Some highlights:

• Approx. 600 developers
• Approx. 100 published layers
• 75k downloads for the Android platfrom
• Still not clear when iPhone version will launch, waiting on OS version 3.1

Watch the interview below.

Source: Dutch Cowboys.

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We (Europeans) are educated as Employees, not Entrepreneurs
a remark from the audience in reaction to the keynote by Saul Klein of Index Ventures.

Startups are creating lots of value (multi billion ventures: Microsoft, Yahoo!, eBay etc) Currently these are all based in SiliconValley. What is the difference with Europe?
The only relevant difference seems to be a cultural one. We must take more risk, do some experiments. It’s OK to fail, just pick yourself up and start over again with enriched experience. And start networking, at the Open Coffee Meetup for example…

A bunch of me’s with Me in the middle
Angel investor Jeff Clavier of SoftTech VC talks about the trends of identity, personalization and general automation on the future web. He foresees a Multi personal instantiation modality, blurring online, offline and virtual worlds. So: “a bunch of me’s with Me in the middle”.
And: automation pushed to the edge, with more robots and sensors (like Roomba). Less focus on utility, more experience and entertainment.

Don’t shout, start Weaving
Deborah Schultz on networking and marketing as networking activity. Relationships are hard and subtle and messy (trust, accountability vs spam and scamming). Think of it as relationship bricolage – Chris Locke (a nice slide with a McGuyver picture…). You never know which social contact will help you. We weave between networks and within networks.

The Big Brother balance: don’t scare me with my own data
Tapan Bhat of Yahoo! about the Front Doors project: from directories to On Demand. The Next web is connected and pervasive. Predictive and reflective of you, proactive, information is presented Just In Time (before you know you want it). Here you have to strike a balance: don’t scare me with my own data. It was not entirely clear how this will be achieved, I guess I missed the point of this keynote somehow.

Forget your passwords
Dick Hardt on Identity 2.0. Dick’s presentations are always a pleasure to watch, full of energy and very compact statements. Otherwise, this keynote added very little to the excellent introduction to Identity 2.0 introduction, OSCON 2005. His core vision is still much ahead of the industry. In a few words: management of identity, credentials and reputation through agencies and delegation. Yes, this is far beyond passwords and single sign on…

And, SXIP announced a nifty plugin for Firefox, Sxipper, which promises to help you with all your on-line identity and passwords management. A couple of those visionary points translated into a real product.

Tragedy is the mother of invention
Rod Beckström – author of The Starfish and the Spider. Taking these animals as metaphors, the spider has a central nervous system, while the starfish is less hierarchical organized. Allegedly, if you cut off a starfish’s arm, it will regenerate a complete new animal, while the spider will be crippled after loosing a leg. The next web gives us analogous opportunities to organize in a non-hierarchical way. In this view, the world is flat indeed. A tragedy may result in new opportunities by acting locally, thus evading damage at the global scale.

Update: there are lots and lots of blogs about this event, amongst others Sjors Timmer, Read/Writeweb, Mashable, Techcrunch (Updates on Digg, Kevin Rose by video link), BlueAce (nice imagery), MarketingFacts (Dutch), Argolon, Upstream (Starfish and Spider in Dutch), DutchCowboys (Dutch), Marketing-podcast (Dutch) and Frankwatching (in Dutch again)…

[ratings]

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Today the google geoday is held in Amsterdam Expo XXI

The morning programme consisted of three speeches, most about google maps and google earth, focused towards developers who want to create mashups based on the maps API.

A bunch of quick notes, some in Dutch (with the Dutch speakers mostly)

Dagvoorzitter: Sidney Mock Marketing Manager Benelux at Google

Intro Google Maps

Bernhard Seefeld Tech Lead Manager at Google (blog)

Geschiedenis, oude kaarten met Amsterdam als centrum van de industrie

Nieuw: eigen bedrijfsgegevens toevoegen aan locatie (gratis exposure voor local business, gratis meta data voor Google)

Local ads, adwords voor Maps.

Nieuwe mogelijkheid: gebruik Google Maps om een selectie te maken, voeg punten toe, exporteer als MKL. Dan is er een nieuwe API om met wat Javascript een Maps web-applicatie te maken (aka “mashup”).

Ook mogelijk: een KML sitemap maken en linken.

Q&A session

when will the beta be over?

- when we are finished

Will the Maps API stay free / ad-free?

