I’ve been lucky enough to see some of the new features that Brian has been working on for Arc2Earth. The KML region stuff is simply amazing (check out some of the demos on his blog).
It’s best you go over to his blog and check out all the great information he’s posted on the next version as well as Brian’s thoughts at one of the more exciting things to be bantered about on the GeoBlogs, AtomPub + KML. There is no reason why all this sharing of GeoData should rely on old fashioned methods of distribution and updating. Brian hits it on the head here:
In short, make Google Earth a limited APP client and Google My Maps an APP server (read, write). The latter would use GData as the store and presumably provide server functionality to process feed updates from APP clients and some limited search based on OpenSearch. In the regard, I could see Arc2Earth enabling ArcMap as a full APP client for the MyMaps APP server. Many issues to work out but a GIS client with good editing tools and bulk loading capabilities combined with a flexible, easy to use client like MyMaps seems very attractive. Multiple editors could then work on the data from both ArcMap clients and MyMaps browser clients and the entire feed would still be available to any other client to view (GE, VE, OpenLayers etc).
I hope I’m not the only one excited about where that might lead.
2 Comments
Regions in KML are cool indeed. But this is nothing new. MapViewSVG do this with SVG technology since several years. Nevertheless Arc2Earth is a pretty nice tool!
I see Google making BF an offer he can’t refuse very soon.