GeoTech

Esri Maps for Office is a powerful add-in for Microsoft Office that brings the capabilities of Esri's ArcGIS Online mapping platform to Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint users. With Esri Maps for Office, you can easily create interactive maps of your organization's data, enabling you to see patterns that graphs and charts cannot reveal. Any of the interactive maps you create can be embedded in PowerPoint, so you can make your presentations even more impactful. And by leveraging ArcGIS Online, you can quickly and securely share your interactive maps in web pages, blogs, and mobile apps as well as with ArcGIS users.

Share geographic data and maps with the world

Google has pulled together a good collection of data for the US and the world.

US data

Insight, analysis, and research about location-based technologies including mapping and geohacking. "Mapping and location data are driving some of the most intriguing new web applications. Geohacker alpha geeks are building wickedly clever mashups. Established companies are integrating location data into all manner of workaday applications. And the location industry is growing into the Web 2.0 era. We're tracking it, and showcasing the most significant work at Where 2.0."

Based on the 2009 Horizon Report, Geolocation will be fully adopted in 2-3 years. This .pdf from Educause is a nice overview of "Location Aware Applications" in an educational perspective.

Be sure to check out the lens tool. This is truly an innovation in cartographic web browsing.

While it appears to be just the LA area, this tool looks to have some promise for next generation mapping websites.

Looking for ways to use that handheld GPS? Here is a nice article focusing on GPS and all the different activities and resources that have developed around the device. This is one of the best summaries that I have seen in a while, highlighting resources that can provide hours of outdoor entertainment. Go explore!

This webpage is from the folks behind geocommons finder and maker. I like this economy dashboard because it is simple and it appears to have up-to-date information (as of March 2009). The other nice aspect about geocommons in general is the access to the tabular data, and also to shapefile format for use in GIS.