nearby.org.uk blog

Google has just announced a new Google Earth API - which allows embedding and fully functional Google Earth in just about any webpage. Even is easily intergratable with Google Maps API mashups - with very little extra code. (takes a number of seconds for that news to sink in!)

Be sure to checkout the samples, (particularly the milktruck demo!), I’ve also started trying it out with a few demos of my own…

…Windows only btw…

Expect A LOT MORE from this very flexible looking API - the JS interface can quickly interact with objects (API is based around KML) and gets pretty good control of interface options.

Update: mentioned on gearthblog.com which is a good introduction about what this is and what its not!

Update2: and to show it can basically be added to a ‘real world’ Gmaps mashup, in a few lines of code, see here

While playing with the new navigation in Google Earth 4.3, noticed its not always easy to get your bearings (bad pun), also been wanting to play in PSP today, so set to do something about both. The result? A ScreenOverlay showing a compass star on the navigation control.

. GE Compass Star (without numbers)

Note: I do also have a network link that shows the more exact bearing as a placemark label.

(part inspired by)

Updated to add: This has inspired a similar compass that rotates, nice work Gerardo64!

First - User Based Navigation - without a Special Controller, FINALLY! GEarthBlog has more details of the new navigation controls - quite different - and lots of options now, but first impressions - it works well.

But actually downloading it? I followed a tip here, to the older download page. Not been in the US, never heard of the Updater thing they talk about, but that’s another story. Anyway that page offered to download me the old version, but poking around in the source leads to the latest. Of course by the time you read this it should be live for everyone anyway!

Disapointments:

• Still no Space Navigator support inside the photoviewer - why, oh WHY?
• The Overview map is still broken But at least it doesn’t give error messages now - just big Red X’s!
• Not a biggy, but a quirk, the new ‘Sunshine’ - or rather the shadow doesn’t affect 3d Models :p (but the screenshot on GEB seems to have lighting - video driver?) [Update: it seems some do, but not all, possibly the new photorealistic ones that dont...]

But to end on positive note, the new buildings and streetview look good - even if not available here. Oh and the photoviewer hasnt managed to crash GE yet!

Update: Just noticed they fixed the bug with truncation in the Properties dialog when entering lat/long

Google Earth has just had its latest update, following tradition the Google LatLong blog releases a cryptic set of clues to the areas effected.

2) jumped out at me considering had to learn that name for school, and being reasonably local. However even more excitedly I notice that pretty much the whole of Wales looks distinctly uniform from far away - suggesting that this update covers pretty much the whole Country - the parts in the distant south not included seems to mostly in high res already - being the most populous!

Doesn’t Snowdonia look pretty now? (and the rest of Wales too!)

(Update: follow this post on gearthblog.com for other updates)

Following part 1 yesterday, have now plotted some maps per individual service.

Flash Earth Layer

Conclusions

1. Google Earth does request a link for the initial view on startup - that point in the Atlantic.
2. I guess North American installs have two slightly different default placemarks; has it changed, or maybe Canada gets a different one?
3. But that doesnt explain the lines from there - people must have their links set to periodically refresh?
4. Germany likes FlashEarth (or rather people like looking at Germany with FlashEarth link enabled)
5. Many people leave the links open even when not in use - e.g. the British Isles links show worldwide usage, notably over Russia.
6. MGRS notably has high usage in two areas.
7. The Far east likes to know what direction they facing.

Update: In a total forehead slapping momont realised these unprojected whole world images, are exactly what is used in GroundOverlays, so the the pages now include links to view the higher resolution images directly in Google Earth, duh!

Example: View In Google Earth (don’t forget to try adjusting the tranparency slider!) [Update, to fix broken link, sorry!]

As some may know this site serves a number of Network Links for Google Earth, for a long time I have thought it would be fun to map the data from that, but finally got round to trying it. This is still work in progress, so the current images are very much easly tests, but shows promise, hopefully can make some better visualizations - maybe even as KMZ

‘Lookat’ point v1: (click for 145k version)

View In Google Earth (don’t forget to try adjusting the tranparency slider!)