- we have a 90 day notice period as per license

- “we will not disappoint our 30k users”

Will there be a 4th dimension?

- there is already some time overlay (lost the details)

Routing info in the API?

- not yet, but it should be there

Do you have a roadmap?

- yes

How do you cope with conflicting opinions on the same geo spot?

- well…. give access to all opinions, people will add/modify the opinions until they converge. In other words: people will contribute and make corrections.

Mashups

Brandon Badger, product manager

Google Maps as a blank canvas, the users  (“YOU”) will need to fill the space. Anything that is interesting in a geographic perspective.

Reasons to use the Maps API

- KML can link to each other, enhanced data, overlays

- Consistent user interface

- Details are taken care of (scrolling, zooming level, level of detail)

History (housing maps, the guy now works for Google)

Then Google “saw the light” and published official API’s.

Maps is free, “does not foresee taking away the API or forcing ads” (blah blah …). There is an enterprise license as well.

License agreement for free version: publicly available interface, no logo moddinge etc

Free:

- no page view limit

- 50k geocode API requests limit per day

- no ads pushed onto Maps API sites

Enterprise:

- internal appl.

- CRM, workforce management, operations and logistics, marketing, external websites

- pay for access site

- bonus: enhanced support

User support: Google group Maps API

www.nederkaart.nl

googlemapsmania.blogspot.com

Open Source product: GMaps Utility Library

KML 2.1

Choice between KML and Maps API

- KML for Google Earth

- API for open web

Now these have been integrated: KML and GeoRSS are added in the Maps API.

var geoXml  = new GGeoXML(”http://url/of/KML.xml”);

KML 2.1 can have http links embedded, pointing to updated versions of the KML. Refresh interval (possibly a few seconds).

KML sitemap: all geo related subjects (pages) can be tagged for a google web crawler.

- geo annotated photo sets in Picasa

- make your own marker icons

- image overlays

- hierarchical structures; folders

- regions: fine tune how data will be presented for each zooming level.

- expiration date/time

- “radio button” behavior between layers

Q&A session

What is the import speed of placemarkers?

- high performance, limited to viewport only.

- performance is so good that sites are switching to KML instead of Javascript

What are resolution limits, will satellite imagery be improved?

- we are always looking for updated/improved data

Standards?

- KML proposed as open standard within the ODC(?)

What’s the catch, what’s the business model?

- none, make money on advertising.

How can you take distrust about sharing my data away?

- hopefully it is a win-win: the more open data sharing company will eventually succeed through darwinistic/market economic principles. It’s all about end-user advantages and choice.

- choice in license forms: free or commercial

How to become a data partner?

- featured content section on Google Earth; you can send suggestions

- submit your KML sitemap to the crawler, then people will find it

Is there a reseller possibility for Google Earth? Sell the app for $400?

- no

What are the possibilities to protect my Enterprise Maps data?

- the raw input for the KML is not exposed

- you only expose the visual markers.

Related blog post: Geospatialsemanticweb: Google Maps supports GeoRSS

Nederlandse Mashups

Remco Kouwenhoven

- Website: overzicht van NL mashpus: www.nederkaart.nl

- gemeenteraad Groningen

- Consultant

Genereerde veel publiciteit rond discussie hoge resolutie Maps in NL.

Eerste NL mashup met veel exposure: misdaadkaart.nl

Verkozen tot mooiste mashup: Groene Kaart Kromme Rijn

Voorbeelden NL mashups:

- promotie Texel

- geluidskaart nederland, realtime vliegbewegingen: geluidsnet.nl (google maps) en binnen Google Earth

- het dak van Rotterdam, veel 3D gebouwen (in ontwikkeling)

- kanoweb.nl

- treinvizier.nl (quasi live data, geinterpoleerd en storingen verwerkt)

- bestemmingsplannen in Den Haag (test met gekleurde gebieden) i.s.m. CROtec

- mapmsg.com

- veel meer…

De toekomst

Stand van zaken in NL nog heel pril, meer technische gimmicks dan mooi uitgewerkte integratie in een site.

Toepassing als marketing instrument heel veel belovend.

Creativiteit: dingen zonder locatie hebben soms wel een locatie gebonden event bijvoorbeeld (gesponsorde hardloop etc).

Interactie tussen planontwikkelaars en betrokkenen: bestemmingsplan, maquettes.

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