TED talks worth Watching

by BRITTA RICKER PETERS on March 30, 2010 • game geoweb visualization web2.0: mashups • COMMENT

There were a few TED talks over the past few weeks that were really interesting and informative. Really, what TED talks are not interesting and informative?

First…Tim Berners-Lee talks Mashups. Tim Berners-Lee gets excited about open data and resulting mashups. He shows us amazing visualizations of Volunteered Geographic Content popping up all over the digital globe. He also talks about the role of this resource for disaster management.  You can see in our portfolio some of the cool mashups Kumiko has made with open data.

Second… Jane McGonigal tells us about the potential for collective online gaming to save the world…not just the world of war craft.

Third…Bing Maps using augmented reality and photo synth, oh my!  Although we do not use Bing Maps here at Mapkist, that may change in the near future. Check out this video to see why.

Enjoy!!

Can Flash Maps Be Replaced?

by KUMIKO YAMAZAKI on March 19, 2010 • apple flash • COMMENT

Earlier today, I had the pleasure of visiting Alex Tait, VP of International Mapping Associates. We discussed the current state of the mapping industry and where it’s headed, and it pains me greatly to admit this as an Apple fangirl, but Flash mapping is still very much alive and well (boooo!)

Flash maps are especially popular for educational purposes as it can provide all the interface, animation and interactivity as well as its accompanying audio/video….. but is NOT supported by the iPhone or iPad. There’s no question Flash is the complete package and I wonder if this can ever be replaced by HTML5 and CSS3? Or by overlaying information through Google Maps or Bing or the MapQuest API? I ask this because I will soon be an iPad owner and I’d love to see how people will be pushing HTML5 and attempting to replace Flash with their maps.

Here are just a few examples of animation that’s already being done with HTML5/CSS3 and can potentially be used for mapping (use an updated Firefox, Safari, or Chrome browser to view):

1. HTML5 Canvas Experiment – This one gathers tweets relating to HTML5, displays them using processing.js for its particle rendering, and all the while taking advantage of the audio tag. Can the particles be georeferenced to a coordinate?

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2. CSS3 Gallery Example – A cluster of images are shown and when the cursor hovers over one, the selected image will be enlarged. Potentially similar to a KML popup.

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3. Pure CSS3 AT-AT Walker (Chrome or Safari required) – This is an AMAZING example of animation that almost certainly looks like Flash but is not. Good news for those wanting to show various route and polygon animations.

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4. Canvas Slippy Map – A slippy map is a map that allows you to dynamically pan by grabbing and sliding the map over. This example looks a bit like a bare-bones OpenLayers interface but is done using the HTML5 canvas and is pulling data from OpenStreetMap.

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I’m betting some fantastic maps can be built using HTML5/CSS3 and can one day be an alternative to Flash, if not replace it altogether. This will take some time however, and an even longer time for it to become the standard for all web applications. So in the meantime, make sure you know some Flash!

HydroSHEDS- Global River Dataset in Hi-Rez

by BRITTA RICKER PETERS on March 18, 2010 • cartography gis • 1 COMMENT

Data sets are often segmented by political boundaries. Typically, who cares? People who deal with environmental phenomenon that do not stop or change across political boundaries, they are the ones who care. Normally a cartographer or GIS analyst will stitch together datasets, fight with projections and plow through for a quick fix to their problem. My former professor at McGill University, Dr. Bernhard Lehner, decided to take a different route when he ran into this problem when working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to characterize freshwater habitats within a remote region of the Amazon Basin.

First Dr. Lehner built a map with freshwater habitats of the entire Amazon Basin, then South America and now THE GLOBE! German cartographers do not cut corners!

The project is called “HydroSHEDS” (Hydrological data and maps based on Shuttle Elevation Derivatives at multiple Scales). Dr. Lehner used data gathered in 2000 by NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). He has produced the first high-resolution, seamless global river map in existence. You can read more about this project in the McGill Reporter, on Dr. Lehner’s website and on the WWF website where you can download the data set. This map in paper format will be featured in National Geographic on March 30!

Flash Madness

by KUMIKO YAMAZAKI on March 17, 2010 • game map • COMMENT

The madness begins tomorrow and offices around the U.S. are expected to lose billions of dollars in worker productivity. They don’t call it March Madness for nothing, you know.

Over at ESPN, they have apparently aimed to INCREASE the amount of lost productivity by releasing a Flash game – Map Madness Bracket Teams. Like many map games, you must locate the school’s campus and will be awarded points based on time and accuracy.

Wow I’m terrible — 42,238 pts and I’ve been booted. Winthrop College? Morgan State?? What was your score?

Design Around the World

by KUMIKO YAMAZAKI on March 12, 2010 • map subway • COMMENT

Carrying on the subway maps theme, Webdesigner Depot has put together an awesome collection of metro maps from around the world.

Most of them are really clean and beautiful.. others, not so much. And why is the map of Kobe, Japan, written in Korean?

Which is your favorite?

The iPad and Maps

by KUMIKO YAMAZAKI on March 12, 2010 • apple • COMMENT

In case anyone’s missed it before, or just want to see it again, this is CNET’s video showcasing Google Maps in action on the iPad.

How will the iPad revolutionize the mapping community?

Unless you purchase the 3G version, the iPad only comes with an integrated digital compass and will be using Wi-Fi trangulation to approximate your location and orientation. This is hardly useful if you’re lost and on the road.

If, however, you’re one of the lucky ones with an iPad 3G, it will include almost all the capabilities of the iPhone and more. This will undoubtedly change the apps market and its expectations from each app due to its larger screen size. One prime example is guided tours. The iPad is no longer about carrying a map, but a data overload of suggested sites to see, reviews, comments, nearby restaurants, photos, and videos. DC Historic Tours is an excellent example of the future on the iPad.

Your Resume is Boring

by KUMIKO YAMAZAKI on March 10, 2010 • google maps subway visualization • 1 COMMENT

Ed Hamilton, a copywriter, created his CV in a Google My Map! It helps that he’s had a very diverse career that has taken him from the UK to Vietnam and Trinidad & Tobago. It’s very simple, yet creative and effective, as it should be.

What have you done with your resume lately??

Below are a few other map and visualization-related resumes I enjoyed. I didn’t see many out there – any geographers have a creative resume you want me to post here?

The infographic:

The subway map: