Mobile Content: Too Many Cooks Spoil the Soup
location based services
Mobile is the buzzword today, and whoever manages to best satisfy the needs of consumers on the go, effectively catering to the ”third screen,” will be the marketing king of tomorrow. There are three types of mobile services that are reaching for their tipping points: location-based services, integrated presence services (WAP/Internet, IM, SMS, MMS, e-mail, phone), and mobile delivery of rich-media content (video, TV, user-generated content, audio, games, etc.) -- with the combination of all being the true killer app.
The “Mobile Services - Content is King” panel discussion, hosted by the German American Business Association (GABA) this week in Palo Alto, focused chiefly on the latter. This made sense in light of the fact that mobile TV is the fastest-growing new data service on handhelds (according to a Telephia study). While the panelists, including industry experts from Telephia, Yahoo, MobiTV, and Infospace, largely agreed that the combination of rich content with mobile broadband will propel incumbent carriers as well as new specialized service providers, they conceded that the industry still faces major obstacles in driving widespread adoption for a number of reasons:
1. Fragmentation of offerings: While there is a vast array of services and applications from numerous providers, it is this sheer number of custom offerings that seems to confuse consumers. Knowledge of mobile services is still limited to late adopters while the early followers depend on the packaged information they are fed from their gate-keeping mobile carriers. Often, average consumers do not even know what is possible with handheld devices. In particular, the awareness of mobile TV is very low compared to downloads, games, and mobile Internet. Of all the players, MobiTV seems best-positioned to tackle this and lead the market in part because it has developed a compelling brand and secured partnerships with AT&T, Cingular Wireless, and Sprint Nextel.
2. Fragmentation of devices: On the hardware side, players are fragmented into PDAs, iPods, PSPs, cell phones, etc., while research data shows that consumers would actually prefer to carry just one single device with them (preferably the cell phone) that integrates all of the above applications. Marketers consider the cell phone to be superior to other devices since it is the most familiar and also the most personal handheld device. Not to mention that advertisers appreciate its call-functionality (yes, you can still use a cell phone to make a phone call…) as it allows -- literally -- a “call for action.” Because of that, many believe that the cell phone will eventually also absorb many former iPod users in spite of the next generation of iPods being spiced up -- according to rumors -- with Wi-Fi and gaming features.
3. Fragmentation of technology standards: There are a number of technology standards being used to deliver mobile content. Right now, the field is divided between telcos that provide broadband connections, handheld devices manufacturers, and mobile services such as MobiTV, Qualcomm's MediaFlo subsidiary, or Modeo, that specialize in delivering professional content onto mobile players. The problem is that, for example, MediaFlo networks are based on Qualcomm technology, while Modeo plans to use the DVB-H standard backed by companies like Philips, Texas Instruments, Nokia and Motorola to build its networks. Hope is on the way, however, as Qualcomm unveiled a new chip Friday that supports three major wireless television standards. The so-called Universal Broadcast Modem (UBM) will allow handset manufacturers to use a common chip for production of devices geared to different standards. The standards supported by UBM are FLO, Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld, and Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial, enabling mobile handsets to receive real-time content regardless of the broadcast technology selected by operators.
4. Pricing: Mobile services are still prohibitively expensive for average consumers. If you subscribe to MobiTV, for example, you pay $12 per month for 15 channels (not 15 channels you want, the 15 channels MobiTV decides to feed you).
5. Usability: Mobile devices require content that is specifically tailored to smaller screens. Soccer games are a good example: The wide angle images usually shown on TV do not translate to smaller screens since viewers simply cannot see the ball. Service providers therefore typically use close-up shots of the players instead. It is also interesting to note that three of the five most popular channels on MobiTV's service were created especially for a mobile environment. People might want a familiar television experience on their mobile devices, but they obviously watch much different types of content on them -- short videos, also called "snackable" content.
After the panel discussion, I spoke briefly with Jonathan Atkin (Managing Director with RBC Capital Markets), the panel’s moderator, and asked him about the potential of mobile applications for the enterprise. Jonathan opined that the time wasn’t quite right for an enterprise play, arguing that technologies, applications, and business models first needed a proof of concept by consumers before they would be picked up by business users (as was the case with blogs and Wikis and will soon be with online social networks, see LinkedIn or now the expansion of Facebook into the corporate world). Yet the potential is enormous; Jonathan referred to real-estate agents being able to access location-based information from their cell phones during open houses. According to the Telephia Customer Value Metrics, the real-estate industry is most dependent on their cell phones.
For the time being, it seems that the mobile services market is plagued by the same problem that beset digital music before Apple created the iPod: while there is a plethora of fancy devices and powerful applications, the one mainstream application for the consumer is lacking. It might be a matter of design or maybe it’s a question of brand power, but mobile services will not be fully embraced by the mainstream consumer unless there is one single player that will lead the market with a groundbreaking (and that almost inevitably means simplistic) product.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Some Cell Phone Owners Spurn Gadgetry
location based services
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) - Nathan Bales represents a troubling trend for cellular phone carriers. The Kansas City-area countertop installer recently traded in a number of feature-laden phones for a stripped-down model. He said he didn't like using them to surf the Internet, rarely took pictures with them and couldn't stand scrolling through seemingly endless menus to get the functions to work.
"I want a phone that is tough and easy to use," said Bales, 30. "I don't want to listen to music with it. I'm not a cyber-savvy guy."
But the wireless industry needs him to be comfortable with advanced features and actively use them. As the universe of people who want a cell phone and don't already have one gets smaller, wireless carriers are counting on advanced services to generate the bulk of new revenue in coming years.
Consumers last year paid $8.6 billion for so-called data applications on their phones, up 86 percent from the year before, according to wireless trade group CTIA.
But they've also shown a growing frustration with how confusing those added features can be. A J.D. Power & Associates survey last year found consumer satisfaction with their mobile devices has declined since 2003, with some of the largest drops linked to user interface for Internet and e-mail services.
That has providers working hard to make their devices easier to use - fewer steps, brighter and less cluttered screens, different pricing strategies - so consumers will not only use data functions more often but also be encouraged to buy additional ones.
For Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), the process begins in a suite of small rooms on its operations campus in suburban Kansas City.
On one recent day, a trio of researchers watched through one-way glass and overhead cameras as a volunteer navigated her way through a prototype program that lets parents set limits on their children's phone use.
The observers monitored how many steps it took for the woman to make the program work, how easily she made mistakes and how quickly she could get herself out of trouble. The results could be used to further tweak the program, said Robert Moritz, director of device development.
"If you bring somebody in and they have problems, it's not because they're dumb, but we were dumb with the design," Moritz said, adding that the lab typically tests devices and programs with up to 50 users over three to nine months. The company also uses focus groups to determine what people want from their phones and what they say needs fixing.
The results of those studies can sometimes push back the release of a product. For example, Michael Coffey, vice president of Sprint's user-experience design, said the company delayed releasing its walkie-talkie Ready Link service for about a year after testers said they didn't like the short delay between when the user pushes the button and the recipient answers.
Coffey said the testing is worth it because ease-of-use can be a competitive edge.
"IPod was not the first MP3 player on the market, but once they figured it out (the user interface), they became the predominant one overnight," he said. "Whether you make it a marketing message or not, the public will discover that usability and choose your product over a competitor's."
So far, Sprint Nextel is doing something right as its subscribers spend the highest average amount for data services in the industry.
"We believe there's a strong correlation between our standard of success and how usable the products are," he said.
The other major wireless providers use similar techniques to improve their devices and programs.
Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless provider, developed MEdia Net, which allows users to personalize their phones for using the Internet, downloading ringtones or getting e-mail.
Verizon Wireless has V-Cast, a service that makes it easier to download music and video. The company has also pushed designs that allow users to accomplish many things with one button press.
"It's not fun to download a ringtone and have to figure out how to get that on your phone," said Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Ramey. "We do not shy away from testing. If the device or service doesn't work, it's a reflection on our network."
T-Mobile also has focused on a few key areas, introducing T-Zone to help customers find ringtones and screen wallpaper by subject and decreasing the number of steps to take and send photos, for example.
"Communication and personalization will continue to be the driver for phone use," said Michael Gallelli, director of product marketing at T-Mobile.
Industry experts say the companies understand the stakes involved in making sure their designs attract customers and keep them loyal.
"Five years ago, I wouldn't have seen a commercial from Cingular that you can customize your layout," said David Chamberlain, principal wireless analyst for research firm In-Stat. "To think that they're putting this kind of effort into the interface is welcome news."
How well they're doing is a different matter.
Some analysts pointed to phones from niche providers, such as youth-oriented Amp'd Mobile and sports-centric ESPN Mobile, as good examples of intuitive design, marrying easy-to-understand menus with pared-down lists of content aimed at their particular markets.
But Roger Entner of the market research firm Ovum said none of the major carriers impresses him. He says most of them are trying to replicate how people use personal computers instead of coming up with a new approach.
"What do (customers) do best on the phone? They talk. What do they do worst? Type. Why is every user interface based on typing?" Entner said. "Right now, the software developers take advantage of every weakness a device has and none of the strengths."
Some wireless carriers and third-party companies are experimenting with voice-recognition technology. Kirkland, Wash.-based VoiceBox Technologies, for instance, plans to release a product later this year that recognizes words and context in a customer's speech to immediately bring them content on their phones.
Charles Golvin of Forrester Research said a recent survey indicated few cellular customers choose a phone based on its usability, typically because they either don't think there's anything better or, like Bales in Kansas City, don't think they need those services.
But Golvin said for the market to truly grow, the programs and phones themselves are going to have to become more graceful and not just the purview of tech-junkies.
"Early adopters are less retarded by the user interface," he said. "As we're moving from the early adopters to the more mainstream customers, it will make a huge difference."
location based services
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) - Nathan Bales represents a troubling trend for cellular phone carriers. The Kansas City-area countertop installer recently traded in a number of feature-laden phones for a stripped-down model. He said he didn't like using them to surf the Internet, rarely took pictures with them and couldn't stand scrolling through seemingly endless menus to get the functions to work.
"I want a phone that is tough and easy to use," said Bales, 30. "I don't want to listen to music with it. I'm not a cyber-savvy guy."
But the wireless industry needs him to be comfortable with advanced features and actively use them. As the universe of people who want a cell phone and don't already have one gets smaller, wireless carriers are counting on advanced services to generate the bulk of new revenue in coming years.
Consumers last year paid $8.6 billion for so-called data applications on their phones, up 86 percent from the year before, according to wireless trade group CTIA.
But they've also shown a growing frustration with how confusing those added features can be. A J.D. Power & Associates survey last year found consumer satisfaction with their mobile devices has declined since 2003, with some of the largest drops linked to user interface for Internet and e-mail services.
That has providers working hard to make their devices easier to use - fewer steps, brighter and less cluttered screens, different pricing strategies - so consumers will not only use data functions more often but also be encouraged to buy additional ones.
For Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), the process begins in a suite of small rooms on its operations campus in suburban Kansas City.
On one recent day, a trio of researchers watched through one-way glass and overhead cameras as a volunteer navigated her way through a prototype program that lets parents set limits on their children's phone use.
The observers monitored how many steps it took for the woman to make the program work, how easily she made mistakes and how quickly she could get herself out of trouble. The results could be used to further tweak the program, said Robert Moritz, director of device development.
"If you bring somebody in and they have problems, it's not because they're dumb, but we were dumb with the design," Moritz said, adding that the lab typically tests devices and programs with up to 50 users over three to nine months. The company also uses focus groups to determine what people want from their phones and what they say needs fixing.
The results of those studies can sometimes push back the release of a product. For example, Michael Coffey, vice president of Sprint's user-experience design, said the company delayed releasing its walkie-talkie Ready Link service for about a year after testers said they didn't like the short delay between when the user pushes the button and the recipient answers.
Coffey said the testing is worth it because ease-of-use can be a competitive edge.
"IPod was not the first MP3 player on the market, but once they figured it out (the user interface), they became the predominant one overnight," he said. "Whether you make it a marketing message or not, the public will discover that usability and choose your product over a competitor's."
So far, Sprint Nextel is doing something right as its subscribers spend the highest average amount for data services in the industry.
"We believe there's a strong correlation between our standard of success and how usable the products are," he said.
The other major wireless providers use similar techniques to improve their devices and programs.
Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless provider, developed MEdia Net, which allows users to personalize their phones for using the Internet, downloading ringtones or getting e-mail.
Verizon Wireless has V-Cast, a service that makes it easier to download music and video. The company has also pushed designs that allow users to accomplish many things with one button press.
"It's not fun to download a ringtone and have to figure out how to get that on your phone," said Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Ramey. "We do not shy away from testing. If the device or service doesn't work, it's a reflection on our network."
T-Mobile also has focused on a few key areas, introducing T-Zone to help customers find ringtones and screen wallpaper by subject and decreasing the number of steps to take and send photos, for example.
"Communication and personalization will continue to be the driver for phone use," said Michael Gallelli, director of product marketing at T-Mobile.
Industry experts say the companies understand the stakes involved in making sure their designs attract customers and keep them loyal.
"Five years ago, I wouldn't have seen a commercial from Cingular that you can customize your layout," said David Chamberlain, principal wireless analyst for research firm In-Stat. "To think that they're putting this kind of effort into the interface is welcome news."
How well they're doing is a different matter.
Some analysts pointed to phones from niche providers, such as youth-oriented Amp'd Mobile and sports-centric ESPN Mobile, as good examples of intuitive design, marrying easy-to-understand menus with pared-down lists of content aimed at their particular markets.
But Roger Entner of the market research firm Ovum said none of the major carriers impresses him. He says most of them are trying to replicate how people use personal computers instead of coming up with a new approach.
"What do (customers) do best on the phone? They talk. What do they do worst? Type. Why is every user interface based on typing?" Entner said. "Right now, the software developers take advantage of every weakness a device has and none of the strengths."
Some wireless carriers and third-party companies are experimenting with voice-recognition technology. Kirkland, Wash.-based VoiceBox Technologies, for instance, plans to release a product later this year that recognizes words and context in a customer's speech to immediately bring them content on their phones.
Charles Golvin of Forrester Research said a recent survey indicated few cellular customers choose a phone based on its usability, typically because they either don't think there's anything better or, like Bales in Kansas City, don't think they need those services.
But Golvin said for the market to truly grow, the programs and phones themselves are going to have to become more graceful and not just the purview of tech-junkies.
"Early adopters are less retarded by the user interface," he said. "As we're moving from the early adopters to the more mainstream customers, it will make a huge difference."
Saturday, May 27, 2006
BlackBerry and GPS
location based services
In this post I will write about using GPS enabled applications on your Blackberry.I will present you the solutions available on the market today and the options you have with your device.Compatibility
I will begin telling you what options you have with your device and which programs are compatible. After that I will give you an introduction to each program. As you after that know which program is compatible you might just want to skip some programs which would not run on the particular device anyway.
In general there are two options for using GPS with a Blackberry. You ether have a device with an internal GPS receiver, or you will need an external bluetooth GPS receiver, which will provide the GPS data to your BlackBerry. At the time of writing there are only two BlackBerry devices which have an integrated GPS receiver: 7520 and 7100i. For all other device you will need a Bluetooth GPS receiver. If your device does not have bluetooth support you are out of luck. Below is a detailed compatibility matrix. It shows you which program is compatible with which device.
Note: Some devices do have “Location Based Services” options. This does not necessarily mean they have GPS. Especially the 7250 does not have GPS. The device is often confused with the 7520, which has GPS.
There is a software for the antique RIM 857/957 which works with a serial GPS receiver attached via cable. If you are still using one of these devices, you might want to take a look here: map viewer for RIM
GPS Compatibility Matrix:
BlackBerry Device
GPS Type
Berryvine Companion
CaffeeinFinder
Fastfoodfinder
MapQuest Find Me
Mobile Locator
Naggie
Spot for Blackberry
Telenav
Trimble Outdoors
7520*
internal
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
7100i
internal
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
yes
yes
yes
7100g
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
yes
no
7100r
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7100t
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7100v
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7100x
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7105t
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
yes
no
7130e
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7210
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
7230
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
7250
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7280
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
7290
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7730
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
7750
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
7780
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
8700c
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
yes
no
8700g
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
8700f
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
8700r
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
8700v
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
* To make use of the GPS capabilities of your 7520 you need the latest BlackBerry OS. Earlier version did not implement the “Loacation API”. You can get it here.
Software
There are basically three types of GPS software:
Navigation Software
Mapping/Field Navigation Software
GPS enabled tools
Most people think of Navigation Software when they hear the word GPS. It is obviously also available for BlackBerry. There are however a lot of other things you can do with your GPS device. Mapping and “Field Navigation” Software is mostly targeted for outdoor use and for navigation in a terrain without big streets. You can use it for hiking, biking and a lot of other activities like geocaching which got popular recently. This kind of software sometimes can offer you detailed topographic and satellite map in addition to street level maps. Another application are GPS enabled tools which incorporate the location with other functions.
Navigation Software
- TeleNav
TeleNav turns your BlackBerry in a full featured Navigation System and is currently the only real navigation solution for users in North America. It has an easy to read navigation screen which shows the map, speed and direction. You will also get audible driving directions to know when to turn. An integrated POI (Point Of Interest) management system allows you to quickly find restaurant, gas stations, etc. that are nearby.
Telenav is subscription based and costs $10.00/month for the “TeleNav Unlimited Plan“.
- Berryvine Companion
Berryvine Companion is the only real Navigation Solution if you are living in estern Europe. The program makes use of a third party data provider “Locatienet” which provides the maps and driving directions. The Regions “BeNeLux”, “United Kingdom” and “Most of western Europe” are covered. It also features POI (Point Of Interest) support but lacks audible driving directions like Telenav has. Berryvine Companion works with Bluetooth BlackBerry’s only. (As there is currently no BlackBerry with internal GPS in Europe that should not be much of a problem).
Mapping Software
- Trimble Outdoors
Trimble Outdoors is designed to create and exchange outdoor trips with your Blackberry. It includes an application to prepare and plan outdoor trips on the PC and is targeted to users in the United States, as they only provide maps for this area.
You have to pay a monthly fee to use Trimble Outdoors. Different plans are available from Nextel.
- Spot for Blackberry
Spot for Blackberry is a very feature-packed Mapping application which even integrates some advanced GIS features. It has a lot of integrated Map-Services which provide streetlevel data of the United States and topographic / satellite imagery with worldwide coverage. Best of all - there is no monthly fee to use them. It features extensive waypoint support, including a pseudo-routing function which directs you to your target and can import GPX and LOC waypoint data. It even support getting geocache data from geocaching.com. However I got server timeouts when testing this feature. Spot for Blackberry can also log your tracks. I was testing it on a Blackberry 7290 and a 8700. The program was a bit slow on my 7290 after using the Tracklog for a few hours while the 8700 was still very fast. The different map-services are very impressive. You can get satellite photos of your terrain, get environmental maps or even use your companys map-server, as the program supports the OGC WMS standard which is used by ESRI, etc.
Overall this is probably the best GPS mapping software available. For real navigation however I would suggest to get Telenav too. You can download a free demo version of Spot for Blackberry or buy it for $49.
GPS Tools
- MapQuest Find Me
MapQuest Find Me allows you to locate you family, friends and co-workers if they are also using the tools and allow you to locate them. You can search for POIs (Point Of Interest) and let the program guide you to them showing turn-by-turn directions (although without map).
MapQuest Find Me costs $5.99/month with 300KB of Data Access Service included or $3.99/month if Data Access is purchased separately.
- MobileLocator
MobileLocator is similar to MapQuest Find Me. It allows you to locate people who are using the same program and can direct you to them. It can also locate POIs (Point Of Interest) like gas station, ATM, bank or restaurant.
The Mobile Locator Service costs $9.99/month.
- Caffeinefinder and Fastfoodfinder
Caffeinefinder and Fastfoodfinder are two small application specialized to find a coffee shop / fast food restaurant nearby.
They work in the United States and are available at no costs.
- Naggie
Naggie is a location-based reminder application which will remember you of things to do that are related to your current position.usage examples:
“When you’re leaving the office, Naggie can remind you to pick up a pizza on the way home.”
“The next time you’re in Paris, Naggie can remind you to check out that great restaurant your friend just told you about.”
“When you arrive at the grocery store, Naggie can remind you to pickup some milk.”
It is available at no costs for a limited period of time.
Rumors
According to the press letter from blackberry.net which is already more than one year old, there is a lot of software to come.See: http://www.blackberry.net/news/press/2004/pr-14_12_2004-01.shtml
There were some rumors on bbhub.com about a BlackBerry 8700 with internal GPS support but now news on that yet.
Categorized: Software
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Implementing Getting Things Done with your Blackberry Permalink 2 Comments
May 13
Implementing Getting Things Done (GTD) with your Blackberry is not as straight forward as you might think. On a Blackberry Version prior 4.0 you do not even have Category support which is essential for the system.
The most frequently mentioned shortcoming on implementing GTD using the internal Blackberry applications:
All Blackberry applications have global categories. That means you will see your contact-, calendar- and notes categories in the task application as well.
To add new tasks you have to select the category each time. They are not automatically applied to the current category.
To change a category you have to apply a filter. A simple category change is not possible.
Many GTD enthusiasts make use of the “@” syntax for contexts. However, items “@” are not sorted correctly.
Gary K. Slinger wrote a great article which mentions these problems too and makes suggestions on workarounds. For more details take a look at his blog garryslinger.com
There are a lot of methods and tools helping you to implement GTD on your desktop, but GTD third-party software for the Blackberry is very rare. The following applications intend to replace the internal task application:
todoMatrix
TaskPad Pro
NextAction!
Although “todoMatrix” has very advanced features, I did not try it because it synchronizes to a proprietary online database. “TaskPad Pro” has a similar approach. The application “NextAction!” is not as feature-rich but specifically targets the “Getting Things Done”-approach. It uses the internal Task Database of the Blackberry and is therefore highly compatible with other applications. It targets the major shortcomings mentioned above and uses the GTD terminology.
“NextAction!” do not provide many additional features but makes the task input and management much faster and allows a very good GTD implementation.
My GTD workflow using a Blackberry 7290 with “NextAction!”
According to David Allen the five stages of mastering workflow are: collect, process, organize, review and do.
Collect
I put calendar commitments and contact details directly into the contacts/calendar application. If I am in a hurry I quickly add a new item to the INBOX in “NextAction!” to process it later.
Tasks/todos/ideas are usually going to the INBOX of “NextAction!” , to process them later. Only when I already know the exact next action, I put them directly in the relevant category.
Process
Process the mail inboxDo it. / Delegate it. / Defer it.
Process the “NextAction!” inboxDo it. / Delegate it. / Defer it.If I have to defer the item, I generate a next action in the specific context in “NextAction!” or add a calendar appointment.
Organize
location based services
In this post I will write about using GPS enabled applications on your Blackberry.I will present you the solutions available on the market today and the options you have with your device.Compatibility
I will begin telling you what options you have with your device and which programs are compatible. After that I will give you an introduction to each program. As you after that know which program is compatible you might just want to skip some programs which would not run on the particular device anyway.
In general there are two options for using GPS with a Blackberry. You ether have a device with an internal GPS receiver, or you will need an external bluetooth GPS receiver, which will provide the GPS data to your BlackBerry. At the time of writing there are only two BlackBerry devices which have an integrated GPS receiver: 7520 and 7100i. For all other device you will need a Bluetooth GPS receiver. If your device does not have bluetooth support you are out of luck. Below is a detailed compatibility matrix. It shows you which program is compatible with which device.
Note: Some devices do have “Location Based Services” options. This does not necessarily mean they have GPS. Especially the 7250 does not have GPS. The device is often confused with the 7520, which has GPS.
There is a software for the antique RIM 857/957 which works with a serial GPS receiver attached via cable. If you are still using one of these devices, you might want to take a look here: map viewer for RIM
GPS Compatibility Matrix:
BlackBerry Device
GPS Type
Berryvine Companion
CaffeeinFinder
Fastfoodfinder
MapQuest Find Me
Mobile Locator
Naggie
Spot for Blackberry
Telenav
Trimble Outdoors
7520*
internal
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
7100i
internal
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
yes
yes
yes
7100g
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
yes
no
7100r
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7100t
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7100v
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7100x
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7105t
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
yes
no
7130e
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7210
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
7230
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
7250
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7280
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
7290
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
7730
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
7750
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
7780
not supported
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
8700c
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
yes
no
8700g
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
8700f
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
8700r
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
8700v
bluetooth
yes
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
* To make use of the GPS capabilities of your 7520 you need the latest BlackBerry OS. Earlier version did not implement the “Loacation API”. You can get it here.
Software
There are basically three types of GPS software:
Navigation Software
Mapping/Field Navigation Software
GPS enabled tools
Most people think of Navigation Software when they hear the word GPS. It is obviously also available for BlackBerry. There are however a lot of other things you can do with your GPS device. Mapping and “Field Navigation” Software is mostly targeted for outdoor use and for navigation in a terrain without big streets. You can use it for hiking, biking and a lot of other activities like geocaching which got popular recently. This kind of software sometimes can offer you detailed topographic and satellite map in addition to street level maps. Another application are GPS enabled tools which incorporate the location with other functions.
Navigation Software
- TeleNav
TeleNav turns your BlackBerry in a full featured Navigation System and is currently the only real navigation solution for users in North America. It has an easy to read navigation screen which shows the map, speed and direction. You will also get audible driving directions to know when to turn. An integrated POI (Point Of Interest) management system allows you to quickly find restaurant, gas stations, etc. that are nearby.
Telenav is subscription based and costs $10.00/month for the “TeleNav Unlimited Plan“.
- Berryvine Companion
Berryvine Companion is the only real Navigation Solution if you are living in estern Europe. The program makes use of a third party data provider “Locatienet” which provides the maps and driving directions. The Regions “BeNeLux”, “United Kingdom” and “Most of western Europe” are covered. It also features POI (Point Of Interest) support but lacks audible driving directions like Telenav has. Berryvine Companion works with Bluetooth BlackBerry’s only. (As there is currently no BlackBerry with internal GPS in Europe that should not be much of a problem).
Mapping Software
- Trimble Outdoors
Trimble Outdoors is designed to create and exchange outdoor trips with your Blackberry. It includes an application to prepare and plan outdoor trips on the PC and is targeted to users in the United States, as they only provide maps for this area.
You have to pay a monthly fee to use Trimble Outdoors. Different plans are available from Nextel.
- Spot for Blackberry
Spot for Blackberry is a very feature-packed Mapping application which even integrates some advanced GIS features. It has a lot of integrated Map-Services which provide streetlevel data of the United States and topographic / satellite imagery with worldwide coverage. Best of all - there is no monthly fee to use them. It features extensive waypoint support, including a pseudo-routing function which directs you to your target and can import GPX and LOC waypoint data. It even support getting geocache data from geocaching.com. However I got server timeouts when testing this feature. Spot for Blackberry can also log your tracks. I was testing it on a Blackberry 7290 and a 8700. The program was a bit slow on my 7290 after using the Tracklog for a few hours while the 8700 was still very fast. The different map-services are very impressive. You can get satellite photos of your terrain, get environmental maps or even use your companys map-server, as the program supports the OGC WMS standard which is used by ESRI, etc.
Overall this is probably the best GPS mapping software available. For real navigation however I would suggest to get Telenav too. You can download a free demo version of Spot for Blackberry or buy it for $49.
GPS Tools
- MapQuest Find Me
MapQuest Find Me allows you to locate you family, friends and co-workers if they are also using the tools and allow you to locate them. You can search for POIs (Point Of Interest) and let the program guide you to them showing turn-by-turn directions (although without map).
MapQuest Find Me costs $5.99/month with 300KB of Data Access Service included or $3.99/month if Data Access is purchased separately.
- MobileLocator
MobileLocator is similar to MapQuest Find Me. It allows you to locate people who are using the same program and can direct you to them. It can also locate POIs (Point Of Interest) like gas station, ATM, bank or restaurant.
The Mobile Locator Service costs $9.99/month.
- Caffeinefinder and Fastfoodfinder
Caffeinefinder and Fastfoodfinder are two small application specialized to find a coffee shop / fast food restaurant nearby.
They work in the United States and are available at no costs.
- Naggie
Naggie is a location-based reminder application which will remember you of things to do that are related to your current position.usage examples:
“When you’re leaving the office, Naggie can remind you to pick up a pizza on the way home.”
“The next time you’re in Paris, Naggie can remind you to check out that great restaurant your friend just told you about.”
“When you arrive at the grocery store, Naggie can remind you to pickup some milk.”
It is available at no costs for a limited period of time.
Rumors
According to the press letter from blackberry.net which is already more than one year old, there is a lot of software to come.See: http://www.blackberry.net/news/press/2004/pr-14_12_2004-01.shtml
There were some rumors on bbhub.com about a BlackBerry 8700 with internal GPS support but now news on that yet.
Categorized: Software
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Implementing Getting Things Done with your Blackberry Permalink 2 Comments
May 13
Implementing Getting Things Done (GTD) with your Blackberry is not as straight forward as you might think. On a Blackberry Version prior 4.0 you do not even have Category support which is essential for the system.
The most frequently mentioned shortcoming on implementing GTD using the internal Blackberry applications:
All Blackberry applications have global categories. That means you will see your contact-, calendar- and notes categories in the task application as well.
To add new tasks you have to select the category each time. They are not automatically applied to the current category.
To change a category you have to apply a filter. A simple category change is not possible.
Many GTD enthusiasts make use of the “@” syntax for contexts. However, items “@” are not sorted correctly.
Gary K. Slinger wrote a great article which mentions these problems too and makes suggestions on workarounds. For more details take a look at his blog garryslinger.com
There are a lot of methods and tools helping you to implement GTD on your desktop, but GTD third-party software for the Blackberry is very rare. The following applications intend to replace the internal task application:
todoMatrix
TaskPad Pro
NextAction!
Although “todoMatrix” has very advanced features, I did not try it because it synchronizes to a proprietary online database. “TaskPad Pro” has a similar approach. The application “NextAction!” is not as feature-rich but specifically targets the “Getting Things Done”-approach. It uses the internal Task Database of the Blackberry and is therefore highly compatible with other applications. It targets the major shortcomings mentioned above and uses the GTD terminology.
“NextAction!” do not provide many additional features but makes the task input and management much faster and allows a very good GTD implementation.
My GTD workflow using a Blackberry 7290 with “NextAction!”
According to David Allen the five stages of mastering workflow are: collect, process, organize, review and do.
Collect
I put calendar commitments and contact details directly into the contacts/calendar application. If I am in a hurry I quickly add a new item to the INBOX in “NextAction!” to process it later.
Tasks/todos/ideas are usually going to the INBOX of “NextAction!” , to process them later. Only when I already know the exact next action, I put them directly in the relevant category.
Process
Process the mail inboxDo it. / Delegate it. / Defer it.
Process the “NextAction!” inboxDo it. / Delegate it. / Defer it.If I have to defer the item, I generate a next action in the specific context in “NextAction!” or add a calendar appointment.
Organize
TomTom GO 510 Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator
location based services
Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
The TomTom GO 510 Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator improves upon TomTom's line of all-in-one portable navigation solutions that work straight out of the box. The 510 features a new cutting-edge design that includes a high-quality, extra-wide, four-inch LCD touch screen that offers the ultimate in readability and ease of use. The GO 510 also includes the software application TomTom HOME and the HOME dock, which serves as a portal that enables you to easily manage, download and store content from your home computer. With the GO 510, TomTom has also improved their renowned hands-free calling functionality for additional safety, and the pre-installed Safety Camera database makes it easier and safer than ever to navigate to your destination. In short, with hundreds of features and software improvements, the GO 510 has greatly improved on TomTom's already outstanding GPS performance.
Product Description
TomTom is the smart, easy-to-use, portable navigation solution. Switch it on and GO. The crystal-clear widescreen display, 3D graphics, and clear, accurate turn-by-turn voice instructions help you find your way to any address in the United States and Canada. A few taps of the screen get you going. Pick a destination, choose the type of route, and it guides you door-to-door. The built-in Bluetooth connection lets you easily make or receive calls hands-free. And with TomTom PLUS the GO can re-route you around traffic jams and alert you to bad weather. You can control your iPod directly from your TomTom GO. Just tap the GO's wide screen to see and select your favorite iPod tunes. The home dock lets you connect to your PC for itinerary planning and downloading maps, voices, and more. The portable, widescreen TomTom GO is the smart and easy choice for every car, every trip, every day.
Product Description
TomTom GO 510 is a smart, easy-to-use, portable navigation solution. The crystal-clear widescreen display, 3D graphics, and clear, accurate turn-by-turn voice instructions help you find your way to any address in the US and Canada. The built-in Bluetooth connection and integrated microphone let you easily make or receive calls hands-free with most Bluetooth enabled cell phones. Control your iPod playlists directly from the touch screen. The home dock lets you connect to your PC for itinerary planning and downloading additional maps, voices, and more. Manufacturer's limited 2 year warranty
‹ Return to Product Overview
location based services
Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
The TomTom GO 510 Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator improves upon TomTom's line of all-in-one portable navigation solutions that work straight out of the box. The 510 features a new cutting-edge design that includes a high-quality, extra-wide, four-inch LCD touch screen that offers the ultimate in readability and ease of use. The GO 510 also includes the software application TomTom HOME and the HOME dock, which serves as a portal that enables you to easily manage, download and store content from your home computer. With the GO 510, TomTom has also improved their renowned hands-free calling functionality for additional safety, and the pre-installed Safety Camera database makes it easier and safer than ever to navigate to your destination. In short, with hundreds of features and software improvements, the GO 510 has greatly improved on TomTom's already outstanding GPS performance.
Product Description
TomTom is the smart, easy-to-use, portable navigation solution. Switch it on and GO. The crystal-clear widescreen display, 3D graphics, and clear, accurate turn-by-turn voice instructions help you find your way to any address in the United States and Canada. A few taps of the screen get you going. Pick a destination, choose the type of route, and it guides you door-to-door. The built-in Bluetooth connection lets you easily make or receive calls hands-free. And with TomTom PLUS the GO can re-route you around traffic jams and alert you to bad weather. You can control your iPod directly from your TomTom GO. Just tap the GO's wide screen to see and select your favorite iPod tunes. The home dock lets you connect to your PC for itinerary planning and downloading maps, voices, and more. The portable, widescreen TomTom GO is the smart and easy choice for every car, every trip, every day.
Product Description
TomTom GO 510 is a smart, easy-to-use, portable navigation solution. The crystal-clear widescreen display, 3D graphics, and clear, accurate turn-by-turn voice instructions help you find your way to any address in the US and Canada. The built-in Bluetooth connection and integrated microphone let you easily make or receive calls hands-free with most Bluetooth enabled cell phones. Control your iPod playlists directly from the touch screen. The home dock lets you connect to your PC for itinerary planning and downloading additional maps, voices, and more. Manufacturer's limited 2 year warranty
‹ Return to Product Overview
Why the I-Phone Will Be Apple’s Huge Blunder
location based services
Search “Apple i-phone” on Google like I just did and you’ll get 1, 570,000 potential matches.
In my humble opinion that’s an awful lot of interest in a device that is almost certain to be a downer for a company loved by so many. Now hold on a moment. Don’t go thinking I’m some Mac-hating PC weenie. I have both Mac gear and PC gear and I appreciate the strengths, weaknesses and differences between both. I’m typing this post on a fifteen inch Macbook Pro in fact.
But consider this for a moment from Apple’s perspective. You’re a company famed for developing what many believe to be the best user interfaces in the world. The iPod is art. No one with half a brain argues that for a moment. OSX…maybe not art, but in my experience (which spans more than twenty years) I’d be hard pressed to name a better UI and I’m certain that I can’t name a more complete one.
The thing is, if this is your reputation, and your fans tend to be die hard extremists that hold your products in near reverence; you’ve got a problem when it comes to the mobile phone.
Why? Find me one person - just a single solitary person who will honestly state that writing an email on a mobile phone is a satisfying experience. Or find me another that thinks that web-browsing on a mobile phone does not leave something to be desired. How about reading an eBook? Viewing a PDF? Or what about making a phone call on a phone-enabled PDA? I mean besides how stupid you look holding that flat square device against the side of your head or the greasy face mark you’ll leave on the display when you finally disengage it from your sweaty cheek. You see my point?
Apple can deliver nothing short of a revolution to be sucessful with a handset. A revolution along the same continuum that the Newton was on in the sense that they had all the right ideas only they executed them about twenty years too early for the necessary technologies to be fully baked. Face it, handwriting recognition still mostly sucks. Voice recognition isn’t much better for the most part and we’re still light years away from having a phone that offers all the advanced features we demand AND really good battery life. I know. I have gobs of smart phones. As a result, I have a thousand dollars worth of phone batteries too.
Maybe Apple can deliver a breakthrough in one or even two of the areas above. That would be astounding and I’m pulling for them to achive that, I really, truly am. But it’s asking a lot to expect a company, even one as revolutionary as Apple to cut to the quick of a dozen problems all at once and deliver for our yakking, hacking and grokking pleasure a mobile phone so good…so vastly superior in fact, that Steve Jobs can unveil it to a world that’s holding its breath, utter the words “isn’t she beautful?” and not end up looking like a liar…
Mark my words; Mac addicts are the toughest critics in the world. They’ve earned the right to be with the heavy refinement they’ve come to expect from the surgeons that design product for Apple. The thing is Apple’s own success will be its downfall with the phone, the expectations are simply too high and when people discover that it is after all just another phone; or figure out, god forgbid, that Nokia has actually done a better job with the N or E series devices - the failure to deliver on what was truly an impossible challenge will be mud on the face of the company the way the Newton has been for well over a decade.
No, no, no. Don’t do it Apple. The odds are so stacked against you on this one it is hard to imagine any gambling man wanting to take that bet. Of course Bill Gates plays poker so maybe he likes the odds. In fact, come to think of it he probably likes them a whole, whole lot.
Tags: i-Phone, mobile, wireless, Newton, Mac, BillGates
Categories: Analysis | Bookmark this post with del.icio.us
location based services
Search “Apple i-phone” on Google like I just did and you’ll get 1, 570,000 potential matches.
In my humble opinion that’s an awful lot of interest in a device that is almost certain to be a downer for a company loved by so many. Now hold on a moment. Don’t go thinking I’m some Mac-hating PC weenie. I have both Mac gear and PC gear and I appreciate the strengths, weaknesses and differences between both. I’m typing this post on a fifteen inch Macbook Pro in fact.
But consider this for a moment from Apple’s perspective. You’re a company famed for developing what many believe to be the best user interfaces in the world. The iPod is art. No one with half a brain argues that for a moment. OSX…maybe not art, but in my experience (which spans more than twenty years) I’d be hard pressed to name a better UI and I’m certain that I can’t name a more complete one.
The thing is, if this is your reputation, and your fans tend to be die hard extremists that hold your products in near reverence; you’ve got a problem when it comes to the mobile phone.
Why? Find me one person - just a single solitary person who will honestly state that writing an email on a mobile phone is a satisfying experience. Or find me another that thinks that web-browsing on a mobile phone does not leave something to be desired. How about reading an eBook? Viewing a PDF? Or what about making a phone call on a phone-enabled PDA? I mean besides how stupid you look holding that flat square device against the side of your head or the greasy face mark you’ll leave on the display when you finally disengage it from your sweaty cheek. You see my point?
Apple can deliver nothing short of a revolution to be sucessful with a handset. A revolution along the same continuum that the Newton was on in the sense that they had all the right ideas only they executed them about twenty years too early for the necessary technologies to be fully baked. Face it, handwriting recognition still mostly sucks. Voice recognition isn’t much better for the most part and we’re still light years away from having a phone that offers all the advanced features we demand AND really good battery life. I know. I have gobs of smart phones. As a result, I have a thousand dollars worth of phone batteries too.
Maybe Apple can deliver a breakthrough in one or even two of the areas above. That would be astounding and I’m pulling for them to achive that, I really, truly am. But it’s asking a lot to expect a company, even one as revolutionary as Apple to cut to the quick of a dozen problems all at once and deliver for our yakking, hacking and grokking pleasure a mobile phone so good…so vastly superior in fact, that Steve Jobs can unveil it to a world that’s holding its breath, utter the words “isn’t she beautful?” and not end up looking like a liar…
Mark my words; Mac addicts are the toughest critics in the world. They’ve earned the right to be with the heavy refinement they’ve come to expect from the surgeons that design product for Apple. The thing is Apple’s own success will be its downfall with the phone, the expectations are simply too high and when people discover that it is after all just another phone; or figure out, god forgbid, that Nokia has actually done a better job with the N or E series devices - the failure to deliver on what was truly an impossible challenge will be mud on the face of the company the way the Newton has been for well over a decade.
No, no, no. Don’t do it Apple. The odds are so stacked against you on this one it is hard to imagine any gambling man wanting to take that bet. Of course Bill Gates plays poker so maybe he likes the odds. In fact, come to think of it he probably likes them a whole, whole lot.
Tags: i-Phone, mobile, wireless, Newton, Mac, BillGates
Categories: Analysis | Bookmark this post with del.icio.us
Cell Phones Become Car Navigation Systems
location based services
After a customer downloads the Rand McNally software, there's a $10-per-month fee for the service, the company says.
By David Haskin
TechWeb.com
May 25, 2006 09:33 AM
Rand McNally Thursday released software that the company claims will provide low-cost turn-by-turn navigation for travelers. Users can install the program on standard cell phones.
The company said that its Mobile Navigator (MONA) software uses the global positioning system (GPS) and is aimed at people who don't want to spend a lot of money for in-car navigation systems. After the user downloads the software from the Rand McNally site, there is a $10 per month fee for the service, the company said.
Users can enter their destinations using their desktop or laptop computer to access the Rand McNally site. That information is then downloaded to the phone and the user accesses those addresses through the phone's normal menu system.
"With Rand McNally MONA, anyone who needs to get from place to place can access reliable GPS navigation affordably using the cell phones they already have, without spending thousands of dollars on an in-car navigation system," Robert Apatoff, Rand McNally's CEO, said in a statement.
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Google Tops Halfway Mark For Search-Engine Market Share
location based services
Google's 50% share of the market eclipsed that of No. 2 Yahoo and No. 3 Microsoft MSN, which accounted for 22% and 11% of the market, respectively, Nielsen/NetRatings said.
By Antone Gonsalves
TechWeb.com
May 26, 2006 04:49 PM
Google in April accounted for one in two U.S. Web searches, a milestone for the search engine, a market research firm said Friday.
Google's 50 percent share of the market eclipsed that of No. 2 Yahoo and No. 3 Microsoft MSN, which accounted for 22 percent and 11 percent of the market, respectively, Nielsen/NetRatings said. Google's share grew 3 percent from the same month a year ago, while Yahoo was flat and MSN dipped 1 percent.
"It's a milestone in the sense that it's a significant accomplishment for Google to garner half of the search in the United States," Michael Lanz, vice president of search industry solutions at Nielsen/NetRatings, said. "Google is well positioned to capture the lion share of search-based advertising in the future."
The fact that Google continues to gain market share at the expense of Yahoo and MSN, shows that the latter two rivals have yet to find a way to catch the leader.
"The recent share statistics point to the extreme brand loyalty people have to Google," Lanz said. "It's obviously very hard for Yahoo and MSN to get market share, when they have such a dominant player as Google in the market."
To close the gap, Yahoo and MSN will need to show better innovation and search functionality than Google and offer consumers attractive incentives to switch, Lanz said. For smaller players, there's room in the market for search focused on specific areas, such as healthcare or real estate.
Not all the findings were bad for Google's competitors, particularly Yahoo. In terms of growth in actual number of searches, Google and Yahoo were very strong year-over-year. Google saw a 34 percent jump in April to 2.7 million, and Yahoo was up 27 percent to 1.2 million. MSN trailed with a 10 percent increase to 570,000.
Nielsen's numbers were quite a bit higher than competitor ComScore Networks, which recently said Google in April had a 43 percent share of the market, followed by Yahoo, 28 percent, and MSN, 13 percent. Estimates by market research firms often differ due to methodologies.
In addition, Google's lead in search doesn't translate into use of the most popular portal services. In that market, the search engine lags way behind rival Yahoo and in some cases MSN.
In Web mail, for example, Yahoo Mail has a 42 percent market share, followed by MSN Hotmail, 23 percent, according to Web metrics firm Hitwise. Google Gmail is far behind at less than 3 percent.
Nielsen also found in its latest report that consumers were increasingly connecting with major retail stores via search engines, underscoring the influence search has on online and offline buying. All of the top five shopping keywords in April were for brick-and-mortar stores. The retailers, in order, were Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Target, Sears & Roebuck and Best Buy.
The retailers' performance reflected a strong Web presence that encouraged consumers to buy immediately online, or offered the tools needed to do preliminary research before making an in-store purchase, Lanz said.
location based services
Google's 50% share of the market eclipsed that of No. 2 Yahoo and No. 3 Microsoft MSN, which accounted for 22% and 11% of the market, respectively, Nielsen/NetRatings said.
By Antone Gonsalves
TechWeb.com
May 26, 2006 04:49 PM
Google in April accounted for one in two U.S. Web searches, a milestone for the search engine, a market research firm said Friday.
Google's 50 percent share of the market eclipsed that of No. 2 Yahoo and No. 3 Microsoft MSN, which accounted for 22 percent and 11 percent of the market, respectively, Nielsen/NetRatings said. Google's share grew 3 percent from the same month a year ago, while Yahoo was flat and MSN dipped 1 percent.
"It's a milestone in the sense that it's a significant accomplishment for Google to garner half of the search in the United States," Michael Lanz, vice president of search industry solutions at Nielsen/NetRatings, said. "Google is well positioned to capture the lion share of search-based advertising in the future."
The fact that Google continues to gain market share at the expense of Yahoo and MSN, shows that the latter two rivals have yet to find a way to catch the leader.
"The recent share statistics point to the extreme brand loyalty people have to Google," Lanz said. "It's obviously very hard for Yahoo and MSN to get market share, when they have such a dominant player as Google in the market."
To close the gap, Yahoo and MSN will need to show better innovation and search functionality than Google and offer consumers attractive incentives to switch, Lanz said. For smaller players, there's room in the market for search focused on specific areas, such as healthcare or real estate.
Not all the findings were bad for Google's competitors, particularly Yahoo. In terms of growth in actual number of searches, Google and Yahoo were very strong year-over-year. Google saw a 34 percent jump in April to 2.7 million, and Yahoo was up 27 percent to 1.2 million. MSN trailed with a 10 percent increase to 570,000.
Nielsen's numbers were quite a bit higher than competitor ComScore Networks, which recently said Google in April had a 43 percent share of the market, followed by Yahoo, 28 percent, and MSN, 13 percent. Estimates by market research firms often differ due to methodologies.
In addition, Google's lead in search doesn't translate into use of the most popular portal services. In that market, the search engine lags way behind rival Yahoo and in some cases MSN.
In Web mail, for example, Yahoo Mail has a 42 percent market share, followed by MSN Hotmail, 23 percent, according to Web metrics firm Hitwise. Google Gmail is far behind at less than 3 percent.
Nielsen also found in its latest report that consumers were increasingly connecting with major retail stores via search engines, underscoring the influence search has on online and offline buying. All of the top five shopping keywords in April were for brick-and-mortar stores. The retailers, in order, were Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Target, Sears & Roebuck and Best Buy.
