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An international conference of geographic information system (GIS) technology users recently honored the General Land Office for its innovative use of technology to make maps. The GIS team at the General Land Office won the Special Achievement Award for Exceptional Application of Geospatial Technology at the Esri International User Conference in San Diego. The award acknowledges vision, leadership, hard work and innovative use of Esri's GIS technology.
“The SAG Awards identify the organizations and people who are using the power of geography to make our world a better place”Esri president Jack Dangermond
GIS experts at the General Land Office use Esri's system to map the locations of sensitive coastal environments, oil and gas wells on public lands or even to help Texans peer into the past at Texas Hidden History, http://www.glo.texas.gov/texas-hidden-history/index.php, a website that allows Texans to pull back layers of time on a map of their hometown to see what was there before. The GLO's GIS team also helped build the recently-released Texas Coasts app (txcoasts.com), which helps beachgoers find their perfect beach.
"The SAG Awards identify the organizations and people who are using the power of geography to make our world a better place," says Esri president Jack Dangermond. "At Esri, we are always deeply inspired by the passion and innovation of our users. They deserve recognition for their invaluable contributions to their communities and the continued evolution of geographic science." continued…
first published week of: 08/17/2015
Now that people have become comfortable with geospatial technology through consumer applications, it is putting pressure on many parts of the business to intelligently utilize geo-location data.A decade or so ago, most people would have balked at the idea of carrying around a device in their pocket that could transmit their current location to banks, insurance providers, and other businesses. While we rarely think of smartphones in these terms, many of us have become increasingly reliant upon the convenience geospatial technologies like mapping software and location-based applications offer us.
We use these applications to navigate, find new or existing friends, find a particular product in your area that is on sale, make a reservation at a popular restaurant, arrange for a taxi, and much, much more. We have grown to expect this level of convenience in nearly all aspects of our life—whether it’s with the companies that we do business with or our employers.
Geospatial information systems “used to be a highly-specialized technology, used by only a few individuals for very specific things,” says Clarence Hempfield, Director, Product Management for Pitney Bowes. “But, because location and spatially-aware applications have become a larger part of our everyday life through consumer applications, it’s forcing businesses that haven’t spent any time working with GIS technologies to build and support those types of applications.
”In a 2013 study commissioned by Google, the U.K. consulting firm Oxera estimated that geospatial technology services generate between $150 billion and $270 billion in global revenue per year. That would make the sector substantially larger than the video gaming industry, and around a third of the size of the airline industry. The report also says that geospatial technology is growing by 30 percent per year. continued…
first published week of: 11/09/2015
Created by software engineers, Damon Maneice and James Talmage, this interactive map of the world is creating a small storm on social media.
The map of the world, as we know it, is disproportionate. Designed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569, our world projection shows the latitude and longitude of all the world’s countries but wholly distorts their relative size. In order to make a rectangular map from a sphere, the countries north and south of the Equator have been stretched.
Scholars have discussed the map's obvious flaws for centuries, however, it is still the most widely used and recognized depictions of the world. It is even used as the projection for Google Maps.
In 2010, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) asked Kai Krause, a renowned software engineer, to produce ‘unusual maps’ for an exhibition. What he gave them was a startling visual of how the continent of Africa (all 30.2 million square kilometres of it) is much bigger than our maps show us.
His map, titled the ‘True Size of Africa’ showed that the land mass of the African continent could easily swallow Europe, the US, China, India and Japan. His graphic was received with surprise, the Mercator map having become so ingrained into our apprehension of the world. Krause said ‘the fact is that in everyday thinking, Africa is just about always hugely underestimated – even by college grads, off by factor of two or three’. continued…
first published week of: 08/31/2015
TomTom and ASAP, a Field Force Automation provider, announced a cooperation to integrate and sell OMOGEN for Field Forces, based on TomTom’s BRIDGE solution. TomTom BRIDGE is a hardware platform that seamlessly connects business applications with TomTom technology.
OMOGEN is an easy and fully configurable application that provides support for custom forms, photos, signature capture, RFID and more – also accessible from the back end.
Thierry FOLLIOT, ASAP President, said: “We provide SARP, Groupe Veolia, with OMOGEN, a full Field Force Automation suite for managing mobile workers and back offices, in order to provide the highest quality service. The customer was looking for a reliable device, with a comfortable screen size, for intense usage of the OMOGEN application in their trucks. In this tough environment, the TomTom BRIDGE delivers an innovative, reliable and robust solution. Thanks to an Android environment, and to TomTom’s expertise, we have quickly and efficiently integrated OMOGEN on the TomTom BRIDGE.”
Sebastien Ruffino, VP Sales, B2B Products, TomTom, said: “That the leading sanitation company in France has chosen TomTom BRIDGE for its field force, cements our conviction that the BRIDGE is the ideal device for tough environments. Our solution will help these maintenance people on the move to get access to the right information, at the right time. The TomTom BRIDGE is a fantastic platform for this vertical – helping businesses to work more efficiently, having all they need on one device.”
first published week of: 10/12/2015
GPS device maker TomTom has moved beyond turn-by-turn directions into smartwatches and embedded car software that could be used for self-driving vehicles.
The portable mapping device maker announced in September the release of 24,000 km (roughly 15,000 miles) of highly automated driving (HAD) maps covering Germany’s entire highway network. HAD maps are a highly accurate type of 3D mapping technology that enables automated driving vehicles to drive from point A to point B, instead of just sensing what is on the road in front of them.
These types of maps provide self-driving cars with a realistic representation of the road ahead, outlining such things as lane centerlines, lane dividers, road borders, and guard rails, for instance. It can also point out speed limits and lane dividers to keep the car in check and allow it to adjust accordingly.
Screen Shot 2015-10-07 at 11.54.45 PMTomTom has also jumped into fitness with the release of the TomTom Spark watch. This wearable tracks many of the same things as other fitness devices such as steps, mileage and sleep time, but also allows you to listen to your music on the go without your smartphone. It does require a Bluetooth-enabled headset to work, but comes with quite a bit of storage space for plenty of tune options. The watch’s 3GB allows for up to 500 songs and can sync via USB cable from your laptop. continued…
first published week of: 10/19/2015
TomTom announces the launch of TomTom RoadDNA, an innovative new product for vehicle localisation that'll help make automated driving a reality, faster. Designed with vehicle data storage and processing limitations in mind, RoadDNA delivers highly accurate location information that can easily be integrated into the on-board system of a vehicle.
“We know that the future of automated driving hinges on the ability of a vehicle to continuously know exactly where it's located on the road,” said Harold Goddijn, TomTom CEO. “TomTom RoadDNA is the only technology of its kind* that delivers highly accurate vehicle localization content in an efficient and cost effective way.”
TomTom RoadDNA’s propriety technology delivers a highly optimized lateral and longitudinal view of the roadway. By matching RoadDNA data with vehicle sensor data in real-time a vehicle knows its location on the road, even while traveling at high speeds or when changes occur to the roadside.
By converting a 3D point cloud of road side patterns into a compressed, 2D view of the roadway, RoadDNA delivers a solution that needs little storage space and limits processing requirements, without losing detail. TomTom RoadDNA eliminates the complexity of identifying each single roadway object, but instead creates a unique pattern of the roadway environment. This makes the technology robust and scalable.
TomTom RoadDNA, combined with the TomTom HAD Map, delivers accurate and robust technology by providing real-time information about a vehicle’s precise location on a map whilst coping with changes in the environment. continued…
first published week of: 11/02/2015