Archived GIS Snippets
Published in 2014
Permalink
10 best location aware apps
by john corpuz
Many of our latest, most powerful smartphones and tablets come with GPS location tracking, allowing apps to use our whereabouts in a variety of ways. The best location-aware apps do more than just tell us about exactly where we are; they do useful things based on our location. From location-based discovery tools and smart search to navigation and exercise tracking, here are 10 of our favorite location-aware mobile apps for Android and iOS devices.
continuedfor list and review…
first published week of: 10/13/2014
Permalink
10 Free Tools For Creating Your Own Maps
by fahad khan
Sure, there’s Google Map and Google Earth to help you out but there are actually other tools to choose from as well. Here we’ve gathered 10 free amazing tools that you can use to create your own maps. From maps that are conveniently made for sharing to ones that are quite interactive, the selection below has a range of things to satisfy your mapping needs. continued…
first published week of: 11/24/2014
Permalink
10 Key Mobile/Location-Based Stats That Marketers Need
by aaron strout
It should surprise exactly no one that mobile usage and location-based technologies are taking over the world. With more iPhones being shipped every day than humans being born, it’s not hard to see that it won’t be long before there are more smartphones in the world than people.
And while smartphones and tablets have been around for several years now, we are starting to reach a tipping point on many fronts where these devices are becoming an integral part of our lives – so much so that they are often the last thing we look at before we go to bed and the first thing we check when we wake in the morning.
So, what does this all mean for marketers? As I’ve written in other posts, the mobile phenomenon is a game-changer for marketers.
Mobile proliferation is allowing for a ton more of data to access and analyze. It is creating new ways to reach target audiences now that we know where they are (and when they are). Smart devices are allowing for radical new payment systems. And most importantly, they are dramatically impacting how people search, research and shop — both online and in person.
To help frame the opportunity, here are some key mobile and location-based statistics that all marketers should be aware of. continued…
first published week of: 10/27/2014
Permalink
10 things you need to know about the future of maps
by kadhim shubber
Maps have come a long way since cartographers used mermaids and dragons to cover up the gaps in their knowledge.
1 Welcome to real-time traffic data
Currently, traffic data largely consists of ad hoc reports from the ground and analysis of camera feeds. Companies such as Waze, acquired by Google for $1.1bn in 2013, are changing that. Users of the service contribute to a real-time data stream that maps a city's traffic with unprecedented detail.
2 Let's take this inside
Modern navigation systems can get you to the door, but rarely any further. Now that's slowly becoming a thing of the past. Google now offers indoor maps for Android users at around 10,000 locations and rival Microsoft is doing the same with Bing Maps, including indoor maps at locations such as Heathrow.
3 Open alternatives
Although Google Maps dominates the mapping industry, there are viable open-source alternatives that have no copyright restrictions and let the crowd update the map. OpenStreetMap is the leading name in this area and powers travel app Citymapper.
4 A military upgrade
Britain's armed forces are beginning to go beyond GPS with "quantum positioning". By using powerful lasers to detect the effects of gravitational and magnetic fields on super-chilled atoms, the navy hopes to track its submarines to centimetre precision. continued…
first published week of: 06/30/2014
Permalink
10 Top Uses of Street View
by Keir Clarke
Over the last few weeks I've been rather critical of the Google Maps API. However with Street View Google has an image layer that is simply not available with other mapping API's. I think it is therefore time to celebrate the wonderful websites that developers have created with Google Maps Street View.
Here then are the top ten uses of Google Maps Street View: continued…
first published week of: 01/27/2014
Permalink
10 Unconventional Uses for GPS
by patrick kiger
When GPS was invented for military use, the designers could scarcely have imagined some of the applications civilians would eventually come up with for the technology.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system, a network of two dozen orbital spacecraft that was put in place between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s by the U.S. Dept. of Defense [sources: Garmin, GPS.gov]. But the Pentagon soon allowed civilians to take advantage of the system's ability to pinpoint precise locations. Today, GPS-equipped gadgets -- from those cheery talking maps mounted on our dashboards to chips in our smartphones that help us to find nearby restaurants -- have become a part of our everyday lives.
And those uses were just the beginning. The real transformational power of GPS is evidenced by the myriad offbeat uses that people have dreamed up for it. Grocery retailers use GPS-equipped shopping carts to track consumers' movements inside supermarkets, to scrutinize their shopping habits [source: Lindstrom]. Farmers use GPS tracking to determine which areas of land need to be fertilized [source: Crop Nutrition.com].
Here are 10 of the more unconventional uses for GPS technology. continued…
first published week of: 08/04/2014