Google Earth for the iPhone

As I am still in an anti-IT funk I held off posting on the recently released Google Earth iPhone App in order to show solidarity with my protest.  Frank and Stefan have already covered it six ways to Sunday so I’ll just link to all of their good stuff which is way the hell better than anything I could come up with.  Here’s Frank’s Google Earth Blog write-up and here is Stefan’s Ogle Earth write-up.

My quick and dirty take on it is:

1) Don’t miss the overly ostentatious iTunes App store page.  Above is a glimpse of what you can expect.

2) It is exactly like a little, tiny Google Earth in an iPhone.

What I’d like to know is when are we going to see an OSM App for iPhone?  Steve?  Mikel?  Andrew?

‘Earthscape iPhone App Now Free For Limited Time, Grab It Now’

TechCrunch once again has the story on hot stuff iPhone Apps.  Earthscape is FREE for a limited time so get on over to the iTunes store (LINK) and get one!  In case you don’t know what it does here is Google Earth Blog’s Frank Taylor with a video introduction:

Read on…

New data for Georgia in Google Earth

Our heart felt thanks go out to the folks in Mountain View.  Dave Barth posted yesterday over at Google Lat Long Blog to let us know that new data is now available for Georgia.  The was a minor brouhaha a few weeks back when it was noticed that there was no data for Georgia.  Dave quickly responded that they’re working on it and now, a little over two weeks later, there is a slew of new layer material.  There was a small spurt of data shortly after the very vocal uprising but now they’ve gone and added Panoramio images along with other data sets.

Thanks to Dave and the team and now we just have to ask one question: When are you posting the new Bihar imagery?

MSF in Bihar and KMZ file of flooding

MSF has reached the flood affected regions in Bihar state and reports back from the frontlines:

An emergency relief team from the humanitarian aid agency, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has reached the areas worst affected by the flooding in Bihar State, India. The team, including a logistician, a water-sanitation engineer and a medical doctor, are assessing the extent of the humanitarian needs in Araria and Purnea-Madhepura. The team has also brought supplies of non-food items for distribution to the affected population.

Read on…

Stefan Geens over at Ogle Earth has converted the UNOSAT PDF maps into a KMZ file for those of you interested in viewing the flooding in Bihar in Google Earth.  We covered this in an earlier post sans KMZ.  When will UNOSAT start publishing all their data in KMZ?

Read on…

‘Google Earth – How They Do It!’

PopPhoto.com has an article on how DigitalGlobe goes about collecting imagery for Google Earth.  From the story:

When you launch GoogleEarth on your computer, you start in outer space and you miraculously zoom in. You might see two unsuspecting guys walking across the Blue Wonder Bridge way off in Dresden, Germany.

But the folks at Google Earth remind us that you’re not zooming in on just one picture. You’re actually going through a succession – seamlessly – of closer and closer shots, making the transition from a NASA shuttle shot to a satellite shot to a photograph made from an airplane. So that’s how they get such good close-up resolution.

The primary source of GoogleEarth images is, DigitalGlobe. They told Pop Photo how the system works.

Read on…

‘Alternative to Google Earth proposed at digital mapping conference’

I have been sitting on this one for a while I try to figure out if it dovetails with what I’ve been thinking about the need for a open source geobrowser which, most importantly, does not come loaded with imagery.  (Yeah, it’s that bandwidth issue again.)

The Industry Standard has a write-up on Ron Lake’s (CEO of Galdos Systems) concern over the growing dependence on private mapping systems.  From the article:

Ron Lake, CEO of digital mapping company Galdos Systems, is concerned about the world-wide dependence on private mapping systems, such as Google Earth. Lake, who wrote about the issue for the 2008 GeoWeb conference, states that digital maps are becoming an essential facet of public and government information and he thinks that it’s too important for private companies to handle alone. Instead he proposes a single, government funded virtual map of the earth.

Currently, there are a number of digital mapping systems maintained by different private companies, including Microsoft and Google. Lake believes this could lead to problems when private data is used in official capacities. For example, emergency services might need far more accurate digital maps of a specific area than a consumer-oriented online service can provide. Also, other geographic regions might resent that most of the world’s digital mapping research and collection takes place in the United States, and want information developed and centered in their own home countries.

