Update: Google Earth Enterprise Hits the Road

Update 1/6/09 5:10 pm EST

Google’s folks got right back to me with answers (Thanks!), so here you go:

As I understand it, you are not just putting some data on the mobile deployment, you are putting the whole server and all the data on it?

That’s correct. The mobile drive would have a Google Earth server plus the customer’s data. One thing to point out - what differentiates Google Earth Enterprise from the publicly available Google Earth is that, in the Enterprise version, the customer utilizes only their own data (which is the case with this portable technology).

Continue reading...

Patent Watch: Has Apple Patented Touchscreen Mapping?

The patent filed with the World International Property Organization (WIPO) is titled: “Touch Screen Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Providing Maps, Directions, and Location-Based Information.”

Unwired argues that “most of the features used in it’s [sic, Google] mobile navigation app” are owned by Apple, not Google.

MacNN also chimes in.

SanFran Solar Map Patterns

I just had a chance to look at San Francisco’s new Solar Map created by CH2M Hill. The Google Maps-based website shows the location of installed solar panels and the power company that provided the installation. And Time Magazine had a fairly comprehensive story about the plans by CH2M HILL to map 25 cities for their solar potential as well as an audio interview with SF Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Since this was relatively old news, I was looking to see if I could discern any patters to the existing solar installations. I noticed an interesting grouping of solar panels in a neighborhood south of I280 and east of James Lick Freeway which has been designated as "environmental justice program" installations. I created a average income thematic map of the area that showed it to be a low-income area which Newsom cited were "under-served neighborhoods."

If you type in a local address you will receive information on the current energy use and the potential savings by installing solar power. San Francisco is offering incentives to install solar energy solutions.

Skidmore GIS Educators Conference Friday

Skidmore is not one of the schools we generally think of when speaking about GIS, but this Friday the Skidmore GIS Center for Interdisciplinary Research hosts a regional GIS Conference for Educators.

This year, topics of interest include GIS and statistics, managing and supporting GIS on a college campus, the use of GIS for visualizing potential development, GIS and mercury in the Adirondack Park, Manifold internet mapping, using ESRI Modelbuilder for automating demographic analysis, and web based GIS systems.

If any readers are attending, we’d love a brief conference report!

Early iPhone LBS Ad Company in Deadpool

TechCrunch reports that AppLoop has shut down. The company (which I’d not heard of) launched in summer 2008 and took advantage of the iPhone’s location determination to send ads. (The company claimed to be “the first ever real-time, location-based mobile ad network.”) A later app turned any RSS feed into an iPhone app. Doesn’t sound like either one was enough to keep the lights on.