Keene on Tech

Late yesterday and this morning, the blogosphere and twittersphere have been abuzz at Twitter’s announcement that it will incorporate geospatial capabilities into the next iteration of the Twitter API to be released soon. This will give developers an opportunity to incorporate lat-log data into user’s tweets to see specific locations of where the tweets are being posted. While this will be an optional feature for privacy reasons, having this capability will open up the doors for some very interesting use of Twitter for real time events such as natural disasters, breaking news, and whole host of other uses. Students and teachers in the field can use this to their advantage as well for fieldwork and data gathering adding an entirely new context to real time microblogging. Remember, its all about location, location, location…

Read the official announcement at the Twitter Blog.

Keene

In today’s interconnected world both the physical and digital worlds collide. There is no ignoring those on the the other side of the world. We share one place, this place called Earth and today’s geospatial technology makes this so readily apparent and seamless that it is almost taken without notice. Its hard to imagine an age when we did not know what lay beyond the horizon, just as those ages ago would have a hard time believing in something called Google Earth. But the connectivity and the technology that makes it possible should be noticed. The new golden age of geography is upon us and its nothing like what you might have learned in grade school. This is all about connections, and seeing how those connections can send shockwaves around the world just like an insect caught in a spider’s web. Move one part and we’ll know you are there… Bringing the geospatial revolution together nicely is a new project by Penn State University Public Broadcasting project.   Dubbed the Geospatial Revolution Project it is one of the first I have seen to bring together what geography truly means in the 21st century, explaining how new technologies have revolutionized our relationship with the planet. It will be brought to viewers via the web in eight installments and will have outreach and educational components. Its seems to be a broad, bold project that highlights this new revolution and evolution of our connectedness. I strongly suggest you check this new series out when it launches.

Keene

For those of you who are familiar with HASTAC, this group always has some absorbing things going on out on the Web. Of particular interest to NMC members will be a discussion starting on April 6th called Mapping the Digital Humanities. You can read about the moderators and a blurb about what is covered here. It should be interesting. Its worth joining in if you are currently doing mapping work that is tied to the Humanities (or not). I think it fits quite nicely with the Geo-Everything portion of this year’s Horizon Report.

Keene

There is a new iPhone app on the horizon called SekaiCamera. Its not out yet and some are skeptical that it can really do what it proposes, but the demos at conferences have been well received. It is being developed by a company in Japan called Tonchidot. The app uses the iPhone’s camera as a “lens” onto the world where tags pop up in the field of view showing items people have tagged in the area you are looking at. You really need to see some of the video demos to get a sense of it. If its the real deal, it will be one amazing application. Do a Google search for SekaiCamera for links and go to this one at TechCrunch for some more eye candy. Don’t trip!

I recently noticed an update for a little plug-in app from the venerable GPS maker, Garmin recently released. The plug-in is called the Garmin Communicator and what it does is pretty nifty. It allows a website, any website that uses the Communicator API, to communicate with your Garmin GPS receiver and handle Garmin GPS files. While notably making closed systems, this approach Garmin has taken is quite open and its yielding some very interesting applications. For instance, at the site TakItWithMe, one can upload their Google MyMaps for use on their Garmin device. That’s a pretty nice capability. This plug-in and the websites that use it can open up the door to more creative uses of GPS data especially for educational uses where GPS data may come into play. For a list of innovative sites using the plug in, visit Garmin’s webpage here. Its pretty cool. The Garmin Communicator plug-in is here. And the API for developers is here.

There is a gold rush underway and thankfully it does not involve any long slogs out West with pans and pickaxes. This rush is for data which is increasingly becoming the bedrock of much of what the Web 2.0 and future developments will rely upon for dishing out increasingly complex and hyper specific information for just about everything. One of the hotspots in this data mining is information not only about one’s online self, but about one’s self in the real world, particularly one’s habits and movements. Some may say this is getting too close to information on a personal level, akin to the digital equivalent of the close talker from the Seinfeld era. MIT researcher, Sandy Petland in an MIT Technology Review article offers that this is not the case. Instead, such data about one’s activities in the real world can be tracked collectively at the level of the masses rather than specific individuals. This mining of “reality” can give one a very good look at patterns with particular applications in tracking disease outbreaks for instance and patterns that can better help people in the real world. Petland’s work uses data from cell phone logs and proximity data from bluetooth enable modules on the phones. However, as we see more and more robust mobile devices, connecting in the cloud and tracking myriad information about ourselves, such reality mining can expand to other devices not currently available. The ability to aggregate data from mobile devices is key to all of this. As location based services and GPS become mainstream and embedded in just about anything not tethered to a desk, the ability to collect this type of data will become more pervasive. In terms of education, this type of work can lead to some creative looks at human communication and mobility patterns and can offer students of social sciences new streams of information to analyze. Michael Wesch also commented on this study on his MediatedCultures website where he noted that MIT has identified Petland’s reality mining as one of notable emerging technologies in 2008. Increasingly, data is all around us. And now we create it by just moving around. Instead of panning we are now developing the tools and creativity to dip into the digital river and pull almost anything swimming in it. Some will find digital gold dust, but inevitably one will also find considerable nuggets (brought to my attention by Wesch’s Library of Congress YouTube talk).

