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Interactive Map of the Vancouver Olympic Torch Relay

Kyle James — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:55:47 +0000

There are many uses for interactive maps, and as we’ve shared in the past, these uses go far beyond interactive campus maps. Staying on top of map uses helps keep us up to date on interesting ideas and eventually additional markets for our products. So in the mean time dissecting and sharing maps like this [...] Related posts:

Interactive Wildfire Maps: Southern California Fires Progress Captured

Open Your Campus Visit “Secret Menu”

Kyle James — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:00:46 +0000

Did you see the post last week on the TargetX iThink blog, The “Secret Menu” of the Campus Visit by Trent Gilbert? Trent has been exploring college campuses getting his fair share of tours of the scripted nature. In a short video clip Trent tells us, “There are all these things I could do… but [...] Related posts:

Interactive Water Pollution Map Shows Where Polluters Actually Are

Kyle James — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:00:17 +0000

Very similar to the Interactive Airport Map I wrote about last week, this story that broke out in the New York Times, Toxic Waters – Clean Water Laws are Neglected at a Cost in Suffering, is another eye opener that is made even more compelling through the use of an interactive map. “How can we get [...] Related posts:

Interactive Airport Map Displays U.S. Airports Getting Big Grant Money

Kyle James — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:00:01 +0000

An interesting article in USA Today last week, Feds keep little-used airports in business, brings to light billions of dollars in tax revenue generated every single year and spent on airports. Although this very interesting article explains how billions of dollars each year are collected from taxed airline travels, what is so interesting is the [...] Related posts:

Virtual Maps for the Blind: A Whole New Level of Accessibility

Kyle James — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:00:14 +0000

When web developers think about designing an interactive map or virtual tour one thing that comes up, especially in the education world, is Section 508 compliance. The basic guidelines for Section 508 is that Federal agencies are required to make electronic and information technology accessible to individuals with disabilities. With many public education institutes being [...] Related posts:

Interactive Wildfire Maps: Southern California Fires Progress Captured

Kyle James — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:00:18 +0000

If you have been paying any attention to the news over the last few weeks I’m sure you have heard about the fires out in California. What has really interested me about the fires has been the range of really interesting interactive maps being put together to monitor them. People out in California love their web technology and this fire has only shown their innovative uses of technology. Related posts:

How Many Features Does Your Virtual Campus Map Need?

Kyle James — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:00:57 +0000

A recent featured article in Wired discussed the idea of “Good Enough” products. What this means is that we don’t care as much about product features as we do about product cost. The article gives a few great examples starting with the Flip video camera, comparing it to the more expensive offerings by Sony and others. Wal-Mart has proven to us that people care about paying bottom dollar for products. We all want more for less, but with things like electronics I think we can all admit that we don't use half the features they contain. So why do we need them all? Being able to pay only for what we use isn’t a new idea. It’s just not always that simple or practical. When people design products, having a low and competitive price is definitely important, but each customer wants different features. So in order to make a product competitive and more interesting they add additional features. Additional features allow you to charge more. The other approach is to create additional types, which is what we see in things like gum and soft drink flavors. Related posts:

Forbes called Cloud Computing “The Death of Hardware”

Kyle James — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:00:17 +0000

Over a year and a half ago, an article in Forbes proclaimed that cloud computing would lead to the Death of Hardware for many companies. The next revolution in high tech is taking place inside the “cloud” of the Internet. Small outfits looking to do lots of computing in a hurry are not buying hardware anymore; [...] Related posts:

Cloud Computing’s Future and What It Could Mean for Colleges and Universities

Kyle James — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:03:03 +0000

A while back a PC Magazine wrote What Does Cloud Computing Mean for You?, and it is definitely worth a second look. Some of the important takeaways from the piece are about how it will effect not just corporate users but also end users. In fact I think it’s safe to say that we probably are [...] Related posts:

Amazon S3 Import/Export Options for Big Data Shipments

Kyle James — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:51:00 +0000

Backing up data is a vitally important thing to all organizations, including colleges and universities. With a warehouse full of past and current students’ data it becomes extremely important to keep this information safe and secure. Amazon recently announced an Import/Export service for S3 that lets you ship or have them ship a hard drive loaded [...] No related posts.