New Flood App Brings Safety Information to Mobile Devices
This really seems like a good idea. They are taking the old disaster sirens and giving them a 100 year update. I could see something like this really saving loss of life and property. The problem though that I see is keeping updates and multiple device platforms properly working. It is already tough for for profit companies to make a product stable on iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile. It could be close to impossible for a non profit to keep it up.
The potential features are pretty cool though. On demand risk management steps, one touch pre-programmed communitcation, and regional disaster information. No more trying to find out what your meet up location is, you can just check it.
This could be expanded into all disaster types too. Fires, storms, even violent actions.
Mapmakers Debate How to Define Crimea
This has always been interesting to me. And when you think about it, border misinterpretations have been one of the biggest contributors to armed conflicts. Taking the politics out of Crimea, the events are going to be interesting cartographically.
Take a look at the section where, because of an issue on Google Maps, Nicaragua invaded Costa Rica. The problem with border disputes does not have an easy answer. It turns out that the world is pretty big and being able to draw a straight line across a bumpy three dimensional surface is a lot harder than people might think. Even the U.S. and Canada have border issues. Having such a long line as straight as possible is really tough. These issues were magnified after WWII when many areas of the world were split up by powers with no ties to the land. Now there are plenty of areas where people with historically limited control over property suddenly have all of the control. How do mitigate a land dispute when "God gave us this land" is a legitimate argument.