2007 April 12

This issue sponsored by

Professional Surveyor Magazine

If, for some reason, you cannot read this document, please visit:
http://www.gismonitor.com/news/newsletter/archive/archives.php?issue=20070412

Editor's Introduction

This week, I bring to your attention three important industry announcements, then return to last week's topic, the Morpheus Data Transformation Project, with interviews with two key players in that arena. Plus, the usual dose of press releases. Many thanks to the hundreds of you who took the time to answer our six questions over the past two weeks!

— Matteo Luccio

Google Introduces My Maps, Announces Developer Day

Last Thursday, just as I was sending you GIS Monitor, Google introduced My Maps—a new feature of Google Maps, available in ten countries, that enables users to create custom maps for personal use or sharing. With this release, Google is bringing maps mashups to the mainstream. My Maps allows users to mark locations on a map from a library of icons; draw lines and shapes to highlight paths and areas; add text, photos, or YouTube/Google Videos to a map; add HTML for further personalization; and view their maps in Google Earth.

Users can choose to make their maps unlisted (for personal use or sharing by email) or public (accessible through Google Maps search along with maps shared by other web sites in the KML format). My Maps users can also store maps they have created or viewed when signed into their Google account.

Read more…

Fugro Buys EarthData International

Fugro NV, a large provider of geotechnical, survey, and geoscience services, will acquire 100 percent ownership of the EarthData group of companies—including EarthData International, Inc. and Horizons, Inc.

Read more…

The Morpheus Data Transformation Project — Part 2

Last week, I asked four GIS experts to comment on the Morpheus Data Transformation Project. This week, I talked with two key players: M.I.T. Professor Michael Stonebreaker, the project's co-lead, and Dale Lutz, Vice President of Development for Safe Software, a company mentione m repeatedly in last week's discussion.

First, let me make one thing clear, in case your were not clear about it from last week's piece or have not yet had a chance to read it: Morpheus is about the extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) of data from disparate systems. It does not handle the re-projection of coordinate systems, which is probably what most people in GIS associate with the term "transformation" when it is used in a geospatial context. (A to Z GIS: An illustrated dictionary of geographic information systems, edited by Tasha Wade and Shelly Sommer [ESRI Press, 2006], defines the term as follows: "The process of converting the coordinates of a map or an image from one system to another, typically by shifting, rotating, scaling, skewing, or projecting them.")

Read more…

News Briefs

Please note: I have neither edited nor verified the content of these press releases.

  1. CONTRACTS & COLLABORATIONS

    1. City of Tallahassee's Traffic Department Selects Telvent Miner & Miner's Fiber Manager

    2. Clark Labs Announces the Development of the Land Change Modeler for ArcGIS

    3. Seisan Takes Mapping to Madison Avenue

    4. Geophysical Scouting Firm Combines GPS-Photo Mapping with Google Earth to Deliver Logistics Reports for Oil & Gas Exploration

  2. PRODUCTS & SERVICES

    1. DMTI Spatial To Showcase Location Hub at 2007 Location Intelligence Conference

    2. Navman Announces Low-Power Enhancements To Jupiter 30 And 32 Series Gps Modules

    3. News And Enhancements In Mapsuite+ 5.0

    4. World Winds, Inc. Works with XM WX to Develop "FishBytes"

    5. Telvent Miner & Miner Releases ArcFM Solution 9.2

    6. Leaddog Releases Comprehensive City Street Maps For Fifteen Saudi Arabian Cities

  3. CONFERENCES & TRAINING

    1. 2007 GIS for Oil & Gas Conference: Date and Location Change and Call for Papers Deadline Extension

    2. Call for Papers for the AGI Conference and Exhibition

    3. Merrick & Company To Offer Free Lidar Training At ASPRS Conference

  4. OTHER

    1. East View Cartographic Adds 700,000 Ikonos Satellite Images To The Online EVC Store

    2. FGDC Invites Public Comment On Draft National Shoreline Data Content Standard

    3. FGDC Invites Public Comment On Draft National Vegetation Classification Standard, Version 2

    4. Pictometry Executives Slated for Awards from Rochester Institute of Technology

    5. Richmond Police Department Wins Gartner's 2007 BI Excellence Award

    6. New ESRI Press Book Explains How Smarter Analysis Equals Smarter Land-Use Decisions

    7. Boundary Solutions Inc. Digital Parcel Map Accuracy Survey Results Available

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Matteo Luccio, Editor
GIS Monitor

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