Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Better control in Google Sites with page-level permissions

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 11:56 PM PDT

The Google Apps Blog: Better control in Google Sites with page-level permissions

Today we're introducing page-level permissions, a new feature that will allow you to control who can view and edit your Google Site on a page by page basis.



Using page-level permissions, you can make some pages private for certain users while keeping other pages public for everyone to see. For instance, let's say you have a Google Site that you've shared with your team and your manager. You can allow your team to see one set of pages, let your manager edit another set of pages, and keep yet another set of pages private for only you.



Only site owners have the ability to enable this feature, which is turned off by default for new and existing sites. To turn on page-level permissions, go to More Actions > Sharing and Permissions.





From there, click Enable page-level permissions. Then, in the dialog box, click Turn on page-level permissions.





Once page-level permissions is enabled, you'll have three options to choose from:

  • allow a page to inherit all of your site-level permissions
  • elect to include future site-level changes to a page
  • prevent a page from inheriting any future changes made at the site-level


Using page-level permissions should give you greater control over who can edit and access your Google site. To learn more about setting page-level permissions, take a look at our getting started guide. Let us know what you think in our support forums.



Posted by: Eric Zhang, Software Engineer
URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleAppsBlog/~3/KTeKOVAIGxs/better-control-in-google-sites-with.html

[G] Tuesday tip: Stars

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 11:56 PM PDT

Official Gmail Blog: Tuesday tip: Stars

Posted by Kathleen Chen, User Education Specialist

Stars are handy for marking important messages, but how do you mark really important messages? That's where Gmail's additional stars options can come in handy.

I like to use purple stars to mark important messages from my family, red exclamation points for messages that need my immediate attention, and a green check mark for messages that I've already taken care of but want to keep track of (ok, so we're using the word "star" loosely here). This way your inbox can become like a to-do list.


Now that Superstars has graduated from Gmail Labs, it easy to incorporate these different stars into your workflow. Go to the General tab in Settings, then scroll down to the "Stars" section:


Here you can select which stars you want to use, and in which order you want to them to cycle through when you click the star icon in your inbox. Simply click and drag the stars to the appropriate spot in the lists.

If you want to have all your starred messages show up at the top of your inbox so you see them right away, try out the Starred first inbox style.

You can also find messages with specific stars by using the following queries in your search box:

has:yellow-star
has:red-star
has:orange-star
has:green-star
has:blue-star
has:purple-star
has:red-bang
has:orange-guillemet
has:yellow-bang
has:green-check
has:blue-info
has:purple-question

Want more tips? Make sure to follow Gmail on Twitter to see our weekly #tuesdaytip, or follow our community manager Sarah Price on Google+.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/tuesday-tip-stars.html

[G] Web Analytics TV #20 - The lost episode with a Special Guest

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 11:56 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Web Analytics TV #20 - The lost episode with a Special Guest

Welcome to another magical episode of Web Analytics TV! This time we have a special guest Caleb Whitmore from Analytics Pros, who is also a Google Analytics Certified Partner. Welcome Caleb! If you're having difficulty implementing Google Analytics, Caleb has built the exceptional GAPE, Google Analytics Pros Engine, solution which simplifies tracking on your website. Check it out!



Ok. We had so much fun doing this episode, you are going to have a blast as well.



Web Analytics TV, as you well know by now, is powered by your questions. In this episode we had questions from Australia, India, Denmark, England, Germany Netherlands and so many other places. Y'all rock!


If you're new to this show, our process for this show is simple.



Step 1: You ask, or vote on, your favorite web analytics questions. Vote on next week's questions using this Web Analytics TV Google Moderator site.



Step 2: From a secret undisclosed location at the Googleplex Avinash Kaushik and Nick Mihailovski answer them. :-)



Here is the list of last episodes questions.



