Tablet Wars: The OS Battle

Ever since the iPad burst onto the scene, tablets have been the darlings of consumers and educators alike, with hundreds of millions of units sold. But is the US market indicative of the Worldwide trend in mobile platform adoption?

This past week on the NPR/KQED MindShift education blog, Frank Catalano examines the trends in the global market and finds that while Apple has a majority of the market share in tablet adoption by both consumers and educators in the US, it is Google’s Android that is leading the way with multiple sub-$150 devices being created in several countries and large scale adoption on a national level. Read Frank’s post here: “Which device will win the tablet battle?”

The question for publishers and content developers then becomes how to create content and curriculum as platform-agnostic as possible in order to capitalize on the adoption of as many of these devices as possible worldwide. At the moment, there are no easy answers, especially when publishers have to reach schools that are on the front lines in adopting the newest technology as well as those that lag behind, having to make do with years-old hardware and software.

At Maps.com, we are creating content and applications both specific to iOS and Android operating systems as well as cross-platform applications – primarily with HTML5. For instance, in our Maps101 Web service, we have long had a collection of hundreds of outline maps and a Flash-based MapKit drawing tool for users to create and modify their own maps. This month we released a new tool called MapSketch that adds to all of our maps an HTML5-based drawing tool that is cross-platform compatible. MapSketch will also be made available to add the same drawing tools to third party sites and applications such as Interactive White Board Activities. Contact us to find out how.

congratulations mcgraw-hill on your codie award

Maps.com is celebrating with Educational Publisher McGraw-Hill after they scooped a CODiE award for “Best K-12 Course or Learning Management Solution”

“Networks: A social studies learning system” is a complete Social Studies resource incorporating print and digital solutions. The system is designed to bring abstract concepts to life through hands-on, interactive activities such as interactive maps and games, graphic organizers and engaging multimedia.

US History – Grades 6-8: McGraw-Hill Networks

The publisher included comprehensive teacher resources, worksheets, training videos, lesson plans and assessment tools.

Over 600 maps were produced for the project by Maps.com Cartographers, while the company’s programming team developed a presentation platform for the digital content that included  timeline animations, voice narration and editing tools for a truly interactive classroom experience.

“The success of this project was the result of a huge effort by the McGraw-Hill team and we congratulate them on this significant recognition.” Revealed Bennett Moe, who coordinated the digital and cartographic elements delivered by Maps.com. “We are proud to have played a key role in such a high profile and challenging project and delivered exactly what was required.”

The CODiE awards are annually presented by the Software and Information Industry Association – the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries. Initial reviews are carried out by tech-savvy educators, with a shortlist of 128 finalists reviewed by a panel of SIIA members.

Maps.com has more than 20 years of experience in the mapping industry and serves a variety of markets including education and news media. They have an in house development team producing  location based applications including online store locators and smart phone apps and ebooks. Maps.com is also home to the world’s biggest map and map related online retail store which receives almost 1 million visitors each month.

Related articles

• McGraw-Hill School Education’s Proven Digital Solutions Selected as Finalists for 2012 CODiE Awards (prnewswire.com)
• McGraw-Hill Networks press release - http://mheducation.com/releases/20120508.shtml

hidden ‘inks’, paper patches – cartographic secrecy 1500′s style.

Taken from our educational blog for K-12 Schools, Maps101:

A significant breakthrough has been made in a long running search for the first colony established in North America by British explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, according to London’s Independent Newspaper.

The map that contains the ‘hidden’ colony.

Raleigh’s 1587 expedition landed a group of around 100 settlers on Roanoke Island in modern day North Carolina, but they experienced serious hardship when supplies ran out, and they had arrived too late to grow crops before winter.

Examination reveals a fort symbol hidden in the map.

John White, destined to be the governor of the newly established “Cittie of Raleigh” returned home to bring back supplies, but on his return the whole colony had disappeared without trace. The journey back was delayed significantly by Atlantic Blockades by the Spanish, who were at the time at war with England, and it is not known if the colonists were massacred by local tribes or  Spanish colonials, starved to death or met some other fate.

White created a map of the region, but the actual location of the colony has only now been revealed after tests were carried out on the map. It appears that an ‘invisible ink’ – which could have been lemon juice or even urine, was used to draw the outline of the colony and also the location of a fort. A tiny, almost invisible piece of paper was also added over the fort location – a contemporary way of editing maps.

Historians believe he may have kept the location hidden due to fears of what spies   looking to depose then Queen Elizabeth I may have done with the information.

Research has been carried out by the British Museum – where the map currently resides – at the request of University of North Carolina professor and Director of the First Colony Foundation Brent Lane.

The foundation is looking to excavate at the site shown in the map, in an effort to uncover the original colony and fort following its 400+ year disappearance. The location is today the site of a golf course.

