Citation from the Petition:

In order not to lose many highly encouraged developers, I think its time to release some news about the development process of the SDK. Maybe let us know why we have to live with these long release-cycles.

With an online Petition the programmes would force Google to announce a new version.

Several developers are thinking to adapt their applications for other frameworks like the iPhone SDK, Windows mobile, Symbian or OpenMoko. I’m looking forward to see Googles reaction.

Petition: http://www.anddev.org/petition/

[via: derStandard]

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

How you can getting started

(original excerpt form the homepage)

The most important class you’ll need to use every time, is the geKML class.  This class will be the one responsible for writing the proper KML header information, and it will also kick off the generation of the rest of the KML objects.

To instantiate the geKML object, you will first need to decide what your “root” KML object will be.  It can be any object that Google Earth will recognize as a root object.  Popular choices are the Feature classes (NetworkLink, Placemark, ScreenOverlay, GroundOverlay, Folder, Document).  For simplicity sake, I recommend starting with the geDocument or geFolder object.

Since most of the Google Earth classes are optional, you’ll have to instantiate most of these objects as you want to use them and then add them to any properties or collections.

Once you have added all of the objects into your geKML.kmlRoot property, you will want to call the geKML.ToKML() method which will return a properly formatted KML byte array, which you can then save to a file or stream from a web server.

Below is a simple example of a basic document (root) and a placemark that exists within that document.  For simplicity sake this example uses hard coded values for properties, but in practice you will probably use values from some dynamic data source.

Welcome to the Google Earth KML API .NET 2.0 Website.  This website will host the official current documentation for the ge-kml project that is hosted on SourceForge.net.  Text versions of the documentation will also be hosted there, but due to scripting and formatting limitations I have chosen to host the official documentation here.  All menu items other than “Home” will take you to the project on SourceForge.

Click on the image to see the class diagramm in full size.

One simple Example from the Homepage:

 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Text;
 using System.IO;
 using Google.KML;
 namespace Examples {
    public static class Example1{
       public static void RunExample(string FileName) {
          // Use a Document as the root of the KML 
          geDocument doc = new geDocument();
          doc.Name = "My Root Document";
          //Create a Placemark to put in the document 
          //This placemark is going to be a point 
          //but it could be anything in the Geometry class
          gePlacemark pm = new gePlacemark();
          //Create some coordinates  for the point at which 
          //this placemark will sit. (Lat / Lon) 
          geCoordinates coords = new geCoordinates(new geAngle90(37.422067), new geAngle180(-122.084437));
          //Create a point with these new coordinates 
          gePoint point = new gePoint(coords);
          //Assign the point to the Geometry property of the placemark.
          pm.Geometry = point;
          //Now lets add some other properties to our placemark 
          pm.Name = "My Placemark";
          pm.Snippet = "This is where I put my Placemark";
          pm.Description = "I wonder where this is...";
          //Finally, add the placemark to the document
          doc.Features.Add(pm);
          //Now that we have our document, lets create our KML
          geKML kml = new geKML(doc);
          //And our results... 
          File.WriteAllBytes(FileName, kml.ToKML());
      }
   }
}

[via: http://gekml.boseefus.com/]

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

Since Google provides a very sophisticated geocoding function including most of the addresses in Austria the success of this project is questionable. One advantage of OpenAdresses is the possibility to download the dataset as CSV or XML. We will see how big the growth of will be.

The Idea:

In the last few years web applications have integrated users more and more in the design, the processing and gathering of information.
Some of the these applicatins are Wikis and famous sites such as youtube, etc.
We had the idea at our institute of launching an experiment to collect a complete set of geocoded address information for Switzerland. This data is supposed to

• be freely available to all interested companies or private persons and may be used at no license fee
• be captured and maintained by the Web Community
• store not only the details of an address but their co-ordinates as well.

Of course there is already a complete geocoded address dataset for the whole of Switzerland - but it is fairly expensive. With the OpenAddress idea we want
to investigate whether it is possible to create such an comprehensive dataset based both on the most recent technologies and the Web Community.
We believe that the more people there are who join in, the less the effort of each individual will be. If many, many people help with their very local know-how, we will be able to achieve this goal.
Besides: it is very easy: just click on the map and enter the details of an address - that’s it. Or use a list of addresses and go sequentially through it.

Of course we would like the individual to collect and enter more than just one address:
This could be: Addresses of the places where you work, you live, meet your friends, have your hair cut or your teeth checked, the most famous restaurant, as well as the most famous restaurant and other popular locations etc.

A few comments:

• Whoever needs many addresses should collect and enter many. This is especially meant for companies who will use this data in a commercial environment.
• The project is based on trust: We neither check nor log what is collected and entered.
• The project is based on the “open” philosophy which also works in the area of open source software: the community is responsible for quality and completeness.
• Do invite colleagues to join in and help - the more the better!
• Keep informed and use the ’statistics’ option to follow the progress.

