...and wifi data!
In our initial brainstorming, we formulated our sense of Web 2.0 by example:
Web 1.0 | Web 2.0 | |
---|---|---|
DoubleClick | --> | Google AdSense |
Ofoto | --> | Flickr |
Akamai | --> | BitTorrent |
RT @danmcquillan: Great open source map tools for Web developers http://bit.ly/14rpw2k < nice geekery + sensible observations on licenses + business models
"ersatz collective" !
I was slated to meet with Gupta and the engineering ringleader on his team, former NASA engineer Michael Weiss-Malik, who'd spent his 20 percent time working on Google Mars, and Nick Volmar, an "operator" who actually massages map data.
"So you want to make a map," Weiss-Malik tells me as we sit down in front of a massive monitor. "There are a couple of steps. You acquire data through partners. You do a bunch of engineering on that data to get it into the right format and conflate it with other sources of data, and then you do a bunch of operations, which is what this tool is about, to hand massage the data. And out the other end pops something that is higher quality than the sum of its parts."
An Intentional Mistake: The Anatomy of Google's Wi-Fi Sniffing Debacle:
Google's public version of events of ho... http://t.co/9PAMV7oC
#Google still keeping people's private data from "operation streetview" . Will you comply dear search engine? http://t.co/54LVVRb2
We’re introducing a method that lets you opt out of having your wireless access point included in the Google Location Server. To opt out, visit your access point’s settings and change the wireless network name (or SSID) so that it ends with “_nomap”.
Google Map Maker expressly prohibits citizen cartographers from using/sharing the very data they add to the map in ways that can help their own development efforts. Users are locked into the Google platform: they cannot export their data or create derivative work, especially commercial projects. Nor can they share that geo data with other online mapping efforts, especially critical during disaster relief.
The World Bank has successfully partnered on map data before, most notably in Haiti with OpenStreetMap (OSM) in response to the major earthquake and the following humanitarian crises.
The Haiti experience shows that crowd sourcing map data works. Most developing countries do not have basic local map data. Timely, accurate geo data showing roads, schools, fresh water sources, health facilities, and more help save lives during an emergency, and in the meantime we all enjoy with up-to-the-minute maps. Regardless if you are in Washington, D.C. or Nairobi, Kenya.