Sunday, January 9, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Let’s build a better map of Southern Sudan

Posted: 08 Jan 2011 03:37 PM PST

Google LatLong: Let's build a better map of Southern Sudan

Sudan is preparing to vote on January 9 to decide if the South will become independent from the North. The referendum is part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 ending the Civil War, which lasted 22 years and led to the deaths of an estimated 2 million people. Analysts fear the possibility of renewed violence.

Sudan is a huge country (2.5 million km2), with an estimated population of 44 million people, but it's poorly mapped. Without basic geospatial information, it's difficult for humanitarian agencies and first responders to monitor and evaluate the risks and current needs, target their efforts, and mobilize proper resources. At times like these, it is critical to have good maps on roads, settlements, voting stations, hospitals, buildings and other services - with both local and official names - to generate better, faster responses.

This is one of the goals of the Satellite Sentinel project, which is using imagery, field reports and Google Map Maker to conduct human rights monitoring along the border between North and South Sudan. This effort is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between Not On Our Watch, Google, the Enough Project, the United Nations UNITAR Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT), the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and Trellon, LLC.

If you have knowledge of Southern Sudan, an interest in mapping, and some free time, we encourage you to join the effort. With tools such as Google Map Maker and Sudan Vote Monitor, you have the opportunity to take concrete action by improving the map, helping to monitor and report human rights violations in near-real time and providing insight into the socio-political climate prevalent in the country and region.

Global Call for Action:
Together let's build a better map of Southern Sudan. Your local knowledge and mapping contributions of schools, hospitals, and landmarks will be extremely useful to the humanitarian community to quickly build a picture of the situation, especially in these areas of interest.

Items that you can map:
  • Towns and town names (Arabic and local names especially)
  • Roads (in-town roads as well) and trails
  • Displaced persons camps
  • Cultural landmarks
  • Geographic landmarks
  • Schools
  • Orphanages, shelters etc.
  • Hospitals
  • Community centers
  • Border crossing points
  • Nomadic camps
  • Markets and large cattle gathering points

This is an opportunity to utilize the power of community engagement through mapping. We welcome you to get acclimated to Map Maker through our Getting Started page, and then invite you to join our Sudan-specific discussions.

Posted by France Lamy, Program Manager, Google.org
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/01/lets-build-better-map-of-southern-sudan.html

[G] Happy New Year!

Posted: 08 Jan 2011 12:01 PM PST

Google Analytics Blog: Happy New Year!

Welcome back! Hope you're starting off the New Year with a bang, and we have something that will help. Good things come in threes, so here it is, one more holiday gift, our third. And, like our last gift, it's three gifts in one from the holiday ninja of web analytics, Avinash Kaushik, the Analytics Evangelist here at Google.

Last time, Avinash created three custom reports of incredible value. This time, in his latest post, he expounds on three advanced segments that are just as useful as the custom reports, and even easier to create and use on a day to day basis. The post is called 3 Advanced Web Analytics Visitor Segments: Non-Flirts, Social, Long Tail.

And the great part is that, like a true evangelist, he describes them in an accessible way such that you can understand and create them for whatever web analytics tool you're using. And if you're using Google Analytics, you can simply click on a link to add them to your own profiles.

To whet your appetite for a fantastic read, here are the three segments

#1. Non-flirts, potential lovers (hint: this is a segment that's working for you)
#2. Social media link tracking (this is like a complete book's worth of knowledge in a few paragraphs)
#3: Search Queries With Multiple Keywords [3 words, as well as 4, 5, 10, 20]

The post goes beyond just giving you a few segments (reminder: with the click of a button, you can actually use them): I'd add it to a required reading list for any Google Analytics poweruser. Enjoy, and thanks Avinash.

Happy 2011!


Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team
URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2011/01/happy-new-year.html

[G] Go 'big' in 2011 - join us at NRF's BIG show

Posted: 08 Jan 2011 10:31 AM PST

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Go 'big' in 2011 - join us at NRF's BIG show

If your company runs an ecommerce website, you're probably taking a well deserved break with the end of the holiday rush. But as we move into a new year, it's also a great time to start thinking about how to give your customers an even better online shopping experience.

