Carol and I have been asking Google to make KML modifications in the
direction you propose for a long long time. Now that KML does indeed
seem to be an interesting tool and that Microsoft has entered the
game, I think we can collectively put pressure on the KML standard to
be adapted and modified since we all recognize its potential over
votables.
I will not even mention metadata, which has been and is my "broken record" of choice both with GoogleSky search abilities and the VO. I don't have a WWT beta to be able to make the same comment about it...
We suggested to the VO a much closer look at KML as soon as we started playing with Google Earth, over 2 years ago. We have suggested many many times that a true registry needs to be a metadata engine.
It's nice to see I am now not the only one "suggesting" anymore. :)
-A
On Jan 10, 2008, at 10:27 AM, Jonathan Fay wrote:
> While KML is a common denominator, unfortunately astronomy has not
> been at the table at all for its definition so far. It needs to be
> a priority to move KML to use astronomy friendly standards.
>
> Certainly it needs to move away from equirectangualar projections
> for full sky and overlays to more astronomy friendly projections.
>
> Also astronomy coordinates systems and meta data need to be
> supported so that KML can be used to support rich astronomy use,
> rather than just HTML or text.
>
> I think this will take the VO community, Microsoft Research and the
> Google Sky folks to push this together, otherwise the critical mass
> will come from the Earth based GIS folks and astronomy will
> continue to be short-changed.
>
> Jonathan Fay
> Principal Research Software Developer
> WorldWide Telescope
> Microsoft Research
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-interop-at-eso.org [mailto:owner-interop-at-eso.org] On
> Behalf Of Roy Williams
> Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:12 AM
> To: interop-at-ivoa.net
> Subject: Re: next generation of Sky in Google Earth
>
> Certainly it has been most interesting this week in Austin, watching
> Google and Microsoft slug it out at opposite corners of the convention
> hall. Each of these rich sky display software suites has its own best
> points and will be fabulous vehicles to ignite excitement about
> astronomy. I believe that the IVOA should be careful to engage both of
> these fabulous experiences, providing interfaces and bridges from
> all of
> our VO efforts.
>
> The common denominator between the two efforts is the KML language,
> whose definition is now dominated by the geospatial community. If
> KML is
> to become a standard interchange format in astronomy also, it would be
> good if the astronomical community had a seat at the table when future
> versions are defined.
>
> Roy
>
>
>
>>
>> On Jan 10, 2008 5:32 AM, Tony Linde < Tony.Linde-at-leicester.ac.uk
>> <mailto:Tony.Linde-at-leicester.ac.uk>> wrote:
>>
>> http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/sky_20080109.html
>>
>> 'This morning at the American Astronomical Society in Austin,
>> Texas, Google
>> Engineering Director Andrew Moore announced a new version of Sky
>> in Google
>> Earth.
>>
>
> --
>
> California Institute of Technology
> 626 395 3670
>
>
Dr Alberto Conti
Community Missions Office
Space Telescope Science Institute
contact | tel: 410-338-4534 | aim: wscience
Received on 2008-01-10Z17:39:07