Business Archives

July 22, 2008

600 Starbucks Closures in Google Earth

Starbucks Closures in Google EarthOn July 1st, Starbucks announced they will close about 600 stores around the US. Since that time, many caffeine lovers in those areas have started petitions to keep their favorite location from losing its juice. And, the markets have had their reaction that this is yet another sign of a collapsing economy. But, even more interesting is that Starbucks released a list of all the locations in a PDF file. Last week, Keir Clarke at GoogleMapsMania took the PDF and scraped the locations into a spreadsheet. Then he used batch geocode and the Google spreadsheet mapper tool to quickly (30 minutes to do the whole ) create a Google Maps map of the closures. I was kind of disappointed Keir didn't take the step to add a line of code to make his map available in the Earth API as well.

Fortunately, someone else scraped the same PDF and put the Starbucks closures into Finder!. Finder! is an excellent free browser-based service which lets you find, organize and share geospatial data in common formats. Including Google Earth's KML format. So, here's the Google Earth view of the Starbucks closures.

If you zoom into the placemarks, you'll find it's not always easy to find the particular store based on its address. Geocoding from addresses is usually not accurate - and sometimes places you a block away (or even more).

Just for fun, you can get a quick look at the same KML file in the Google Earth API plugin. Read below the fold to see it.

Here is the Earth API with the Startbucks Closures using Takitwithme's embedded Google Earth tool which lets you give it a KML file and it will generate an embed snippit you can stick on a web page to show the KML file in the Google Earth API plugin.

Starbucks Closures

Posted by FrankTaylor at 07:40 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

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July 15, 2008

GIS Data for Canary Islands in Google Earth

Canary Islands GIS in Google EarthThe Canary Islands Spatial Data Infrastructure (IDE in Spanish) has released Google Earth access to some of its geographic data. Right now you can get multiple zoom levels of detail for Topographic Maps 1:5.000, Streetmaps, Vegetation Map, Land Use Map and Protected Areas Map. And, they plan to add more maps in the coming months. The maps were posted at the Google Earth Community by Jorge Rosales. You can download the Canary Islands maps here . As you zoom in, more information will be queried from their server and then drawn as an overlay in Google Earth. The default map is the topographical map. You can look under the IDECanarias folder for other maps to view. Very nice data!

I'm a big fan of seeing GIS (Geographic Information System) data like this made available to the public. Many governments have either been reluctant, or have not had the funding, to make this type of data available to the public. The data has not always been easy to convert to new formats. Recently, the top GIS software manufacturer - ESRI - has made an update to their software which makes it easier to publish GIS data in KML. Hopefully we will see a wave of useful GIS data made public in the coming months.

According to Jorge, the Canary Islands KML "...uses a server side KML to WMS translator that maps user coordinates space in standard WMS requests. Main features are: continuous user view refresh (not only on view stop), works fine with high tilt camera angles (standard GE WMS support don’t work propertly), use Canary Islands SDI cache technology for fast response, multilanguage support (Spanish/English) and legend access (via standard WMS legend support)."

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 10, 2008

Roses First 3D City in Spain for Google Earth

(En Español)

Roses Spain in 3D in Google EarthRoses is the first city in Spain to get their entire city in 3D for Google Earth. The models are currently the basic gray buildings without textures. But, they are part of the Google Earth 3D Buildings layer. Just search for "Roses, Spain" to see for yourself. Google has a program called Cities in 3D (read more) to help city planners provide Google with data so their cities can be included in the layer. The program was just expanded to several European countries (including Spain) in early June. According to GEB reader Albert Garcia, they are also working to add SketchUp models with photo-textures for Roses.