Keene Haywood (University of Texas@Austin – DIIA)

The changes to Google Maps are subtle but nice. Specifically, the Directions feature has been moved down to the left and now sits next to your My Maps tab. The Directions interface is also changed to accommodate the new placement on the page. The column tab for hiding the left hand column is now at the top of the column and is more obvious (I circled the tab in red below to really make it obvious). Previously, it was just a small little triangle midway down the column that casual users probably missed. Hiding this left hand column gives you more screen real estate for the actual map (very handy on notebook screens). Also the colors have been changed to a nice light blue which is easier on the eyes. Also, the Print, Send and Link dialog boxes were also given a facelift. These are just the more obvious changes I have noticed. If you seen any other changes, post them here in the comments. Would love to know if there are more changes that are not so obvious.

Thanks,

Keene Haywood (University of Texas@Austin)

Today Google announced that they are releasing the Google Earth plug-in for Firefox and Internet Explorer on Windows. This is quite a significant announcement because almost as soon as Google Earth was unleashed in 2005, people have been clamoring to have Google Earth work in the browser rather than as a separate software application that has to be downloaded and installed. With this release, the Google Earth API is also released giving developers a rich array of options for tapping into Google Earth’s functionality and imagery through an extensive JavaScript API library. Pardon the pun, but the sky may be the limit now for developers who want to embed Google Earth’s features and images into their own websites. The API includes access to Google Sky as well (which was browser compatible a few months ago) so one is not limited to just working with Earth imagery. If one is already using the Google Maps API, then enabling the 3D Google Earth feature in Firefox or IE, requires only one new line of Javascript (much more of course if you want to do lots of customized things). If one had to pick a defining moment when the online mapping world jumped up in versions, this might be it. I tentatively say welcome to web mapping v.2.5. This should open the flood gates for new 3D applications built around Google Earth/Maps and the web browser. The link to the announcement is here and the API link is here. Oh, and like just about everything Google, the Earth API is a beta release

The announcement was made at Google’s I/O conference for developers. This conference initially began as a small gathering for geospatial specialists working on Google Earth and Maps but has since become much larger and now incorporates a range of Google apps for developers.

Mac users: A Mac version of the API is due to follow shortly according to this post at O’Reilly’s Radar.

Keene Haywood (University of Texas@Austin – DIIA)

The ProgrammableWeb posted a piece on May 5th that mentions they now track 3000 mashups on their website. What is interesting is they break down the numbers and it turns out that 39 percent of these mashups are mapping in nature. While the term mashup entered into popular use through the music industry, the explosion of mapping on the web, especially through Google Maps and Yahoo! Maps has been one of the driving forces of mashups and has helped bring the term to a wider audience…read on!

As the APIs for these mapping applications mature, one will see more and more examples of “mashing” together of geospatial data from various sources (it will get easier and easier for less technically inclined folks as well). One particularly cool mashup developed by Map Channels is called Dual Maps. What is interesting about this is that it pulls together two very different sources of geospatial data from Google Maps and Microsoft’s Virtual Earth imagery. Google Maps (and now Google Earth) have the cool unique feature of StreetView, while Microsoft has the unique and cool Bird’s eye view. But until Dual Maps came along, you could not display this type of imagery together. Now you can, but there is much more. Dual Maps allows for lots of customization and then allows you to embed your custom map into your web page or blog. Its quite nifty. Having the best of what Google Maps and MS Virtual Earth offer side by side is very nice. And it all happens in the browser so you don’t have to worry about platform issues (Virtual Earth is Windows only – not surprising). While Dual Maps is not overlaying data onto these maps, it is mashing together two different map sources to increase the value of the geographic information.

So if you want some inspiration and or a nice tool to add more dimensions to your online mapping, check out Dual Maps, its very unique. In addition, Map Channels has other projects that you might find useful or interesting. Keep in mind that StreetView and Bird’s Eye view imagery may not be available for your area. Many areas are mapped with this technology, but there is still much more to do.

Keene Haywood (Univesity of Texas @ Austin)

With all the talk of virtual worlds, and Second Life in particular, its easy to forget that there is a real world out there that also beckons attention beyond our monitors. Actually, it would be nice to marry both the virtual and real worlds together, because then you can really get some interesting things happening. This has not been lost (forgive the geo-pun) on the founders of Geocaching.com who have recently released a software platform called WheriGo (pronounced Where-i-Go) that enables one to overlay virtual world data onto the real world using gps technology as the bridge between the two. Currently, the software works on handheld PocketPCs running Windows CE (it will need a GPS receiver installed or attached) and on Garmin’s new Colorado line of GPS receivers. The software is built with Microsoft ASP.net framework, but the developers will be porting it over to a web based platform (I assume Java) in the very near future. Check out WheriGo and see for yourself what its all about. Its a new game in town and it just might stir things up a bit. For educators who want to mix things up with some field trip experience might do well to check out WheriGo and see how this new platform works with their teaching and research.

From WheriGo’s glossary comes the actual definition of the platform: a toolset for creating location-based games and other real-world experiences using a combination of GPS-enabled handheld devices and the Internet. The Wherigo family includes two main applications, the Wherigo Builder and the Wherigo Player. I think this will be very cool. The About page has some nice suggestions related to educational uses (at the bottom).

Keene