Sunday, July 01, 2007
Posted by Roberto
4:33 PM
0 comments
BROWSE REALITY
Just as Web browsers depend on HTML to figure out how and where to display text and images on a Web page, Google Earth depends on a standard called KML, the keyhole markup language, to tell it where geographic data should be placed on the underlying latitude-longitude grid. If you know how to assemble a KML file, you can make your own geographical data appear as a new "layer" on your computer's copy of Google Earth; and if you publish that KML file on the Web, other people can download the layer and display it on their own computers. This layering capability transforms Google Earth from a mere digital globe into something more like a 3-D Wikipedia of the planet.
In late 2006, researchers at Intel have created a primitive video game, called Mars Sucks, that challenges Google Earth users to search out and destroy Martian invaders using clues to the locations of their spaceships. The core of the game is a KML layer with special scripts that communicate with both the usual Google Earth content servers and a separate game server that controls elements such as the clues, cockpit graphics, and explosions. Using the same technique, it might be possible to superimpose avatars on the Google Earth environment without having to change anything about the program itself.
One hypnotic example is the 3-D flight tracker developed by Fboweb.com, a company that offers online flight-planning tools for general-aviation pilots and enthusiasts. Download the KML layer for one of the eight major U.S. airports that Fboweb covers so far, and tiny airplane icons representing all the commercial aircraft heading toward that airport at that moment will be displayed at the appropriate altitude in Google Earth. As time passes, each flight leaves a purple trail recording every ascent, turn, and descent, all the way down to the runway. It's a plane-spotter's dream.
"Google Earth itself is really neat," comments Jamais Cascio, the Metaverse Roadmap coauthor. "But Google Earth coupled with millions of sensors around the world, offering you real-time visuals, real-time atmospheric data, and so on--that's transformative."
Tomorrow's integrated reality online will support remote expertise, real-time teams, and insight-based feedback to decision-makers. Beyond a view of real-time supply chains, sensors and the sensor information systems built upon their data will create an Internet we use to share experiences and browse reality.
Source: Second Earth, by Wade RoushBrand, Technology Review
fboweb.com - Total Aviation Awareness
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