WFS 1.1.0, GML 3.1.1 and OpenLayers
In the INSPIRE framework we are working on the ESDIN project and are using the EuroGeoNames (EGN) project as an implementation of ESDIN. INSPIRE is a big thing within the GIS world in Europe and loads of documents have been written so far.
We’re involved in both ESDIN and EGN and we decided to use the latter as a trial for the first. Together with our partners we’ve setup a series of servers to fulfill the needs of the projects. The main standard used is the latest WFS and GML versions, which have the annoying disadvantage that there are few clients available.
Foss4g 2008; Cape Town
I’ve arrived in Cape Town to attend the foss4g conference which is taking place there. I’m supposed to give a lighting talk on the closure of Mapbuilder development. But it is not entirly clear where and when this will happen. All in good time I guess 
So far I’ve registered and are now waiting for my first workshop on Geonetworks.
A rift in the internet
the evidence is finally there that Google is building its own version of the internet. If you search for images in the Dutch version of Google you have the option to search for images or search “The ‘The internet‘” (het het internet). Not to be mistaken for the common internet, currently in use by billions of peasants. Apparently this is a specific subset of the Internet, probably only with content that Google has approved and/or cached. This might be the new internet without the flaws of the current one, like freedom of speech.
Finally it has arrived the ‘The Internet‘
Wii-mote readings
We are asked to develop a short game which is controlled with the Wii-controller. Since it is expensive and not too easy to develop for the Wii itself (you require a SDK from Nintendo and permissions once the game is finished) we decided to develop it on the PC. It is possible to connect your Wii-mote with the PC using bluetooth. There are multiple libraries to do so.
I was curious what kind of feedback you get from the Wii-mote and where it fails (in light of the news about the Wii motion plus). There are some issues around getting your Wii-mote connected to a PC by bluetooth, not every stack is good, nor areall bluetooth chipsets, however the MacBook supports the Wii-mote out of the box. So I connected the Wii-mote to my MacBook instead and used the DarwiinRemote application to get a reading from the sensors.
DarwiinRemote sensor readings.
The wii-mote is equiped with an accelerometer, which does not record the position of the wii-mote. What is does is that it records the different forces (accelerations) that are applied to the controller. So in rest it will record a force of 1G down (z= -1). If you hold the controller upside down it will record a force of 1G up (z = 1) (seen from the point of view of the controller). If you hold it on its side the reading will be x=1 or x=-1 or y=1 or y= -1, depending on the side. The other axis will be 0 in rest. Actually since in rest the only force acting on the controller is earth gravitation, which is 1, the absolute sum of the forces on x, y and z will be 1.
Wii sensor reading in three orientations.
With this knowledge you can deduce the orientation of the Wii-mote from the readings above. In the beginning the Wii-mote is held horizontal pointing forward (blue line at -1). Then the Wii-mote is rotated along its body, the left side is pointing up (red line at 1). Finally the Wii-mote is pointing downward (green line at 1). Note that we do not know how the Wii-mote is pointing downwards (whether the buttons facing forward or sideways). When you start moving the Wii-mote the forces applied on the Wii-mote easily surpass the 1G and when that happens it is much more difficult to deduce the orientation. The new Wii-motion Plus extension is supposed to solve this problem. From what I’ve seen and read it most likely will use a gyroscope to calculate the orientation of the Wii-mote regardless of the forces applied to it.
Opening up my leg
Cycling in Amsterdam, however common, is dangerous. Every year a few cyclists get killed by trucks turning right; the so called ‘blind spot incidents’. Luckily most of the (other) bicycle-accidents don’t end up with dead people, just injuries. According to an ambulance brother I once spoke the most common injury where they are called in for are head traumas. Most of which could be prevented if the cyclists wear helmets. Currently the dutch pride and self esteem ‘forbids’ helmets. Apparently it’s such a non-issue that the dutch wikipedia merely acknowledges the fact that they exist without any further discussion or information (unlike the english one)
Obviously since there are a tens of thousands cyclists in Amsterdam, so injuries are bound to happen, even deadly ones. I’m not sure of the statistics involved: whether everyone buying and wearing a helmet would have a big impact in the total population of cyclists. However if one ignores statistics I’d argue for compulsory shin-protection as well.
As it happens, this morning I was cycling to my work, managing all the busy intersections with trams, trucks, road construction etc without any incident. Just before I arrived at the office, I cycled through a quiet little street, here, where a van was parked in the middle of the street. To avoid the van I had to squeeze my self between the van and the underground garbage containers at the sidewalk. However one of those was mysteriously not totally underground leaving a sharp metal plate at shin level. It happened to be able to slice both through my pants and my leg. Resulting in this very nice gap in my shin (gore-warning!). Right now I’ve got 7 stitches and am pretty much immobilized by a non-functioning right leg 
Microsofts enhanced security
When opening a perfectly valid visual studio solution from my local harddrive, Microsoft Expression Blend came with the following dialog:
I like the new focus on security; I’m waiting for the moment that it will warn the user when booting Windows: ‘Warning: Turning on your computer might allow the execution of malicious software ….’
Camping in the snow
This eastern I went camping with my family, just like every year. However apparently this is the earliest Eastern in my entire life, unless I live for another 140years. So the powers that be decided to celebrate this occasion by bringing us all possible winter-weather. We started with rain, as in one continuous pour which started on Thursday and ended on Friday afternoon. Next we got freezing temperatures which managed to knock out our water supply, toilets and showers. To finish with snow blizzards and somehow in between lovely sunny, albeit cold, weather where we could sit and read.
I love Eastern!
applified
Last weekend my shiny new macbook arrived. I managed to get it non booting within 4hours when trying to setup a dual boot with ubuntu, also it didn’t want to connect to my wifi net. Nonetheless it looks very shiny and doesn’t fail to impress people with its neat features like the remote control and the iSight camera.
Since one of the reasons to buy a macbook was to try Mac OS X I’ve postponed the ubuntu install and work solely on OS X. I’ve to say as an ubuntu junky and windows drone, it’s a bit tough to get used to it. I miss the total control of linux (full cli amongst others) and the keyboard navigation of windows/linux. The bright side is; it is absolutely stunning (as long as it works) the nifty animations, front row and iSight don’t fail to amaze my fellow workers.
So after my first 48 hours of OS X I’d advise a intelMac to anyone who likes to play around: it looks funky, it works (most of the time) and you can always destroy everything and install windows 
Edugis2 died today
My main project, www.edugis.nl, has had a major blow. The shiny new server www2.edugis.nl died today. It was highly tweaked and was showing incredible performance. We were just about to set up a backup and sync routine with the old server www1.edugis.nl.
Note the just bit; there are no backups of all the tweaks, most of them we still know, so it should be possible to recreate them in a few days, but due to holidays it might take several weeks before we have it up and running again and syncing with the other server. So we’ve adapted DNS to point www.edugis.nl to the old server again, which is qutie fast as well, but just not as fast as the other :’(
Wiser man and smarter IE
In other news, I solved me fight with IE6 today by being the wiser man. I gave up on my fancy layout for the new mapbuilder examples and agreed with IE6 that a less cooler version is much better.
IE7 however is a much smarter browser, so I liked to test it there as well. Apparently, however, IE7 is too smart for its own good. It doesn’t want to show me a webpage. For the record, the (virtual) computer was connected and I could access the site with another browser.
Maybe it has a build in filter that knows which pages are dangerous to the user, since FF did work on the same computer and showed non-dangerous sites without a problem.
