The Harlow Report-GIS
2024 Edition
ISSN 0742-468XSince 1978
On-line Since 2000
GIS News Snippets
For the week of
November 4, 2024
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A “Harlow Report” From Oct 30, 2023
Geocoding API Trends: Where Technology Meets Geography
by NAV
In the digital age, where technology is constantly evolving, one trend that has been gaining traction is the use of geocoding APIs. A geocoding API is a tool that allows developers to convert addresses into geographic coordinates, which can be used to place markers on a map or position the map.
This article will delve into the emerging trends in this technology, its applications in various sectors, the future of geocoding API and its role in data privacy and security. It will also highlight some of the exciting innovations in the geocoding API landscape that are worth keeping an eye on. Geocoding on the Horizon: The Emerging Trends in Location Technology The rise of location-based services has led to a surge in the use of geocoding APIs. These APIs are now being used in a variety of applications, from providing real-time traffic updates to powering location-based advertisements. In fact, the global geocoder api market is expected to grow at a significant pace in the coming years, driven by the increasing demand for location-based services and the growing adoption of geocoding APIs in various sectors.
Read full story at Droid Journal…
Now back to 2024
Drones Revolutionize Land Management With High-Precision Aerial Survey
by Haye Kesteloo
Modern land management's getting a major upgrade thanks to Drone Technology that's transforming how we survey and monitor property.
According to a recent analysis, drones are leading the charge in making land management smarter and more efficient than ever before, particularly for real estate development, urban planning, and environmental protection.
UAVs have completely changed the land surveying game. These flying data collectors are grabbing high-res images and videos that help with everything from city planning to farming. What's really cool is how they're getting into places that'd be super risky for traditional surveyors.
“Drones are particularly useful in remote or hazardous areas where traditional land surveying would be challenging or dangerous,”Wallace points out.
And he's right — these machines aren't just cool tech, they're actually making the work safer.
Read full story at Dronexl…
How Fall Foliage Maps Can Drive Government GIS Advances
by Nikki Davidson
Minnesota's Fall Color Finder map gets roughly 250,000 views a year, but it isn't just a pretty interface — it's a tool offering lessons in user engagement, accessibility and data governance for governments nationwide.
Beyond pumpkin patches, warm drinks and hayrides comes a frenzy for scouting out the best fall colors. In Minnesota, state agencies are involved in the hunt, and they've unveiled a new map that taught them useful lessons about citizen engagement and accessibility that can now be replicated for countless other purposes. This year, Minnesota revamped its Fall Color Finder, an interactive site that tracks changing leaves in state parks. The upgrades were guided by the results of a request for feedback from the public about what improvements they'd like to see. The website was already popular, attracting more than 250,000 views in 2023 even though the season that leaves are changing lasts for fewer than 60 days in the state.
Read full story at Government Techmology…
New in Maps: Inspiration Curated With Gemini, Enhanced Navigation and More
by Miriam Daniel VP & GM, Google Maps
From helping you explore even more with Immersive View to taking the stress out of your drive, here are updates on Google Maps you won't want to miss.
For nearly 20 years, Google Maps has helped people understand and navigate the world — and today, we're announcing that more than 2 billion users turn to Maps each month because of our fresh, comprehensive map. By using AI to analyze billions of images, alongside data from local partners and our community, we're able to make over 100 million updates to the map every single day. So whether you're traveling the world or across town, you're seeing the most up-to-date information possible.
From fuel-efficient routes to Immersive View, AI has helped us build new experiences for over a decade. And now, we're transforming Maps with the power of Gemini models, helping you get answers to complex questions about the world.
Read full story at Google Blog…
Protect Yourself Against Location Tracking Abuses
by Adam Engst
Recent revelations of unauthorized location tracking by Babel Street expose privacy vulnerabilities for iPhone users. Adam Engst offers actionable strategies to reduce the likelihood of having your privacy violated by data brokers.
News broke last week that a company has been tracking millions of smartphone users over long periods of time without any opt-in permission or notification, potentially violating state and federal laws in the United States and putting vulnerable people at risk (see “Expos#eacute; Reveals Ongoing Smartphone Location Tracking Threats,” 23 October 2024). This reported behavior by Babel Street's Locate X makes me livid! Many of our online actions chip away at our privacy, but most are optional and offer something in return. Sometimes, we're even told explicitly how our information might be used and can opt out or switch services. You can choose to swap the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter for Bluesky or Mastodon, and if you don't want Google to see your Web searches, there's always Brave Search, DuckDuckGo, Kagi Search, and Perplexity.
