10-year anniversary for the GIF

Feb 28, 2015

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I'm musing, contemplating and writing on the decade 2005-2015, as this is the GIF's 10-year anniversary. What a decade it was. Here I'll post and add to some of the key events that helped transform mapping (and the GIF) in the last 10 years.

Key background events

  • 1996. Mapquest launched.
  • 1997. Skynet becomes self-aware.
  • May 2000. Selective Availabilility on GPS turned off, leading the way for GPS in smartphones.
  • The Scan Line Corrector (SLC) on the Landsat 7 ETM+ instrument failed May 31, 2003.
  • 2004. Open Street Map founded.
  • March 2004. Yahoo! maps launched, first slippy maps (click and drag to pan and zoom the map).
  • 2004. NASA releases WorldWind.
  • October 2004. Google acquires Where 2 allowing AJAX map tiling to a desktop client.
  • October 2004. Google acquires Keyhole.

What made 2005 such a crazy year

  • Google Maps launches in February, and goes mobile in April.
  • The first mashup: Paul Rademacher's Housingmaps.org. His original post on Craigslist asking for feedback: https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=26638141
  • Google Maps API launches in June.
  • NASA's Blue Marble Next Generation released.
  • Google Earth launches in June.
  • Hurricane Katrina hits in August. Simple webmaps for the disaster proliferate, and ESRI and GE get on the scene.
  • Kellylab's first blog post in September.
  • GIF launches and hosts our first GIS Day in November with Michael Jones, formerly of Keyhole.
  • The back-up solar array drive on Landsat 5 began failing and was not able to provide the power needed to charge the batteries. November 26.

Where we are in 2015

We've gone through a number of transitions in the world of mapping:

  • Data have transitioned from being siloed, and found in clearinghouses to being open and provided through APIs.
  • We’ve moved from desktop computing to cloud computing.
  • Webmaps have transitioned from using proprietary stacks to networks with multiple open and proprietary options.
  • We’ve moved from imagery gathered monthly or seasonally to daily; footprints are smaller, and our focus has shifted from local focus to global coverage.
  • Our planimetric 2D view is changing with lidar and radar sensors.
  • Visualization has moved from static cartography or simple animations to dynamic interactive visualization.
  • Finally, mapped content is no longer anonymous or regulated, but highly personal and narrative.

Key GiF milestones:

  • 2005 GIIF (Geospatial Imaging and Informatics Facility) launches
  • 2006 OakMapper changes from ArcIMS to Google Earth API
  • 2008 GIIF becomes GIF
  • 2008 OakMapper 2.0 launches
  • 2008 SNAMP website launches
  • 2011 Cal-Adapt goes live
  • 2013 EcoEngine/HOLOS goes live
  • 2014 LandCarbon launches
  • 2014 GIF and Cal-Adapt go to the White House
  • 2014 vtm.berkeley.edu goes live, built from the HOLOS API
  • 2015 Spatial Data Science bootcamp in May

Onwards and upwards!

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