As stated before: it is an experiment. But we believe it will work - with your help!

What will this address information be used for?
Many applications and solutions in the area of geographic context need highly detailed data. Full address data including georeference is part of it.

[via: http://www.openaddresses.at]

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

In the end it’s a little bit ironically - Leaving the question: how far can functionality with user-generated geo-content go? Are there limits?

[via: edparsons.com]

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

The local search uses a Google Maps which is located directly above the search results. The maker and the buffer (as red circle) shows the region where videos are searched. One drawback until now that there is no direct linking between the search results and the map.

The marker in the map can be changed to search for another region.

[via GWB]

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

The OpenRoutingService.org initiative has worked on the OGC Specification “Open Location Services” (OpenLS) Before the implementation of OpenRoutingService.org several other services based on open standards have been realized. In near futures these implementations should be available at http://www.freeOpenLS.org.

Since April 8th of this year OpenRoutingService.org is accessible online. The services uses free geodata from OpenStreetMaps (OSM) and provides routing functionality based on the OGC LopenLS Route Service Specification. The plan is to provide routing based on OSM also for other software systems or as web service. Currently the service is enhanced in case of functionality, because until now it is limited to Germany. The area of Germany in OSM covers more than 600.000 streets, which must be transformed into topological graphs for the routing module. During this transformation more then 1.3 million features are generated.

They have tested the performance with different routing-libraries (geotools, pgrouting) and algorithms (Dijkstra, A*).

One further interesting feature of OpenRoutingService.org is the “Avoid Area” function. Here the user can enter an area (e.g, dangerous area), which is excluded in the routing process.

[via: Zur Kopplung von OpenSource, OpenLS und OpenStreetMaps in OpenRouteService.org (Neis, P., Zipf, A.)]

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

Statements of Nokia and Navteq:

“Nokia and NAVTEQ together make a powerful combination, and customers will benefit as the transaction enables NAVTEQ to accelerate its expansion into new regions and introduce innovative new content. This is an industry poised for further growth and NAVTEQ will play a major role in the field,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President and CEO, Nokia. “The addition of NAVTEQ comes at the right time for Nokia’s business, allowing us to create the leading location platform just as context-aware and location-based Internet services expand rapidly into mobile communications devices.”

Judson Green, President and CEO of NAVTEQ, said: “Nokia has a deep understanding of the requirements for the industry. As part of Nokia, NAVTEQ will further invest in its map and content capabilities and make our products and services easier for all our customers to use and access.”

“NAVTEQ’s map data already play an important role in Nokia Maps service, which brings downloadable maps, voice-guided navigation and other context-aware web services to people’s pockets. Now that the acquisition has been completed, this role will become even more important as context-aware Internet services grow,” added Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President for Services & Software, Nokia.

The transaction is valued at approximately $8.1 billion.

About NAVTEQ

NAVTEQ is a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information for automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation devices, Internet-based mapping applications, and government and business solutions. NAVTEQ creates the digital maps and map content that power navigation and location-based services solutions around the world. The Chicago-based company was founded in 1985 and has more than 3,600 employees located in 187 offices and in 39 countries. NAVTEQ maps are available in 73 countries today and are distinguished by their detailed inclusion of over 260 road network attributes essential to dynamic, turn-by-turn route guidance and navigation.

With the deal Nokia Maps will be strenghtend. Nokia Maps covers over 200 countries, with over 70 of them navigable. Nokia Maps 2.0 has improved its optional Car Navigation, enhanced its pedestrian navigation, added multimedia city guides, offers satellite images, and is sporting a redesigned user interface.

Nokia Press Release

Navteq Press Release

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

Last year David Pogue has created a legendary video about the introduction of the first iPhone.

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

EveryScape uses Adobe Flash technology for visualisation.

“EveryScape’s patented HyperMedia Technology Platform allows anyone with a browser to experience a first-person, eye-level walk down a scaped street, gathering and sharing information on businesses and attractions, entering a store and shopping, checking the menu and reviews of a restaurant or the upcoming performances of a theater.”

United States

• Aspen, CO
• Beverly Hills, CA
• Boston, MA
• Breckenridge, CO
• Cambridge, MA
• Laguna Beach, CA
• Lexington, MA
• Miami, FL
• New York, NY
• Philadelphia, PA
• San Francisco, CA
• Snowmass Village, CO
• Steamboat Springs, CO
• Washington, DC

China

• Beijing, China

Poland

• Krakow, Poland

I’m sorry for the video quality. I’ve recorded the video using my standard digital camera and as you see not from the best location of the Audimax in Salzburg. Despite this I hope you can enjoy the talk.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.