In this action packed episode we discuss:

  • (0:37) eCommerce conversion rate in custom reports

  • (1:05) Pan session analysis

  • (2:28) Controlling conversion attribution

  • (4:20) Impact of changing the campaign cookie timeout

  • (6:19) Tracking users across multiple sections of a website

  • (7:56) Tracking internal site campaigns in GA

  • (8:21) Report filters to mimic Custom Variables profile filters

  • (9:10) Tracking embedded YouTube videos

  • (10:24) Determining all organic traffic to a particular page

  • (11:52) Drilling into channel paths in Multi Channel Funnels

  • (12:32) Excluding traffic from bots

  • (13:48) Reporting the number of visitors between two sites

  • (15:08) Using a single vs multiple landing pages to track different campaigns

  • (17:00) What metrics to use for a single page website

  • (19:35) Filtering monitoring solutions like Gomez

  • (20:13) How you can use _getVisitorCustomVar

  • (21:21) Creating funnels with groups of URLs

  • (22:08) Why you can see more visits than pageviews (esp in Android tracking)

  • (23:47) Can you influence the timestamp of requests to GA

  • (24:05) How to track conversions for non-ecommerce websites

  • (24:51) Configuring goals that match both on pages and events

  • (25:55) Why you should change to async tracking

  • (27:18) How sampling in Google Analytics works













Here are the links to the topics we discuss:



As always, if you need help setting up Google Analytics or leveraging the advanced configuration options, we recommend hiring a Google Analytics Certified Partner.



If you found this post or video helpful, we'd love to hear your comments. Please share them via the comment form below.



This series would not be possible without your awesome questions. Please submit them on our public Google Moderator site, and while you are there don't forget to vote for your favorite questions.  Avinash and I will answer them in a couple of weeks with yet another entertaining video.



Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics Team





URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/Z65_aTCZfnQ/web-analytics-tv-20-lost-episode-with.html

[G] How I use Google Docs as a student

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 11:56 PM PDT

Docs Blog: How I use Google Docs as a student

Shep McAllister is a rising senior at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, and editor of the popular student blog HackCollege. For the past several years, he has done his college coursework exclusively on Google Docs, and today he shares his five favorite uses for the platform in the classroom.



When I started out at Trinity University, I didn't know much about Google Docs and relied heavily on desktop word processors. As I became increasingly frustrated with these programs crashing mid-sentence, I thought I'd give Google Docs a try. But what started as an experiment to test Google Docs for group projects and class notes quickly became a permanent solution for all of my schoolwork, and I haven't looked back once. Here are a few of my favorite uses of Google Docs in college:



1. Work together on group projects

Before I started using Google Docs, group projects were a nightmare. A co-authored paper would fragment into a dozen different documents. Group presentations became last minute scrambles to get combine slides. Any information sharing about our project took place in splintered email threads. With Google Docs, my class groups are able work together on the same presentation or paper simultaneously while sharing links and ideas in a separate doc. The discussions feature released earlier this year made collaboration even simpler.



2. Take notes collaboratively

My classmates and I always get together near exam time to combine our notes and share ideas, so why not do it in real time? I work with friends to take in-class notes on a single Google doc, allowing everyone to come away with a more thorough set of notes than they could have written individually. I discuss this concept in more detail on my blog, HackCollege.



3. Convert PDFs and handouts to searchable text with Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

As a student, I get a lot of assigned reading as PDF files. Unfortunately, most of them are low-quality scans from the library, which makes it hard to search through them for keywords or make annotations. With Google Docs' OCR capabilities, I'm able to upload a low-quality PDF and receive an editable text document in return. This also works well for any important handouts professors give out in class -- I just scan the handout and upload to Google Docs, keeping all of my class material in one place.



