Biside high resolution aerial photos of the provinicial capitals of Austria Herold.at provides enhanced photos for Wiener Neustadt, Wels, Villach, Kitzbühel, Steyr, Hartberg, Linz-Umgebung, Leoben und Kufstein. This was communicated by the Herold company on Tuesday.
They assert that their service is ahead of others in Austria:
“Damit beweisen wir einmal mehr, dass wir bei Luftbildaufnahmen von Österreich eindeutig die Nase vorne haben”, so Herold-CEO Thomas Friess.
The high resolution photos were taken on October 2007 with an altitude of 2500 meters. It is not possible to recognize any peole on the records.
Simmilar to other services like Google Maps, Yahoo Maps or Live Maps the user can choose between “map“, “satellite” or “hybrid” view. Additional Points of Interests (POI), like ATMs, hotels, parking areas, post offices, restaurants or gas stations can be visualized.
[via derStandard]
Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.
The first map (Figure 1) shows the amount of research done in different fields. Medicine and Molecular & Cell Biology is very present in this map. But also the Geosciences area is not so small. Computer Science and Geosciences together are the foundation of GIS.
Figure 1: (Click on the map to enlarge)
If we also consider other sciences like Operations Research we are dealing with Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS). For example if we combine Geosciences with Mathematics we are taking about Geocomputation. And there a lot of other disciplines which can be compined with Geosciences.
Figure 2: André Skupin, In Terms of Geography, 2005
This map (Figure 2) is a visualization derived from more than 22,000 abstracts submitted to the Annual Meetings of the Association of American Geographers during a ten-year period from 1993 to 2002. The methodology is centered around the representation of each document as an n-dimensional vector of terms. These vectors are used to construct a neural network model of the geographic knowledge domain using a Self-Organizing Map (SOM). The neural network model is then transformed into two types of information: (1) a landscape in which elevation indicates the degree to which a single, focused topic is addressed; and (2) multilevel text labels associated with regions in the visualization. The final rendering was executed in standard geographic information systems (GIS) software.
[via SciMaps.org]
Two-Day Google I/O Event in San Francisco Will Focus on Building Great Web Apps and Advancing the Web as a Platform
Google announced a new developer event for 2008: Google I/O™, a two-day, in-depth gathering for developers to share knowledge about Google’s own developer products and web application development in general. Google I/O will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on Wednesday, May 28th, and Thursday, May 29th, 2008.
Google I/O will include a mix of practical, hands-on advice for building web apps as well as opportunities to learn about and discuss emerging trends. Sessions with top Google engineers will cover tools developed both inside and outside Google, including yet to be announced initiatives designed to move the web forward.
Five simultaneous topic areas will cover:
- AJAX & JavaScript: AJAX and JavaScript continue to capture the imagination of web developers. These sessions focus on tools and techniques of client-side code, and how to use them to make serious applications quickly and easily.
- APIs & Tools: Development tools for the web are evolving. Product APIs allow integration and extension of web applications. Tools like the Google Web Toolkit™ provide a whole new way to improve performance and compatibility.
- Social: The web is an inherently social place. A new wave of APIs and frameworks, including OpenSocial, are opening up interesting ways to interact with people through applications.
- Mobile: Mobile devices are blurring the lines between handset developers and web developers, opening up interesting opportunities for applications that span multiple platforms. We’ll take a look at how developers can use technologies such as Android™ and Mobile Gears to build applications on the mobile web.
- Maps & Geo: Since the introduction of the Google Maps™ API in 2005, geo and map applications have been one of the most interesting phenomena on the web. These sessions focus on the many aspects of geo applications, from KML to the Google Maps API and more.
Tickets are $400 for developers, with discounts available for students.
Sessions related to Maps & Geo
- Location, Location, Location (Android Engineers)
The ability to access, utilize, and display location information gives mobile applications a unique dimension. It’s also a feature built into the Android platform. Come find out how you can create applications that do the right thing, according to where they are.
- From Mashups to Mapplets (David Day)
Mapplets are mini-applications that run within Google Maps, allowing you to add new features or overlay your data directly onto Google Maps. These applications allow a developer to take advantage of the power of the Maps API while getting exposure to millions of users on Google Maps. In addition, Google provides free hosting, free bandwidth, and an official directory where users from all around the world can find your Mapplet.
We’ll introduce Mapplets in detail, explain the benefits of writing one, and walk through the details of how to get started. This includes what you need to host your Mapplet and best practices for gaining users.
Participants should have knowledge of basic JavaScript and HTML. Knowledge of the Google Gadgets API is recommended, but not required. We’ll discuss how Mapplets relate to Gadgets in this session. Advanced Ruby Scripting for Google SketchUpGoogle Sketchup contains a Ruby API for users who want to extend the capabilities of SketchUp. The interface allows users to create macros, such as automated component generators and additional tools, to be included in the menus within SketchUp. This session will cover two Ruby technologies that can be used to add functionality to SketchUp: WebDialogs and Ruby Extension Modules. For those comfortable with web programming, WebDialogs allow you to create rich user interfaces easily. For those with a native library they’d like to use, Ruby Extension Modules can help with high performance computations.
- Parsing and Generating KML with Google’s KML Library (Michael Ashbridge)
KML is a file format used to display geographic data in an earth browser, such as Google Earth, Google Maps and Google Maps for mobile. You can create KML files to pinpoint locations, add image overlays and expose rich data in new ways. This session will introduce Google’s open source KML library for working with KML files. We’ll explore its architecture and then show you how to parse and generate KML in your applications and scripts.
- Advanced KML (Bent Hagemark)
This session will cover advanced techniques in KML for displaying data and creating dynamic presentations. We’ll show how to to use Region to display very large datasets without clutter and without compromising performance. We’ll also look at how time features can be used to add animation effects and how NetworkLinkControl and Update can be used to make dynamic KML presentations. (Participants should have a strong background in KML.)
- Using Ads with Your Maps API Application (Jim Payne)
This session will explore strategies for using Google’s AdSense program with your Maps API application. We’ll discuss placement, targeting and how to choose the AdSense products that will work well with the Maps API. We’ll also review best practices for maximizing the value of your traffic. (Participants should have previous experience with the Google Maps API.)
- Fireside Chat: Google Maps & Earth (Google Geo engineering team)
Fireside chats are a chance to talk to the engineering team building products. Come tell the team what you want, discuss issues and design decisions, and hear the team’s thoughts on just about whatever you ask.
Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.
The ORF (Austrian Broadcasting) has recently shown an documentation about Vexcel Imaging Graz, and their technology to make areal photographs and calculate altitude for designing 3D city models. Vexcel was aquired by Microsoft and their technology is used by Microsoft’s Virtual Earth Service. You can see the clip here, but unfortunately the language is German.
Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.
Nearly everyone knows about Google Maps API but less people know that there is also a Google Earth COM API. The Google Earth COM API allows third party applications to query information from and send commands to Google Earth. Through IApplicationGE, applications can query the current viewport, control the 3D viewpoint, use KML features, and more.
The file earth.idl is the original IDL for COM interface and documentation. There exists also wrapper for programming languages like C# or Java. This allows to use basic methods straigt forward.
I think the Google Earth COM API (which is currently in beta) is not promoted intensively by Google because most things should be done by KML itself.
[via http://earth.google.com/comapi]
Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.
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