Google has dozens of cities now where a large percentage of the urban area is modeled in 3D (more in the US than any other country at the moment). Here is a list of some cities in Europe where most of the city is in 3D: Zurich, Munich, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Westport in Ireland. Berlin also has a huge 3D collection they created themselves, but it's not part of the built-in GE layer. Similarly, Dresden in Germany also did their own layer which is not yet part of the built-in layer. And, let's not forget, probably the most 3D data available for any country is in Japan. Nearly every structure for several major cities is rendered if you turn on the 3D Buildings layer and visit cities in Japan.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:40 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

June 24, 2008

Google Releases More Map Crowdsourcing Tools

Points of Interest in Google EarthNearly a year ago, Googler Michael Jones spoke about the techniques Google used to get detailed map information in India. We're not just talking about streets, but also points of interest such as tourist spots, businesses, hospitals, schools, etc. If you perform a search or turn on the "Places of Interest" layer folder items, you will see a wealth of information for many countries. The secret was to develop tools to enable local people to contribute their knowledge to help create the maps. Enabling lots of local people to provide their knowledge to gather data is a technique which has become known as "crowdsourcing". This same technique was used in the recently released data for Kenya. Now, for the first time, Google has released to the public a big part of the map creation tools which they call Google Map Maker. This is a significant milestone in accelerating the availability of more map data for the parts of the world not fully mapped.

According to the announcement they are enabling the following countries for people to contribute data using Map Maker: Cyprus, Iceland, Pakistan, Vietnam and the Caribbean nations of: Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago. Hopefully even more locations will be added in the coming months since there are still quite a few countries to go. But, this is a great start!

Google had already made available some tools to allow businesses to add more accurate and current data to business listings in Google Maps/Earth. Google Blogoscoped just today released a nice post telling you how to add or modify your business listing at Google. And, Google also enabled anyone to move markers for search results in Google Maps to place the markers more accurately (so, if the placemark returned for your house or favorite business is wrong - you can fix it yourself).

By the way, Google Earth is the best way to view the vast amount of local information Google has amassed. Open up the Places of Interest layer folder and look at the long list of available information (dining, lodging, transportation, etc.). This is the hidden treasure of information Google has made available to the masses. I really wish Google would improve the interface for layers so more people could discover this very useful information. (Read about Google Earth Layers).

See also discussion about the new Map Maker at Google Operating System, and Google Maps Mania.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:55 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

May 13, 2008

Where 2.0 - Day 1

Left my house near Raleigh, NC at 4 AM to fly out to California. I was a bit weary after nearly 11 hours of travel when I arrived at the Where 2.0 registration desk. But, I did manage to show up just in time for lunch! Brady Forrest of O'Reilley, Program Chair for Where 2.0, joined me for lunch and brought me up to date on events thus far. He said the morning tutorials were well attended and seemed to be quite popular (see schedule for Monday). Also, nearly half the people who registered for the conference were in attendance for the first day events. Also, overall attendance looked to be higher than last year. Several announcements are lined up for the week as well from both big and new players in the geospatial community. Looks like lots of good stuff for this year's event!

The afternoon tutorials included another four tutorials. Naturally, I chose to attend the one by Google entitled: "Searching the Geoweb: Exposing Your Geo Data to Search Engines" by Lior Ron and Mano Marks. Their session focused on how to get your geospatial data to be recognized by search engines (or at least Google). Google has already been scanning web sites for links to GeoRSS, KML, or KMZ files as well as the Google Earth Community and other known locations. They gave tips on how to improve the chances things will be indexed. A significant point is that you shouldn't make a single large file with tens of thousands of placemarks. Better to break down the content into different files. The one piece of real news in this session is that Google is now supporting a new sitemap file format for geospatial content. This means you can very specifically tell the search engines to look for a KML, KMZ, or GeoRSS file which will then be almost immediately scanned into the geosearch index. The last half of the session was dedicated to discussing how to create good KML content using various tools as well as directly coding KML. Google said there will be more of these tutorials during the Google I/O developer conference later this month.

Keep reading for some details on Ignite/Launchpad.

After a short nap, I managed to pull my weary body down to the Ignite/Launchpad. I really enjoy this format because each talk/demo only lasts 5 minutes. So, you get a blazingly fast dump of information usually well targeted to get the main points across.

