[udig-devel] Integrate Google maps with Udig

Wed Apr 2 23:00:24 PDT 2008

On Apr 2, 2008, at 10:16 AM, Vince Darley wrote:

> Another possibility might be to follow this approach:
>
> http://interactiveearth.blogspot.com/2008/01/embed-google-earth-into-your.html
>
> and embed a google earth render window into udig.  The issue then  
> would be whether the Map view could be transparently drawn on top of  
> this "layer".  Control of the google earth window would (at least on  
> Windows) be done through the COM api.  This would of course restrict  
> the projection to be the one used by google earth.

projection and zoom levels.  of course, this is fine, as it's really  
the purpose of having a google maps as a background layer to the  
user's foreground vectors, so the user may purpose his/her maps  
against google's, making any adjustments and changes as is needed,  
saving a copy specific for google, or yahoo, or...

being able to cycle through google, yahoo, mapquest, etc. with a click  
of the checkbox, would increase development productivity  
considerably.  and this could be taken a step further, doing the same  
with commercial/business websites that in fact be clients, allowing  
you to proof your work atop/against their company site maps.

>
>
> --
>
> Indeed direct access to google tiles is a no go, but there's nothing  
> to stop using a javascript api/library (e.g. 'Rhino' which is  
> written in Java) for this.  There are still restrictions on the  
> _use_ of the data and certain kinds of uses of udig with such a  
> layer would be disallowed (or would require the application  
> developer to purchase an enterprise google maps api license).

essentially using the google maps the same way openlayers is using  
them.  google does not restrict specific browser types, meaning, if  
the google map is being viewed in safari, firefox, or a java  
browser... it's all the same to them.  and, of course there are the  
free and fee api's available.  within udig, one would need only use  
their localhost api or use their domain's api.  this is not a product  
for resale, nor is it a product for repurposing their content/raster  
tiles.  instead, it is merely a layer amongst layers of various types.

>
>
> cheers,
>
> Vince.
>
> At 16:46 02/04/2008, Paul Ramsey wrote:
>> Direct access to the Google Maps and Google Earth tiles is verboten.
>> Unless you also embed a Javascript interpreter in uDig so you can use
>> their Javascript API and an API key.

are there any existing examples of a javascript interpreter being run  
in udig?

>>
>>
>> I heard at one time that direct access to Virtual Earth tiles was
>> allowed, and there is a Worldwind plug-in that did that: not sure if
>> it is still legal.
>>
>> You can of course do direct access of all the NASA data, which is  
>> voluminous.
>> You can also direct access the Open Street Map tiles.

the purpose of having a google, yahoo, virtual earth, openstreetmaps,  
etc. background layer, is so you can purpose your data for display  
upon that respective browser-based map, be it for your geoserver/ 
mapserver+openlayers mash-up, or for shp2kml mash-ups, or anything  
that requires putting your map atop one of these widely used map  
services.  for folks in the states and canada, mainly in well  
populated/documented/mapped areas, this is not so much an issue.  but  
for those who live in countries, where these browser-based maps are  
inaccurate by several meters in some cases, it is.  if i export a map/ 
layer to kml without any adjustment, and display it in google earth,  
my roads will display over top the houses pictured in the google sat  
image, as will my properties/construction maps end up displaying over  
top roads on the google map(and vice versa).

as the months and years come, we all will be using these browser- 
based(and google earth too) mapping sites more and more, and so it  
would be truly convenient if we had an easy way to swap background  
layers between google, yahoo, virtual earth, mapquest, openstreetmaps,  
and the handful of other sites out there that will continue to grow in  
popularity.

and in the case of udig, it's chosen to use eclipse, wherein there are  
many other eclipse applications, and many more eclipse plugins written  
for many other purposes, outside of the gis word, but certainly  
pertinant as it relates to having a useful gis management tool.  for  
example, cloudstack(eclipse framework for building peer to web  
applications) would be a wonderful plugin to use with udig, allowing  
remote users to more easily collaborate their files, and not just  
shapefiles and the like, but decorations for point maps, photo/image/ 
raster overlays, and much more, that need to be shared for the map  
making process, as well as needing to be served eventually on a  
geoserver or mapserver or any other map server of the like.  word  
docs, excel spreadsheets, pdf files, and many other documents will  
start to be geo-referenced more and more, and so having an exchange  
vehicle, wherein one user can both serve and share from his  
development tool(udig), with some/many other users doing the same  
thing, it will greatly increase productivity and make the experience  
an overall pleasure.  so it'll be interesting to see how people start  
integrating these other types of eclipse plugins for use with the gis  
workflow.  as well, the open source gis workflow is still very much  
disenfranchised.   we have server tools, and client tools, but none  
with any substantial common thread with one another.  it seems logical  
that, in the case of a stack like geotools, geoserver, openlayers,  
tile cache, and udig, that the administrative client(udig) should be  
taking care of administrative tasks related to both geoserver and  
openlayers, along with the actual server and it's services in addition  
to it's map making/managing attributes.

2 sense.

regards,

eric

>>
>>
>> P.
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 8:07 AM, andrea antonello
>> <andrea.antonello at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > I can imagine that there are licensing issues to release such a  
>> plugin
>> >  from the community?
>> >
>> >  Andrea
>> _______________________________________________
>> User-friendly Desktop Internet GIS (uDig)
>> http://udig.refractions.net
>> http://lists.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/udig-devel
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG.
>> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.4/1355 - Release Date:  
>> 01/04/2008 17:37
>
> Vince Darley
> CEO, Eurobios UK Ltd
> Tel: +44 207 921 0445
> Mobile: +44 794 154 8527
> www.eurobios.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> User-friendly Desktop Internet GIS (uDig)
> http://udig.refractions.net
> http://lists.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/udig-devel

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.refractions.net/pipermail/udig-devel/attachments/20080403/0502385f/attachment.html