UseGIS News Update 12-12-2011

News, views and tidbits that have caught our eye at UseGIS over the last week.

The AA

Our latest project is a maps-based walking iPhone app for the Automobile Association (The AA).  This will allow people to download and view over 1750 of the best walks in Britain, along with 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 scale Ordnance Survey mapping.  Once downloaded, both the walks and the mapping will be stored on the iPhone so that they can be accessed even when the phone has no connectivity – ideal when you are out and about on a walk and have no signal!  The App is due for release early in the New Year.

iPhone vs Android – which pays best?

While we are in the subject of smartphone apps, here is an interesting article by Rory Cellan-Jones on Android and the economics of apps. We also believe that there’s more chance of being able to charge for an iPhone app than an Android variation – the whole ethos of Apple is to give the user a fantastic experience and people who buy iPhones are more likely to pay for an app because they tend to have more disposable income. However, if you’re target audience tends to purchase Blackberrys, then there’s really no reason to develop an app for either the iPhone or an Android device – not initially anyway.

Google MapsGL

Have you noticed the latest version of Google Maps yet? Named “Google MapsGL”, Google have harnessed  “the power of Web Graphics Library (WebGL) to create far richer visuals and animations.”

“WebGL is a new technology that brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the browser without additional installed software. With WebGL your maps experience is much better with 3D buildings, smoother transitions between imagery and the ability to instantly “swoop” into Street View without a plugin.”

Not all browsers or computers can handle WebGL at the moment, but we’re excited about the future possibilities for displaying maps over the internet. Kudos to Google for taking the step.

Bath Spark

Last week saw our first Bath Spark event as we attended the Xmas Meetup.  It was a great evening and we were impressed by the large number of people from such a varied range of tech industries.  One of the most interesting topics of conversation was a proposed tech and creative co-working hub based at the Guild Hall in Bath.  A dedicated place in the city where tech people can co-work and meet up is a great idea and certainly a project that we support.

Being located in both Bath and Exeter, we get to meet and mingle with two sets of tech communities. This week it’s the turn of the Exeter Web Developers to have their Xmas Meetup, so we’ll be popping along for more socialising and festive drinks…it’s tough, but someone’s got to do it!

UseGIS News Update 02-12-2011

Welcome to a roundup of UseGIS news, views and tidbits that have caught our eye this week.

Our friends over at Cassini Publishing have just launched three historical Ordnance Survey map series of Ireland, originally published from as early as 1833.  This is the first time that two of these Irish map series have been made available in over 100 years. The three map series available are the First Edition Six-Inch or “Townland” maps surveyed between 1829 and 1843, the One-Inch First Edition and also the One-Inch Second Edition maps that chart the development of Ireland from the mid 19th Century through to the early 20th Century. We were contracted to reproject these map series from their original projection systems (Bonne and Cassini projections) to the current day Irish Grid and also integrate them into the Cassini Publishing map generation system.

We’ve also been hard at work this week implementing an update to the TrailZilla website.  This latest update has seen an improvement in the website responsiveness and an increase in the speed of retrieving and plotting map pins.  We’ve also added new customised registration forms for various affiliates (e.g. the AA and the Mountain Leader Training Association) which also provide access to special offers on Ordnance Survey mapping.  If you like outdoor activities or are just looking for a decent walk to burn off the excesses of the festive season, head over to TrailZilla to find a trail near you.

Over the years we’ve used many different design patterns in our PHP projects – there always seems to be a different “flavour of the month”.  However, this week we’ve been making greater use of PHP dependency injection and have to admit that our classes are more decoupled and the code is cleaner and easier to test and follow. If you want a good introduction to dependency injection, then this documentation offered by Symfony is a good starting point.

The news that this week saw the 30th anniversary of the BBC Microcomputer has left some of us here at UseGIS towers staring wistfully into the middle distance, while others now realise just how old they really are!  For many of us the “Beeb” offered the first experience of home computing and taught us the essentials of programming. Rob admits to still dreaming of playing Elite and blasting Thargoid ships into millions of pieces with a military laser.

Next week is the Bath Spark Xmas Meetup and we’ve been lucky enough to get tickets.  It will be our first Bath Spark event and have heard nothing but rave reviews, so we’re looking forward to meeting new people and talking tech over a few drinks.