Enjoy:

Canada’s Globe and Mail profiles Roger Tomlinson and the birth of GIS in Canada.  The article quotes Tomlinson, “The early days of GIS were very lonely.  No-one knew what it meant. My work has certainly been missionary work of the hardest kind.”  The article reviews Tomlinson’s early efforts collaborating with Lee Pratt, head of the Canada Land Inventory, in the early 1960s. 

Read More: Putting Canada on the map - Globe and Mail

Jeff Thurston and Matt Ball both tackle this question on their respective blogs over on the Vector 1 site.  Jeff Thurston contends that there is abundant geospatial analysis but that the definition of what constitutes analysis varies among GIS professionals.  Matt Ball looks at the work load of GIS professionals and their time contraints in analyzing spatial data. 

Read more:

• Why is there so little geospatial analysis?  - Jeff Thurston
• Why is there so little geospatial analysis?  - Matt Ball

Seen via Free Geography Tools

20070282792 is the patent application describing the technology of Google Earth. Entitled Identifying Geo-Located Objects, Russell Shaw over on ZDNet.com delves into the patent.

Read more: Google Earth inner workings described in newly published Google Patent App

David Pogue, the technology columnist for the New York times, has reviewed five GPS units that meet his three requirements: portable and tiny, able to display live traffic data, and voice annunciation that includes actual street names. The GPS units reviewed are:

• Cobra Nav One 4500
  
• Harman Kardon Guide + Play GPS 810
• Magellan Maestro 4250
• Garmin Nuvi 680
• TomTom GO 920T

Read more: A Voice to Guide You on the Road - NY Times

Something you don’t see very often is a UPS truck trying to make a left hand turn.  The New York Times Sunday Magazine pointed out that by avoiding left hand turns where reasonable, UPS  “shaved 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, which has resulted in savings of roughly three million gallons of gas and has reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons.”  UPS uses a proprietary mapping solution they refer to as “package flow” software that maps out the routes of the roughly 95,000 drivers that take to the roads daily to deliver packages.   The idea of reducing left hand turns when driving is catching on.  The suggestion to make “one right turn after number” was item 45 on Time’s list of “51 Things You Can Do to Make a Difference” that was issued in April 2007 as part of their Global Warming Survival Guide. 

The logistics software used is developed by Roadnet, a division of UPS.  The software has its own website called UPS Logistics Technologies and sells to other companies such as Pepsi.  The underlying mapping software streamlines routes by restricting  and disabling left hand turns when determing routes of drivers.   

Read More:

• Left-Hand-Turn Elimination - NY Times
• UPS Takes Left Turns Out of Deliveries - Podcast from NPR
• UPS Logistics Technology

Next Page →