Here's your weekly dose of geonews in batch mode.
On the Google front, you can now refine Google searches by location, with the "Nearby" tool in the Search Options panel.
Google also announced the winners of their StreetView trike contest.
There's also Athens in 3D. If you wonder how crazy it can get, here's an entry named solving a murder with Google Earth. There's also new imagery in Google Earth, including Chile. Here's an entry on heat maps with Google Fusion Tables.
On the Microsoft's front, here's a two-parts article on Integrating OpenStreetMap in Bing Maps. Bing Maps also just released their biggest imagery update ever, 6.7 million square kilometers.
On the ESRI front, we mentioned last week the podcast about ESRI's position on open source, via GGNB I learned about the new ESRI page about their position on open source software. The ArcGIS API For JavaScript 1.6 Now Available. And ESRI also announced their new World Topographic base map (screenshots included).
On the FOSS4G front, here's how to create contour lines in QGIS.
There's also a new Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) mailing list.
In other news, several geoblogs mentioned that Platial is turning off their services.
APB offers an entry named GIS Used to Help Decrease Stroke, Heart Disease, and Cardiovascular Risk 25%.
There's also an entry about large shapefiles on small screens using a drawable spatial index.
Engadget does a head-to-head comparison of three GPS smartphone navigation systems: Google Navigation, Ovi Maps, and VZ Navigator. TMR also points to the testing of the SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger.
In the maps category, via Mapperz, I learned about ProtectedPlanet, the latest initiative of the World Database on Protected Areas.
Here's a named Which Burger Chains Dominate the U.S. Landscape?
Here's another map, linking the affordability of housing and transportation in the U.S.
Read more of this story at Slashgeo.
