While reading through some geography blogs I saw a post about Charles Booths maps of London Poverty in 1889 and it sparked my interest in putting up a post about some of the earliest spatial analysis. In particular I thought I would focus on some of the classic examples of how spatial analysis was applied to study social and epidemiological problems in the 1800's. Specifically, this post briefly discusses the analysis conducted by John Snow, Charles Booth, and Andre Michael Guerry. With the creation of Google Maps and the other main web mapping services there has been an increased interest …

A recent article by the AP looks at the popularity of the different web mapping services and finds that the winner is not Google Maps but Mapquest. Despite the press that Google maps has been receiving the results indicate Mapquest is the clear leader with 70% of users stating they use it, compared to 33% for Yahoo Maps and 26% for Google Maps. However, the article does mention that the new kids on the block are catching up and that Mapquest is innovating because of it. The moral of the story appears to be that big press doesn't necessarily translate …

Yahoo Maps have now come to the iPod via a free program called iWay. The program displays maps only on iPods capable of viewing photos and appears to work by creating a series of pictures of your directions that you scroll through using the fast forward and reverse buttons. Once you have entered your to and from locations on the site you download a zip file which you extract to your iTunes photo file. While not the most sophisticated method or porting your directions around with you the pictures on the website look good and the directions appear easy to …

Wired magazine has an interesting article about the decision of WABC-TV in NYC to put GPS transmitters in their news trucks. Apparently the union members of the news agency are all hacked up because they feel this is an invasion of their privacy. While not a new issue, this is one that is starting to get more publicity as more and more organizations install GPS in their delivery vehicles. Read more after the jump. With the exception of guns, beer and football, there are few things that Americans value more than their privacy. As privacy invasion goes, the use of …

As mentioned before, I tend to wonder if the people in Googleville ever sleep. The latest evidence is a Map that shows the worldwide distribution of Google searches over the period of a day. In analyzing the map it is possible to see a wave of search use as the sun mover across the earth, although it appears that use remains pretty high in the US no matter what the time. In addition to the map is an article entitled "Interpreting the Data: Parallel Analysis with Sawzall". For those who care the article is being submitted to Scientific Programming Journal …

The Daily Telegraph has an interesting article about the discovery of the oldest "western" map. The map, named the Soleto map, was unearthed two years ago in southern Italy and depicts the heel area of the boot of Italy. Dating from 500 BC, the map contains Greek script marking towns that still exist today. The article details that this map provides the first physical evidence that the Greeks were making maps before the Romans, although maps were already being created in other parts of the world (China, Mediterranean, and Middle East). Overall an interesting read about the earliest cartographers.

With the latest Harry Potter movie opening yesterday, fellow GIS obsessed blog Very Spatial has an article on whether it is possible to truly create a "marauder's map". For those of you who are not versed in the ways of Hogwarts, the marauder's map is a map which shows the current location of every living thing in the Hogwart's castle. In our modern/real world the potential to know the location of people as they moved about their daily lives could be both scary and potentially cool and lucrative. While the article doesn't discuss ethical and or civil liberties issues …

News.com has an interesting article about internet mapping and "mashups" that are revolutionizing the internet. As part of their series called "Taking back the Web", News.com discusses the numerous different uses for internet mapping sites and how these different mashups, most involving Google Maps, are igniting whole new economies. In particular the article discusses the potential to target local advertising based on searches of maps for things like local restaurants. In addition, there are numerous links to mashups of all kinds.

Apparently the folks at Google just don't sleep as evidenced by the release of Google Maps for mobile phones today. While Yahoo Maps and others were busy playing catch up, the folks in Googleville, CA were taking their amazingly popular web-mapping application and making it work for mobile phones. As of now it only works for phones that support Java applications and unless you have an unlimited data plan it may run up your phone bill. However after toying around with it for a little while, it has some cool functionality. Read more about the specs and a brief review …

Cnet News has an interesting article about how Tele atlas creates their road databases. Interestingly, they state in the article that its not their fault if you get the wrong directions, rather its a data refresh problem not an data error. Anyway, for anyone who has ever wondered how they create their database this is a short but interesting read.

