- Fuzzy String Matching in Python (Streamhacker) — useful if you’re to have a hope against the swelling dark forces powered by illiteracy and touchscreen keyboards.
- The Business of Illegal Data (Strata Conference) — fascinating presentation on criminal use of big data. “The more data you produce, the happier criminals are to receive and use it. Big data is big business for organized crime, which represents 15% of GDP.”
- Isarithmic Maps — an alternative to chloropleths for geodata visualization.
- Server-Side Javascript Injection (PDF) — a Blackhat talk about exploiting backend vulnerabilities with techniques learned from attacking Javascript frontends. Both this paper and the accompanying talk will discuss security vulnerabilities that can arise when software developers create applications or modules for use with JavaScript-based server applications such as NoSQL database engines or Node.js web servers. In the worst-case scenario, an attacker can exploit these vulnerabilities to upload and execute arbitrary binary files on the server machine, effectively granting him full control over the server.
ENTRIES TAGGED "maps"
Apple’s maps
Apple's maps problem isn't about software or design. It's about data.
I promise not to make any snarky remarks about Apple’s maps disaster, and the mistakes of letting a corporate vendetta get in the way of good business decisions. Oops, I lied. But it’s good to see that Tim Cook agrees, at…
Four short links: 22 December 2011
Fuzzy Text, Big Data Crime, Map Visualization, and Attacking Server-Side Javascript
Publishing News: Amazon vs barrier to entry
Amazon breaks through the two-digit price point, a new map misses the mark, and readers peg newspapers as largely irrelevant.
With a $79 price point, Amazon makes ereaders mass market. Also, indie bookstores in London release a map guide (on paper?), and a Pew survey shows newspapers at the tipping point — and not in a good way.
A new look for weather data
WeatherSpark puts weather on display with full-screen maps and historical trends.
WeatherSpark co-founder Jacob Norda talks about making weather data — both real-time and historical — more accessible and intuitive.
Missing maps and the fragility of digital information
Traditional methods come through when connected systems fail.
A couple of months ago, I had a remarkable demonstration of the fragility of the "always on" connected mindset.
Interactive mapping and open data illustrate excess federal property
WhiteHouse.gov puts data to use in its new federal property map.
A new interactive feature posted at WhiteHouse.gov uses open data to visualize excess federal property. The full dataset is also available for download in a structured format.
Maps aren't easy
Pete Warden on digital map creation and data journalism tools.
Data-centric news organizations are using maps to effectively tell stories, but these features don't come easy. In this interview, Pete Warden discusses the grunt work that goes into map creation and the tools that can make it a little easier.
The state of mapping APIs
Mobile, utility and server-side development will define the future of maps.
Map APIs took off in 2005, and during the ensuing years the whole notion of maps has changed. Where once they were slick add-ons, map functionality is now a necessary — and expected — tool. In this piece, Adam DuVander looks at the current state of mapping and he explains how mobile devices, third-party services and ease of use are shaping the map development world.
Redesigning the New York City subway map
The long and complicated path that led to Eddie Jabbour's KickMap.
The field of data visualization is much broader than most people conceive of it, and exploring this breadth was one of our primary goals in compiling the projects described in Beautiful Visualization. In the following excerpt, KickMap designer Eddie Jabbour explains the complexity he faced and the trade-offs he made while reinventing one of the most iconic maps in the world.
Navigating the Future: Take Me to Bob
Google has just announced a free turn-by-turn navigation app for Android 2.0 in the US (Radar post). Google Maps Navigation relies on Google’s own mapping for routing you. As with many navigation devices you can search Business Listings. However, they are also including data not traditionally available to navigators. In the promo video Google demonstrates that you can ask to be taken to “The King Tut exhibit”. GMN will determine that it’s in Golden Gate Park and route you. This is “because it is connected to the internet it is using all of the latest information on the internet.”
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