The foundation created when Autodesk decided to push out it's version of MapServer Enterprise into the Open Source world now has a new name. According to an article from GIS Café, there was an organizational meeting the past week in Chicago where the name was decided upon and the new domain name, OSGEO.org, was laid out. The organization will focus on (surprise!) Open Source Geospatial libraries and packages. Their home page now has links for Grass, MapServer, GDAL, and a number of other well-known packages, although I'm a bit unclear as to what the relationship with each will be …

It appears that there is a big fight brewing in the GPS business as Garmin is suing Tom Tom over the use of several patents. Specifically, Garmin filed two suits against Tom Tom stating that they have infringed on 5 Garmin patents used to make using their GPS systems easier to use. The patents cover a range of functions including the removal of unimportant streets from the view to make it easier to view the car on the map. Not a whole lot more information has been published about the lawsuit as of yet, but expect to see more as …

VerySpatial has a story about research papers from Ordnance Survey being available online now. The link comes from EdParsons.com, blog of the CTO at Ordnance Survey.

According to a report on My TomTom Go, Teleatlas is working on providing 3-D maps of select cities in Europe and America by the end of 2006. In order to create these maps Teleatlas has been using 6 cameras on their map-data-capturing mobile homes as well as measuring the height of buildings with a gyroscope. While it is undecided what GPS units will be the first to to employ the 3-D maps, or which cities will be the first to be available, it is likely it will be dedicated GPS units. Because of the power needed to render the maps …

Next time your in Los Angeles and your thinking about going on a high speed police chase, almost as fun as Disneyland, you might want to re-consider. The L.A. Daily News has an article describing a new GPS technology developed by Virginia based StarChase that allows police to shoot GPS tracking pods at cars in a police chase. The pods are encased in some kind of sticky substance, relay location information to a monitoring center of some sort and are designed to help reduce car chase deaths. One cool feature is that these can be shot either from a …

A press release on Friday from Volkswagen talks about a plan between the car maker, nVidia, and Google Earth to produce a new navigational system prototype that shows terrain in 3D with mapped orthophotos such that drivers can see from their point of view what things should look like. Interesting plan from a technological proof of concept, but I'm not sure how useful it will be for drivers in real-world situations. I understand the idea that seeing exactly what's in front of you might be beneficial, but if it's going to be low resolution or distorted, I think a less …

Apparently, not everyone is pleased with the continuing progress in the free online mapping services. In fact it appears that online mapping is starting to have a serious impact on traditional print map retailers such as National Geographic. More after the jump. The Denver Business Journal has an article which details how National Geographic has been forced to restructure its map printing operations in order to survive financially. In particular, the article discusses how NG has stopped producing maps for the general public in order to focus almost exclusively on producing maps for outdoor recreation enthusiasts, emergency responders, geologists, and …

SiRF, the company that makes what is likely the most popular GPS chipset available today, has announced the acquisition of Impulsesoft Pvt. Ltd.(Word file), a Bluetooth-enabled software company in India, and has combined this announcement with the introduction of the SiRFLinkI (Word file) (a chipset with Bluetooth and GPS built in). According to the company's press releases, Impulsesoft has a series of embedded software products that address features such as streaming music from phones to Bluetooth headsets. The product data sheets for the SiRFLinkI are not yet available, but it is another step towards smaller and more capable GPS …

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced today that they have turned on a new GPS signal named "L2C". While we have no idea what L2C stands for, we can tell you that it is specifically designed for commercial needs in that it is "transmitted with a higher effective power, so GPS receivers work better in urban areas and indoors" Moreover, the signal requires less energy to receive the signal, making it more suitable for mobile phones, GPS enabled watches and other small GPS integrated things (cameras, etc..). In addition, the Commerce Department also announced plans to unveil two more …

Having had a few weeks to play with Google Earth for the Mac I have finally gotten down to writing a brief review of the features. While some of the features are undoubtedly cool, the thing I was most surprised by was the poor quality of the data layers. Read the full review after the jump. Much has been made in the popular media about the groundbreaking Google Earth, its cool fly-overs and aerial photos, and its ability to support all types of mash-ups. While the Windows community has had Google Earth since late Summer, the Mac community has just …