Five years from now we may look back on 2005 and realize that this was a watershed year in the growth and development of GIS and spatial analysis software in general. From Google maps and all of its press to Hurricanes a plenty in the Gulf region, the world has gained new recognition for the information that maps can provide. However, to make sure that this truly is the year of the map, the GIS industry needs to strike while the iron is hot and to diversify the product line to bring in more people. More after the jump. At …

Fellow all-things-spatial obsessed blog Cartography has a review of all the major web mapping applications (Google Maps, Map24, Maporama, Mapquest, MSN Maps, Rand McNally, and Yahoo Maps). Categories reviewed in this 9 part series include: types of searches, map display, data layers, directions and overall use. Overall this is quite a nice review including tables to help make it all that much easier to get the high points.

I missed this macabre little map in time for Halloween, but better late than never. As pointed out by others, the Golden Gate bridge isn't just a famous tourist attraction, its also the site of over 1,203 suicides. For the truly macabre the San Francisco Chronicle also has an accompanying article and chart of suicides by year.

It seems like GPS is showing up in everything these days, including dog collars which can help you locate your lost pooch should they run away. Read more after the jump. The new product from a company called Environmental Studies, integrates GSM and GPS to allow you to SMS your dog's collar to locate the missing dog. Apparently, once the collar is called it provides the user with a location that is sent back to the owner for use in plotting a location. The company claims it can be used with almost any GSM cellphone capable of viewing maps, although …

While GIS professionals already know this, new research by the Department of Labor indicates that in the future those who know how to perform analysis using GIS will be in demand. Read more from the article in Nature after the jump. This isn't the most groundbreaking news, or the newest news, but those people who have GIS and GIS analysis skills will be in demand in the future as the world evolves. The Association of American Geographers has a link to a PDF article in the highly regarded journal Nature, discussing a Department of Labor study that identified geotechnology as …

Apparently Google Maps isn't the only the only service to run into trouble with a foreign government, having a large scale map will do it as well. Forbes.com has an article about how Russia considers large scale maps to be state secrets. While Google Maps has recently drawn the ire of several countries, including India and the the Netherlands for its maps of sensitive areas, Russia is going old school and suspending BP's operations over the handling of large scale maps. Apparently, in Russia maps with a 1:25,000 scale are too detailed for the eyes of foreigners …

For those of you who have seen the movie or, dare I dream, read the book, The Map Room has a link to a newly found map created by the late T.E. Lawrence. Amazing the things you can find when you do a little spring cleaning. Apparently the British National Archives had misfiled Lawrence's Peace Map indicating his ideas on dividing up the middle east after WWI. While the image is a little small, those of you in London anytime between now and April 17th can view the original at the National Archives.

In yet another post on the Google Maps phenomenon, the New York Times has an article that discusses what the fuss is all about as well as provides links to several different sites that make use of the Google Maps API. At this point I would like to make a personal plea to the God of GIS for something new to come along in the world of GIS so that I can have something else to talk about. For those of you who don't already know the New York Times requires a free registration to view articles.

Welcome to a brave new world. Would you sacrifice a little privacy in order to have a better idea about traffic jams and commute times from home to work. If you live in Missouri you may get to answer that question, or have it answered for you very soon. More after the jump. Yahoo News has an article from the AP that details a plan by the Missouri Department of Transportation to use a system to anonymously monitor thousands of cell phones, using their movements to map real-time traffic conditions statewide on all 5,500 miles of major roads. As …

Since the introduction of Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, A9 and other web mapping products earlier this year there has been a great deal of discussion about the effect these software packages will have on the GIS industry. Will these products kill GIS, improve GIS, or have no impact at all on GIS software. Find out more after the jump. Since the introduction of the latest and greatest web mapping applications earlier this year the GIS industry has been nervously trying to figure out what impact this will have on the bottom line. Speculation on the impact ranges from no impact …