ICAN Documentation, Tutorials, Cookbooks

UNDER HEAVY CONSTRUCTION

Technology development documentation (how the prototype got to this stage; GeoNetwork steps taken with portal and local atlases --i.e., how to become a new node (local atlas) in the interoperability prototype..; issues like metadata database duplication; ...)

Ontology work documentation (choosing ontology and setting up global ontology; steps taken by local atlases to prepare local ontologies; mapping local ontologies to global; ...)

Cookbook for new members and/or those starting a new atlas (explanation of use case, prototype project purpose and future aims; Outline guidelines regarding necessary metadata; Guidelines and best practices for implementing services [CSW/WMS/WFS])

Our handbook published by IGI-Global will have this but will want to have material online too. Handbook will be more theoretical and web content will refer more to step-by-step (e.g., a chapter written for the handbook, might have an appendix with step-by-step that would be available only on the web).

- In Google Maps there is an upper limit to the size of the KML files that can be displayed. I think it is both a Megabytes limit, as well as a "number of features" per file limit. This is a technical barrier basically imposed intentionally by Google to avoid browser overload. It's understandable, but you should know that it exists, (and to be fair it's not just Google Maps issue, it's any browser based Map plus GML data overlay combination - your application must limit the number of points being accessed at anyone time, or the browser will bonk).

- There are also printing restrictions on the Google Maps that contain imagery. In many places it is not possible to print a Google Map that contains imagery (controlled on Google end). Try it and see if it works in your area.

- In Google Earth, the issues of concern have more primarily  to do with licensing. To use GE for business use (including government business) you are really supposed to buy a license from Google Earth Pro. Also, any data plotted on top of imagery that is not public domain (via Google Earth) may not be data to which you can claim ownership.

- Google Maps and Earth also have a restriction that says "You may not use the [product] in a manner which gives you or any other person access to mass downloads or bulk feeds of numerical latitude and longitude coordinates."

- Similar to  the issue with Google Earth and non-public domain imagery, there is a concern in Google Maps, based on the underlying street and base map data. Specifically there may be a problem if you want to plot points on a map from within the Google interface (as opposed to data from a layer that you exported from your regular GIS). In Europe where it seems data in the true public domain is in shorter supply, people who are tempted to use Google Maps or Earth to display their data to the public should be careful to read the Google terms and determine if it is compatible with the licenses that they have for the data they want to display on top.

For example:

- The base data displayed in Google Maps comes from many private providers that may have licence restrictions on what you can do "on top" of there data ... even if the data is displayed via Google Maps. See the following list for a list of countries that have special restrictions:

http://www.google.com/intl/en_ALL/help/legalnotices_maps.html

You'll see that in some countries, the restrictions are really narrow (e.g. in Denmark, you can't make applications that are specifically like telephone books) while in other places the restrictions are so broad as to pose a huge problem (e.g. in Great Britain, because the base data displayed is ultimately from the Ordnance Survey, their license essentially means that anything you could become considered a derived product - i guess owned by the OS). Some places only want the local copyright holder acknowledged on the map, so that is pretty basic.

In my opinion, if you are in a position where you have your own base map data, and you have license concerns about overlay data, then as Alessandro suggested, going the OpenLayers route is the best choice if you want a Google Maps experience.

If you want a Google Earth experience, the only real open source alternative is NASA Worldwind, which is a cool product, but which does not have Google resources behind it, so it is much slower experience.

If you are lucky enough to care about any of the above restrictions, then the Google products are a great option.