Lets drop the whole GIS tag, We are in the location services industry
Written by Rory Biggadike, Webmapsolutions
Friday, 10 June 2011
The tech blogs are buzzing with excitement over mobile application development.
Smartphones and mobile
tablets offer new and interesting extensions of existing Web
applications, plus the opportunity for new innovation. But both the
hardware and software are ahead of business adoption. A phenomena noted
historically with new technology leaps; the advent of the Web being a
notable example. It took a number of years for the Web to move from an
academic tool to widespread business use. Single location computing is
about to be a thing of the past. Desktops and laptops sales will
plummet. The future is about mobile computing.
GIS (Geographic
Information Systems) has inhabited a niche in the world of computing.
It has been long lamented as an important but not widely known
technology. The launch of Google maps in 2006 shook this comfy niche.
Bringing the widespread availability of free slippy maps with the
ability to overlay markers, photos, videos. ESRI, the open source
community and the other key players in the GIS market had to move
quickly to catch up.
Mobile is about to
have a much wider impact on the GIS industry. Real estate often
proclaim its “Location location location”. Take heed GIS industry. We
are entering a time of location based application development. GIS is a
part; a tool, in a much wider game. Developers will be building
location based applications, NOT GIS applications. GIS allows us to
work with location data, but it is merely a tool. One of many.
The Really Big List of Mapping, Geo location Mobile developer resources, APIs and Tools - The Mobile Ecosystem... no question that mobile is huge and
the opportunity for developers, in particular, geo developers! There's
loads of developer resources on the web so to help the developer,
here's a listing of just some of the fine dev resources, blogs,
toolsets and more to consider when developing or porting your app to a
smartphone or Tablet.
Mobile Technology Feature - Top 10 Business Apps for Android - Android has become one of the most popular mobile operating systems
in the world due to advanced software, competitive manufacturers, and an
app market that is filled with exciting and useful applications. Read
on for this fine Top 10 List compiled by tech writer, Blake Sanders
ArcGIS.com Mashup Tutorial with Flickr and Foursquare data-
Here's a simple "how to" tutorial on working with the free ArcGIS.com
to easily import KML or RSS data from Flickr and foursquare into ArcGIS
to create your own custom map mashup.
Most Users of Free Photo Apps Say Adding Cool Effects is Most Useful - Adding cool effects
to photos was rated as the most useful thing by more than halfof
consumers surveyed using free online photography services, according to
CatchFree a free
online service that helps people find the best free mobile and web applications
to perform useful tasks.
Flickr GPS Photo Tag Tip - Here's a tip for Flickr users who want to share their GPS information
with their photos. note, in order to do this you'll need to be
capturing photos using a GPS-enabled or GPS-aware camera (see you're
smartphone hardware settings to ensure that GPS or location sharing is
turned "ON)".
Suggested Reading
The Underground Guide To The iPhone:
The iPhone is – if I may say so – one of the greatest mobile
revolutions of the past decade. More and more, mobile phones seem to
materialize out of our wildest dreams. Because of the tight integration
of third-party applications, you can do nearly everything with your
device — be it gaming, working, fooling around, and of course phoning.
Good Mobile Messaging: Executives and professional field forces spend an increasing amount of time on the road tending to business.
Mobile Apps - Native or Web?:
You probably have a plan to build a mobile app, but you've struggled
with the basic question - Should I build it using open web standards
such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, or should I build it as a native app
for the devices I want to target?
Location summit 2012 - Back for its third year, the Location Business Summit will bring
together senior level executives from across the whole breadth of the
location ecosystem to discuss strategies, form partnerships, compare
trends and forge new business ventures. May 22-23, 2012, Amsterdam
WhereCamp Berlin 2012 - For those passionate about geographical specialties, WhereCamp Berlin
is gathering its attendees on the 22nd and 23rd of June. Everyone is
free to present and share topics, news and trends