The retailers' performance reflected a strong Web presence that encouraged consumers to buy immediately online, or offered the tools needed to do preliminary research before making an in-store purchase, Lanz said.
location based services
G'day, and welcome to an exciting new world of proper online maps for Australia and New Zealand, which we added in the nick of time for our Open House event at the Google Sydney office. Google Maps doesn't yet support full address search or business search in Australia or New Zealand, but we wanted to give API developers a head start on building cool AU/NZ mashups. The Aussie and Kiwi maps are automatically available to anyone who uses v2 of the API, so please upgrade if you're still using v1.
If you see any bugs in the new maps, please let us know via the discussion forum or our feedback form.
In other news, we've released revision 2.52 of API v2. The changes in the current revision should not affect the API.
API v1 Current: 1.31
API v1 Default: 1.31
API v2 Current: 2.52
API v2 Default: 2.51
Permalink Links to this post
Revision
G'day, and welcome to an exciting new world of proper online maps for Australia and New Zealand, which we added in the nick of time for our Open House event at the Google Sydney office. Google Maps doesn't yet support full address search or business search in Australia or New Zealand, but we wanted to give API developers a head start on building cool AU/NZ mashups. The Aussie and Kiwi maps are automatically available to anyone who uses v2 of the API, so please upgrade if you're still using v1.
If you see any bugs in the new maps, please let us know via the discussion forum or our feedback form.
In other news, we've released revision 2.52 of API v2. The changes in the current revision should not affect the API.
API v1 Current: 1.31
API v1 Default: 1.31
API v2 Current: 2.52
API v2 Default: 2.51
Permalink Links to this post
Revision
Exposing the Local InfoCloud
location based services
I have spent a lot of time and effort focussing on the Personal InfoCloud, but the past year or two I have been seeing that the interaction between the person and their information resources that are closest to them (the Local InfoCloud) is extremely important. I have gone around the Local InfoCloud looking at ways to best explain it and bring it to life in a more understandable manner. This past November at Design Engaged 2005 my presentation needed me to dig into the Local InfoCloud and it various components. Since Design Engaged I have been using the slide and ideas around it to explain its relationship to the Personal InfoCloud and the "Come to Me Web". I have iterated on the idea and received some good feedback (particularly from Liz Lawley. Are you ready to dig in?
Overview of the Local InfoCloud
The Local InfoCloud started as an idea of information that was physically close. What is stored or accessed by physical location (information that is physically close) as in an Intranet or location-based information accessed on your mobile device. The more I thought about it and chatted with others it became clear it was more than physical location, it is information resources that are familiar and easier to access than the whole of the web (Global InfoCloud) as a framing concept.
As the my understanding began to lean toward familiarity as a core component of the definition of Local InfoCloud, the term began to embrace the social and community aspects (I am working on shying away from the term community as it is a broadly used term and I am trying to be a little more precise). Interactions with people, services, networks, applications, etc. that are familiar are means of bringing information closer to us as people with data, information, and media needs. The Local InfoCloud eases access. It eases the ability to find and refind information. It is information that is closer to us, not necessarily in physical proximity, but in the ability to access, in which familiarity is bread.
I spent much time considering changing the label from local to community or social, but there were elements that did not perfectly fit that either. Location-based services may be created by a service, but understanding the mindset, terminology, dialect, and cognitive frameworks that are germane to that physical location the information can be structured to resemble or mirror the social elements of understanding in that place. I will get to a better understanding of this when I talk about the Location aspect of the Local InfoCloud. As well, thinking in the Model of Attraction framework the Local InfoCloud is that which is attracted closer to us than the Global InfoCloud.
Important Attributes
There are some attributes that are important to the Local InfoCloud and separate it from the Global InfoCloud and ease the ability to integrate or draw the information and/or media in to the Personal InfoCloud.
Familiarity
As mentioned above familiarity is an essential attribute. Familiarity can be through vocabulary and terminology used to describe or discuss information and objects that people are trying to find and use. The taxonomy or germane ontologies are important to understand as they help ease the connection between the person seeking the information and objects and those providing it.
Access
Access to a resource is very important as it is in the ease of access that we rely on the Local InfoCloud. There is information that is in systems or in locations that others can not get to (that would make it in other's Eternal InfoCloud), but ability to get to the information is important. The ability to get back to the information (through password locked systems, access only by location, etc.) that dictates access is a key attribute.
Structure
Structure is a key attribute in the seeking, finding, and refinding information and objects. In a physical neighborhood we know that a corner store is on the corner, but in a portal we know that movie reviews have a certain URL structure and/or that we can click on a Entertainment button/link to get to the page that links to the movie reviews. Reading one movie review in a familiar site we know how to get to other movie reviews. These browsing structures allow the person to interact and attract information to their screen easily.
Known Actions
Known actions are the element in peoples lives that provide patterns that can be repeated to get to what the person desires. Many times people know how to get to, or more appropriately get back to what they are interested in through indirect connections. A favorite resource may be on a friend's link page as they have not set a direct means to connect to that source or to even draw that information to them to cut down the effort expended. Applications and location-based information are other environments that depend upon known actions to connect people to that which they desire.
Consistency
Consistency is a main attribute driver to our use and reuse of a component in the Local InfoCloud. Consistency breeds familiarity as people learn the terminology, can bookmark, use the known actions to get back to information, or guess how to get access to other items of interest. Having URL structures that are consistent provides a means to get at open information as well as permits the person to restructure means to keep that information closer to them (external social bookmarking as an example).
Copy, Point & Tether
Copy, Point & Tether are actions that a person can take to move information from a Local InfoCloud to the Personal InfoCloud. The attributes are germane to the Personal InfoCloud, but also have importance in the Local InfoCloud often the Local InfoCloud embraces these concepts to ease these actions.
When a person finds data, information, or media objects of interest they most often do one of three things: Copy the item to keep it close (hard drive, flash drive, scan to a drive, scrape to a drive, etc.); Point to the location where the information is located (bookmark, link, blog, wiki, etc.); or Tether the item which is desired by copying or pointing, but then setting a means to get notified when that item has been changed, updated, moved, etc. through tools like RSS/ATOM, e-mail, a pinging service, etc. The tethering is insanely important for items that are anything but completely static over the very long-term (think years not shorter) and it will be getting its own long write-up in the future (subscribe to the RSS here to tether your interest to the future content).
Components
Now we can look at the components that can comprise the Local InfoCloud. Each of these have one or more of the attributes. The components are digital and physical in nature. Components may or may not be exclusive, as some Local InfoCloud resources may be comprised of more than one component.
Location
Location was the first component of the Local InfoCloud I considered. Location is important as the physical place has characteristics that draw various attributes together. Location often has a familiarity with terms and language that frame the items within it. The structure of the physical surroundings play an important part in how and where things are located in that location. Tools that are implemented by location are kiosks, GPS/location-based information systems, games that use physical space to provide rewards or clues, language translation tools that are needed in a location, physical location can provide, ease, hinder or censor access to information, and access points to get information can be germane to location (mobile devices need local permissions to access services, etc.).
Friends (and Family)
There is one area that is often over looked as friends and family are not always digital resources, but can provide incredible means of information. Knowing a friend (or she has a good friend) who is an expert in the subject that we need understanding of is very helpful. We can call or visit that person, but we can also e-mail, chat, or have a video conversation with the person to get access to the information or knowledge. In social networks it is common that people will use those whom they are most familiar as a resource to get access to stored knowledge or use the person as a ready pointer to how to get the items they need. Access and familiarity are very strong attributes with friends and family. Often we do not have to tap the person to get the information, but the friend will e-mail us a pointer that they believe we have an interest in consuming. We can save e-mail (as that pointer or container of information is structured by a face or name we have known connections and have put them in context, much in the way they do with us.
A person's preferred method becomes a known action for us. We know the times we can tap somebody with a question or what tools they prefer to communicate using. We know friends who love to talk and their best means of interaction is the phone or an audio chat, while others are more apt to respond to e-mail, text chat, text messaging on their mobile device, or respond to a blog post. Over time we learn not only what is easy to get from whom, but the best means to interact to get the what we desire.
Near in Thought
We have resources that we rely upon because we have similar taste, interest, and/or perspectives on the genre or facet of life the resource covers, more directly these resources are near in thought to us. Politics is an easy example as the terminology used in and around the items we are seeking is known to us and we have expectations that we will like or agree with what is provided from that resource. Beyond politics we have resources with similar interests, perspectives and taste that help filter and provide easier access to items we desire. These resources are not only familiar but they often are structured in a manner that we understand the naming conventions for categories and other resource are easy for use to use and predict what will be brought closer to us through actions. These resources may be whole web sites, journals, writers, blogs, periodicals, etc.
Affiliations
In our life we belong to many groups. These groups have their own terminology and structures for things. Some of these affiliations will be easy to grasp how to access the resources at first opportunity, while others will come through enculturation of learning the structures and terminology. Through consistancy of the affiliations we increase our ability to use these resources to our benefit.
Organizations
Organizations are things we can belong to or join, like a knitting group, local chapter of a national affinity society, etc. These memberships in the organizations allow greater interaction with others with similar interests and/or needs. Organizations can have gated resources that are only access through membership or affiliation with that group.
Work
Work was the initial driver behind the Local InfoCloud as it was information and resources on an Intranet that was the initial understanding of local. But, work also has its own terminology, known actions, and structure. Over time we learn the resources, both digital, physical, and human that provide us access to information and knowledge.
Social Software
Social software can be device-based or network-based (web, internet, intranet, etc.) and the software builds consistency, structure, and known actions over time. If the software is built well the hurdles will be low to understanding how to get at the items we want and need. The software connects people and provides individuals the ability to contribute content and connect with others with similar interest and needs. Social software may connect people over time in an asynchronous manner as a person can leave an answer to a question at one point in time, but everybody with that same question or interest will have the capability to get to the same answer and potentially connect with that person as a known expert/resource through time.
The software becomes the conduit for connecting people and the data, information, and media the people share and/or discuss and augment. It also provides the means to connect people who are near in thought. It is one means for us to share things we would like feedback on. Social software mitigates distance for connecting people around common interests and can mitigate time as we do not need to be on at the same time to interact. Some examples are online discussion groups, listserves, social bookmarking, social networking, blogs, chat software, etc.
Portals
Portals in this meaning are the large aggregation sites that collect information and media into a familiar interface. Tools like AOL, Yahoo, news sites, aggregated shopping sites, etc. are portals with familiar structures that are consistent. Portals make a learnable interface to a variety of data, information, and media objects. Some are interest-based, while others are extremely broad. Similar to a newspaper or magazine the portal has one set of structures to grasp and access remains constant over time. We will easily know where to find movie reviews, car sales, discussion lists, various genre of news, etc.
Wrap-up
This is still a work in progress to some degree. Feedback on these attributes and components is always welcome. There may be some editing to this page, but more than likely the modifications will be in pages and posts that follow-on under this Local InfoCloud category.
May 27, 2006 in Acc
location based services
I have spent a lot of time and effort focussing on the Personal InfoCloud, but the past year or two I have been seeing that the interaction between the person and their information resources that are closest to them (the Local InfoCloud) is extremely important. I have gone around the Local InfoCloud looking at ways to best explain it and bring it to life in a more understandable manner. This past November at Design Engaged 2005 my presentation needed me to dig into the Local InfoCloud and it various components. Since Design Engaged I have been using the slide and ideas around it to explain its relationship to the Personal InfoCloud and the "Come to Me Web". I have iterated on the idea and received some good feedback (particularly from Liz Lawley. Are you ready to dig in?
Overview of the Local InfoCloud
The Local InfoCloud started as an idea of information that was physically close. What is stored or accessed by physical location (information that is physically close) as in an Intranet or location-based information accessed on your mobile device. The more I thought about it and chatted with others it became clear it was more than physical location, it is information resources that are familiar and easier to access than the whole of the web (Global InfoCloud) as a framing concept.
As the my understanding began to lean toward familiarity as a core component of the definition of Local InfoCloud, the term began to embrace the social and community aspects (I am working on shying away from the term community as it is a broadly used term and I am trying to be a little more precise). Interactions with people, services, networks, applications, etc. that are familiar are means of bringing information closer to us as people with data, information, and media needs. The Local InfoCloud eases access. It eases the ability to find and refind information. It is information that is closer to us, not necessarily in physical proximity, but in the ability to access, in which familiarity is bread.
I spent much time considering changing the label from local to community or social, but there were elements that did not perfectly fit that either. Location-based services may be created by a service, but understanding the mindset, terminology, dialect, and cognitive frameworks that are germane to that physical location the information can be structured to resemble or mirror the social elements of understanding in that place. I will get to a better understanding of this when I talk about the Location aspect of the Local InfoCloud. As well, thinking in the Model of Attraction framework the Local InfoCloud is that which is attracted closer to us than the Global InfoCloud.
Important Attributes
There are some attributes that are important to the Local InfoCloud and separate it from the Global InfoCloud and ease the ability to integrate or draw the information and/or media in to the Personal InfoCloud.
Familiarity
As mentioned above familiarity is an essential attribute. Familiarity can be through vocabulary and terminology used to describe or discuss information and objects that people are trying to find and use. The taxonomy or germane ontologies are important to understand as they help ease the connection between the person seeking the information and objects and those providing it.
Access
Access to a resource is very important as it is in the ease of access that we rely on the Local InfoCloud. There is information that is in systems or in locations that others can not get to (that would make it in other's Eternal InfoCloud), but ability to get to the information is important. The ability to get back to the information (through password locked systems, access only by location, etc.) that dictates access is a key attribute.
Structure
Structure is a key attribute in the seeking, finding, and refinding information and objects. In a physical neighborhood we know that a corner store is on the corner, but in a portal we know that movie reviews have a certain URL structure and/or that we can click on a Entertainment button/link to get to the page that links to the movie reviews. Reading one movie review in a familiar site we know how to get to other movie reviews. These browsing structures allow the person to interact and attract information to their screen easily.
Known Actions
Known actions are the element in peoples lives that provide patterns that can be repeated to get to what the person desires. Many times people know how to get to, or more appropriately get back to what they are interested in through indirect connections. A favorite resource may be on a friend's link page as they have not set a direct means to connect to that source or to even draw that information to them to cut down the effort expended. Applications and location-based information are other environments that depend upon known actions to connect people to that which they desire.
Consistency
Consistency is a main attribute driver to our use and reuse of a component in the Local InfoCloud. Consistency breeds familiarity as people learn the terminology, can bookmark, use the known actions to get back to information, or guess how to get access to other items of interest. Having URL structures that are consistent provides a means to get at open information as well as permits the person to restructure means to keep that information closer to them (external social bookmarking as an example).
Copy, Point & Tether
Copy, Point & Tether are actions that a person can take to move information from a Local InfoCloud to the Personal InfoCloud. The attributes are germane to the Personal InfoCloud, but also have importance in the Local InfoCloud often the Local InfoCloud embraces these concepts to ease these actions.
When a person finds data, information, or media objects of interest they most often do one of three things: Copy the item to keep it close (hard drive, flash drive, scan to a drive, scrape to a drive, etc.); Point to the location where the information is located (bookmark, link, blog, wiki, etc.); or Tether the item which is desired by copying or pointing, but then setting a means to get notified when that item has been changed, updated, moved, etc. through tools like RSS/ATOM, e-mail, a pinging service, etc. The tethering is insanely important for items that are anything but completely static over the very long-term (think years not shorter) and it will be getting its own long write-up in the future (subscribe to the RSS here to tether your interest to the future content).
Components
Now we can look at the components that can comprise the Local InfoCloud. Each of these have one or more of the attributes. The components are digital and physical in nature. Components may or may not be exclusive, as some Local InfoCloud resources may be comprised of more than one component.
Location
Location was the first component of the Local InfoCloud I considered. Location is important as the physical place has characteristics that draw various attributes together. Location often has a familiarity with terms and language that frame the items within it. The structure of the physical surroundings play an important part in how and where things are located in that location. Tools that are implemented by location are kiosks, GPS/location-based information systems, games that use physical space to provide rewards or clues, language translation tools that are needed in a location, physical location can provide, ease, hinder or censor access to information, and access points to get information can be germane to location (mobile devices need local permissions to access services, etc.).
