This week some of the other engineers are off to Google I/O, look for plenty of GeoIQ and Geocommons goodness in the Developer Sandbox there.  FortiusOne is a Google Enterprise Partner and we’ve performed integration with Google applications on both the Geocommons and GeoIQ side.  On Geocommons we’ve integrated with both the Google Earth Plugin and the Google Maps API.  Geocommons and GeoIQ both support KML for upload and download of Finder overlays as well as download of maps as KML.  Specifically On the enterprise side GeoIQ allows you to hook into your organization’s Google Earth Fusion Server.  This enables you to use tiles from the Fusion Server as well as globes with the Google Earth Plugin.

Also in the Sandbox we’ll be demonstrating our REST API and JavaScript API.  Our documentation and some sample code is available on Github. For questions about either API join our API Google Group.   As a company that believes in eating our own dog food Map of the News is built utilizing these APIs.  To see the most current dashboard in action checkout maps of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.

If you stop by look for Matt Dew or Andrew Semprebon, tell them “wonderchook” sent you!

Popularity: 11% [?]

OpenSearch specifies rules for sending and receiving data from websites. GeoCommons supports OpenSearch for querying of both maps and overlays.  For non-programmers the most common use of OpenSearch is adding search providers to your browser. Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox all support OpenSearch.

Here is the dropdown of my search providers in Firefox. In order to add an Finder! As an OpenSearch provider you navigate to http://finder.geocommons.com and open the Search Engine dropdown. Select Add “GeoCommons Finder Data” to add overlay search support to Firefox.

Now when you select Finder! as your active Search Engine in Firefox you can search overlays.  To add the ability to search Maker! maps go to http://maker.geocommons.com and perform the same steps. Now you can search Maker! as well.  To search overlays and maps at the same time you can go to http://www.geocommons.com and add GeoCommons as a search provider.

To add GeoCommons as a Search Provider in Google Chrome navigate your browser to both Finder! and Maker! respectively and it will be added.

Chrome additionally allows you to create keywords to various search providers to edit the keyword go to your preferences in Chrome and click the “Manage” button.  Double click on the provider you want to edit and you can then edit the keyword.  I made my keyword for Finder “F!” so I can quickly search for datasets in Finder by typing “F!” and then my search terms.

Adding OpenSearch to Internet Explorer 8 is straight forward as well.  When you navigate to Maker or Finder click arrow in the IE search box and select “Add Search Providers” and select to add Finder Data or Maker Maps as a Search Provider.

Windows 7 supports OpenSearch from within Windows Explorer.  To add Finder download the Finder OpenSearch Specification File and rename the “.xml” file extension to “.osdx.”  Next right click on the file and select “Create Search Connector.”  To search Finder now open “Searches” and select Finder as your Search Connector.

OpenSearch is not only awesome for end users of applications though, it is also great for developers.  FortiusOne’s own Map of the News is built using the GeoCommons OpenSearch API and JavaScript API.  For example in the Afghanistan Election Dashboard the menu where which map to display is chosen a tag is added for each group of maps.  ”2009 Afghanistan Election Results” is all of the maps tagged “afghanresults” on the http://news.geocommons.com GeoIQ server.  The results are returned in json and then displayed in the menu.

For more information on Geocommons Search API please see our documentation and our OpenSearch description document.  More information on OpenSearch is available at OpenSearch.org.

Popularity: 13% [?]

For Colbert fans the “Better Know a District” series is a familiar part of the Colbert Report. Today I’m kicking off my own series “Better Know a GeoCommons Feature.” I’d like you to meet one of our lesser known export formats Spatialite.

For those not familiar with SpatiaLite it is SQLite with spatial function goodness added. GeoCommons exports the geometries from your overlay into Well-known text. To download your Finder overlay as SpatiaLite you can go to a you overlay details page and click the Spatialite Download link or you the URI to access it from the API is http://finder.geocommons.com/overlays/#your_overlay_id#.sqlite. Once downloaded you have functions such as Overlaps(), Touches(), Union() and Buffer().

Is SpatiaLite a GeoCommons’ feature you’d like to get to know better? Download SpatiaLite from here.

For those not familiar with the “Better Know a District” series here is my favorite episode with Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Popularity: 13% [?]

At the GeoCommons Office some of us are into Foursquare.  Foursquare is a location based game with social networking aspects.  Essentially when you go somewhere you “check-in” and you can get points for that.  Whoever has the most check-ins at a location becomes the “Mayor” of that location.  Here is the page for FortiusOne/GeoCommons, as you can see I’m currently the Mayor.

You can get your check-in feed as RSS, KML and ICS from the feeds page.

From the Finder! API you can register URLs.  Below is a sample curl command to register a KML feed of your Foursquare check-ins.

curl -i -X POST -u “yourusername:yourpassword” -d “overlay[wild_url]=http://feeds.foursquare.com/history/yourkmlfeed.kml” http://finder.geocommons.com/overlays.xml

Replace “yourusername:yourpassword” with your GeoCommons username and password and “http://feeds.foursquare.com/history/yourkmlfeed.kml” with your Foursquare KML feed.

By default your layer is not shared in Finder!, if you want to make a map though you have to share it.  In order to share it go to Finder and login.  Once logged in press “My Layers” and share your layer there.  If you ever decide you no longer want to share your check-in feed you can mark it “not shared” here as well.

Once your layer is uploaded and shared you can create a map.

I embedded the map I made in my personal blog’s about page.  To embed your map click on the “Details” button while viewing the map and then click on “Do you want to embed this map in your website?”  Copy the code that appears and paste it into the HTML of your blog or other website.

If you enjoy playing Foursquare and want to share your feed try this out.  For more information on the Finder! API checkout it out here. Also if you ever happen to visit us in the GeoCommons’ office, check-in it is an order from the Mayor.

Popularity: 19% [?]