In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Here's the recent Google-related geonews.

From official sources:

• On the developers blog, they introduced the Store Locator Utility Library: "This open-source library makes it simple for developers to create interactive, useful store locators."
• Last week Google announced you can visit the Amazon with Street View
• You can also now take a train through the Swiss Alps with Street View
• There's a Street View Guide to Japan’s Cherry Blossom Season too
• And finally regarding StreetView, Street View on Google Maps comes to Thailand and explore Poland on Street View
• There's a screencast on debugging a Maps API application with the Chrome Developer Tools
• Here's the official entry on the latest imagery update

From other sources:

• SS informs us of Google's work on an open source field data collection tool called the Open Data Kit: "It supports GPS data collection, the integration of images from a phone camera sensor, the capture of audio, and video. It provides a means to present multiple forms on one device, with automated connection to networks when the device is within range, and automated upload to Google’s Fusion Tables."
• The GEB has another entry on viewing satellites positions with Google Earth
• SS also shares an article on the Google Earth Engine, named Google Promotes Terrapixels for Everyone, that's a long time since we last heard of the Google Earth Engine
• Here's a new rally racing game in Google Earth, using the GE Plugin
• APB informs us that Google got a patent on “Environment” based ads

Here's the traditional Friday geonews in batch mode.

Christmas geo-gift ideas:

• Four entries from Very Spatial: The four days of holiday gifts, Day 2: Sneaky Geography Gifts, More holiday treats for the geographer in your life, To round out our holiday gift ideas
• TMR shares an entry on Map Blankets

From the Google front (yes some more since yesterday):

• An official entry named How Local Search Ranking Works
• The GEB shares an entry named Google Earth continues to reveal strange sights from above
• APB discusses the Google Earth Engine as an Image Analysis for the Masses

From the ESRI front:

• I was amongst many to notice that ArcGIS for iOS now has data capture capabilities

From the open source / open data front:

• The OpenStreetMap editor Potlatch 2 has launched
• MapQuest is now using Swizerland and Netherlands data from OpenStreetMap
• Here's details on the Microsoft imagery access given to OpenStreetMap
• Thanks to open data, you can generate added-value for mostly anything, including an OpenFireMap
• V1 shares a long review of the OpenStreetMap - Be Your Own Cartographer book by Jonathan Bennett
• Via the OSGeo Discuss, I learned about the International Free and Open Source Software Law Review journal

In the miscellaneous category:

• Don't we all at some point look for a Free Shapefile of Countries of the World, here's a comparison
• Via the EOPortal, here's an article named Russia To Spend 2 Billion Dollars For Space Clean-Up
• SS shares an entry named Psychological Scientists Look at Spatial Skills for Indoor Navigation
• Slashdot ran a few somewhat geo-related stories: Combining Two Kinects To Make Better 3D Video, Aussie Government Competition To Predict Commute Times, and Feds Warrantlessly Tracking Americans' Real Time Credit Card Activity
• The GEB shares an entry named Take your own aerial photos with the Swinglet CAM
• The EO-1 satellite has been acquiring imagery for 10 years already

In the maps category:

• TMR shares a map of Natural Disaster Hot Zones

And the new somewhat off-topic link of the week: and entry from 'Information is beautiful' named Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom?, a quick look at the pic is enough, and it includes mapping ;-)

Earlier today Google introduced the Google Earth Engine: "Google Earth Engine is a new technology platform that puts an unprecedented amount of satellite imagery and data—current and historical—online for the first time. It enables global-scale monitoring and measurement of changes in the earth’s environment. The platform will enable scientists to use our extensive computing infrastructure—the Google “cloud”—to analyze this imagery. [...]

Now, scientists will be able to build applications to mine this treasure trove of data on Google Earth Engine, providing several advantages:

• Landsat satellite data archives over the last 25 years for most of the developing world available online, ready to be used together with other datasets including MODIS. And we will soon offer a complete global archive of Landsat.
• Reduced time to do analyses, using Google’s computing infrastructure. By running analyses across thousands of computers, for example, unthinkable tasks are now possible for the first time.
• New features that will make analysis easier, such as tools that pre-process the images to remove clouds and haze.
• Collaboration and standardization by creating a common platform for global data analysis.

[...] As we fully develop the platform, we hope more scientists will use new Earth Engine API to integrate their applications online—for deforestation, disease mitigation, disaster response, water resource mapping and other beneficial uses. If you’re interested in partnering with us, we want to hear from you—visit our website!"

We mentioned last April that the Google Earth Engine was coming.