Tag: google earth

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Thoughts

ArcGIS Explorer and the uphill climb

Link – Google Earth vs. ArcGIS Explorer

Google Earth vs ArcGIS Explorer

As tired as some are of all the ArcGIS Explorer noise they have been hearing, it isn’t even a dent into the amount of Google Earth posts. This just shows that ESRI doesn’t have a hill to climb, but a mountain. In fact beyond a few blogs in our little GIS circle, not a peep has shown up on more mainstream blogs and sites. Most of the non-stop spin we saw was just repeating of the same stories. Matt Waite saw it and called it the “GIS geek world echo chamber” and what a small echo chamber it is.

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Thoughts

Google Earth Mac OS Alternatives

Link – Google Earth for Mac, alternatives

It seems a lot of Mac owners, like me, are anticipating the arrival of the Google Earth client for Mac. Alas, it is nowhere in sight. But do not despair. Actually, there are alternatives available, here’s three I can think of. “Virtual PC for Mac”, “Remote Desktop Client for Mac” and “Google Maps”.

My choice has been Virtual PC, but it really lags compared to my PC. Hopefully when Intel based Powerbooks are available, I’ll be able to triple boot Mac OS X, Windows XP and Red Hat on the same laptop. One thing for all us Mac users to remember, Google is more “Windows centric” than even Microsoft is. Not exactly a “Web 2.0” company if you ask me.

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Thoughts

Glenn Letham tries to stir the pot with FUD

Link – Will Google Earth Replace the need for costly GIS software and license fees?

This was a recent topic of discussion on the Google BBS… no doubt you’ve also been wondering… why invest deeply in a pricey IMS, GIS site license and support costs etc… “Lets take a look how much ArcGIS software we would need on one desktop to replicate the functionality of Google Earth. First you would need ArcView for $1,500, then add a license of 3D Analyst for $2,500. So now we are at $4,000 dollars just for software and don’t forget to add the yearly $1,300 dollar maintenance fee also. Now you need to pay for ArcWeb services so that you have data (which there aren’t even prices on website). Add in ArcIMS and ArcSDE servers and your talking the GNP of some third world countries.”

First off Glenn, lets try and include links with your posts. For those who want to see the reference post in Glenn’s blog entry click here.

I won’t spend too much time responding here to this charge that to get the functionality of Google Earth, you need to spend $4,000. One doesn’t buy a backhoe to dig a hole for a plant in your front yard, but this is what the writer above is proposing. The best response to people who post information like this above is, “To get the functionality of ArcView and 3D Analyst in Google Earth, you’d have to buy ArcView and 3D Analyst. Google Earth is nothing more than a 3D Map Viewer. ArcGIS is a professional GIS suite. Has Photoshop been hurt by Picasa since Google released the free version? Probably not any more than ESRI will be affected by Google Earth in its current state. ArcView is overkill for many, and Google Earth probably fits the bill for them, but to expect GE to replace the scientific quality analysis that ArcGIS provides is laughable considering how they can’t even get the alignment of their data correct. Maybe in the future Google Earth will add more data support, but the years of experience that ESRI has with spatial analysis will be hard to compete with. Many of us long time GIS professionals remember the press all said ArcView was dead the day that Microsoft released MapPoint. That didn’t happen and I just don’t see Google Earth making any dent into ESRI’s core business.

Oh and the writer of that post above that Glenn linked to? He posted this in the same thread.

As a side note ESRI is now saying that the free viewer ArcExplorer will include ArcScene, their 3D environment. Not sure if Google Earth had anything to do with it but competition is nice.

Seems that even he realizes that ESRI is still a force to be reckoned with even if Glenn doesn’t.

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Thoughts

Portland Maps search now supports Google Earth

I had posted about the Portland Maps Advanced Search last week and how it integrated Google Maps into the user interface to allow users to see where their results were located before going to more detailed mapping of each site. Richard Davies just posted to let us know that he’s gotten the export to Google Earth working and now your results can be view in the Google Earth application. Go ahead and search using the Portland Maps Advanced Search tool. When the results are return, you’ll see a little Google Earth KML icon in the lower left portion of the page.

Portlandmaps ge export

Just click on that to download the KML file into your Google Earth.

Portlandmaps ge

This is really slick, compared to most municipal web mapping sites, Portland really has their ducks in a row with the latest technology. Great job guys!

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Thoughts

More About Google Earth the Data Shift

I’ve been working with Brian Flood to determine how and why the data won’t line up in Google Earth when exported out of ArcGIS into a KML/KMZ file. Brian figured out the following:

there definitely seems to be a shift in GE’s aerials in some places (e.g. none in NJ, mild in Nevada, somewhat severe in your area). However, it looks like the WGS cords returned by GE are correct, so its overlaying your data correctly, its just its other base data is slightly shifted. I suspect this is QA/QC issue for GE

For the next build, I added a xy shift variable that can be controlled by the user, essentially making up for the GE base data errors.

Not a great story but if GE is used purely as a viewer it works. I also will mark the KML with comments so the shift can be undone at a later date (or simply re-exported)

This isn’t good/bad news really as one can manually adjust the x/y shift, but it adds a step to the export that shouldn’t be there and this is compounded by the fact that the shift isn’t constant across the globe. At least now we know what the issue is and hopefully all ArcMap to KML extensions will add the ability to adjust the x/y shift soon.