I didn't manage to get details on every speaker, but here's a few I did catch:

  • Andrew Turner - Mapufacture - Andrew managed to get about 10 minutes worth by speaking really fast. He described Mapufacture which provides a way to view maps of geospatial content from a variety of sources and with different mapping applications. It supports GeoRSS feeds and KML. All their maps are also available in GeoRSS or KML so you can view them in Google Earth as well. And there's an API for doing more with the data like searching both spatially and over spatial timeframes. And the site supports OGC WMS interface specification for querying the data.
  • GPSMission - Got a quick demonstration of this new geospatial gaming system. It can be played with GPS-enabled phones (possibly with just a GPS as well?). They have an interface called the "Mission planner" which makes it easy to create a game where you go outside and find specific locations (like a scavenger hunt?). Anyway, this could be worth looking at.
  • ipoki - These guys were at last year's Where 2.0 Ignite and they've made a lot of progress. They changed their name slightly, but their purpose is still the same. They provide a site with a focus on helping you keep track of the locations of people you want to keep in touch with. The goal being to find ways to get together when it makes sense. They're announcing a new interface to Facebook so you can invite all your Facebook friends to share their location with you in ipoki. A smart move! Their site is most popular in Spain, but from their KML map for Google Earth showing the ipoki population sharing location publicly, it appears they are getting increasingly popular in other parts of the world.
  • Neighborhood Maps - Bernt Wahl of UC Berkeley gave an interesting overview of their efforts to enhance neighborhood mapping. They have researched new ways to better identify the boundaries of neighborhoods. Most data available is typically not very accurate. Yet, according to their research, you can get very interesting information by analyzing data according to neighborhoods rather than for example by city or town. He briefly showed an example of crime statistics by neighborhood. Interesting information, but I didn't get a URL for where they are publishing it.
  • GreenMap.org - an organization trying to get the entire world to collect information for creating more environmentally sustainable living. They have helped nearly 500 communities in 50 countries so far create maps. They've been refining and sharing new iconography for showing information on maps important to environmental efforts. They also are announcing an effort to start using opensource technologies called OpenGreenMap.org. I'm wondering why they would spend all that extra effort?
  • Pushpin - Pushpin has its origins in financial sector data analysis. They've had a API available for commercial applications providing access to a vast array of data with mapping capabilities. They are now working on a free Rest API which will allow access to a subset of their data sources and mapping technologies. He described their efforts to help organize geospatial information by using URLs - which reminded me immediately of Tagzania which was doing this over two years ago. But, I do agree with him that using this technique makes things more discoverable to search engines - if the engines get smarter about scanning according to URLs.
  • Focation - Two guys from Vietnam have worked hard to create a mapping mashup that not only provides good travel information for their country, but also provides a Wiki-like interface for people to annotate and add new information to the maps. The site is Ajax enabled, so you often don't have to re-load the page to make the changes (making it speedier). I think these guys won the contest for the furthest traveled for the Ignite talks. They did have some innovative techniques. I liked an idea they have for showing large amounts of placemarks using a colorized grid instead of overlapping icons.
  • Ordinance Survey - the last talk from Ian Holt was - intriguingly amusing. The last organization I expected here was Ordinance Survey from the UK. They have been universally panned by most of the Where 2.0 generation of geospatial technologists. The primary reason being that OS refuses to let anyone use their mapping data without their collecting a license fee. I guess they are trying to improve their image because they came here saying they will be offering an "open source" project. Only it wasn't clear how this would change anything. Ian demonstrated an application which amusingly lets you compare the OS data to "other" maps (specifically Google Maps) to show how the OS data is so much better. For those of you who don't know, a former OS technologist named Ed Parsons left there and is now one of the top dogs on the Google Geo team.

