Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.63.0507201250590.20962@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.aol.com>,
"WRYTING-L : Writing and Theory across Disciplines" <WRYTING-L@LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA>
Subject: O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference Wrap-Up (fwd)
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 12:51:05 -0400 (EDT)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 06:59:00 -0700 From: Suzanne Axtell <suzanne@oreilly.com> To: sondheim@panix.com Subject: O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference Wrap-Up For Immediate Release For more information, contact: Suzanne Axtell (707) 827-7114 or suzanne@oreilly.com New Directions for Technology--and Business--Charted at Where 2.0, a New O'Reilly Conference Sebastopol, CA--Google Maps, Virtual Earth, MyWeb 2.0--the world is being introduced to (and enthusiastically embracing) a steady stream of new services based on location technologies. Where 2.0, a new O'Reilly conference that took place June 29-30 in San Francisco, honed in on the new tech sector coalescing around these location-related technologies that promise to transform and personalize the way we all engage the Web and the world around us. Conference co-chair Nathan Torkington of O'Reilly Media, Inc. and co-chair David Sonnen of iSpatial built a conference program that allowed participants to quickly grasp both the current state of affairs and the far-reaching effects and implications around location-based technologies and services. "The conference, and the industry, remix decades-old GIS knowledge with 21st century Web 2.0 program designs," noted Torkington. "Neither hackers nor business people nor search industries alone define this new space." Location-enhanced products and services are generating excitement among developers, technologists, researchers, entrepreneurs, and bean counters alike. "Mash-up" was a phrase heard frequently throughout the conference, referring to the revving up of one-dimensional information--such as apartment listings, traffic patterns, and crime stats--by overlaying it with mapping information. Location technologies are already having an impact on a wide variety of industries, and their effect on privacy, gaming, advertising, social applications, and search were also discussed. Two other (distinctly non-technical) mash-ups in evidence at the conference were between generations and communities: "tribal elders" from cartography, engineering, and geography came together with the emerging generation of hackers, web developers, and search gurus in sessions, on panel discussions, and over lunch. The conference attracted over 500 attendees who heard presentations from notable speakers such as: -GIS pioneer Jack Dangermond of ESRI -Microsoft MapPoint general manager Stephen Lawler -Cartographer David Rumsey -John Hanke of Google Earth -Mary Foltz, director of Location Solutions Product Line Management for Nextel -Chris Couper, IBM distinguished engineer -Stephen Randall, co-founder of Symbian and CEO of LocaModa -Paul Rademacher, creator of the Google Maps-craigslist mash-up -Greg Sadetsky, who mashed-up Google Maps-Yahoo! Traffic -Elizabeth Goodman of Intel -Panelists from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! who faced off over local search, moderated by John Battelle -NavTeq's Bob Denaro -Ronald J. Ondrejka who recounted his adventures designing and deploying the first spy satellites -MIT's Nathan Eagle -Udi Manber from A9 Several announcements were made at Where 2.0, including: -Google publicly released Google Earth, which uses high-resolution satellite and aerial images to let users travel to any address on the globe -Microsoft and ORBIMAGE, a satellite imagine company, announced plans to deliver expanded international satellite coverage for MSN Virtual Earth -Yahoo released a set of programming tools allowing outside programmers to build their own web mapping applications that tap into the data in Yahoo! Maps -Zoto, an online photo site, announced it will sponsor and host Geo Project USA, the first initiative to index and photograph each of the more than 4,554,000 "minute confluence points" in the United States Where 2.0 also featured the Where Fair, a science fair-style event that gave participants a first-hand look at a few of the intriguing location-aware technologies before they go mainstream. The Where Fair complemented the exhibit hall, which showcased innovative new location related products from sponsors Microsoft, Google, Telcontar, ESRI, GeoTango, GlobeXplorer, and Yahoo! Local. Where 2.0 provided a long overdue gathering place for the growing community of innovators in the location space. Next year's event promises to bring together even more of the players and projects that have the potential to fundamentally transform how location information is viewed, interpreted, and delivered. The O'Reilly conference line-up also includes: ETech, the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference; the O'Reilly Open Source Convention; Web 2.0, co-hosted by Tim O'Reilly and John Battelle, and co-produced with MediaLive International; the O'Reilly European Open Source Convention; and the MySQL Users Conference, co-presented with MySQL AB. O'Reilly conferences bring together forward-thinking business and technology leaders, shaping ideas and influencing industries around the globe. For over 25 years, O'Reilly has facilitated the adoption of new and important technologies by the enterprise, putting emerging technologies on the map. Additional Resources: For complete Where 2.0 Conference details, visit: http://conferences.oreilly.com/where Where 2.0 news coverage and photos can be found at: http://www.oreillynet.com/where2005/ Many Where 2.0 session presentation files are available at: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/39/presentations.html Related Reading: For an in-depth perspective about the current state and future potential of location technologies from Tim O'Reilly and Nathan Torkington, read a transcript from a recent press conference at: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/39/transcript.html Location- and geo-related blogs by Nathan Torkington: http://radar.oreilly.com/nat/ "Historical Maps Online" http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/06/02/davidrumsey.html "Hacking Election Maps with XML and MapServer" http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2005/05/31/electionmaps.html "The Geospatial Web: A Call to Action" http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/05/10/geospatialweb.html "Google Maps and BBC Backstage" http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2005/05/google_maps_and.html Sponsorship Information: For information on exhibition and sponsorship opportunities at O'Reilly conferences, contact Andrew Calvo at (707) 827-7176, or andrewc@oreilly.com To become a media sponsor at O'Reilly conferences, contact Margi Levin at (707) 827-7184, or margi@oreilly.com About O'Reilly O'Reilly Media, Inc. is the premier information source for leading-edge computer technologies. The company's books, conferences, and web sites bring to light the knowledge of technology innovators. O'Reilly books, known for the animals on their covers, occupy a treasured place on the shelves of the developers building the next generation of software. O'Reilly conferences and summits bring alpha geeks and forward-thinking business leaders together to shape the revolutionary ideas that spark new industries. From the Internet to XML, open source, .NET, Java, and web services, O'Reilly puts technologies on the map. For more information: http://www.oreilly.com # # # O'Reilly is a registered trademark of O'Reilly Media, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.