Our own Andrew Turner and Mikel Maron presented at Web 2.0 Expo today on trends and technology in Where 2.0.

Cutting Edge Where 2.0 Trends

To kick things off Brady Forrest of O’Reilly and Andrew just published a report on the GeoWeb space, it’s available now.

For those not familiar with the Geo-geek world they started off defining the Geoweb as an interlinked set of people and places around the world that is finally web aligned. These people and places are linked together through open standards that can be searched and indexed online. This gives us a huge trove of information and data from numerous sources.

A new driver of geodata is the trend towards mass adoption of location aware mobile devices. Users are bringing mobile devices into social environments, business, and even global settings. Socialight provides users collaboration capabilities leveraging online and mobile technologies to provide reviews and information on top restaurants and other locations. Large established companies such as TeleAtlas and NAVTEQ are actively expanding into mobile as well. Users can also gather data on their own, with massive success of OpenStreetMap being one prominent example.

The majority web 2.0 services are starting to add geography. Wikipedia, Flickr, even YouTube. This information can now be mined. Check out geocodr which create geotags based on Flickr photos.

One issue that’s coming up with all this open data is metadata and providing source authentication. Can the data be trusted? The ability to crowdsource information for a specific crowd or business is exciting, but having authoritatively knowing the source of where the information is coming from is even more important. Privacy is another pressing issue with open data. Flickr is offering geo-privacy to their photo uploads - this introduces the idea of “casual privacy”. Trusted locations also have a strong impact on how data is perceived by users.

Omnifocus has an iPhone tool that adds geolocation to your “to-do” list. It automatically geo-locates you, so you can discover the closest option to complete the next task on your list. So, if you’re out at CVS and need to go pick up something at a grocery store, Omnifocus can tell you where the closest store is to check that task off your list.

Mapvertising is another interesting concept. Coupons and other location based advertising have to be able to understand what users are searching for in context. For example, searching for a “romantic restaurant” should NOT result in an advertisement for Hooters.

FAIL:

Andrew also discussed advances in traditional GIS. ESRI is one big GIS solution provider that is opening their data via KML, javascript and flash.

Many new users are looking to do more complex analysis than just mapping push pins and would like to map more sophisticated open source and private data. For example, with Maker! you can take a look at how average rent in Manhattan can be thematically mapped to discover price trends.

Burning Man 2008 GeoHacks Technology (The future)

At this point Andrew passed the presentation over the Mikel to provide more of a geo-hacking perspective perspective on the GeoWeb. He got things into gear by discussing what he learned in the Black rock Desert of Nevada. Burning Man is a blank canvas on which to dream and create anything. It’s a single week long social experiment and a petri dish of urban development. It’s almost a laboratory that we can use to begin to examine all the geodata and tools we have. We can look at urban development, how social groups form in cities, etc.

Burning Man Earth had a lot of “geogeekery”. Over 100 GB of data were collected over the week.

Why is this important for Web 2.0 Expo? This is a prime example of Web 2.0 and Where 2.0 and what these technologies can enable. Open platforms, open standards, open data, and collaboration that is easy and cheap.

Amateur Remote Sensing

• pictearth.com
• diydrones.ning.com
• openaerialmap.org

We took remote sensing data every day. You don’t need expensive gear or a satellite. Small planes are used to get imagery with under $500. A plane is used with continuous shots and a camera hanging out the window with a clamp. The pilot has to manage the camera out the window, but there were no problems finding volunteers. “There are 3 F’s that no pilot will refuse….Food, Fuel, and something else…” Not only did we get aerial pics from planes, but also from kites.

Some great shots were taken as burning man convened. You can see how people created their spaces based on where the ones before them placed their tents.

We then processed the photo using ERMapper, ESRI, Photoshop, and some blood, sweat and tears.

The GeoDjango platform was used to collect even more visual data. If you have geographic items in your models, it can map to nicer views. A camp layout was placed in CAD for even more visualization, which we received in a PDF. To georectify, we used ESRI. We also had to use WMS and tiling (TileCache). These OpenLayers provided vectors from the PDF.