Shows some interesting patterns, there are a number of lines on the map, and definitily appears to be flight lines, I suspect this is from people leaving tours on loop, and a fudging a networklink to refresh periodically. Not sure how else to explain such repeatable loops - can a large number of visitors really be all following the same route? I’ll investigate this more in follow up map(s).

But WHAT is that point in the middle of the Atlantic?

Update: this is from about 900k hits from aug-nov ‘07 - still processing the rest of the data!

Update 2: More maps here, all maps seem to to show the same overall pattern which is slightly puzzling, eg the IPs graph suggests that many users are following these flight lines.

For a project wanted to create a small script to make generation of network link wrappers to KML content easy, but then I thought could have it create ’short’ urls, ala tinyurl.com, to make reuse easy. But then thought if going to that trouble might as well make it a full blown mini application, so I give you

goKML.net :: Short Links to KML content

I think it turned out pretty well (esp for just an evenings hacking) - it even has an element of ‘design’ - which is saying something!

So if you want to create a network link wrapper with the minimum of fuss, and might enjoy having it as a short url, then give it a go.

Of course there are still a few things that could be done, but will leave these for another day…

• Auto discover the ‘title’
• Intelligence for ‘My Map’s - eg support multiple pages, and maybe some other KML types.
• Actually make the admin page useful - display stats (they are stored already) , and edit the link
• A public gallery of popular/new etc links - maybe even some sort of search - esp if we can do rudimentary indexing of the content (when fetch the title)
• Support for named links eg could choose gokml.net/fredsparty.kml
• Complete the support for the various network link options - particulaly making it easier to select the appropriate settings.
• Maybe even support for forwarding the link by email (and/or sending the admin link to yourself)
• Any thing you can think of - let me know!

Now that Google have just announced a brand spanking new NON JS Maps API, to be able to display maps with a simple img tag, similar to the Chart API. Well I thought it would be fun to re-purpose the
FlashEarth code to create a network link to display Google Maps in a popup balloon on Google Earth. Not totally sure the utility, but sure is fun (until the novelty wears off!)

Open in Google Earth

Hopefully needless to say the map inside the balloon is static and non draggable.

Update to clarify: You get to draw 1,000 maps daily, which is probably plenty, but go over that and the maps will stop working for you.

Update: as alluded to in the official post, you can use the static API to load a quick map, while the rest of the page loads, then at the last minute change it into a dynamic map. A series of demos showing various ways of lazy loading!

Lately I have have been playing a lot with displaying KML files on various properties of Googles, and I thought it was about time I bookmarked the useful pages for my own reference - Firefox has them in the recent list now, but in 2 months time? Anyway in the end thought it would only take bit longer to collate them in a webpage, and make them dynamic links, so without further ado:

Useful links for publishing a KML via Google

Remembering back to the good ol’ pre SpaceNavigator days, when Google Earth was stuck in ‘Earth Based’ mode, and I created ViewFrom, have created a new version that uses the <Camera> functionality to do it more accurately, but at the same wrapping it in a networklink for ease of use…

- ViewFlip (recent GE 4.2+ required)

… open opening this you should get an arrow in the middle of view. Click it and choose to either Flip! (swap position*) or Look Around (which gives you a folder of viewpoints to look out from the point of the arrow). So a sort of basic ‘User Based’ movements, which really (IMHO) should be part of part of the default GE installation - without needed addons.

*There is a few oddities with this - but mostly works. Also you will get a bunch of features in your Temporally Places - GE doesn’t seem to be able to load a KML that just changes the view (which there is no need to show in the Places there are no features)

Update: 25th Jan, Thanks to a suggestion from Frank Taylor the “lookaround” groups are now available at multiple altitudes, nothing new to download, its all done by magic. (let me know if other heights would be useful)