1. Would you be averse to new bunkers on your favorite PGA course if they revealed a 420 year old colony? What would Arnold Palmer, who designed the course, have to say?

2. Should cartographers revisit the idea of ‘hidden print’ on modern-day maps? Would you pay extra for a map partially drawn in lemon juice or Urine?

Let us know in the comments below.

Related articles

• Ancient map gives clue to fate of ‘Lost Colony’ (mytechnologyworld9.blogspot.com)
• North Carolina, British researchers find clue to location of Lost Colony (newsobserver.com)
• New clue emerges in search for Lost Colony (thehimalayantimes.com)
• Researchers say they have new clue to Lost Colony in U.S. (ctv.ca)

GPS – For the love of the rain forest.

People indigenous to some of the world’s most precious natural environments are helping to preserve their way of life using GPS mapping.

Communities native to the world’s second biggest rainforests in the Congo Basin, for example, rely on the ecosystem for 80-90% of their resources, through activities such as hunting and fishing that they have practised for years.

GPS training in the DRC: Rainforest Foundation.

Because they are semi-nomadic, meaning that they move around the rainforest rather than living in a single, fixed location, the extent to which they live and work there is often disputed. The rainforests are under constant threat from industries such as logging and farming (both legal and illegal), so already these people are used to seeing their world shrink around them. But even conservation itself can, ironically threaten their way of life, as frequently protections not only prevent the destruction of the forest but also their right to continue their own activities there.

Tribes are also enabled, using their GPS devices, to hold companies who have been granted specific rights to be held accountable when they exploit or violate restrictions that have been set upon their operations. For example more than 6000 Bantu and 1500 Pygmies are now involved in policing logging activity in the Bandundu and Equateur provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo through participatory mapping.

Organizations such as Rainforest Foundation UK have been training community members as ‘Master Mappers’ to create maps by initially sketching their homeland out and then using GPS devices to accurately locate the places on the map.

The aim is to create a territory map that can be presented to the Congolese Government when they meet on May 8^th to determine the future of the rain forest – with regard to parceling of the forest for industrial purposes. The government has already made 11 concessions to logging companies from several European nations.

The maps will be offered as hard proof that these communities exist and live throughout the rainforest, and offer their representatives a chance to play a part in negotiations about their homeland.

As reported on CNN, a similar project has existed for more than 10 years in the Cameroon, where tribes in the Boumba Bek collected honey, mangoes and medicinal plants prior to it receiving National Park status under the jurisdiction of the World Wildlife Fund.

The Baka people were able to provide similar GPS based evidence and restore their right to operate within the region.

GPS offers an opportunity to these indigenous peoples to talk in the technological language that those contesting their rights have traditionally used to defeat them, and provides a very portable, low impact way of preserving their way of life.

Villagers celebrate completion of a community map, this time in the Central African Republic.

This article was also published on our K-12 Education blog – The maps101 blog.

Related articles

• Tropical Rain Forests (socyberty.com)
• What happens to the wood that is cut down from the rainforests? (greenanswers.com)
• Digital defenders: Tribal people use GPS to protect their lands (energybulletin.net)
• Social Innovation: GPS Technology Empowering Indigenous People of the Congo Basin (emmageraln.com)
• Maps.com donates print maps to schools in Tanzania (maps.com blog)

does crowdsourcing make for more accurate directions?

The answer, in this case is ‘no’. But kudos to German soccer fans for trying after their side Magdeburg (the home of the famous hemispheres) went on a dismal run of form and failed to score in 5 games.

FC Magdeburg Fans offer directions: 101Greatgoals.com

According to this article from 101greatgoals.com the team’s fans decided to give them a helping hand by bringing giant fluorescent arrows to direct them toward the goal. They did, in fact, break their duck and scored, but still fell to a 2-1 defeat.

All Maps Lie

There was a blog title in the new iPad promo video that caught my eye. It’s near the beginning when the user is looking at the Design Observer site, but mistakenly (in my mind anyway) taps the article above All Maps Lie. How could you resist tapping that undeniably true and thought provoking statement? I mean really?

The blog post that goes untapped is a post by Paula Scher that talks about her history with the inherent distortion in maps – both intentional and unintentional – from an early age when her father worked to perfect photogrammetry with the USGS. It’s an interesting read and ultimately is a promo for her book Maps, which features her paintings – her interpretations and visions – of maps, with textures and movement created by her use of hand-rendered type. All maps lie. And hers are no exceptions. But therein lies the beauty and majesty. Maps can be what we want them to be, convey what we want them to convey. They can tell a story, or just be beautiful.

Apps That Take You Places

Ventura County, CA recently unveiled their new “Bikeways Map App” created by Maps.com.

