A new version of Google Earth is out: 3.0.0464.0 Beta. (My previous version was 3.0.0395.0 Beta). I’ll post news of what’s changed if/when I find it.

[Update 16:09 UTC: here is the changelog. A bigger cache should give much better performance.]

Jason labors onwards in his sysiphean task of converting ESRI shapefiles into lots of polygons in Google Earth KML, but notes that GIS conversion expert Safe Software’s FME application now tentatively supports automatic conversion to and from Google — for free, no less. And to lots of other file formats too, besides.

So if you have a lot of data to convert, you’ll want to check this out, preferably before you start.

[Update 2005-08-11: Please read this post for a clarification on how the PHP works.]

Via Spatially Adjusted comes news that if you have or have access to a WMS (Web Map Service) server — and if you are a GIS pro you probably do — then the WMS maps on it can now be made accessible as dynamically updated layers inside Google Earth.

Australian Chris Tweedle wrote the PHP and posted it, and even adds an IP filter to control access to the server. (To be clear, this code needs to be installed on the server before Google Earthlings can use the maps.)

What this means is that we may soon see vendors selling subscriptions to WMS data layers aimed specifically at the GIS consumer — people like us.

There also appear to be free WMS servers out there for public use, though I haven’t searched far. For example, here is one: The Atlas of Canada. All we need to do now is to convince them to install Chris’s PHP and provide a network link to Google Earth.

(Reference: Integrating WMS with Google Maps, WMS Cookbook, WMS 1.1.1 tutorial)

Just for my reference: Firefox GeoURL extension. If I were to tweak it so that it opens Google Earth instead of another tab when it detects geoURL metadata, then I’d be set.

(Via blue-chair.)

Here is something I haven’t seen before: Sightseeing site Googletouring now lets you upload existing KML or KMZ files into a Google Map, in case you have no Google Earth application handy (or use a Mac, say).

I tried it with a piece of KML I prepared earlier, a structured KML file containing the locations of all Swedish university campuses, and found that it displayed well. It doesn’t do network links, (that’d be asking too much) and there are some minor cosmetic glitches still being worked on, but it’s already a handy tool to have around.

Podbat reports on the work he’s been doing on Geepster. It’s not ready yet, but he’s got some examples you can look at.

What is it? Podbat eventually wants to let Geepster users import trails they’ve made with GPS-capable PocketPCs into Google Maps, and then annotate them with points of interest (which can link to photos, mp3s or video, etc.) He calls the result “geofeeds”.

While other social mapping sites already let you place, annotate and share points of interest, the core innovation with Geepster is that Podbat has devised a way of translating the raw GPS trail info on the PocketPC into XML that he can use with the Google Maps API.

And since so far anything on Google Maps has proven convertible into a Google Earth layer, I see no reason why Geepster should not also eventually be capable of letting you subscribe to a lovely KML network link containing a user’s latest geofeeds of walks or guided tours. And you wouldn’t even need the Plus version of Google Earth.

Matt Croydon is is taking KML in some very interesting directions.

Matt’s been developing Python code for his Nokia Series 60 phone so that it can save information as KML files. By itself, that’s no big deal, but what he plans to do with it is: First, he wants to collect GPS data via a Bluetooth GPS device (or potentially from a GPS enabled phone itself), then he’ll convert it to KML; and then he’ll email it anywhere he wants as an attachment using SMTP, so that email recipients can see where you are on Google Earth.

Phone companies should love this potential new use of bandwidth, but there are some immediately useful applications. People who are lost could just send an email asking for directions. People sending photos could geotag them on the fly. You could send yourself waymarks from a hike, or reminders of the location of an interesting new bar. If other phones are also location-aware, sharing KML files between them could make it easier for their owners to meet (or evade), as the phone could calculate direction and distance.

And if instead of SMTP, a more permanent socket were opened, so that the KML file can be sent periodically to a server via FTP, say, you’d have a homebrewed GPS tracker spitting out KML ready for live viewing in Google Earth.

And you know what that means, right? It means that we can finally play Tron for real: 2 people with GPS-tracking phones, 2 handlers in front of a Google Earth, and Manhattan below 14th as the playing field.