Content on Google somehere, somehow?

I don’t know if anyone is interested in this stuff, but have been for a long time being trying to make sence of the various ‘geo’ properties operated by Google and quite a bit on how to get indexed and exposure for your content.

Update: There has been some misconception about what this diagram represents – it is only intended to cover getting content in KML/KMZ files on your website listed and indexed in Google Properties. It’s sort of murky in that content you submit to other websites are sort of included to show they end up in various indexes. It does not cover business listings at all which for the most part is sepetate totally. 

 

GeoIndex Overview Diagram

GeoIndex Overview Diagram

Links for the purple circles:

  1. http://www.nearby.org.uk/gadget-for-kml.php
  2. http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kmlSearch.html
  3. http://maps.google.com/ig/submit?synd=mpl&pid=mpl
  4. http://earth.google.com/submit.html
  5. http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=68480
  6. http://earth.google.com/gallery/index.html
  7. http://www.panoramio.com/help#about_GE
  8. http://bbs.keyhole.com/

probably incomprehensible, but hopefully useful to someone? Questions or feedback welcome.

Update: notable perhaps for its exclusion, is Outreach – Oops, version 2 perhaps?

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15 Responses to “Content on Google somehere, somehow?”

  1. Very cool charts. What does Auto Geo Feed Definition refer to? When you note “small delay”, how much?

    I am a little confused by the relationships you show between the geo index, Google Maps and the properties in #7…doesn’t all gointo the geo index and then come back out into Maps one way or the other?

    I find them useful now if I could only figure out how Google prioritizes them and uses them for ranking of other information.

  2. [...] of Nearby.org.uk, one of the most knowledgeable people about Google Maps and Google Earth, has created a flow chart show the path that geo referenced information takes from the KML file on your  website into [...]

  3. Barry says:

    @Mike, dealing with points in order..

    > What does Auto Geo Feed Definition refer to?
    When you submit a KML file to the Google Earth Gallery, Google uses a script hosted on Google Maps to create a .xml GeoFeed Definition. This is used in a few other places within Google (eg in saving KML to MyMaps) but this is is the main public interface to it. Its not that flexible in that it doesn’t get all information from the KML, so usually its best to create one manually, but then you can’t submit these to the GEarth Gallery, so they need to be submitted via the Google Maps ‘Directory’ ;)

    > When you note “small delay”, how much?
    About as long as piece of string. :p However I have seen 6 weeks quoted in the KML support group and it seems to match my observations.

    > relationships you show between the geo index, Google Maps and the properties in #7…

    They all are held in different databases, eg in Google Maps context Panoramio and Wikipedia are exposed in the ‘More’ button, some more of the properties have mapplets in the Directory (and/or the ‘Popular Content’ section on the main MyMaps page)
    The GeoIndex powers the ‘User Created Content’ searches you get in GMaps and GEarth – it aggregates data from all over the web – including MyMaps and the properties, but also third party websites. In addition MyMaps themselves are exposed in some places more directly – eg the ‘User Created Maps’ mapplet.

    All in all, data all over the place!

  4. martijn says:

    Interesting graph! printed it and pinned it to the wall :p
    the only thing i find a bit peculiar is that there is no arrow back from GeoIndex to Google Search Index -> the way universal search is being applied/dragged into this.

    btw: interesting note about geofeed definition/.xml, have to look into that.

  5. Barry says:

    @martijn, I did wonder about that. Technically I think there must be a seperate (maybe cut down?) geoindex that powers Universal search, it contains more metadata than the standard index, and so possibly doesnt actully exist in the same database.

  6. masterix says:

    This graph is very interesting, thanks for this. I didn’t know that user generated content could be visible in GE through GeoIndex, I knew only about GM. So thanks one more time!

  7. Mano Marks says:

    Barry, awesome as always. I’d love to see added Earth and Maps API to the Your Website bar.

  8. Frank Taylor says:

    Seems like there are some missing connections. For example, web sites can have links to KML which go to Google Maps. And Google Maps can have links that open in Google Earth (using the URL output=kml trick, the My Maps, or through mashups).

  9. Frank Taylor says:

    Also, what about the network link? :-)

  10. Barry says:

    @Mano

    I tried to concentrate on ‘your’ KML visible on Googles ‘properties’ – but I suppose the APIs could be considered ‘mini’ properties on yuor own site – and yes both can consume the KML almost directly.

    @Frank

    Again I tried to concentrate on ways of getting content into ‘indexes’, those methods need instegating by a user to view in a property.
    Not sure what you mean by N-L’s but I suspect it coverred by the last answer ;) [but then again a NL pointing to content somewhere on a Google Property - can be indexed by the GeoIndex - and hence more discoverable - enter gokml.net ;) ]

  11. Barry says:

    3D warehouse is also missing, drat!

  12. Beaker says:

    Thanks for this!
    For someone like me, just starting out, it’s great to have a better understanding of how content moves through the system.
    This really helped me piece together all the stray bits of information and get a clear and comprehensive overview.
    Great work.

  13. Barry

    >I think there must be a seperate (maybe cut down?) geoindex that powers
    >Universal search, it contains more metadata than the standard index, and so
    > possibly doesnt actully exist in the same database.

    Why do you think that the universal search geoindex contains more metadata than the standard index? What type of metadata?

    Mike

  14. Barry says:

    @Mike

    To clarify I meant more than the normal search index (not the normal geoindex) – just in case that wasnt clear.

    By metadata – I mean geographical coordinates estentically – but also maybe some metadata to ‘group’ locations that are likly the same. the main search index probably contains such things but is unlikly to be optimised for geographical searching – its just too big and wasteful. So in addition to the main search index, universal search will also search a number of other indexes (eg the uni-geoindex, uni-videos etc… ).

    As a bit of useless information it looks like the ‘geoindex’ that gmaps uses is powered by the same technology as base – which allows geographic searching now :) – I would love to try out base as a generic ‘database in the cloud’ (I dont mind if the content is indexed in google search) – via its a API – but still unsure of its ToU…

  15. [...] Google indexe les données géographiques (type kml) présentes sur votre site via nearby.org.uk par le célèbre Barry [...]