The ever-interesting Google Maps Mania has a post that outlines some of the Extinction-level event maps built on Google Maps. From predicting the destruction caused by a specific-sized meteor impact, to seeing if you’d survive a nuclear bomb blast targeted at your nearest capital (or other POI), to seeing how far inland you’ll need to be when a tsunami hits, there’s not a situation out there you won’t be prepared for. Except zombies, so pack a crossbow.
Andrew Dempster has spoken up in ABC’s opinion section, The Drum, saying that Australia needs to launch its own Earth Observation satellite, as relying on ‘the kindness of strangers’ only leaves us vulnerable. The comments are also worth a read.
Urban Circus’ blog has an interesting post that talks of improving Local Area Planning through the use of 3D city models – and what needs to change before this can become possible.
The Asahi Shimbun has a great piece on Hidenori Watanabe, who has created a website that uses Google Earth technology combined with historical photographs and personal testimonies for a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood view of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during the closing days of World War II. His next project will be documenting the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011.
Speaking of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Google Maps Mania has a video map placing over 120 videos of the resulting tsunami into a geographical context. Well worth a look.
With the OpenStreetMap redaction bot having recently finished its sweep across the dataset (redactions what? More info here) , and Poland and Australia being called out as areas most affected by the redactions, perhaps you’re looking at ways to fill these new holes? oegeo has a post outlining some of the tools available that will highlight the redactions, giving you the power to go re-map them, in all their ODbL glory.
LiDAR News has an interesting post that talks of a threat to the US LiDAR industry, coming from the FAA classifying LiDAR as a ‘harmful laser.’ The fight is on-going, but, hopefully, such a problem won’t end up happening in Australia, too.