More Where 2.0 2008 coverage: Google John Hanke Keynote

Posted by FrankTaylor at 10:21 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

More entries for this category:

  1. Impressive Upgrade to Virtual Earth 3D - April 11, 2008
  2. New York Times in Google Earth - April 07, 2008
  3. Links: Digital Urban Booklet, GE OSX UI Tweak, Peru Meteor Strike - March 31, 2008
  4. Armageddon Pills in Google Earth - March 14, 2008
  5. See Guys Putting Up Sign on Luxor Hotel & Casino - February 18, 2008
  6. Links: Zillow News, Virtual Volcanology, Design in GE, GearthHacks News, Ski Time, VE Geocoding - January 18, 2008
  7. Top 25 Stories of Google Earth 2007 - December 27, 2007
  8. Governor of Alabama Unveils Google Earth Application - December 04, 2007
  9. Links: Tracking Santa, Netherland Statistics, Boat Parades, OpenAerialMap - December 03, 2007
  10. KFC Logo Stunt Now in Google Earth - November 19, 2007
  11. Armor All Promotion in Google Earth - November 16, 2007
  12. Defense Earmarks in Google Earth - November 07, 2007
  13. Google Earth Christmas Gift: 15% Discount on SpaceNavigator - November 02, 2007
  14. Links: Glider Towing, 3D Bonanza, John Hanke Presentation, Google Maps Profiles, Virtual Earth 3D Modeling - October 19, 2007
  15. Business Layers Have Reviews and Pictures in Google Earth - October 16, 2007
  16. Microsoft Virtual Earth Supports Basic KML and KML Searching - October 15, 2007
  17. Links: Google Maps Zoom, GE Pro Classes, 10 Features of GE, Arc2Earth V2, Spot Image Layer - October 14, 2007
  18. DigitalGlobe New Satellite WorldView I is Black and White? - September 18, 2007
  19. The Gmail Video Collection in Google Earth - August 30, 2007
  20. New Real-Time Traffic Layer in Google Earth - August 21, 2007
  21. Virtual London Project Dead in the Water - August 08, 2007
  22. Using Google Earth and Web 2.0 Mapping Tools for GIS Visualizations - August 07, 2007
  23. News Roundup - Microsoft and KML, Minnesota Bridge, New Competition, and more - August 05, 2007
  24. Energy Production Information for Western US - July 17, 2007
  25. Largest Coca Cola Logo - Made from Bottles - July 12, 2007
  26. Pool Guy Taps Google Earth - July 10, 2007
  27. News Roundup - New GeoSearch, GeoWeb 2007, Traffic Gadget, Earthplot, Environmental Data - July 09, 2007
  28. OgleEarth Roundup: Illegal Fishing Caught, Picasa Web Albums Review, Geo-Ads Patent, HeyWhatsThat - June 28, 2007
  29. News Roundup: GE 4.1 Stuff, Plotting a Trail, Business Reviews, More Second Earth - June 20, 2007
  30. Pict'Earth - UAV Aerial Photography Solutions - June 19, 2007
  31. Road Maps and Local Search for Sweden in Google Earth and Maps - June 13, 2007
  32. News RoundUp: Football Game, VesselTracker, Antarctic Bases, Egyptian Digs, 3D Cities Help, Chimps, Gallery - June 12, 2007
  33. Google Transit in Google Earth - June 05, 2007
  34. ChartGeek - Sectional Maps for Pilots in Google Earth - May 28, 2007
  35. News Roundup - GeoCommons, AC3D, LaudonTech Maps, MacFamilyTree - May 23, 2007
  36. More Roads, POI, 3D Buildings in Google Earth - April 12, 2007
  37. News Roundup: Amsterdam Google GeoDay, Google LitTrips, US Capitol - March 30, 2007
  38. Traditional Advertising Gets Boost in 3D Google Earth - March 27, 2007
  39. Google Earth Classified Ads by Safarri - March 26, 2007
  40. Movie Making Information for 300 in Google Earth - March 20, 2007
  41. gCensus - US Census Data for Google Earth - March 14, 2007
  42. Lloyd's Using Google Earth for Insurance Visualizations - March 12, 2007
