One Map To Rule Them All.

So this is pretty sweet. About a year ago I was in the Caribbean. It was nice. Then sometime after I got back Google launched something called "Map Maker". Its basically a copy of Google maps that people can edit in certain regions, wiki-style. One of those not mapped was Grand Cayman, which I had limited but first-hand knowledge of. So I went to town making little roads and buildings, trying to match up the satellite image with my memory and photos I'd taken. After a little searching I even found a scanned tourist map of the area that told me road names and points of interest. I digitized as much as made sense and promptly forgot about it. My knowledge was pretty much exhausted after 21.9 km of roads and 22 business listings, hey, I was only there for a few hours.

As of today, my account is 337 days old and Google is announcing that they're rolling Map Maker changes into real Google Maps for those newly updated areas.

• Google LatLong: Map Maker Graduation: Part II

A quick comparison shows that, yup, maps looks pretty much the same as the user generated map Maker version. But more importantly is how much detail is found on Grand Cayman now. There was literally nothing there when I started. (actually the island polygon was .5 km west of the satellite imagery) And random people with personal experience filled in the gaps. Other people helped with formatting and bam, all of a sudden there's a useful reference tool online.

• Map Maker

I guess I find this interesting because its what I though they were going for when they started the project and it actually worked. To try crowd sourcing obscure information. People don't really want compensation, they just want to collaborate, and maybe hope that people who know something they don't will share too.

The watering hole.

Okay, so this is really amusing. I'm away from the socializing to make a phone call (and cause I hate socializing) and I'm observing an interesting trend. Guys are walking around this corner for the restroom and they invariably see the big-ass men's room sign. However the newbies all turn left once in the alcove, although the true entrance lies to the right. So its a pretty easy categorization. Newly drunk men walk past, turn left and then walk past again to get to the John. Guys who've had more to drink round the corner and head straight to their destination; they've been there before. And guys who are eight drinks in are standing across the hall taking pictures and blogging the whole event...

At Long Freaking Last!

Wow, I was beginning to think this day would never come. A day of hope and enlightenment for all. Real change in the way business gets done in DC. Yes, today Google released Street View Data for Washington DC and Baltimore! Let the people pour from their buildings and dance in the streets! Hooray!

• GOOGLE Lat Long BLog: Street View Elects DC, Baltimore and Seattle

and holy crap is there a lot of coverage.

Rocking the DC Public Works GIS.

Color me impressed. I've seen pedestrian signs or streetlights out and thought to my self "aren't we living in a time when citizens could be leveraged to submit and track things like this with the appropriate departments? I bet they just have a guy driving around in a truck looking for burned out bulbs." Well I just requested a bulk trash pickup without picking up the phone and with out speaking to a single person. Not only that, but the DC government provides access to all the requests submitted by citizens, so you can tell what's going on where and why its taking so long to address your concern. Much better than I was expecting guys. And your data warehouse is pretty substantial too. Good job!


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• DC Data Catalog and Data Feeds

Like Giving My Toys Away To The Neighborhood Kids.

So I thought I was all cool with my Pocket PC version of Google Maps that came out at the beginning of February.  Its a nice little app that runs from the google maps services without the need for flash or java.  But the real sweet part was the real time traffic overlay that wasn't available in full-out google maps.  I guess it couldn't last forever, and Google put an end to my oneups-manship by releasing traffic for normal maps.  Damn, now I've got to think of some other esoteric technology that I can lord over you.  Ummm... how about OpenId?  Its getting big and I'll be you're not on the train yet.

• Download Squad: Real Time Traffic Updates on Google Maps

Google Update.

I'll try and get this out of the way as quickly as possible for you non-fanboys.

Extremely premature speculation about a Google branded phone. Hell yeah; I believe I suggested this when I spazzed out about apple in September of 2005. Anyway, there are rumors that they're talking with Orange and HTC to get their mobile search on. I can't freakin wait. But I will, because unlike some companies, I expect Google to do this right.

• The Google phone - coming soon? - Download Squad

I pretty much only use Google Maps to find the locations of stuff online. (was talking with a friend on the phone last week and he said "hang on, let me Google Map it" which made me smile, cause the standard used to be Map Quest or some other service that I can't even remember now.) Anyway, Google Maps has been getting better and better. (the call feature, the my locations feature) But now they're getting around to adding things that everyone has been asking for. Like directions to multiple locations. Yahoo! maps had this a while ago, and I nearly switched over for it. Luckily now I can stop at a liquor store on my way to wherever I'm headed and I don't have to use a Yahoo! product to find it.

• Google Maps multiple destinations - Lifehacker

Patents are becoming more important, especially since there's a kind of cold war going on. Companies snatching up all the patents they can, and making them as broad as they can, so that when (yeah I said when) they get sued for patent infringement they can threaten a counter-suit with a just as frivolously vague patent on some other technology. I can't wait for the first three way patent escalation litigation. Well, Google's tapped into the US patent system so you can see if your idea for a hood mounted turtle slingshot has already been claimed. Or I spose you could use it to get your hopes up about new Apple products that'll never be released.

• Official Google Blog: Now you can search for U.S. patents

Don't Hack My Junx. Please.

Google Earth is sweet. It's a standard piece of software using technology that, while once innovative, is becoming very standard in the uses of GIS. Maybe I have a little more experience with this than some people but its not really the software that makes Google Earth noteworthy. Sure, the program combines services into a fairly seamless and performance based output; but its the services that are the godsend. Services are hosted data gathered by content providers. They may include: aerial photography, satellite imagery, ground coverage, elevation, topology, land use, lidar, utilities, roads, boundaries, etc. Getting this data from Tele Atlas or the other publishing companies isn't cheap. That's why the original Google Earth software company, Keyhole, was a subscription based utility.

So when Google started absorbing that cost (obviously supplementing themselves in some other way) it was a great leap towards bringing GIS to the everyman. So when I read the first part of this article about Gaia, an effort to reverse engineer Google Earth to make open development efforts, I was skeptical. Its not really cool to sponge off Google's subscriptions to services just because you want to. They're providing free access to pay-content with a decent application. Reading further down the paragraph, that's what Google told these developers:

they do not own the data, and neither does Google. It is licensed to Google on the restriction that it is not to be accessed or used outside Google's client software.

Yep, that's pretty much the situation. If you guys are interested in 3D GIS you can work on lots of different projects, you just have to get your own content. Check out ArcGIS Explorer from ESRI. Its like Google Earth but you add your own services, or ones that you have legal access to. That's the kind of program you should be interested in releasing to the public; not one with someone else's services hard coded in. ESRI even provides some free services (mostly from Tele Atlas) to get you started.

• Open source Google Earth clone canceled - Download Squad