GeoWeb 2006 - Day 1 and 2

Apologies to James Fee first of all for the delay of this post.

I've attended three workshops at GeoWeb 2006. So far it is a showcase of different applications, datasets, and schemas from different companies and corporations including Galdos Systems, Adobe, LizardTech, Oracle, Google, Microsoft, and Autodesk. Starting today and for the rest of the week, there are white paper presentations and talks by numerous industry professionals.

Both Monday and Tuesday of this week, I was fortunate enough to attend the workshops by Michael Ashbridge on KML and Google Earth, Doug Ricket on Google Maps API and mashups as well as Nathan Crews of Autodesk introducing everyone to LandXML. There were definitely a few highlights, talking to Google Earth's CTO Michael Jones about what developments we can expect and going for drinks with Michael Ashbridge(GE), Bent Hagemark(GE), and Tim Martin of the UK's Ordinance Survey at Granville Island. By far the best moment was working with the Google Maps API while Mr Jones and Mr Hagemark checked OGLE Earth and Google Earth Blog loading the new content into GE. The mentality on development is that users are developing the way the application is being used and should be used in the future. So if you have an idea about where you think GE should be headed make sure to let them know. I was even able to show them my models of SFU and discuss the registration issues I had with 3D buildings when I upgraded to GE 4 and the Sketchup buyout, they said my work was inspiring (thank you very much) and they look forward to seeing more.

From a technical standpoint here is what the GE team thought users should be checking out. Regions are a big thing right now, any and every large data set can be employing them allowing the division of images and 3D models into variable resolutions for a viewable area speeding up the streaming process. Network links were also a topic discussed a lot by Michael A. and Bent. So make sure to check out the KML 2.1 documentation for methods of implementing both in an efficient manner. Even Doug Ricket mentioned accessing external xml datasets with the Google Maps API demonstrating how the process might function. There seemed to be an ongoing theme of centralizing datasets and lite client apps and scripts surrounding all things Google.

I'll be attending the conference again on Friday to catch the keynote address by Michael Jones and sit in on presentations that involve GIS in disaster and response. I'll try to get some photos.