Link: Google Maps Transparencies.
Probably one of the most “hack like” of the Google Maps hacks. I’m not sure this is of too much value, but as a proof of concept it is interesting. Because of the way Google Maps works, you can’t overlay vector data on the maps, but I suspect if Google is learning from all this, we will soon.
Link: Google Maps Mania.
One of possibly hundreds of these sites we’ll start seeing over the course of the next year as more programmers get into GIS. Not a bad idea to add it to your RSS reader to keep up on Google Maps hacks.
The more I look at the Google Maps API and see the wide array of sites users are creating I can’t help but think of the opportunity that ESRI has to grow their ArcWeb Services. There are quite a bit of bright programmers who are using Google Maps as their introduction to “GIS” and they seem to love it. These programmers can do so much more with the more robust ArcWeb Services, but I’ve seen no out reach from ESRI on how to help these new GIS programmers get involved with ESRI GIS. Many of them are in school and most likely already have ESRI site license that they can tap into and learn how to program with the ESRI software suite. When they graduate, they’ll be available to the GIS marketplace and with some great ideas to help push ArcGIS beyond just a tool used by government agencies. ESRI can easily offer up a simple map to allow users to hook into it and learn how to create ArcWeb Services programs.
I can’t imagine this would be too much of a cost to ESRI, but the benefit of all the new ArcWeb Services on the Internet would only fuel increased ESRI profits in the future. ESRI can sit and watch the Google Maps API revolution or take it upon them to be part of it. Google Maps isn’t open source and it has been embraced by the open source programmer crowd. ESRI products run on open source and use some open source programming languages so it seems a natural fit for these uses to flock to ESRI. All they want is an easy to use way of creating these web applications and the years of experience that ESRI has with web-based GIS will make the jump much easier than the Google Maps method that doesn’t understand much of what users have created.
Opening ArcWeb to more users makes sense to me.
Link: Brian Flood : Google Maps API and WMS Servers (dead link).
Boy it didn’t take Brian very long to get working on the Google Maps WMS service. I think Brian is right on with his assessment, most developers will want to display WMS layers on a GMap, rather than the inverse. Still the Gmap juggernaut moves forward.
I guess if you are waiting for that new Python book to arrive from Amazon.com and you really want to know where it is, these Google Maps hacks will tell you where your package is. I don’t think either UPS or FedEx give you live tracking so you might be thousands of miles off of where your package actually exists. Still another proof of concept…
Link: Google Maps: Real-Time Tracking via GPS.
Jeff and I have created a real-time GPS tracker using Google Maps API. It’s currently reading NMEA output from GpsGate simulating a drive around downton Little Rock, AR. The python script can read a standard (NMEA) GPS output via serial port as well. We plan on doing a demo run in our car using a laptop, JunxionBox, and GPS sometime this week.
You have to admit it, these Google Maps hackers are quick. Just Friday I was saying how not being able to import GPS data made Gmaps Pedometer limited in its use as a tracking tool. Now all someone has to do is combine these tools, set up a community and figure out how to use Google Earth to track elevation change. Nah, probably better to just use the ESRI ArcWeb Services Sportsim.
Here is a little rant on my part. (well an off topic rant)
I do quite a bit of traveling and I like to sync up my feeds (using FeedDemon) before I get on the airplane so I can read them at my leisure on the trip. Lately I’ve noticed quite a bit of blogs only offering excerpts of their feeds rather than the whole post. When online, I usually do visit people’s blogs so I show up in their logs and people can see who is visiting their site, but since broadband on the airplane hasn’t reached America West or Southwest (living in Arizona that is pretty much our only choice) these excerpts are useless to offline readers.
To ensure your site is readable by the most number of people, you should offer full feeds. If your blog software currently is set to offer only excerpts and want to change it, check out your online help or just email me (james.fee at gmail.com) and I’ll help you change it. I’m writing this on an airplane right now with about 7 posts I’d like to make, but they are all excerpts and I can’t read the full posts until I get to my hotel late tonight.
Gmaps Pedometer has gotten a ton of posts in the blogosphere (dead link) over the past week. Basically what it does is tell you how far you’ve walked/ran over the course of a workout. It is nice, but the interface isn’t that easy to use and you can’t use your GPS with it.
Well there is a product that does what you’d expect a service such as this to do called Sportsim. Unlike Gmaps Pedometer, Sportsim lets you save and catalog all your GPS activities, save background maps to your tracks, analyze your achievements, compare with heart rate data, get cumulative statistics of your training and replay simultaneously activities from same route. Even better, Sportsim is a community where you can create your own race, compete in races, share your recommended activity and explore and discover new places to train. I when ahead and downloaded the small client to see what was available in my area and right away I saw someone had a track from the Arizona Ironman. I was able to see their speed, heart rate and the elevation of the route. You can also search using the type of activity. If I’m interesting in cycling around the country and can see where users are biking, the route, the elevation changes and how long it may take me.
Gmaps Pedometer is really simple and many people might like that, but given how many weblogs have mentioned how impressive it is, you’d think here would be some love or Sportsim. Well I went to ESRI’s since Sportsim is build using ArcWeb Services to see if it was in their Showcase area. Unfortunately it wasn’t there. I clicked on Learn More About ArcWeb Services and was taken to the product page. Buried in a link on the right is information about the ArcWeb Services Challenge winners where Sportsim is featured. If you want to see some very impressive implementations of ArcWeb Services you really should check that out, but why ESRI isn’t pushing this more on the web is a shame. The Google Map API is nothing compared to what ArcWeb Services, but time and time again you get posts about how bloggers are very impressed with Google Map applications that are very similar to what ESRI was doing 5 years ago.
I’m looking forward to seeing what ArcWeb Services are featured during the ESRI User Conference, but I suspect none of them be blogged about as much as Gmaps Pedometer.
Link: CubeWerx releases an OGC Connector for Google Maps – via Fantom Planet
CubeWerx, a leading provider of spatial data warehousing and web service products based on a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) today announces the release of a WMS Connector to Google Maps service. This software product is an OGC WMS wrapper to the Google Maps service and implements the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) WMS specifications.
Good news for those itching to use WMS with Google Maps. The preference would be for Google to do this themselves, but given the lack of understanding of OGC by Google, it could take some time. I suspect in the end though, most Google Maps hackers won’t care too much since they too have no concept of WMS or OGC. Those that do though have to be excited.
Link: Wayne Graham’s Blog: World Wind.
Boy talk about bad timing. NASA’s World Wind is pretty much the same type of application as ArcGlobe or Google Earth, but unlike either of those two, it is open source. Right away you notice one feature that Google Earth does not have is Web Mapping Server (WMS) support. In addition to that killer function, World Wind also includes LandSat7 imagery, USGS Digital Ortho, USGS Topo and even MODIS. It isn’t a small install at 180 megs, but given the community that has sprung up around it you’ll have even more to download. Plus unlike Google Earth, World Wind’s digital models are as impressive as anything I’d expect from ArcGlobe.