4. Save major assignments in the cloud

Writing important papers in Google Docs allows me to access my assignments and papers from any computer, anywhere. I can't count the number of times I've been stuck in the library without my laptop, or only have my smartphone handy. With Google Docs, it doesn't matter, because all of my assignments are stored in the cloud, meaning I don't have to be tethered to my laptop to get work done. This saved my sanity (and GPA) during finals last semester, when my computer crashed and was out of commission for over a week. Luckily, there was no need to panic, because I knew my final papers and study guides were tucked safely in the Google Docs cloud, instead of my dying hard drive.



5. Collect information from a group with forms

Before I started using Google Docs, organizing my classmates for a group dinner or campus event was a nightmare. Now, I use Google Docs to create web forms to send to my friends and classmates. My friends have gotten involved too, using it for keeping track of club participation, voting on housing for their fraternity's beach weekend, and even conducting surveys for major research projects.



Posted by: Shep McAllister, HackCollege.com Blogger & Trinity University Student
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-i-use-google-docs-as-student.html

[G] Music Tuesday: Catching our breath with Zee Avi, Tom Waits and The Decemberists

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 08:55 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Music Tuesday: Catching our breath with Zee Avi, Tom Waits and The Decemberists

Whew. Did you catch all that? We're still trying to recover from five intense days of music mania. That's right, we relaunched youtube.com/music last Thursday, and throughout the weekend you saw our logo redesigned and a bundle of playlists from folks you might have heard of: Lady Gaga. David Guetta. The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Eminem and Royce Da 5'9. And we had folks like SPIN Magazine, XLR8R and The Needle Drop clueing us in about what music we don't know about, but should.



In the coming weeks, keep returning to youtube.com/music to discover more new videos, live performances and eye-opening playlists. Not only will our first batch of curators be returning with new features to share, we'll be adding even more regular features from influential blogs, magazines, video bloggers and others. Keep coming back; we promise you'll dig it.



Zee Avi curates the YouTube homepage

After featuring a bevy of celebrities over the past week, it's fitting to come back to a celebrity YouTube helped foster. When Zee Avi posted her first video on YouTube, she had no idea it would make her a star; she just wanted to share a performance with a friend. One album and oodles of views later, she's back with her second album, ghostbird. Today she shares an extremely lovely acoustic performance of several songs from the new album with us (we're tripping over the first song, "Anchor," which she filmed on a rooftop). She also shares some videos that put her in a state of self-described enchantment.







The Decemberists "Calamity Song"

The song is off their most recent album; the video was inspired by a scene in David Foster Wallace's door-stop of a novel Infinite Jest. It feels to us like a metaphor for bad international decision-making, set on a tennis court with kids playing world leaders. What do you think?







Tom Waits "Bad As Me" Private Listening Party

How do you keep albums private in the digital age? How do you build excitement and mystery in an age devoted to breaking it down? Tom Waits, as always, shows us how.







Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched "Beirut - O Leaozinho."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/-WNPCAMRIc0/music-tuesday-catching-our-breath-with.html

[G] Demystifying the Cloud

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 08:55 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Demystifying the Cloud

Posted by Denise Ching, Google Apps team



In the last few years, cloud computing has become a prominent part of many companies' IT strategies. But the rise of cloud computing has brought with it certain misconceptions about what the cloud actually is and the ways it can impact (or not) a company's operations. Cutting through the myths and understanding the truth is essential for making smart decisions about whether, when, and how your company should move to the cloud. And since Google Apps was born in the cloud, we know firsthand the perceived challenges and true benefits of cloud computing.



We invite you to join us for a webinar in which we'll discuss Google Apps for Business and address a number of topics that are often misunderstood with respect to cloud computing, including:

  • Privacy and data security in the cloud
  • How administrative controls work in the cloud
  • How cloud computing improves daily work processes
  • The differences between cloud computing and remote access
  • How to access data stored in the cloud (hint: a web browser may not be necessary)
What: Google Apps demo and explanation of common cloud computing misconceptions

When: Thursday, August 25th, 2011 at 12pm EDT / 9am PDT

Who: Blaise Pabon and Denise Ching, Google Apps team



Register here today. We hope to see you there!
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/08/demystifying-cloud.html

[G] A look back as we move ahead: Google Apps management capabilities

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 08:55 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: A look back as we move ahead: Google Apps management capabilities

Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Product Marketing Manager

Over the last few weeks, we've covered some of the ways that Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sites have really improved over time, and in this final installment, we're shifting our focus to how the administrative capabilities in Google Apps have grown up, too. We're always looking to streamline how administrators can foster better teamwork, easier mobile access and a more secure environment through easy-to-use management tools.

