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What's a Geospatial PDF map? It's a single compressed file that contains layers of editable, measurable, geo accurate, location data. The format, which is easy to create using visual editing software from Adobe and others, sounds like a whole lot of fun.

Today Geospatial PDF editing software provider Avenza launched a Geospatial PDF viewing app for iPhone and iPad. (iTunes link) The app lets you locate yourself on a Geospatial PDF, view and edit points of interest, load different layers of data and take area measurements - even of polygons. Check out the screenshots below.

Sometimes you need a map and the standard maps don't fit the bill. That means you need to make your own map. Luckily, this can be done online so put away your crayons and construction paper.

Let's take a look at using Polymaps with CloudMade.

Nokia debuted a new feature for its Ovi Maps service at this week's Nokia World 2010 event in London: check-ins. But, thankfully, the company isn't hopping on the bandwagon of location-based social sharing with its own self-branded service (also known as "yet another social network I have to sign up for.") Instead, Nokia is taking the idea of location seriously, enabling real-time social sharing privately between friends or, with just a tap, to your social networking services of choice.

The service integrates with both large global networks like Facebook and Twitter, but also smaller, more regionally focused networks like China's RenRen and Germany's StudioVZ.

More importantly, though, the issue of privacy has been thoughtfully addressed.

Even if your data is "in the cloud," it's still housed somewhere. And as we've written about before, the location of cloud providers and data centers can be an important factor in performance, as ideally you want to route and store data through the server that's the closest.

In preparation for the launch of its new backup and migration tool, Turnkey Linux has done some work to automate selection of the nearest regional data center.

Even blogging, often done on supported platforms and with reasonably intuitive interfaces, can throw up apoplexy-inducing technical obstacles on occasion. If that's the case with a blog, how much more so with something like the Ushahidi platform? Ushahidi deployed its crisis-mapping platform in the violent aftermath of the 2007 Kenyan elections. Now it's introducing a version it says is much less technically demanding: Crowdmap.

"All it takes to get started is filling out a simple form with your password, a valid subdomain, name and tagline for your deployment and you're good to go."

Microsoft Research demonstrated a new street-level image viewing option that knocks the socks off of Google Maps Street View this week at the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles. Called Street Slide, the technology allows users to zoom out from the fish-eye pannable photos you see on standard street view options and instead see a series of flat panoramic photos stitched together like a timeline.

It's a little hard to describe, but check out the video below. In addition to being less disorienting than zooming around inside Street View, the open space opened up for annotation in Street Slide is very nice.

When you're at the top of the heap, everybody watches you closely. Many people are sure to think you're in the wrong. If you're Google, that means you'll be the subject of lawsuits. All around the world.

You may have heard about some of these suits in the news, but it's unlikely you've heard of them all. Competitive intelligence consultancy Aqute created a Google Map of all the lawsuits Google faces and the places where one of the company's sites is blocked. Were you aware that YouTube is blocked in Afghanistan? That a rare-coin salesman in Florida is suing Google for listing his home address as his business address, putting his coins and family at risk. Check out all these legal challenges on the map below.

AOL's MapQuest announced today that it is launching an open-source mapping initiative, beginning with the U.K. and then heading to the United States. The project, available now at open.mapquest.co.uk, uses the new modern design and layout for MapQuest revealed last week in beta format. However, the data on the site comes from the OpenStreetMap community, an ongoing effort to create free and editable maps worldwide.

Along with the launch of "MapQuest Open," as the project is called, AOL also announced a $1 million OpenStreetMap investment fund to support the growth of open-source mapping in the U.S. "MapQuest is the first large-scale mapping site to embrace the open-source community," said Jon Brod, executive vice president of AOL Ventures, Local and Mapping.

Fans of geographic information systems (GIS) can now get their mapping fix on the go, as the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) has launched an impressive mapping application for iOS devices. The California-based company specializes in providing GIS and geodatabase software applications, and holds a significant share of these markets. With the free ArcGIS app, users can now access and explore an enormous database of maps, including street maps, topographic maps, ecological maps and more.

MapQuest, the one-time leader in online mapping, has been completely revamped as of today with a fresh new look and added functionality. The updated website is available now, in beta format, at new.mapquest.com.

The beta site offers a clean and uncluttered design, more discovery options and social networking integration, among other things.