Soul Solutions have a great blog post on using Azure to store custom image tiles (i.e. with your own data) for overlay on Bing Maps.
A little bit of GIS in the cloud… Neat…
A great new Multimap implementation has just gone live on UK MSN Local. See http://local.uk.msn.com/
Basically you can do a search for a property and see the results on a map, or use the “Explore Area” feature to see a map of an area with information about local amenities (e.g. schools and gyms) and data such as crime levels and constituencies:
I love the use of heat maps to display crime levels:
I’m in one of those hot red patches!
This is a really well designed application that lets you explore a large amount of local information.
My colleague Alexi Harakis has recently started blogging and has done a great post independently analysing Bing search. He seems to have selflessly spent a lot of time checking out the quality of porn searches! However he does present a very valid argument about the significance of these searches commercially.
As you may know I am a big fan of Photosynth (see here, here and here). So I am really pleased to see the launch of a commercial version which I know many of the customers I work with will be really excited about.
Here is an video introduction:
Also see the Case study video and the Developer’s video
And to see it all working together have a look at our friends at Earthware’s residential land photosynth map
One of the properties looks familiar. The excellent synths were done by Carla Lyons-Davis who must now be the UK’s best synther!
So what are the new features?
- The new commercial version includes new controls that enable users to decide where and how they share synths by making synths public or unlisted on http://www.photosynth.net. This allows you to manage the availability and access to synths, giving greater control over the visual representation of their places and premises.
- Synths can now include user-defined highlights to showcase key images and greatly improve navigation.
I will blog some more examples later….
Happy synthing!
Update
I am at the Bregenz for the ESRI 2009 German speaking conference to speak about using Virtual Earth and ESRI together…
My slides are here and:
The event is at at the Festspielhaus beside Lake Constance (as featured in the latest James Bond film), which is a cool venue:
At the moment they are setting up a strange broken feet set outside for the next opera:
The odd thing I have noticed at this event is that I am the only one using a laptop in the audience and as a result the WiFi is fast! Perhaps everyone is a lot more polite than me…
Update
I was pleased to see I had at least 3 people using laptops during my presentation 
It is not long until the next UK AGI conference. In fact the call for papers is closing today (although I imagine it is still possible to submit slightly late…). It would be great to see some more presentations from the world of web-mapping and light-weight GIS.
There has been a bit of re-branding, so it is now the “AGI’s GeoCommunity conference”. “GIS” is just so 1990!
As John Fagan says on the Multimap blog:
Not many people are aware on how much the conference has changed in the last 3 years. Historically it was based on a large Exhibition with a smaller conference format (Birmingham NEC and Earls Court days). While it was a good format for those days, over the years it did not really deliver anything new or different each year and delegate numbers declined as it was “same old same old”. Under the leadership of the current Chairman Steve Feldman, is has been completely overhauled and now the focus is on the conference with a smaller exhibition. Last year the conference attracted over 600 delegates who participated in more than 50 workshops, presentations and debates. This year, the conference is taking a further step forward and will unite the traditional GIS industry with the Neogeography geo community with the help of Christopher Osborne the founder of the London based #Geomob meetup group. You will also see a presence from Microsoft Virtual Earth and to top if of Andrew Turner, a well known Neogeography Evangelist will be the first plenary speaker. The conference is a two day event in Stratford-Upon-Avon, and at £275 (Member) or £355 (non member) early bird prices which includes accommodation, it’s extremely good value for money. However if you want to present a paper or workshop, you can get it even cheaper.
See you there!
I have been enjoying exploring the A-Z 1930’s mapping on the A-Z’s site. I love the ‘sepia’ cartographic style and the way the whole page matches the colour! It just goes to show that colour is not everything in cartography.
Thank you Mrs. Pearsall, you have helped me around London countless times.
Ever wondered where you need to go for that meeting? Ever wanted an easy way to add a map to an email? Well now your roblem is solved! Multimap have juts released a new Outlook Map Add-in. It can be installed from the new Multimap site ‘Explore Multimap’ here .
Currently the features of the add-in include:
- Add map to a meeting request
- Map you contacts
- Add a map to an email
And of course you can make use of all of those great Multimap local maps styles (like Bartholomew’s and Ordnance Survey).
Happy outlook mapping!
Wondering if your MP (UK Member of Parliament) is on the gravy train? Well now you can see by checking our this great map mashup.
It is great implementation using the new Virtual Earth Silverlight Control. More details here. Try out those ultra smooth zooms and pans!
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