Reporting LIVE from Google Geo Developer Day in Mountain View, California. See the main announcement here.
Here are a few more important points from the announcements today at the Google Geo Developer Day conference:
- Google Maps now supports KML files. Not only can you give Google Maps the URL of a KML/KMZ file and have your placemarks displayed, but also even KML files with polygons and lines will be displayed as well. This is really AMAZING! KML has just become an even more important file format for sharing geolocation information as a standard.
- KML V2.1 is announced and supported by the new Google Earth and by Google Maps. KML 2.1 supports level of detailing for both placemarks (like has been done with Google Earth Community layers) and also for imagery. So, you can have increasingly detailed resolution imagery for an image overlay as you zoom in lower. This is really going to open up some exciting new applications.
- The HUGE new image database update I wrote about last Friday is actually even bigger than I realized. Google showed an amazing KML file showing just how big their high resolution data really is, and it just blew me away! (I hope to get a copy of that KML file). Here’s some important statistics: they now cover 4 TIMES the amount of land surface. Now 1/3 of the world population is covered in high resolution. Amazing!
- By the way, turn on the new National Geographic Layers – they are now covering more than just Africa!
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.