Spatial Dynamics

With the American elections occurring this year, many people have probably witnessed CNN reporter John King at his “magic” wall: an enormous multi-touch map.

Using “on-the-fly” GIS technology, he analyzes voting patterns by turnout, ethnicity, age, religion, education, and even by television markets. It even seems to work well; unlike ArcGIS, I have yet to see it crash.

While the software appears to be custom made for CNN, it’s built on Perceptive Pixel ’s Multi-Touch Screen; a tool that has been limited to presenting data for defense, finance and other government areas.

Perceptive Pixel is a 10-person, New York-based company founded by Jeff Han , a research scientist at NYU (see YouTube demonstration here ). A basic version of Perceptive Pixel’s Multi-Touch Screen costs about $100,000, and CNN’s version is loaded with extensive custom software, making the price considerably more expensive.

Perceptive Pixel is helping to bring GIS technology to the masses. For GIS professionals, perhaps multi-touch interfaces will one day replace the mouse.

Tags:   GIS1 Comment

As a daily user of a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx , I’m convinced it’s only a matter of time before Garmin handhelds become absorbed within cell phones. While there will always be a market for handhelds, it will likely dwindle as cell phones evolve and incorporate navigation technology.

Garmin has already foreshadowed the demise of handhelds with its introduction of Garmin Mobile . For $10/month, this service appears to transform any modern mobile phone into a navigation device (using cellular signals to acquire coordinates instead of GPS).

It seems GPS is being integrated into mobile phones similar to (once independent) mitochondira being assimilated into more complex cells.

Fortunately for Garmin, the potential opportunities relating to location-based services far outweigh the (relatively minor) losses in the handheld GPS market.

Its obvious Garmin will remain at the forefront in both navigation hardware and software; it appears to be in a good position to take advantage of the growth in both the GPS microchips (embedded in cell phones) and the services/software market.

Tags:   Garmin · GPS · location-based-services1 Comment

The Washington Post recently had an article regarding a consortium of companies who plan on spending $14.5 billion (more than Bolivia’s GDP) in the creation of the WiMax network. According to the article, delivering maps is one of Google’s main considerations for joining the project.

WiMax is like WiFi, but with a much longer range; it should have the capability to cover most major population areas in the United States and have similar coverage to current cell phone networks.

WiMax has geographic implications and it should revolutionize location-based services, the technology can provide:

Digital graffiti

Networked GPS will enable people to create “virtual graffiti”, allowing users to create and receive messages based on coordinates. While primitive versions of this technology are used in some museum or college tours, WiMax will allow networking on a massive scale. Consumers will be able to see text or video reviews of a restaurant simply by standing near its entrance. Personally, I would like my GPS (which will soon be embedded in my cell phone) to signal when I’m near historical markers.

Vehicle safety

WiMax can provide information to navigation systems that would provide warnings when driving on roads with higher accident densities. These alerts could be calibrated depending on weather and time of year; for example: an icy bridge alert would only occur if a cold front has arrived and recent temperature measurements are below freezing.

The unnoticed power of street signs could be enhanced through warnings based on weather conditions.

Also, the many terabytes of data of Google Earth will finally be available on mobile devices.

It appears the dawn of networked GPS is near.

Tags:   Google Earth · GPS · location-based-services · satellite navigation1 Comment

I’ve recently had a chance to check out the newly-released EarthBrowser 3.0 created by Matt Giger , a programmer from Oregon. At first glance, it appears similar to Google Earth; except that it runs on AdobeAir . Instead of observing the countless imagery edges in Google Earth, EarthBrowser reminds me of the “Earth from Space” poster transposed onto a globe.

While EarthBrowser doesn’t have nearly the zoom capability/resolution of Google Earth, it’s lower resolution images are color-balanced and Earth’s landscape appears visually striking.

EarthBrowser also has better integrated web browser/surfing capabilities than Google Earth, its compatible with .kml/.kmz files, and it seems to assimilate well with real-time datasets; the default weather forecast embedded into the screen is a perfect example.

According to Matt Giger’s blog , Steve Wonziak is a big fan of EarthBrowser.

Tags:   EarthBrowser · Google EarthNo Comments.

According to CNET , Google has begun work on creating “Google Ocean” (though the name will likely change). Expectedly, the data layers will include content such as currents, reefs, shipwrecks and algae blooms, etc.

While this tool will be useful for oceanographers to geologist to treasure hunters, hopefully it will inspire more students to become marine biologists and other scientists.

There will likely be many unintended uses, perhaps when the next oil spill inevitably occurs, Google Ocean will allow responders to interactively predict and witness the spread and extent of the slick.

It could even be a useful tool for any Navy, submarines might require fewer sonar pings for navigation, simultaneously concealing location while harming fewer marine mammals.

Now that any internet user has access to Google Moon, Google Mars, Google Sky, and Google Ocean… are Google Europa and Google Titan next?

Moreover, as smaller objects are eventually mapped, one can only conclude that Google Genome, Google Cell and Google Brain are on the horizon.

Tags:   Google Earth · Google Ocean3 Comments

It’s probably a frustrating experience for most people when they attempt to export their GPS tracks into Google Earth.

There are probably other ways to do this without using paying for Google Earth Plus or using professional GIS software, but I haven’t found any obvious solutions. I think a person’s best bet is to investigate GPSBabel , (while it seems to be a useful tool for translating data formats, the most current version appears to be designed for older versions of Google Earth).

For people who only want to be able to see their tracks on Google Earth, I would recommend Google Earth Plus ; (for a $20 annual subscription) a subscriber is able to import GPS waypoints, tracks, or routes directly from a Garmin or Magellan device (I don’t know how well it actually works, however).

Providing you have access to ArcGIS and other professional GIS software, figuring out how to get points from a GPS device into Google Earth is relatively simple. If I have data on a Garmin and I’m using ArcGIS, I import the .dxf file then export the .dxf points into a shapefile. Once the data is in shapefile format, I find it’s easier to edit the attribute table and remove unneeded columns. I then create a .kmz from the point shapefile using this free program.

It seems incredible Garmin and Google Earth haven’t collaborated to establish greater compatibility. Garmin users would be able to utilize and enjoy their GPS device even more and loyalty would only increase among users of Google Earth.

Tags:   ArcGIS · Garmin · Google Earth · GPSNo Comments.

As both satellite and cellular navigation systems become more popular, there is massive potential for these systems to change driving habits; especially in context of networked navigation devices.

When traffic and stop lights are taken into account, the shortest route may not be the most efficient; network connectivity among navigation devices will allow drivers to use less fuel by utilizing the most efficient routes. Additional analysis of a user’s point cloud could help determine patterns, best times to commute, or other unique services.

By analyzing other users on the network, the most efficient route can be calculated by car, bus, or foot; often, this will demonstrate other forms of transportation are even faster (and more environmentally friendly) than driving. In addition, these devices could help calculate the true cost of driving by estimating carbon emissions, vehicle wear/tear, salt exposure etc.

In terms of car safety, a satellite navigation system could provide subtle warnings as drivers approach accident-prone streets, curves, or intersections. Any increase in safety will decrease the amount of resources used to respond to an accident or buying/repairing a car.

Collisions with pedestrians or wildlife could also be reduced through warnings when approaching areas of high-density misfortune, protecting the public along with the driver.

Navigation systems will not only save lives, but the environment.

One can easily envision companies being formed with the mission to analyze and present the considerable amounts of data that will be produced by these networked navigation devices.

Tags:   GPS · satellite navigation1 Comment