Friends (and Family)
There is one area that is often over looked as friends and family are not always digital resources, but can provide incredible means of information. Knowing a friend (or she has a good friend) who is an expert in the subject that we need understanding of is very helpful. We can call or visit that person, but we can also e-mail, chat, or have a video conversation with the person to get access to the information or knowledge. In social networks it is common that people will use those whom they are most familiar as a resource to get access to stored knowledge or use the person as a ready pointer to how to get the items they need. Access and familiarity are very strong attributes with friends and family. Often we do not have to tap the person to get the information, but the friend will e-mail us a pointer that they believe we have an interest in consuming. We can save e-mail (as that pointer or container of information is structured by a face or name we have known connections and have put them in context, much in the way they do with us.
A person's preferred method becomes a known action for us. We know the times we can tap somebody with a question or what tools they prefer to communicate using. We know friends who love to talk and their best means of interaction is the phone or an audio chat, while others are more apt to respond to e-mail, text chat, text messaging on their mobile device, or respond to a blog post. Over time we learn not only what is easy to get from whom, but the best means to interact to get the what we desire.
Near in Thought
We have resources that we rely upon because we have similar taste, interest, and/or perspectives on the genre or facet of life the resource covers, more directly these resources are near in thought to us. Politics is an easy example as the terminology used in and around the items we are seeking is known to us and we have expectations that we will like or agree with what is provided from that resource. Beyond politics we have resources with similar interests, perspectives and taste that help filter and provide easier access to items we desire. These resources are not only familiar but they often are structured in a manner that we understand the naming conventions for categories and other resource are easy for use to use and predict what will be brought closer to us through actions. These resources may be whole web sites, journals, writers, blogs, periodicals, etc.
Affiliations
In our life we belong to many groups. These groups have their own terminology and structures for things. Some of these affiliations will be easy to grasp how to access the resources at first opportunity, while others will come through enculturation of learning the structures and terminology. Through consistancy of the affiliations we increase our ability to use these resources to our benefit.
Organizations
Organizations are things we can belong to or join, like a knitting group, local chapter of a national affinity society, etc. These memberships in the organizations allow greater interaction with others with similar interests and/or needs. Organizations can have gated resources that are only access through membership or affiliation with that group.
Work
Work was the initial driver behind the Local InfoCloud as it was information and resources on an Intranet that was the initial understanding of local. But, work also has its own terminology, known actions, and structure. Over time we learn the resources, both digital, physical, and human that provide us access to information and knowledge.
Social Software
Social software can be device-based or network-based (web, internet, intranet, etc.) and the software builds consistency, structure, and known actions over time. If the software is built well the hurdles will be low to understanding how to get at the items we want and need. The software connects people and provides individuals the ability to contribute content and connect with others with similar interest and needs. Social software may connect people over time in an asynchronous manner as a person can leave an answer to a question at one point in time, but everybody with that same question or interest will have the capability to get to the same answer and potentially connect with that person as a known expert/resource through time.
The software becomes the conduit for connecting people and the data, information, and media the people share and/or discuss and augment. It also provides the means to connect people who are near in thought. It is one means for us to share things we would like feedback on. Social software mitigates distance for connecting people around common interests and can mitigate time as we do not need to be on at the same time to interact. Some examples are online discussion groups, listserves, social bookmarking, social networking, blogs, chat software, etc.
Portals
Portals in this meaning are the large aggregation sites that collect information and media into a familiar interface. Tools like AOL, Yahoo, news sites, aggregated shopping sites, etc. are portals with familiar structures that are consistent. Portals make a learnable interface to a variety of data, information, and media objects. Some are interest-based, while others are extremely broad. Similar to a newspaper or magazine the portal has one set of structures to grasp and access remains constant over time. We will easily know where to find movie reviews, car sales, discussion lists, various genre of news, etc.
Wrap-up
This is still a work in progress to some degree. Feedback on these attributes and components is always welcome. There may be some editing to this page, but more than likely the modifications will be in pages and posts that follow-on under this Local InfoCloud category.
May 27, 2006 in Acc
Friday, May 26, 2006
Google moves into virtual worlds
location based services
By combining satellite maps and 3-D software, Google Earth is turning into a virtual online playground.
By Chris Taylor, Business 2.0 Magazine senior editor
May 12, 2006: 3:35 PM EDT
Sign up for the Future Boy e-mail newsletter
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - It's Google's world. We just live in it.
Online virtual worlds are a hot topic, as gamers spend more and more time playing online and virtual real estate turns into a real market. Now Google (Research) is getting into the business -- and if its plans come to fruition, the virtual world will never be the same. In fact, it may look more like the world we know than futurists ever imagined.
More from Business 2.0
10 fast-growing tech stocks
Where the tech jobs are now
Fastest-growing tech companies
Fastest Growing Tech Companies
Current Issue
Subscribe to Business 2.0
Google already has Google Earth, a 3-D mockup of the planet generated from satellite photos. But Google wants you to do more than just zoom through its virtual Earth. The company wants you to add on to it, too.
At the end of April the company released, for free, a popular 3-D modeling program it bought called SketchUp. Google is encouraging developers to use SketchUp to build 3-D layers on top of Google Earth. There's even a website Google provides called 3-D Warehouse, where you can demonstrate what you've built in Sketch Up.
Enter the metaverse
The notion that you can create objects and buildings and place them in a virtual world makes Google Earth sounds less like a mapping tool and more like a metaverse. What's a metaverse? Science fiction writer Neal Stephenson introduced the term in his seminal 1992 novel, Snow Crash. The metaverse was Stephenson's name for a virtual world where his characters play and do business. It was a black ball 1.6 times the size of Earth, with a giant street running around its equator.
In Stephenson's novel, millions of users uploaded customized "avatars," or virtual personalities, and strolled the street, entering shops and exclusive nightclubs, conversing and trading with the metaverse's other denizens. It was, in effect, a 3-D version of the web.
Online worlds like Second Life and There.com – not to mention online games like World of Warcraft, Lineage, and EverQuest -- are direct descendants of the metaverse vision. Entrepreneurs like Second Life creator Anshe Chung have demonstrated how to run very profitable businesses trading online real estate, avatars, and other virtual goods -- businesses that have no physical presence in the real world.
But as popular as they are, virtual worlds like these are hardly mainstream. They're a little hard to navigate, and a little too videogame-like for the average user. It's hard to imagine your mom running around in Second Life, let alone World of Warcraft.
Googling the planet
It is, however, pretty easy to imagine your mom downloading and using Google Earth (indeed, perhaps she already is).
You can already download user-generated layers that sit on top of Google's 3-D Earth and show you, for example, the location of celebrity houses or hiking trails or famous landmarks. One dating service has even started showing people looking for partners as a Google Earth layer.
Real estate companies have started showing off virtual versions of their buildings (for sale in the real world) on Google Earth. SketchUp allows them to build entire models of their apartments, right down to the microwave oven.
Where will it end? Google Earth general manager John Hanke has said that Google Earth was partly inspired by Snow Crash's metaverse. At a recent Silicon Valley conference, he described it as a "3-D virtual world."
A virtual Earth
The result could be that we'll soon populate a virtual version of planet Earth instead of the made-from-scratch metaverses like online games or Second Life. The main element Google Earth is missing today is avatars, but at least one observer believes those to be added soon.
"I would expect to see someone using Google Earth as a virtual social space by the end of the year," says Jerry Paffendorf, research director of the Acceleration Studies Foundation, a futurist organization.
Paffendorf isn't just sitting around waiting for the metaverse to happen, either. Last weekend he helped arrange something called the Metaverse Roadmap Summit, a gathering of programmers of virtual worlds.
The idea of the summit was to outline how we're going to get from here to the metaverse in ten years. There were major disagreements between the attendees, most notably between those who believe the Web should stay as a 2-D environment with 3-D components, and those who want the Web to become a 3-D metaverse-like environment where your avatar can call up 2-D screens if and when they need to – say, for a word-processing program.
Those in the latter camp believe, like Paffendorf, that Google Earth is the most likely candidate to become a metaverse. Just add avatars, they say, and the possibilities are endless.
Consumers could fly into the virtual New York, go shopping in a virtual Times Square, get past the velvet rope at a virtual Studio 54 and chat with an avatar dressed as Andy Warhol. They could plan their next trip to the real New York in meticulous detail, become a detective in a Gotham noir, browse an apartment for sale, or jump into a taxi and play a driving game.
There are, in short, many more opportunities in a virtual version of the real world than in an entirely fantastical world like Second Life -- or indeed Stephenson's original vision of the metaverse.
It's early days yet, but if Google Earth continues to develop as it has since its release a mere year ago, and if developers continue to build 3-D content and businesses continue to explore using layers, then the possibilities are as boundless as the planet.
By 2016, Google Earth should be a very crowded place indeed.
____________________________________________
For a profile of virtual land baron Anshe Chung, click here.
To send a letter to the editor about this story, click here.
location based services
By combining satellite maps and 3-D software, Google Earth is turning into a virtual online playground.
By Chris Taylor, Business 2.0 Magazine senior editor
May 12, 2006: 3:35 PM EDT
Sign up for the Future Boy e-mail newsletter
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - It's Google's world. We just live in it.
Online virtual worlds are a hot topic, as gamers spend more and more time playing online and virtual real estate turns into a real market. Now Google (Research) is getting into the business -- and if its plans come to fruition, the virtual world will never be the same. In fact, it may look more like the world we know than futurists ever imagined.
More from Business 2.0
10 fast-growing tech stocks
Where the tech jobs are now
Fastest-growing tech companies
Fastest Growing Tech Companies
Current Issue
Subscribe to Business 2.0
Google already has Google Earth, a 3-D mockup of the planet generated from satellite photos. But Google wants you to do more than just zoom through its virtual Earth. The company wants you to add on to it, too.
At the end of April the company released, for free, a popular 3-D modeling program it bought called SketchUp. Google is encouraging developers to use SketchUp to build 3-D layers on top of Google Earth. There's even a website Google provides called 3-D Warehouse, where you can demonstrate what you've built in Sketch Up.
Enter the metaverse
The notion that you can create objects and buildings and place them in a virtual world makes Google Earth sounds less like a mapping tool and more like a metaverse. What's a metaverse? Science fiction writer Neal Stephenson introduced the term in his seminal 1992 novel, Snow Crash. The metaverse was Stephenson's name for a virtual world where his characters play and do business. It was a black ball 1.6 times the size of Earth, with a giant street running around its equator.
In Stephenson's novel, millions of users uploaded customized "avatars," or virtual personalities, and strolled the street, entering shops and exclusive nightclubs, conversing and trading with the metaverse's other denizens. It was, in effect, a 3-D version of the web.
Online worlds like Second Life and There.com – not to mention online games like World of Warcraft, Lineage, and EverQuest -- are direct descendants of the metaverse vision. Entrepreneurs like Second Life creator Anshe Chung have demonstrated how to run very profitable businesses trading online real estate, avatars, and other virtual goods -- businesses that have no physical presence in the real world.
But as popular as they are, virtual worlds like these are hardly mainstream. They're a little hard to navigate, and a little too videogame-like for the average user. It's hard to imagine your mom running around in Second Life, let alone World of Warcraft.
Googling the planet
It is, however, pretty easy to imagine your mom downloading and using Google Earth (indeed, perhaps she already is).
You can already download user-generated layers that sit on top of Google's 3-D Earth and show you, for example, the location of celebrity houses or hiking trails or famous landmarks. One dating service has even started showing people looking for partners as a Google Earth layer.
Real estate companies have started showing off virtual versions of their buildings (for sale in the real world) on Google Earth. SketchUp allows them to build entire models of their apartments, right down to the microwave oven.
Where will it end? Google Earth general manager John Hanke has said that Google Earth was partly inspired by Snow Crash's metaverse. At a recent Silicon Valley conference, he described it as a "3-D virtual world."
A virtual Earth
The result could be that we'll soon populate a virtual version of planet Earth instead of the made-from-scratch metaverses like online games or Second Life. The main element Google Earth is missing today is avatars, but at least one observer believes those to be added soon.
"I would expect to see someone using Google Earth as a virtual social space by the end of the year," says Jerry Paffendorf, research director of the Acceleration Studies Foundation, a futurist organization.
Paffendorf isn't just sitting around waiting for the metaverse to happen, either. Last weekend he helped arrange something called the Metaverse Roadmap Summit, a gathering of programmers of virtual worlds.
The idea of the summit was to outline how we're going to get from here to the metaverse in ten years. There were major disagreements between the attendees, most notably between those who believe the Web should stay as a 2-D environment with 3-D components, and those who want the Web to become a 3-D metaverse-like environment where your avatar can call up 2-D screens if and when they need to – say, for a word-processing program.
Those in the latter camp believe, like Paffendorf, that Google Earth is the most likely candidate to become a metaverse. Just add avatars, they say, and the possibilities are endless.
Consumers could fly into the virtual New York, go shopping in a virtual Times Square, get past the velvet rope at a virtual Studio 54 and chat with an avatar dressed as Andy Warhol. They could plan their next trip to the real New York in meticulous detail, become a detective in a Gotham noir, browse an apartment for sale, or jump into a taxi and play a driving game.
There are, in short, many more opportunities in a virtual version of the real world than in an entirely fantastical world like Second Life -- or indeed Stephenson's original vision of the metaverse.
It's early days yet, but if Google Earth continues to develop as it has since its release a mere year ago, and if developers continue to build 3-D content and businesses continue to explore using layers, then the possibilities are as boundless as the planet.
By 2016, Google Earth should be a very crowded place indeed.
____________________________________________
For a profile of virtual land baron Anshe Chung, click here.
To send a letter to the editor about this story, click here.
Integrating Google Maps with Yahoo Geo-Coding
location based services
We have recently integrated an application with Google Maps to graphically display key locations. The process is quite simple. Google made Javascript APIs that can be easily integrated with existing codes. Amazingly, this nifty feature can be implemented with less than 15 lines of code.
The first step is to sign up for the API key. This generates a key string that will be included in your script to serve as your identity. Afterwards, update your page to include the necessary javascripts. This is generally an easy task for intermediate programmers. I’d rather not explain the code as Google made reasonable efforts to document the API. It took me about 15 mins to get the sample code running, a few hours to customize the page and integrate with our database. Viola!
One issue was upon us though, Google maps require latitude and longitude information about the locations. Our database contain only address information. What we need is a geo-coding functionality that can translate a physical address into long/lat. There are some open-source projects for geo-coding, but the best we have tested is Yahoo Maps. How ironic, we’re using Yahoo Maps for geo-coding which will be fed to Google maps for viewing.
The process of using Yahoo Maps API is quite simple too. First step is to sign-up for an application ID. Then construct a REST command to issue the query. The syntax is well documented, too. So, the solution is to provide a lat/long “lookup” button within your data entry screen. For usability, we applied Ajax codes to perform the on-the-fly lookup. Due to some security issues with the browser connecting directly to yahoo maps URL, we ended up calling our server which in turn makes the request to Yahoo URL. Here is the js script that makes the call and here is Java code snippet that process the request.
Now, the solution is complete. We have Google maps to display the graphical maps based on lat/long stored in the database and Yahoo geo-coding to translate a physical address to lat/long. This is what I call Web 2.0 integration.
Posted in AJAX | Tags ajax, google, maps, yahoo | no comments | no trackbacks
location based services
We have recently integrated an application with Google Maps to graphically display key locations. The process is quite simple. Google made Javascript APIs that can be easily integrated with existing codes. Amazingly, this nifty feature can be implemented with less than 15 lines of code.
The first step is to sign up for the API key. This generates a key string that will be included in your script to serve as your identity. Afterwards, update your page to include the necessary javascripts. This is generally an easy task for intermediate programmers. I’d rather not explain the code as Google made reasonable efforts to document the API. It took me about 15 mins to get the sample code running, a few hours to customize the page and integrate with our database. Viola!
