Still catching up, here's the recent Google-related geonews for the month.

From official sources:

• Because lots of us use it, Six tips and tricks for the new Google Maps app
• Improved traffic and more in Google Maps, New features ahead: Google Maps and Waze apps better than ever
• Google is Building Better Maps in Russia and Hong Kong
• And there's Google Map Maker now available in Bulgaria, Italy, San Marino and the Vatican
• With its recent launch, here's more locations and behind-the-scenes of Google Views
• We even get zoos in Street View now, Visit lion, tigers and (panda) bears - Oh, my! - with Street View

From other sources:

• It was a matter of time, and it's now, Ads Appear on Google Maps Mobile Apps
• The GEB shares an informative entry on The legal uses of Google Earth
• Expected, Google continues to expand 3D imagery, but starting to phase out 3D Warehouse
• Another Google Earth curiosity understood, The Kazakhstan Pentagram explained
• Almost in the same category, Sunken ships in Google Earth
• A discussion, Google Glass Integration For Cars Is Coming: Neat Idea Or Crazy Town?
• Quick tips on Measuring distances with the Google Earth Ruler
• More on Exploring the moon in Google Earth
• Interesting, Using Google Earth to understand geomorphology

A batch mode edition while on holidays. Next one will be late August since I'll be away from computers (and even without electricity!) for a few weeks.

From the open source / open data front:

• With open source software, you can get Super Sharp 50cm Pléiades Satellite Imagery on MapBox, "Any point on Earth, everyday, with 50cm resolution. With this guide you can go from image download to rendered maps in minutes, all with open software."
• Here's a Digital Trends article named Google Map Maker vs. OpenStreetMap: Which mapping service rules them all?
• With Foursquare direct OpenStreetMap editing, could encourage others to provide the same direct OSM editing (via Mapperz)
• Fiona 1.0 released, "Fiona is OGR's neat, nimble, no tears API", a Python library
• Work continues, OpenLayers 3.0 alpha 4
• Interesting, Why OpenGeo Has Taken on Outside Investment

From the Esri front:

• There's New Developer Subscriptions for ArcGIS Online​
• Esri and open source, New Esri Open Source Javascript Projects: Esri-Leaflet, Geoservices.js, Terraformer, Pushlet
• Still competing, Esri and MapBox play well together via Arc2Earth
• More integration with Microsoft too, Esri Maps for SharePoint 3.0 Released!

From the Google front: 

• Google is Introducing “Views” - A new way to contribute your 360° photo spheres to Google Maps
• Many will be happy, Google pushing out 3D Imagery at a rapid pace, with about 150 new cities with the 3D imagery
• Not intuitive, What the imagery dates really mean in Google Earth
• Tips on Making high-quality movies with Google Earth
• I have one too and I agree, The SpaceNavigator remains the best way to use Google Earth

A big bunch of geospatial-related news discussed over Slashdot:

• We mentioned a few times GPS spoofing, Students Hijack $80 Million Superyacht With GPS Spoofing
• Autonomous, aka driverless cars, are really getting closer, Full-Size Remote Control Cars
• For 3D printing, Fuel3D Start-Up Promises Affordable Point-and-Shoot 3D Scanner
• And an 'undo', 3D Printing In Gel Enables Freeform Design and an Undo Function
• Privacy again, Fifth Circuit Upholds Warrantless Cellphone Location Tracking
• Privacy in Russia, Moscow Subway To Use Special Devices To Read Data On Passengers' Phones
• And we told you before that RFID isn't safe, Long Range RFID Hacking Tool To Be Released At Black Hat
• Drones in the sky? No, that's underwater drones now, DARPA Hydra: An Unmanned Sub Mothership to Deploy Drones
• Stores too, Retail Stores Plan Elaborate Ways To Track You
• Crowdsourcing the perception of cities via pictures, MIT's "Hot Or Not" Site For Neighborhoods Could Help Shape Cities
• If you feel up to, DIY Satellite Tracking
• To end with a map, A Circular New York City Subway Map To Straighten Things Out

In the everything-else category:

• Geoff shares a summary of the UN report on The future of national mapping agencies over the next 5-10 years - this is a must read even to those not in the governmental sector
• More free imagery, from the Sentinel satellite this time, The European Commission Plans Remote Sensing Satellites and Free Access to their Data  
• Apple is looking to improving power management of mobile devices by remembering charging locations and usage patterns 
• Interested in contributing to Apple Maps? Apple Filling Out its 'Ground Truth' Mapping Team with New Regional and Local Job Listings
• For your non-geo colleagues, Get to Know a Projection: Mercator
• Here's a 4-minutes video, DigitalGlobe takes a look at the last 50 years of the satellite industry
• An ESA article on watching wetlands from space

In the maps category:

• Cars, Visualizing New York’s Road Accidents With the Interactive ‘Crashmapper’

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From official sources:

• Excellent news, there's now only clear skies on Google Maps and Earth, cloudless imagery at least in the northern hemisphere to start with
• Google Earth 7.1 for Android and iOS was released and now features Street View imagery
• You can now apply to get the Street View Trekker kit to contribute to Google Maps, also discussed over Slashdot
• Here's the new list of supported browsers for JavaScript Maps API v3, that list was last updated 3 years ago!
• Google Maps additions:
  • Japan's Battleship Island in now featured in Google Maps, discussed over Slashdot
  • Fans of Thomas Jefferson, there are now Street View images of Monticello’s grounds and some building interiors in Google Maps
  • Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper, is now in Street View

From other sources:

• The GEB reports a quiet major update to Street View and 3D imagery, with 3D imagery in 50 news cities
• Here's the Tour de France in Google Earth on Android
• Also interesting is the exploration of 25,000 ancient sites in Google Earth with the Megalithic Portal
• Kurt shows coastal erosion rates in the entry Google TimeLapse for coastal and marine applications

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From official sources:

• Google participated to TIME's new Timelapse Project, providing an interactive time-lapse satellite imagery map for the 29 last years  - this was also discussed over Slashdot
• Google also shares a short entry named Bridging the gaps with Street View
• Here's was to expect later this week from Behind the Map at Google I/O
• A week left now, An update on the JavaScript Maps API v2 deprecation

From other sources:

• The Google Earth Android app got a nice update, including native Street View support
• Slashdot discussed a story named Tesla's Elon Musk Talks With Google About Self-Driving Cars
• Unsurprisingly, there was new imagery to Google Earth

Specifically on Google Glass Project:

• Let's start with a discussion named Google Glass Hands-On: Brimming With Potential, Dangerous While Driving
• APB links to a Google Glass Navigation Review, and it's pretty positive
• Someone had to ask, Is Google Glass Too Nerdy For the Mainstream?
• This will likely improve, but for now Google Glass Is the Future — and the Future Has Awful Battery Life
• And yes, Google Glass will work with iPhones too

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

On the open source front:

• Both Leaflet and MapBox are current hot topics, today you get both in the same announcement: Announcing MapBox.js 1.0 with Leaflet
• With open data, there's no limit to new services... here's OpenSnowMap, leveraging OpenStreetMap and MODIS snow cover data (via OGD)
• GeoTools 9.1 has been released
• And GeoServer 2.3.1 too
• Here's the open source OSCAR-js javascript map API, which "extends OpenLayers and uses popular UI libraries (jQuery UI and YUI)"
• The FOSS4G CEE conference completed their Keynote Speakers lineup

On the Google front:

• The GEB informs us that Google Earth 7.1 has been released, with enhancements mostly for the Google Earth Pro 7.1 version
• Google is Celebrating the 50th country on Street View, with Hungary and Lesotho being the latest additions, with expansions in Poland and Romania
• For those interested, The Boston Marathon Manhunt in Google Earth
• If you prefer Ice Hockey, here's The world of Hockey in Google Earth
• Canadian Public Alerts are now included in Google Now, Google Search and Google Maps

In the everything-else category:

• Here's the U.S. New Strategy for Earth Observations, directly from the White House: "The new Strategy outlines a process for evaluating and prioritizing Earth-observation investments according to their value to society in critical areas such as agriculture, global change, disasters, water resources, and weather."
• The Spatial Law blog offers a summary on Privacy of geolocation: the new European and American law
• Indications that Facebook and Google Would Like Apple to Feature Them More Prominently on iOS
• An interesting entry on crisis cartography
• Discussed over Slashdot, Should California Have Banned Checking Smartphone Maps While Driving?
• Also discussed by the same site, Why Local Is So Damn Hard For Startups: Foursquare Borrows $41M To Try Again
• On standards, interesting read the consequences of the GeoJSON 1.0 axis order policy (via James)
• Also on standards, in this OGC blog entry, you'll learn about the efforts related OGC OpenPOIs Registry: "A database of points of interest information containing names and point locations for millions of businesses and civic places across the globe"
• The GEB tells us about the new Geo3D Market website, a place to buy and sell 3D models
• APB informs us that Microsoft Updates Maps App in Windows 8
• From the same source, a definition of geoblocking: "Geoblocking is the system used to limit your access to the internet, based on your geographic location."

In the maps category:

• APB links to a Greenpeace Map of the Arctic, nicely wrapped I must admit
• In Vietnam, you may get a 2,400$ fine for National Map violations
• A New chart shows the entire topography of the Antarctic seafloor in detail for the first time
• Via APB, an article named Can quality of life be mapped?

That's the name of a story discussed over Slashdot, Iran Plans To Launch an 'Islamic Google Earth'. This is nothing new to our readers, we mentioned Iran's Basir initiative in. Iran is also not alone, with China and India amongst others that built or wanted to build Google Earth alternatives.

Their summary: "The Iranian authorities have long accused Google Earth of being a tool for western spy agencies, but now they have taken their attacks on the 3D mapping service one step further — by planning the launch of an 'Islamic' competitor. ... The minister, however, gave little information on what he meant by an Islamic 3D map. 'We are developing this service with the Islamic views we have in Iran and we will put a kind of information on our website that would take people of the world towards reality Our values in Iran are the values of God and this would be the difference between Basir and the Google Earth, which belongs to the ominous triangle of the U.S., England and the Zionists [a reference to Israel].' Experts, however, have serious doubts about the project. An IT consultant who has worked on Iran's national internet project in the past said the announcement was merely an excuse to obtain funds and secure working contracts for the future. 'They have claimed to run their service in four months and said their data centre capacity will reach Google's size in three years,' he said. 'Three-year project, no business model and only relying on government funding, a piece of cake indeed To have a data centre with such capacity and security level they need power stations, cooler systems, bandwidth, etc, which will require billions of dollars of investment that doesn't fit with Iran's sanctions-hit economy.'"

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From official sources:

• A new mapping tool offered by Google, Create, collaborate and share advanced custom maps with Google Maps Engine Lite (Beta): "Of course, experts aren’t the only ones who love to make maps. Today we're launching Google Maps Engine Lite (Beta), so any mapping enthusiast can now create and share robust custom maps using this powerful, easy-to-use tool. You can import small spreadsheets of locations onto a comprehensive map, visualize those places through a variety of styling and drawing options, and organize and compare up to three different data sets for your non-business purposes." For those who don't remember, 'Google Maps Engine' is the new name of what was known as 'Google Earth Builder'.

• Google also started looking for Explorers to test drive Google Glass, which we will definitely hear often about in the coming months - Slashdot discusses Google Glass in three discussions: Lawmakers Seek To Ban Google Glass On the Road, Should We Be Afraid of Google Glass? and Google Glass and Surveillance Culture
• There's Live transit information in more cities on Google Maps: "live departure times for seven lines on the New York City subway system (MTA), as well as for buses and trams in the greater Salt Lake City area (UTA). With these updates – part of the millions of live transit schedule updates we process every day – you get instant access to the latest information right on Google Maps, making trip planning a cinch."
• Google released Imagery on Google Maps of Fukushima Exclusion Zone Town Namie-machi also discussed over Slashdot in a story named Google Releases Street View Images From Fukushima Ghost Town
• If there's a Pirate in you, or you have kids, you might be interested in Finding treasures with Google Maps, related, here's about Teaching about the ocean floor with Google Earth
• Google invites us to Explore Everest, Kilimanjaro and more with Google Maps
• If you're a non-profit organization, you might be interested in making a map that will change the world with Google Earth Outreach Developer Grants
• Other minor official entries include: Google Maps shows Amazon funds at work, Trekker takes on Canada’s Arctic Winter and A behind-the-scenes look at our latest Google Maps special collection