  43. Major Layer Update for Google Earth - March 10th - March 10, 2007
  44. News Roundup: Google Earth Resume/CV, Google Maps Interface to BMW cars - March 07, 2007
  45. News Roundup - Tax Collector, Google Federal, Virtual Worlds Conference - February 28, 2007
  46. World Oil Consumption - 3D Charts in Google Earth - February 27, 2007
  47. FedEx Pilots "Smart" Tracking with Google Earth - February 23, 2007
  48. Google Earth Advertising Gets More Credibility - February 21, 2007
  49. News Roundup - India Censorship, SightSeer, Plazes, Education - February 05, 2007
  50. Update to Ads in Google Earth/Maps - February 02, 2007
  51. Shape2Earth - GIS Data to Google Earth - January 29, 2007
  52. Dutch KLM Releases Air Fare Finder in Google Earth - January 24, 2007
  53. News roundup: Google vs. Microsoft, 3D San Jose, Endurance, Weather, Off the Map - January 23, 2007
  54. Google Announces Aerial Photo Shoot for Australia Day - January 26 - January 22, 2007
  55. Google Earth Layers - January 11, 2007
  56. SpaceNavigator Works on Mac OS X - January 09, 2007
  57. News Roundup: GlobeXplorer Acquired by DigitalGlobe, Conferences, Google Telescope - January 08, 2007
  58. Mars Sucks - A Game for Google Earth - December 29, 2006
  59. Amazing Implementation of Marine Charts for Google Earth - December 21, 2006
  60. NASA and Google Sign "Space Act Agreement" - December 18, 2006
  61. Trulia Adds Google Earth for Real Estate Searches - December 05, 2006
  62. Exciting New "3D Mouse" for Google Earth - The SpaceNavigator - November 27, 2006
  63. Exclusive Economic Zones in Google Earth - November 24, 2006
  64. Satellite Photo of KFC Logo and Viral Marketing Scheme - November 17, 2006
  65. CBS News Does Google Earth - November 09, 2006
  66. Baseball, 3D Stadiums, Videos, and Google Earth - November 02, 2006
  67. Cape Town Travel Guide for Google Earth - October 31, 2006
  68. Spanish Architecture Project in 3D by Tagzania - October 27, 2006
  69. Live Flight Sales and Driving Tips with Google Earth - October 26, 2006
  70. James Bond DVD Promotion Using Google Earth - October 20, 2006
  71. News Roundup - October 09, 2006
  72. Google Earth Enterprise in Oil and Gas Industry - October 03, 2006
  73. Ad Campaign for Saturn Aura Uses Google Earth - September 26, 2006
  74. Google Earth Las Vegas - September 22, 2006
  75. Roundup - Pillows, redtrails, earthpoint, Robogeo 5, libferris, virtual land rush - September 20, 2006
  76. Anousheh Ansari Blasts off to Space - September 18, 2006
  77. Interview With Michael Jones - Google Earth Chief Technology Officer - September 14, 2006
  78. Huge New Layers Update in Google Earth - September 13 - September 13, 2006
  79. "Prison Break" on Google Earth - September 11, 2006
  80. CBS News Does Google Earth - Missing Last Step - September 08, 2006
  81. British Airways Uses Google Earth to Improve Online Sales - September 01, 2006
  82. Turnhere.com - Videos About Places - August 15, 2006
  83. Campus Maps with 3D Buildings in Google Earth - August 14, 2006
  84. Music Group Audioslave Uses Google Earth for Promotion - August 04, 2006
  85. Vancouver in 3D for Google Earth - July 21, 2006
  86. Weather Symbols in Google Earth - July 18, 2006
  87. News Roundup - July 15, 2006
  88. Magnalox Provides Live Tracking Interface for Google Earth - July 07, 2006
  89. 1000 Pizzas Publicity Stunt Using Google Earth - June 28, 2006
  90. Win a Free Trip from Surfing Magazine by Using Google Earth - June 21, 2006
