Cops’ Cellphone Tracking Can Be Even More Precise Than GPS
by Andy Greenberg, Forbes.com May 17, 2012
In the wake of a historic Supreme Court ruling that police can’t use GPS devices planted on a car to track suspects without a warrant, Congress is reconsidering the question of what kinds of location tracking constitute an invasion of privacy. And one privacy and computer security professor wants to remind them that the gadget we all carry in our pockets can track us more precisely than any device merely attached to our car–even without the use of GPS. On Thursday the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to discuss a proposed bill to limit location tracking of electronic devices without a warrant, what it’s calling the Geolocational Privacy and Surveillance Act, or the GPS Act. …
via Reminder To Congress: Cops’ Cellphone Tracking Can Be Even More Precise Than GPS – Forbes.
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Project Report for GISCorps: Geocoding Locations of NGOs in Sierra Leone
GISCorps (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Summary:Non-government organization NGO activity in developing countries is difficult to track due to limited infrastructure. URISA’s GISCorps, which coordinates short-term, volunteer-based GIS services to underprivileged communities, was asked to assist the Craig Bellamy Foundation in creating an interactive map showing the locations of international and national NGO offices and their programs in Sierra Leon, a developing country in Western Africa. Michael Knapp, a GIS specialist from Anchorage, Alaska, describes how a combination of Esri and Google technology accomplished the task.
For full text of the article, visit Project Report for GISCorps: Geocoding Locations of NGOs in Sierra Leone – Directions Magazine.
Like this:
Between the Poles: Towards a global licensing framework for geospatial data
by Geoff Zeiss, Between the Poles, May 17, 2012
…Earlier this week [Goeff Zeiss] attended a workshop at the GSDI 13 conference in Quebec City given by the GSDI Legal and Economic Working group, Bastiaan van Loenen and Katleen Janssen (and Graham Vowles who was not able to make the trip to Quebec), specifically aimed at developing a global licensing framework for geospatial data. The objective is to harmonize existing licensing without changing fundamental access policies and funding models and compatible with the differences in national legal systems. The roadmap for the working group is
- Review existing licensing frameworks.
- Determine the common elements.
- Conduct a workshop to reach preliminary agreement on a limited number of license terms and conditions that might be applied at a global level.
- Draft a licensing framework.
For full text of this meeting summary, visit Between the Poles: Towards a global licensing framework for geospatial data.
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Help Humanitarian Open Street Map Team Map Refugee Camps in Africa
REPOST OF ARTICLE “Imagery To the Crowd” by Joshua S. Cambell, Disruptive Geo Blog, May 21, 2012
Over the past year, the Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU) at the U.S. State Department has been working with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) to publish current high-resolution commercial satellite imagery during humanitarian emergencies. The imagery is used to map the affected areas, and provide a common framework for governments and aid agencies to work from. All of the map data is stored in the OpenStreetMap database (http://osm.org), under a license that ensures the data is freely available and open for a range of uses.
This work began as part of the RELIEF Exercises 11-4 at Camp Roberts in August 2010, and focused primarily on the legal and policy issues associated with sharing imagery. Now with RELIEF Exercise 12-3 happening in DC this week, the project is moving into its first technical implementation. As a proof of concept, the HIU is publishing imagery for the refugee camps in the Horn of Africa, and making the imagery available to the volunteer mapping community. The goal is to produce detailed vector data for the refugee camps, including roads and footpaths in and around the camps. There are tens of thousands of refugees living in these camps who are victims of famine and conflict, and these data can be used to improve planning for humanitarian assistance.
How to help: We are going to open access to the imagery on Monday 21 May 2012. We would like to spend two 24-hour periods tracing the areas of interest, which will include 11 refugee sites. All work will be done through the HOT Tasking Manager (http://tasks.hotosm.org), a microtasking platform that will split up the image tracing into ‘tiles’ that will require approximately 30-45 minutes to map.