One issue was upon us though, Google maps require latitude and longitude information about the locations. Our database contain only address information. What we need is a geo-coding functionality that can translate a physical address into long/lat. There are some open-source projects for geo-coding, but the best we have tested is Yahoo Maps. How ironic, we’re using Yahoo Maps for geo-coding which will be fed to Google maps for viewing.
The process of using Yahoo Maps API is quite simple too. First step is to sign-up for an application ID. Then construct a REST command to issue the query. The syntax is well documented, too. So, the solution is to provide a lat/long “lookup” button within your data entry screen. For usability, we applied Ajax codes to perform the on-the-fly lookup. Due to some security issues with the browser connecting directly to yahoo maps URL, we ended up calling our server which in turn makes the request to Yahoo URL. Here is the js script that makes the call and here is Java code snippet that process the request.
Now, the solution is complete. We have Google maps to display the graphical maps based on lat/long stored in the database and Yahoo geo-coding to translate a physical address to lat/long. This is what I call Web 2.0 integration.
Posted in AJAX | Tags ajax, google, maps, yahoo | no comments | no trackbacks
Lazy Guide to Net Culture: The Empire Brokeback
location based services
If you want to appear like you're at the cutting edge of net culture but can't be bothered to spend hours online, then never fear. Scotsman.com's pathetic team of geeks, freaks and gimps will do the hard work for you. While you sip wine, read a book or engage in normal social interaction, they will burn out their retinas staring at badly designed web pages and dodge creeps in chatrooms to prepare for you: Scotsman.com's lazy guide to net culture.
I've long been into mashups.
Before I set any tittilating hares running, this is not some kind of web-based perversion involving multiple partners or indeed potatoes.
A "mashup" is a Web 2.0 term. Now, that normally means "bullshit jargon about the concept community that causes excitement in 0.01 per cent of the population". In this case, though, it means cool online gadgets.
Simply put, a mashup takes what one net company does and does something else with it. This is a simple definition. Anyone who cares enough to correct this is more than welcome to get a life.
An example of how it all works is the US site HousingMaps.com, which mixes up Google Maps and the properties for sale or rent in Craig's List without being affiliated with either of them. The result is a great service which shows houses available on a very flexible, easy-to-use map.
A British equivalent would be OnOneMap.com, which again takes information from a variety of house sellers and displays them on a map. As a result I've spent the past few minutes day-dreaming about lottery wins and living in Wester Ross. (I have to say it's coverage of Edinburgh could be better - the house for sale at the bottom of my street is not listed. Nor are others that appear on Property.scotsman.com.)
My all-time favourite mashup is Flickr Toys, which lets you mess around with any pictures you find on the photo-sharing site Flickr . I've raved about this before but you can turn the pics into motivational posters, mock magazine covers and bags of other things.
My love for combining clever things has reached a zenith not in a mashup but in a movie. For your delectation and the provocation of tears of laughter may I present: The Empire Brokeback?
Using snips of footage from Star Wars and music from the homosexual tear-jerker Brokeback Mountain, the spoof trailer casts the relationship between C-3P0 and R2-D2 in a whole new light. It starts with the tag line: "It was a friendship…that became a rebel alliance." Real quotes from Star Wars suddenly appear to have different meaning: "Looks like you boys have seen a lot of action." The piece de resistance is R2-D2's dialogue. The trademark clicks and whistles are subtitled with lines from the cowboy film, such as: "I wish I knew how to quit you."
The are many similar parodies but this is one of the best I've seen. Maybe not all Web 2.0 is bullshit.
But the funniest thing online at the moment is the footage of the BBC interviewing a taxi driver about music downloads while suffering from the delusion that he is an IT expert. He makes a pretty good fist of dealing with the issues, but the look of terror on his face is hilarious. Edit: It now emerges he was not a taxi driver, but a graduate waiting for a job interview with the Beeb. And the BBC have even interviewed him again about their cock-up. Presumably they told him he was on air this time...
Related topic
location based services
If you want to appear like you're at the cutting edge of net culture but can't be bothered to spend hours online, then never fear. Scotsman.com's pathetic team of geeks, freaks and gimps will do the hard work for you. While you sip wine, read a book or engage in normal social interaction, they will burn out their retinas staring at badly designed web pages and dodge creeps in chatrooms to prepare for you: Scotsman.com's lazy guide to net culture.
I've long been into mashups.
Before I set any tittilating hares running, this is not some kind of web-based perversion involving multiple partners or indeed potatoes.
A "mashup" is a Web 2.0 term. Now, that normally means "bullshit jargon about the concept community that causes excitement in 0.01 per cent of the population". In this case, though, it means cool online gadgets.
Simply put, a mashup takes what one net company does and does something else with it. This is a simple definition. Anyone who cares enough to correct this is more than welcome to get a life.
An example of how it all works is the US site HousingMaps.com, which mixes up Google Maps and the properties for sale or rent in Craig's List without being affiliated with either of them. The result is a great service which shows houses available on a very flexible, easy-to-use map.
A British equivalent would be OnOneMap.com, which again takes information from a variety of house sellers and displays them on a map. As a result I've spent the past few minutes day-dreaming about lottery wins and living in Wester Ross. (I have to say it's coverage of Edinburgh could be better - the house for sale at the bottom of my street is not listed. Nor are others that appear on Property.scotsman.com.)
My all-time favourite mashup is Flickr Toys, which lets you mess around with any pictures you find on the photo-sharing site Flickr . I've raved about this before but you can turn the pics into motivational posters, mock magazine covers and bags of other things.
My love for combining clever things has reached a zenith not in a mashup but in a movie. For your delectation and the provocation of tears of laughter may I present: The Empire Brokeback?
Using snips of footage from Star Wars and music from the homosexual tear-jerker Brokeback Mountain, the spoof trailer casts the relationship between C-3P0 and R2-D2 in a whole new light. It starts with the tag line: "It was a friendship…that became a rebel alliance." Real quotes from Star Wars suddenly appear to have different meaning: "Looks like you boys have seen a lot of action." The piece de resistance is R2-D2's dialogue. The trademark clicks and whistles are subtitled with lines from the cowboy film, such as: "I wish I knew how to quit you."
The are many similar parodies but this is one of the best I've seen. Maybe not all Web 2.0 is bullshit.
But the funniest thing online at the moment is the footage of the BBC interviewing a taxi driver about music downloads while suffering from the delusion that he is an IT expert. He makes a pretty good fist of dealing with the issues, but the look of terror on his face is hilarious. Edit: It now emerges he was not a taxi driver, but a graduate waiting for a job interview with the Beeb. And the BBC have even interviewed him again about their cock-up. Presumably they told him he was on air this time...
Related topic
Google finally puts Australia on the map
location based services
Advertisement
AdvertisementBy Louisa Hearn
May 19, 2006
Google overnight sneaked out much anticipated street mapping data for Australia and New Zealand cities within Google Maps in a move that is likely to spur a frenzy of mapping mash-up activity.
While the Google Earth application has captured the imagination of the world with its 3D satellite images, Google Maps offers businesses a means of overlaying their own data or statistics over detailed street maps on their web site.
An obvious application is in real estate where available properties can be plotted onto a map for the benefit of house hunters.
A "mash-up" typically mixes different types of data such as geographic data overlayed on an interactive map. In countries where Google street map data is available, more mash-ups have sprung up each day and range from the quirky to the very practical.
'Dig to the Centre of Earth' will tell you where you would end up if you dug right through to the other side of the planet and the Da Vinci Tour tracks all the landmarks from the Dan Brown novel.
On the less frivolous side is the Dublin Commuter Map which provides links into realtime GPS data linked to trains to give accurate timetable information.
Until now, Australians have only had access to satellite data and maps on Google Maps which excluded place names, roads and streets.
While the addition of city street names does not yet add up to a full local Google Maps service, the company said it served as an initial step in bringing Australian data to Google Maps.
"With this enhancement, developers in Australia can also begin using the Google Maps API to integrate the product with their website," Google said.
Mike Pegg, who maintains the Google Maps Mania blog said he expected a lot of mash-up activity in Australia given the enthusiastic uptake so far.
He said some existing Australian Google Maps mash-ups had already laid their data over basic satellite imagery while others had begun to turn to alternative mapping sources to substitute the lack of street maps from Google.
"Of all countries in the world that didn't yet have street maps there were already a lot of mash-ups being created in Australia, so I am anticipating really great mash-ups from there and I think it will transform a lot of industries," he said.
Local developers who have been holding out for the more detailed Google city street map data will now be able to start mashing up creations using the Google Maps API - a free toolkit for building an overlay map for location-based data sources.
For those without developer skills to work with the APIs, online tools such as www.communitywalk.com and www.wayfaring.com offer an alternative method of overlaying data onto the maps.
Google first launched Google Maps early last year, which included street maps in USA and Canada. Soon after it introduced street maps for Ireland and Japan and more recently expanded it across Europe.
>>MashUp
Google Cartography
location based services
car·tog·ra·phy n. The art or technique of making maps or charts.
Google Cartography uses the Google Search API to build a visual representation of the interconnectivity of streets in an area.
This application takes a starting street and finds streets which intersect with it. Traversing the streets in a breadth-first manner, further intersections are discovered. Eventually a connected graph is produced showing the interconnectivity of streets flowing from the starting street.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
3G handsets drive European market
location based services
The Western european market grew in Q1 by 11 percent year on year to reach 40.7 million units, according to IDC’s Western European Quarterly Mobile Devices Market Tracker.
”Mounting consumer migration towards WCDMA devices driven by competitive service pricing and ASP declines, combined with highly aggressive handset subsidies across operator portfolios, was a key market performance driver in 1Q06,” said Geoff Blaber, senior research analyst, European Mobile Devices at IDC.
However, despite relatively healthy unit volumes, intense vendor competition, ASP declines, and sustained scrutiny of handset portfolios and costs by mobile operators continued to have a negative impact on vendor profit margins.
Downsizing of portfolios meant the top 3 vendors accounted for almost 70 percent of all traditional mobile phones shipped, compared to 62 percent in 2005.
With increased carrier demand for highly customizable devices and higher ARPU (average revenue per user) driving solutions meant that converged devices increased their proportion of the total market to 7 percent in 1Q06 from 5 percent in the opening quarter of 2005 as consumers continued to migrate predominantly towards S60 devices from high-end feature phones.
Growth continues
”Strong anticipated converged device growth in both consumer and enterprise segments, combined with the introduction of new form factors and technology improvements, particularly with regard to imaging, will drive a healthy renewal market in 2006,” said Jean-Philippe Bouchard, senior research analyst, European Mobile Devices at IDC.
“Consequently, IDC forecasts total mobile phone market growth of just under 10 percent with shipments expected to exceed 185 million units.”
Western European mobile phone shipments, 1Q06
Vendor Q1 06, millions Share 1Q05, millions Osuus,1Q 06,% Growth
Nokia 13,8 34 % 11,8 32 % 17 %
Motorola 7,3 18 % 5 14 % 44 %
Samsung 7,1 17 % 6 16 % 19 %
Sony Ericsson 3,7 9 % 3 8 % 24 %
BenQSiemens 2,4 6 % 2,9 8 % -16 %
Muut 6,3 16 % 8,1 22 % -22 %
Yhteensä 40.7 100 % 36,8 100 % 11 %
Source: IDC
Best performers, 1Q06
Nokia - The Finnish vendor extended its market leadership, shipping a total of 13.9 million handsets in this year’s first quarter, representing year-on-year growth of 17 percent and consolidating a market share of 34 percent. The 6230i and WCDMA 6280 were key contributors to shipments over the period and ASPs increased sequentially to EUR103 in contrast to the overall market trend.
Motorola - Motorola witnessed the most substantial year-on-year growth of all top 5 vendors in this year’s first quarter, with shipments increasing by 44 percent and market share rising to 18 percent from 14 percent in the corresponding quarter of 2005. Despite additions to its feature phone lineup such as the PEBL and SLVR in 4Q05, the RAZR continued to drive shipments, meaning the handset has far exceeded average market life cycles.
Samsung - A year-on-year increase in shipments of 19 percent served to increase Samsung’s market share to 17 percent. The vendor’s mid to high-end handset lineup continued to expand in the first quarter as the Samsung portfolio steadily moves towards a wider range of higher-specification feature phones. The D600 and Z510 proved to be key factors in Samsung’s growth.
Sony Ericsson - Sony Ericsson recorded another strong quarter with positive year-on-year growth of 24 percent and market share growing from 8 percent in the first quarter of 2005 to 9 percent in 2006. This is indicative of Sony Ericsson’s development of its high-end portfolio with a focus on imaging, music, and 3G, with the K750i and extensive Walkman range witnessing substantial traction and the K600 series pushing WCDMA into the mass market by lowering BOM costs and price points.
BenQ Siemens - Shipments reached 2.4 million units in the first quarter, compared to 2.9 million units shipped in 1Q05 under the Siemens brand. Although 1Q06 was a transition period for BenQ Siemens as it seeks to reestablish itself in operator portfolios with a high-end product mix, the launch of its two first handsets in the quarter, the EF81 and S88, as well as the clearance of remaining Siemens brand inventory, will enable the vendor to grow unit volumes and seek a return to profitability by the timetabled yearend.
Related News
Nokia slams phone subsidies
VoWLAN drives convergence
Western Europe mobile phone market to grow 11% in 2005
Nokia keeps 35% share of Western Europe
Samsung, Sony Ericsson post declines
Gartner puts 2004 end user sales at 674 million
location based services
The Western european market grew in Q1 by 11 percent year on year to reach 40.7 million units, according to IDC’s Western European Quarterly Mobile Devices Market Tracker.
”Mounting consumer migration towards WCDMA devices driven by competitive service pricing and ASP declines, combined with highly aggressive handset subsidies across operator portfolios, was a key market performance driver in 1Q06,” said Geoff Blaber, senior research analyst, European Mobile Devices at IDC.
However, despite relatively healthy unit volumes, intense vendor competition, ASP declines, and sustained scrutiny of handset portfolios and costs by mobile operators continued to have a negative impact on vendor profit margins.
Downsizing of portfolios meant the top 3 vendors accounted for almost 70 percent of all traditional mobile phones shipped, compared to 62 percent in 2005.
With increased carrier demand for highly customizable devices and higher ARPU (average revenue per user) driving solutions meant that converged devices increased their proportion of the total market to 7 percent in 1Q06 from 5 percent in the opening quarter of 2005 as consumers continued to migrate predominantly towards S60 devices from high-end feature phones.
Growth continues
”Strong anticipated converged device growth in both consumer and enterprise segments, combined with the introduction of new form factors and technology improvements, particularly with regard to imaging, will drive a healthy renewal market in 2006,” said Jean-Philippe Bouchard, senior research analyst, European Mobile Devices at IDC.
“Consequently, IDC forecasts total mobile phone market growth of just under 10 percent with shipments expected to exceed 185 million units.”
Western European mobile phone shipments, 1Q06
Vendor Q1 06, millions Share 1Q05, millions Osuus,1Q 06,% Growth
Nokia 13,8 34 % 11,8 32 % 17 %
Motorola 7,3 18 % 5 14 % 44 %
Samsung 7,1 17 % 6 16 % 19 %
Sony Ericsson 3,7 9 % 3 8 % 24 %
BenQSiemens 2,4 6 % 2,9 8 % -16 %
Muut 6,3 16 % 8,1 22 % -22 %
Yhteensä 40.7 100 % 36,8 100 % 11 %
Source: IDC
Best performers, 1Q06
Nokia - The Finnish vendor extended its market leadership, shipping a total of 13.9 million handsets in this year’s first quarter, representing year-on-year growth of 17 percent and consolidating a market share of 34 percent. The 6230i and WCDMA 6280 were key contributors to shipments over the period and ASPs increased sequentially to EUR103 in contrast to the overall market trend.