We hope you'll discover a few admin capabilities here that you weren't familiar with before, or just haven't used in some time. If you'd like to hear more about these developments for administrators, please join our webinar on September 1st (details below).

Designed for Teams
Google Apps is designed with the idea that working together should be easier, faster and more fun than working alone. Google Apps makes this simple for administrators by letting users handle many routine tasks without IT support, and by including collaborative capabilities that you'd need to purchase and manage separately with other solutions.
  • Google Sites lets employees set up private, secure workspaces ranging from team sites and project portals to intranets and status dashboards, all without burdening IT for setup help. End-users can initiate a site quickly, and don't need any special programming skills to collaborate together on a great site.
  • User-managed groups also facilitate teamwork and take the burden off of IT. Teams can self-assemble and manage their own workgroups and mailing list aliases, so administrators don't need to constantly keep these lists up to date.
  • Google Apps also makes it painless for organizations to have private template galleries for team-oriented sites, documents, spreadsheets, drawings and presentations. Administrators don't need to hassle with setting up special template repositories, because they're built right into Google Apps.
  • Likewise, administrators don't need to manage servers and complex file share systems to let employees upload and distribute documents, spreadsheets, presentations and other kinds of files. Google Docs handles this without customers needing any special infrastructure on site.
  • PC-to-PC voice and video chat also comes standard with Google Apps. Instead of needing to purchase, install and manage special software and server infrastructure, these real-time communication channels are part of Gmail, and accessible from the browser.
  • Users can also make calls from Gmail to mobile and landline phones without businesses having to manage any specialized telephony technology.
  • Form and survey capabilities are also packaged with Google Apps as part of Google Docs, so it's easy for users to collect structured responses from colleagues and external audiences, and you don't have to license surveying software from another provider.
  • Another powerful collaboration technology included with Google Apps without any additional administrative complexity is translation functionality. Instant translation works in documents, spreadsheets and sites, and Gmail can even translate multilingual IM conversations in real-time between dozens of languages.
  • Want to provide multi-person collaboration in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint without upgrading to Office and SharePoint 2010? Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office is a lightweight Office plugin that lets people work together simultaneously in these applications, without the hassles of collaborating over attachments.
  • Administrators also have the ability to fine-tune user collaboration capabilities across Google Apps. Admins can provide different applications for different groups of users, set permissions for who can email outsiders, and enforce sharing controls in documents and sites to limit information sharing beyond the organization.
  • More complex organizations with users at multiple domains can still work like a cohesive unit with multi-domain management. This feature lets people all across your organization share information seamlessly together without the traditional barriers that domain boundaries can create.
  • Finally, our 100% web applications allow administrators to see a snapshot of how their users are working together with these tools, through an intuitive collaboration dashboard integrated into the administrative control panel. You can see stats like the number of active documents, the average number of people documents are shared with and more.

Productive Anywhere
Gone are the days where supporting a new mobile platform or operating system requires a heroic effort.  With Google Apps, users just access their work from any modern browser or major mobile operating system.  We also provide administrators with tools to secure and manage mobile devices at no additional cost.
  • 100% web-based applications mean that users can access their email, calendars, documents and other applications right from their browsers, on any operating system.  This makes it much easier for administrators to support a heterogeneous OS environment without leaving any users behind.
  • Android natively supports Google Apps through a comprehensive suite of mobile apps built right into the mobile platform.  For iOS devices and Windows Mobile, Google Sync enables synchronization of email, contacts and calendar.   BlackBerry sync is also available through Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
  • To help administrators manage and secure a diverse fleet of company- and user-owned mobile devices, our mobile device management tool allows administrators to enforce mobile password requirements, remotely lock devices, and even wipe devices over the air.  Employees can also access self-service tools, like the ability to view the location of a lost phone.

