If you’re into spatial modeling and want to validate your results, than the Map Comparison Kit is probably the right tool for you. The package is free of charge and provides scientifically verified map comparison methods.
a personal website slash blog
Monthly Archive for May, 2006
Jeff Schiller found out that driving directions are drawn using SVG in Windows Live Local. Interesting and great to see but it leads me to one question: what happened to Microsoft’s VML? Are they dropping (or not any longer forcing) their own technology in favor of an open standard?
Btw, I never had a closer look at Windows Live Local (they should probably flag their product announcements with “works now outside of IE too!”, I’m not even trying to access their services without IE anymore because of too bad experiences in the past) and I must admit that I’m pretty surprised. From a cartographic point of view the maps are looking very nice. In my opinion the map design is much better than in the rest of those search engine mapping services. Aren’t they all using the same or similar sources such as Digital Globe, NAVTEQ, TeleAtlas etc.?
Microsoft offers a lot features within Live Local:
- of course a search for addresses and businesses,
- driving directions,
- it shows you traffic information,
- you can mark places, add them to collections and if you’re a registered MSN user you can save and share them (features known from Platial?),
- and not to forget the famous birds eye view.
Features are good, basically. Too many features are bad. I’m afraid if too many marketing champions get involved in the development of Windows Live Local they will kill the service by a feature overkill. The options I have on the site are already quite versatile. They reach from searching an address, marking and sharing places to visualize traffic information.
I still prefer the “keep it simple” design principle. The worst question a user can ask or think about while accessing your site is: “What can I do here?”. The very basic service or aim of your site must be clear from the beginning. If it’s hidden inside a forest of features then you are having a problem.
Yesterday I got my brand new mobile device. Not a UMPC (or Origami if you prefer) as I thought two months ago, but a new Apple MacBook.
Basically my decision against the new UMPCs was influenced by the disastrous reviews of the first devices. The concept may need some more time until it’s ready for an everyday use. In the meantime I’ll stay with a proven mobile device: an ordinary notebook.
Frankly, I was looking for a tiny 12inch device and went to various shops to have a look at 12inch notebooks. Sony, Acer, Fujitsu-Siemens where the brands if I remember correctly. The problem was that the price passed way too fast my psychological threshold of what I wanted to spend on a new computer – it seems the smaller the screen, the higher the price.
In the meantime Apple presented their new 13.3inch sized MacBooks. Larger than my desired 12inch but more than 40% cheaper of what I had seen before, among some other advantages.
Because of all the issues around noise problems, heat problems and the new glossy reflecting screen I had my doubts ordering the new MacBook. Anyhow, I ordered one and yesterday I got it delivered from TNT.
So here are just my 2 cents to all those MacBook problem reports and reviews:
- Amazing industrial design! I got the black one and even if there are thousands of black plastic notebooks out there, Apple managed to let the MacBook look somehow different. Confirming the popular prejudice here: Apple users *only* care about the design of their expensive & trés chic toys!
- The new keyboard (remember the old classic TI30?) is as good or bad as any other notebook keyboard. It seems quite ok, without pretending to be a major improvement. Hey, it’s just a keyboard.
- I can’t understand why so many people complain about the glossy screen. The colors are brighter and more intensive than on other notebook screens. Of course there are reflections but
(a) according to some other posts I was expecting a mirror instead of a screen on the MacBook and
(b) it took my eyes about 10 minutes to get used to it.
Just focus on the content of the screen and not on the reflections and they’ll disappear. The outdoor test under sunlight conditions still needs to be done, then I’ll probably face the limits of the glossy screen. Otherwise, how many times I’m using it outside under sunlight? - Temperature: I wouldn’t go so far to say the MacBook has an integrated water boiler, but under heavy load the upper left corner may serve as a good coffee warmer. Honestly, it’s getting pretty warm. How warm you can observe here.
- When I plugged the MacBook with an empty battery (0% left) to the power supply for the first time, I noticed an ugly noise coming out of the power supply box. But it disappeared after 20 minutes and didn’t come back until now (crossed fingers!!).
- Speed & performance are no problem here. I’m not playing any of these super duper 3D games, so I probably won’t notice the missing video card and VRAM. For my purposes – some coding, text editing, presentations, doing simple graphics, managing my photos, music, videos, documents, my every day life – the speed is great! I don’t notice any difference to the iMac G5 20inch. No, I rather would say the little black one feels a bit snappier than the iMac G5.
- The battery let me work about 3.5 hrs (processor energy save option was set to normal). During the whole time I was continously transfering data via WLAN to my MacBook, wrote some texts, looked some things up on the internet and edited a few photos. Not working on heavy load but I bet if I don’t use the harddrive like I did while copying the files, the battery will probably last some more time.
Overall I can say that the MacBook was the right choice for me. It’s a slick mobile device providing an excellent performance and handling. The major advantages I can identify for me and my purposes are that I can stick with Mac OS X for my everyday life (I still prefer it over Windows, Gnome, KDE, etc.) and I can switch to any other operating system (Windows for GIS and GPS applications in my case) via Boot Camp or Parallels Desktop (aff link) if needed. According to some rumors Mac OS 10.5 should even allow “Fast OS switching”…
Flickr just got an update on its user interface. There is a new navigation bar, organizr (no Flash anymore!) and a new structure of your photo and group sites. My first impression is that you now get easier and faster to most features, especially the new organizr seems to be a HUGE improvement! Great work!
Over the last weekend I rediscoverd PJ Harvey again. By chance I saw some parts of her DVD “Please Leave Quietly” and can’t help but listening to her albums in continuous repeat mode since then. What a shame that I never saw her live…
On Tagzania you find all FIFA Worldcup 2006 stadiums in Germany mapped and tagged, match schedules included.
GfK Macon offers a static map showing all places where the teams will stay during the tournament. So if you would like to meet your favorite team or player you know where to go.
Anyone who would like to place a bet?
My tips:
- The next FIFA World Champion won’t be a European team.
- My tip for the overall winner and the next FIFA World Champion is Argentina. Don’t know, it’s just a feeling…
I reserve the right to change those tips in case Rooney shows up and Owen leaves his depression at the border to Germany.
What I couldn’t find out while watching the new Miami Vice trailer was if Sonny Crocket and Ricardo Tubbs are wearing socks. I’m deeply hoping they’re not! Otherwise heaven and earth would tremble… (via cinematical)
If you don’t depend on online data resources MAP2PDF seems to be an excellent alternative to ESRI’s ArcGIS Publisher. The feature list covers almost every reason why we started using ArcGIS Publisher for sharing interactive digital maps. (via ArcDex)
The first UMPC-reviews from Walter Mossberg and David Pogue don’t sound very promising. So maybe a traditional but small sub-notebook is still the better choice than a first generation Origami.