Motorola - Motorola witnessed the most substantial year-on-year growth of all top 5 vendors in this year’s first quarter, with shipments increasing by 44 percent and market share rising to 18 percent from 14 percent in the corresponding quarter of 2005. Despite additions to its feature phone lineup such as the PEBL and SLVR in 4Q05, the RAZR continued to drive shipments, meaning the handset has far exceeded average market life cycles.
Samsung - A year-on-year increase in shipments of 19 percent served to increase Samsung’s market share to 17 percent. The vendor’s mid to high-end handset lineup continued to expand in the first quarter as the Samsung portfolio steadily moves towards a wider range of higher-specification feature phones. The D600 and Z510 proved to be key factors in Samsung’s growth.
Sony Ericsson - Sony Ericsson recorded another strong quarter with positive year-on-year growth of 24 percent and market share growing from 8 percent in the first quarter of 2005 to 9 percent in 2006. This is indicative of Sony Ericsson’s development of its high-end portfolio with a focus on imaging, music, and 3G, with the K750i and extensive Walkman range witnessing substantial traction and the K600 series pushing WCDMA into the mass market by lowering BOM costs and price points.
BenQ Siemens - Shipments reached 2.4 million units in the first quarter, compared to 2.9 million units shipped in 1Q05 under the Siemens brand. Although 1Q06 was a transition period for BenQ Siemens as it seeks to reestablish itself in operator portfolios with a high-end product mix, the launch of its two first handsets in the quarter, the EF81 and S88, as well as the clearance of remaining Siemens brand inventory, will enable the vendor to grow unit volumes and seek a return to profitability by the timetabled yearend.
Related News
Nokia slams phone subsidies
VoWLAN drives convergence
Western Europe mobile phone market to grow 11% in 2005
Nokia keeps 35% share of Western Europe
Samsung, Sony Ericsson post declines
Gartner puts 2004 end user sales at 674 million
mobile phones fitted with satellite-navigation v
location based services
Imagine Central London has been invaded by an army of robots which are now bunkered down somewhere on Oxford Street.
Your mission, and that of your friends, is to find the shop on the capital's famous two-mile retail strip that harbours the enemy's lair.
All you have at your disposal is your ingenuity, and one of those next-generation mobile phones fitted with satellite-navigation and loaded with a gaming database that maps a fantasy universe on to real-world locations.
As you walk into specific shops, the gaming software is triggered to display audio and video items on the handsets - clues that take you to the next location.
The clock is counting down and you will have to split up to cover the ground, using the mobiles to stay in contact and exchange snippets of information.
Step forward
Fantasy but not fanciful. Gaming applications like this could become a major growth area in the next few years as entertainment companies look to exploit the new possibilities offered by satellite navigation.
THE SAT-NAV FUTURE
Navigation for navigation's sake will not drive applications
Uptake pushed forward by services that add value to data
Huge potential for internet-linked services run off mobiles
E.g. finding a restaurant and directing you to nearest ATM
Multimedia delivered to tourists' mobiles as they walk around
'Guardian angel' services will locate separated children
Possibilities are endless; mobile firms already brainstorming
Database and billing companies planning for large markets
Galileo test satellite launched
Q&A: Europe's Galileo project
Europe is in the process of building an entirely new space-borne precise timing and location network that should substantially improve the service already provided by the American-run GPS (Global Positioning System).
The Galileo network's extra satellites will make getting a fix on handsets easier and quicker, especially in urban areas; and its enhanced signal (complementary to GPS's) should also improve accuracies.
Combine this with the improved power and functionality of the latest mobile phones and you can see how consumer sat-nav applications could really jump to another level - moving beyond simple in-car route guidance.
"The mobile phone companies are interested in selling bandwidth on their phones - they want to be a data pipe," says Tim Just from Thales UK, the GPS receiver manufacturer.
"They have invested in the location technology and now they're looking to the wider market, to the entrepreneurs, to come up with the services that are location related. It could be gaming - why not?"
'Virtual companion'
The industrial, professional and academic sectors have seized on GPS and turned it into an invaluable, everyday tool; the network's data is used in a myriad of applications from timing financial transactions to measuring the speed of glaciers.
It's a massive market and it's wide open for new products
Chris Finch, EveryWhichWay
But there is a feeling that the consumer market has been underexploited so far, and is prime territory now for anyone with a bright idea and some business nous.
The evidence can be seen in the huge sales last year of in-car sat-nav units - up in the UK by more than 1,300% with 670,000 systems sold.
Inevitably, these users will want more than just smart directions that avoid the jams.
THE SAT-NAV FUTURE
Smart moves for green ideas
The future of road charging
Chris Finch certainly believes so. His company, EveryWhichWay, is developing software that would turn a car's sat-nav system into a "virtual travelling companion".
As the vehicle passed a castle on a long, dull motorway drive, the system's voice would pop up with some interesting historical information about the monument - past battles, the kings that stayed there and perhaps some ghost stories.
You can see, too, how a tourist with their sat-nav mobile might appreciate this type of "culture guidance" as they moved through the old quarter of a foreign city.
"We were aware that while the technology for identifying where you are is actually quite sophisticated, there really aren't very many good and effective consumer allocations out there," Finch told the BBC News website.
"It's a massive market and it's wide open for new products."
Proper delivery
EveryWhichWay, an Aberystwyth company, was a UK runner-up in last year's Galileo Masters, a European-wide competition that hopes to spur new enterprises across the EU bloc into thinking up new sat-nav possibilities.
The British regional winner, Richard White, is pushing forward with his idea, too - a secure, internet-based system for managing the delivery of important or high-value consignments.
Satellite-navigation is not essential to its working but knowing the precise location of a load during transit will give customers an extra level of assurance, especially if legal responsibilities are only fulfilled if the consignment reaches its intended destination.
This is the case, for example, with the disposal of waste which attracts heavy fines for dumping at unauthorised sites.
Trackerback, as the system is known, has already received strong interest from US and Middle East concerns.
"The support I've had through winning the competition has helped me focus my idea. It's also given it a tremendous lift - I can't be viewed now as a one-man band in a shed with a dog," White joked.
"People take a lot more interest in Trackerback knowing it was the UK winner of Galileo Masters."
Innovation 'trigger'
The first test satellite for Galileo was launched in December. The full system should be up and running by the end of 2010, or soon after.
It will differ from GPS, not only in the fact that it will be a civilian-run service but also in that it will offer performance guarantees.
Users can get "integrity messages", which will tell them if there are errors in the signal. This should give Galileo the added reliability to be employed in critical, safety-of-life situations - guiding buses, landing planes, and keeping vehicles on motorways the required distance apart.
The compatibility (same frequencies) and interoperability (used together or separately) with GPS and the Russian Glonass system should see sat-nav receivers get a fix in even the deepest "urban canyons".
Taken together, it should be the magnet that draws the innovators.
"It is a combination of things coming together which will be the trigger to make entrepreneurs go out and do things we haven't done before," said Richard Peckham from EADS-Astrium, one of the companies involved in constructing Galileo's first satellites.
"For some it will be the extra confidence in the signal; for some it will be accuracy; and for the mobile phone-type applications it's really going to be the extra satellites - these will give you the availability that means your customers can rely on your service."
Ten regions in nine countries across Europe are taking entries for the 2006 Galileo Masters competition.
The UK challenge is managed by the Hertfordshire Business Incubation Centre (HBic). The competition's website will close to bids on 30 June.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
E-mail this to a
location based services
Imagine Central London has been invaded by an army of robots which are now bunkered down somewhere on Oxford Street.
Your mission, and that of your friends, is to find the shop on the capital's famous two-mile retail strip that harbours the enemy's lair.
All you have at your disposal is your ingenuity, and one of those next-generation mobile phones fitted with satellite-navigation and loaded with a gaming database that maps a fantasy universe on to real-world locations.
As you walk into specific shops, the gaming software is triggered to display audio and video items on the handsets - clues that take you to the next location.
The clock is counting down and you will have to split up to cover the ground, using the mobiles to stay in contact and exchange snippets of information.
Step forward
Fantasy but not fanciful. Gaming applications like this could become a major growth area in the next few years as entertainment companies look to exploit the new possibilities offered by satellite navigation.
THE SAT-NAV FUTURE
Navigation for navigation's sake will not drive applications
Uptake pushed forward by services that add value to data
Huge potential for internet-linked services run off mobiles
E.g. finding a restaurant and directing you to nearest ATM
Multimedia delivered to tourists' mobiles as they walk around
'Guardian angel' services will locate separated children
Possibilities are endless; mobile firms already brainstorming
Database and billing companies planning for large markets
Galileo test satellite launched
Q&A: Europe's Galileo project
Europe is in the process of building an entirely new space-borne precise timing and location network that should substantially improve the service already provided by the American-run GPS (Global Positioning System).
The Galileo network's extra satellites will make getting a fix on handsets easier and quicker, especially in urban areas; and its enhanced signal (complementary to GPS's) should also improve accuracies.
Combine this with the improved power and functionality of the latest mobile phones and you can see how consumer sat-nav applications could really jump to another level - moving beyond simple in-car route guidance.
"The mobile phone companies are interested in selling bandwidth on their phones - they want to be a data pipe," says Tim Just from Thales UK, the GPS receiver manufacturer.
"They have invested in the location technology and now they're looking to the wider market, to the entrepreneurs, to come up with the services that are location related. It could be gaming - why not?"
'Virtual companion'
The industrial, professional and academic sectors have seized on GPS and turned it into an invaluable, everyday tool; the network's data is used in a myriad of applications from timing financial transactions to measuring the speed of glaciers.
It's a massive market and it's wide open for new products
Chris Finch, EveryWhichWay
But there is a feeling that the consumer market has been underexploited so far, and is prime territory now for anyone with a bright idea and some business nous.
The evidence can be seen in the huge sales last year of in-car sat-nav units - up in the UK by more than 1,300% with 670,000 systems sold.
Inevitably, these users will want more than just smart directions that avoid the jams.
THE SAT-NAV FUTURE
Smart moves for green ideas
The future of road charging
Chris Finch certainly believes so. His company, EveryWhichWay, is developing software that would turn a car's sat-nav system into a "virtual travelling companion".
As the vehicle passed a castle on a long, dull motorway drive, the system's voice would pop up with some interesting historical information about the monument - past battles, the kings that stayed there and perhaps some ghost stories.
You can see, too, how a tourist with their sat-nav mobile might appreciate this type of "culture guidance" as they moved through the old quarter of a foreign city.
"We were aware that while the technology for identifying where you are is actually quite sophisticated, there really aren't very many good and effective consumer allocations out there," Finch told the BBC News website.
"It's a massive market and it's wide open for new products."
Proper delivery
EveryWhichWay, an Aberystwyth company, was a UK runner-up in last year's Galileo Masters, a European-wide competition that hopes to spur new enterprises across the EU bloc into thinking up new sat-nav possibilities.
The British regional winner, Richard White, is pushing forward with his idea, too - a secure, internet-based system for managing the delivery of important or high-value consignments.
Satellite-navigation is not essential to its working but knowing the precise location of a load during transit will give customers an extra level of assurance, especially if legal responsibilities are only fulfilled if the consignment reaches its intended destination.
This is the case, for example, with the disposal of waste which attracts heavy fines for dumping at unauthorised sites.
Trackerback, as the system is known, has already received strong interest from US and Middle East concerns.
"The support I've had through winning the competition has helped me focus my idea. It's also given it a tremendous lift - I can't be viewed now as a one-man band in a shed with a dog," White joked.
"People take a lot more interest in Trackerback knowing it was the UK winner of Galileo Masters."
Innovation 'trigger'
The first test satellite for Galileo was launched in December. The full system should be up and running by the end of 2010, or soon after.
It will differ from GPS, not only in the fact that it will be a civilian-run service but also in that it will offer performance guarantees.
Users can get "integrity messages", which will tell them if there are errors in the signal. This should give Galileo the added reliability to be employed in critical, safety-of-life situations - guiding buses, landing planes, and keeping vehicles on motorways the required distance apart.
The compatibility (same frequencies) and interoperability (used together or separately) with GPS and the Russian Glonass system should see sat-nav receivers get a fix in even the deepest "urban canyons".
Taken together, it should be the magnet that draws the innovators.
"It is a combination of things coming together which will be the trigger to make entrepreneurs go out and do things we haven't done before," said Richard Peckham from EADS-Astrium, one of the companies involved in constructing Galileo's first satellites.
"For some it will be the extra confidence in the signal; for some it will be accuracy; and for the mobile phone-type applications it's really going to be the extra satellites - these will give you the availability that means your customers can rely on your service."
Ten regions in nine countries across Europe are taking entries for the 2006 Galileo Masters competition.
The UK challenge is managed by the Hertfordshire Business Incubation Centre (HBic). The competition's website will close to bids on 30 June.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
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Microsoft Virtual Earth & Microsoft MapPoint 2006
location based services
Dear Madam, Dear Sir,
We are very happy to invite you to our first Microsoft Virtual Earth & Microsoft MapPoint 2006 seminars in Southern Europe!
These events are the best opportunity for you to discover Microsoft products and solutions for Location Based Services in Europe:
· MapPoint 2006 Europe
· MapPoint Web Service 4.1
· Windows Live Local powered by Virtual Earth
Targeting customers and partners, the goal of these two events is to share with you Microsoft strategy for Location Based Services, as well as concrete solutions, customer cases, demos etc.
Join us Wednesday June 7th in Paris to discover how to:
Visualize and analyze data,
Manage fleet of vehicles,
Optimize routes and Sales Reps performances,
Create store locators with aerial images,
And a lot more!
Register now for one of the following events :
Business:
· Objective: share with Business Decision Makers the Microsoft Location Based Solutions and Products, as well as licensing, prices, engagement with Customers and Partners
· When: Wednesday, June 7th, from 9:00 am to 12:00pm
· Where: Microsoft Office, 148 rue de l’Université, Paris, France
· Registration:
Please click here to register to our BUSINESS event!
Technical Workshop:
· Objective: targeting Developers, Engineers and CTOs, Johannes Kebeck, EMEA Microsoft Virtual Earth Technical Specialist, will go thru concrete solutions, source code and demos to help you use our solutions easily and quickly
· When: Wednesday, June 7th, from 9:00 am to 18:00pm
· Where: Microsoft Office, 148 rue de l’Université, Paris, France
· Registration:
Please click here to register to our TECHNICAL WORKSHOP!
Details
Microsoft Office - Paris
Wednesday, June 7th
Business Seminar Registration
Technical Workshop Registration
Contacts
Arnaud Gstach,
Business Development
Virtual Earth & MapPoint
Johannes Kebeck,
Technical Specialist
Virtual Earth & MapPoint
Evaluate our solutions
Evaluate MapPoint Web Service
Order MapPoint 2004 Europe Evaluation CD
Getting started with Microsoft Virtual Earth
location based services
Dear Madam, Dear Sir,
We are very happy to invite you to our first Microsoft Virtual Earth & Microsoft MapPoint 2006 seminars in Southern Europe!
These events are the best opportunity for you to discover Microsoft products and solutions for Location Based Services in Europe:
· MapPoint 2006 Europe
· MapPoint Web Service 4.1
· Windows Live Local powered by Virtual Earth
Targeting customers and partners, the goal of these two events is to share with you Microsoft strategy for Location Based Services, as well as concrete solutions, customer cases, demos etc.
Join us Wednesday June 7th in Paris to discover how to:
Visualize and analyze data,
Manage fleet of vehicles,
Optimize routes and Sales Reps performances,
Create store locators with aerial images,
And a lot more!
Register now for one of the following events :
Business:
· Objective: share with Business Decision Makers the Microsoft Location Based Solutions and Products, as well as licensing, prices, engagement with Customers and Partners
· When: Wednesday, June 7th, from 9:00 am to 12:00pm
· Where: Microsoft Office, 148 rue de l’Université, Paris, France
· Registration:
Please click here to register to our BUSINESS event!
