Thu 15 June 2006
Oh man, it's a long drive from San Jose back to Santa Barbara! Anyways, just got back from where 2.0 and want to throw out my quick summary of the event.
- There was alot of talk about all things open; open data, open source and open standards. There was lots of buzz around the open street map project, osgeo applications like grass, ossim, gdal, mapbender, etc., and tons of discussion of WMS, WFS and other relevant standards. This is great as I think all three will be the cornerstone of the spatial industry in the near future.
But, as I've mentioned before, people throw the word "open" around so much that it begins to loose meaning. From alot of conversations I had, I found many people were confused about the differences. Some folks seemed to think that the osgeo foundation was a data repository for open data (it may soon be! .. but not quite yet) and also that osgeo was an open standards organization trying to "compete" with the OGC. But that is what an event like this is for; to reach out and communicate, clarify and bridge the gaps between communities.
Of course I had to laugh as I heard a couple dozen people refer to Google Maps as an "open source" application.... it's proprietary source code using proprietary data through a proprietary data transfer mechanism. It may be "free" as in beer but that's about the extent of it's openness.
-
Social Data: using location technology as the basis for sharing personal experiences and social networking was a powerful theme at Where 2.0. It ran the gammut from tagging locations to writing personal travelogs to mobile location-based games to virtual worlds to mobile apps that would could differentiate stangers vs aquantainces in range of your bluetooth device.
-
Security and privacy: There are implications to the web/where2.0 mindframe. Publishing your location and personal information in real time through the web and mobile devices brings up some frightening security and privacy issues. Who owns the data? What licenses are your personal data distributed under? Do you need others permission to post their photos or locations? Who decides what is acceptable and what gets taken down? How is spam dealt with? Only two speakers were brave enough to fully address these issues head on and the panel had some good discussion on these topics. Kudos to them.
-
Bringing location technology to the masses: This was repeated by a few speakers; that in order to be successful in spatial technologies you need to bring your service to the masses. Certainly if you're trying to compete in the social networking space, this is true. But in general GIS and spatial tech has application that are far beyond the interests of the vast majority of people.. emergency management, infrastructure, environmental, real estate, etc.
The mantra that spatial data and services must appeal to a wide audience is analogous to saying that family cars are the only successful type of motorized vehicle. In terms of numbers, they may be a majority. But in terms of utility, there is a reason that construction companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for heavy industrial machinery.. because trying to haul tons of earth and debris with a Toyota Camry just doesn't work. Likewise there is a similar reason most municipalities don't use a Google Mashup to manage their parcel data.. it simply doesn't work. So what is appropriate for mass consumption may have little applicabilty to business/government/industry/research. And vice versa.
-
Mobile Applications: So much potential here and some really cool innovations in geotagging content. Really, for the first time, I got a sense that these personal devices could become a means for creating a vast database of socially relevant information. But the lack of security and privacy safegaurds along with the domination of the cellular networks and the heterogenous environment of mobile platforms, I still view most of this as pie-in-the-sky.
-
Some new discoveries:
-
metacarta: A text parsing engine with a public API to extract geo info from plain text!
-
gutenkarte: An application of the above to classic works of literature.
-
open layers: A javascript application with a slick UI and simple API for displaying WMS and WFS
-
open street map: A fantastic project focussing on collaborative development of a public street database
-
mapstraction: A javascript layer on top of the 'Big 3' Mapping APIs that allows yoiu to switch seamlessly between the service providers.
-
Google Earth & Sketchup: GE for linux!!! Wooo-hooo!! There was also a sweet demo of creating 3D drawings in Sketchup and placing them in GE. Very slick.
-
Google Maps: Now with kml support! Just try http://maps.google.com/?q=http://path.to.your.kml
-
Mapguide: I am embarrased to say I have never tried out Autodesk's open source offering but the demo was sweet.. a very high powered GIS for a web app. And the Autodesk folks were about the nicest group of guys you could meet.
-
ArcGIS/Server 9.2: Author a map in ArcMap. Save as .mxd. Drop into web server. Instant kml and wms server!
-
And while not new to me, there were alot of good overviews of some of my favorite software packages like OSSIM, GRASS, GDAL, Geoserver and World Wind (Java version coming this fall!!).
-
Finally, the prize for most interesting talk goes to Chris Spurgeon who spoke about the best geohacks of the last 3000 years. Long before computers, Chris showed how Eratosthenes measured the diameter of the earth, how the Polypenesian's used the stars as an advanced navigation system, how the post-renaissance world _re_discovered stars as a the key to navigation. And in more recent times he showed how Harry Beck reinvented the cartography of transportation with the London subway maps and how the VOR transmitters created highways in the featureless sky. This presentation really put current innovations in location technologies into perspective.
OK sorry about the lack of links but it's too late in the evening for that. Hope you enjoyed my rundown and I'm sure I'll have more to say after I get some sleep!