"Aid workers at ground zero and around the globe can have free access to this spatial data and the resulting mapping functionality via the Internet. In addition, these same workers can contribute their specialized data for use by other agencies."

See where the US storms are using web services in a mapping framework. An Open Source web-based mapping application shows the power of web services by consolidating various weather data sources into a map.

In an earlier weblog I outlined the process of adding a hurricane track to my MapServer web application. Since that time I've added two more hurricanes: Ivan and Jeanne. In this weblog I show just how easy it was to add these.

Using open mapping standards over the Internet, I describe how I added a track of Hurricane Frances to my own web mapping site. All are served up by Apache, MapServer and a handful of external sites feeding data to my maps. The joys of interoperability.

Many great open source GIS tools are available and many of them have a large command line presence. As I share these great tools with friends and colleagues, I wonder how to bridge the gap between these excellent command line interface (CLI) tools and users who were raised on graphical user interfaces (GUI). At risk of entering into the GUI vs CLI wars, I wonder about the advantages of manipulating map data and running various tools. This is especially interesting to consider as some operating systems appear to shove the "command prompt" deeper into the closet.

3D mapping seems like the next step many are using computer generated models for, but the output is usually a 2D graphic on-screen or hardcopy. What I believe the mapping and GIS world needs is to get out of 2D altogether and start putting maps in front of them in the real world. Enter: Outdoor Augmented Reality. The link from this weblog is the best implementation I've seen of similar concepts.

Open source geographic information system (GIS) software proved its maturity with an excellent conference last week. MapServer and other technologies served as a focal point for a broad community of GIS analysts, web developers and others.