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Archive for June, 2008 Page 2 of 2

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Simple Geotagged Photo KML File Creator For PC/Mac

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
 in geotagging and KML. 6 Comments

PhotoKML is a small (<300K download) Java application (PC and Mac) that takes a folder full of geotagged photos, and creates a KML file with points linked to moderate-sized thumbnails of those photos. Interface is simple; select a folder containing georeferenced photos, and a folder where you want to save the KMZ file:

5-17-2008-4.24.25 PM

Make sure the “Yes” button is selected at the top. While the program says it’s able to georeference photos using a GPS file, the only format it accepts is the “.trk” format. If you have your track in a more standard format like GPX, good luck finding a program that can convert it to the “trk” format (I couldn’t even get GPSBabel to work). If you want the point icons in Google Earth to be mini-versions of the pictures instead of pushpins, check the box at the bottom.

Click “Generate KML”, and you’ll have your KMZ file in a few seconds; you’ll have to open it manually in Google Earth:

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Nothing fancy, but PhotoKML does the job quickly and easily.




Overlay Google Maps, Windows Live, Yahoo, Ask.com and OpenStreetMap Imagery In Google Earth

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
 in Google Earth. 4 Comments

The Map overlays for Google Earth site (link fixed – sorry about that) lets you select a source of imagery (Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, Windows Live, OpenStreetMap), and create a KML file that overlays that imagery onto the terrain in Google Earth, with definable transparency. Note: leave the lat/long offset values at 0; these values let you offset the imagery to correct for minor errors in position, not set the initial view position. You can also download a KML file with links to all the imagery, and select the source by checking the appropriate box in the Google Earth pane. Here’s Google Maps’ terrain view in Google Earth:

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Direction To A Geostationary Broadcast Satellite In Google Maps/Earth

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
 in Google Earth, Google Maps and Uncategorized. Closed

Here’s a slick little online geographic tool called DishPointer. Enter your position (latitude/longitude), or your address, then select from a list of broadcast satellites in geosynchronous orbit. DishPointer will bring up a Google Maps display showing the proper orientation for your dish antenna for optimal reception from the selected satellite:

Capture3-26-2007-2.31.46 PM5-19-2008-8.55.35 PM

Check the box marked “Show obstacle”, and you can move the marker to show the maximum height an obstacle (like a tree or a neighbor’s house) can have without blocking your satellite dish’s line-of-sight view.

Click on the Google Earth icon, and have the line-of-sight to the satellite shown in 3 dimensions:

Capture3-26-2007-2.31.46 PM5-19-2008-8.58.21 PM

If your view of the satellite is blocked by terrain, that will be visible in Google Earth; if there are 3D buildings for your area, you’ll also be able to see whether your view is blocked by adjacent buildings as well.

Via OgleEarth.




Animated 3D Thematic Maps With Uuorld

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
 in data. 3 Comments

Monday’s post on the Thematic Mapping Engine reminded me that I’ve been meaning to post about Uuorld (pronounced “world”) for a while. Uuorld is also a thematic mapping tool, but uses its own custom 3D display engine instead of a standard digital globe or file format (like the TME’s use of KMZ for display in Google Earth or other compatible programs). It comes with roughly 120 or so datasets of demographic/commercial/land use data, which can be displayed for a preset world region, or for a custom region you can create yourself. Many of the datasets are time-based, allowing you to create animated prism or choropleth maps that can be exported in a number of video formats (mp4, mpg, avi and flv). Controls let you set the tilt and orientation of the 3D view, and export it as a TIFF, JPEG or PNG:

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The Big List Of Free Metadata Software II

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
 in data, GIS and software. 1 Comment

Continuing on from the first post in the series …

MetaCat: “Metacat is a flexible metadata database. It utilizes XML as a common syntax for representing the large number of metadata content standards that are relevant to ecology. Thus, Metacat is a generic XML database that allows storage, query, and retrieval of arbitrary XML documents without prior knowledge of the XML schema.”

ht to Matt Perry.

MetaLite: “MetaLite is a simple tool for collecting and validating Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant metadata. It allows a user to quickly document geospatial data while still adhering to FGDC Metadata Content Standards.” Features include:

  • Multiple Document Interface
  • Multi-Lingual
    • Spanish
    • French
    • Portuguese
    • English
  • Contact Information Templates
  • Platforms
    • Windows 95
    • Windows NT
  • Generate FGDC Clearinghouse-ready files
    • FAQ, HTML, Text, or XML!
  • Helper windows
    • Coordinate Converter
    • Calendar
    • Error Window
    • Contact Editor
    • Multilingual Keyword Lookup
  • Online Help
  • Duplicate Existing metadata entries
  • Validate data with MP (Metadata Parser)

Metascribe: “The NOAA Coastal Services Center’s MetaScribe tool is designed to reduce significantly the labor required to produce metadata compliant with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM). This software tool takes advantage of the fact that, within a collection of records for a given data type, the records are generally very similar in content, with only a few fields or phrases changing from one record to the next. MetaScribe delivers the greatest savings when used to create a collection of similar records. In fact, this tool is not appropriate for the creation of multiple metadata records with little redundant content.”

