Worm Steals DWGs — Is SHP Next?
It was only a matter of time:
“ACAD/Medre.A represents a serious case of suspected industrial espionage,” said Zwienenberg. “Every new design is sent automatically to the operator of this malware. Needless to say this can cost the legitimate owner of the intellectual property a lot of money as the cybercriminals have access to the designs even before they go into production.”
Now this is clearly a focus on mechanical designs, but there is a ton of proprietary information out there in DWG and GIS formats. Before you install that 3rd Party GIS extension for ArcGIS for Desktop, think about what you might be giving away.
Deep Thoughts
Autodesk’s Project Artoo — Clean Up Your GIS Data
I’ve been keeping my eye on Autodesk’s new project “Project Artoo”. It’s a cool project that allows AutoCAD Map 3D users to perform geometry cleanup operations on geospatial data, even on FDO-connected data stores, including Shapefiles, Esri Geodatabase, SQLite, Autodesk’s SDF and Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle databases. It is also available in languages other than English.
It appears Autodesk is moving back into the GIS space. They’re taking on Esri in the GeoDesign world as well, not to mention BIM. I still hold out hope for more BIM/GIS connections and maybe instead of Esri or Safe enabling it, Autodesk and FDO get it done. Good to see some competition since MapInfo went all Wordperfect on us.
Happy
Yes, we’re all happy for some competition. Innovation is what we need!
Autodesk’s Project Artoo — Clean Up Your GIS Data
I’ve been keeping my eye on Autodesk’s new project “Project Artoo”. It’s a cool project that allows AutoCAD Map 3D users to perform geometry cleanup operations on geospatial data, even on FDO-connected data stores, including Shapefiles, Esri Geodatabase, SQLite, Autodesk’s SDF and Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle databases. It is also available in languages other than English.
It appears Autodesk is moving back into the GIS space. They’re taking on Esri in the GeoDesign world as well, not to mention BIM. I still hold out hope for more BIM/GIS connections and maybe instead of Esri or Safe enabling it, Autodesk and FDO get it done. Good to see some competition since MapInfo went all Wordperfect on us.
Happy
Yes, we’re all happy for some competition. Innovation is what we need!
It is a Buyer’s Market — Google Lowers Google Maps Pricing
Lower pricing and simplified limits with the Google Maps API
Since launching the Google Maps API seven years ago, we’ve been awed by the many ways developers have used the service to build great mapping apps. As you may know, last year we introduced limits on the number of free maps that developers could show daily through the Google Maps API. Since then, we’ve been listening carefully to feedback, and today we’re happy to announce that we’re lowering API usage fees and simplifying limits for both Styled and regular maps.
All Smiles
All smiles down at the Googleplex
There are some pretty big changes over at Google. If you were hoping Google was going to price themselves out of the web mapping industry, you are sadly mistaken. One more little tidbit:
We’re beginning to monitor Maps API usage starting today, and, based on current usage, fees will only apply to the top 0.35% of sites regularly exceeding the published limits of 25,000 map loads every day for 90 consecutive days.
So now your Google Maps API application will be monitored for use. Local governments probably have nothing to worry about, they wish they had 25,000 map loads every day for 90 consecutive days. Thank god for the weekend! And on top of it all, they’ve brought their business model to Google Maps!
You can generate revenue from your Maps API application using AdSense for Maps, which enables you to display relevant ads on or alongside your map.
You too can get pennies on the click for Viagra ads on your map of threatened and endangered species in the Himalayas. Sign me up!
It is a Buyer’s Market — Google Lowers Google Maps Pricing
Lower pricing and simplified limits with the Google Maps API
Since launching the Google Maps API seven years ago, we’ve been awed by the many ways developers have used the service to build great mapping apps. As you may know, last year we introduced limits on the number of free maps that developers could show daily through the Google Maps API. Since then, we’ve been listening carefully to feedback, and today we’re happy to announce that we’re lowering API usage fees and simplifying limits for both Styled and regular maps.
All Smiles
All smiles down at the Googleplex
There are some pretty big changes over at Google. If you were hoping Google was going to price themselves out of the web mapping industry, you are sadly mistaken. One more little tidbit:
We’re beginning to monitor Maps API usage starting today, and, based on current usage, fees will only apply to the top 0.35% of sites regularly exceeding the published limits of 25,000 map loads every day for 90 consecutive days.
So now your Google Maps API application will be monitored for use. Local governments probably have nothing to worry about, they wish they had 25,000 map loads every day for 90 consecutive days. Thank god for the weekend! And on top of it all, they’ve brought their business model to Google Maps!
You can generate revenue from your Maps API application using AdSense for Maps, which enables you to display relevant ads on or alongside your map.
You too can get pennies on the click for Viagra ads on your map of threatened and endangered species in the Himalayas. Sign me up!
QGIS 1.8 is Released
QGIS 1.8
Today is a big day for GIS users. QGIS 1.8 is out and about. Check out the new features on their website.
A couple features that I like: * QGIS Browser which should be very familiar to those who’ve used ArcGIS Catalog.
- DBManager which is now no longer a plugin. I’m a big users of it so this should be very nice.
- New plugin repository! I’m always amazed at how many plugins there are available.
- Microsoft SQL Server support.
- Expression based labeling (YES!)
- support for Zip/GZip layers
I’ve already downloaded mine from KyngChaos.