There's a very easy way to search for all KMLs [Google Earth] available on the web. Using Google Search, simply type in the following string to search for a KML for Vancouver:
or
note the vast number of results… you can refine your search or add even more detail if you'd like better results. Similarly, if you'd like to locate an AutoCAD DWF format file try this search string:
from Directions Magazine, via Donna:
Jotle is a new Google mashup that combines Google Maps with Flickr and YouTube. According to a posting at the Directions Magazine's Web Map Gallery by Mikhail Novikov:
Google Maps + Wikimapia + Placeopedia + Flickr + YouTube = Jotle! Jotle is an new Flickr photo and YouTube video explorer that takes Google Maps and mashes it up with Wikimapia and Placeopedia placemarks. Jotle lets you zoom into various parts of the world and see map points for Wikimapia and Placeopedia. Jotle then uses the tags for these locations to pull in photos from Flickr and videos from YouTube. Though it's definitely not the first Flickr + YouTube Google Maps mashup it is the first that uses this clever location-plotting as a way to suggest photos and videos for the areas of the map you're looking at. It's also a great compliment to the immense value both Wikimapia and Placeopedia offer in the area of travel and tourism. Now in addition to researching areas you are about to visit using Wikimapia and Placeopedia you can also use Jotle to get a visual feel for the immediate area.
hmm… well, i'm not sure if it's our slow internet connection or the mozilla browser, but don't believe the hype. while the concept of jotle is sound, the perfomance leaves much to be desired. the app was very unresponsive and we had a hard time figuring out what did what [or if anything did anything]
…
[after spending a bit more time playing around, we feel we may have been a bit too hard on jotle. it is in beta, after all, and our connection is terribly slow. still, there's something about the UI that we feel is seriously lacking.]
while we're sad to see him go, we're proud to announce that scientist #99 has gotten a job at theMechanism, a maxi-media design firm committed to web standards and web accessibility. wish him well tomorrow at Matchless, [7 pm–12 am], during the labs . east weekly Chess [k]Night.
two of jqln's obsessions combined in the perfect mashup. shoutouts to johnny-five and newton crosby!
since we talked about setting the MIME type with PHP, we figured we might as well give an example of how to do it with classic ASP as well.
Serving XML:
Response.ContentType = "text/html"
Response.Charset = "utf-8"
Serving XHTML:
If InStr(Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_ACCEPT"), "application/xhtml+xml") > 0 Then
Response.ContentType = "application/xhtml+xml"
Else
Response.ContentType = "text/html"
End If
Response.Charset = "utf-8"
at Feed Validator, our new favorite website. The validator was written in Python, is open source, and can be run locally. The site also contains tutorials and the Atom 1.0, RSS 1.0, and RSS 2.0 specifications!
more information on RSS:
In PHP, the MIME type is set through the header function [note the header function must be called prior to outputting anything to the browser].
To correctly serve XML, call the header function with the following arguments:
header("Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8");
Correctly serving XHTML is a bit more complicated. The $_SERVER array contains the server variables, allowing us to interrogate the Accept HTTP header:
header("Vary: Accept");
if (stristr($_SERVER[HTTP_ACCEPT], "application/xhtml+xml"))
header("Content-Type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8");
else
header("Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8");
The Open Geospatial Consortium® [OGC] recently became a member of the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C], a standards organization that develops interoperable technologies [specifications, guidelines, software, and tools] to lead the Web to its full potential.
The OGC is participating in a W3C incubator activity focusing on semantic geospatial issues. W3C Incubator Activities facilitate rapid development, on a time scale of a year or less, of new Web-related concepts. The semantic geospatial activity or Geospatial XG is sponsored by W3C members OGC, SRI International, University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute [USC ISI], Stanford University and Oracle and is chaired by Traverse Technology's Joshua Lieberman.
As an initial goal the Geospatial XG is working to develop a W3C "Note" based on GeoRSS version 1. This will result in a W3C Web page describing GeoRSS in the context of both W3C standards such as XML, HTML, and OWL; and OGC's relevant work, such as the OGC Abstract Specifications and Geography Markup Language [GML].
The OGC and the W3C seek to collaboratively add geospatial functionality to the emerging Semantic Web in a manner that is consistent with existing and future OGC standards. OGC standards are the product of a successful 12-year open, international, and consensus-driven effort to overcome obstacles to geospatial interoperability.
Interested parties are invited to participate in the Geospatial XG public mailing list. OGC's members are also invited to provide input on W3C issues via the OGC W3C Liaison, Raj Singh.
The OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 335 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications.
the scientists at the labs were totally surprised to see such good news in today's paper, but this temporary victory needs to be made permanent. it's time for the new congress to finish the work of the FCC and make net neutrality permanent under the law.
from the New York Times:
"AT&T offered new concessions to federal regulators late yesterday in the hopes of salvaging its $84 billion proposed acquisition of BellSouth.
"The concessions included a pledge to provide Internet users unobstructed Internet connections, an important gesture meant to win over dissenting commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission."
…
"In addition to the net neutrality pledge, AT&T, which is already the nation's largest phone company, also offered to sell certain wireless spectrum and phone lines, a concession Mr. Copps and Mr. Adelstein have sought as a way to encourage competition and temper the company's dominance. And the company pledged to upgrade its telephone network so that it could provide high-speed Internet service to at least 85 percent of homes in its service area.
"The company said it would also extend favorable terms to rivals that want to rent its lines to provide their own phone and Internet service, an issue that has been the subject of innumerable legal, regulatory and political fights for more than a decade."
…
"If the F.C.C. approves the deal, AT&T said it would live by the commitments for three and a half years."
→ read the entire article
→ tell congress to make net neutrality the law
→ analysis of AT&T's concession by Columbia Law Professor Tim Wu
via the New York Times:
Flaws Are Detected in Microsoft's Vista
"Microsoft is facing an early crisis of confidence in the quality of its Windows Vista operating system as computer security researchers and hackers have begun to find potentially serious flaws in the system that was released to corporate customers late last month."
…
"The browser flaw is particularly troubling because it potentially means that Web users could become infected with malicious software simply by visiting a booby-trapped site. That would make it possible for an attacker to inject rogue software into the Vista-based computer, according to executives at Determina, a company based in Redwood City, Calif., that sells software intended to protect against operating system and other vulnerabilities."
