Shorts: USGS does San Francisco, Geoblogger killers, TrailrunnerX

  • The USGS will later today release a virtual tour of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that plays itself out on Google Earth. That’s not surprising, considering the media attention their Google Earth-based virtual helicopter ride over the Hayward Fault got last month. (Via Gary Price’s ResourceShelf)
  • Rev Dan Catt leaves some tantalising clues as to what he is working on at Yahoo! on this Flickr message board. It appears to be an API for points of interest and other georeferenced content, and it could be used by enterprising hackers to build a “geoblogger killer”, according to Dan. But read the clues in his own words. (Thanks Adam for the heads up).
  • Complete DIY GPS datalogger kit, with KML support.
  • Geography 2.0 notes that there is now a plugin for NASA World Wind 1.3.4 that maps Microsoft Virtual Earth map tiles onto the surface of NASA’s world. (Back in September 2005, Rev. Dan Catt and Bernhard Sterzbach came out with network links that map Google Maps tiles onto Google Earth.)
  • TrailrunnerX, a delicious-looking Mac route planner for endurance sports, now has Google Earth support, in that it lets you export your trails as KML.
  • Another web design company starts marketing its Google Earth development services to mainstream companies: the UK’s Netizen, whose slogan is “Creating better travel websites,” now has a subsite dedicated to integrating travel sites with Google Earth.
  • Now that Macs run Windows, I can’t wait to run NASA World Wind, and ESRI ArcGIS explorer. In the not too distant future, then, expect Ogle Earth to expand its coverage to include these two geobrowsers.

Ogle Earth goes back to regularly scheduled blogging this evening.