Never a dull moment in the brave new mapping world. Yesterday, Microsoft introduced support for a sizable subset of KML in Virtual Earth. Today Google adds support for the network link to Google Maps. The network link is the single-most powerful KML tag in Google Earth; it lets you subscribe to live, changing datasets, and it can also be used to return data dynamically, customized to your view or other inputs.
Here’s a network link I prepared earlier:-) Notice too the way in which Google Maps preserves the folder structure of the KML:
(Via Digital Earth Blog. Mickey is very happy:-)
The I am here section of your Cairo.kmz doesn’t seem to work properly in Google maps, placing you somewhere in the atlantic ocean.
Correct, but I suspect it may be a syntax error in the KML that Google Earth is gracious enough to ignore. I need to check up on that with the maker of that snippet of KML first…
Videomap Network Link
I like it but I hope it also starts supporting larger files. And maybe some control over the symbology.
Also, perhaps requiring a password for proprietary data would be good. I think I figured out a way to do that with my API. I’ll have to try to remember how I did that.