We Know Where Your Browser Lives

May 282010

image Maybe I’m a little late in finding this, but if you have FireFox 3.5 or higher try clicking this link (you will have to agree to let your browser divulge your location to open the link). The JavaScript code run when clicking the link is as follows, and can also be pasted directly into your address bar:

javascript:navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(
function(position){
window.location.href="http://maps.google.com/?ll="+position.coords.latitude+",
"+position.coords.longitude;});

I believe the navigator.geolocation object is also available in Safari, iPhone, and Chrome. The Mozilla documentation provides more details on its use. This StackOverflow question asks which browsers and devices it applies to, and this is set to grow if it becomes part of the browser standards – the W3C has an online draft Geolocation API Specification. They list the following use cases: Continue reading »

Does SQL Azure have Allure?

Mar 262010

image I love SQL Server 2008 spatial functionality. Not only because it has effectively killed off the middle-man GIS database software, but it even sticks to OGC standards allowing the same data and tables to be used in nearly all GIS software. However I have some reservations about the use of SQL Azure for GIS applications.

FAQ

How is SQL Azure Database different from working with a hoster using SQL Server?

Developers do not have to install, setup, patch or manage any software. High Availability and fault tolerance is built-in and no physical administration of hardware, storage or servers is required.

If you have a good hosting solution then the same benefits apply (well maybe not the “self-healing” also mentioned). The only real difference I can tell is that you pay a lot more, to be able to scale more easily. Its unlikely your Local Planning Mapping system is suddenly going to need to scale up to meet the expectations of millions of new users, no matter how great the system looks.

Continue reading »