The Bikeways Map app displays a scalable map of designated bike paths and lanes throughout the county (all 350 miles worth). The GPS-based program shows color-coded routes by type, pinpoints the lane nearest a cyclist’s location and guides the rider to their destination in real time. It can also track progress along the route and provide a summary of the trip, detailing mileage and average speed. Other features include safety tips, bike laws and color-coded path descriptions.

Locals will rely on it, visitors will love it, and Ventura County proves to be a step (or pedal) ahead.

Maps.com is helping companies reach new audiences and grow revenues with mobile apps.

Read more @ vcstar.com

Map fun, but beware of the fallout

Ever wondered what would happen if the French targeted your house for a nuclear attack?

Or perhaps considered where you would need to be if a stray ‘Dong Feng’ (the largest nuclear missile tested by the Chinese) went off in your local branch of K-Mart?

This super mash-up lets you pinpoint your favorite target on the map, select your preferred choice of radiation delivery and hey presto – see how areas in the immediate vicinity will be affected by the fireball, air blast and thermal radiation.

The map includes a permalink feature so you can send your finished vision of Armageddon to your friends. It sure beats ‘Elf Yourself’.

Try it this weekend – You’ll have a blast!

Effects of a direct strike on Maps.com HQ: Dont panic - this blog is hosted out of the danger zone.

What Did You Have for Dinner Last Night?

Despite what most observers consider a success in the transition of Sudan into two separate states, there is still a great deal of unrest in both countries. A conflict has been raging in Sudan since last May that has arisen from issues never fully resolved in the civil war because people in those states, particularly in the Nuba Mountains, fought in alliance with the South. Though they remained in the North, their issues were to be resolved in a process called popular consultations. Those consultations did not get finished and a ‘very serious’ conflict broke out, in the words of Ambassador Princeton Lyman at a press briefing today.

The UN and the U.S. are very concerned about predictions made by the Famine Early Warning System Network that warn of a major humanitarian crisis in those areas, particularly Southern Kordofan. By March, they feel that a large number of people, as many as a quarter of a million or more, will will reach what they call emergency status, which is one class short of famine and constitutes a very serious food emergency. The Sudanese government has resisted efforts by the administration and the UN to assist in relief efforts. Part of their arguments against receiving aid is that they ‘learned a lesson’ in Darfur, meaning that if they let the UN in, it will result in a peace-keeping mission and result in human rights charges against the Sudanese administration and further loss of territory. They further argue that they are concerned that food aid will reach supporters of the SPLM in the North and that the situation really isn’t that serious.

To complicate matters, there is also conflict between Sudan and South Sudan about the sharing of oil revenues. Most of the oil in the two countries originates in the South, while the refining and distribution facilities are in the North. The North has imposed increased tariffs on Southern oil and has blocked ships carrying it from leaving port. In response, the South has threatened to shut down all oil production and move to build pipelines to Kenya. Needless to say that with this much at stake for both countries, this is a very dangerous game.

Acute Food Insecurity in Sudan, especially Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, where conflict has broken out.

In the South, hostilities between regions and ethnic groups that was temporarily mollified by the independence movement are now beginning to show up again. Recently clashes between the Lou Nuer and Murle ethnic groups in Jonglei have resulted in the death of several individuals (perhaps several hundred) and widespread displacement of civilians. Fortunately, UNMIS was able to inervene and prevent a major conflict in one incident in Pibor, but there is still the threat or reprisal attacks. South Sudan is still a fragile state and we can only hope that all the ethnic, political and economic conflicts can be resolved as soon as possible.

Pibor, South Sudan. Site of serious clashes in recent weeks

View Larger Map

Source: U.S. State Department

I need a bigger stocking

A perennial favorite by Maps.com editors and staffers (and not just because we update the maps), The World Almanac 2012 has hit the shelves ready to take its place as one of the top gifts for this holiday season.

Think you can get all the information you need from the internet? Think again. Where else will you find curated, researched, accurate information all in one place. It sure as heck won’t be Wikipedia. And as was pointed out in an interview with World Alamanac editor Sarah Janssen on WITF’s Radio Smart Talk on Monday morning, Americans are fascinated by lists. The best this, the top that. And pushing 1000 pages, the World Almanac is chock full of lists.

The editor’s most surprising fact in the Almanac this year? Sales of mobile devices in the U.S. topped 80 million units this year. Not surprising you say? Consider that means that there was approximately one mobile device sold for every 4 persons in the country. Woof. That’s a lot of devices.

If you fear that Santa won’t be able to fit The Almanac into your stocking, Sarah points out that “you can just make that stocking a little bigger this year!”

Buy The Almanac wherever books are sold or at WorldAlmanac.com