google earth
Google Earth integration for Drupal 6
The KML module for Drupal allows you to view location-enabled data from your site inside of Google Earth, and it's now available for Drupal 6 - the latest release of the Drupal content management platform.
Having realised last week that the Location module for Drupal was already working pretty well on Drupal 6 I set about to update the KML module to start working with it.
It had been a while since I'd done much with the module, and have thankfully had some help from another community member - Robin Rainton, or raintonr - who was keen to add some new features, so it was great to get stuck back into it and try out some of the new things that Robin had added since I last touched the module. Perhaps the biggest new features are the caching of KML feeds so whenever you're accessing them in Google Earth you put less of a strain on your Drupal site (especially if you are using Network Links to regularly update the feed), and the ability to choose the style of the markers instead of using the default pins that we used to have.
So, if you want to use the KML module on your Drupal 6 site, you can now do that. You'll need to download the latest version of Location module and also the latest version of KML module. There will likely still be issues with this early version, so please let me know if you come across any by posting them in the issue queue on drupal.org.
Note: The icon depicted above is a combination of elements from the Druplicon (licensed under the GPL) and the Google Earth icon (used without permission). Hopefully it's not breaching Google's trademark or copyrights or anything...
Aerial Imagery of the Isle of Man: now on Google Maps
After a long wait, Google has updated their aerial imagery to include high resolution imagery of the Isle of Man. The imagery is available through both Google Maps and Google Earth.
You can now explore the Island's towns (e.g. Castletown, Douglas or Ramsey), glens (e.g. Silverdale Glen, Glen Helen and Glen Maye), historic monuments (e.g. Lady Isabella or the Laxey Wheel, Corrin's Tower on Peel Head, Peel Castle, Castle Rushen in Castletown and Derby Fort on Fort Island, Langness) and the only mountain (Snaefell) or anything else that can be seen from above.
Unfortunately there still isn't any name data, so it's much easier if you know what you're looking for when exploring.
Update: I see from the Isle of Man Newspapers website - Improved Isle of Man images on Google Earth - that the imagery being included in Google's database is dated 2006 and is the result of "months of negotiations involving the Department of Local Government and the Space Commerce Division of the Treasury."
Views support in Drupal's KML module
To set up a KML feed in Drupal all you need to do, after downloading the latest Drupal 5 version of KML module, is create a new view, enable the 'page' display for that view and choose 'KML feed' as the format to display. You can then filter it by anything you wish, sort it in different ways and feed it arguments to filter it down even further on the fly (untested, but should work).
If you want to use that feed as a self-refreshing network link, point the user at http://www.example.com/kml/view/<viewname>/networklink
I haven't had a chance yet to test it all thoroughly but it appears to work just fine. Any feedback and testing appreciated though, as always.
3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator
I folded last week and bought myself a SpaceNavigator 3D mouse from Amazon after reading great reviews of it. They have been out a little while but only recently has the company released a Mac driver, and Google Earth added support for it in 4.1.
Flying around Earth is likely to be my main use of this great little peripheral.
Since I first opened up Google Earth I didn't find it completely intuitive to navigate, but I got used to it. Mice and trackpads simply weren't designed for this purpose.
The SpaceNavigator is designed exactly for it though, giving you so much more power in navigating a 3D globe. I have already spent hours just flying around Stuttgart's valleys and even trying to land at its airport - I wasn't too successful - as well as flying around the Isle of Man and exploring parts of Japan and Manhattan where there are 3D buildings available to create an imersive world through which to fly.
I'm not sure I have much of a practical use for the SpaceNavigator at the moment, but it's great for just allowing yourself to get lost exploring the world from the comfort of your laptop. And with Amazon offering to pay 20EUR of it just for me to use their credit card, it was difficult to stop myself getting this great little navigator.
Finding Drupal sites from Google Earth
I love finding new sites that use the Drupal KML module, and seeing what they're doing with it. The great thing about it is that it can be used for absolutely anything that has associated location information, so every site out there can be a site about something completely different to the previous one.
The site I discovered today is an Ontario real estate website, listing houses for sale and their locations, but also events and other such things. Not only are they able to add a 'kml' link to each relevant page, allowing the user to click through to Google Earth and see the location, but they are also able to have people find their properties through Google Earth itself.
For a while Google has been indexing KML feeds (ones from Drupal included) and allows their content to be searched in Google Earth. To take an example, there is a $300k townhome in Newmarket, Ontario for which the realtor has added location information to the node in Drupal. Try doing a search for 'townhome in Newmarket' whilst in Google Earth, and you'll see that property show up as the first in the list of web search results.
The KML module can help bring your information to a completely new set of users, or potential customers in the case of the Jasmina Homes site.
How do I know about what sites are using the module? Well, I've started keeping track of of them through the Google Alerts service, monitoring any site that has links with kml/node in them.
