Spatially Adjusted

Tag: google earth

  • Export to KML Extension for ArcGIS 9.x

    Link – Export_to_KML_V10

    Export to KML is an extension developed for ArcGIS 9.x by the City of Portland, Bureau of Planning. The extension allows ArcGIS users to export any dataset in “keyhole markup language” [KML] format for viewing in the free Google Earth data viewer. Any point, polyline, or polygon features, in any defined projection, can be exported. Features can be “grouped” by an attribute for creating categorical symbology in Google Earth. Features can also be exported as 2-dimensional features, or “extruded” by an attribute (or, in the case of true 3D features, by z-value).

    Kevin Martin over at the City of Portland Bureau of Planning just uploaded a new extension to export any dataset to KML.

    Export2KML

    Structure height

    One problem with all these great tools for KML export is that they have all chosen to use the Google Earth icon on their toolbar. Kind of makes it hard to remember which one is which huh?

    Kml extensions

  • Keeping Google Earth at Bay

    With the explosive introduction of Google Earth, it is hard to imagine what the world was like before we were all started looking up our old high school on satellite imagery. As the novelty of Google Earth wears off, GIS professionals are beginning to come up with different way to utilize this new tool to disseminate GIS data and in turn are creating tools to export data to Google Earth. Right now ESRI doesn’t have any answer to Google Earth. Their viewers are either too expensive or too old to compete leaving a void that Google Earth is beginning to fill. At the UC, we saw the new ArcExplorer, but as with most development at ESRI it becomes hidden from view until the next big conference (I guess that means we’ll see it at the Business Partner Conference?). In the mean time, tools such as Arc2Earth and KML Home Companion will be matured and assimilated into workflows making Google Earth an integrated part of GIS distribution.

    I’m sure there are many at ESRI who feel that ArcExplorer will be a “Google Killer”, but to them I say don’t look at it that way. Google Earth is just another tool to help sell products that ESRI develops. In the end it will be ESRI desktop and server software that will power most of this new way of sharing GIS information and that is what matters. I can only guess to how well ArcExplorer will perform but if I use ArcGlobe as any reference point, ArcExplorer could be DOA. Again as I said above, this might not be the case, but since we get no updates from ESRI to the development of the software it is hard to say. So in this absence of information, many will continue to explore using KML and KMZ in conjunction with Google Earth. Even if ArcExplorer is a home run, why would users change their workflows when their customers are already used to Google Earth?

    I’ve said before that I think ESRI should leverage support for KML/KMZ into their products and jump on the Google Earth bandwagon while its hot. CNN seems quite intent on using Google Earth on their newscasts and anyone with a broadband internet connection can join in that fun. I can’t imagine a scenario where people type in ESRI.com and grab the latest copy of ArcExplorer to view the huge earthquake in Southern California (though ESRI would have a front row seat) unless somehow ArcExplorer is pushed by Yahoo! to compete against Microsoft and Google.

    I think in the end if there is any hope that ArcExplorer can compete against Google Earth in our marketplace, we need to know more about what to expect from ArcExplorer, a timetable for its release and even a broad beta release (beyond the ones at ESRI’s beta site).

  • The Map Room on Google Earth Privacy and Security

    Link – Google Earth Privacy and Security Roundup

    When the satellite-photo version of Google Maps came out earlier this year, there was some apprehension about the impact of these high-resolution photos on individual privacy. For example, some nervousness about being able to see the car in your driveway. I’m sensitive to privacy concerns, but for the most part I think these worries are unwarranted: most individual activities wouldn’t show up on even the highest resolution photos, and the age of the photos, as we’ve seen, can be considerable in some cases.

    I’ve been on a moratorium over the past couple weeks on these Google Earth/Map privacy/security issues because nothing new has come out of any of them. Well I’ve lifted that ban temporarily to post about an excellent article over at The Map Room by Jonathan Crowe. Jonathan brings up some great new points about the difference between individual privacy concerns and state control over “secret” information. In the end I totally agree with his assertion that this is just a case of everyone overreacting.

