{"id":3466,"date":"2009-06-03T06:24:10","date_gmt":"2009-06-03T10:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=3466"},"modified":"2009-06-03T08:51:34","modified_gmt":"2009-06-03T12:51:34","slug":"what-does-the-future-of-maps-look-like-google-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/03\/what-does-the-future-of-maps-look-like-google-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the future of Maps look like? Google Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

GigaOm analyzes<\/a> the\u00a0O3D browser plug-in<\/a>\u00a0that Google introduced\u00a0last month\u00a0that displays rich 3D graphics<\/a>. It portends a day in the not too distant future when the browser by default, handles the complexities of a 3D geo environment with ease and speed. It points towards a rich mapping environment where Google Maps takes on the sophistication of Google Earth but inside the browser.<\/p>\n

Vangelis Kokkevis, O3D\u2019s tech lead, spoke at the\u00a0<\/em>Metaverse U conference in Stanford<\/em><\/a>, making his API\u2019s case to the virtual world developers in attendance. While it\u2019s still just a plug-in for IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Camino, Kokkevis said the \u201cnext goal\u201d for the team is to fully integrate it into Google\u2019s browser by the end of 2009.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

After his presentation, a group of developers surrounded Kokkevis, peppering him with tech-heavy questions. He told me there weren\u2019t any companies creating MMOs in O3D yet, but he raised the possibility that Google might port Sketchup and Google Earth into O3D, \u201conce we become part of the browser.\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GigaOm analyzes the\u00a0O3D browser plug-in\u00a0that Google introduced\u00a0last month\u00a0that displays rich 3D graphics. It portends a day in the not too distant future when the browser by default, handles the complexities of a 3D geo environment with ease and speed. It points towards a rich mapping environment where Google Maps takes on the sophistication of Google …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-maps-google-local"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t