Thursday, May 28. 2009

Google Geonews from Google I/O and elsewhere

Brady Forrest rounds up the geo news. He chooses Qualified Developer program extension to Google Maps as most important.

Tim O'Reilly reports "Google Latitude available on iphone as soon as Apple releases OS 3."

via Twitter

- event page

Also today: announcement of Google Maps API v3.

Wednesday, May 27. 2009

Plug and Play Maps: Just Add Data

The big news of out Where 2.0 for many was Google's new Google Maps Data API. That's about storing, then calling and using geodata Google hosts for you. The API highlights the idea that visualization and raw data need not be "in the same place." That makes this an excellent time to introduce Plug and Play Maps, something I first saw a year ago. The idea is simple, by putting just two lines of code into your website you can map some geodata with Google Maps. What kinds of data?

- spreadsheets or similar tabular files
- KML ("Google Earth") files
- shapefiles
- data in a web database

One line of code sets up the Google Maps API key (you get that key from Google) and the other "points" the app at the data. With all the examples, it's pretty simple for a non-programmer to figure out. There's even a "designer" that will create some of the code for you, based on the location of the data. And, there's an extension "how to" that explains most of the FAQs.

Plug and Play Maps come from GISmatters out of Amherst, Mass. Chris Duncan from the company tells me a screencast should be available shortly.

I know there are many ways to automagically create a Google Map, but this one gives you a lot of control and if you are looking to understand more about how programming works, this is a nice step forward. I think this would be a great app for students to use in their projects.

Tuesday, May 26. 2009

Census Shape files to KML (and more)

This from Bruce [corrected from Brian] Ralston, Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee:

I have released a program called AFF Mapper. This is a Windows based package that was specifically designed for creating KML based mapping files from TIGER shapes and tables available from the Census Bureau's American FactFinder web page. While it was designed for these files, it can be used to create KML files for other shapes (that are in decimal degrees with NAD83 or WGS 84) and external attribute files. The resulting KML files can be viewed in several free mapping packages such as Google Earth and ArcGIS Explorer.

To download a copy of the program and the user manual [visit this page].

This is freeware, copy till you drop.

Slashgeo reports source code will be available at a later date.

Thursday, May 21. 2009

Nokia Exec: Only Google, Nokia have the Money for the GeoWeb

The Nokia Exec in question is Michael Halbherr, who runs Nokia’s maps platform. He made that statement (in some form) in an interview with an FT blogger, Richard Waters. The post goes on to examine what Nokia has to do to be come competitive with Google: basically, become a platform provider.

Google Docs, ESRI Technology for Colorado Middle Schoolers

Deb Hooker who works for the Poudre School District in Colorado writes in the Coloradoan about the new computer curriculum the be launched next year.

Beginning with the 2009-10 school year, most sixth-graders will take a new nine-week Web 2.0 technology course that includes units on researching on the Web; Internet safety (appropriate use and ethics); data analysis; introduction to programming; Web site design; geographic information systems, or GIS; and Google Docs (collaborative Web-based office tools).

Seventh-graders may also choose to take an additional 18-week computer gaming and digital technology class that expands on the sixth-grade class, including units such as digital video production and video game programming.

The new courses involve using free, open-sourced software available on the Internet. Recently, representatives from Google and the Environmental Systems Research Institute, or ESRI, trained PSD middle school teachers and school technology coordinators on how to use tools such as Google Docs and GIS software.

I think may be some confusion about what "free, open-sourced software" is. Still, this sounds like a great start to preparing students for the Web 2.0 world.

On Google Maps Data API

Google officially announced the Google Maps Data API Wednesday. This was hinted at some months ago; I covered it here. In short, it's an API to geodata that's hosted by Google. The main "things you can do" with the data: add feature (point, line, poly) and attributes, delete them and read the data. Google and some of its partners already are using it; some examples are on the page noted above. The Google Geo Dev blog post (with much of the same info) is here.

Sean Gilles rounds up thoughts from geobloggers on the announcement here. If you read it, you may need to know what CRUD is. It's "Create, read, update and delete (CRUD) are the four basic functions of persistent storage , a major part of nearly all computer software." per Wikipedia.

Strangely, even as this announcement was going on in California, I was presenting at the New York State Geospatial Summit (look for a complete write up soon). One of my three "trends to watch": data as a service. Nice to see my thoughts validated by Google. And, no I didn't mention this API or use it as an example. In retrospect, I should have!

The use cases presented seem "small time" rather than enterprise scale (which doesn't mean hey can't be): travel data, best restaurants ("a collection" in Virtual Earth)...that sort of thing. Would Dr. Niman have used it to store H1N1 data? Would USGS put its earthquake data there? I'm thinking it might be used for the sort of data currently shared via network link (KML) or GeoRSS or the like. On the other hand, Google does say it scales. Could this be one option to look at in addition to storing/serving your geodata (ideally your authoritative data) via ArcGIS Online? That latter has/will have a solid set of geospatial tools to use. I suspect the former will in time, too, whether Google or others build them.