Summary: Executive Editor Adena Schtuzberg picked out some the top articles from the last three months. If you missed them the first time around - here's an opportunity to catch up!
1. Does Your Local Government Need A Drone?
Will the skies soon be congested with low-flying drones taking unwarranted photos of you or your neighbors? While the prospect for unmanned aerial vehicles in use by your local government is high, many political as well as technical challenges remain. Contributing Editor Hal Reid provides an update on the current status of issues surrounding drone usage.
2. Wisconsin Study Examines the Effectiveness of Online maps for Community Outreach
A recent study by the Wisconsin State Cartographer's Office examines the effectiveness of online maps for meeting community outreach goals. The study, which is to be published in the Auto-Carto 2012 proceedings, uses Web-usage statistics from Google Analytics for the SCO’s WHAIFinder (Wisconsin Historic Aerial Image Finder) application, which serves up scanned historic air photos of Wisconsin from the 1930s.
3. Apple Needs to Acquire TomTom
Apple stepped into the mapping world with the release of Apple Maps for iOS 6, and users promptly panned it. Expecting much more from the company that sets trends, users thought Apple Maps failed miserably. So, what should Apple do in response? Editor in Chief Joe Francica suggests that while it’s not an easy fix, a big acquisition is the answer.
4. New Resources for GIS Job Seekers
If you took a break from your job search over the summer, September might be the right time to jump back into the fray. Executive Editor Adena Schutzberg has collected some new resources that can help GIS job seekers in their quest.
5. The iTunes of Maps: A New Business Model for Map Publishers
In September 2010, Avenza Systems, Inc. released the first version of PDF Maps for the Apple App Store where both free and for-pay versions of maps in the Geospatial PDF format could be downloaded for use with the iOS operating system. Currently, over 100,000 maps are now available for download. Are users likely to download maps normally found in a print version to their iPhone or iPad? Editor in Chief Joe Francica sat down with Avenza president, Ted Florence for more details on the “the iTunes of maps” business model – selling maps the way iTunes sells music.
