Many companies are on Twitter, but how are they using this social media tool? Glenn Letham of GISuser discusses how organizations, for example ESRI, use Twitter to keep their readers informed of industry and company news as well as a communication tool to their customers. Letham encourages other GIS/Geo Technology companies to use Twitter as a medium for customer relations and technical assistance. Follow us on Twitter!

Harvard launched AfricaMap. The map is based on the Harvard University Geospatial Infrastructure (HUG) platform and was developed by the Center for Geographic Analysis.  AfricaMap, a OpenLayers-based app, aims to expand existing initiatives for globally sharing spatial data and technology. 

Google Maps created a fun quiz where you get to test your geographic puzzle solving skills. To play the quiz, you have to rearrange letters in a map, using visual clues in the form of a Panoramio photograph, to spell a world capital or U.S. state capital.

The USGS National Geospatial Program Office launched a new version of The National Map website. Revisions include The National Geospatial Program and The National Map web site.

Discussions about the auto industry bailout have been percolating the blogosphere. How would this affect auto industry workers? CNN created an interactive map showing the number of auto industry jobs in each state.

Popularity: 19% [?]

All Points Blog shared the results of last month’s poll on the “single factor besides pure functionality that influences people’s selection of a geospatial software application.” Out of the eight options, which included data format support, speed, and extensibility, the ease of use/interface received a staggering 62%. To participate in the next poll, vote here in the lower right hand corner of the page. The question: How important is it that a job candidate be familiar with more than one GIS product/platform?

The Catholicgauze reflects on past Geography Awareness Weeks and discusses the trends of three geography surveys from the years 1988, 2002 and 2006. Overall, the past surveys show little or no change since the first study in 1988. The findings indicate that Americans are lacking in geographic literacy. Those that did well on the surveys include people who took and completed a geography course, recent immigrants, frequent travelers and those that keep up with world events.

Mark Doherty of Integraph presented a detailed overview of where the technology of GIS has been, where it is now, and where it is going at the Rocket City Geospatial Conference in Huntsville, AL. He shared four trends ‘converging to create a potentially unique opportunity’ in regards to the new era of computing. The four include SOA and standards, cloud computing, orchestration and thin clients/rich internet applications.

MyGeo Position, an application to help geo-code a single address, was deemed as ‘very accurate’ by Keir Clarke over at Google Maps Mania. The site offers a number of useful facilities for geo-coding a position, including finetuning using a drag and drop marker, geoposition as a float or in degrees, and an iGoogle gadget for quick geocoding from a personal landing page. MyGeoPosition is available in English, German, Dutch and Bulgarian.

O’Reilly’s Where2.0 2009 Call for Participation is now open. Submit your proposal here before December 2^nd.

Popularity: 12% [?]

VectorOne posed the question whether or not geospatial technology could drive political consensus on environmental issues. Environmental issues such as flooding, disease, conservation, and/or water quality require top geographic information, spatial analysis and integration. The GIS and spatial technologies industry should assist anyone making decisions to better understand these issues and make informed decisions based on intelligent information and geodata.

Geodata is not available to all – the Farm Bill (H.R. 6126) prevents the FSA from providing geospatial information to the public. Visit Surveying, Mapping and GIS for more details about what Sec. 1619 Information Gathering entails.

Google Maps is still number one. Cowen & Co., an industry analyst firm specializing in covering Web services, found Google Maps as the “de facto leader” in the online mapping solutions space. The analyst firm stated the competitors’ lack of innovation gave Google its success. They also cited Google’s Streetview and public transportation services as main reasons for success.

Geocoding can provide vital information to marketers. Appending demographic census track data to latitude and longitude coordinates is critical for businesses targeting demographics. Many businesses are using Geocoding as a local search tool, a routing tool, and as a store locator.

Florida tries to coordinates a statewide effort for GIS. This is the fourth time the state tried to develop a coordinating body. With the active Atlantic hurricane seasons, and the death of 208 residents, the state realized that coordination of geospatial information during the hurricanes would have saved lives. The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) is taking the lead in formulating a statewide GIS strategic plan.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Is the geospatial industry affected by the world’s financial situation? Not as much as you would think, according to Jeff Thurston and Matt Ball of V1 Magazine . Thurston claims the geospatial industry tools are relevant because they are based on reality. Ball states that as long as geospatial technologies serves critical markets (government, homeland security, etc.), the industry can weather out economic downturns. The geospatial industry is innovative in its technology, which drives growth and will certainly provide career opportunities and a bright future for those involved.

Google adds a voting mapplet, offering registered voters polling location information by just entering your address. The developing site will feature voting information in mid-October. Visit your state or location election sites for registration information. Still want more political maps? Check out Electoral College map predictions and John McCain’s geo-biography in Google Earth.

Google Maps isn’t always perfect though. This week, reports on map spamming surfaced, also recent changes to Google Maps (switching from TeleAtlas to NavTeq) is rendering both Google Earth and Google maps incorrectly, according to Chad at Earth is Square.

Nokia 1.5 introduced their new mapping application, Nokia ViNe. The application gives users the ability to add location information to their geo-tagged photos. Nokia Photos uses map data from Navteq through the Maps on Ovi service.

GIS made the front page of the Coloradoan-Fort Collins. The Poudre School District received a small grant to help educate future high school graduates interested in geo technologies. The district will provide two courses for 50+ students to take in either clean energy for companies or GIS technologies.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Google Maps is moving above and beyond with their new mobile offering for Street View. The application now includes a 360 degree pedestrian perspective. Google Map’s mobile version was introduced this week and is available for the Blackberry and other smart phones.

Speaking of Google Maps, Googlers (members of the Google Team) were invited to visit the University of Alaska at Fairbanks to make tools like Google Earth more accessible. The team will be conducting a series of workshops, conducting geography trivia contests and building maps (using Google Maps of course). Could Google be paving the way for mapping education?

Netezza, a global leader in data warehouse appliances and data warehousing, announced their spatial extension to its database. They will support spatial data types and operators (specifically vector data types: points, lines and areas). Netezza’s architecture is intended to work for mass queries and analysis, not operational geospatial applications.

GeoServer introduced their newest version of GeoServer and last release of the 1.6x branch, 1.6.5. The latest update features Dutch translations, and 65 bug fixes and other additional improvements.

Click2Map revealed a new feature for online crowded maps. The auto-cluster feature allows map makers to create a ‘unique marker’ for areas that are densely concentrated. The tool also enables you to laser-tune the display based on three parameters; clustering rate, minimum markers and maximum zoom.

Open Street Map is now available in Shapefile format thanks to some work from the team at geofabrik. With this addition, there is no longer any need to convert the osm.bz2 to Shapefiles as it is now supplied for users.

Popularity: 16% [?]