From other sources:

• The GEB has a short entry on Managing KML and KMZ files on mobile devices
• What used to require a GIS, here's about Using Google Earth terrain data to plan wireless networks
• APB share links about Google Indoor Mapping: Does it Work? WIll it Save Brick and Mortar Retail from Web Competitors?
• APB also shares an entry on Queensland Putting its Data On Google Earth
• Guess what, there was new imagery to Google Earth a bit less than 2 weeks ago, other minor stories from the GEB includes Researchers rediscover lost butterfly species with the help of Google Earth, Race Formula One tracks with Google Earth and An in-depth look at the history of Street View

I have a lot of geonews to catchup. You'll get everything that's pertinent (at least from my point of view ;-), but just a bit later than usual. Thanks for your patience!

Here's the recent Google-related geonews. Nothing major, but several interesting items.

From official sources:

• The first update to the Google Maps SDK for iOS
• Google informs us that Ski Resorts are now on Google Maps

From other sources:

• The GEB informs us that Google released 3D imagery in Berne (Switzerland), Anaheim (California) and other cities around the world
• Ogle Earth has an entry named Reconstructing the Chelyabinsk meteor’s path, with Google Earth, YouTube and high-school math
• Related, the GEB has an entry named Mapping meteor impacts
• Still the same source a book named "Google Earth and Virtual Visualizations in Geoscience Education and Research"
• The GEB shares a kmz to watch U.S. watersheds in Google Earth
• The GEB reminds us that we can animate GPS tracks in Google Earth
• You're an Olympics fan? Previewing the Winter Olympics in Sochi
• If you prefer Grand Prix racing, Ride along GP tracks from all over the world
• There has been games for Google Earth for a while, but now we're talking about multiplayer games: Two player driving shooter game in Google Earth

Here's the recent Google geonews in batch mode.

From official sources:

• Google published more detailed maps of North Korea, to the point where Slashdot discussed a story named North Korea's Prison Camps Are Now On Google Maps with this summary: ""It's been nearly a decade since Shin Dong-hyuk, an ex-prisoner of North Korea's Camp 14, crawled over the electrocuted body of a friend lying dead on a fence, a boundary he was born inside of and lived within for 23 years. He made his way across the Chinese border on foot and was granted political asylum and citizenship in Seoul. Now, thanks to updated Google maps of the region, you can actually (if somewhat loosely) retrace the steps of his incredible escape. Through its Map Maker program, which crowdsources cartographic info, Google has published finer details of some North Korean roads. More notably, it has included shaded-in locations of the country's notorious prison camps. The data has flowed in from a few different sources, including defected North Korean expats now living in Seoul. Geographically-minded tourists and visitors of North Korea have weighed in, and historic map data from pre-partitioned Korea into has also been helpful. (Google maintains that the recent trip to Pyongyang by CEO Eric Schmidt had nothing to do with this project.)"
• Google invites you to explore the Grand Canyon on Google Maps
• An official entry named Google + Audi: Enhancing Navigation

From other sources, this time all from the GEB blog:

• Nothing less than 100,000 new tours added to Google Earth
• A nice addition, You can now view Android "photo spheres" in Google Earth
• There's New Street View imagery from the Grand Canyon, Japan, Lithuania and updates elsewhere
• First time I see this, Using Google Earth for 3D Property Listings basically showing apartments for rent over 3D buildings

Here's the recent Google-related geonews, including the holiday break.

From various sources:

• Here's an update on Google Project Glass, with the feature set and state of its augmented reality apps, APB also shares a summary
• Apparently, Google Maps on Windows Phone 8 was blocked by Google, it's not the case anymore
• The GEB compiled The Year in Google Earth, a nice summary of what happened on that front
• Slashdot wonders what was spotted in the Chinese desert with Google Earth, and Ogle Earth provide the answers along with a great quote: "It is above all a story about technology racing ahead of our ability to put it into context."
• Updates to the Google Earth Flight Simulator