Simple & Affordable
Deploying and managing Google Apps should be as easy as using Google Apps, so we've added tools to help businesses get started quickly, integrate with existing systems and customize the experience to their needs.
  • It all begins with a free 30-day trial that takes just a few minutes to start, and you don't even need to put down your credit card.  If you like what you see, Google Apps for Business is a simple $5 per user per month or $50 per year. 
  • Once you begin your trial, the interactive setup wizard will guide you the process, from creating user accounts to managing mobile devices.
  • For organizations that already have IT systems in place, Google Apps plays nice with other systems through tools like Directory Sync, which can automatically provision Google Apps accounts, groups, shared contacts and more, all based on your existing user directory.
  • Some organizations deploy Google Apps to make a fresh start, while others want to bring along data from old systems to Google's cloud.  With migration tools for Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, and many other platforms, you can go with either transition approach.
  • You also have choice when it comes to the pace of innovation that's right for your business.  With our new release process, you can join the Rapid Release track to get new features as quickly as possible -- often several times per week -- or choose the Scheduled Release track for a bit more time to digest changes before they roll out to users.
  • Flexibility also comes in the form of customizable administrative roles.  Delegated administration lets you assign full or partial administration rights to other users or groups, making it a snap to give teams like help desk staff the right privileges to do their jobs effectively and safely.
  • The possibilities for adding custom functionality to Google Apps are also endless.  You can select from dozens of additional Google applications, layer on integrated 3rd-party applications from the Google Apps Marketplace, write your own custom interactions between applications with Google Apps Script, or tap into a full spectrum of management and application APIs.
  • These same APIs power another essential tool: the ability to take your data and move to a different provider if we ever stop meeting your needs.  Our Data Liberation effort includes a comprehensive set of tools to help you get your information out of Google's cloud should the need arise.

Pure & Proven Cloud
Google Apps for Business not only has an uptime guarantee, but we also provide transparency by offering a publicly available status dashboard.  In addition to our reliability efforts, we also provide administrators with options to help keep their data more safe and secure.
  • Our 99.9% uptime SLA guarantees reliable access to Google Apps, and our commitment doesn't have any exceptions for planned maintenance.  This is because our systems are designed to handle updates without interruptions for customers.
  • Our publicly available status dashboard offers transparency about the health of our systems, and 24x7 phone and online support is there when you need it.
  • Google goes to extensive lengths to protect the customer information in our data centers, including extensive personnel background checks, security-focused processes, advanced technology, and around-the-clock physical protection.
  • Google Apps has completed a SAS 70 Type II audit, a SSAE-16 audit, and has achieved the U.S. Federal goverment's FISMA certification.
  • With default https connections, your users' information is encrypted as it travels from your web browser to our servers.  This helps protect your data by making it unreadable to others sharing your network.
  • Google Apps accounts can be further secured with 2-step verification, which requires users to sign in with something they know (their password) and something they have (their mobile phone).  With verification codes available via SMS, even basic mobile phones can serve as powerful authentication devices.
  • Account access can also be fortified with custom password strength requirements that administrators can tailor, and the ability to put Google Apps behind your own single sign-on infrastructure.

Customers tell us they love rapid, continuous innovation in our applications, but we're just as focused on making the administrative experience faster, easier and more powerful over time.  I hope you found a few new management capabilities here that will make Google Apps even more useful at your organization.  Join us for a free webinar on September 1st if you're interested in learning more about many of these improvements.

