Live Bus Tracking on Google Earth

From Poynter: A student in Boulder, Colorado linked the GPS-captured locations of buses operating in the city to Google Earth. Now, the Poynter guy doesn’t know how Google Earth works and said the app was online, but in fact, it’s just the regularly updated KML file. The big deal, according to Steve Outing at Poynter, will be when the data is on your phone.

GeoStuff in the News

Intel experiments with Wi-Fi as GPS substitute
Intel’s work progresses; nothing imminent.

Google map API transforms the Web
The ZDnet bloggers are praising the open API as open source. Is it?

Philadelphia-Area Real Estate Agent Sued for Patent Infringement
The patent in question (1991) is for “locating available real estate properties for sale, lease or rental using a database of available properties at a central location and remote stations which use a graphic interface.”

ARCHIBUS/FM Announces Support for Google Earth and Maps
ARCHIBUS/FM is a facilities management solution built on AutoCAD.

Blogging ESRI UC

Going to ESRI UC? Want to help cover it? Directions Magazine is looking for a few good bloggers (no experience necessary) to share their thoughts with our readers in the All Points Blog. We’ve got Directions swag for those who complete their assignments. Contact me for details.

WSJ on Google Earth Business Model

Tim Hanrahan and Jason Fry make some good points in their assessment of GE. More importantly, the pair addresses one question that keeps some of us at Directions up and night: Will Google Earth make money? “Is there a business here, or is this just cool? After mulling it over, we think there will be a business here—eventually.”

Google Transparencies

In the past I’ve bemoaned the loss of the one time MapQuest/GlobeXplorer offering where a transparent map could be “moused” over the imagery. Well, it’s back, courtesy Google Transparencies. It works a bit differently than I recall the MapQuest one did. The map part stays in the center of the window and you “move” the imagery underneath. Still, it’s nice to see this functionality back. It was, and is, a great tool.