- SOLA G2, 3D file to KML converter: Perhaps you remember, way back in 2006, the release of the SOLA converter, which took W3D, 3DS, DXF and OBJ files and turned them into to KML. Now, just released, is SOLA G2 which converts even more 3D file formats into accurately positioned KML. Free for personal use, $50 for commercial use.
- DIY sensor web: Very cool DIY sensor web project warns of forest fires, with sensor states mapped in real time on Google Earth.
- GE Imagery update: Lots of new satellite imagery for developing countries (my favorite kind :-) Details below the fold.
- Virtual Earth for China: Virtual Earth releases a new version of its mapping product for inside the Great Chinese firewall. It now includes an API. I was intrigued to notice that, just as with Google’s Chinese mapping product, Virtual Earth for China is completely devoid of satellite imagery.
- Where 2.0: Plenty of blogging from Where 2.0, nicely aggregated on Planet Geospatial, so I’m not going to engage in second-hand reporting here. My big-picture takeaway is this one big trend: Increasingly sophisticated and deeper access to geodatabases via better APIs and via the adoption of KML as an output standard crawled by Google. API-wise, we’re not just talking Yahoo and Google, but also smaller community oriented players like Rhiza Labs. As for adopting KML, ESRI’s ArcGIS content will automatically be made accessible to Google’s crawlers as KML, and so will GeoServer’s. To resort to a cliche, the buzzword is seamless integration.
- Where 2.0 question: Did Lisa Parks’ presentation really leave a good impression on people at Where 2.0? A talk by her 6 weeks ago appeared to be completely loopy.
- ArcGIS Explorer to do GeoRSS: ArcGIS Explorer gets GeoRSS support. Microsoft Virtual Earth also has GeoRSS support. Why is Google Earth still holding out?
New high resolution imagery:
- Ecuador, Peru, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, India, Iran, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and The Philippines.
- 2.5m imagery for part of Western Australia
Updated Imagery:
Americas:
- USA: LA, San Diego, Houston, Miami, Chicago and Milwaukee area suburbs, New York City area suburbs, much of coastal New Jersey, and Harney County (Oregon).
Europe, Middle East & Africa:
- England: Isle of Man, Suffolk
- Spain: Madrid
- Portugal: Lisbon, Guimaraes, Porto, Sevilla, Coimbra, Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca
- Italy: Milan
- France: Toulon, Montbeliard
- The Netherlands: Assen
Asia & Oceania:
- Armenia: Yerevan
- Australia: Melbourne, Darwin
Updated Terrain:
- Westport, Ireland
- Hawaii
- Puerto Rico
It sounds like Parks gave the same presentation. The IRC channel was buzzing with many “WTF?” comments. I started asking some serious questions about interpretation of spatial media’s ecology. There are a number of assumptions she ignorantly stretched out before us. But on our side, how many of us view our work as “media” and the impact it might have?
So, there was a reflexive reaction on our part as producers not able to whether some criticism. On the other hand, much of it was justified because her research methods and observations are inherently flawed due to access within the geo community. (Aka, asking the wrong questions and people.) She needs to talk to Mark Monmonier and read “How to Lie With Maps” and “Spying With Maps.”
BTW: She edited a book of essays on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” TV show.
Lisa Parks’ presentation was not completely loopy, though many of your criticisms were apt. Satellite photography has become prominent in a short time period, largely thanks to Google Maps/Earth, and not a lot of people are thinking about it critically.
She makes a good point that a lot of people don’t understand how satellite imagery works and and certainly don’t think about it critically. To some extent her talk read as a postmodern critique: far from presenting an ‘objective’ reality, satellite images are taken at a specific point in time and space, by a government or large organization, for a specific reason, and exist within a larger context. That all seems pretty spot on.
However, many of her specific examples were lacking: a jumble of inaccuracies mixed in with pat academy buzzwords. (“Neoliberalism!” “Branding!”) The Old News Media / Google Earth comparison chart was pretty useless, and the discussion of the Darfur Layer similarly misconceived. (OK, I worked on the Darfur Layer, too.)
If I recall correctly, she did amend the talk to note that Google Earth provides timestamps and provider info for visible imagery.
Despite the above reservations, this is a discussion worth having.
To those of us with a practical, scientific bent the speech seems loopy. Those steeped in Modern Literary Theory find it brilliant, I’m sure.
I think the social ramifications of widespread availability of global imagery (which is new, as opposed to the existence of such imagery, which is not) deserve exploration. Unfortunately, Ms. Parks has only a hammer, post-modern deconstructionism, so everything is a nail to her.
In her cloistered academic world, she may not realize that MLT has already turned into self-parody for for a lot of people. I found her talk comedic.