Mapperz - The Map & GIS News finding blog. With so many Mapping sites online. This blog tries to provide you with the best maps and services that are currently available online.
@mapperz
Added support for loading Vulcan3D triangulation files.Added support for exported loaded gridded elevation data to Vulcan 3D triangulation (.00t) files.
Added support for loading OpenStreetMap (OSM) format vector maps.
Added support for loading NITF data sets using JPEG2000 compression.
Added support for exporting loaded point features to TomTom OV2 format files for creating new point databases for loading onto TomTom GPS devices.
Added option to KML/KMZ vector export to make labels for line and area features display on the map in Google Earth.Added option when generating elevation grids from vector data to ignore zero elevation values.
Added new option to the File menu of the rectification dialog to allow easily saving a world file that represents (if possible) the transformation defined by the currently provided control points.
Added yards and chains as available units of measure when using the Measure Tool.
Improved accuracy of OSGB36 datum conversions by using the OSTN02 tables.
Made Bonne projection work properly when the origin latitude is in the Southern Hemisphere.
Added support for decoding Albers Conic projections from Ozi .map files.
Added support for correcting the projection of multiple raster files at once (only if all of the raster files being corrected have the same projection to start with).
Fixed problem with displaying the equator grid line when using the Van der Grinten projection.
Fixed problems encoding and decoding Lambert Cylindrical Equal Area projection to/from GeoTIFF files.
Added option to the Shader Options tab of the Configuration dialog to reverse the color order of the selected shader (previously only the HSV shader was reversible).Added support for reading the track style information written to GPX files by the ExpertGPS software application.
The Search company that is investing in the power of Geographical Searching has now updated and integrated in to map based searching.
"192.com’s Local Search Solution merges its business records within mapping technology to bring local search to life. Businesses can now fully integrate 192.com’s mapping technology on to their sites by geo-coding their own data giving consumers an overall better user experience"
"...which has the ability to merge maps with over 4.5million business records and make this available to third parties"
Searching on the map quickly pulls local information to the user. Multiple search terms can be applied.
'192.com’s Local Search Solutions' default local services are:
Car parks
Banks
Hotels
Restaurants
Petrol Stations
This is along the lines of Yahoo new local search (see previous post) This is the future of 'local' searching, very powerful and very fast. (192.com contains over 630 million records) Try it yourself http://www.192.com/maps/ zoom in and enter a search term.
"192.com is the de facto standard search engine for finding people, business and places across the UK." Mapperz
"View our Jam Cams by using our new interactive map"
The map is dynamic (generated in flash) and shows clusters, the larger the circle the more cameras are available to view.
Quick Video showing the Ordnance Survey 1.1million (Miniscale) 1:250,000 & 1:50,000 Colour Rasters in thier flash application.
Now you would think nothing of this, until you realise the cost for this. A Corporate Licence. It must be very expensive to do this.
[Now in the UK every household that has a TV tuner requires a TV Licence, now that can be seen as a 'tax'. This tax then is used to fund the BBC and all it's programme making and anything to do with the BBC. Including the very successful iPlayer.]
It's nice to see this data finally and freely accessible on a very large UK website other than the Ordnance Survey's own site.
Though if you are looking for Free Access to Ordnance Survey data and the use of these products mentioned you can provided you have no adverts on your site or making money via the access of the data. OpenSpace API is the route for you.
Need a map for Terminal 5 now you can export to PNG,JPEG,PDF,SVG or Postscript (for Mapnik Image style)
Osmarender Image output is PNG or JPEG
Nice and easy function gives users the ability to export the map they see to a map in different formats.
"And this is just the start - our mailing lists are already buzzing with possibilities for new formats, such as Adobe Illustrator for cartographers, or shapefiles for GIS professionals." http://www.openstreetmap.org/
Now you can view 'potential' traffic conditions for future dates and also new icons to show traffic incidents. ** data is based on historical information. Click for Map
Google Earth 4.3 (Beta) is now available to download
Google earth 4.3 has new features...
3D buildings look more true 3D and real. (Can now view in daylight/shadows/nighttime)
StreetView in Google Earth (See the 'Layers' >StreetView) Click on the curved photographs zooms into a 'StreetView' Mode (Like in Google Maps) See the Video for more details...
