2008 will include a leap second
Thus baffling archaeologists? Probably not, but what I find interesting is that a leap second isn't the result of the Earth's movements around the Sun, but because the Earth spins at a non-uniform...
View ArticleTed Dziuba: Analog Debugging is Hard
Having finally fixed (cross fingers) that partial-throttle-misfire, I found this blog post to be a very satisfying read:http://teddziuba.com/2008/11/analog-debugging-is-hard.htmlThe whole blog's great...
View Article"Cartocacoethes: Why the World’s Oldest Map Isn’t a Map"
An interesting post about everyone's favourite archaeological site:http://makingmaps.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/cartocacoethes-why-the-worlds-oldest-map-isnt-a-map/
View ArticleArchaeology as communication: Part 2
For those that don't read Planet Ubuntu, part one was here. This is a topic I want to blog about repeatedly in the coming future as I grow increasingly worried that many people out there don't get it....
View ArticleRCAHMS website full of smut
There's loads of people doing some really great things within the field of Archaeology and IT, but they rarely make it to the attention of the mainstream computing press. Thank heavens for the Royal...
View Article"Openness is central because it's the foundation of choice"
Don't take my word for it though, them's the words of Steve Ballmer, head of convicted monopolist, Microsoft. It seems that Microsoft realise they can't make a phone people want to buy, so they're...
View ArticleGoogle Map Maker data download - Kenya
Mikel Maron has a look at Google's "Map Maker Data Download":http://brainoff.com/weblog/2009/04/01/1391https://services.google.com/fb/forms/mapmakerdatadownload/If you work for a not-for-profit, which...
View ArticleUN FAO to donate African spatial data to OpenStreetMap
I've just seen Robert Soden's recent post to the OSM Mailing list:Over the last few months, I've been in contact with FAO's Africover program: http://www.africover.org/ . Africover maintains shapefiles...
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Egyptian Archaeology
I, like most educated folks, used to think that Egyptian Archaeology was all a bit dull; "History of Art derived time lines of Kings and other rich people" I might once have called it. But then I...
View ArticleHistorical web mapping from Portsmouth University
A very nice looking service:http://vision.port.ac.uk/maps/[hint: click the bigger map link]
View ArticleGEOnet Names Server data for Tanzania
Inspired partly by the progress people are making Niger, I wanted to try some data importing of my own; the GEOnet Names Server data looked like a good place to start and I chose Tanzania simply...
View ArticleFree Our Postboxes
Here's a quick read and a fun bit of mouse clicking for you; the Gaurdian's Free Our Data campaign has blogged about the difficulties Royal Mail have in telling people where their postboxes are. The...
View ArticleOrdance Survey confidential briefing to ministers
This has been around for a while (just over a month), but if you haven't seen it, WikiLeaks has a copy of a confidential briefing given by OS to an unnamed...
View ArticleImproved OSM coverage for France coming soon
I'm really pleased to see that there's going to be an import of the French Corine Land Cover data into OpenStreetMap, not least because it'll instantly make our office location map look a bit...
View ArticleA treasure of a website
I'm not really a fan of Guinness Book of World Records Archaeology; the biggest this, the shiniest that, the most valuable something else doesn't always tell you much about the past, although it does...
View ArticleRoyal Fail
Royal Mail recently demanded the closure of a useful web based postcode API because they thought it was a cause of suffering to their business. Not long after Amazon cancelled their Royal Mail account...
View ArticleReplace Google Maps with OSM data
This is fun; enter an IP address in your hosts file to that will be used instead of Google's map server, then when you visit Google Maps, or any site that uses the Google Maps, you'll see OSM data....
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(Not really) Reading your passport data remotely
Anna and myself were looking at a book in a shop not long ago; I forget what it was called but it was basically a load of photographs of places abroad. The pictures were all nice enough, but the thing...
View ArticleUgandan OpenStreetMap makes the news
I've previously written about the import of UN FAO data into OpenStreetMap; now Robert Soden is back, blogging about mapping a Ugandan village.The news made it to ZDNet with the excellent...
View ArticleThree inspirational mapping projects
Summer in KabulAJ Ashton has a really interesting blog post about mashing together Afghani street data, topography and election results for his map Summer in Kabul. AJ writes:This tile set was created...
View ArticleAn Ashmolean Odyssey
Last weekend I toured the new Ashmolean Museum with my good friend Peter. Unfortunately I was incredibly hungover, which contributed to a sense of confusion I felt throughout; Pete seems to have...
View ArticlePubs: An OpenStreetMap completeness survey
OpenStreetMap completeness is something that gets spoken about a lot at OA; we already use OSM data in places, but there are some who feel uneasy about the data when it is provided without any...
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Pubs: Extending a completeness survey
In my last blog post I counted up the number of pubs provided within CloudMade's (25/11/09) OSM export and compared them to the number of pubs we're told that exist within the UK; in short, about 38%...
