Computing, GIS and Archeology in the UK shares a tip for importing UK Mastermap data into Postgres or Shape files. The Mastermap importer imports mastermap data into ogr formats such as shapefiles, or into a postgresql database, in a free and easy to use way.

Glenn at the AnyGeo Blog posts an interesting question, who owns data? A recent article in Forbes prompted the question, and we’re really interested to know. We think that the more open data out there that is shared, the better everyone will be. Data ownership is all about creating a bigger network effect for data.

Last week we talked about Google’s Map API for Flash. But, does it really work? FlexRIA tries to work it out.

Free Geography Tools maps out PolicyMap, which is designed to easily display data on a map. With data and information from real estate to crime to health to schools, the possibilities are endless!

Popularity: 15% [?]

James Fee got another great discussion going on the ESRI / Google partnership asking the fundamental question of how “do you monetize your information in such a world?” Specifically a world where Google is giving away data for free.

The Google answer to this at Where 2.0 and WhereCamp was to post data that leads new users to your “for fee” content and services. This general concept was well debated and summed up fairly well is this comment. While there are many short term issues and decisions to be made by folks in regard to Google’s geo-index, I believe in the long run it will be beneficial. This may sound odd since we just launched Finder!, which provides searching, sharing and organization of geodata.

My philosophy is based on the power of a network effect for data. Just like “network effects” with technologies like cell phones and faxes, each additional data set that is made available to combine with other data sets increases the overall value of the network of data. This is especially true as you begin to make semantic association between a variety of disparate data sets. The same concept is what landed Metaweb and their Freebase application $42 million in funding. It is a powerful concept and Google, of course, is looking to be the center of the network.

The upside is you do not have to be Google to benefit from the network effect. All you need to do is have the ability to interconnect your data with the new content being produced. This does not mean giving away all your data to Google. In fact you could do the opposite and just suck in data from the Google geo idex API (although I’m not sure if the TOS restricts usage to publicly viewable websites).

The trick I believe will be to leverage the interconnectivity of Google to increase the value of your own data and services.

I think what is missing in this new equation is the ability cleanly segment public and private data while still retaining the ability to seamlessly mash them up. One of the things we did with Finder! was to allow data to be flagged public or private. This allows users to take advantage of the network effect without having to share confidential data. That way the option to expose data to web services is not binary (everyone gets it or no one gets it).

This also opens up the possibility of data marketplaces. Paul Bisset has some great comments in the Fee thread on how they have done this with WeoGeo. I believe we’ll see several new creative ways to deliver “for fee” content to the GeoWeb (hopefully interconnected and federated), especially as tools and applications develop that can leverage the data. The beauty is we are opening a whole new market to purchase the data and services that did not exist before.

As GIS data and services enter the IT main stream there will be a new market of customers to win. I think at the end of the day that will be a win for everyone just as a larger network of interconnected data (both free and for fee) will.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Mashable reports that Google Maps features a new API that has flash graphics that can be used for each title layer, maker and information windows. This means you can create more dynamic map mashups.

Not only does Google Maps have flash graphics, but they have also added the ability for video sharing, Wikipedia entries, real estate listings, and geo-coded photos.

Google Earth and David Rumsey have formed a relationship where historical map collections are available through a Google Earth layer. More data means more mashups!

Interesting how Where 2.0 has a Twitter account that wasn’t followed nearly as much as it should have been.

All Points Blog also provides a “plain-English” explanation of the Google / ESRI announcement.

Popularity: 23% [?]

The morning session of Where 2.0 was very interesting. I had a great speaking slot right after Nokia and right before Google. We launched GeoCommons Finder! and made it through the demo even with a bit of a slow connection. You can join the demo at http://finder.geocommons.com and if you would like a entry key drop me an email at sean@fortiusone.com and I’ll pass one along.

We spent a good bit of time talking about making big geodata sets available in the web browser and having the content available for GIS and GeoWeb users - even spreadsheet jockeys. This is a horn we’ve been blowing for a while, and the great thing about the morning session was the Google presentation following us. Their presentation had a small surprise with Jack Dangermond joining them on stage talking about the interconnection of Google Earth/Maps and ESRI. John Hanke had a nice set up talking about the dark web of GIS data that needs to be exposed to the GeoWeb and how they are working with ESRI to do it.

It’s great to see the big guys on the GeoWeb and GIS respectively working together to bring more data to the masses. While there was a nice canned demo showing ArcGIS 9.3 interacting with Google Earth, it will be interesting to see how it works in the wild and how it scales. My one concern is that is seemed from the demo that the model is still based around the public being passive viewers of GIS professionals work. We can see the output but can we access the data and add our own nuances and perspective to it. Have to wait and see it actually rolls out, but I think democratizing both the data and ability to answer questions with it are still necessary steps for great progress to reach its potential.

Popularity: 26% [?]

We are all set up here in cosmopolitan Burlingame for the fun of Where 2.0. Thus far we’ve sat in on Advanced GIS Hacks in Rails and are currently enjoying the GeoServer tutorial. There is a bit of a lull in the action, so I thought I would talk about something completely different.

Specifically, I got an email with a link saying Google was going to be launching “Friend Connect” at Where 2.0. Problem is I’ve not read anything on the blogs or else where that has talked about Friend Connect having a geospatial component.

It would be awesome if they’ve enabled something to embed your location into a social profile, but seems like that would be more ambitious than what has been outlined in the press releases and speculation. Google does have a talk tomorrow on the “State of the GeoWeb”, maybe we’ll find out there. Has anyone heard rumors one way or the other?

Popularity: 23% [?]