Links: 3D for Paris, imagery update, India GIS backlash

Saturday, December 20, 2008 (19:59 UTC)

More 3D for GE: CyberCity 3D Blog announces that a whole range of new 3D buildings content has been added to Google Earth — textured models for California, and untextured models for Paris.

Bee panorama: Slightly tangential but very cool: A panorama taken right in front of an active beehive.

Google Earth imagery update: Among other things, new 2.5m base imagery for parts of India, China, and Australia.

India GIS backlash, continued: Another petition to ban Google Earth in India, this one filed in Madras, has been dismissed. But the hysteria continues: Using a GPS device and maps in India got two people arrested, even if they were subcontracted to get data for Nokia's mapping software.

Japan Street View challenged: Japan's Campaign Against Surveillance Society thinks Street View in Japan violates the basic right to privacy. I'm not aware there is such a right in the public space.

Futrure UI watch Touch screens have a problem: Your fingers obscure the screen when you touch them. So how about touching it from behind?

(Via Erik Stattin)

African conflicts: ~~The Humanitarian Information Unit~~ The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) and NiJeL make a good layer highlighting Africa's current conflicts. (Via iRevolution)

Free our data, Google edition: At the AGU Fall meeting, Google's Michael Jones outlines Google's recommendation to the Obama administration to link increased funding for basic scientific research to an obligation to share the resulting data freely. Watch the video of the speech. Google's also been planning to offer to host this data for free, though that project has now been put on the back burner, apparently a victim of the current financial crisis.