Geospatial Focus
Today I went with my team to a half day presentation at the Google Enterprise Geospatial Summit 2011 because the company I work for uses their applications.
Geospatial refers to the Google Earth and mapping and all its features.
Most people would be aware of and use the public face of Google, but there is actually a business side to the company called Enterprise.
It was actually a very interesting 4 hours enhanced with some lubrication.
There were presentations by the Google Earth founder himself Brian McClendon, and some high level Google Product and Development executives.
I won't bore you with too much detail in case you don't normally get excited by this stuff.
Brian McClendon was a founder and inventor at Keyhole, a start up company purchased by Google in 2004.The geospatial data visualization tool developed by Keyhole later came to be known as Google Earth.
He made his childhood home of Lawrence, Kansas the default center point of early releases of Google Earth.
The Google people spoke about some of their ideas and developments, but if I told you, I would have to kill you. In fact they can touch on some topics, then back off and say they can't comment.
The advantage of mapping is people easily visualise concepts and information, rather than reading lists of information where they nod off.
Some examples brought to demonstrate were . . . . well, rather interesting, such as -
NY Times HOMICIDE map.
Here the number of homicides is mapped, and you can filter on weapons, gender, age, ethnicity etc. You get the idea. If you are looking at buying an apartment in Brooklyn, this site is a must see.
You will love THIS one.
Flush Tracker is a map of the local sewer system and reveals information like speed and distance for a flush to travel. Local Flushes are shown on the map and then the path of flow is drawn on the map... very clever and no doubt useful to the local sewer authority.
When I opened the site, I was watching a "deposit" travel alongside a road in Germany.
Japan quake PERSON-FINDER
Efforts to bring missing persons and friends and relatives together.
CRISIS RESPONSE grew out of an idea following the Haiti earthquake. Many government departments had collected information about different aspects of the quake aftermath, but weren't sharing it, resulting in a flawed recovery outcome.
Google Crisis Response makes critical information more accessible around natural disasters and humanitarian crises such as hurricanes and earthquakes. This initiative is a project of Google.org, which uses Google's strengths in information and technology to build products and advocate for policies that address global challenges.
They have responded to Australian floods, Australian cyclone Yasi, Christchurch quake and Japanese quake, to name a few.
Enough already. I hope that this gives you a better idea of what Google is involved in besides your Google search page.
Sorry, it is a bit long TODAY
Geospatial Focus
Today I went with my team to a half day presentation at the Google Enterprise Geospatial Summit 2011 because the company I work for uses their applications.
Geospatial refers to the Google Earth and mapping and all its features.
Most people would be aware of and use the public face of Google, but there is actually a business side to the company called Enterprise.
It was actually a very interesting 4 hours enhanced with some lubrication.
There were presentations by the Google Earth founder himself Brian McClendon, and some high level Google Product and Development executives.
I won't bore you with too much detail in case you don't normally get excited by this stuff.
Brian McClendon was a founder and inventor at Keyhole, a start up company purchased by Google in 2004.The geospatial data visualization tool developed by Keyhole later came to be known as Google Earth.
He made his childhood home of Lawrence, Kansas the default center point of early releases of Google Earth.
The Google people spoke about some of their ideas and developments, but if I told you, I would have to kill you. In fact they can touch on some topics, then back off and say they can't comment.
The advantage of mapping is people easily visualise concepts and information, rather than reading lists of information where they nod off.
Some examples brought to demonstrate were . . . . well, rather interesting, such as -
NY Times HOMICIDE map.
Here the number of homicides is mapped, and you can filter on weapons, gender, age, ethnicity etc. You get the idea. If you are looking at buying an apartment in Brooklyn, this site is a must see.
You will love THIS one.
Flush Tracker is a map of the local sewer system and reveals information like speed and distance for a flush to travel. Local Flushes are shown on the map and then the path of flow is drawn on the map... very clever and no doubt useful to the local sewer authority.
When I opened the site, I was watching a "deposit" travel alongside a road in Germany.
Japan quake PERSON-FINDER
Efforts to bring missing persons and friends and relatives together.
CRISIS RESPONSE grew out of an idea following the Haiti earthquake. Many government departments had collected information about different aspects of the quake aftermath, but weren't sharing it, resulting in a flawed recovery outcome.
Google Crisis Response makes critical information more accessible around natural disasters and humanitarian crises such as hurricanes and earthquakes. This initiative is a project of Google.org, which uses Google's strengths in information and technology to build products and advocate for policies that address global challenges.
They have responded to Australian floods, Australian cyclone Yasi, Christchurch quake and Japanese quake, to name a few.
Enough already. I hope that this gives you a better idea of what Google is involved in besides your Google search page.
Sorry, it is a bit long TODAY