New navigational controls - New features enabling better ways to look around at 3D buildings - takes few seconds to get use to the new navigation but works well.
Google Earth navigation controls offer the same type of navigation action that you can achieve with mouse navigation. In addition, you can use the controls to zoom and swoop (perhaps for a perspective on terrain) or to rotate your view. The following diagram shows the controls and explains their functions.
Click the north up button to reset the view so that north is at the top of the screen. Click and drag the ring to rotate your view. Use the Look joystick to look around from a single vantage point, as if you were turning your head. Click an arrow to look in that direction or continue to press down on the mouse button and drag to change your view. Use the Move joystick to move your position from one place to another. Click an arrow to move in that direction or continue to press down on the mouse button and drag to move. Use the zoom slider to zoom in or out (+ to zoom in, - to zoom out). Double-click the icons at the end of the slider to reset the zoom all the way in or out. As you move closer to the ground, Google Earth swoops (tilts) to change your viewing angle to be parallel to the Earth's surface. You can also use the keyboard to control navigation. See 3D Viewer Navigation in Keyboard Controls for more information.
Imagery Dates - You will now be able to easily see the dates when imagery was taken for most imagery (but, not all).
More 3D buildings, faster loading - Faster loading the 3D building models.
New photo-textured cities.
Day/Night Lighting - Real-time sunlight lighting option. Daylight/Time slider control of the sun's shadow position across the globe.
15/04/2008 The Official Virtual Earth Blog picked up the this post and there 'maybe' potential for Virtual Earth to support ESRI Shapefiles in future edtions of Virtual Earth...(v6.2 please). Read the post. http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!2BBC66E99FDCDB98!14450.entry (add a comment to include this support)
Shapefile Overlay in Virtual Earth
A nice little application to display ESRI Shapefiles in Virtual Earth (Live Maps)
Highlight - Load from your local drive - takes a few moments. **Your data needs to be in WGS84 for this to work correctly.
London Low Emissions Zones (LEZ) Shapefile was projected from British National Grid to WGS84.
When you zoom in the detail is maintained, zoom out an a automatic poylgon generalisation is preformed on your data in the display.
Your data can be rasterised 'on thefly' so it can be shown in 3D in Virtual Earth (Plugin required)
Suggestion - A Legend, possible to select your own colours. A simple "6.1" on the end of the javascript code will update it to VE 6.1 (more functions) "http://dev.virtualearth.net/mapcontrol/mapcontrol.ashx?v=6.1"
A progess bar when uploading from shapefile - FireFox can bail out with an error.
Select .shp only on upload - .dbf and .shx need to exist for a shapefile. Select.zip?
Load .avl or .lyr for thematic maps?
But other than that - if you want to view data in VE quickly then is a good method.
UK Live Maps users get back Live Maps! (not Multimap)
"But a couple of unfortunate bugs caused the redirect to not go as planned! One issue was that the MultiMap site was supposed to have prominent links back to Live Maps so that visitors could easily get back if they wanted. Also, web surfers who specifically entered maps.live.com in their browser should not have been redirected at all; only the links from the MSN homepage and other places should have been redirecting to Multimap. But the redirection bug caused all requests for Maps.live.com to redirect to Multimap and was compounded by the fact that there was no link to get back to Live maps. Ugh. it was an ugly situation indeed" http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!2BBC66E99FDCDB98!14442.entry
Video VE 6.1 using 3D VE Plugin showing BirdsEye View with IE8 (not IE7 emulated) .
UK Users visting Live Maps - get Multimap and are getting annoyed!
update2 - Found some more 'New' Features... Export to KML, GPX or GeoRSS
* Lots of back end improvements (seems much snappier, right off the bat) * Safari and IE8 compatibility ( Mapperz tested and works) * Map Control update to version 6.1 (for developers * Export your Collection to your Nav/GPS device (nice!) * Improved "version 2" cities (Las Vegas, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix , more tocome) * 3D modeling with 3DVIA (much improved) * Labels for Bird's Eye imagery (looks good in London) * 1-Click Directions improvements * MapCruncher Integration (add layers of information from within Live Maps) * "GeoWeb" tagging and collections enhancements * Neighborhood Subscribe via GeoRSS * Tour Enhancements including Hi-Def Movies * Directions and Traffic Enhancements * Improved KML display including Google MyMaps links
update1 'A quick VE 6.1 mashup' Birdeye View now has labels and roads as an option. try it here
New Virtual Earth API Release - Virtual Earth 6.1
"You thought our photo-texturing was good before? Check it out now Yes, those are trees!"