But no one intentionally shares their location with Babel Street; no one has granted permission in any way that could be construed as allowing it. I doubt any but a handful of people in specialized fields and law enforcement even knew who Babel Street was before last week.
Read full story at TidBits…
The Next Frontier in Navigation: Why Businesses, Consumers, and Investors Should Pay Attention to GPS Alternatives
by Jack Borie
The future of navigation is coming fast, and it's worth keeping your eyes on the horizon.
In a world dominated by connectivity, we rely on GPS for everything from navigating city streets to tracking the arrival of our food delivery. But most of us don't give much thought to how it all works—until it doesn't. Whether it's your Uber driver getting lost in a crowded urban area, your delivery package arriving late, or an autonomous vehicle encountering a signal disruption, the vulnerabilities of GPS are becoming clearer.
As we move toward a more connected and automated future, the limitations of GPS are not just an inconvenience; they're a roadblock to progress. Luckily, a new wave of GPS alternatives is coming, and the impact will be felt by businesses, consumers, and investors alike.
Read full story at Fast Company…
Industry News
In Government
Converging IT and OT Is Key to a Smart City
by Darren Pulsipher
Cities must overcome cultural differences to maximize smart technology investments.
Listen (05:56)
Smart technologies have the potential to make cities more sustainable, efficient and secure, but maximizing their potential requires an IT and operational technology convergence that has historically been nonexistent. Fears of meddling with what has worked for decades, cultural differences between teams and a combination of other factors have resulted in IT and OT being treated as separate entities. This outmoded approach threatens to undercut cities' investments in smart city technology.
IT and OT convergence is already happening in industries such as manufacturing, where data is collected, analyzed and shared to improve processes and create smarter and more sustainable factories. It's time to bring those benefits to our nation's municipalities through a combination of education, processes and tools.
Read full story at StateTech…
Reactions Mostly Positive to National Security AI Memo
by GovTech News Staff
U.S. President Joe Biden's first National Security Memorandum on artificial intelligence directs the federal government to take steps to ensure AI supports the national security mission. Stakeholders were supportive.
Initial reactions from stakeholder groups are positive to U.S. President Joe Biden's National Security Memorandum (NSM) on Artificial Intelligence, … .
The federal government has already taken several actions on AI, chiefly Biden's October 2023 executive order. Congress is processing more than 100 bills related to AI, and some federal agencies like the Department of Labor, the Department of Commerce, and the General Services Administration are looking to the technology for its potential to improve services.
Read full story at Government Technology…
Video Game Libraries Lose Legal Appeal to Emulate Physical Game Collections Online
by Kyle Orland
Register of Copyrights sides with industry's “market harm” argument for rereleased games.
Earlier this year, we reported on the video game archivists asking for a legal DMCA exemption to share Internet-accessible emulated versions of their physical game collections with researchers. Today, the US Copyright Office announced once again that it was denying that request, forcing researchers to travel to far-flung collections for access to the often-rare physical copies of the games they're seeking.
In announcing its decision, the Register of Copyrights for the Library of Congress sided with the Entertainment Software Association and others who argued that the proposed remote access could serve as a legal loophole for a free-to-access "online arcade" that could harm the market for classic gaming re-releases. This argument resonated with the Copyright Office despite a VGHF study that found 87 percent of those older game titles are currently out of print.
Read full story at arsTechnica…
In Technology
How to Run Windows Apps on a Mac Without Installing Windows
by Cliff Joseph
There are ways to run Windows software on the Mac without installing Windows. Here's how you can run Windows apps on your Mac without having to buy Windows.
There are a number of options available that allow you to install Windows on your Mac — either using Boot Camp on older Macs with Intel processors, or using virtualization programs such as Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion, which can run on Macs with both Intel and Apple Silicon processors. Installing a full version of the Windows operating system on your Mac is a good option — provided you have a fast Mac, with plenty of memory and storage — as you should then be able to run any Windows software you want, ranging from games to professional-level business, graphics or design software.