  • Google Earth Increases Resolution of New Orleans Satellite Imagery

    Link – New imagery available as VBR network links via Ogle Earth

    VBR in Keyhole speak means ViewBasedRefresh network link which appears to be some kind of dynamic layer type. I couldn’t find too much about VBR on Keyhole’s site, does anyone have a better explanation?

  • Google Earth is becoming the default free viewer for spatial information

    Link – More pros support Google Earth

    “I’ve never heard of Ambercore before, but that’s because I’m no GIS pro. What I do know is that there is a definite trend by pro GIS software vendors to accommodate KML. It means Google Earth is becoming the default free viewer for spatial information.”

    I tend to agree. Google Earth has much going for it (including that the install is only 11mb compared to ESRI’s “free” ArcReader which is about 100mb) and one has to begin to question the need for ArcExplorer. If Google can get Google Earth out of Beta (which they seem to milk for all its worth) then it might become the default viewer. If Google waits too long and somehow ESRI hits a home-run with ArcExplorer then it might be a free for all. Of course there isn’t any information from ESRI about ArcExplorer so smart GIS professionals are beginning to use Google Earth since we don’t know what to expect from ArcExplorer.

  • Mapdex Now Supports Google Earth

    Link – Mapdex in GoogleEarth 2

    Mapdex is fully integrated with Google Earth. All mapservices that return a valid projection will have the ability to be added into Google Earth via network links.

    Just like that, Mapdex now supports Google Earth. Jeremy was nice enough to also release the ColdFusion code to take any ArcIMS service and allow it to be viewed in Google Earth. Anyone who is currently offering up ArcIMS services should seriously think about offering Google Earth support as it is so easy to do.

    Of course as always you can add these ArcIMS and WMS services to your ArcMap by following these instructions from ESRI.

  • Google Earth Overlay of Flooding

    Link – Google Earth New Orleans Overlay

    Another Google Earth overlay from what looks like the Digital Globe satellite image.

    google_earth_no.jpg

  • Mapdex Supports Google Earth

    Link – Mapdex in GoogleEarth

    Thanks to encouragement from Stefan at Ogle Earth I have started working toward enabling ArcIMS servers indexed on Mapdex to be used in Google Earth via a network link/KML Ground Overlay script. It is actually pretty easy to convert an ArcIMS service into a KML network link. I will talk about it more in the next couple of days.

    What a great resource! Kudos to Jeremy for doing this. The easier it is for GIS data to get out to the public the more useful it will be.

    Update – Looks like Stefan is happy. 🙂

  • NIMBY for Google Earth

    For those not familiar with the term “NIMBY” look here

    Link – EarthHack.net via Ogle Earth

    Who gave Google the right to web publish photographs of my backyard so detailed that you can see the details of my landscaping? Or which side of the driveway I park my car on?

    Yes, I know these photos have been available for a long time from Keyhole, and Yes, I know that they currently don’t need my permission to publish these images. But at what point should we collectively be able to assert control over these images? In the past the idea of spying on individuals from space has not been a credible threat, but if the resolution of the available images improves at even a linear rate then within a few years you’ll progress from being able to find my backyard, to being able to find the grill in my backyard, to being able to see what’s on the grill in my backyard. And that cannot be permitted.

    If this lack of control goes unchallenged then the inevitable result of improving camera resolution, increasing frequency of satellite passes and improving data compression and transmission rates will be effective quasi-real-time space surveillance on an individual basis.

    How can that possibly be left unchallenged?

    So I am proposing a two pronged approach to defeating this hijacking of our collective privacy; first, establish that Google/Keyhole has the capability to modify individual images on request; secondly, create a legal requirement for them to do so. These are concurrent activities, and the first one begins today.

    Sigh, I’m almost willing to chip in some money to buy this guy some tin foil. How long will it take for people to actually realize that Google isn’t taking these pictures?

  • More Google Earth Boundary Trouble

    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.