Just got back from an amazing workshop with the Google Earth Outreach Geo Team and 50+ geospatial educators, researchers, and lab managers!
In between stealing off on the colorful google bikes and spending time wandering the amazing Google campus, we engaged each other in discussions of integrating Google tools into higher education and learning and attended workshops introducing the plethora of Google mapping tools.
We had a warm welcome from Brian McClendon (VP of Engineering, Geo at Google, mastermind behind Google Earth, and creator of KML) who gave a great history of the program and the creation of Google Geo and gave an exciting announcement that Google; with the acquisition of Skybox is now taking to the sky with their own satellites in hand (contrary to popular belief, Google has not to this point owned any Satellites). With this acquisition, near-real live time imagery on Google platforms seems to be closer than ever before.
Rebecca Moore (Engineering Manager, Google Earth Outreach and Earth Engine) also gave a great history of the importance of Google Earth and its transformation over the years highlighting a number of exiting things to come and products not yet released to the public including
1. A new MODIS time-lapse!
From Maggi’s blog post last year on timelapse created from LANDSAT imagery we saw the amazing capabilities to see transformations over time with the click of a button. Now Google will soon release MODIS time-lapse which having a quicker repeat interval will be able to show seasonal changes .
Check out this example here showing fires across the world, and more targeted video here! Awesome!
2. Also great news for those of you tired of the coarse resolution SRTM 90 DEM, Google is currently working to produce a much higher resolution global DEM product…stay tuned!
Throughout the 3 days, I had the opportunity to attend a variety of different workshops and came away absolutely jazzed! See below for a summary of the latest and greatest from the Google Geo team with links attached if you’re interested and want more information….. Also stay tuned for some of my renderings and products from the training!
Google’s “Ecosystem” of Technologies
Mapping:
Google Maps Engine (GME): hosting data and publishing maps online, and ability to build applications and connect Google’s data with your own.
GME Pro&Lite: simple map making in the cloud, visualize, draw, import a csv, and style your maps
Maps Gallery: A new way for organizations and public institutions to publish and share their maps online through the Google maps Engine
Google Crisis Map: a map interface initially used for emergency alerts, however it’s not entirely dedicated to crisis as you can easily integrate and create your own map mashup and community awareness map here
Maps Engine API (application program interface): to access Maps Engine data, create a new applications utilizing the data, stylize and create beautiful maps
Analysis
Google Earth Engine: (EE), Google’s geospatial analysis platform. Earth Engine brings together the world's satellite imagery — trillions of scientific measurements dating back almost 40 years — and makes it available online with tools for scientists, independent researchers, and nations to mine this massive warehouse of data to detect changes, map trends and quantify differences on the Earth's surface.
Earth Engine API (application programming interface) provides the ability to create your own algorithms to process raster and vector imagery.
Timelapse builds on Earth Engine to show decades of planetary change, both man-made and natural
Data Collection
Streetview: in Google Maps and Earth provides over five millions miles of interactive 360-degree panoramas across all seven continents; it’s the closest thing to teleportation, allowing teachers and students to virtually walk almost anywhere they dream of going. Street View began on the roads, but new technologies like theTrekker backpack or an underwater rig can take you almost everywhere.
-Treks: Street view special collections (museums, up a mountain,etc..)
-Views: streetview imagery crowd-sourced from user generated 360 degree photospheres. You can now connect your photospheres to create your own street view using constellations
Mobile Data Collection using Open Data Kit allows you to collect field data, such as text, photos/videos, and GPS location from an Android device where there's no internet connection and then publish that data to the web when you're back online. You can then export your data into Google Earth Engine for mapping and Google Fusion Tables for graphing, mapping and visualization.
Visualization/ Story Telling
Tour Builder: Tour Builder is a new way to show people the places you've visited and the experiences you had along the way using Google Earth. It lets you pick the locations right on the map, add in photos, text, and video, and then share your creation. The new geo-enabled Powerpoint!
Thanks to Maggi for the opportunity to attend and the talented, enthusiastic Google Geo staff (including: Karin Tuxen-Bettman, John Bailey, David Thau, Christiaan Adams, and all the other workshop leads and those behind the scenes!) for developing such an action packed workshop!
/span>- Author: Robert Johnson
The ESRI User Conference is always an exciting and educational experience, and this year was no different. In addition to the new offerings discussed in the previous post, there were a few very interesting new developments in the web mapping arena.
First, there were a host of new features announced for ArcGIS Online: the ability to create presentations from the map viewer, several new spatial analysis tools including interpolated surfaces and route planning, some revamped security options, and support for related data. It has been quite interesting to watch ArcGIS Online develop over the years from a very basic online mapping and data sharing interface into a robust, easy to use application capable of creating some very powerful web mapping applications. This is truly a great tool for UCANR.