However, there's another option that allows you to run many Windows apps and games on a Mac without even needing to install Windows at all. The most well-known program in this area is CrossOver, which is described by its developers at Codeweavers as a compatibility layer or translation layer. Instead of requiring you to install the entire Windows operating system on a virtual machine, CrossOver allows you to create a 'bottle' that mimics some aspects of the Windows operating system.
Read full story at MacWorld…
Microsoft Accuses Google of 'Shadow Campaigns' in the EU
by Michael Crider
Microsoft says Google is creating astroturf lobbying groups to sic regulators against its competition.
The European Union can be a tough regulatory arena, especially for American tech megacorps. But according to a Microsoft lawyer, Google has been manipulating regulators by creating an “astroturf” group of cloud providers to lobby against Microsoft specifically. It's a brazen and surprising accusation, directly from one corporation to another.
In a lengthy blog post on Microsoft's official site, the company's deputy general counsel Rima Alaily accused Google of enticing smaller European cloud computing companies to create a lobbying group “directed and largely funded by Google for the purpose of attacking Microsoft's cloud computing business in the European Union and the United Kingdom.” Or at least that's what Microsoft claims it was told by one company that was approached by Google but declined to join the group.
Read full story at PCWorld…
Salesforce's Agentforce Is Here: Trusted, Autonomous AI Agents to Scale Your Workforce
by Salesforce Press Release
Agentforce delivers fully customizable autonomous AI agents that can connect to any enterprise data and take action across sales, service, marketing, and commerce
Salesforce … announced the general availability of Agentforce, a new layer on the Salesforce Platform that enables companies to build and deploy AI agents that can autonomously take action across any business function. Agentforce goes beyond chatbots and copilots, using advanced reasoning abilities to make decisions and take action, like resolving customer cases, qualifying sales leads, and optimizing marketing campaigns.
Agentforce doesn't depend on human engagement to get work done; these agents can be triggered by changes in data, business rules, pre-built automations, or signals via API calls from other systems. Companies like OpenTable, Saks, and Wiley are using Agentforce today to augment their employees, expand their workforce, and improve customer experiences.
In addition, Agentforce includes out-of-the-box agents that are easy to customize and deploy with low-code or no-code tools and that work around the clock across any channel.
Read full story at Salesforce…
In Utilities
US Supreme Court Won't Pause EPA Power Plant Emissions Rule
by Andrew Chung
Rule mandates 90% emission cut by 2032 for certain plants
The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to put on hold a new federal rule targeting carbon pollution from coal- and gas-fired power plants at the request of numerous states and industry groups in another major challenge to President Joe Biden's efforts to combat climate change.
The justices denied emergency requests by West Virginia, Indiana and 25 other states … as well as power companies and industry associations to halt the Environmental Protection Agency rule while litigation continues in a lower court. The regulation, aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change, took effect on July 8.
Read full story at Reuters…
Water Power Technologies Office Selects More Than $33 Million in Projects to Advance Hydropower and Marine Energy
by U.S. Dep't Of Energy
Selections include more than $8.6 million for 13 hydropower technical assistance projects and nearly $25 million for 25 hydropower and marine energy research and development projects at six DOE national laboratories.
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) announced more than $33 million in projects to advance hydropower and marine energy. These selections include more than $8.6 million for 13 hydropower technical assistance projects through the HydroWIRES Initiative and nearly $25 million for 25 hydropower and marine energy research and development projects at six DOE national laboratories.
Hydropower and marine energy technologies are predictable, reliable, and well-suited to help balance electricity grids with higher levels of variable renewable energy like wind energy and solar power. Hydropower plays a key role in ensuring electricity grids remain stable as they evolve to incorporate more variable renewable energy sources, ensuring communities have power when they need it. It currently accounts for about 27% of U.S. utility-scale renewable electricity generation and nearly 6% of the country's total utility-scale electricity generation.
Read full story at Energy,gov…
World's Leading Utility Companies to Invest Over $116 Billion Annually in Clean Energy Technology
by Mandy Carr
A powerful and practical foundation for a sustainable future
A sustainable future takes collaboration. That's what 32 of the world's leading utility companies are doing, partnering to invest in clean energy and infrastructure while serving 327 million customers around the world.
According to Renewable Energy Magazine, the utility companies announced at New York Climate Change Week that they will invest more than $116 billion annually to “scale renewables portfolios by 2.6 times by 2030.”
These investments include modernizing grid infrastructure and addressing supply chain constraints.
Read full story at Yahoo!…