O'Reilly Media published a story yesterday (on the penultimate day of its Where2.0 conference no less...) describing Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden's discovery of a hidden file on your iPhone and 3G iPad that keeps a running record of your device's whereabouts. The file, part of the iOS4 release, records both latitude/longitude and timestamps - making it possible to create a … [Read more...]
Google MapMaker released in U.S.
Earlier this week, Google released Google MapMaker in the U.S. The tool, which enables users to add their own point, line and polygon features to the Google basemap (e.g. coffee shops, short-cuts across campus, soccer fields) has been available internationally since 2008 as a means for generating detailed local datasets for under-mapped areas. The tools in the Google … [Read more...]
Sad maps at University of Florida
A few weeks ago I posted about Cambridge University PhD student Alex Davies' project on mapping happiness. Over at worthlessgators.com University of Florida student(?) ''Sad Hector' is doing the exact opposite - mapping sadness on University of Florida's Gainesville campus. Prompted to 'tell us where you've cried,' visitors to the site can fill out a short form (below) with … [Read more...]
The 12 States of America
The website for The Atlantic magazine has an interesting new map graphic visualizing the ways in which income inequality has fractured the nation over the past 30 years. The graphic breaks the nation into 12 different 'states' - monied burbs, minority central, military bastions, evangelical epicenters, tractor country, campuses and careers, immigration nation, industrial … [Read more...]
Go Philly! GIS helps improve access to healthy food in the city
Yesterday's NY Times had an opinion piece praising Philadelphia's efforts in recent years to improve access to healthy food for its most disadvantaged neighborhoods and citizens. In 'Go Philly!', Mark Bittman describes the collaborative efforts of Philadelphia municipal government, the Commonwealth of PA and a whole host of local non-profits (including my former employer, the … [Read more...]