Thematic mapping in the sky
Rich Treves blogs on Google Earth design, and his ideas are solid (I particularly like his post on 2005 – 2015: the Lost Decade of Neo-Geography?). A recent interest in humanitarian applications, and some discussions with people like Nigel Woof of MapAction, have lead him to develop TMapper, a thematic mapping tool for Google Earth. Needless to say, this is exactly the sort of thing that I was looking for in Bangladesh (and would doubtless be useful for Myanmar, ahem).
Now, I haven’t been able to play with this yet, because my shonky mobile internet connection means that the download is too large and difficult. However from the description this looks like a first step in making Google Earth more versatile, which can only be a good thing. I’m slightly worried by the .NET dependency, and I worry that perhaps this might end up falling between two stools – too complicated for non-GIS folk to easily use, and too lightweight for GIS folk to feel comfortable with.
Nobody’s perfect, however, and at least this is something we can test. Thanks to Rich for giving this some thought and putting in the time – he’s looking for feedback, so if you want to play around with TMapper, let him know.
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Although this is an interesting tool it is doubtful it will be used in Myanmar due to poor internet access. Although the tool does not require much bandwidth just starting google earth is not often possible.
However, the tool is a good idea, even if it is not used in Myanmar. Giving more people the ability to display data is positive.
Janet
3 Jun 08 at 3:35
Yes, anything that involves bandwidth still involves problems. I’m on a mobile internet connection, which also folds when I open Google Earth. However I think we’re all working on the assumption that connectivity can only improve… even in Myanmar!
Paul Currion
3 Jun 08 at 5:39