Jerry Paffendorf will be speaking at the Accelerating Change 2005 conference at Stanford University this coming weekend, about “Brave New Virtual Worlds.” Google Earth is one of them. He’s just posted his slides online, and they are quite a trip.
Monthly Archives: September 2005
More Google Earth jobs
We need world-class software engineers to help us create petabyte databases of Google Earth imagery and terrain. You will have a chance to contribute to the most powerful mapping application service on the planet.
James at Spatially Adjusted will be happy to know that “Experience with GIS data, formats, and conversions would be a plus.”
Italian villa discoverer on TV
Luca Mori, who discovered a Roman Villa using Google’s mapping tools, writes a followup post that includes a link to the TV broadcast showing shots of him walking through the fields in question, interspersed with screenshots of Google Earth. The segment is at 21.30 minutes into the stream.
I can’t wait for the remote parts of the world to enjoy the same resolutions as the cities. I think there are many more such discoveries coming.
Alternative Google Earth hotspots.
Bored by Google’s own Top 10 Google Earth hotspots? Everything isn’t Under Control has a slightly more macabre list of top 8 hotspots.
Gig location finder
By definition, you have to be in the same place as a band be able to hear them play live in concert, which is why it is crucial to know A) where you are and B) where the bands you like will be.
You usually know A. Why not let a web service do the rest? Something called Foafing-the-music sets out to do just that. There is a demo here, and all of it is exportable to Google Earth.
Social flightlogging
Here is a site that seems to have taken off in Scandinavia, so to speak: Flightlog.org lets people upload and share their GPS enabled paragliding flights. Why share? I asked myself that too, until I realized that the original impetus of the site was (and is) to act as a clearing house for paragliding races.
What’s new, and the reason I mention it here, is that all the flights in its database can now be viewed in Google Earth. For example here is a flight near Stockholm that ended up ditching in the sea.
Why Google hired Vint Cerf
Vint Cerf, who co-developed TCP/IP, was hired to be Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist. But what does that mean? If you hear CNET tell it, it’s because Cerf believes the location-based navigation of information is the next big thing. Or so CNET gathers from an interview they had with him back in July.
Techweb also talked to Cerf recently and they came away with the same impression:
Among Cerf’s interests today is mobile communications, both textual and through images. As a result, he’s particularly interested in Google Earth, a desktop application that provides satellite images and overlaid roadmaps for many locations in the world.
“I’m now persuaded that geographically indexed databases are going to be extremely valuable over time for people who are in mobile operations,” Cerf said.
Google should get Cerf to blog.