Google Geonews: Geometry GM API Library, Games in Google Earth, Maps in China Update, and more

Here's recent Google-related geonews.

From the official sources:

• Google offers an entry on Mission Blue, a deep look in Google Earth at how the Gulf of Mexico region is recovering from the five million gallons of oil spilled from the BP Deep Horizon Oil Spill last year
• An entry on the Geometry Google Maps API library: "provides a set of utility functions for performing distance, heading, and area calculations in a spherical geometry, such as on the surface of the Earth, and also provides functions for handling encoded polylines."

From other sources:

• Here's a month-by-month recap entry on Year 2010 in Google Earth, but I'm surprise the Google Earth Engine is missing from that list
• The GEB also offers an entry on games built on top of Google Earth, including the new GeoGames3D
• The GEB mentions a few nice 3D models efforts: the London 3D Project, Andy Dell models and Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio
• There's also a generic entry on fixing incorrect information in Google Earth
• Google is working on keeping its Maps in China
• The Ushahidi Founder Goes to Google

You are not watching this post, click to start watching

• 3D
• China
• games
• Google
• Google Earth
• Google Maps
• oil spill
• spherical
• Ushahidi

Friday Fun with Google Maps

Russia's Ruined Navy

After the collapse of the USSR, military budgets were slashed and much of the Russian navy was mothballed or scuttled. Rod Edwards has put together this haunting collection of Google Maps satellite images that capture the ruined remains of the Soviet navy.

Google Earth Bike

If you want to lose weight after the holidays you could do worse than plugging your bike into Google Earth. Instrucatables has details explaining how you can make your own Google Earth exercise cycling machine.

OSM / Cloudmade
This is a blog about Google Maps (the clue is in the title). However for Christmas I was lucky enough to be given a one time only exception pass. Which means that I'm allowed to post these three gorgeous Cloudmade / OSM maps (but shush don't tell Google):

Ratio Finder

Wee Places has produced this gorgeous map that shows locations in San Francisco with higher than average check-ins by males and females with Foursquare.

The Envisioning Development Toolkit

This map shows the income demographics and rents in neighborhoods in New York.

@oobr's London Bike Flows

This stunning visualisation of London's Bike Hire scheme displays a time-line of traffic flow at different times of the day and on different days.

Street View Happy New Year Card

Bonne Annee 2011

Digitas France have created an interactive Happy New Year greetings card with Google Maps Street View.

Using the new Custom Street View Panoramas function of the Google Maps API v3 Digitas France have added their own 3d panoramas to Street View to create a Happy New Year greeting.

The application inserts signs into the custom panoramas to give you clues as to the direction you should take. Follow the clues correctly and you will arrive at the Digitas France greeting pictured above. Digitas France even seem to have created an English language version.

Surprisingly Custom Street View Panoramas haven't proved as popular as I thought they would. Kerken Kijken met Street View is a great example of what can be created with custom Street Views. Kerken Kijken have created seamless links to their own panoramic images of the interiors of churches in a map of Utrecht.

Bye Bye SlashGISRS.org

Our site was initially launched as "SlashGISRS.org" back in 2005. A year later we moved to Slashgeo.org. If you've been with us since the beginning and you haven't updated your bookmarks, now is the time to do it since we will not be renewing SlashGISRS.org and it will expire in the coming weeks. Thank you for your comprehension!

New York Times' Mapping America

The O'Reilly Radar offers an article on the New York Times' Mapping America website.

From the official NYT Mapping America site: "Browse local data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, based on samples from 2005 to 2009. Because these figures are based on samples, they are subject to a margin of error, particularly in places with a low population, and are best regarded as estimates."

The conclusion from the O'Reilly article: "By creating a tool that is easy to use, and that is true to the original data, the New York Times opened up a new range of possibilities. The census data is a cornerstone of social statistics and studies, but without proper tools it is difficult for most people to comprehend. This example taps into the power of visualization: it makes complex information simpler to understand."

The Secret to Eating Well in Chile

Soy Gourmet

Soy Gourmet is Chile's second most downloaded iPhone app. If you don't have an iPhone, don't worry, Soy Gourmet can also be accessed from your desktop.

Soy Gourmet is a great way to search and find restaurants in Chile. You can search for restaurants by type of cuisine, price and location and view the results on a Google Map.

Registered users of Soy Gourmet can rate individual restaurants and leave comments. Registered users also receive regular promotional offers.

________________

Introducing Google Map Libraries

Google Maps Javascript API V3 Geometry Library

One of the initial aims of V3 of the Google Maps API was to minimise the time it takes to load and display a Google Map. However if new features are added to the API and it grows in size the load time of the JavaScript grows as well.

The Google Maps team have therefore decided to implement libraries for the API. A library is a set of Maps API features that are only loaded when explicitly requested by the application. This request is added to the call to load the API, e.g.,

http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?libraries=geometry

The Geometry Library is the first library to be added to the Google Maps API V3. The geometry library provides a set of utility functions for performing distance, heading, and area calculations in a spherical geometry, such as on the surface of the Earth, and also provides functions for handling encoded polylines.

Ed Parsons has provided a good explanation of why and how you might want to use the Geometry Library in a post called 'Because the world is not flat...'. You can also examine the library in more detail in the Maps API Documentation andReference.

Via: Google Geo Developers Blog

Iraq IED Attacks on Google Maps

BOOMsys

The rather unfortunately named BOOMsys is a Google Map of improvised explosive device incidents in Iraq.

BOOMsys actually stands for Basic Ordnance Observational Management System and they have created a very impressive map displaying all the improvised explosive device incidents in Iraq in 2006. The map features an animation control that allows you to view the data over the full year.

As well as the animation controls BOOMsys includes a calendar navigation control that allows you to view the incidents for any month, week or individual day. The size of the polygons shown on the map reflects the number of incidents recorded at that location.

Hat-tip: Street View Funny

Google Maps Lottery

Million Mole

Hers's how to win money with Google Maps or lose lots of money trying.

Last year GeoSweep launched in the UK. Geosweep is a Google Maps based lottery game, where players can buy locations on Google Maps. These virtual plots are then entered into two daily cash prize draws.

Million Mole is a similar concept from Italy, however, instead of buying plots you pay to capture one of 1,000 moles hidden on a Google Map. My Italian isn't good enough to work out all the cash prizes available but the current jackpot seems to be just over one thousand Euros.

________________

Pacman on Google Maps

PacMap

PacMap is an application that turns your neighborhood into a real-life Pac-Man game.

PacMap overlays yellow pac-dots on top of a Google Map of your location. Your goal is to walk your neighborhood gobbling up the dots whilst avoiding the familiar Pac-Man enemies.

You score points by eating the yellow pac-dots and lose the game if an enemy manages to capture you. You can adjust the difficulty level of the game and you can also set the time limit to 10, 15 or 20 minutes.

PacMap includes a couple of options that can help to save your battery life and data usage. If you disable the animation option your battery drains less quickly and if you switch from the default satellite view to map view you will decrease data usasage.

PacMap is available from the Android Market.

Via: AppBrain