Atlantic Yards protesters, some top tens of 2009 & Mapping New York

Not far from my neck-of-the-woods, some Atlantic Yards resistance took a practice run at what could be the most easy form of protest - handcuffing oneself to a bar. When the wrecking-balls come in they'll do it for real protesters say.

Here's the link to what wikipedia describes the Atlantic Yards project as.

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Google Earth Blog's top 10 GE stories of 2009

Vector 1's top ten GIS of 2009

From Map Room: The Electoral Map reviews Mapping New York, a new book that looks at the cartographic history of New York City: “I expected a glossy table book, but what I got was a richly illustrated history of New York City with over 200 maps of its people, its landscape, its culture, its demographics, its neighborhoods, and of course its infrastructure.”

The Google Maps Data API and Google Fusion API News & Mac Mini with Snow Leopard Server

James Fee explains.

I just purchased my refurbished Snow Leopard Server Mac Mini and it should arrive in a week. I plan to use the Wiki Server 2 for work as our manager has been requesting a project wiki for quite some time and since our IT standards are such that we cannot install a wiki server I will host it on my new Mac Mini Server. After that, I'd really like to develop some web mapping apps and serve them from the server. The first barrier, however, is that I've used my neighbor's wireless signal since I moved in a month ago so I'll have to sign up for some internet service as to not destroy their bandwith.

Cyclists repaint bike lanes on Bedford Ave, MTA broke, empty BK buildings & best 2009 debut music albums

Cyclists repaint bike lanes that were recently removed from Bedford Avenue. See the video and other info at Gothamist.

MTA is broke, again, as always and service is terrible.

Ghost-town buildings in Brooklyn.

And best debut albums in 2009 from Pop Matters.

New USGS Digital Topo's

Check out the latest USGS Digital Topo's

US Topo is the next generation of digital topographic maps from the U.S. Geological Survey. Arranged in the traditional 7.5-minute quadrangle format, digital US Topo maps are designed to look and feel like the traditional paper topographic maps for which the USGS is so well known. At the same time, US Topo maps provide modern technical advantages that support wider and faster public distribution and enable basic, on-screen geographic analysis for all users.

US Topo maps are available free on the Web. Each map quadrangle is constructed in GeoPDF® format from key layers of geographic data – orthoimagery, roads, geographic names, contourshydrographic features - found in The National Map, which is a nationwide collection of integrated data from local, State, Federal, and other sources. and

US Topo users can turn geographic data layers on and off as needed; zoom in and out to highlight specific features or see a broader context; and print the maps, in their entirety or in customized sections, on a wide variety of printing devices. Additional analytical tools are available free for download. File size for each digital 7.5-minute quadrangle is about 15-20 megabytes.

The prototype of US Topo, "Digital Map–Beta," has been available since June 2009 and currently covers 17 states. US Topo maps include all of the content of the earlier "Digital Map–Beta," plus integrated contours and hydrographic features.

Street view to Gov's Island & some new mapping books

Google Street View comes to Governor's Island (but not much coverage as of this posting)


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And the NY Times reviews two mapping books; Strange Maps and The Fourth Part of the World.