Angry senator dubs electronics ban during takeoff, landing “preposterous”
by cyrus farivar

Three months ago, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) sent a letter to the nation's top aviation regulator demanding to know why the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was dragging its feet with respect to allowing iPads and other electronic devices during takeoff and landing. (Pilots are already allowed to use iPads in the cockpit.)

"The public is growing increasingly skeptical of prohibitions on the use of many electronic devices during the full duration of a flight, while at the same time using such devices in increasing numbers," McCaskill wrote last year. "For example, a traveler can read a paper copy of a newspaper throughout a flight, but is prohibited from reading the same newspaper for major portions of the flight when reading it on an e-reader."

Apparently the FAA hasn’t done an adequate job of responding to the senator’s concerns. Indeed, it took the agency two months to respond to the issue of the use of “portable electronic devices” (PED).

But now, McCaskill’s frustration is even more palpable, as she articulated in a new letter sent to the FAA’s head on Thursday.

“I am concerned that relying on the Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) to drive change on this issue creates the potential for the process to drag on indefinitely,” she wrote.

Details Here

first published week of:   03/11/2013

App Puts Political Engagement in Your Pocket
by jason shueh

A caveat to American democracy, subtly ensconced in its collaborative ideals, is the constant demand for an educated voting public: people who know issues, people who then decide issues, with the result — ideally — being a fair decision-making process performed en masse. This need for an informed public has always been a lofty prerequisite, especially when pitted against the roar of today’s campaign pageantry, political spin and those raucous things we like to call our daily lives.

However, now there may be an app for that. Recently, a new app targeted at political education and citizen engagement has taken to the smartphone. Carrying the moniker of iCitizen, this free iPhone and soon-to-be Android app, intends to be the bridge between the public, incoming legislation and both locally and nationally elected officials. Its host of features include live polling, issue-specific news feeds, legislation tracking and representative ratings — yes, it’s now possible to rate a politician on a one-to-five star scale, much as you would a local sandwich shop. continued…

first published week of:   12/16/2013

Appellate court: Nope, feds can’t just GPS track your car without a warrant
by cyrus farivar

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has handed down a huge decision in favor of privacy rights in America. On Tuesday, the court confirmed in United States v. Katzin (PDF) that federal authorities must get a probable cause-driven warrant before attaching a GPS tracking device on a suspect’s car.

Of course, the circumstances of this case may sound familiar. Indeed, the Supreme Court decided in January 2012 in the United States v. Jones case that attaching a GPS device to a suspect’s car without a warrant constituted unreasonable search and seizure. In the wake of that decision, the FBI turned off 3,000 such tracking devices. However, the Jones case did not provide a clear-cut ruling on whether a lower legal standard could conceivably apply. In the new case, Katzin, the court definitively answered that with a resounding no.

As Judge Joseph Greenaway wrote:

We thus have no hesitation in holding that the police must obtain a warrant prior to attaching a GPS device on a vehicle, thereby undertaking a search that the Supreme Court has compared to “a constable's concealing himself in the target's coach in order to track its movements.”

first published week of:   10/28/2013

ArcGIS for Local Government 10.2 Release
by scott oppmann

This week, [esri] launched the 10.2 release of the ArcGIS for Local Government solution. It includes an update to each application (new Add-ins and updated web applications) along with new maps and the local government information model that you can use with your ArcGIS 10.2 deployment. You’ll find these newly released maps and apps on ArcGIS Online and in the ArcGIS for Local Government Resource Center Gallery. Here is a summary of what you will find in this release:

1. New Maps and Apps
2. Enhancements to Existing Maps and Apps
3. New Help System continued…

first published week of:   08/05/2013

australia local governments to expand gis capability, says study
by clarice africa

Geographic Information System technology is on the rise across Australia’s local government sector with many councils set to further expand their GIS capabilities to keep up with the growing demand, according to a landmark technology study.

Conducted by by Esri Australia and the Surveying Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI), the “2013 GIS in Local Government Benchmark Study” surveyed 150 representatives from the local government to explore how councils use GIS.

Its specific key areas of focus included: GeoDesign and sustainability; web 2.0 technologies; Gov 2.0; and emergency management. continued…

first published week of:   05/06/2013

Australia’s councils hooked on geographic information systems
by pelicancorp

Eighty six percent of respondents to a survey of 150 Australian local and regional councils undertaken by the Surveying and Spatial Science Institute (SSSI) and mapping company Esri Australia have deemed geographic information systems (GIS) ‘essential’ to a sustainable future and 99 percent said the technology was ‘important’ to fulfil this goal.

According to Esri Australia GIS specialist, Len Olyott, “GIS technology maps the geographic elements contained within data, providing an analytical vantage point for decision makers unattainable through any other business tool. In this way, local councils can do more than just speculate on the alternate futures of our cities – this technology gives them the ability to depict and visualise plans in 3D to assess the best possible city design.” continued…

first published week of:   10/14/2013

boston CIO oates named new Massachusetts CIO
by govtech.com news staff

Massachusetts CIO John Letchford will leave his post effective Dec. 16 for a position as a senior IT strategist at Tufts University. A former Procter and Gamble executive, Letchford has served in various technology roles for Massachusetts over the past several years, and has been state CIO since 2011.

A 2013 Government Technology Top 25 honoree, Letchford is known for his collaborative style, forging new partnerships with officials at other levels of government, and leading state initiatives, including an infrastructure consolidation project.

The top tech spot in the state will go to a familiar face -- Boston CIO Bill Oates (at left), who will assume the position in January. Also a past Top 25 continued…

first published week of:   12/09/2013

Boston Police indefinitely suspends license plate reader program
by cyrus farivar

The Boston Police Department (BPD) has indefinitely halted its use of license plate readers (LPR) following an investigation into their use published on Saturday by the investigative journalism organization MuckRock and the Boston Globe.

David Estrada, a BPD spokesperson, confirmed to Ars that the department had stopped using its LPRs for now and asked that further questions be submitted in writing, which Ars has done.

This suspension likely makes Boston one of the largest cities in America to stop using this sort of technology, which for years has been in wide use by thousands of law enforcement agencies nationwide. At present, BPD uses 14 individual LPRs, which enables them to scan “as many as 4 million vehicles a year,” the Globe noted. continued…

first published week of:   12/16/2013

Boulder Votes to Buy Out Its Electric Utility For A Clean Energy Future
by john farrell

In late 2011, citizens of Boulder, CO, voted to boot their incumbent electric utility, Xcel Energy, and form a municipal electric utility. It was the culmination of a multi-year battle to get more clean, local energy from their corporate electric overlord.  In the end, city leaders and citizens agreed that the only credible option for significantly reducing their contribution to climate change was to go it alone. Now, the city is embarked on the long, complicated process of localizing their electricity system.

Susan Osborne was the mayor of Boulder at the time of the climatic vote, and she came to Minneapolis (with a similar campaign for local energy) in September 2012 to share their story. This 4-minute video gives the synopsis:

first published week of:   02/04/2013

Bowling Green GIS Mapping Now Online
by aaron frasier

The City of Bowling Green has launched a new application online that provides users with GIS mapping of the city. The mapping can be found at www.bgky.org/gis/beta.

The average person can use this service for many things. It can tell who owns a property, where they can vote, what police or fire district they are in and the acreage of the property they are in.
 
To use the mapping system, one should simply click search and type in the desired address. All street names are abbreviated (St., Ave., etc.). continued…

first published week of:   05/20/2013