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Thoughts

Andrew Hallam Stops KML Related Development

Link – KML Related Development on Hold

Previous posts on this blog suggest that I’ve been playing around with software that generates KML. ‘Tis true, but I’ve decided to put the development of those tools on hold…

I’ve noticed the same issue with vector alignment on Google Earth with my datasets also. We are usually working with small areas so these are the ones that are most affected by this shift that happens when importing vector layers into Google Earth. There are projects that aren’t affected as the area of concern is large enough that you don’t notice the x/y shift, but we too have decided that Google Earth is not going to be right for many of our clients. Hopefully there will be a work around or Google will fix this problem in the near future.

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Thoughts

Andrew Hallam Stops KML Related Development

Link – KML Related Development on Hold

Previous posts on this blog suggest that I’ve been playing around with software that generates KML. ‘Tis true, but I’ve decided to put the development of those tools on hold…

I’ve noticed the same issue with vector alignment on Google Earth with my datasets also. We are usually working with small areas so these are the ones that are most affected by this shift that happens when importing vector layers into Google Earth. There are projects that aren’t affected as the area of concern is large enough that you don’t notice the x/y shift, but we too have decided that Google Earth is not going to be right for many of our clients. Hopefully there will be a work around or Google will fix this problem in the near future.

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Thoughts

Issues with 3D models in Google Earth

Link – Google Earth St Paul’s and Digital Elevation Model

I’ve been focused on using Google Earth for a GIS viewer, but some others have been looking at using it for 3D models.

…problems have arisen with the Google Digital Elevation model (DEM). St Paul’s is located on a natural hill in London but the resolution of the DEM is not enough to compensate for the building size and structure.

By default Google Earth drapes the models to the landscape, resulting in a model which slopes, losing the straight lines and introducing distortion. To get around this it can be placed absolute to the ground, resulting in a 11 metre difference between the front and the rear of the building – as it sits on a hill. This has been compensated for in the model but it throws out the actual building height relative to the skyline.

Interesting. I’ve noticed some problems with a x/y shift going on when I try and create 3D views of buildings in Google Earth, but it looks like those who work with 3D Studio Max and ArcScene are also left wondering how/if Google might fix their issues with Google Earth.

Categories
Thoughts

Issues with 3D models in Google Earth

Link – Google Earth St Paul’s and Digital Elevation Model

I’ve been focused on using Google Earth for a GIS viewer, but some others have been looking at using it for 3D models.

…problems have arisen with the Google Digital Elevation model (DEM). St Paul’s is located on a natural hill in London but the resolution of the DEM is not enough to compensate for the building size and structure.

By default Google Earth drapes the models to the landscape, resulting in a model which slopes, losing the straight lines and introducing distortion. To get around this it can be placed absolute to the ground, resulting in a 11 metre difference between the front and the rear of the building – as it sits on a hill. This has been compensated for in the model but it throws out the actual building height relative to the skyline.

Interesting. I’ve noticed some problems with a x/y shift going on when I try and create 3D views of buildings in Google Earth, but it looks like those who work with 3D Studio Max and ArcScene are also left wondering how/if Google might fix their issues with Google Earth.

Categories
Thoughts

Sportsim Begins to Use Google Maps/Earth

Link – Sportsim with Google Maps and Google Earth Add On

The introduction of free mapping services from Google Inc. with Google Maps and Google Earth in the last months has revolutionized the way we view maps on the Internet.

Sportsim has today released a new software version with these Google add-ons:

  • Create your own Google Maps web site with 2D map view of GPS track.

  • Create your own Google Earth file and fly in 3D terrain over your GPS track.

  • Import Map layers from Sportsim to Google Earth.

You may remember many of my posts about Sportsim over the past few months. I really like the product and I think Gjermund Weisz’s business model is refreshing. He had noted that he needed better satellite imagery for his product when I met with him at the 2005 UC and he was really interested in looking at what Google Maps/Earth offered him. Well it now looks like he’s pulled the trigger on Google Maps/Earth support with the latest version of Sportsim. Gjermund was at the User Conference because Sportsim was the third-place winner in the ArcWeb Services Challenge. Between National Geographic and Sportsim, you have one the biggest users of ArcWeb (NGS) and an award winning application (Sportsim) moving away from exploring other options than ArcWeb and turn toward newer services by Google. As one of my friends told me:

ouch

Update – Gjermund was kind enough to clarify what actually is happening here.

James, to set the record straight, Sportsim does not move away from the ESRI ArcWeb Services, we add on Google Maps and Google Earth as external web service add-ons to the software itself. The software and it’s functionality will still run on maps and images from ESRI ArcWeb Services. Also, according to Google Maps API terms we are NOT allowed to bring their maps into the application, they can only be browser based.

What is really cool about what Sportsim is doing is that they are overlaying ArcWeb Services on top of Google Earth (see image below). It was so subtle that I didn’t even see it until I read what he wrote. So Gjermund is leveraging the best parts of ArcWeb Services and Google Earth to make a much better product. Hows that for a mashup?

Sportsim ge