I have been reading about a virtual world based on Google Street View imagery combined with Google Sketch Up for a while now:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/24/google-preping-a-second-life-competitor/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9783723-7.html

 I have just received some super-duper lidar 3d building models that I will be draping Google Street View Imagery over.  Has anyone done this before?  Has anyone heard anymore on Google or Microsoft creating a virtual environment using this data?

 Look forward to your comments!

Hmmm…Leave it to Adobe to come up with new GIS spelling:

This is a great article to send to your friends who have no idea what GPS is:

http://gizmodo.com/392326/giz-explains-an-easy-primer-on-gps

This is a great article discussing the potential uses of true Google Street View in 3d:

http://www.educatingsilicon.com/2008/04/18/google-street-view-soon-in-3d/

Here is a cool gadget that the GIS’ers in the mining industry might find interesting…

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/17/laser-scanning-robot-creates-3d-map-of-silver-mine/

Great mapping project!

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/36834/167/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJpj8UUMTaI

This is an interesting article outlining how Google Earth is deploying GIS to people that have no idea what GIS is…

 http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL08664025

I have just posted a new Google Maps Mashup that I think is an “outside of the box” way to utilize the Google Maps API. 

Basically the idea is to take floor plan drawings and display them via Google Maps.  Then, georeference point of interest on the floor plan.  Pretty simple.  Take a look at a couple of demos here:

http://www.laudontech.com/officeplans 

http://www.laudontech.com/mall/mall.html

Comments? 

Just over a month ago, we brought you a dozen new cities in Street View, and now I’m excited to say we’re topping that. We’ve added imagery for 13 new metropolitan areas - and a national park! We have expanded our coverage in 6 of our existing cities. Among the new areas are:

• Albuquerque, NM
• Anchorage, AK
• Austin, TX
• Cleveland, OH
• Fairbanks, AK
• Little Rock, AR
• Madison, WI
• Nashville, TN
• Rockford, IL
• Richmond, VA
• Spokane, WA
• St. Petersburg, FL
• Tampa, FL
• Yosemite National Park, CA

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/03/street-view-expanding-our-horizons.html

Here is a great article summarizing how Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth have truly become a “GeoWeb” application with the addition of the ESRI javascript API:

 http://www.flex888.com/2008/03/19/finally-geoweb-is-complete-and-born.html