Slashgeo

LKS writes "Google Blog announces that Google Earth is now available for Macs. Happy downloading!" Get it here. We announced its coming last month.

The c.spanring blog shares his experience running ArcGIS on MacOS X with virtualization. From the blog: "Actually I was positively surprised by ArcGIS’s performance in Parallels Desktop. I expected it to be sluggish and painfully slow, but it wasn’t at all. To complete basic tasks and do some map editing it’s quite ok and useable. [...] Along with Apple’s switch to Intel it’s now easier than ever before to use Windows-only applications (like most GIS and GPS software) on Mac OS X. There are various virtualization products available which deliver good Windows perfomances."

Slashdot discuss rumors on Apple and Google geospatial potential collaborations. The MacWorld is due tomorrow, so we'll see to which extent the rumors were right. The Slashdot summary: "AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has been working on OS-level integration of an geographical mapping technology as an integral part of Leopard, its next-generation OS. The technology is rumoured to employ GPS functionality. Will GPS chips make Apple iPod phones and MacBooks location aware? Users would be able to post information at a location, hanging in the air, ready to be browsed by people passing by. Imagine getting highly relevant messages, without even pressing a button, simply because you are in the vicinity and your preferences match the content of the post."

The last poll results gave surprising results, and I fail to interpret the numbers. We asked you about using Linux and MacOS X in geospatial technologies. Out of 113 answers, 15% said their software are Windows only, 15% restrain themselves from looking for trouble, 6% simply don't choose their operating system. Now the surprises; 7% claim geosoftware on Linux/MacOS X is not up to par, 22% say it works well, and... 31% claim it works better! That makes 53% of users claiming geospatial software works well or works better on Linux/MacOS X than on MS Windows. Am I the only one surprised? The new poll ask you whether you break the Google Earth license at work, in the context that you can't legally use Google Earth Free or Plus at work.

Ogle Earth discusses the preview release of Cartographica, a GIS software for the Mac. From the entry: "I'm not a GIS pro, so getting results like that in a matter of minutes is a good sign on the ease-of-use front :-) While it's early days yet for this application, I think it's clear where its makers aim to position it: Not as an ESRI ArcGIS or Manifold competitor, but as something that is good enough for school users, GIS hobbyists and people who georeference their photos — for the last group, Cartographica has menu items like "Timecode Photos from iPhoto Library" and "Plot GPS encoded Photos"." Let's remember that the open source QGIS works on the Mac and that ArcGIS itself runs on the Mac through virtualization. See also related stories below. Update: 11/24 17:42 GMT by S : The Virtual Earth team also announced that VE 3D now runs well on a mac with virtualization.