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Category Archives: Transportation

Google will let you search for products on Maps to help with holiday shopping

The Verge: “Google has added some new travel and shopping features to Maps that aim to make it easier to find local products and stay on time during busy periods. Starting today, Maps now allows users to search for items like home goods, clothing, and electronics, and find stores nearby that sell them — a useful feature to have for any last-minute holiday shopping. The search results in Maps will display individual product listings alongside locations where generic examples of desired items can be found (showing nearby stores that sell “holiday sweaters,” for example). The product listings are presented similarly to products in Google Shopping, only with useful information like store distance and if the item is currently in stock. The update effectively adds Google Shopping listings directly into Maps, but with stock information, so you can run out and buy it in person.Gif: Google The update also makes it easier to plan travel by allowing Maps users to check and report weather disruptions like flooded roads or unplowed snow. Users and local transit agencies can also report any delays on bus or train routes to keep riders up to date and limit the impact on travel arrangements…”

Google Maps just got 5 big upgrades in time for the holidays

Tom’s Guide – “Today, Google announced the arrival of several new features meant to help with your holiday plans. The features cover everything from traveling on public transit to planning trips with your electric vehicle or a trailer. Most of the features are built around making travel easier and to help you get around without… Continue Reading

100 Most Powerful People in Business

Fortune: “How do you measure power, exactly? Revenue alone doesn’t define it, nor does seniority. Who is more powerful: the CEO who oversees a $20 billion enterprise? Or the AI genius who leaves that bureaucratic behemoth to found a nimble, paradigm-shifting startup? The farsighted venture capitalist who inks a term sheet to fund said startup?… Continue Reading

DeFlock – Automated License Plate Readers

Welcome to DeFlock, your go-to resource for understanding and addressing the growing presence of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in our communities. Our mission is simple: to shine a light on the widespread use of ALPR technology, raise awareness about the threats it poses to personal privacy and civil liberties, and empower the public to… Continue Reading

The Verge’s guide to the 2024 presidential election

The Verge: “A presidential campaign is an expression of ideology, often vocalized as a number of promises. Sometimes, those promises are made even when they’re outside the scope of what a president can enact. With Vice President Kamala Harris taking on former President Donald Trump, The Verge’s election guide attempts to cut through the noise… Continue Reading

USGS Releases New Products that Map Four Decades of Land Cover Change

The U.S. Geological Survey today released a newly updated and improved National Land Cover Database, known as Annual NLCD, which offers insights into the changing characteristics of landscapes across the conterminous United States from 1985 to 2023. The latest dataset incorporates assessments and projections into six new products, which will now be released on an… Continue Reading

Inside US Government-Bought Tool That Can Track Phones at Abortion Clinics

404 Media: “On a computer screen a map shows the movements of smartphones around the globe. Zooming into an abortion clinic in the south of the United States, the online tool shows more than 700 red dots over the clinic itself, each representing a phone, and by extension, a person. The tool, called Locate X and… Continue Reading

License Plate Readers Are Creating a US-Wide Database of More Than Just Cars

Wired [unpaywalled]: “…License-plate-recognition systems, broadly, work by first capturing an image of a vehicle; then they use optical character recognition (OCR) technology to identify and extract the text from the vehicle’s license plate within the captured image. Motorola-owned DRN sells multiple license-plate-recognition cameras: a fixed camera that can be placed near roads, identify a vehicle’s… Continue Reading

License Plate Readers Are Creating a US-Wide Database of Political Lawn Signs and Bumper Stickers

Wired: While people put up signs in their yards or bumper stickers on their cars to inform people of their views and potentially influence those around them, the ACLU’s Stanley says it’s intended for “human-scale visibility.” not to that of machines. “They may want to express themselves in their communities, to their neighbors, but they… Continue Reading

Google Flights now uses Amtrak data to show ‘trains to consider’ alongside flights

9to5Google: Google Flights has started showing “trains to consider” alongside flights in a new partnership with Amtrak. First announced earlier this year, Google Flights is offering train routes as an alternative to airlines. This functionality allows customers to find a more sustainable transportation option as well as perhaps finding something less expensive or closer to… Continue Reading