Technical Workshop:
· Objective: targeting Developers, Engineers and CTOs, Johannes Kebeck, EMEA Microsoft Virtual Earth Technical Specialist, will go thru concrete solutions, source code and demos to help you use our solutions easily and quickly
· When: Wednesday, June 7th, from 9:00 am to 18:00pm
· Where: Microsoft Office, 148 rue de l’Université, Paris, France
· Registration:
Please click here to register to our TECHNICAL WORKSHOP!
Details
Microsoft Office - Paris
Wednesday, June 7th
Business Seminar Registration
Technical Workshop Registration
Contacts
Arnaud Gstach,
Business Development
Virtual Earth & MapPoint
Johannes Kebeck,
Technical Specialist
Virtual Earth & MapPoint
Evaluate our solutions
Evaluate MapPoint Web Service
Order MapPoint 2004 Europe Evaluation CD
Getting started with Microsoft Virtual Earth
Blogging Microsoft Virtual Earth
location based services
Blogging Microsoft Virtual Earth (aka "Live Local") is not really part of the mandate of Ogle Earth as long as it remains a 2D mapping application, but some aspects of the version that went live last night have a bearing on Google Earth.
First, the UK imagery: As Ed Parsons and other people have commented, it is superb, besting Google's in those UK spots I've checked — if not in resolution, then in the quality and consistency of the post-processing. It will be interesting to compare future datasets if (okay, when) Microsoft releases its 3D virtual globe.
The functionality of the scratchpad has improved dramatically. It took me no time at all to annotate a few places, even add an image, and share them publicly as a collection, like so. The scratchpad is nothing less than a geospatial version of Google's Notebook, and it is so easy to use that my parents would have no trouble att all creating their own mashup and sending a link to friends.
Google has several options available to it as it responds in this competitive space. It could make Notebook geospatially aware, so that you can annotate both URLs and physical spaces in Maps and Earth; it could also leverage Google Base, making it easy for users to save or publish geospatial database objects such as annotated placemarks or georeferenced photo collections from within Maps and Earth (including private collections); or it could repurpose Google Pages, perhaps in combination with Google Base, providing templates that make a user's collected geospatial content easy to browse by others.
I think this is going to be an interesting summer:-)
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Bentley shows off Google Earth integration
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 (16:58 UTC)
Bentley, makers of the industrial-strength CAD and AEC authoring tool MicroStation, are having their user conference, and CAD Insider posts some notes from the event related to Google Earth. First off, CAD Insider has news of the latest MicroStation V8 XM release, which comes with a new feature that has proved popular with attendees:
Define an animation path for use in Google Earth. After a MicroStation model has been placed in Google Earth, a curve drawn is used by Google Earth to pan around the project
Elsewhere, CAD Insider has a Q&A involving Bentley representatives with a sense of humor ("What does XM short for?" "Nothing, it's just a name.") where they answer the "Why use Google Earth?" question.
Permalink | Links in | Comments (0)
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NASA World Wind to-do list, of sorts
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 (15:03 UTC)
What's in store for the open-source NASA World Wind? The Earth is Square lists some projects people will be working on during Google's Summer of Code:
Shapefile improvements
Student Teacher interaction system
Correctly Handling Non-Ortho Images
Support of Adding Imagery into World Wind
Integrated Browser
Adding imagery and a browser involve World Wind catching up with Google Earth. The other three projects sound intriguing, though.
Permalink | Links in | Comments (6)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Geospatial navigation via sound?
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 (14:55 UTC)
Very Spatial checks in on the state of spatial audio, linking to an Engadget post that in turn references a Sydney Morning Herald article on an Australian technology venture called Immersive Communications Environment (ICE). There is much speculation on how this will enhance gaming, but let's not forget other potential uses: All this mapping and virtual globing is currently off limits to the visually impaired. Back in August last year, this blog speculated on whether spatialized sound might not be a way for the visually impaired to navigate a virtual globe. That possibility now seems closer than ever.
Permalink | Links in | Comments (0)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Tour de force
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 (13:33 UTC)
Google Earth was released almost a year ago, on June 28, 2005. One of the very first things I did with it was download Harry Love's stages of the Tour de France, which ran from July 2 that year. Those files first made me aware of the possibilities for user-contributed mapping in Google Earth. I started this blog soon after.
Fast forward to June 2006. Harry has a new post up about Google Earth and the Tour de France, wherein he suggest plenty of new ways to get involved geospatially. (For starters, you can download the stages from Google Earth Community, courtesy of lucifer666.)
Permalink | Links in | Comments (0)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Pink rabbit found
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 (12:52 UTC)
I'm glad that somebody's finally located that giant disemboweled pink rabbit on an Italian hillside. Suddenly today, Google Earth Hacks has it, Virtual Globe Trotting has it, and Google Sightseeing has it. Not sure who was first, though, as attribution is scarce in the cut-throat world of Google Earth sightseeing:-) (Erm, picture on the left stolen from Virtual Globetrotting.)
Permalink | Links in | Comments (0)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Google Earth usage stats?
Monday, May 22, 2006 (18:07 UTC)
Hitwise web analyst Bill Tancer has posted a league table for portals and how their respective properties rank. In search, for example, Google is first with 47.4% of all visits, followed by Yahoo! (16.0%) and MSN (11.5%).
Hitwise also has a "Travel - Maps" category, where Bill lists the following sites, ranked by visits as a percentage of the total segment:
Mapquest (56.3%)
Yahoo! Maps (20.5%)
Google Maps (7.5%)
MSN Virtual Earth (4.3%)
Google Earth (2.0%)
So, Google Earth users are like the Mac users of maps:-) Actually, I'm wondering how Hitwise measures that metric for Google Earth. Unless Google provides Hitwise with logon data, I don't see how they can tell accurately how many people use Google Earth. Or does it mean that at any one time, 2% of map and travel site visitors are downloading the standalone Google Earth application from http://earth.google.com? That'd be quite a feat — the site doesn't serve for much else. (I'm trying to find out.)
Permalink | Links in | Comments (2)
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Faster premium updates for Google Earth? Maybe
Monday, May 22, 2006 (07:44 UTC)
Is Google Earth's imagery update schedule not frequent enough for you? Aerials Express now promises to deliver its most recent US city imagery directly as a dynamic network link in Google Earth. It's beta, and it will be offered as premium content (=pay) but there is a free demo of six regions.
I can imagine that plenty of real estate agents would be willing to pony up for such content. The only problem: When I use the demo I get overlays that simultaneously seem unrelated to the area I'm looking at and of much lower resolution than what Google Earth already has. Sure it's beta and all, but if you write a press release, that's your one big chance to impress. Does it work for anyone else?
[Update 21:08 UTC: Frank Taylor emails to say it's a Mac issue. Fair enough, as I'm on a Mac:-) But the moral of the story needs to be: If you're a company developing for Google Earth, get yourself a Mac Mini for testing, or else tell us it hasn't been tested on the Mac. Google Earth is a consumer GIS product.]
Permalink | Links in | Comments (2)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Shorts: India, GeoRSS, KML to Blender
Monday, May 22, 2006 (00:54 UTC)
Here's a quick catch-up post of interesting content related to Google Earth from the past few days. Regularly scheduled posting resumes Monday morning...
The Times of India, to their credit, reports "Google satellite images no threat, says IAF chief". Indian Air Force Chief Marshal S. P. Tyagi is a voice of reason. (Thanks to everyone who emailed me this:-)
I've been following this thread on Google Earth Community with interest over the past week: "Reverse-engineering the Adidas Game". (Don't forget that some very nifty solutions to the one-way interaction problem were found back in August 2005 by Mickey when he first made the GEWar game.)
Microsoft makes its updated Virtual Earth imagery available as a plugin for NASA World Wind, reports Bull's Rambles. The plugin includes a business finder, and hence a revenue opportunty, which explains why they would be willing to bear the bandwidth costs.
Friday, May 19, 2006 (21:33 UTC)
Keyhole co-founder and Second Life veteran Avi Bar-Zeev writes a long post that argues Google Earth has a long way to go before it approaches what we commonly imagine to be the metaverse. It's all about making 3D content semantic, he says, and this means that:
What we really need is a new language of object representation that encapsulates and preserves form and function, aesthetics, style, meaning, and behavior, all tightly coupled and never discarded in the "art pipeline" until the object is finally rendered on your screen.
Needless to say, he alludes to working on something like it. Avi's post is a great read, full of lucid ideas.
[I'm not really doing his post justice. My post on the differences between Second Life and Google Earth will have to wait until I'm back in Stockholm on Sunday.]
location based services
Blogging Microsoft Virtual Earth (aka "Live Local") is not really part of the mandate of Ogle Earth as long as it remains a 2D mapping application, but some aspects of the version that went live last night have a bearing on Google Earth.
First, the UK imagery: As Ed Parsons and other people have commented, it is superb, besting Google's in those UK spots I've checked — if not in resolution, then in the quality and consistency of the post-processing. It will be interesting to compare future datasets if (okay, when) Microsoft releases its 3D virtual globe.
The functionality of the scratchpad has improved dramatically. It took me no time at all to annotate a few places, even add an image, and share them publicly as a collection, like so. The scratchpad is nothing less than a geospatial version of Google's Notebook, and it is so easy to use that my parents would have no trouble att all creating their own mashup and sending a link to friends.
Google has several options available to it as it responds in this competitive space. It could make Notebook geospatially aware, so that you can annotate both URLs and physical spaces in Maps and Earth; it could also leverage Google Base, making it easy for users to save or publish geospatial database objects such as annotated placemarks or georeferenced photo collections from within Maps and Earth (including private collections); or it could repurpose Google Pages, perhaps in combination with Google Base, providing templates that make a user's collected geospatial content easy to browse by others.
I think this is going to be an interesting summer:-)
Permalink | Links in | Comments (4)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Bentley shows off Google Earth integration
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 (16:58 UTC)
Bentley, makers of the industrial-strength CAD and AEC authoring tool MicroStation, are having their user conference, and CAD Insider posts some notes from the event related to Google Earth. First off, CAD Insider has news of the latest MicroStation V8 XM release, which comes with a new feature that has proved popular with attendees:
Define an animation path for use in Google Earth. After a MicroStation model has been placed in Google Earth, a curve drawn is used by Google Earth to pan around the project
Elsewhere, CAD Insider has a Q&A involving Bentley representatives with a sense of humor ("What does XM short for?" "Nothing, it's just a name.") where they answer the "Why use Google Earth?" question.
Permalink | Links in | Comments (0)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
NASA World Wind to-do list, of sorts
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 (15:03 UTC)
What's in store for the open-source NASA World Wind? The Earth is Square lists some projects people will be working on during Google's Summer of Code:
Shapefile improvements
Student Teacher interaction system
Correctly Handling Non-Ortho Images
Support of Adding Imagery into World Wind
Integrated Browser
Adding imagery and a browser involve World Wind catching up with Google Earth. The other three projects sound intriguing, though.
Permalink | Links in | Comments (6)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Geospatial navigation via sound?
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 (14:55 UTC)
Very Spatial checks in on the state of spatial audio, linking to an Engadget post that in turn references a Sydney Morning Herald article on an Australian technology venture called Immersive Communications Environment (ICE). There is much speculation on how this will enhance gaming, but let's not forget other potential uses: All this mapping and virtual globing is currently off limits to the visually impaired. Back in August last year, this blog speculated on whether spatialized sound might not be a way for the visually impaired to navigate a virtual globe. That possibility now seems closer than ever.
Permalink | Links in | Comments (0)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Tour de force
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 (13:33 UTC)
Google Earth was released almost a year ago, on June 28, 2005. One of the very first things I did with it was download Harry Love's stages of the Tour de France, which ran from July 2 that year. Those files first made me aware of the possibilities for user-contributed mapping in Google Earth. I started this blog soon after.
Fast forward to June 2006. Harry has a new post up about Google Earth and the Tour de France, wherein he suggest plenty of new ways to get involved geospatially. (For starters, you can download the stages from Google Earth Community, courtesy of lucifer666.)
Permalink | Links in | Comments (0)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Pink rabbit found
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 (12:52 UTC)
I'm glad that somebody's finally located that giant disemboweled pink rabbit on an Italian hillside. Suddenly today, Google Earth Hacks has it, Virtual Globe Trotting has it, and Google Sightseeing has it. Not sure who was first, though, as attribution is scarce in the cut-throat world of Google Earth sightseeing:-) (Erm, picture on the left stolen from Virtual Globetrotting.)
Permalink | Links in | Comments (0)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Google Earth usage stats?
Monday, May 22, 2006 (18:07 UTC)
Hitwise web analyst Bill Tancer has posted a league table for portals and how their respective properties rank. In search, for example, Google is first with 47.4% of all visits, followed by Yahoo! (16.0%) and MSN (11.5%).
Hitwise also has a "Travel - Maps" category, where Bill lists the following sites, ranked by visits as a percentage of the total segment:
Mapquest (56.3%)
Yahoo! Maps (20.5%)
Google Maps (7.5%)
MSN Virtual Earth (4.3%)
Google Earth (2.0%)
So, Google Earth users are like the Mac users of maps:-) Actually, I'm wondering how Hitwise measures that metric for Google Earth. Unless Google provides Hitwise with logon data, I don't see how they can tell accurately how many people use Google Earth. Or does it mean that at any one time, 2% of map and travel site visitors are downloading the standalone Google Earth application from http://earth.google.com? That'd be quite a feat — the site doesn't serve for much else. (I'm trying to find out.)
Permalink | Links in | Comments (2)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Faster premium updates for Google Earth? Maybe
Monday, May 22, 2006 (07:44 UTC)
Is Google Earth's imagery update schedule not frequent enough for you? Aerials Express now promises to deliver its most recent US city imagery directly as a dynamic network link in Google Earth. It's beta, and it will be offered as premium content (=pay) but there is a free demo of six regions.
I can imagine that plenty of real estate agents would be willing to pony up for such content. The only problem: When I use the demo I get overlays that simultaneously seem unrelated to the area I'm looking at and of much lower resolution than what Google Earth already has. Sure it's beta and all, but if you write a press release, that's your one big chance to impress. Does it work for anyone else?
[Update 21:08 UTC: Frank Taylor emails to say it's a Mac issue. Fair enough, as I'm on a Mac:-) But the moral of the story needs to be: If you're a company developing for Google Earth, get yourself a Mac Mini for testing, or else tell us it hasn't been tested on the Mac. Google Earth is a consumer GIS product.]
Permalink | Links in | Comments (2)
Del.icio.us | Connotea | Furl | Digg | Reddit
Shorts: India, GeoRSS, KML to Blender
Monday, May 22, 2006 (00:54 UTC)
Here's a quick catch-up post of interesting content related to Google Earth from the past few days. Regularly scheduled posting resumes Monday morning...
The Times of India, to their credit, reports "Google satellite images no threat, says IAF chief". Indian Air Force Chief Marshal S. P. Tyagi is a voice of reason. (Thanks to everyone who emailed me this:-)
I've been following this thread on Google Earth Community with interest over the past week: "Reverse-engineering the Adidas Game". (Don't forget that some very nifty solutions to the one-way interaction problem were found back in August 2005 by Mickey when he first made the GEWar game.)
Microsoft makes its updated Virtual Earth imagery available as a plugin for NASA World Wind, reports Bull's Rambles. The plugin includes a business finder, and hence a revenue opportunty, which explains why they would be willing to bear the bandwidth costs.
Friday, May 19, 2006 (21:33 UTC)
Keyhole co-founder and Second Life veteran Avi Bar-Zeev writes a long post that argues Google Earth has a long way to go before it approaches what we commonly imagine to be the metaverse. It's all about making 3D content semantic, he says, and this means that:
What we really need is a new language of object representation that encapsulates and preserves form and function, aesthetics, style, meaning, and behavior, all tightly coupled and never discarded in the "art pipeline" until the object is finally rendered on your screen.
Needless to say, he alludes to working on something like it. Avi's post is a great read, full of lucid ideas.
[I'm not really doing his post justice. My post on the differences between Second Life and Google Earth will have to wait until I'm back in Stockholm on Sunday.]
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