OK, I'm old but I consider myself moderately "technosavvy" for my generation. I am blown away by the technology that is available today. I have a friend who works for the Census Bureau. Next year is a census year, by the way. Right now they are sending people out to canvass the entire US house by house to record GPS coordinates for each address. They go to the front door of the house or apartment and record the coordinates on a GPS device then at the end of each day they upload the data from their hand-held computers to the Census office. These data are coordinated with all the people who live at that address. Scary to think what that data could be used for.
I also recently found a free website where anyone can upload address data in excel format and it will give you your data back with columns of GPS coordinates added. It then plots the data on a google-earth map that can be viewed in map mode, satellite mode, or hybrid mode complete with color coding for whatever groups you want to divide it into. The map can also be posted to a web page and the data can be downloaded in several different formats for use in other programs.
From their website "Street level geocoding is available in United States, Canada, and the following European Countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Finland, Germany, United Kingdom (UK), Luxembourg, Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Wales, and Italy. Country, State, and City level geocoding is available for Europe, Asia, Central and South America. We expect Yahoo! will continue to expand coverage of their street level data to the rest of the world soon, keep checking back! The name of the coordinate system used is WGS84, this is the decimal degrees version of the coordinate system commonly used in GPS devices. "
They have a paragraph on the technology used for those who are more technosavvy than I am.
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3 comments:
I'm not that technosavvy, and I don't fully understand what you've described, but I can sense the ominous nature of it. I'll be checking back for further updates.
I don't like it one bit!! I am also concerned that the White House is stepping in to control/supervise this census in an unprecedented way. I don't have a link to document that, but I've seen it more than once. From a more objective point of view, it is interesting to say the least.
You are far more technosavvy than I, Dad. It is strange to think someone either has or will walk up to my front door and record such information without my knowing about it. I may be a bit more on the lookout now. Perhaps I can pop open the door and surprise them! he he he
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