National Geographic has finally weighed into the hotly debated discussion concerning the recent discovery of a Chinese map from 1763 that is claimed to be a copy of a map drawn in 1418. The map, which displays all of the continents including Australia, North America and Antarctica, supposedly provides evidence that the great Chinese explorer Zheng He circumnavigated the world before western explorers. However, now it appears that, while old, the map is not authentic and that it is most likely a copy of a French map from the 1600's. Apparently, the lynch pin in the argument is the fact …

Engadget is reporting that Sprint is working on a new service for its LG Migo limited use cellphone for kids called chaperon. Using the GPS chip already within the phone, parents will be able to track the whereabouts of the phone for a small fee ( $10-15 a month). Parents will be able to view a map of the kiddie phone location using either their phone or a website and will also be able to set up a georeferencing feature so that they can receive text messages if their kids enter a "forbidden" territory. While this is marketed at parents tracking …

The Geological Society of America (GSA) as announced a new geologic map of North America. The map is the first one to be produced since the theory of plate tectonics and was a joint project between the USGS, WHOI, and the Geological Survey of Canada.. The map is available from the Geological Society of America bookstore.

For those of you who are constantly forgetting to buy groceries, or beer, as you went past the grocery you now have a solution. Ludimate has created the Geominder, a program that will deliver reminders, voice or text, using mobile network's cell id information instead of GPS at the appropriate location. The system requires the user to "train" the software about the locations you want to have reminders for, but once you have it trained you can leave either voice, text, alarms, etc..While the sensitivity is not as accurate as a GPS, it will probably be good enough for …

The recent news that New Zealand's Rakon has developed the world's smallest GPS chip coupled with other new developments (Google Local on mobile phones) has me thinking we are moving towards a Brave New World. In particular we are moving towards a world where everyone will be trackable and services will increasingly be based on our current locations. More after the jump. When the FCC enacted the E-911 location requirement for cell phones in 1998 few people probably realized that it would have such a profound impact on how ads and other services would be delivered. While the goal of …

As someone with too many jobs. two small boys, and not enough sleep, I rarely get to just create maps or do analysis that is just for the fun of it. Thank goodness other people have plenty of time on their hands and creative minds that need stimulation. Cory of Cory's weblog has created a map showing the center of gravity for all Starbucks in Manhattan. For the uninitiated, the center of gravity, or center of minimum distance as it is know in some circles, is the location that is closest to a series of points or locations. This method …

Although probably not created using any form of GIS, this map, called The Prejudice Map, was created by doing google searches for the phrase " are known for *" and applying that information to a map. Created by the site Google Blogoscoped, the map is an amusing read, even if it isn't "true". However, looking at the top responses, some of the results are pretty interesting: United Kingdom - fair play, aristocratic kitchens, extremely unclean, rarely complaining Norway - thriftiness, openness and humor, love of fish Sweden - austerity, drinking coffee, carving Viking longboats Brasil - informality, partying, bikinis Canada - cultural diversity, humility and kindness, liking …

The New Zealand company Rakon announced this week that they had created the smallest GPS chip ever. Measuring in at about the size of a baby's fingernail, the unit is small enough to be easily embedded in PDA's, Cellphones, and watches. The impact of this new chip is that it brings the potential of pervasive tracking and location services. Coupons sent to you as you stroll past shops, google local searches and ads on your cellphone, stalking your family and friends. With GPS chips this small how long will it be before people are being chipped?

It has been rumored to be coming for a while, we even talked about it here, and it has finally come. Google Earth for Macs was officially released today. To run the Mac version you need OS X 10.4 (Tiger), a 400 MHZ processor and at least 16 MB of video RAM. For optimal performance they recommend 1.5 GHZ, good video, and a broadband connection. As of now the download speeds are horrible (everyone must be trying to get it), but once I have it I will provide a proper review. Quite a huge day for Mac fiends …

I personally met with people from Garmin today at MacWorld (Yes, they were there) and was told that by the end of the year they would be fully supporting the Macintosh. Details after the link. Here's their plan (or read their press release): Support for Macintosh uploading of data to their recently-purchased MotionBased web site through a plug-in for Safari. I saw a demo version of Training Center software the the Macintosh, showing data uploaded from a Forerunner 305 (which I also got to see and touch... very cool-Carol thinks it's too big). By the end of 2005 they will …