In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Please allow the few posts the last two weeks, I've been overly busy (hey, it's summer time after all! ;-). Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

First is the news that Frank Warmerdam is joining Google. If you don't know Frank, he's behind the open source GDAL and Proj.4 tools that almost everyone in the industry uses, including Google, ESRI, and tons of geospatial open source projects. Frank Warmerdam is also the very first recipient of the Sol Katz Award. I found Daniel Morissette's comment insightful: "If you [Frank] make a difference at Google (with the resources available there) as much as you did in the OSGeo community then we should be prepared for some amazing stuff to happen." In his announcement, Frank reassures us that he wants to continue his work on GDAL/OGR while at Google. Good luck Frank!

Other Google news, from official sources:

• Today Google announced the Google+ project, and of course it includes location-related capabilities
• Google redesigned their "Your World in 3D" website
• There's new Google Building Maker cities available, four in Argentina and Ottawa, in Canada
• City names are now in your preferred language in Google Earth

From other sources:

• Here's James Fee interesting summary of Google Earth Builder's webinar, and he believes Google Earth Builder will be a huge success
• The GEB mentioned Junctions, an app that maps your social interactions in Google Earth
• GMap3 JQuery Plugin for Google Maps has been released
• The FGT blog mentioned how to convert a Shapefile into a Google Fusion Table, using shpescape, an open source tool
• Here's a Ogle Earth entry on marine predator-prey behavior using Google Imagery as the primary source of evidence
• SS shares an entry named Google Mapping and Modeling Tools Featured in Japan Redevelopment

Here's the recent Google geonews for the last 7 days.

From the official sources:

• Google announced that Google Earth is now optimized for Android-powered tablets, which includes fully textured 3D buildings
• Google announced the Distance Matrix API web service, providing "a chart that showed the driving distance and journey time between pairs of major cities"
• Google shared an entry named Using the power of mapping to support South Sudan
• There's a new Google Earth Outreach Developer Grants Program
• Traffic information is coming to Google Maps in Sweden and Taiwan
• On the gaming front, here's an entry on the Travel Game and Google Earth as a gameboard
• And there was yet again a new imagery update for Google Earth and Google Maps, with tens of countries getting fresh imagery

From other sources:

• About an hour ago the GEB published an entry on High-res imagery of the Mississippi River flooding in Google Earth
• Google Building Maker supports new cities and offers expanded coverage for others, including Fresno, Lake Tahoe, Austin, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego and St. Louis
• The FGT blog mentions a tool to Generate Custom Color Code For Google Maps
• Here's an entry on powerful drag-and-drop capabilities with HTML5 and the Google Earth Plug-in, and another entry named Quickly share locations using the Google Earth Plug-in
• Inevitably, there's plenty of new Osama bin Laden's compound 3D models for you to explore in Google Earth, and there's even fresh imagery of the area taken on May 2nd

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From the official sources:

• Google announced another imagery update for Google Earth/Maps
• Google detailed their Latitude and Places apps updates for iPhone
• There are new Google Maps domains for 11 countries
• Google shared an entry on marine debris and a kml made by NOAA

From other sources:

• The GEB informs us on four new cities added to Building Maker: Rome, New Orleans, Long Beach, Malibu
• The GEB has an entry on Gigapixel panoramas, a mix of gigapixel images and 360 degrees panaromas
• The GEB shares an entry on the Global Heritage Network: "The Global Heritage Network is the product of successful partnership with Google, Esri and DigitalGlobe, with those companies having donated millions of dollars in critical support, satellite imagery and GIS-mapping technologies to enable early warning and monitoring for 500 global heritage sites."
• The GEB offers an entry on a 3D model of the traditional tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan, Iran.

Plenty of interesting recent Google related geonews.

From the official sources:

• Google Building Maker continues to expand, now with 109 cities, new cities: Oklahoma City, Oslo and The Hague.
• Google Maps 5.0 for Android has been released with plenty of new or improved features
• Google Earth Enterprise 4.1 has been announced: "The new version 4.1 brings with it: 2D Map Cutting and 2D Map Portable Serving, Google Maps API V3 on Google Earth Enterprise Solution and Customized search services for Google Earth."
• An entry to introduce the Google Latitude app for iPhone (a real app, not a web app as before)
• More options have been added to customize preferences when you get directions in Google Maps
• And on the same topi, a tutorial on how to find directions online
• The official developer blog discusses 5 Chrome Web Store Apps that includes maps

From other sources:

• An intriguing way of Skydiving in Google Earth
• The GEB also shares an entry on Android and Google Earth Technology
• James Fee discusses Google's Chrome OS and GIS

Here's recent Google-related geonews:

• The Official blog has an entry on 3D views in Google Earth and the first year anniversary of Google Building Maker.
• And another one on the 'Slooh Space Camera layer' has been added to Goggle Earth's Sky view.
• Styled Maps is now available in the Maps API for Flash
• The GEB shares an entry on Getting started with Google Earth
• The GEB also has an entry named Three decades of watching life recover at Mt. St. Helens
• And another one named Sea Ice Extent Animation updated for 2010 and yes, it's scary
• The last GEB entry starts with travel fly throughs and focuses on how to make videos with Google Earth
• Slashdot discusses a story named Google Maps Adds Drone Imagery
• V1 has an entry named Mapping – Privacy: Google Shifts Communication Strategy in Europe

Here's a first round up of Google-related geonews for the last week.

• Google Earth for Android was updated to v1.1, and now includes the oceans
• StreetView imagery is now available in Google Building Maker, in addition to 6 new Building Maker-enabled cities
• Once again, there's new imagery available in Google Earth and Maps
• Google Lat Long shares an entry for the 5 years of Hurricane Katrina
• If you're a golfer, the Golf Courses layer came back to Google Earth
• Here's a surprising example of location-based html5 music video made by band Arcade Fire and Google, making use of Google Maps and StreetView for your own childhood neighborhood.