TerraServer agrees to host imagery for local, state and federal agencies
USGS has announced that federal, state and local agencies are being invited to publish their imagery on TerraServer (via All Points Blog). Reporting from the annual conference of the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC), APG notes the implications for Microsoft’s Virtual Earth. This is pretty big news, and I have to admit to some amazement that it hasn’t shown up on the Virtual Earth message board yet, which has pretty thin participation anyway. Google Earth and Google Maps definitely have the mind share so far.
I do find it interesting that NASA has crawled into bed with Google while USGS continues to snuggle up to Microsoft. At least the feds aren’t favoring one hegemonic behemoth over another!
By the way, the TerraServer interface isn’t that great, though I do like the fact that I can easily see the sections of the U.S. for which there is high-resolution urban (color aerial) imagery. For a stronger interface with GPS capabilities, check out TopoFusion, USAPhotoMaps, ExpertGPS, or QuakeMap. There is a chapter on each of the first three in my book, GPS Mapping – Make Your Own Maps. And remember, unlike Google Earth and Google Maps, TerraServer offers topo maps!
TerraServer’s user interface really sucks, so I wrote my own interface that uses their map tiles: http://mapper.acme.com/
This has been around since 2001! These days it is largely obsoleted by Google Maps, and TerraServer eventually got around to implementing some of the features from my interface, but I still use it pretty often. And as you say: topo maps.
Thanks Jef. Nice TerraServer viewer you put together. Thanks for letting us know about it.
Google might not have topo [which certainly is important], but with Google Earth does have that great “relief” perspective viewing, which is a nice visual addition to using a topo