geomancers Meetup, Discussion, Links, Follow-up
Number of people attending: 8 at various points in time
Topics Discussed:
* Copyright issues related to using Google Maps to geocode locations.
Alternative solutions to this type of behavior, such as openstreetmap
and openlayers. Quality of free map data.
* Museum project. Goals and aspirations for said project.
* Open Guide to Boston. Goals for project.
* Location-based services. Gumspotting. Cell tower based locations. Wifi
based locations.
* Demonstration of really nifty art-exhibit type interactive display from
Craig F., of Emerson College.
Establishment of next meeting time:
Meeting at Muddy Charles, from 5pm-7pm (or whenever), for drinks and
more socializing. This will probably become a regular meeting time,
barring extreme protest from members who are unable to participate.
Administrative: I will be posting a link to this message to the
geomancers-announce list. This message will inform readers that the next
such meeting will be next Friday, from 5pm-7pm, and that all discussion
should head to the discuss list.
Links discussed:
* OpenStreetMap: http://www.openstreetmap.org
OpenStreetMap is a ‘grassroots’ remapping project, using people with
GPSes who go out and trace roads, tagging them, and mosat recently,
working to generate pretty maps from the content.
* http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Image:Sutton_Coldfield_ver0.2.1.png
* http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Image:Dunfermline-2006-04-08.png
* http://www.openstreetmap.org/index.html?lat=51.50000023501376&lon=-0.116667&zoom=11
* Open Guide to Boston: http://boston.openguides.org/
The Open Guide to Boston is a wiki-based approach to local location
based information storage, using (mostly) free data as a boostrap and
offering integration with Google Maps for displaying and editing of
nodes. Also offers ‘nearby’ searches, and structured metadata
exported as RDF/XML.
* Skyhook/Loki: http://www.loki.com/
Windows-only system (at the moment) — determines location based on
nearby wireless access points
* Geocoder.us: http://geocoder.us/
Public domain data from the US Government put to use providing
geocoding services.
* Castle Square Wireless Project: http://www.cstoboston.org/wireless.htm
Castle Square is using the MIT roofnet software to provide wifi to
residents over a SpeakEasy DSL line rebroadcast in a mesh network.
* CMP Presentation: http://museum.mit.edu/files/presentations/2006-03-15-mwow/
The Collaborative Mapping Project is an effort to build a device
which allows the MIT museum to take to the streets of MIT and
Cambridge, and explore the history and richness of media of the world
around you.
* Platial: http://www.platial.com/
Using Google Maps to create your own personal atlas.
* Where 2.0: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/where2006/
Where 2.0 O’Reilly conference, Jun 13-14th, San Jose, CA.
* Cell Locative Services: http://iconocla.st/~sderle/cell/gallery/
Visual attempts at mapping cell phone towers to locations based on
latitude and longitude collected via a bluetooth GPS.