We then wanted to extend this to a social networking platform and get media artifacts from the information. We used “pinax” for networking. This data can be used for future city layout and camp planning tools.

Flickr took these tiles so people could geotag their photos from Burning Man based on the location of their maps.

Some of the other technologies that were used during burning man was Garmin radio for friend location, GPS tracking of vehicles, digipeater (which rebroadcasts to the Internet down the line for free).

Parting words:

“The Internet brings us together, but what if the single link holding us in place breaks?
What if what we learn in the harsh environment of the playa could be reapplied to those in crisis, instead of artistic indulgence?”

Popularity: 23% [?]

We had the opportunity to catch up with James Fee at Spatially Adjusted and Planet Geospatial to get his opinion on the current and future state of GIS and the GeoWeb. James is a certified GIS Professional (GISP) and GIS developer, analyst, and consultant and has spent the last decade implementing, developing and consulting on GIS projects. He has experience with almost all of the large players in the geospatial field such as ESRI, MapInfo, Manifold, OSGeo (MapServer, GDAL, QGIS, OpenLayers), MapDotNet, Oracle, Microsoft and Google.

FortiusOne: Where do you see GIS going in the next 10 years?

James Fee: I think data and collaboration will be huge in the next 10 years.  The explosion of Neogeography and projects such as OpenStreetMap have brought many new faces into GIS.  Not only are we seeing spatial data being pushed out to the public at large, but this data is beginning to be integrated into GIS workflows.  We'll begin to see metadata and documentation of these datasets as well making them very valuable.  

While freely sharing data has been great, the next logical step is allowing companies to monetize their datasets, share as easily.  The ability to pay and use data services should revolutionize the industry.  The price of data hasn't really been a limiting factor yet, but the difficulty of integrating these datasets into online mapping or even in desktop GIS has hurt adoption.  In addition the speed of geospatial data services has been poor so moving these services into the Cloud should improve performance and increase profitability given that there is no need for large overhead (such as servers, or bandwidth).

FortiusOne: Will there be convergence between GIS and the GeoWeb to the point that they become indistinguishable?

James Fee: Possibly, I think this have been the holy grail that everyone has been trying to attain.  GIS by its nature is complex and you generally need complex solutions to complex problems.  That said I think we'll see many operations that were the domain of GIS begin to be part of the GeoWeb.  Basic geoprocessing over the web via an easy-to-use interface can satisfy a vast number of use cases of general users without hitting them over the head with a steep learning curve.  

Usually moving GIS to general uses has been by giving them the kitchen sink and expecting them to figure it out.  Simple solutions to their "simple" problems is how we'll see GIS and the GeoWeb converge.  Over time more and more "complex" analysis will be available to use by just about anyone with a computer, but I'm not sure we'll see that in the next 10 years.

FortiusOne: Do datasharing and crowdsourcing have a place in GIS?

James Fee: Yes, but the problem is how do you give GIS professionals the ability to use the data and make decisions about its accuracy.  I guess it brings up the question, do you trust a Biologist in the field with at GPS more than a hobbyist?  I'd guess most GIS professionals would pick the Biologist, but a degree in Biology doesn't mean the data is necessarily good.  

Datasharing and crowdsourcing are great ideas but for GIS to use them, they need metadata, documentation, and possibly a rating system.  A "marketplace" should allow users to rate the quality and accuracy of the data which both helps others make decisions about the data and gives feedback to the creator on how they can improve their dataset.  OpenStreetMap has been a great example on how "experts" can help "novices" grow to be experts in data collection.

FortiusOne: Should there be a marketplace for online geodata?  

James Fee: Totally, I think there has to be.  First off, you need some place users can feel comfortable buying data.  Second you need a place where data can be rated and reviewed.  Third you need a place where data providers can put their information in the cloud for quick and easy access buy everyone.  If someone is investing time and energy into creating their data, I don't see any reason they can't be rewarded for this.  