Read on…

GeoEye signs deal to provide imagery to Google – Reuters

Reuters is reporting that GeoEye will soon begin providing high-resolution imagery to Google for Google Maps and Google Earth.  Here are some highlights from the article:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – GeoEye Inc on Thursday said it will provide imagery from its new $502 million high-resolution GeoEye-1 satellite to Google Earth and Google Maps after the spacecraft is launched on September 4.

If all goes well with the launch, GeoEye’s new satellite will be the world’s highest resolution commercial earth-imaging satellite, offering images at .41 meters resolution in black and white and 1.65 meters in color.

Google spokeswoman Kate Hurowitz said Google would begin receiving half-meter resolution imagery from the new satellite after 45 to 60 days, during which the company will make sure all the satellite’s systems are up and running.

Read on…

QR Code for a Google Earth Semacode

I am truly fascinated by this 2D barcode business, especially how it relates to location based information.  I found the perfect storm of 2D barcode and Google Earth this weekend when I came across Hello, world!.  In May 2006 two Germans mowed a 160mx160m Semacode into a wheat field outside the town of Ilmenau in the Land Thuringia.  (Ok, I could stop right there and this story would already be cool.  Did you even know there is a place called Land Thuringia!?)

They did it for typical geek reasons and then overflew the patch, snapped some pics and posted it.  Frank Taylor posted a write-up and KMZ file over at Google Earth Blog in May of last year.  I used Frank’s file to create a QR Code using the handy-dandy Kaywa QR-Code Generator and then copy and pasted the HTML code into a new placemark which I titled ‘Hello, world!’.

Unfortunately, snapping a pic with my iPhone’s NeoReader only gave me an error message as an iPhone cannot yet read KMZ.  (Snapping the actual wheatfield mow job pops up the website.)  However, with Earthscape’s new foray into the field of iPhone Apps with their newly released Earthscape Basic App we may soon be able to get stuck in some Escher-esque infinite QR Code/Google Earth loop.

Why is this all so fascinating?  We can now easily generate a QR Code for any geolocated data and with the recent release of iPhones in 21 new countries and the massive penetration of Nokias with their built in QR Code reader snapping pics of QR Codes to find out information about a location that is not available via other means (WikiMe, etc) will become more and more popular.

I realize I have not even begun to scratch the surface of what is possible with these technologies.  If anyone has information regarding these types of hacks, mash-ups, etc please comment.

Suunto X10

I have been trying to avoid writing about this uber-watch until you could actually go out and buy one but the big, glossy photos over at Navigadget gave me blog envy so I have given up and have decided to post about this because today I simply want to run with the herd.  The Suunto X10 looks like an extremely cool piece of gear that some of you might want to check out.  How cool is it?  It has GPS and you can export your tracks to Google Earth.  Ok, enough said?  If not, read the entire press release.  Here’s a teaser:

The Suunto X10 is compatible with several digital mapping services across the world, including National Geographic TOPO!, Google Earth” and Fugawi. With Suunto Track Exporter PC software, route planning and waypoint programming is fast, accurate and simple. Users can plan their routes on a digital map and download routes directly onto the Suunto X10 or print out their own customized maps. The Suunto Track Exporter PC software also allows users to export “tracks” from their GPS units to Google Earth”, where they can view their adventures anywhere on the globe with real satellite imagery.

“After converting your Suunto X10 logs with Suunto Track Exporter, you can share your adventures with anyone who uses Google Earth,” explains Suunto Outdoor Product Manager Petteri Hernelahti. “You can save your tracks in Google Earth, and then email them to friends or family, or post them on a website or blog for downloading.“

More eye candy at Navigadget…

Some data now available for Georgia in Google Earth

It seems that the folks on the Google Earth team have been burning the midnight oil to get those data sets out for Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.  Last week we posted a story about the missing data along with a request for the Google Earth team to update their maps.  The team responded explaining that the data was never posted and promised to work to resolve the issue.  It seems that they have now begun to make good on their promise as evidenced by the appearance of a handful of cities and towns throughout Georgia and it’s two neighbors.  While it is a start we are eager to see what other information is made available in the coming days and weeks so that folks like my friend in Tbilisi can start using Google Earth to make a difference.

If you are in need of immediate data you can check Microsoft Live Maps or ReliefWeb for the latest overlays.