Microsoft have launched a new version of the Virtual Earth API. The release has a host of new features and takes advantage of some of the capabilities on Live Search Maps.
Here is the list of new features:
Immersive Imagery Virtual Earth is an industry leader in providing precise views of the world through bird’s eye1 view and panning, and improved 3D model accuracy and resolution, among other features. Precise imagery creates immersive end-user experiences that bring location-based information to life. More Detailed 3D Experiences: With this latest release, the map detail for Las Vegas, NV; Phoenix, AZ; Dallas, TX; and Denver, CO features improvements in 3D model accuracy and resolution detail to reveal more buildings, small terrain features, building textures, and trees that enhance overall realism. This enhanced 3D map detail will soon roll out to the more than 250 cities where 3D models are currently available.
Image enhancements Tailored 3D Tours. Media producers can customize video output of 3D fly though tours in six resolutions, in 15 or 30 frames per second, and can add photos and hide or display pushpin icons. Bird’s Eye View in 3D. Users can easily toggle bird’s eye view on and off for a seamless end-user experience. Bird’s Eye Hybrid View. Customers can now select a new map style called Bird’s Eye Hybrid that adds street names to the bird’s eye maps to provide end users better visual context and orientation.
Enhanced Location Functionality
This latest release of Virtual Earth provides organizations with a host of new features that deliver directions—in more languages—to get users where they’re going faster. With enhanced tools that provide greater flexibility and control over the development of location solutions, organizations can continue to update and enhance their online experience to help them remain competitive and provide satisfying end-user experiences.
New Walking Directions. When traveling on foot, users in North America and the European Union can now find the most direct route to walk to their destination, ignoring one-way streets, medians, and other detours that pertain to motor vehicles.
New Traffic-based Routing. Want to take the frontage road and avoid the highway at rush hour? Users can now choose alternate routes based on current traffic flows to get where they’re going faster.
New Reverse Geocoding. Users in the U.S. can now find the closest street address based only on latitude and longitude coordinates from a GPS or other geospatial device.
Improved Localized Directions. Organizations can now provide users with localized driving or walking directions in 15 languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Italian, among others.
New Locales. The Virtual Earth dashboard, or navcontrol, is localized to support languages including English for U.S.-based speakers, Japanese, Italian, Spanish for U.S.-based speakers, as well as French for both France and Canada-based speakers.
Enhanced Infrastructure he Virtual Earth platform is designed for the enterprise user, from features to support. This 6.1 release enhances the platform infrastructure with new cross-browser support to reach more users. The Interactive SDK is available now to demonstrate the latest features and functionality.
Safari Support. The new map control includes improved support for Apple Safari 2 and new support for Safari 3, enabling Mac users to enjoy many of the features of Virtual Earth that are available on Internet Explorer®.
Improved Printing Support. Printing support for maps is enhanced to print the driving route in relation to the map. Printing support is also expanded for cross-browser support of Internet Explorer 6 and 7, Firefox 2 for PC, and Safari 2 and 3 for Mac only.
Updated Interactive SDK. Customers can now access the new Virtual Earth Interactive SDK for online viewing or via download, to demonstrate the new functionality of the Virtual Earth map control.
In addition to the new features they have fixed over 100 "bugs!"
Directions are now supported across borders - UK & France
UK has Driving directions overviews (quickest/shortest who knows?)
Hybird and Satellite modes are available.
Downside - on the N82 with auto-rotate Yahoo Go! Beta complains it cannot display in Landscape mode on the Phone - weird.