I think some data will be available via micropayments and other data will be very expensive (or the ability to pay for read only data vs editable data).  Having some place where users can go to both sell and buy data, search for data, and review data is critical today.  Sure Google will index spatial data, but being able to go to a focused marketplace will put buyers and sellers together quickly.  And at least today, any site that sells data should be compatible with ESRI software.  Offering up data types that aren't compatible with ESRI will limit any marketplace.

FortiusOne: What emerging technology trend will have the biggest impact on GIS?

James Fee: I think putting a GPS in so many "ordinary" things is going to impact GIS immensely.  Walking around with a GPS in your phone should give you access to many GIS applications, digital cameras and video cameras with GPS will spatially enable tons of datasets.  

FortiusOne: What is your reaction to the Google – ESRI announcement?

James Fee: We'll have to see what impact this really has.   It isn't revolutionary the idea that Google might index GIS servers, the hard part is getting all these traditional ESRI clients to open up their data is the challenge.  They'll need to see the benefit to allowing users to view their data in any way they choose rather than the traditional hard to use ESRI web mapping front end.  

FortiusOne: What impact will Google have on GIS?

James Fee: Google has already had a huge impact on GIS.  At a minimal level, it has already allowed GIS users to search for data sets.  Google Maps has totally changed how web mapping is used and displayed on the internet, Google Earth has pushed 3D GIS to the mainstream and now their geo search 2.0 and geo sitemaps they pushing spatial searching.  Google has been really good about getting spatial data in front of everyone in a way everyone can use it.  GIS has learned much from this and the new tools coming out by ESRI, Autodesk, etc. all are very "Google-like". 

Popularity: 22% [?]

Are paper maps no more? GIS Lounge reports that the cartography division of the California State Automobile Association is slowly being phased out. The cause for the demise is the widespread availability of online map directions and in-car navigation units which cut demand for the paper maps by 13% in 2007.

The Geospatial Semantic Web Blog shares some good news for the semantic web community. The U.S. Security and Exchange Commission recently proposed a timetable requiring 500 of the largest public companies to begin filling their financial data using XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language). This will create a mass amount of free and real-world data for research.

Speaking of data, Anand at DataWocky answers the question of why the world needs a new database system. He discusses high volumes of data that are not being utilized due to scalability. He points to the newly launched Aster Data which is a database system natively designed and architected from the ground up for a new hardware platform: commodity clusters.

Google Earth has a new browser plug-in, which continues its roll out of Google Map API for Flash and Google App Engine. Released with it is the very extensive Google Earth JavaScript API for writing 3D map applications. Moxie thinks that this has opened a new page for GeoWeb visualization.

Popularity: 15% [?]

We got such useful feedback from the last metadata post I thought I would add some screen shots of how it is starting to come together. Unfortunately we were not able to get all the suggestions in because of the time crunch hitting our release date, but please keep posting the feedback and we’ll work it in as we have more time.

The first screen shot is of the data details page, which contains the metadata information for the data set. In this case 2000 US Census data at the tract level for Alabama:

Here you can see the major elements we are capturing in a user friendly graphical lay out. One of the cool new bits is the system automatically calculates statistics when you upload the data. Being able to data mine and run statistics on the fly is one of the new developments we are particularly excited about.

All the metadata on the data details page is exposed as Dublin Core elements which should make them machine readable to the rest of the world:

Also there are links to FGDC and ISO 19115 metadata mappings which take you to simple text pages with the indicated information. We probably need another pass to get these completely correct, but the infrastructure is all in place to do so.

FGDC looks like this:

ISO 19115 looks like this:

Hopefully this will help make the data in GeoCommons useful to multiple geospatial work flows. We hope having the ability to get data out in shapefile, KML, and .CSV (spreadsheets) will create more cross fertilization between GeoWeb and GIS users. With some luck it can help get more geospatial data out to the public that has been difficult to access in the past. A couple of examples below.

US Census Tract Data for Alabama

Global Maritime Shipping Lanes

Zillow Neighborhoods and Shipping Lanes (just because it looked kinda cool)

Thanks again for the feedback from folks on the metadata and we’ll keep iterating on getting it spot on.

Popularity: 24% [?]