Shorter news: SharpMap does KML, KML Altitude Filler, 26,000 meteorites, OpenDMTP, GeoRSS2KML, GML2KML

  • Morten Nielsen shows how you can use his open source .NET-based map engine SharpMap to serve dynamically generated overlays to Google Earth via network links. If you code with .NET, this link is for you.
  • Have a KML file that is lacking altitude data? Submit it to Nearby.co.uk‘s KML Altitude Filler. (Via Google Earth Community)
  • The locations of 26,000 meteorites found on Earth, with data attached to each. How much do we love GIS?
  • Wow. Search wikipedia dynamically for georeferenced places, then read the article, fly there with Google Earth or find nearby locations. You have to see this in action, even if only for the auto-suggest function… Something for the Google Earth feature wishlist?
  • Something else for the Google Earth feature wishlist: The ability to look up from a location. Why? It would make screenshots like the ones in my previous post much easier to make. In other words, please decouple the viewing angle from the location.
  • For coders: OpenDMTP 1.1.3 now supports exporting data as KML. What is OpenDMTP? Glad you asked:

    OpenDMTP (Open Device Monitoring and Tracking Protocol) is a highly configurable and extensible protocol for communicating with mobile devices over high-latency/low-bandwidth networks. The protocol is particularly geared towards the transmission of GPS base location information and includes a full-featured reference implementation showcasing its capabilities.

  • Another person gets a postive ID in Google Earth. This time, it’s Richard’s grandad.
  • A SketchUp user’s blog! I’ve already asked Allan if he would make his models available as KML. (As an aside: I wonder if architects will balk at sharing their 3D work online for fear of plagiarism and piracy. But isn’t everything online digital, and hence susceptible to the same problem, whether it be text, video or photography?)
  • Electric Sheep, a 3D content creator for Second Life, gets a write-up on CNet. Interesting read. I wonder, is the only difference between architects and Electric Sheep the fact that the works of architects have to obey the laws of physics, whereas the work of Electric Sheep merely has to obey the laws of mathematics?
  • The GIS User blog has a new name and address: Anything Geospatial.
  • Something is big in Japan. I’m not quite sure what, as it is all in Japanese, but it does have an English-language title: Urban landscape search engine. It appears to be an aggregator of Georeferenced photos of places in Japan. It’s intuitive enough to click around, but the reason it’s posted here is that there is a KML network link for Google Earth that turns this into a sort of Japanese geobloggers. (Via GE Maniacs)
  • Phillip Holmstrad, the man behind the most excellent Batch Geocode web app, ruminates on KML as a markup language and compares it to ESRI’s MXD. Comments are interesting too.
  • KML is not the only XML in the GIS space. GeoRSS is another. There’s been a converter around since August 2005, but Ogle Earth missed it until it was pointed out in a comment today by Nearby.co.uk‘s Barry Hunter. Voila: GeoRSS2KML.
  • Another XML format for GIS is Geography Markup Language (GML), an open standard supported by the Open Geospatial consortium. Ed Parsons points to the aptly named GML Viewer, while Fantom Planet comes to grips with the 600+ pages in the specification. BTW, the only converter I’ve managed to find that takes GML and produces KML is an XSLT stylesheet called GML2KML by Cybarber, found on Google Earth Community.

One thought on “Shorter news: SharpMap does KML, KML Altitude Filler, 26,000 meteorites, OpenDMTP, GeoRSS2KML, GML2KML”

  1. Your entry reminded me of some posts by TJ1 to the GEC with maths for calculating the positions, so I put together this page to test out some of the equations. You input where you are and the direction you want to look, and it will create a placemark in an approriate position and set the view to look at it. Source is included, and if there is interest could look at extending this… (now of course if it was native to GE then wouldnt need to do this!)

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