Slashgeo

Slashdot has a story about legal battles over cellphone tracking. Copied from slashdot: "stupefaction writes "The New York Times reports on recent successful court challenges to police use of cellphone tracking information in the course of an investigation. From the article: 'In the last four months, three federal judges have denied prosecutors the right to get cellphone tracking information from wireless companies without first showing "probable cause" to believe that a crime has been or is being committed. That is the same standard applied to requests for search warrants. [...] Cellular operators like Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless know, within about 300 yards, the location of their subscribers whenever a phone is turned on.'""

The Think blog points to an audio NPR radio program about cellphone surveillance. From the Think discussion: "I heard most of a good program on the radio yesterday about the issues surrounding the fact that any cell phone, while it is on, can be tracked, at least within a few hundred meters. [...] Then there's the "good" side of tracking. What if you need help? Would you be happy that your phone is telling others where you are? Even if it's only a rough guess? Anyway, it's thought-provoking material and I'm glad I bumped into it on the radio."

Update : The news is now on SlashDot as well.

Yahoo News is currently running an article about Google's new endeavor. From their summary, "Internet search leader Google Inc said on Wednesday it is introducing a novel mapping system that uses cell phone towers to let mobile phone users locate nearby services without typing in addresses.

Google's new My Location service is being offered in test mode to U.S. users and is designed to expand the percentage of cellphone users of location-aware services, whether or not their phones come equipped with satellite-locating chips.". Head on over there for the full scoop.

No new features, so this is minor news, but still, Google Earth has been slightly updated and it is no longer "Beta" software. It still crashes almost immediately after launch on my Debian Sarge installation. Related, Direction Mag runs an editorial wondering what are the relations between Google Maps/Earth news and GIS professionals: "But, while these are "natural steps" from my perspective, and perhaps yours too, the tech world was all agog since this is Google. Still, we who have our heads down trying to solve day-to-day issues with professional tool must keep up to date with what Google and its peers are doing. Google, whether we like it or not, is part of our technology ecosystem. Even if we don't use Google Maps for analysis or Google tools for search, we know ultimately many of our end-users, clients, and citizens do." Meanwhile, in regards this story on the new My Location feature announced this week, to Anonymous Voxel writes "Was the data that Google uses in their new "My Location" feature gathered illegally? Apparently yes, according to this discussion on the New York Times web site between a user and Barry Schnitt, Google's spokesperson: Check it out, it's very interesting. Looks like this could become a major headache for Google's lawyers."

The Spatial Law blog discuss and links to an excellent (and very long) article named location and privacy issues. From the article: "However, the counter argument is that there is a tension between the two fundamental values of privacy on the one hand and the public’s right to know on the other. [...] GIS has the power to integrate diverse information from multiple sources. Some of the data are of a personal nature where individuals may be identified or identifiable while others are of a spatial nature that may be used to locate individuals through geocoded data such as a home address. The privacy threat is from the new inferences that may be made by correlating geographic information with personal information." From the SL blog: "Second, Dr Cho notes that "geospatial technology is inherently visual but this strength also exposes a major weakness in that it may produce map interences that may be both statistically and ecologically fallacious.""

Slashdot discuss an experiment using GPS-enabled cellphones to monitor traffic. Their summary: "On February 8, 2008, about 100 UC Berkeley students will participate in the Mobile Century experiment, using GPS mobile phones as traffic sensors. During the whole day, these students carrying the GPS-equipped Nokia N95 will drive along a 10-mile stretch of I-880 between Hayward and Fremont, California. 'The phones will store the vehicles' speed and position information every 3 seconds. These measurements will be sent wirelessly to a server for real-time processing.' As more and more cellphones are GPS-equipped, the traffic engineering community, which currently monitors traffic using mostly fixed sensors such as cameras and loop detectors, is tempted to use our phones to get real-time information about traffic." Some related stories copied below, including a story on mandatory cellphone tracking in the U.S.

Very Spatial discusses and links to a Ars Tecnica article named Crime and Punishment 2.0: fighting criminals with the 'Net. From the article: "London's Metropolitan Police, for instance, this summer rolled out a nifty mashup using Google Maps and the department's own crime data. Rates of burglary, robbery, and vehicle crime are superimposed on a map of London; as visitors drill down from the borough to the ward to the sub-ward, the map presents more granular information about crime in the area. [...] But it's the Toronto police who have recently unveiled one of the more interesting web 2.0-style experiments The department has thrown all of its homicide information online, including both current cases and cold cases. The pages include writeups on each case, along with media from the case such as maps, pictures of crime scenes, and even YouTube pleas from detectives and victims' families. Each pages includes a form for submitting any additional tips about the cases." Some previous related stories below.