What is special about Geospatial?

KML was an defacto-Standard for visualization of geospatial data over the Internet. Now it’s an official standard, approved by the OGC.

Here the official announcement of the OGC:

Wayland, Mass., April 14, 2008 - The members of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) today announced the approval of the OpenGIS® KML Encoding Standard (OGC KML), marking KML’s transition into an open standard which will be maintained by the OGC. Developers will now have a standard approach for using KML to code and share visual geographic content in existing or future web-based online maps and 3D geospatial browsers like Google Earth^TM.

“We are pleased to see the adoption of KML as an OGC standard,” said Ron Lake, chairman and chief executive officer of Galdos Systems Inc. “We believe that this is a major step forward for the OGC and for the entire geographic information community, as it provides the first broadly accepted standard for the visualization of geographic information.”

“Geographic data adds tremendous value to the online experience. More and more people are looking for ways to incorporate location information into their online content,” said Michael Weiss-Malik, KML product manager for Google. “The standardization of KML makes it possible for both novice and expert users alike to publish and share geographical information in an open format. It’s not unlike web browsers’ standardized support for HTML, which allows any web browser to read any web page.”

KML version 2.2 was brought into the OGC consensus process by a submission team led by Google and Galdos Systems Inc.

KML is an XML-based programming language, originally developed to manage the display of geospatial data in Google Earth. It’s still used heavily in Google Earth but is also supported by a variety of vendors’ tools and mapping websites.

The OpenGIS KML 2.2 Encoding Standard formalizes the KML 2.2 model and language while remaining backwards compatible with existing KML 2.2 files and tools. In comparison with the Google^TM KML 2.2 Reference, the standard defines:

• the KML 2.2 geometry encoding and interpolation model
• an extension model in support of application profiles
• conformance requirements and test cases

The adopted OpenGIS KML 2.2 Encoding Standard (OGC KML) is available at
http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/kml/.

About the OGC

The OGC® is an international consortium of more than 345 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OpenGIS® Standards support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org/.

Google and Google Earth are trademarks of Google Inc.

[via OGC]

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

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.

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.