World Economic Forum Pioneers in Tech Winners include LBS Players | September 2
By Adena Schutzberg
Among a class of 31 companies deemed Technology Pioneers (Google Inc. was one once) are Foursquare and Layar. Also noteworthy to me: Scribd Inc. To be selected as a Technology Pioneer, a company must be involved in the development of a major technology or innovation and have the potential for long-term impact on business and society. In addition, it must demonstrate

Google Tidbits | September 2
By Adena Schutzberg
There's a new version of SketchUp v8 3D. - Google Earth Blog and via Google PR Google has introduced a beta of sponsored icons for Google Maps. Instead of a generic pin, those who pay will have their own logo appear. First takers include: Bank of America, HSBC, Target and Public Storage. The feature was first tested and became popular in

UAV's Fill the Skies: So Much Data, So Few Ways to Analyze It | September 1
By Joe Francica

At the Intergraph 2010 conference, the defense and intelligence group was demonstrating their Motion Video Analyst (MVA) solutions to help manage data from the growing usage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in support of the warfighting efforts in the Middle East.

As a consequence of too much data, the need for analysts is likewise increasing.  Algorithms are being developed for pattern

LBS Tidbits | September 1
By Adena Schutzberg
MapMyFitness received $5 million in Series A funding from Austin Venture and will move its HQ from Denver to Austin. The company offers MapMyRun, MapMyTri, etc. - press release MTV is partnering with Foursquare for a special badge for those who get themselves tested for STDs. The hope is that when one friend checks in and gets the badge, others will

Dangermond Addresses Data.gov Ahead of Gov 2.0 Talk | September 1
By Adena Schutzberg
The article in InformationWeek is a preview of his talk at Gov 2.0 next week, but for those still wondering about Esri role in Data.gov, Dangermond, described as a GIS expert in the opening sentence, offers some insight. While I'm very excited about what Data.gov has accomplished, I think we need to now evolve our thinking from 'Data.gov' to 'Understanding.gov,' "

Globe and Mail on Esri GIS in Canada | September 1
By Adena Schutzberg
The article notes only one company, Esri and extensively quotes Esri Canada head, Alex Miller. There's nothing new here for those in the biz, though a Miller statement on the Canadian census decision to drop the long form prompts some comments. He states: We are really upset about the long form census being dropped because it is a tremendous source of

3M Agrees to Acquire People Tracking Company | September 1
By Joe Francica
3M Corporation will acquire Attenti, an Israel-based company for $230 Million, that tracks people via GPS. Attenti's clients include companies in the security and telecommunications industries.

LBS Tidbits | August 31
By Adena Schutzberg
Social location service Loopt has appointed Steve Boom as president. He spent ten years overseeing Yahoo's mobile offering, before joining mobile social network mig33; he'll maintain a position there as he works at Loopt. - Mobile Ent. Biz Sid Yadav explains why LBS uptake is so poor: hardware. "In other words, location services aren’t facing a generation gap. They’re facing an equipment

Apple Launches LBS Section of AppStore: On the Grid | August 31
By Adena Schutzberg
For now the On the Grid section (iTunes link) hosts just a dozen apps (usual suspects) most are free, one Geofences (never heard of it) is 99 cents. - Fierce Mobile

Podcast: Do We Need Maps in our Location-based Apps? | August 31
By Adena Schutzberg
A reader posed the question that we articulate this way: "Why are data taken for granted in LBS hype? What happens when you remove the map?" Our editors think that is a great question and explore it in the context of navigation apps, weather and traffic apps, social apps and augmented reality. Subscribe to Podcast RSS Listen Now (to

LBS Tidbits | August 30
By Adena Schutzberg
Word came late Thursday that Google has updated its policy on its reviews that users can submit to Google Maps/Place Pages and apparently dropped search results from Yelp, one of the most popular restaurant review services. Word on the former came from the Google Lat Long blog; the latter from TechCrunch. The new review guidelines say something on the

LBS Tidbits | August 30
By Adena Schutzberg
Word came late Thursday that Google has updated its policy on its reviews that users can submit to Google Maps/Place Pages and apparently dropped search results from Yelp, one of the most popular restaurant review services. Word on the former came from the Google Lat Long blog; the latter from TechCrunch. The new review guidelines say something on the

Update 2: Google Sole Source for NGA GeoViz Contract | August 27
By Adena Schutzberg
Here's the text of the updated notice which opens the door to others. Still as Bob Berwin points out, NGA still seems pretty stuck on Google. - NextGov --- update 8/24 ---- Bob Brewin who wrote about the sole source contract last week, provides an update from NGA: "Karen Finn, the amazingly responsive NGA public affairs chief, told me in an

