GeoComrade

With at least 212,506 acres burning nationwide and new fires popping up each hour, it is safe to say that Russia is on fire. You know it is bad when the wall of fire is clearly visible on a satellite image. To make sense of the disaster, GeoMixer released a nifty app that tracks fires in real time. GeoMixer injects data from various sources and displays hot-bed locations over the latest satellite imagery mixed with current temperatures and wind directions.

Check it out.

p.s. The application is beautifully implemented but there is one huge downside – you can’t embed a map without a valid API key for which you have to sign up for an account…

Friends, I’ve made the decision to step down as UMapper CEO and end my active involvement in the company’s day-to-day operations. Needless to say, this has been one of the hardest decisions I have had to make, but I feel it is the right one.

From now on the company will be lead by UMapper co-founder Antoine Toffa. Please connect with Antoine on LinkedIn, shoot him an email, or ping me for an introduction.

Since founding the company back in 2005, I feel very fortunate to have worked with the best and the most talented people in the industry (you know who you are) who transformed UMapper from a concept into a service used by thousands of individuals and companies. It is hard to believe that today UMapper serves millions of maps on some of the biggest media websites.

Also, I want to say how grateful I am to all UMapper partners and customers who have contributed a great deal to the company’s growth and continue to use its services and support its efforts. THANK YOU!

I wish UMapper all the best, and I will continue to support the company as a board member and shareholder. Cheers!

Update: I resigned from UMapper’s Board of Directors on 8/4/2010