As posted the new GeoEye-1 Satellite, which is sponsored by Google, has send the first satellite image of the earth. It shows the area of the Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, USA.
The purpose of the Earth-Imaging-Satellite is to sell pictures for customers around the world. The full resolution will not be used because of legal issues. Google will use these images with a maximal resolution of 50cm/pixel.
The GeoEye-1 proves the trend that Earth-Imaging-Satellites become more and more interesting for private companies not only for national agencies. For the year 2011 or 2012 it is planned to launch a further satellite, which allows resolutions of about 25 centimeters per pixel. The question is only who will use these data - and which (private) information can be retrieved.
I will introduce a new series of post on my webblog. It is called “Sites I like”. Once a week I’ll introduce interesting sites I visit frequently. Now the first episode.
The website is called the Earth from above and is an archive of over 2000 photos taken from all around the world. They can be downloaded an used for private wallpapers. Photos can be selected by country and each one has a short description also with geographic coordinates.
Google’s 3D data has escaped the client and is now available for your Browser. Today at Google I/O a Google Earth Browser plugin was released. With the plugin it is possible to view Google Earth mashups in the comfort of their own browser instead of having to pull up a separate client.
A small excerpt from the O’Reilly post:
This release does not change Google Maps, the mapping site on Google’s domain; it will not be serving up Google Earth imagery (yet). This release does not change all Google maps mashups into Google Earth Mashups. Instead the plugin enables developers to offer Google Earth imagery to their users very easily. I think it is notable that this is being offered to developers first. Why developers first? For one the plugin is being released at Google I/O, Google’s developer conference. I think that we should expect many developer-only treats today and tomorrow. Second, mashups can really help with distribution and help gain mindshare with those who don’t make it to Google’s sites on their own.
As Paul Rademacher, the creator of the first mashup (Housingmaps.com) and the technical lead on the project, pointed out to me during a call last week “The goal, apart from opening up Google Earth, is to bring Earth to the user. You can’t help but see Google maps when you surf now you’ll also see Google Earth.” The final reason, I am sure, is to keep Google’s main mapping site clean. Google Maps has had a lot of features added lately; they will need to spend some time figuring out a 3D UX.
Here are some sample apps for trying out. You will be prompted to download the plugin:
www.google.com/earth/plugin/examples/mapsapi/ - A potential implementation of how a 2D app could share space with a 3D one. The last screenshot (after the jump) shows this one; it’s got a really nice shot of the web-based Google Earth controls.
[via http://radar.oreilly.com/geo]
Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.
Searching the own home place with Google Earth or Google Maps is definitively one of the most popular activities for many users. “Geoimage-Austria” has provided Google with new imagery for Burgenland, Upper Austria, Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Salzburg. All data is older than one year, but it should be possible to recognize an object with the size of an football.
Until 2009 a new, updated image is planned, which covers whole Austria.
Sample: Villach (this is older data, but also high resolution)
[via derStandard]
Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.
This little video shows what you can do with KML and how it is used in Google Earth and Google Maps. Some handy tricks for designing small KML files are shown and how they can be imported in Google Maps.
The presentation is done by Pamela Fox and Mano Marks. Really new things are not shown there but its an start if you want to begin with KML.
Interesting would be a video where the network link function is explaned and maybe shown how to dynamically generate KML on the server efficiently.
Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.
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