Amazon Gets Location-based Search Patents, from the A9 Days | August 26
By Adena Schutzberg
Amazon received two patents related to providing location-based search information for mobile devices on August 10. They were filed last summer be seem to date back to 2005 and are assigned to Amazon's search effort A9. A9 was best known to geofolks as the first "streetview" type of effort. (I was a fan!) First up, patents No. 7,774,002, for "Providing

LBS Tidbits | August 26
By Adena Schutzberg
The Meijer supermarket chain (in the US midwest and a few other states) has begun trials of a new mobile app that allows customers to see the exact location of items in a store. The ‘Find-it’ app, developed by Point Inside, shows where the selected item is on a map of the store. Also findable: customer service, restrooms. It's only

Twitter Says...Esri Edition | August 25
By Adena Schutzberg
Esri Dev Meetups are scheduled: - Demonstrate your application or framework. - Present an interesting concept or idea. - Share your experiences. - Connect with other developers. - All developers who are interested in geospatial technology are welcome to attend this free event from 5:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m. via @esriseminars ESRI Pakistan Social Media Map via @crisismappers New #ArcGIS Explorer build 1500 ready for download, overview

LBS Tidbits | August 25
By Adena Schutzberg
Last Thursday, when Facebook announced places, was Foursquare's biggest day for new sign-ups. - C|net Nokia's Ovi launched a new app to find McDonalds restaurants in the UK. Other country specific efforts have been tried, too. - Mobile Ent News Pols are already using target YouTube pre-reels to target voters based on location. Here's how it could work: Using Google's in-stream ads,

StreetSpace Kiosk Provider Sues Many over LBS Ad Patent Infringement | August 25
By Adena Schutzberg
StreetSpace (never heard of it myself) provides internet kioks in public spaces, such as airports, retail locations and restaurants; it's been around since 1999. Apparently a number of suits have been combined into a single one in US District Court (Northern District of California). It alleges that Google, Apple, Nokia and others' ad networks all infringe on the company's

Update: LBS Tidbits | August 25
By Adena Schutzberg
Google has banned the GPS-spyware infected TapSnake game from its Android marketplace noting a policy violation, but the developer argued, successfully to some, that the game's supporting docs explained how the game and tracking work together. Moreover, to have the tracking work took some doing. - Threatpost

Podcast: Are GIS Pros Choosing Esri Community Maps over OpenStreetMap? | August 24
By Adena Schutzberg
This month's State of the Map US teamed with mappers, but not so many GIS professionals. A webinar on Esri's Community Maps program drew 800 attendees just last week. Why are mappers and GIS pros choosing to give their data to one project or the other and what are the implications? Subscribe to Podcast RSS Listen Now (to download,

Programmable Web on Grandfather ESRI | August 23
By Adena Schutzberg
"Geo Grandfather ESRI Makes Strides on the Web" provides an overview of ESRI's ArcGIS Server APIs. "The ESRI mapping APIs, which are freely available, differentiate themselves from the plethora of consumer focused mapping APIs out there in their depth of GIS analysis they support, their ability to ask complex questions of spatial proximity and topology. However, to access this extra

Podcast: Interview with Ricky Brundritt, The King of Bing Maps | August 23
By Joe Francica
In this interview, I spoke with Ricky Brundritt, a GIS consultant with Infusion in London UK, and the King of Bing Maps. Ricky's Taxicab Calculator won 1st prize in the King of Bing Maps contest sponsored by Microsoft and in this conversation we discuss the ease of use in working with the Bing Maps API, how long it took

Update: LBS Tidbits | August 23
By Adena Schutzberg
Facebook has confirmed the Hot Potato acquisition. Kind of late since the company introduced its Places last week. - Paid Content --- original post 7/29/10 --- Geomentum is the hyper-local media and marketing unit within Interpublic's Mediabrands division. Geeky geoname, don't you think? The company just hired a long time Forrester Research analyst Lisa Bradner as president. - Media Post Journeys (never

Weeplaces Visualizes Your Checkins, Paths on OSM | August 23
By Adena Schutzberg
As an example check out Ryan Sarver's map (he's the Twitter api/dev guy). Anyone using Foursquare can visualize their movements either publicly or just for themselves at Weeplaces. The background data is OSM and there's a timeline underlying the map. If your friends share their maps you can overlay them with yours. You can also add comments to

Esri: Yes, you can share WMS via ArcGIS Online, just not as WMS | August 23
By Adena Schutzberg
A question came up recently - can I share WMS services via ArcGIS Online? The answer is yes, and here's how. First, WMS services, unlike ArcGIS services, can't be shared on ArcGIS Online in their native form. Why you might ask? Not all client applications support them (at least not just yet), so WMS services are supported in a way that