New high-resolution underwater terrain in World Oceans Day

In celebration of World Oceans Day, Google has released a significant amount of brand new high-resolution ocean floor imagery, amounting to an area larger than North America!

Captured from nearly 500 ship cruises and 12 different institutions, the data was curated by the Lamont-Dohery Earth Observatory. The image below shows the areas that have been udpated:


 
world-oceans.jpg

To explore more of the new features, Google has created a “Seafloor Updates layer” to show off the highlights, seen here:

The deepest volcanic eruption ever recorded was at the West Mata volcano near Fiji, photos of which can be seen in the Deep Sea Vents Ridge 2000 tour. Coincidentally, Frank is celebrating World Oceans Day by spending a full day diving in the ocean in Fiji. You can read about that experience on the Tahina Expedition blog.

All of this data is fun to look at, but there are some important scientific benefits as well. In particular, a more detailed ocean map can help us understand how tsunamis will spread around the globe. At this point, we know more about the surface of Mars and the Moon than we do about the ocean floor, so advances like these are becoming more critical.

Google Maps: How Late Your Bus Is?

Waiting for your bus can sometimes seem like slowly dying in a desert as you watch vehicle-shaped mirages glimmer on the horizon. As a remedy for that transit-parched feel, Google is integrating live transit updates into Maps for mobile and desktop.
 


 
Before you get all excited, the update is only available in four U.S. cities (Boston, Portland, San Diego and San Francisco) and two European cities (Madrid and Turin), and for Google Maps for mobile on Android devices (although it will work on mobile browsers, and it doesn’t require any downloads to access).

Citizens of those cities will be able to see delays and alerts when clicking on transit stations or planning routes, as well as “live departure times.”

DataMarket app: Quick, map-based visualization of your data

The Windows Azure DataMarket is a growing repository of data sources and services mediated by Microsoft. It allows customers to purchase vector and tiled datasets using Open Data Protocol (OData) specifications. Available datasets include weather, crime, demographics, parcels, plus many other layers. The OData working group has been looking at full spatial support for this specification; in the meantime, DataMarket datasets can still be used with geospatial applications and Bing Maps.

To further assist use of datasets, we are happy to announce the launch of DataMarket Mapper, a map app that allows quick and easy map-based visualization of DataMarket data. The app was developed by OnTerra Systems, along with the Microsoft DataMarket group. Look for it in the Bing Maps App Gallery. With a DataMarket subscription you can access layers, and visualize these layers on Bing Maps. If lat/longs don’t exist in the data source then the Bing Maps geocoder will geocode on the fly. Even if you don’t have a DataMarket account, we’ve made some crime and demographic data available in the app.
 


 
Figure 1 – DataMarket Mapper showing crime statistics per city using Data.gov crime data.

DMBlog1

You can also use DataMarket data in Bing Maps applications using Bing Maps AJAX and Silverlight APIs. This involves using the vector shape or tile layer methods. Figure 2 shows parcel tile layer overlay on Bing Maps AJAX 7.0 Control API. If you have a DataMarket key with access to these layers you can also access these demos directly for testing/code samples:
•    Alteryx Demographics
•    BSI Parcels
•    Weatherbug Station Locations

Figure 2 – DataMarket parcel data from B.S.I. shown in a web mapping application using the Bing Maps AJAX 7 API.

We’re excited to launch this new app. After you visit the app and see it in action, we’d enjoy hearing your feedback. We’re already working on updates. In the near future, you’ll see the addition of country-based datasets, Windows Live ID/OAuth, and thematic mapping. If you have any questions or comments or would like help in building a custom Bing Maps application with DataMarket Mapper, please contact OnTerra Systems.com.