Slashgeo

The Ogle Earth blog indicates that if you use Google Earth at work (the free version), you're in illegality. From the site: "1. USE OF SOFTWARE The Software is made available to you for your personal, non-commercial use only. You may not use the Software or the geographical information made available for display using the Software, or any prints or screen outputs generated with the Software in any commercial or business environment or for any commercial or business purposes for yourself or any third parties."

The last poll results gave surprising results, and I fail to interpret the numbers. We asked you about using Linux and MacOS X in geospatial technologies. Out of 113 answers, 15% said their software are Windows only, 15% restrain themselves from looking for trouble, 6% simply don't choose their operating system. Now the surprises; 7% claim geosoftware on Linux/MacOS X is not up to par, 22% say it works well, and... 31% claim it works better! That makes 53% of users claiming geospatial software works well or works better on Linux/MacOS X than on MS Windows. Am I the only one surprised? The new poll ask you whether you break the Google Earth license at work, in the context that you can't legally use Google Earth Free or Plus at work.

The official Google Lat Long blog introduces the new Google Earth Enterprise version. From the blog: "[...] this release takes a big step toward embracing a broader range of users inside organizations. It provides custom database support with Google Maps-style 2D views as well as a traditional 3D view. And it seamlessly marries Google's hosted geo services with the ability to publish custom databases behind the firewall so users can enjoy the best of both worlds. And there's more [...]"

I'm still surprised at how many people don't know they can't legally install Google Earth Free or Plus in a work environment. This made me wonder, can someone or a competing organization (choose the one you want, there's plenty of competitors to Google Earth!) could enforce Google Earth's license? Update: 09/06 11:02 GMT by S : Great news, The Google Earth blog (see comment below) informs us anybody can now use the new Google Earth Free in a work environment for internal use.

The Anything Geospatial blog brings us this news : "Google Earth users now have direct access to SPOT satellite imagery in the Google Earth (TM) environment, enter SPOT Globe For Google Earth Enterprise (fusion-ready SPOT imagery) The SPOT Globe offering includes the entire line of 2.5m SPOTMaps mosaics. These off-the-shelf products provide seamless uniform coverage comprised of 2.5 meter, natural-color SPOT 5 satellite imagery acquired in the past three years. Offered in regional and nationwide orthorectified mosaics."