Uses of RFID and future GIS?

All Points talks about a really interesting article, on the possible use of VR and GIS. It comes from research done at West Virginia University into Virtual Reality Geographic Information Systems. It has a host of uses on multiple platforms, including mobile. The most interesting is the FLEX system however, that immerses the user in a completely artificial 3d environment. The entire world can be navigated, flown over, and points of interest tagged. Read more.

SlashGeo talks about Sydney Airports decision to use RFID chips in their baggage handling system. Currently an awful lot of money is wasted by the industry dealing with lost baggage, due mainly to barcoding errors and faults. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the introduction of these chips could reduce substantially the number of bags lost.

In related news, the highly publicised decision for Apple and Nike to release sportswear with embedded RFID chips, so that you can access certain information over your ipod (i.e. speed, distance, calories lost), has run into some trouble with news that these signals can easily be picked up by other devices.

Annalee Newitz writes:
Additionally, the sensor will reveal its unique ID to any Nike+ iPod receiver. With a quick hardware hack that Kohno said "any high school student could do in the garage," the researchers hooked a Nike+ iPod receiver up to a Linux-based "gumstix" -- a tiny, $79 computer that could easily be hidden in door frames, in trees next to jogging trails or in a pocket.
Source: wired.com