Chris’ GISmos posts a quick code fix for accuracy issues if you’re using PHP to show WMS overlays in Google EArth
Makeover Redux
More commentary from around the blogosphere on the recently added Google Earth images, including some places not mentioned in the semi-official list on Google Earth Community:
Chris Dodo notes that Helsinki has new hi-res maps.
Geared up is postively ecstatic that the clouds have been lifted from Howth peninsula, Northeast of Dublin, whence that blog is authored. Interestingly, they haven’t been replaced by high-resolution images, simply images without cloud cover.
Deadly Bloody Serious isn’t completely happy with the new tiles he got in Sydney.
Patrick Strang notes that Area 51 is now natively visible, while the US government’s executive buildings around the White House and the Capitol are revealed. He has before and after pics too.
Good on Google of responding to (unfounded) criticism of selective censorship by removing those cases of censorship rather than have it be a precedent for censorship elsewhere.
Google Earth makeover
Heiko Hebig in Hamburg notes that his city has gotten a makeover and now sports high-resolution maps… Indeed, over 100 new cities have been added, and the shared layers in Google Earth have also been updated to reflect their state on August 5, according to Google Earth Community’s PenguinOpus, who posts the whole list, including resolutions.
[Update 18:14 UTC: Most of Sydney is finally in hi-res, and Google’s Mountain View campus is now visible at 1 pixel per inch.]
Interview: Google Earth Hacks’ Mickey
Google Earth Hacks went live within days of Google Earth’s release, and three weeks in was 1,000 members strong. Six weeks in, GEH’s library of user-submitted Google Earth files stands at over 2,500 items, with over 1,250,000 downloads. That’s quite a launch. Ogle Earth interviews GEH’s Mickey Mellen.
OE: Google Earth Hacks: Whose fault is it?
Mickey: All mine. It really started because, like most of us, I was spending WAY too much time playing with Google Earth. I figured “If I’m gonna spend so much time using this thing, I might as well build a site based on it”.
OE: What is it about you that attracted you to Google Earth? Do you have a programming background, a GIS background…?
Mickey: I’ve never really been a GIS guy. I’ve built a number of large sites using PHP and thought I could create a nice KML/KMZ file library for people to use. I’ve got a couple nice web servers already, so the initial creation of the site cost virtually no money. The hours spent on it have been a bit insane, though…
OE: How do you plan to become rich off Google Earth?
Mickey: Not sure yet. :) If traffic keeps growing like it is, those little Adsense ads might help. Maybe my best hope is that I’ll get bought out for some insane amount of money. I don’t see either one happening any time soon…
OE: In the month and a half Google Earth’s been out, what’s the most impressive hack you’ve seen, not counting your own (like GEWar)?
Mickey: I’m still thinking that the Flickr Images network link from GeoBloggers is the top one. In terms of Google Earth, this hack is quite old. However, there are a number of network links that work in a similar way, but that was the first one that I saw.
OE: What’s standing between Google Earth and perfection? What would you like to see in Google Earth that’s not there now?
Mickey: A few small things. First, more rapid satellite image updates. I’m not sure there’s been any new images pasted on the globe since they released it. I’d love to see new areas going high-res every couple weeks. The second would be better handling of 3D objects. I’ve seen a number of very cool 3D objects (like the Statue of Liberty found on our site) that just bring Google Earth to a crawl. Ideally, you’d want to have lots of items in 3D on your globe, but that just can’t happen currently if the items have much detail to them. I’m not sure how they can fix this, but I’m sure it’ll slowly improve over time.
Thanks Mickey!
The importance of Google Earth
GIS professionals continue to debate on whether Google Earth justifies the hype it’s getting, and whether it is a Good Thing for the GIS industry, on Ed Parson’s blog, continued with a riposte by Ed here.
Ed points to the ease of creating one’s own map, which he equates with democratization:
This is the one place where I think Google does justify the hype, in a few months Google Maps has done more to allow the individual to develop mapping based websites than the traditional GIS industry has done in 10 years. The democratisation of Geographic Information in this way is the result of two things, firstly a simple, slick API for developers and secondly and most importantly of all, the making available of a consistent source of commercial geographic information at no cost to the developer or user.
I agree, but would stress (or rather, repeat myself) that in addition to it being easy to make things with (which is a function of its clear API and embrace of open standards) it is also free to consume, which allows a critical mass of people to benefit from these hacks, which in turn gives an incentive to programmers to make social software, which in turn thrives on the network effect.
So the secret of Google Maps’ and Earth’s success is twofold: It’s easy make things for and it’s free to consume, which encourages social software. And that’s not hype when it comes to Google Earth — It was also true for the lowly web browser.
“geovlogged” in de.licio.us
VlogMap Blog proposes a new geotag to use with del.icio.us: geovlogged. Any post containing a video that is also tagged in del.icio.us with “geovlogged” now appears on VlogMap’s GeoVlogged VlogMap and in their Google Earth KML feed.
GeoURL => Google Earth
Finally! Patrick Lauke has written a GeoURL to KML converter using XSLT. The result produces either static output or a network link for any site in the GeoURL database. This is a must-have network link for Google Earth, as far as I am concerned.