  91. RoboGEO - Simplifying Georeferencing of Photos - June 10, 2006
  92. Digital Camera Illustrates Camera Shot with Google Earth - June 04, 2006
  93. Forbes Magazine Article - Maps Mania - June 03, 2006
  94. Pin in the Map - Keep it Simple - May 30, 2006
  95. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Points of Interest in Google Earth - May 26, 2006
  96. See More Recent Aerial Photos in Google Earth - May 22, 2006
  97. Google Earth Business - May 21, 2006
  98. Da Vinci Code Tour in Google Earth - May 17, 2006
  99. Ads in Google Earth - May 10, 2006
  100. Gulf Impact - Analysis of Damage to Oil/Gas Industry from Hurricanes - May 09, 2006
  101. Win a Mazda CX-7 in a Sweepstakes Contest in Google Earth - May 01, 2006
  102. Mission Impossible III Promotion with Google Earth - April 28, 2006
  103. TheCity Local - Google Earth Dating Service - April 26, 2006
  104. City of Bergen Norway Makes Smart Business Move in Google Earth - April 10, 2006
  105. Honda Releases Traffic System in Japan for Google Earth - April 04, 2006
  106. Apple iPod Ad in Google Earth? - March 27, 2006
  107. Business and Google Earth in Information Week - March 22, 2006
  108. Track "Amazing Race" TV Show in Google Earth - March 20, 2006
  109. Google Earth E-mail Signature - March 14, 2006
  110. Bed and Breakfast Locations in Google Earth - March 06, 2006
  111. Here Comes the Oscars - March 05, 2006
  112. Eye in the Sky Advertising - March 04, 2006
  113. EarthPoint - Real Estate Listings with some GIS - March 03, 2006
  114. Arc2Earth Released - March 01, 2006
  115. Giant Frog Attacks Chicago - February 17, 2006
  116. Visualizing Controversial New Buildings in New York in Google Earth - February 06, 2006
  117. CNET Superbowl Guessing Game in Google Earth - February 02, 2006
  118. Win a Fiat Sedici in Google Earth - February 01, 2006
  119. South American Trade in Google Earth - January 27, 2006
  120. Sundance Film Festival "Event Map" in Google Earth - January 24, 2006
  121. KMLer for Converting ArcGIS for Google Earth - January 19, 2006
  122. Real Estate for Google Earth by Re/Max - Again! - January 14, 2006
  123. Top 500 Hotels in Google Earth - Travel + Leisure Magazine - December 28, 2005
  124. Adidas Promotion Uses Google Earth - December 27, 2005
  125. Company Specializes in Google Earth/Maps Services - November 28, 2005
  126. Ski Resorts and Snow Reports in Google Earth - November 21, 2005
  127. Everything You Wanted to Know About Singapore - November 12, 2005
  128. Example of Google Earth Ad - November 08, 2005
  129. EarthBooker - 80,000 Hotels in Google Earth - November 07, 2005
  130. Real Estate Interest in Google Earth Grows - November 01, 2005
  131. NewsGlobe a Geographic Locator for News - October 06, 2005
  132. Cruise Ship Positions and Web Cams - October 05, 2005
  133. Garmin Buys MotionBased - October 04, 2005
  134. ~12 Million Google Earth downloads? Where's Mac/Linux Versions? - September 30, 2005
  135. Google Helps NASA - September 29, 2005
  136. Making Money with Google Earth - September 28, 2005
  137. Security and Privacy Concerns and Google Earth - September 13, 2005
  138. City of Portland GIS Adds 3D Buildings - September 03, 2005
  139. Business Opportunities and Google Earth - August 30, 2005
  140. Real Estate Done Google Earth Style - August 29, 2005
  141. ABC Primetime Uses Google Earth - August 26, 2005
  142. City of Portland GIS - August 25, 2005
  143. EarthPlot - Commercial Software - August 23, 2005
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