We're also looking forward to an exciting 2011 and to kick things off, we're heading to New York next week to be part of the National Retail Federation's BIG Show. Visit us at Booth #3239 from January 10-13 where you'll be able to speak with the Google Commerce Search and Google Product Search teams, and learn how our commerce offerings can help bring visitors to your site, optimize their experience, and convert them into loyal customers.

On Monday, join our afternoon session where we discuss 'In Stock Nearby: The Next Step in Shopping'. Paul Lee, Senior Product Manager, will set out how to serve today's cross-channel shopper, regardless of platform or location.

On Tuesday morning, don't miss our session on 'Search Insights', where Nitin Mangtani, Group Product Manager on Google Commerce Search, will explain how increasingly sophisticated online shoppers are driving innovations in search.

We're looking forward to a 'big' few days and hope to see you in New York next week.

Posted by Derek Niddery, Google Commerce Team
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/01/go-big-in-2011-with-google-commerce.html

[G] Google Apps Adventures: A Voyage Through Climate Change with polar explorer Børge Ousland and Traffic Konzept + Film

Posted: 08 Jan 2011 10:31 AM PST

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Google Apps Adventures: A Voyage Through Climate Change with polar explorer Børge Ousland and Traffic Konzept + Film

Editor's note: We're thrilled to share stories from the people and organizations that use Google Apps to explore, discover and push the boundaries. These businesses truly embody the freedom enabled by the cloud.

Our third Apps Adventure profiles Traffic Konzept + Film GmbH, a Berlin-based multimedia studio that supported polar explorer Børge Ousland in a record-setting expedition to document climate change in the Arctic. Assisting Traffic was post-production house Magna Mana.

As a multimedia studio, nothing gets us more excited than a project that demands film and interactivity to take an audience inside a story. When the story is about a world record Arctic voyage, and a close-up look at global warming, our passion goes totally off the scale.

In 2009, Traffic began working with Norwegian polar explorer Børge Ousland to support an expedition planned for Summer 2010. His goal was to be the first to sail through both Passages of the North Pole in a single voyage, and the first to circumnavigate the Arctic in a single season. A feat explorers have tried and failed to do for 500 years.



Now global warming has melted the polar ice caps to such an extent that an expedition is possible. Børge's intent wasn't just to set a record, but provide a visual example of climate change that could reach out and motivate people. To accomplish this, our shared vision was to use film and multimedia to bring the world on the voyage as it was happening. A multimedia event that would use adventure as a draw to education and action.

On June 23rd, Børge and veteran sailor Thorleif Thorleifsson set out from Oslo on a small 31-foot trimaran. On board were several film and still cameras, a laptop, and an Inmarsat satellite uplink. Power came solely from a generator connected to a wind vane.

For nearly four months, the team battled raging storms, maze-like ice fields, lethal shallows and sub-zero temps. Because their small boat had no ice breaking gear, any collision or scrape could have been fatal. Long stops also weren't possible, because they had to stick to a tight schedule to make it through before winter trapped them in the Passages.

Throughout the journey, Børge was able to communicate and correspond online via regular blog posts, YouTube films, Flickr galleries, and e-mail. The boat was also outfitted with a special tracker, so everyone could follow the voyage in real time via Google Maps.

Behind the scenes, Traffic used Google Apps as our project hub — creating a 24/7 connection between us, the expedition and media partners and sponsors around the world. We worked on pre-production planning in real-time with Docs, updated and shared schedules via Calendar, and the whole team could get a snapshot of the latest content and news via our Google Site. Gmail was the email backbone of the project. Using Google Apps saved an incredible amount of time, and because everything was in the cloud, everyone had access on the fly. Even from the Arctic.

For me, the greatest feeling was being right there with a camera crew — on an Oslo fjord — when the expedition began its final leg home in October. After watching the journey online for months, I was so touched to share the last mile with them in person. Being part of their team is an inspiration to us, and in the months ahead, we'll continue to explore how multimedia can bring their story of climate awareness to new audiences.

Posted by Len Dickter, Creative Director, Traffic Konzept + Film GmbH
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/01/google-apps-adventures-voyage-through.html
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