Global Mapper v25.0

Virtual Earth?

DC-9
DC-9 Global Mapper User
edited September 2014 in Downloading Imagery
Is it possible to download imagery via MS Virtual Earth through Global Mapper?


Mike

Comments

  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited August 2007
    No, Microsoft does not (as far as I know) allow 3rd party commercial applications to directly access their Virtual Earth database.

    Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • DC-9
    DC-9 Global Mapper User
    edited August 2007
    I haven't seen any type of restrictions on accessing it. I know Manifold Toolbar can access it which is why I find it ironic it's not possible in Global Mapper.


    Mike
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited September 2007
    Actually what is happening in Manifold is that they have developed an Image Server Interface (ISI) that allows 3rd parties (mainly open source individuals) to write what they call an ISI server to provide access to some online data source. This allows them to get around the commercial access restriction by not actually building Virtual Earth access into Manifold, but instead just providing a handy link in case some other source has provided the means to access the data through their ISI interface. This lets them avoid the thorny legal issues and still get at the data.

    We may consider this approach in a future release, but with the v9.00 adding direct access to worldwide Digital Globe imagery (which is still coming online, so the best available imagery isn't available everywhere yet) much of the data that you'd want from Virtual Earth is available now anyway through the File->Download Online Imagery menu command.

    Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • smile
    smile Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited September 2007
    I find that free Digital globe Imagery has too many water marks and makes it unusable for any purpose. Moreover, for the area I am looking for i.e India, even the Imagery is of very very low resolution. Of course Virtual earth also doe not have a very high res images for this area.

    I understand Yahoo also gives API , will it possible to have an interface in Global Mapper?

    Regards

    Smile
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited September 2007
    The Digital Globe imagery is supposed to be very watermarked unless you purchase access to the unwatermarked imagery. The watermarked imagery is just there so that you can determine if the imagery is what you need and can then purchase access to the unwatermarked imagery. Digital Globe is still in the process of uploading their massive imagery database to the servers that we are getting the imagery from, so some areas still just have lower resolution imagery available. As the complete data set is uploaded over the next several months, high resolution imagery should become available for just about everywhere.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • bey
    bey Global Mapper User
    edited March 2008
    understand Yahoo also gives API , will it possible to have an interface in Global Mapper?
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited March 2008
    The Yahoo Map fetching API is for non-commercial use only, so we can't build it in to Global Mapper. However, an enterprising programmer might develop a raster import plugin for Global Mapper that used Yahoo Maps and there is nothing we could do to prevent that. See the Developers page at GLOBAL MAPPER for details on the raster import plugin API.

    Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • kbotnen
    kbotnen Global Mapper User
    edited May 2008
    Ok. So GM dont do Yahoo or MS maps, but what about Google maps? Any plugin or solution to use these? Too me the Digital Globe imagery is useless too, its slow and too watermarked. I have seen a lot of other apps with Google maps integration.

    -K-
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited May 2008
    Google Maps has the same licensing restrictions as the others. Any non-Google desktop applications using Google Maps is either doing it through a user-supplied plugin (like Manifold) or is in violation of the Google Maps licensing agreement (in reality the user supplying the plugin for the previous example is in violation of the Google license agreement, but it's much harder to punish an individual user than a company).

    As discussed earlier in the thread, if you really want access to these mapping sources at no charge and don't care about intellectual property rights, then you are free to develop your own raster import plugin for Global Mapper to directly access that data yourself.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • kbotnen
    kbotnen Global Mapper User
    edited May 2008
    As far as I know everyone can use GoogleMaps in their application through the Google Map API. Virtually hundreds / thousands of webpages out there are incorporating googlemaps through javascript (AJAX) powered webapplications

    So then it should be possible to create an legal interface / plugin in GM to access this? You have to support a Google Map Key which you can get upon (free) registration at their website. So a GoogleMap plugin must be capable to let you input your private GoogleKey before retrieving the imagery.

    But maybe I am reading the Legal Terms of google maps wrong :/ Maybe the issue is that GM is a desktop application and not a webapplication. But would it not be a web application when it retrieve data from the googleservers in realtime. That is, the maps is not stored (besides in cache perhaps) and not distributed as part of the GM product. Google will then have full control over the mapdata (which is stated in the Terms Of Condition).

    I am no hardcode programmer so I can not manage to write this plugin by myself, and I guess there is no such plugin like this out there already.

    Not trying to argue, just trying to understand :)

    -K-
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited May 2008
    It is fine to develop a web site using Google Maps, it is the development of desktop applications (in particular commercial) ones that is prohibited. See the Google Maps API Terms (which are of course legalese and not particularly easy to read) at Google Maps API Terms of Service - Google Maps API - Google Code for details. It specifically mentions several times that you have to access the maps from a web page and use the HTML <script> tag to access them.

    Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • Mapper99
    Mapper99 Global Mapper User
    edited February 2010
    Hi there,

    I have been trying to access digital globe data in Global Mapper 9.03 to no avail. The application just hangs. It used to work. Is the service still available?

    Thanks,

    Mapper
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited February 2010
    There have been changes to the DigitalGlobe server since the last v9.xx release that cause the access to fail from that release, but we have since patched v9 so that it will work. I have placed a new build at http://www.globalmapper.com/global_mapper9.zip with the change for you to try. Simply download that file and extract the contents into your existing v9.xx installation folder to give it a try.

    Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • Mapper99
    Mapper99 Global Mapper User
    edited February 2010
    Thanks Mike, works like a charm!

    Mapper
  • Mapper99
    Mapper99 Global Mapper User
    edited September 2014
    Hi Mike,

    Do you still have this file? I can't seem to get WMS data sources working any longer.

    Thanks in advance,

    Mapper
  • bmg_mike
    bmg_mike Global Mapper Guru Moderator, Trusted User
    edited September 2014
    Mapper,

    The DigitalGlobe servers changed technology a couple of years ago so no GM prior to v14.2 could access the new servers. We are also no longer reselling DigitalGlobe imagery so the free DigitalGlobe access is not available. If you have a premium DigitalGlobe account you can still access this via the newer versions of GM.

    The latest versions of GM (v15 or v16 beta) have a huge number of built-in sources covering the globe. There are also ways to add Google Maps and Bing Maps tiled sources. Email geohelp@bluemarblegeo.com for information on seeing if that is available for you. You can get the latest GM release from Global Mapper Downloads.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Guru
    geohelp@bluemarblegeo.com
    Blue Marble Geographics for Coordinate Conversion, Image Reprojection and Vector Translation