Using Google Earth to share info – Opinions needed please

[polvo]

Hey, all – got an idea that I think you all may like. Hope I can explain it where it makes sense without rambling on…lol :o

Here’s a quick run down.

My fishing buddy and I had this idea to enter our info from fishing trips into Google Earth for tracking locations we caught fish, under-water hazards and creating historical data that may help us with future outings. With that said, we thought why not have everyone on MO CCD participate! Well, just the Missouri folks for now because we probably can’t handle too many at once.

Here’s how it works for those not familiar with Google Earth. It’s kind of like google maps that most of us use, but way better. Basically you have a world view of the earth created from satellite imagery, like that you’d see on google maps, but much nicer with many more options for navigating around and entering info. My buddy and I would create a Google Earth fishing web site/server that he would host on his home server that only members of MO CCD could log into (for now). Our own little fishing world if you will. To make it easy for all to use, we would make it to where people could use Google Maps to view and input info, too. Google Earth is just more interactive and accurate.

The site will be very user friendly and easy to use. Here’s how it would work in concept:
-you log into the site
-enter your fishing info (as much or as little as you like)
-the site would be able to automatically generate your info and turn it into an interactive product

Initially, we would concentrate on MO lakes, like Truman, Stockton, and LOZ etc etc, but you can enter info for ANY place you fish.

I know that people may not want everyone to know where they fish, but that’s why we can limit it to just MO CDC members. Also, depending on what you all think, maybe only members that have been on the site for a certain period of time or have so many posts could join?? That would ensure that not just anyone roaming the site would gain access to our info. What do you all think about that?

Think about it this way – we all may be giving up some ‘secrets’ but think about all that we would gain collectively and individually. We don’t necessarily have to post our best honey holes, or be too specific about them.

I quickly put this graphic together to give everyone an idea of what it would be like. This is from google maps. The real site would be MUCH better in every way. In the real site we would be able to zoom in and out, pan around etc etc. You just click on an Icon and the text boxes and such would appear with the info that the creator put in it.



You would not have to create all the icons and stuff as it would all be set up to drop and drag. All you would really have to do is punch in whatever info you wanted, which would eventually show up in the text box near the icon when someone clicked it.

Here’s the really cool part. Once we have been at this for a while, you would be able to pull up or search historical data/info. Lets say you’re going to LOZ in April of 2011. You could tell Google Earth to load ONLY the data entered in April of the previous year to see how and where people where having the best luck in that time frame. Anyways, there’s WAY more to it than that, but I think you get the idea of what it’s capable of.

Well, that’s it for now. I hope I explained it in an understandable manner. PLEASE let me know what ya’ll think. Any feedback? What you’d like to see? Ideas for keeping it private? Concerns?

Again, we’re not trying to exclude people, but this would be a beta run, making it more difficult with too many people at once.

Thanks

-Coop

[olesilverside]

I don't mind sharing any info with any cdc member but the non members that take and don't share, I have a problem dealing with that and there are a lot of them............ .

[polvo]

I don't mind sharing any info with any cdc member but the non members that take and don't share, I have a problem dealing with that and there are a lot of them............ .

We can definitely come up with a way to stop that from happening.

We could also limit access to only those that share. It can be set up where people could only view the info once they have contributed. With that said, there are a few good people here that don't get to go out that much and that may not have much, if any info to give that I believe should have access. I just don't want to be the only one making these decisions. It should be a collective consensus between the members. It just gets a little sticky at that point and I don't want to create any bad blood...

[beagle man]

I like the Idea, and like you said it's for us. for now, and anyone who does not like to give up their areas for what ever reason is up to them, as for me I would bet it's a good Idea, at least in theory, hope it gets off the ground, good Idea, thanks

[Camalama]

It's a GREAT idea. I already keep a lot of info in GE. That said, will we be able to upload a .KMZ, .KML or .GPX file? At that rate will we be able to download the file, or portions of it to allow input into a GPS unit?

As for security, you're obviously going to have to nearly manually control it. For access, set up an email where users (us) send an email with our "handle" on CDC and then you can look us up individually to grant access. If you'r not sure, PM Beagle, OSS or one of the "regulars", they know everybody.

Good work. I'm anxious to see what you come up with.

[ttwoods]

Sounds like a good idea to me. I would give up a few honey holes to find some new ones.

[jimmie]

I Like The Idea. Will Give Up Some Loz Holes

[Joedog]

There are skulkers/lurkers everywhere and even with moderated access you're going to have some people who do more reading than writing.

It would be a terrific and powerful resource, that's for sure! (Garbage in, Garbage out, though...as usual.) I would look into some form of bartering of information....X# of posts before viewing others' posts...put some investment into it first. Or a limit on frequency of posts as a prerequisite to *keeping* your access.

Then again, I could sit down and generate 10 bogus reports just to get access to everyone else's...which diminishes data integrity.

So which is more important? Accuracy or Security? Or are those two things even mutually exclusive?

[polvo]

It's a GREAT idea. I already keep a lot of info in GE. That said, will we be able to upload a .KMZ, .KML or .GPX file? At that rate will we be able to download the file, or portions of it to allow input into a GPS unit?

As for security, you're obviously going to have to nearly manually control it. For access, set up an email where users (us) send an email with our "handle" on CDC and then you can look us up individually to grant access. If you'r not sure, PM Beagle, OSS or one of the "regulars", they know everybody.

Good work. I'm anxious to see what you come up with.

Yes.

GPX will probably be the primary file format, but we don't want to limit it to just one, so we will work on KMZ and KML compatibility, too. My buddy will probably be chiming in shortly as he is the computer guru.

[polvo]

There are skulkers/lurkers everywhere and even with moderated access you're going to have some people who do more reading than writing.

It would be a terrific and powerful resource, that's for sure! (Garbage in, Garbage out, though...as usual.) I would look into some form of bartering of information....X# of posts before viewing others' posts...put some investment into it first. Or a limit on frequency of posts as a prerequisite to *keeping* your access.

Then again, I could sit down and generate 10 bogus reports just to get access to everyone else's...which diminishes data integrity.

So which is more important? Accuracy or Security? Or are those two things even mutually exclusive?

Yeah, we've had the same thoughts. So far we're thinking about a minimum time as a member of CDC along with a minimum post count. That does exclude some good people, so we are thinking that if you get a voucher from a proven member, that would work as well.

If we just focus on MO members at this time, it will be fairly easy for us to moderate this. We would like to have some of the known members moderate too. This is very doable, it just takes a little planning and input from everyone.