State and Local Government

The Lower Hudson Journal News has been under fire for publishing a map of gun permit holders in two counties in New York State  before Christma. (APB coverage 1, 2, podcast). On Friday January 18 the paper removed the interactive map. Why? Publisher Janet Hasson gave answers in a media statement...

Now that Beidou, China's own GNSS, is mature and field tests of its use in commercial vehicles is complete, officials are requiring certain livery vehicles to remove existing GNSS devices that tap into the U.S. GPS or other constellations and use Beidou exclusively. The change is required at the...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation now hosts a map of unidentified bank robbery suspects. It uses geotagged security camera photos of bank robbery suspects and includes their nicknames for easier searching. While articles I read called the map a "Google Map" in fact it uses OpenLayers and you...

With the California Legislature back in session, the California Technology Agency’s Office of Geographic Information Systems has launched a new geocoding tool to help Californians find their state legislative representatives. Using the California Enterprise Geocoding Service, in partnership...

This is perhaps another way to explain the power of social media. Location technology does not seem to have played a bit role. Natalie from New Haven, CT, lost her right hand mitten. After looking for it to no avail she posted it to SeeClickFix (the "report an issue in your city" app). A day...

All Points Blog covered the map's publication last year and Directions Magazine hosts a podcast on the decision to publish. The latest: NYS Senator David Carlucci (D) Calling on the Journal News to Remove their Map - Rockland County Times The Affiliated Police Association (an umbrella...

On Jan 8, 2013 a judge ruled on the Texas case where a student protested wearing an RFID-enable school ID on religious grounds: A Texas school district can transfer a student who is citing religious reasons for her refusal to wear an identification card that is part of an electronic tracking...

Another motion was made to increase the GIS director’s salary by $1,500. That vote passed 3-1 with all three commissioners voting in favor and Scotto voting against. There were several motions before that one, including the exact same one as I read it, but the GIS director of Clearfiled...

Auburn City Council Exponare API: Exponare is a service that links geographic information from a range of databases and applications and displays this information in one map interface. This particular implementation of Exponare is hosted and used by the Auburn City Council, which is located in...

The Bureau of Meteorology's interactive weather forecasting chart has added new colours – deep purple and pink – to extend its previous temperature range that had been capped at 50 degrees.   Source: Bureau of Meteorology And that's 50 C aka 122 F for those in the U.S. The new range...