Metavist: “Metavist 2005, a software tool for the metadata archivist, is used to create metadata compliant with two of the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata standards—“FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata” (FGDC 1998) and “FGDC Biological Data Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata” (FGDC 1999).” Can be ordered on CD, or downloaded directly here.

Morpho: “Morpho allows ecologists to create metadata, (i.e. describe their data in a standardized format), and create a catalog of data & metadata upon which to query, edit and view data collections. In addition, It also provides the means to access network servers, in order to query, view and retrieve all relevant, public ecological data.”

NPS Metadata Tools And Editor: “The NPS Metadata Tools & Editor (MTE) is a custom software application for authoring, editing, and managing National Park Service (NPS) metadata. The MTE operates either as an extension to ArcCatalog versions 8.3/ 9.x or as a standalone desktop application. The MTE is intended to be the primary editor for metadata that will be uploaded to the NPS Data Store and produces XML metadata based on the NPS Metadata Profile. Metadata editing is accomplished with editing stylesheets that transform an XML metadata file into an editable record.”

SHAME: “SHAME is a library that leverages editors, presentations and query interfaces for resource centric RDF metadata. The central idea of SHAME is to work with Annotation Profiles which encompasses:

  • how the metadata in RDF should be read and modified.
  • what input is allowed, e.g. multiplicity and vocabularies to use.
  • presentational aspects like order, grouping, labels etc.

These annotation profiles are then used to generate user interfaces for either editing, presentation or querying purposes. The user interface may be realized in a web setting (both a jsp and velocity version exists) or in a stand alone application (a java/swing version exists). ”

Three Tab Metadata Editor For ArcCatalog 8.* and 9.*: “The Three Tab Editor is a user interface for entering Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and ISO Metadata for ArcCatalog.

  • It is composed of only four simple data entry pages, so there is less hunting and pecking for the required metadata fields.
  • It writes the metadata to the ESRI metadata file found in any data set supported by ArcInfo 9.x (e.g. Coverages, Shape Files, Geo Databases, SDE Databases…)
  • It allows the user to input the contact information once, and then it populates all three contact information sections with this contact data (e.g.. metadata creator, data creator, and data request contact).
  • Pick lists are provided for most of the data entry fields. These pick list provide either a sample of the potential value, or a list of the potential domains that can be used in that field. These pick list can also be edited via the metadata.mdb file found in “C:\Program Files\ThreeTabEditor” directory
  • The theme keyword pick list used by this editor is compatible with those required by the ArcIMS Metadata Server.
  • Completion of the fields found in this editor will allow the user to meet the minimal ISO metadata standard.
  • The editor is designed to allow users who complete all fields to pass through the metadata parser (mp) with minimal errors.
  • The editor is linked to a Microsoft Access database that can be used to store your contact information and pull down lists. This database can be found in the tools installation directory (e.g. c:\Program Files\ThreeTabEditor).
  • On-line linkage exists to the Image Map of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) from the tools interface. This provides user with a quick reference of how to complete the fields. “

USGS Formal Metadata: A suite of metadata tools, including mp, cns, xtme, Tkme, mq, and DBFmeta. The last is a tool “designed to facilitate the documentation of data contained in DBF files”

GeoNetwork opensource: “GeoNetwork opensource is a standards based, Free and Open Source catalog application to manage spatially referenced resources through the web. It provides powerful metadata editing and search functions as well as an embedded interactive web map viewer. This website contains information related to the use of the software.”

ht to Grant McKenzie.




Thematic Mapping In Google Earth

Published by
Leszek Pawlowicz
 in data, Google Earth and KML. 1 Comment

On his excellent Thematic Mapping blog (now part of my blog roll), Bjorn Sandvik has been running a series on thematic mapping techniques in Google Earth. Examples have included choropleth maps, bar charts, prism charts, Collada objects, map legends, including examples of animated time series. If you’re into the techy part of this stuff, the series is well worth a look for the ideas you’ll get from it, and the downloadable example files. But for non-techy types, the prospect of learning how to do this might have been a bit intimidating. Heck, I find it intimidating, and I know at least a litlle about this stuff.

But Bjorn has taken his examples to the next level, by creating an online tool that can convert datasets to thematic Google Earth maps on the fly, the Thematic Mapping Engine:

Thematic Mapping Engine

Only Prism maps are supported in this initial release, with other types (Choropleth, Proportional Symbol and Chart) coming in the future. You’re also currently limited in the datasets to 15 worldwide datasets from the UN, but the ability to import your own data is also coming. You can select data for one year, for a time series, or create a time map with a slider that lets you view the chart in animated format as the years roll by. The “colour” scale sets the endpoint colors for the chart, and these colors will be used to generate a legend for the chart. Click on Make KML, and you can download the KMZ file to your computer / open it in Google Earth directly:

globe

In Google Earth, use the slider at the upper right to change the data year, or click on the play button to see it animated.

I did find one minor quirk, but it’s likely a Google Earth bug. On my system, the first time I load one of these Thematic Mapping Engine KMZ files into Google Earth, I often see something like this:

dark

By turning the “sun” on (the View => Sun menu), and then turning the sun back off again, I get the correct view (i.e. the first picture). Resizing the Google Earth view can also create this effect, but the solution is the same.




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