Time to Switch over to Digital TV from the old analog system. This has been coming for a long time and its finally here. From the official DTV goverment website, “The switch from analog to digital broadcast television is referred to as the digital TV (DTV) transition. In 1996, the U.S. Congress authorized the distribution of an additional broadcast channel to each broadcast TV station so that they could start a digital broadcast channel while simultaneously continuing their analog broadcast channel. Later, Congress set June 12, 2009 as the final date that full power television stations can broadcast analog signals. As of June 13, 2009, full power television stations will only broadcast digital, over-the-air signals. Your local broadcasters may make the transition before then, and some already have.”

So who is ready for the switch and who isn’t? We made a few maps based on the Neilson report showing who was ready and who will be left behind in analog. Check the maps out below.

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To download the data or view the meta data visit Finder here!

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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.

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India wants to ban Google Earth and Wikimapia. The aftermath of the Mumbai attacks created a petition to remove all imagery of India on Google Earth and similar sites like Wikimapia. Mumbai-based lawyer Amit Karkhanis filed the petition saying, “The petition is filed against the backdrop of terror attacks in Mumbai. Even images of nuclear plants and defense establishments are available on this site. It is a security hazard.”

Vector One’s Jeff Thurston discusses the representation part to his GIS series. He says that representation part is an integral feature and one of the primary functional capabilities of GIS. Thurston discusses the many ways GIS is represented, including tabulated spreadsheets, numerically instead of graphically, through maps, charts, etc. He also talks about visualization tools that ‘take GIS data output and use it to develop other forms of visualization.’

The Washington Post released a flashed based Google Map mashup called TimeSpace: World. The map is a compilation of world news from the newspaper, its online site – washingtonpost.com, PostGlobal, Foreign Policy magazine and other partner sites including The Associated Press. The coverage is represented by clusters around hot-spots on the map. Each cluster lets you view articles, blog posts, photos, videos and even reporter twitter feeds.

Microsoft Research India created a system called the Robust Location Search, which enables location addresses in structured formats from any country. Microsoft plans to add it into Window Live Local.

The unemployment is getting worse. “Initial jobless claims surged by 58,000 to 573,000 in the week ending Dec. 6, the highest level since 1982.” MSNBC created an interactive map that displays the unemployment rate by month for each state starting in September 2007.

Blogger added geotagging! Now the Blogger community can geotag blog entries and not just photo. Now feed readers, map applications and search engines can associate posts with their locations.

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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.

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The Google GEO APIs team developed a KML Interactive Sampler page. Now people, who want to learn KML, can learn by examples. The Sampler page uses the Google Earth Plugin to demonstrate various features while displaying KML code.

Next week, George Mason University and the University of Virginia are celebrating GIS Day(s). They invite the general public to their GIS festivities. GMU’s featured speakers include Carmel Menzel, ESRI and Justin Procopio, National Geographic Society. David Rumsey, an expert on historical maps, will speak at UVA’s GIS Day.

The Google Maps API terms of service is causing the Ordnance Survey grief. The OS was unhappy with local authorities signing up to the Google Maps API terms of service as it required a “broad” re-licensing of the data to Google and the users of Google maps based sites. According to the OS, Show Us a Better Way broke copyright regulations by embedding info on Google Maps that was “derived” from OS data. Yesterday, Google released an updated Terms of Service for both Google Maps and Earth. For OS’ sake, the new published terms should help solve this issue.

Google announced the Google Geo Challenge Grants. The challenge encourages organizations, especially non-profits, to use maps as mediums to communicate issues and implement plans. The grants range from US$5,000 and US$100,000. For more the challenge guidelines, visit the Geo Challenge page.

Yesterday was “Make Slashgeo Known to the Community Day!” We encourage our readers to also show their support for our fellow GeoFriend!

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