Using GPS to Tax Drivers for Their Use of Roads

In Oregon, the gas tax funds most road construction and maintenance. Seven years ago, the legislature realized that the state faced the prospect of a sharp drop in gas tax revenues due to improving vehicle fuel efficiency and the introduction of hybrids, as well as the political impossibility of raising the gas tax per gallon. So it passed a law creating a task force to develop a new road revenue system alternative to the gas tax and directing the state’s department of transportation to run a pilot project. After investigating 28 different potential revenue sources, the task force decided to explore the possibility of a mileage fee, such that drivers would pay a “fee for service” rather than a general tax unrelated to their actual road use. The system had to be affordable to implement statewide, enforceable, provide redundancy in the event of technology glitches, and be easy on motorists.

Personal Navigation Wish List

The end of a calendar year is traditionally a time to reflect on past events and speculate on future trends. As in other rapidly evolving technology areas, developments in the geospatial industry usually outpace the dreams of all but the most imaginative and savvy futurists. I have been fascinated by maps and charts for more than three decades, have been using electronic navigation tools (first RDF, then Loran, and then GPS) for more than two decades and have been writing about geospatial technologies for nearly a decade. As I look ahead, I wish for a single personal navigation device (PND) that incorporates all the most useful navigation features already available on various devices.

A Host of New and Enhanced GIS Apps Enable People to Do More

By layering data spatially on a map, GIS applications help improve, enhance, and enable a wide range of activities. In this post, I will highlight a number of GIS applications and technology improvements that demonstrate the power of combining maps with spatial data.

Mapping from the Sky: What’s New in Remote Sensing

Whether by looking at satellite images of landscapes or finding their house on Google Earth, most people in the United States have had some experience with the products of remote sensing. This key geospatial technology, which includes satellite imagery and aerial photography, is used to make, correct, and enhance maps of all kinds. Professional uses range from monitoring the melting of polar ice or the effects of drought in the Farm Belt or outbreaks of infectious diseases to showing the devastation wrought on villages in Darfur by the Janjaweed militia or the development of new missile bases in North Korea, from finding buried pyramids to monitoring the ripening of wine grapes.

The Special Significance of GIS Day

GIS Day 2008 was held on November 19. The day has gained special significance as it is a key way to bring out the salient characteristics and usage of GIS (geographic information systems) and other data-driven geography technology, such as those powering the geoweb, to the mainstream public, particularly the younger generation. 

The “day” has been around since 1987, and has emerged as a worldwide day of events where companies, colleges and universities and schools around the world will be heralding GIS applications. It is to mapping what Earth Day is to the environment and is appearing at a time in our own country when educational programs in technology are of concern.

Geospatial Technology’s Role in Fixing the Infrastructure

For decades, we’ve been told that this country’s infrastructure is badly in need of investment. Infrastructure first became a household word when it was used extensively by Bill Clinton and Al Gore in their 1992 campaign. After September 11, we began to hear about the imperative of securing critical infrastructure –such as power stations and key bridges. In the spring of 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the US infrastructure a “D” and noted that it would take $1.6 trillion to upgrade it to a “good” level, not counting estimates for infrastructure security needs. (However, in the ensuing four years, funding to build and maintain our infrastructure has actually decreased.)

Positioning Using Beacons of Opportunity

Whenever you know your position, it is in relation to one or more other objects. For example, if you travel in a straight line away from your home, your car’s trip odometer can tell you how far you are from it; by taking bearings on two landmarks with a handbearing compass, a sailor can find her position at the intersection of those two lines on a map; a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver calculates its position in three dimensions by trilaterating its distance from four satellites (geometrically it would only need three, but the fourth one is necessary to compensate for the relatively low accuracy of the receiver’s clock).

How Mapping Companies Collect Street-level Data

The pixels in digital ortophotographs, the addresses in a directory of bicycle repair shops, and the coordinates of street centerlines are all examples of geographic data — because they all record the location and one or more features of physical objects on the surface of the Earth. Devices used to collect geographic data include GPS receivers, inertial navigation units, total stations, laser-based distance and speed measuring systems, LiDAR systems, and multi-spectral optical scanners (basically, very sensitive and sophisticated digital cameras) — carried on or mounted onto on- and off-street land vehicles, ships, aircraft, and Earth-orbiting and geostationary satellites.

Blurring the Lines between Consumer and Professional GIS

The market and technical distinctions between consumer and professional GIS products and services are rapidly disappearing. Consider this:

Web GIS: Some History and Links

 

Geographic information systems (GIS), as a way to manage, map, and analyze geographic information, and the World Wide Web, as a way to make this information accessible to as many people as possible, are natural allies. Therefore, the term “Web GIS” has been around for years as a category for products and services. For example, the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), used to give an annual Best-Web GIS award “intended to increase awareness of Internet/Intranet mapping services that enable publishing and sharing of geographic information internally within an organization or externally with the public.”