Accomplishing this task will require that volunteers become familiar with OpenStreetMap and the basic concepts of mapping. But, don’t worry, there are plenty of resources out there to help. For more information on the OpenStreetMap (OSM) process, see the “Beginning OpenStreetMap Tutorial” available from the LearnOSM website (http://learnOSM.org), specifically Chapters 1,2,3,6. For more information on HOT’s work in Somalia see the HOT Somalia project page, and other HOT related materials on the HOT wiki.
For full text of the article, visit Imagery to the crowd…phase 1 | Disruptive Geo.
To help the Humanitarian Open Street Map Team Map Refugee Camps in the Horn of Africa, visit the HOT OSM Task Manager: http://tasks.hotosm.org/
If you don’t have an HOT OSM account, you can register for one by clicking here.
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A code of conduct for apps
by Tony Romm, Politico.com, May 20, 2012
As smartphone-crazed consumers fiddle with Angry Birds and challenge each other on Words With Friends, policymakers are playing a different game: bringing order to mobile apps. To Washington, the daily deals tools, social networks and other programs that consumers download onto their smartphones present new challenges to consumer privacy and security. Lawmakers are keenly aware of the horror stories of apps surreptitiously accessing user address books or broadcasting location data sans permission. …
For full text of the article, visit A code of conduct for apps – Tony Romm – POLITICO.com.
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EnhancedView’s cloudy future
Late last week GeoEye announced an offer to acquire its chief rival in the commercial remote sensing market, DigitalGlobe, a proposal that was quickly rebuffed by DigitalGlobe. Jeff Foust of The Space Review reports that while there may not be a merger or acquisition involving those companies now, proposed cuts in the government’s EnhancedView program could lead to major changes in the industry in the near future.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2077/1
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Mandatory use of Geo-spatial Data for Delhi Government
by The Economic Times, April 8, 2012“Delhi government’s 30 departments and agencies will have to mandatorily use geo-spatial data of overground and underground assets before planning any infrastructure projects, when an ambitious legislation comes into force in the city in May. The IT Department has already completed a three-year project under which images of all overground and underground utilities like telephone lines, power cables, water and sewer lines and roads have been made available on a single portal to facilitate better urban planning and governance. The Delhi Assembly in March passed the Geo-spatial Data Infrastructure (Management, Control, Administration, Security and Safety) Bill which was brought to make sure that each of the 30 selected agencies like the PWD, DDA and MCD use the portal to ensure better planning for projects and proper co-ordination among the agencies for their implementation.” For full text of the article, visit Mandatory Use of Geo-spatial Data for Delhi Govt Departments – EconomicTimes.
Congressional Hearing on: H.R. 2168, the “Geolocational Privacy and Surveillance Act”
Hearing on: H.R. 2168, the “Geolocational Privacy and Surveillance Act,” Thursday 5/17/2012 – 10:00 a.m. at 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Details pending. Visit Hearing on: H.R. 2168, the “Geolocational Privacy and Surveillance Act” for more information.
Related articles
Various op-eds on the issue:
- Geolocation: Is It Safer to Have it On? (blogher.com)
- Geolocation and Privacy – Oil and Water? (blogs.rsa.com)
- E-commerce trade group: Mobile geolocation privacy bill is ‘awful’ (macworld.com)
- Tag! You’re It! Are Geolocation Services Making A Cybercase Out Of You? (webroot.com)
Weather, Climate Forecasts Imperiled as Programs Cut
by Andrew Freedman, Climate Central, May 8, 2012
A “near-perfect storm” of factors has contributed to a rapid decline in America’s Earth observation capabilities, as long-running satellite missions end and new ones struggle to get off the ground, according to a new report from the National Research Council (NRC). If recent trends continue, there could be major ramifications in the form of less accurate weather and climate forecasts, as well as blind spots in monitoring a wide range of natural hazards. … During just the next eight years, U.S. Earth observation capabilities are likely to decline to roughly 25 percent of current levels, Hartmann said.
For full text of the article, visit Weather, Climate Forecasts Imperiled as Programs Cut | Climate Central.
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- U.S. In Danger of Losing Earth-Observing Satellite Capability (science.slashdot.org)
- Report warns of weather satellites’ ‘rapid decline’ (usatoday.com)
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