We all remember when the economic stimulus package was announced earlier this year by President Obama. However, what we were unsure about was were all of the money was going. MSNBC has released a new mapping tool that allows users to see where and how much stimulus money has been spent.

ClueTrust is happy to announce that Cartographica 1.1 is now shipping!

I recently came across a great website called World Wind Central that has compiled a great source of orthophoto data. I decided to use data form the website to show how to download import and map orthophotos along with data collected from the census bureau.

Building off of Gaige's May 2009 post (Home town makes good (data)) regarding data available online from the city of Washington D.C. I decided to create a few interesting maps just to show some of the analytic capabilities of Cartographica. The city of Washington D.C. provides a large range of data regarding practically anything that can be spatially analyzed within the city. For this example I decided to collect several demographic, infrastructure, and other social data to create a few interesting maps. Compiling a large amount of data from an online source such as D.C. GIS is a valuable skill to learn because obtaining free data can work to benefit any research or professional endeavor using GIS. Taking advantage of free data can greatly offset the cost of large scale research projects, and being able to quickly add them into programs like Cartographica is extremely beneficial.

I came across an interesting article on GISuser.com about a new app for the iPhone that is designed to track outbreaks of infectious diseases like H1N1. The app "Outbreaks Near Me" provides users with real time information about the location of both the user and where the infectious disease was recorded.

The U.S. Census Bureau released the data for the 2008 American Community Survey this week, which has created a buzz on the internet about some of the most interesting findings. One article on CNN Money mentioned that the U.S. economy had obvious impacts the economic, housing, and social data.

I read an interesting article this morning about the U.S. Department of Agriculture's new study on food production on the East Coast. According to the USDA website, the Agricultural Research Service is conducting a large scale evaluation that includes researchers from "Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, Iowa State University, Cornell University, and Pennsylvania State University. Two other USDA agencies—the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the Agricultural Marketing Service—are also contributing to the study."

ClueTrust is happy to announce that version 1.1 of Cartographica has finally reached beta phase. This means that all significant features are in the product, and it is ready for feedback and testing by users at large.

As part of the beta program, we've reactivated keys for everyone who has signed up to try Cartographica in the past and we hope that everyone will take advantage of the opportunity to try out our new features and changes. We believe this is a great step forward for Cartographica and GIS on the Macintosh.

I read an interesting article on Bloomberg.com about a "Giant" oil discovery made recently by U.S. Oil Giant BP in the Gulf of Mexico. One estimate in the article is that the newest find is somewhere in the area of one billion barrels of oil. The article mentions that Oil companies are going to greater lengths to reach oil once thought to be impossible to obtain. The reasons mentioned for this are dwindling supplies of domestically produced oil, and reluctance of other counties in the Middle East and South America to allow U.S. oil producers to tap their reserves. Reading this article made me wonder "where" U.S. Oil basins are located, and how many of them there are.

In an Article from the Air Force Space Command it is reported that on Aug 17th the United States Air Force Launched the last of a series of 8 modernized satellites to replace aging GPS satellites. The latest launch was somewhat of a milestone in the history of GPS. The latest satellite is the final IIR satellite to be launched, and is the final satellite to be launched on the Air Force's United Launch Alliance Delta II Rocket, which is the only launch vehicle that has been used since the beginning of the GPS program in the 1970's.