Google and NASA

The big news this week for Google watchers this week is the announcement Wednesday of a memorandum of understanding between Google and NASA’s Ames Research Center. Press releases from ARC and Google; news coverage from the San Jose Mercury News (reprinted in the Miami Herald); via Google Earth Blog and Ogle Earth.

The immediate implications are unclear: while one Googler talked about the idea of a Google Mars, and it appears that Google will get access to satellite and space data, what NASA is getting is not yet apparent. Google is building a facility on the Ames campus, and there will be some collaborations on a number of fronts, but this is probably more in terms of pure research than in tangible products — i.e., it doesn’t look like we’re talking about a merger of Google Earth and World Wind.

Winer’s unhappy with the idea of a government agency collaborating with the private sector, but from what I can gather this is well within the ARC’s mandate. Besides, it’s not the first NASA/Google collaboration: see, for example, the Global Connection project (via All Points Blog), and, don’t forget, Google Moon (see previous entry).

Posted on Friday, September 30, 2005 at 9:30 AM
Categories: Astronomy, Satellite & Aerial

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Comments

I kind of wish that the Google/NASA MOU would be a collaborative effort between the WorldWind and Google Earth teams. For one, it would be nice if you could take the add-on feature of WorldWind and mash it up with Google Earth. That way you could take Google Earth on the road to places where you wouldn’t have network connectivity. Hence you could log data, reference data, and then have the ability to upload your field data automatically to the network once you have returned to the ‘wired’ world.

For some application features, you sometimes have to cut the umbilical.

GeoMullah | 09/30/2005 at 11:01 AM | #

From my perspective, this is all for the good. I don’t really care what’s in it for NASA, so much as what’s in it for the general public. The NASA collaboration that got NOAA’s post-Rita photos made into a Google Earth overlay very fast is a taste of what’s in it for the public.

Kathryn Cramer | 09/30/2005 at 5:29 PM | #

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