Water Concerns

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Big news on May 28th when Google released a Plug-in which makes it possible to view Google Earth, including 3-D buildings and KML files in a browser window, without downloading the full version.  Very much excitement about this, and there will certainly be some great applications very quickly.  Exploring this topic, an interesting application for US boaters surfaced.  EarthNC is a low-cost application/service which allow the user to add all kinds of water charts for US coastal and inland waters to Google Earth — online or offline.  It looks amazing (though I don’t have any charting know-how), and appears to have been enthusiastically received. Hope to hear back from them about whether a Dutch / European version is on the way.

This same developer (EarthNC) has just released an online converter which allows you to create Google Earth Plug-in code with your own KML files or MyMaps URLs, which can then be embedded in your website.  TakeItWithMe for Embedded Earth is in “Beta” form, but works handily (Not any more).

Update 17/6/2018: EarthNC viewer will be taken offline within 6-12 months.
TakeItWithMe no longer functions.
Check out free open-source website:Open Sea Map. Many more paid apps available.

Water Concerns

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A visit to the Water: H2O=Life show at the Museum of Natural History was thought provoking and alarming. This could be the issue of the 21st century, drowning all others. (Sorry, no laughing matter.)

Water is not in short supply in the Netherlands, but management is and always has been a central concern. This Dutch website translated as “the Netherlands Lives With Water” (No longer available) 17/6/2018:  uses Google Maps to show water projects, events and attractions, a nice application created by GeoStart.  One event we will try to take in is a sculpture exhibition at the castle in Muiden, called “the power of water“.

Update 17/6/2018: GeoStart is now part of Leiden-based website developer SWIS

Maps in Lund

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Lund, Sweden was founded sometime between 990 and 1020, and is filled with treasures for visitors today.  According to the Wikipedia, it is applying to be a “European Capital of Culture” in 2014, when a Swedish city again has a turn to hold this honor.  Lund University has over 40,000 students (though many live in other places).  We have just learned that the University offers an online Masters in GIS, free of charge. (How can this be??) We will investigate further.

Other interesting sights near Lund included the new western harbor area in Malmo, Vastra Hamnen, and another new “model development”, Jakriborg.  My collage is from Google Earth, including the 3D rendering of Santiago Calitrava’s twisting torso. One surprise after the next.

Update 17/6/2018: The Lund University masters program has a few scholarships for a free online international GIS Masters program, but the normal price is currently 10,000 euros.

Traveling Salesman Revisited

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traveling_salesmanNew SweetMaps application:  the Traveling Salesman’s European Vacation.   I take no credit for the original idea or clever coding of a traveling salesman program for Google Maps developed by Geir Kokkvoll Engdahl.  (See my original  post last month.  However, while writing a research paper for a UNGIS course at the Vrij University, the idea of a sweet little application dawned on me.  This is just a start… no doubt someone else could take this further.  There are limitations, and it will be interesting to see if anyone uses it and whether my Google Maps API account will be overloaded.   I would happily take comments, suggestions, bug reports.

Update 17/6/2018: Amazingly this little PHP app still works (sort of). Try just two or three cities. The reset doesn’t seem to work, so reload the page to start over. Anyway, it was the thought that counted!

AMFORA

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AMFORA is the Dutch acronym for Alternative Multifunctional Underground Space Amsterdam.  At a meeting of the Enlightened Underground international conference on Jan 29, the engineering firm, Strukton, revealed a plan for building a new Amsterdam, under the canals.   Together with the architectural firm, Zwarts & Jansma, they released a concept book (not available any more – june 2018) illustrating this underground future.  The plan would reduce traffic in the city, providing underground parking, park-and-ride facilities, shops, entertainment, and sports facilities.

There would be a positive impact on the environment, health, and quality of life with the crowded canal-side roads transformed into broad foot (and bike) paths. Somehow, a by-product of the process would be cleaner canals, clean enough to swim in.   This is truly an ”adaptation” scenario for global warming, as the land of Hans Brinker, turns into the costa del sol of the future.  The project images are wonderful, the idea is fantasmagoric.

Update 17/6/2018: AMFORA in het Stadslab van het Amsterdam Museum

The Vacationeers

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vacationeersIrresistable. View it on YouTube. But watch your back.

The Travelling Salesman Problem

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optimap_TSP_solverGeir Kokkvoll Engdahl, a Norwegian guy born in ‘83, posted a Google Maps API  implementation of the classic Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) called “Optimap” on his blog last July, and has since added the ability to enter multiple destinations with lat/long codes, and also the javascript source code (no longer valid link) so we can examine and play with it.   The application, of course, relies on Google’s routing engine (driving directions) to calculate distances between any two points, and it is not certain that this is always the shortest distance.  There is a bit of discussion about this on the Google Maps API Group (search on “optimal route”).  Engdahl’s program uses brute force up to 10 points, and ant colony heuristics from 11-20 points.  With Google’s restrictions on daily driving-direction requests (10,000) the maximum number of points is limited to 20… so this website won’t soon become the UPS routing-tool-of-choice, but may be useful for you travelling googlemen and women.

Update: Engdahl updated Optimap in 2012. See his blogpost.

Update Google Pricing June 2018: So much has happened to Google Maps for developers, but regarding the 10,000 hits limit, that has all changed to another pricing model.
The very latest is found here: https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/user-guide/pricing-changes/

Skiing Anyone?

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google_terraine_french_alpsYou can’t take your eyes off them for a second.  Terrain view in Google maps adds a new dimension.  It is not as powerful as its counterpart in Google Earth, where elevations can also be measured and displayed.  Not yet.  But more is clearly on the way.  Last week they also launched collaboration “MyMaps“, which is bound to spearhead a huge new category of online map applications.  And finally, another major announcement, push-button import of KML, KMZ and RSS files into MyMaps.  This was possible with a little programming (using the API) before, but now everyone can do it!  (Well, sort of.)

Update 2018: Current technique for getting terrain maps.

DESERTEC, REC, eSolar, etc.

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energy_super_gridAn article in Nature Magazine this month discusses realistic options for harvesting energy from the desert in Africa.   On the same day as the Nature article, Google announced RE<C, an initiative to look for renewable energy (“Google Green”?).  They are working with companies to explore new technology… one such company is eSolar Inc.

Update:  in 2012, Siemens pulled out of DESERTEC project.  See Article.
Update: 2017, the Dream didn’t die. See Article.
Update: 2017, eSolar goes AWOL.  See Article.

At the same time, yesterday the Club of Rome sponsored a presentation by the president of Jordan in Brussels.  The White Paper is here.  At least one Dutch company is active in this area, Free Energy International.  In coming days we will explore this area further and summarize investigations.
Update: 15/6/2018 – None of the old links can be found.

Seen at the Tate

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Brinco_shoesTwo contemporary artists using maps in their work exhibited recently at the Tate Modern in London:  Judi Wertheim’s Brinco project was featured in “The Irresistable Force” at the Tate in London.  When originally staged in San Diego in 2005, the Argentinian artist ”gave some pairs away, to immigrants trying to cross from Mexico to the United States. She designed her show with them in mind, since it includes a detailed map of the border area on its inner sole, an attached compass and mini-flashlight, as well as a picture on the heel of a Mexican priest, Toribio Romo, who, in the ’70s was thought to be a “guardian angel” for those crossing the border”, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

IMG_0128Another room was entirely filled with map-covered beds by Guillermo Kuitka, also an Argentinian (coincidence?), whose large-scale works are often inspired by cartography.