not be washed under the rug of the new up-and-coming location-aware webapp.

The article “Google Maps to Move Indoors?” has been deleted due to inaccurate statements. In the transfer to Jekyll, I thought it prudent not to transfer this post to the new system.

Cheers,

GeoHackr

It seems as though Twitter is atwitter with news that they now know where you are… It isn’t as bad as it sounds, but TechCrunch is confirming that Twitter is live with its new location based variable which ties a geocode to each tweet! Exciting news; many people, myself included give our location when tweeting by means of third party apps (I know UberTwitter does this for the blackberry).

This new feature isn’t without issues however, it seems as though if a location is sent without a location attached to the new variable some programs interpret it as the coordinates 0,0 which is somewhere off the coast of Africa. I am sure this will all be fixed once everyone understands what is going on. Until then, don’t meet anyone that just tweeted from off the coast of Africa; they do not have a new boat they want to show you!

News Release

Sample Code:

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<status> 

   … 

   <geo_enabled>true</geo_enabled>

   <geo xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss"> 

     <georss:Point>37.780300 -122.396900</georss:Point> 

   </geo> 

</status> 

Welcome to GeoHackr – Hacking the Science of Geography. Here we hope to give an overall review of things that can help you hack geography and GIS. Be it a new API that Google Maps released or updating you on Twitter’s geolocation variables, we want to you to know.

Also, there will be some coding examples and such hopfully bring the newest hacks to your computer screens.