Allow me to introduce you to Zach Gilliam. Zach is the resident digerati polymath! So, that means that Zach is one of the guys on the team that gets to dive into just about everything, figure stuff out, play with new things that could and should have big impact…Zach is the R&D guy if you will. Zach is currently in college at OU (I hope his parents are not reading this) and I keep asking him why is he wasting his time going to school?
Anyway, Zach is an amazingly talented guy that I wanted you to hear from. Sooooooo, heres Zach.
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I LOVE GOOGLE EARTH!
I love Google Earth! Do you use it? It is the coolest and most innovative software that I have seen in a very long time.
Google Earth embodies the Web 2.0 revolution. If you have never used Earth, imagine Google Maps, but on a 3D globe. What really makes Google Earth shine is the KML file format that allows integration of outside data. In Web 2.0 lingo, we call this integration “mashups“. You can create “layers” of data using latitude and longitude coordinates to point plots or graphics as layers.
For example, the National Weather Services offers a live radar layer so that weather data can be laid directly over the map. I created a layer that displays the location of visitors (using IP addresses) to our Internet Campus. By enabling both layers, I could see that when it was raining/storming in a particular city, the visits to the Internet Campus increased. I think the Internet Campus is the only church in the US where attendance actually increases with bad weather! Correlating this kind of data would have been almost impossible before Earth. (Obviously, you still have to take causality into account, but the mashup provides the data.)
This is only one of the mashups that I’ve used. Others in Google Earth include integrating Wikipedia and global awareness topics right on to the map where they are appropriate. Another is CNN, who uses Google Earth to accompany news items.
What other mashups have you created or used? What kind of things have you learned from these mashups?
Oh man I love Google Earth too, but this guy’s a freakin genius! Nice grab Terry!
Zach, you’re the man! I love seeing all that crazy stuff you come up with. Keep up the good work – whatever work it is that you do, anyway (I’ve seen you spending a lot of time on the Wii lately).
Interesting.. interesting! Thanks for the post, cool stuff.
I spot the new Internet Campus on Zach’s computer screens!
There it is Jacob! We have a long way to go this week on the UI….it will look a lot different this weekend.
Man, and you upload the podcasts too….that must seem like screwing in a lightbulb to you. Nice to see you in action.
dig-er-at-i pol-y-math??? long way from the little baptist boy who used to sneak away from his parents church to attend LC.tv Edmond campus!!!
Good for you Zach!
I know you guys have to have a couple of those displays sitting around used up there, can you send one or two to me?
Yay for Polymaths…