View Article39% of UK pubs named on OpenStreetMap
It's Monday evening, not the time to be thinking about the pub, so I'll just post up some quick and dirty statistics. The conclusion we draw from these? People are recording UK pubs at an encouraging...
View ArticleMerry Christmas from OA Digital and OpenArchaeology.net
There are two new releases from OA Digital and OpenArchaeology.net that will hopefully interest those from the world of GIS and surveying. Just in time for Christmas, these show that we put our money...
View ArticleArduino 7 segment display examples
I was lucky enough to receive an Arduino board from Christmas; yesterday I had a quick play with the example code included, but today I tried to cook something up on my own. I've attached the results...
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Stopped Watch
My watch stopped yesterday, first time I've ever had that with a digital:
View ArticleCold weather auditory Phenomenology?
Sounds like ray guns.Some great cold weather blog posts:Dispersion of Sound Waves in Ice SheetsIce Recordings Updated…Sounds like Star Wars BlastersArchaeological implications for encounters with...
View ArticleBBC Archives release episodes of Chronicle
Plenty of vintage TV archaeology released via the BBC Archives to help plug some new content:http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/chronicle/To coincide with BBC Radio Four's groundbreaking 'A History of the...
View ArticleGirona, Somewhere
I'm thinking about going to the OpenStreetMap conference this year, named State of the Map. The question remains though, is it in Spain, Italy or Portugal?It's good to see that a bunch of mapping...
View ArticleGreat writeups of Web 2.0 in a crisis
A great number of people, myself included, have been doing what we can to help relief work in Haiti. This is now, rather wonderfully, being picked up in the proper press:NewScientist 27 January 2010:...
View ArticleGood Science Requires Open Source
There's a fantastic article on the Guardian's website about further revelations emerging from the UEA "Climategate" affair. The conclusion? Release the source code of applications you use in scientific...
View ArticleOpen Source in Archaeology: Science at Work!
My last post accused archaeological science practitioners of failing at science, and quite often, archaeological theory too. Of course, there are people doing proper science and archaeology out there...
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Google Maps get interesting
Thanks to some new lab settings:I'm sure that the geofolks will have already been all over this, but I like it. Enough to replace OpenStreetMap though? Probably not.
View ArticleBuzz me
Yann might be unhappy with Google and their new Buzz service, but I'd like to play with it some more and see how it pans out. Add me if you want to.I've got a Google profile and, of course, an address:...
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gvSIG OADE Beta 2 Released
Ben has announced to the gvSIG mailing list the availabilty of the second beta of our OA Digital version of gvSIG. More details on our siteFrom the site:Advantages of gvSIG OADE 2010GvSIG OADE 2010...
View ArticleBBC: "The volunteer mappers who helped Haiti"
The Guardian and New Scientist have already reported on the OpenStreetMap response in Haiti, now the BBC has a very nice magazine piece on the same subject. For more information, see the Project Haiti...
View ArticleRIP Mark Linkous
Very sad news from the pages of Rolling Stone:Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous has committed suicide, his publicist confirms to Rolling Stone. Best known for his acclaimed work...
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Route finding across a continent: Testing changes to OSM data
There's currently an impressive OpenStreetMap tidy-up effort quietly happening across the globe, you can read about it here. Of course, duplicate nodes aren't the only sort of messy data possible to...
View ArticleSurvey and GIS Manual updated
I've already blogged about the release of our latest version of the gvSIG OA Digital Edition, now Anna has updated her survey and GIS manual to cater to the new software.Further details on our Open...
View Article"OpenStreetMap Saved Lives"
My two recent favourite videos about the potential of Open spatial data and tools. If you're interested in maps, GIS, spatial things, etc, they're definitely worth your time (less than 15 minutes...
View ArticleWeymouth Mass Burial 3D videos online:
Two videos produced as a result of our work in Multiple View 3D reconstructions are now online:And for those of you with Red / Cyan 3D glasses:See our fledgling YouTube Channel for more (including full...
View ArticleGeoSpatial Open Source for Surveyors
Cameron Shorter sends word through the OS Geo discuss list about this video of his great recent talk at the International Federation of Surveyors conference earilier in the week. Anna's survey and GIS...
View ArticleOpenStreetMap, the game
Introduction: Location Aware GamesSince recently getting my new HTC Desire I've been quite impressed with a little location aware game called The Great Land Grab and by the looks of it I'm not the only...
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Amazon's MP3 downloader on Ubuntu 10.04
4 days before the release of 10.10.10, but I hope this stays relevant after the next release... If you want to get MP3s from the Amazon store you need to use their MP3 downloader, which has been built...
View ArticleOpen Source Surveying Manuals, New & Updated!
I've not blogged in a while, so here's some links to new and updated guides from OA (North), hosted on our Library site:Open Source Survey & GIS Manual [Updated]Archaeological maps from qGIS and...
View ArticleMotorola Milestone review
My own Android running HTC Desire had to be returned to the manufacturer as it developed a fault; being a modern customer orientated firm, HTC declined to loan me a replacement and suggested I use...
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