Google maps news reader

Here at Where 2.0 in San Francisco, Google just announced a bunch of cool new stuff in Google maps. Most interesting to me, they have made a news reader for Google maps – allowing people to read the news by location. Very cool. Looks like they took a lesson from everyblock?

By the way, sorry for being away for so long – I’m trying to make up for it now with some live-blogging. :p

Bjørvika 3D in Aftenposten

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten Aften (Oslo) today has a story about my Google Earth experiment, making available 3D models of a controversial urban renewal project (“Fjordbyen” in Bjørvika, Oslo) for view in Google Earth. Norwegian only and paper edition only, but hey, they have more readers than this blog, I think. Follow the link to view the models.

Bjørvika in Google Earth

As a part of my experiments in the use of locationbased information in fostering public discourse, I have taken the initiative to make available 3D Google Earth models of the competing plans for the urban renewal project in Bjørvika, Oslo.

The project is planned to be the largest urban renewal of the city in nearly 400 years, and is much debated. In particular the so-called “barcode” project, a series of relatively tall buildings along the seafront, is the focus of much controversy.

Google ghost road

Have you ever tried to use your gps or another map service on a road which has recently been affected by construction work? If you have, I guess you know the sneaking suspicion that I sometimes have, that the ghost of Douglas Adams has been reincarnated in my GPS.

Apparently Google maps have decided to do something about the time it takes for their maps to get updated with changes in the roads. At least I just noticed that if you ask for directions from my dear home town Volda to the islands right west of it, google will instruct you to take that brand new road through the deepest undersea tunnel in the world, the Eiksund tunnel. My heart is bursting with patriotic pride! The thing is just that the tunnel doesn’t exist yet.

Origo

I just joined this new social networking site, origo.no. It’s made my bengler (the guys who made underskog.no) in comparison with A-pressen, one of Norway’s three largest media corporations and owner of a large number of small and regional newspapers. The idea, as far as i understand it, is to utilize local resources to build an online network around local communities. Of course Google maps and lots of cool location-based technology abound.

The site is still under development, but it’s open for signing up and exploring. So far it looks quite neat. Norwegian only, though.

Norway open

This just in (well ok, I’ve been on holidays for two weeks): The Norwegian government just decided that all online public information must be accessible through open standards – mainly html, pdf and odf. This applies to all levels of government, which have until Jan 1. 2009 to comply.

Most beautiful of all, they have until 2014 to – hold on – reformat old documents.

Black, white and blue

I just read a disturbing story in my good old friend Dagsavisen. Maybe this was naïve of me, but I just never thought of it before: What happens if you call a Norwegian police officer a racist, to his/her face? Surprise surprise: You’ll end up in court. According to an evaluation from the government prosecutor, “racist” is ranked above (i.e. gives a stronger punishment than) good old Norse classics like “hestkuk” (horse dick) and “drittsekk” (bastard). (Commonly used terms in the colourfull north, which last week gave a 17-year old from Senja 60 days of civil labour.)

Trust me, I have no problem seeing the entertainment value in this, and I really hope I’ll be able to get hold of a t-shirt with a black horse penis on it before I go down to the police station to renew my passport. In the shape of a rebus, I think – or would that be too subtle?

Volda is on the map! (Oh, and Ørsta as well)

Happy new year! I’m back from a lengthy holiday back west where I come from – Volda, center of my universe. Oh Volda, dear Volda, this time you weren’t so gentle with me; caught the vomiting virus and literally emptied my stomach into the great white open. (Ever tried vomiting nothing for half a day? Not nice, I tell you.) I lost five kilos in a moment, but thanks to my mother in law’s Spanish cooking they came back on in a day or two upon arrival in Madrid (that other center of the universe).

Now this lovely introduction was just to let the world know that in between all the stomach activities I managed to officially put Volda on the map. The Open Street Map, that is.

Here.now

The Norwegian location-based service her.no (English: here.now) is currently advertising online with an animation of a close-dancing couple, and the headline: “Is your partner cheating on you?” Using their buddy-finder service you can discover if, for instance, your partner is on the same location as your best friend, when they both told you they’d be somewhere else.

Speak posh and save the world

I just learned of a computer game that was so neat I just had to share it: freerice.com. The game itself, like most good games, is really simple: You get a fairly difficult English word, like ‘abatement’, and have to guess it’s correct meaning among four options.

When you get it right, the questions get harder (what the heck does ‘avouch’ mean?) – but the interesting thing is, that for each correct answer the game’s sponsors donate 20 gram of rice to the United Nations World Food Programme.

Ok, so there are better ways to create sustainable development, but as a kind of timekiller with a conscience, this one’s not too bad, no?