Link – Updated FAQ: Can I use Virtual Earth on my commercial website? RSS
I have asked Microsoft about this and the short answer is no. If you read the MSN Terms of Use (http://privacy.msn.com/tou/) it clearly states: “The MSN Web Sites are only for your personal use. You will not use the MSN Web Sites for commercial purposes”.
Guess that is another reason to use ArcWeb huh?
Link – Board of Geographic Names Invites are Like Gmail Invites
I assume that invites are limited because of the Board’s inherently governmental function. So why in this new era of international spats over boundaries and place names in Google Earth has anyone from GE (Google Earth) or the BGN (Board of Geographic Names) thought to coordinate? If the two do not, would Google Earth become the de facto source for international boundaries and place names and usurp any official governmental geonames policy?
This better get figured out soon as I’d hate to think two countries might go to war over a boundary that Google Earth uses. As Fantom says, “[Scoffing laugh] Google running borders by anyone. Ha! That’s a good one.”. Exactly, but these days people are beginning to use Google Earth as a reference. I doubt this is what Google envisioned with Earth and I can only assume it will continue to be a headache for them for years to come.
I’ve upgraded to MovableType 3.2 and I want to update the template also. For the time being I’m going to use the default look until I get some of the javascript stuff integrated again. Maybe I’ll move from a static install to a dynamic PHP install of MT.
Link – Google Earth Continued
I’ve recently seen various forum and blog posts about Google Earth moving into traditional GIS territory. In some regards this is true, GE is a very fast, very internet friendly, very ubiquitous geospatial viewer that provides a whole globe full of free base data. However, it is not a very good GIS platform from a cartographic, analysis or geoprocessing standpoint, in fact it doesn’t do any of these. From a GIS perspective, it’s just a viewer. A very good viewer with excellent hooks for additional data streams but a viewer none the less.
Brian has a nice look at moving from ArcMap to Google Earth as a GIS Viewer. My first reaction is that this is huge because there really isn’t a good free viewer available to view GIS data from desperate sources. The flexibility of KML is really starting to show, but the Table of Contents still isn’t my cup of tea (I guess I’m just used to the ArcMap one). I hope ESRI can get ArcExplorer out before people get comfortable using Google Earth to share their datasets.
It is unfortunate that ESRI felt the need to charge for ArcPublisher as ArcReader could have been a pretty good choice as a GIS viewer application, but since you need an extension to create readable map documents it isn’t really free.
Link – Google Earth does not respect UN recognized borders!!!
It is obvious that Google Earth accepted as a final solution of internationally recognized border between Montenegro and Croatia old Montenegrin proposal that leads me to conclusion that Google Earth used data obtained from Serbian or Montenegrin experts and did not verify them by independent sources such as UN. Moreover, the names of all bays along the Croatian coast have Serbian or Italian names. I do not understand how any global company can act as in this case did Google.
Sigh, they just keep coming out of the woodwork. To think that Google would actually “run this by” Serbian or Montenegrin “experts” just made me chuckle.
Of course if Google actually posted the metadata, this might not happen as much. My advice to those who don’t like the data in Google Earth, post your own.
Links – Google Earth Wishlist – Part 1 & Google Earth Wishlist – Part 2
While playing with the free version of Google Earth I started a list of enhancements that I’d like to see in the product. The desired outcome is to make it easier to use Google Earth as a spatial data delivery platform, without impacting on the collective end user experience.
Andrew’s writeup on Google Earth is excellent. Part 1 looks at KML and many improvements that would make using it much easier. Part 2 looks at Network Links, which at least for me has been the most confusing part of Google Earth. I guess I just don’t grab the logic of how it works, but I’m sure as time goes on Keyhole will improve it. I’m looking forward to Part 3 which should arrive later on WMS in Google Earth.
Link – 10 Utils to make Opensource GIS that little bit easier…
In the same vain as my other ArcIMS thread, here are my top 10 utilities (ok so its not really ten) for making my life with OGC apps that little bit easier. If i have missed any which you recommend, please let me know. I have tried to cut the list down to what i think are useful, as there are unfortunately a lot of applications which are not worth the trouble or are incredibly outdated (sorry freegis.org, but the list needs culling guys).
There has been a lot of talk about comparing ESRI software with open source GIS offerings. Chris posts the cream of the crop on his blog so if you are interested in learning more check it out. We are currently playing around with UMN Mapserver and PostGIS on Redhat and I’ve come away quite impressed.
The question is when does playing turn into marketing?
How long before the Google Earth/Google Map people start talking about integration between those products and the new Google IM client? Too bad ESRI didn’t already have GeoChat up and running, then people could use it as an example, unfortunately we only have that one lone blog entry to show what it is capable of. Expect the press to focus on Google Talk over the next few weeks and how it will integrate into their products (oh and how ESRI missed the boat).
I wonder why ESRI picked the MSN client to run GeoChat on and not Jabber? You’d think an open protocol such as Jabber would be easier to work with than a “closed” protocol such as Messenger (disclaimer: I have no idea what I’m talking about).
Update – Google Talk is now available. You can add me (my Gmail address is below my picture on the right side of the blog), but I’m sure my work blocks the Jabber port with our firewall. You can always add my MSN Messenger contact which is on my about page.
Link – Google Awarded Geocoding Patent
Since patents are all the rage these days I thought I would toss out the following: Google was awarded a patent today. The patent is for technology that allows a geocode (latitude, longitude) to be generated for a postal addresses. Unlike patent applications (which are what usually get people talking) this is intellectual property that has been officially awarded to Google. The patent application was filed for in September 2003.
I’m not sure how that is patentable, but I’m no patent lawyer. Could this be the start of “GIS Patent Wars”?
Link IWorkspace
Looks like Jeff Archer is now blogging. Seems like he loves GIS and VWs, much like me. 🙂