Google Maps Mobile supports this
Google Maps can cope with Auto-Rotation on Nokia N82's
Yes still in Beta, there is still room for improvements. Both Google Maps and Yahoo do not have traffic information for UK or Europe, maybe take this out of the options when you have selected a European Location as default?
Nokia N82 users there was firmware updated made available 08/04/2008 (version 20).
The 108.2mb update - mainly includes Flash lite support and adds GPS location (geotagging) to photographs you take (provoided you have a good GPS fix).
update 07/04/2008 : A more interactive map (actually a gadget) It is suppose to reach Paris today, more high security? source and link to the map http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9912381-2.html
Now you would expect this to be a fairly good source with accurate information
A bad subject matter to map to begin with...agreed
But the Map data is crap. Richmond, London not Richmond Near Darlington.
Hillsborough, London, not Near Reading..
A simple QA of the data would point that out.
But points for murders based on London Boroughs centroid (center of a polygon) "In one of the most detailed breakdowns recorded of murders in the UK, figures revealed a sharp rise in the number of teenagers being killed, that there were 70 stabbed to death and 30 shootings, and that the peak time for murder was on Sundays between 12-4am." Source: Telegraph
Comments about this map - so positive!
just reading the comments of the map "This map is pathetic. It's dumb to have markers for boroughs rather than murders. You even obscure the basic information about murder count -- we have to click through links and scroll down to see the full list of murder counts, whereas you could have shown the same information more cleanly in a plain text table. You might order it alphabetically (so I can see quickly where my borough falls), or my count (so I can see quickly which boroughs are best and worst).You should do another map with one pin per murder. "
"This map is virtually useless. The best web map of this sort is published by the Los Angeles Times. Each symbol on it represents a homicide, and users can select characteristics such as age, race, or sex, and then map them separately. Moreover, every symbol is connected to a description of the homicide it represents.The map is updated regularly and from it one can follow the changes in homicide incidence from week to week."
Finally in a much more 'user friendly' format.... A very quick example of Tiger 2007 in ArcMap - No editing, labels direct from the downloaded files. Very useable.
"The TIGER/Line Shapefiles are extracts containing selected geographic and cartographic information from the Census Bureau's MAF/TIGER® (Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) database. The MAF/TIGER database was developed at the Census Bureau to support a variety of geographic programs and operations including functions such as mapping, geocoding, and geographic reference files that are used in decennial and economic censuses and sample survey programs. Spatial data for geographic features such as roads, railroads, rivers, and lakes, as well as legal and statistical geographic areas are included in the product. Other information about these features, such as the name, the type of feature, address ranges, and the geographic relationship to other features, also are inlcuded. The TIGER/Line Shapefiles are made available to the public and are typically used to provide the digital map base for a Geographic Information System or for mapping software.
The 2007 TIGER/Line Shapefiles contain current geographic areas (boundaries of governmental units as of January 1, 2007) and Census 2000 vintage geography. The shapefiles also contain some additional post January 1, 2007 feature updates reported in the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS). The 2007 TIGER/Line Shapefiles contain realigned street feature coordinates as a result of the MAF/TIGER Accuracy Improvement Project. The Census Bureau is providing a list of counties that have not been realigned via the MTAIP process."
Metadata Notes The 2007 TIGER/Line metadata in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format is included with each compressed TIGER/Line Shapefile.
The Spatial Metadata Identifier (SMID) in the All Lines shapefile identifies the source of the coordinates for each line segment and provides the link between the TIGER/Line Shapefile and the source and horizontal spatial accuracy information. Please note that the horizontal spatial accuracy, where reported in the metadata, refers to the realigned street features identified as matched to a positionally accurate source file with that accuracy. Individual feature-based horizontal spatial accuracy does not apply to the entirety of the TIGER/Line Shapefile.
The North American Datum of 1983 was used in the 48 contiguous states, the District of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, (only Oahu Island within Honolulu County, HI (15003)), Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and the Pacific Island Areas. Even though a NAD83 PRJ file will accompany every TIGER/Line Shapefile, there are a few island areas in TIGER that have not gone through the NAD83 transformation process and are still in local astronomic datums. For detailed information regarding these exceptions please refer to the metadata that is included with each TIGER/Line Shapefile. DIRECT TO THE DATA
