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All FeaturesWhen it comes to data manipulation, most people still use Microsoft Excel. Everybody has it; most people can use it; therefore its limitations may be more readily accepted. SRC has developed a data manipulation product that is more focused on spatial data, large data sets and speed in creating data transforms. Hal Reid provides an overview.
For the past month, Hal Reid has been using the Pharos Traveler GPS 525 personal navigation PDA. It has been to Nashville, Auburn University (Alabama) twice, Georgia Tech (Atlanta), Ft. Steward (Georgia) and various other places around central Georgia. He now has to admit that although at first he questioned the validity of owning such a device, he is now a believer.
There is a perpetual quest to “catch the wave” when marketing a new product. The quest is to be on the leading edge of demand, riding the wave of acceptance that is just beginning to crest. Everyone tries to do this, but not everyone succeeds. The recent release of Radius Studio on January 25 could hit the wave just right.
Hal Reid, an admitted multiple screen junkie, describes his latest find, the Matrox DualHead2Go. It runs mutliple screens in a variety of configurations.
District 8, a GIS package offered by the German based GfK Macon, is described on its Web site as a “regional planning” based GIS. Although regional planning may mean many things to an American audience, make no mistake, this product is squarely aimed at the business world. This article, by City of Lincoln, Oregon, GIS Coordinator Michael Bishopp, provides a review of the product.
Paul Amos first reviewed Terrain Navigator Pro 6.3 for Directions Magazine in July 2004. Here he offers an update for version 7.01. Terrain Navigator Pro is a software program that provides access to U.S. Geological Survey topographic quadrangle maps and USGS Digital Ortho Quarter Quads. The software allows the user seamless access to the topographic maps across the state or region purchased.
RouteMAP IMS 3.0 from ESRI is an out of the box solution for adding maps to existing web sites. Several things make this product unique. First,
ESRI licenses users to install RouteMAP IMS on their
server(s). Not only does this provide licensees the ability to
selectively add mapping features it also gives web masters and
developers the ability to seamlessly customize the look and feel of
RouteMAP IMS so it matches the graphics of their site…Read more.
MapInfo Professional version 8.0 is the latest release of MapInfo’s flagship desktop location intelligence software product. Read Paul Amos’ review of the latest version.
GPS is becoming ubiquitous. It’s in handheld games, phones, car navigation systems and many other everyday objects. One of the newer markets for GPS is for recreational and more competitive distance athletes. The latest entry into the space is from Navman, a division of Brunswick, a company known for its marine electronics instruments and car navigation devices. This article reviews the Navman Sport.Tool R300 GPS.
With Version 4, ESRI’s BusinessMAP continues to provide good value and functionality in desktop mapping software. While the product primarily supports sales and marketing professionals with integrated links to personal information management software, BusinessMAP Version 4 continues it’s appeal to other professionals who simply need mapping software.
Journal News Removes Interactive Gun Permit Map
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 and in a letter to readers.
In a statement in response to The Poynter Institute (a journalism school) she argued:
With the passage this week of the NYSAFE gun law, which allows permit holders to request their names and addresses be removed from the public record, we decided to remove the gun permit data from lohud.com at 5 pm today. While the new law does not require us to remove the data, we believe that doing so complies with its spirit. For the past four weeks, there has been vigorous debate over our publication of the permit data, which has been viewed nearly 1.2 million times by readers. One of our core missions as a newspaper is to empower our readers with as much information as possible on the critical issues they face, and guns have certainly become a top issue since the massacre in nearby Newtown, Conn. Sharing as much public information as possible provides our readers with the ability to contribute to the discussion, in any way they wish, on how to make their communities safer. We remain committed to our mission of providing the critical public service of championing free speech and open records.
In a letter to readers published on Friday she wrote:
So intense was the opposition to our publication of the names and addresses that legislation passed earlier this week in Albany included a provision allowing permit holders to request confidentiality and imposing a 120-day moratorium on the release of permit holder data.
She goes on to say that during the 27 days the map was online any one interested would have seen it and that the data would eventually be out of date. She also noted that the paper does not endorse the way the state chose to limit availability of the data.
The original map/article still includes a graphic - but it's a snapshot, a raster image, with no interactivity. Says Hasson in the letter to readers:
And we will keep a snapshot of our map — with all its red dots — on our website to remind the community that guns are a fact of life we should never forget.
I continue to applaud the paper for requesting the data via a Freedom on Informat request, mapping it, keeping the map up despite threats and criticism and now responding to state law. I think the paper did a service to the state, to citizens and to journalism.
- via reader Jim and Poynter
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