Another great new product coming out in the near future is the Web App Builder. This is a tool developed for ArcGIS Online and Portal for ArcGIS that provides a very simple environment for creating web maps using preconfigured widgets in a drag-and-drop interface. The Web App Builder is javascript based, so it functions across all platforms including mobile platforms. The Web App Builder is currently in beta, but is scheduled for a full release with ArcGIS 10.3 later in the year.
The User Conference was a great experince. It's always amazing to see just how many people are using GIS throughout the world and all the creative ways they are taking advantage of this technology. I had a great time and I'm looking forward to attending again soon.
Check it out: another way to search for research. JournalMap is a scientific literature search engine that empowers you to find relevant research based on location and biophysical attributes combined with traditional keyword searches. It works ok, I found one of my papers, not others. But the interface it quick and intuitive.
http://www.journalmap.org/
Two members of IGIS - Shane and Robert, went to the the ESRI User Conference in San Diego this year.
Here is their report:
We were able to see the new offerings from ESRI that will be available in November of this year. ESRI will be releasing ArcGIS 10.3, this incremental release will have many improvements as well as new offerings that IGIS will be able to make available to the UCANR GIS Community. These new offerings will include ArcGIS Pro http://pro.arcgis.com and Portal for ArcGIS http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgisserver/extensions/portal-for-arcgis.
ArcGIS Pro is a new desktop application that will be available to all users of GIS within UCANR. ArcGIS Pro is a multi-threaded, 64-bit, project based GIS system that provides a fast responsive desktop application for the GIS professional. It will allow user to have multiple layouts in one document. It will enable the GIS user to have 2d and 3d layouts available in one project. It is what we as GIS users have been requesting for many years.
Portal for ArcGIS prior to the 10.3 release of the ArcGIS Suite was an extension for ArcGIS Server that had to be purchased separately from ArcGIS Server. In November Portal for ArcGIS will be available for UCANR to install on the ArcGIS Server and it will provide a user interface similar to arcgis.com but within the UCANR intranet. This will open up some interesting options for UCANR.
Beyond these two additions we will be providing access to a new open data extension for ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS for Cad. The open data extension will allow us to provide an open data portal where the UCANR Network and the general public can go to download our data for use in other geospatial technologies. We will provide the ability to download certain data types such as, shapefiles, kml, or csv files. The ArcGIS for Cad extension will allow cad users within UCANR to leverage ArcGIS resources with Autocad. This will allow UCANR to update our cad drawings of our infrastructure and have drawings with the proper coordinate system and additional attributes that are not available with Autocad.
Beyond these upcoming software releases and tools the ESRI User Conference was a wonderful opportunity to renew old and create new relationships with other GIS professionals and to see how others are using GIS around the world. I look forward to putting these new technologies in place in the next year and to hopefully attending the user conference again in 2015.
- Author: Shane Feirer
The ESRI User Conference in San Diego was a great conference to attend this year. We were able to see the new offerings from ESRI that will be available in November of this year. ESRI will be releasing ArcGIS 10.3, this incremental release will have many improvements as well as new offerings that IGIS will be able to make available to the UCANR GIS Community. These new offerings will include ArcGIS Pro http://pro.arcgis.com and Portal for ArcGIS http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgisserver/extensions/portal-for-arcgis.
ArcGIS Pro is a new desktop application that will be available to all users of GIS within UCANR. ArcGIS Pro is a multi-threaded, 64-bit, project based GIS system that provides a fast responsive desktop application for the GIS professional. It will allow user to have multiple layouts in one document. It will enable the GIS user to have 2d and 3d layouts available in one project. It is what we as GIS users have been requesting for many years.
Portal for ArcGIS prior to the 10.3 release of the ArcGIS Suite was an extension for ArcGIS Server that had to be purchased separately from ArcGIS Server. In November Portal for ArcGIS will be available for UCANR to install on the ArcGIS Server and it will provide a user interface similar to arcgis.com but within the UCANR intranet. This will open up some interesting options for UCANR.
Beyond these two additions we will be providing access to a new open data extension for ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS for Cad. The open data extension will allow us to provide an open data portal where the UCANR Network and the general public can go to download our data for use in other geospatial technologies. We will provide the ability to download certain data types such as, shapefiles, kml, or csv files. The ArcGIS for Cad extension will allow cad users within UCANR to leverage ArcGIS resources with Autocad. This will allow UCANR to update our cad drawings of our infrastructure and have drawings with the proper coordinate system and additional attributes that are not available with Autocad.
Beyond these upcoming software releases and tools the ESRI User Conference was a wonderful opportunity to renew old and create new relationships with other GIS professionals and to see how others are using GIS around the world. I look forward to putting these new technologies in place in the next year and to hopefully attending the user conference again in 2015.