Slashgeo

Slashdot runs a discussion on using RFID to locate things around the house. Their summary: "I have a larger family and various items in the house (some tools, some pieces of clothing) 'travel' unexpectedly. We joke about gremlins doing that, but it's tiring never to be sure that I'll find an object where I left it two days ago. For the sheer hacking fun of it, I'm thinking of sticking RFID tags on some and trying to triangulate a position with several tranceivers placed in the house. Has anyone have any suggestions for this amateur 'Google Home'? Thanks." See also our RFID section.

Over two years ago we mentioned the GISCorps program. My question for you is if you're aware of similar initiatives elsewhere in the world? A colleague informed me about the Geomatique: Projets sans frontieres association (Geomatics: projects without borders) at Laval University, Canada, but is there more? Meanwhile, the GISCorps seems to successfully attract enthusiasts, from their website: "A program of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), GISCorps coordinates short term, volunteer GIS services to underprivileged communities worldwide. Our services support humanitarian relief, community development, local capacity building, health and education. GISCorps is run by a Core Committee who e-meet monthly but e-communicate daily. As of February 2008, GISCorps counts over 1,195 enlisted volunteers. They reside in 63 countries over five continents and are natives of 72 countries. The US volunteers come from 50 states. To date GISCorps has implemented 30 missions around the globe, deployed 77 volunteers who have contributed over 5,500 working hours."

Spatially Adjusted links to an interesting discussion over the OSGeo-Discuss mailing list about open source careers and whether open source GIS software are up to par vs commercial GIS [Nabble link]. SA picks an insightful quote from Paul Ramsey, formerly of the Refractions fame: "My general synopsis: for server-side, for scriptability, for automation, for web-based, open source wins for most use cases, given a technically savvy user; for ad hoc, for cartographic production, for a user who is used to a point-n-click experience end to end, proprietary still wins."

Slashgeo regularly covers open source geospatial software. I copied some previous related stories below. With 52 North, the OSGeo and all the open source geospatial software such as the widely used GDAL, we can say open source geospatial software is in a healthy situation. Note that we also cover commercial geospatial software, including from ESRI. Editor's note: I usually read the OSGeo list myself and share interesting bits with our users, since I've been away from office, expect more thorough coverage after the summer. Meanwhile, there's always submissions.

As you may or may not know Google Maps is able to pinpoint a mobile device based upon the CELLID of the cell tower that you are communicating on. I was wondering if ther is a database provider of this type of data. I was able to find the following services or databases:

Yahoo Zone Tag
Celldb.org
gsmloc.org
cellspotting.com

Are you aware of any others?

SEWilco writes "I saw a headline that an artist has painted Waldo on the roof of a building so people can play "Where's Waldo?" with online imaging of the planet. I found amusing the juxtaposition between simple paint and the technologies involved in creating and delivering images around the world. I decided that if I want to play that I shouldn't look at the article and get any details about it, but if you want details you can play "Where's the Waldo Article?""

Vector One and Spatial Sustain shares theirs thoughts in a double entry named "If you were thinking of a career in the geo-industry, which area(s) would you be considering and why?" From V1: "Personally, I would choose the GIS/CAD spot right in the middle. I really see the future as designing infrastructure, whether that is BIM or other approaches and then scaling it into other projects to form communities that GIS becomes the modeling and spatial analysis tool for. We want highways for cities and between them. We want clean water for many locations and uses. We want efficient buildings for local and regional reasons." From SS: "It has never been as easy as it is now to create a new business in the geospatial space. Practitioners and developers are also finding it much easier to stand up tailored solutions with interfaces, performance and data that meet and exceed customer expectations. The amount of available geospatial data, coupled with much easier means to distribute and collaborate, is fueling an industry resurgence. It’s a great time to become involved in the geospatial industry, and I can think of many areas where I’d love to be starting a career." I copied below several previous related stories.

I am really interested in GPS tracking these days. I see lots of opportunity in this space and was wondering if there community for people to talk about this technology. Do you know of a website or email list where this is the primary topic? If there isn't a group like this already would you be interested in talking about this topic via a forum/community or email list?

If there is interest in starting a group like this please let me know and I will try and make it happen.