Have you ever wanted to experiment with maps by tweaking and fine-tuning the Geographic coordinate system? To play with mathematical cartography and check what will happen? Have you ever wanted to design your own world map with whatever themes, colours and symbology that you are interested in, without using any traditional GIS desktop product? Have you ever looked for a web resource where you can explore your cartographical skills and understand all GIS projection systems which are available in GIS realm?
Yes? Than your dreams had just came true;). I introduce you to World Map Generator project which can generate unconventional maps of the world and can be saved to disk that do justice to the thematic context in which they appear, in an exploitive process to bring forth the desired effects in world maps. The project had been developed by two Swiss universities: Brene University of Applied Sciences (BFH) and Berne University of the Arts (HKB) and it’s based on customer made software that allows to play with cartography the way you have never experienced before.
A cartographer may look forward to generate a world map with varying perspectives, alternative angles and shifts in point of view. A journalist may interest in preparing an editorial column with a nice world map or any region with proper red lines and annotations. All these end-user requirements are categorized into nine protagonists in three different thematic areas.
Below three maps were generated with different thematic areas using this project software.
The “Viewpoints” software is conceived such that its unconventional world maps may serve a broad range of concrete applications. This is achieved by a structure of three overarching thematic areas, each featuring three design “protagonists”. Each area comes with its own specific applications, software functions, target audiences and envisaged benefits.
For the many years, GIS is also been used for story telling with an unconventional map embedded with proper annotations. If so is what you are looking for, you may definitely want to explore this software. I believe, such kind of projects will surely increases awareness and interest in GIS and cartographical skills which intern petrified our zeal about GIS.
Thanks to the team who is behind the smart work!!! For more details about this project website.
On the other hand, a GIS developer may explore and leverage WebGIS API such as http://d3js.org/ and http://kartograph.org/ which were used to develop this project software.
#Ideas
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Interview with the CEO of Estimote – start-up that is about to revolutionize indoor LBS
Recently I had a pleasure to talk to Jakub Krzych – CEO & Co-Founder of Estimote – start-up that is about to revolutionize indoor location-based services. Check this out:
Hello Jakub, thanks for talking to me today.
Jakub Krzych – CEO & Co-Founder of Estimote
Thanks for having me, appreciated.
So please tell our Geoawesome readers what is Estimote?
Estimote is a digital platform delivering real-world context to consumers’ phones. We use small sensor devices called beacons that installed in a physical space like retail stores could detect people presence and engage by showing contextual micro-location based messages and actions on people’s phones.
Why indoor location-based services? What is your vision around it?
The technology that we use enables to make smartphones even smarter and solve basic problems like indoor-navigation, real world analytics or efficient customer service in brick-and-mortar retail.We want to enrich customers’ experience in the brick-and-mortar stores and improve efficiency of the retail business. The most popular applications are: indoor-navigation (down to the inches), proximity marketing and retail analytics.
What’s the model here? Does the project require a critical mass of beacons to be installed in venues around the world?
The model here is to build a network of sensors that enables to locate the phones within inches, but also make them aware of the context that surrounds them. That is because what matters to customers doing for example the shopping are not their exact geographical coordinates, but rather their proximity to the check-out or changing room. The projects requires the particular venue to set as many sensors, as could improve the experience. There is no critical mass, that needs to be achieved before the system could work.
What value will Estimote bring to users and business?
Estimote redefines completely the geo-fencing capabilities. It enables to create a context-enriched reality, where people can interact with objects through their phones. Imagine an app for a museum that shows different messages on a phone screen, depending on the distance between the user and the exhibition item. Or imagine shopping at Ikea, where an app shows you all the items you approach, enables to buy them and orders straight to your door.
How is Estimote different from other proximity solutions we’ve seen to fail over last decade?
Bluetooth Low Energy and iBeacon could replace old technologies like QR codes, NFC and RFID tags and make smartphones even smarter, because they are so much more usable compared with those technologies. Our beacons send signals that are received by phones without the need to open any application or even unlock the screen. The experience is seamless – you get contextual messages, or you trigger dedicated actions based on your proximity to the sensors.
Tell me something about the technology… You have chosen new Bluetooth Low Energy over other technologies like WiFi positioning… why is that?
Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy called also Bluetooth Smart is a completely new, redesigned connectivity protocol which has nothing to do with old Bluetooth used for headsets and car systems. It’s really low energy – battery-powered radio devices could last 2+ years on a single coin battery. Thanks to this technology the old concept of “Internet of things” is finally possible because now objects are able to connect to the Internet through phones people have in their pockets. BLE is a game changing technology, that could revolutionize many industries – from healthcare through retail to army. As for now, the retail offers biggest opportunities, as BLE could redefine completely the customers’ experience.
You’re based in Cracow, Poland and Mountain View, California, tell me something more about your team and how you operate.
Our team benefits from the great intellectual talent that grows in Poland. We have top-notch developers and designers in our team. We work with a team in the US using all the tools supporting remote work. The teams actually complement each other as we operate in different time zones.
You had a cool and innovative idea and you’ve manage to successfully build a business around it. What hints would you give to Geoawesome readers who would like to develop their own projects?
Be determined and stick to your vision, at the same time be flexible and open to new opportunities.
