KML officially adopted by the OGC

While it's been in the works for a couple of years, it looks like yesterday the official announcement was made. The Open Geospatial Consoritum works to set open standards for all types of geographic information because KML is a mark up language much like HTML and allows the sharing of geographic information in a standard way. Not only on the web but by any software that can now easily include this open standard.

This quote was taken directly from the OGC press release about this and I think it sums it up well.

"Geographic data adds tremendous value to the online experience. More and more people are looking for ways to incorporate location information into their online content," said Michael Weiss-Malik, KML product manager for Google. "The standardization of KML makes it possible for both novice and expert users alike to publish and share geographical information in an open format. It's not unlike web browsers' standardized support for HTML, which allows any web browser to read any web page."

Monthly GIS Gathering

Did anyone see last week Gmaps became easily embeddable into your website or blog? With our monthly meeting coming up this Thursday (thanks Leo and Neil for keeping those email announcements coming) I thought I'd put a little map here in case people don't know where the Asheville Brewing Company is (not the one on Merrimon Ave.) Come join us to talk about what's going on in the world of GIS or anything else that comes to mind!


View Larger Map

GoogleMaps implements MyMaps

The social computing and GIS revolution continue to racing foward today with Google releasing a new 'My Maps' tab on Google Maps. This new feature allows users to easily create and share geo-specific content using their mapping API. Over the past 2 years, thousands of mash-ups have been created using Google Maps and now it has become even easier. There are tools for creating point, line and polygons on your map as well as saving to a URL, KML, emailing and printing. Of course your maps can be made public or private. Go give it a try!

http://maps.google.com