march 2007 archives

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Google Geo Developer Day

Just got home after attending today's Google Geo Developer Day event in Amsterdam. Although it's the first time Google organised this event in the Netherlands, the first ever G2D2 took place last year, preceding the O'Reilly 2006 Where 2.0 conference. It was not only an opportunity to learn about Google's vision on geographic products such as the Google Maps API, Google Earth, and SketchUp, but also to meet the developers that created some of the Dutch mash up.

Keynote speaker Bernard Seefeld started the day with a brief history of cartography and went on to position Google as the next stage in the discovery of the world, because was not that exactly what maps have always been good at? But really Berny, there has actually never been a map that had the phrase Here be dragons or the latin Hic sunt dracones on it!

Next up was Brandon Badger, Product Manager of Google Maps API. He gave a detailed story of how we came from unofficial Google Maps hacks to Google Maps mash ups with lenient terms of service. Of course, the latest API novelties such as support for GeoRSS and KML (we love standards) and open sourcing the GMaps Utility Library (we love the open source community) were touched upon. Interestingly, Brandon pledged that Google would not put ads on the free Google Maps API and would only be offered as an opt-in feature. Hmmm... Not sure what to make of that.

With all the corporate speak out of the way, Remco Kouwenhoven (who runs Nederkaart) showed us examples of Google Maps mash ups in the Netherlands. As some of the mash ups appeared on the screen, their developers surely made themselves heard, drawing laughter from all around the room! Remco noted, that there are not many Dutch mash ups that use Microsoft's or Yahoo's mapping APIs. Furthermore, he felt that most developers thought their work had finished once the map was on the website and did not care too much about usability.

After lunch, the Google Maps API Workshop provided only a simple introduction. Maybe a suggestion for the next G2D2 to offer the workshop at different skills levels? All in all, I very much enjoyed the event. However, just like the fist G2D2, it would be nice to have a conference like Where 2.0 to follow it: an opportunity to discuss business models and compelling applications that can be created around the technology.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

What's in a place name?

The Dutch town of Almere is about to spend €55,000 in order to update its street signs. The update is not only due to the expansion of its built-up area, but also due to the 2005 spelling reform that became mandatory for government in August 2006. According to the latest spelling rules, particular districts of the town such as Almere-Stad and Almere-Buiten should loose the hyphen that sets the district name apart from the town name.

Previous spelling reforms actually never resulted in a change of place names. For example, the 1947 spelling law was only applied to road names and foreign geographic names, but Dutch geographic names were exempted. An attempt in 1974 by the Dutch Bosatlas to apply the 1947 spelling law to Dutch geographic names was met with fierce protest from the local press and in a later edition the names were back to normal.

Still, a report to change the spelling of Dutch geographic names to comply with the 1947 spelling law remains unratified. Even the Topografisch Namenregister Kadaster, the register of Dutch topographic names, does not have an official status. Thus, it's rather a record of the de facto spelling of a place name than the official spelling. Ormeling provides a detailed history of the spelling of place names in the Netherlands.

However, sometimes it is good practice to update place names. It may prevent embarrassing place name mistakes such as the hill Heiglkopf that Google Earth still marked as Hitler-Berg, a place name that was only used to refer to that hill between 1933 and 1945. Should online gazetteers allow for all these spelling forms? I must admit, that the list of alternatives that Geonames returns is sometimes a bit confusing.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Provincial elections mapped

Of course, yesterday's provincial elections in the Netherlands resulted in quite a few maps on the various newspaper websites. There is nothing spectacular to report, though. Google Maps were used to inform the public before, during and after the elections. Leading up to the elections, the D66 party in the province of Utrecht had a Google Maps mashup commissioned to map the issues from their part program. Thus, you can easily find out what is the party aims to achieve in your area. Honestly, it's just a lame rip-off of last year's Leiden op de kaart.

On the very day of the elections, the city of Amsterdam used a Google Maps mashup to inform its residents of the location of polling stations in Amsterdam and whether or not the polling stations are accessible for wheel chairs. Again, nothing new. A similar mashup was created for the 2006 municipal elections. To give the newspaper Trouw some credit, they introduced Google Maps to show the elections results in the Netherlands. But again, the Wallonian newspaper La Libre Belgique had already implemented this for the Belgian municipal elections last year.

The Volkskrant and NRC Handelsblad newspapers stuck with static maps. Whereas the Volkskrant simply shows the winning party for each province (what party won the 2003 provincial elections in the province of Zuid-Holland?), the NRC Handelsblad shows the winning party for each municipality. Admittedly, the NRC Handelsblad map provides some interaction: clicking on each municipality, you get the detailed results for that municipality, including turnout. The AD and RD newspapers also use the map as a means to access the detailed elections results.

The map in the Telegraaf focuses on voter turnout only, as the provincial elections usually draw few people to the polling stations. The maps shows voter turnout for each province and for each provincial capital, simply placing the rate in the respective province: a missed opportunity to show the power of maps! Let's say this remark not only pertains to this map, but more or less sums up my overall thoughts about the maps in this election. If only there were a Dutch Zonky...