A look back as we move ahead: Google Apps management capabilities
Thursday, September 1st, 2011
9:00 a.m. PDT / 12:00 p.m. EDT
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/08/look-back-as-we-move-ahead-google-apps.html

[G] Live webinar: Rockingham County empowers employees with Google Apps

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 08:55 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Live webinar: Rockingham County empowers employees with Google Apps

Wendy Wu, Google Apps for Government Team



In Rockingham County, North Carolina, the IT department supports 500 employees who for the past several years had used three different client applications for email. The county switched to Google Apps for Government earlier this year to simplify its operations and improve collaboration among employees.



Join us for a live webinar on Wednesday, August 24 to hear from David Whicker, IT Director for Rockingham County, about the County's experience with Google Apps, including:

  • How Rockingham County standardized on one easy-to-maintain hosted application suite, saving the County IT department precious resources

  • How Google Apps for Government boosted employee collaboration and productivity

  • How the County deployed Google's cloud solution easily and quickly


Live Webinar: Rockingham County empowers employees with Google Apps

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

1:00 - 2:00 pm EDT

Register here.
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/08/live-webinar-rockingham-county-empowers.html

[G] Google at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Miami

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 08:55 AM PDT

Google Research Blog: Google at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Miami

Posted by Marianna Dizik, Statistician



The Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) were held in Miami, Florida, this year. Nearly 5,000 participants from academia and industry came to present and discuss the latest in statistical research, methodology, and applications. Similar to previous years, several Googlers shared expertise in large-scale experimental design and implementation, statistical inference with massive datasets and forecasting, data mining, parallel computing, and much more.



Our session "Statistics: The Secret Weapon of Successful Web Giants" attracted over one hundred people; surprising for an 8:30 AM session! Revolution Analytics reviewed this in their official blog post "How Google uses R to make online advertising more effective"



The following talks were given by Googlers at JSM 2011. Please check the upcoming Proceedings of the JSM 2011 for the full papers.



Google has participated at JSM each year since 2004. We have been increasing our involvement significantly by providing sponsorship, organizing and giving talks at sessions and roundtables, teaching courses and workshops, hosting a booth with new Google products demo, submitting posters, and more. This year Googlers participated in sessions sponsored by ASA sections for Statistical Learning and Data Mining, Statistics and Marketing, Statistical Computing, Bayesian Statistical Science , Health Policy Statistics, Statistical Graphics, Quality and Productivity, Physical and Engineering Sciences, and Statistical Education.



We also hosted the Google faculty reception, which was well-attended by faculty and their promising students. Google hires a growing number of statisticians and we were happy to participate in JSM again this year. People had a chance to talk to Googlers, ask about working here, encounter elements of Google culture (good food! T-shirts! 3D puzzles!), meet old and make new friends, and just have fun!



Thanks to everyone that presented, attended, or otherwise engaged with the statistical community at JSM this year. We're looking forward to seeing you in San Diego next year.


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/gJZg/~3/BtFffo4zB3M/google-at-joint-statistical-meetings-in.html

[G] Explore the ancient and modern with Rome in 3D

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 08:55 AM PDT

Google LatLong: Explore the ancient and modern with Rome in 3D

[Cross-posted from the Google SketchUp Blog]


Rome really is an eternal city. With a history spanning over 2500 years and regimes from the early kingdom, through the republic, the empire, and later as the heart of the Catholic faith in the Vatican city, each has made their mark on the current urban architectural landscape of Rome. Now, with the release of thousands of new 3D buildings for the city, you can explore the blending of the ages in layered construction of Rome from within Google Earth.





Let's start our exploration in the ruins of the ancient Roman forum, home of the original Roman republic. From here we can easily travel to some of the subsequent Imperial buildings such as the Colosseum (AKA the Flavian Amphitheater) and Trajan's Market and Column.



Looking towards the Colosseum through the Roman Forum


Next, we'll head Northwest, towards the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. The Pantheon is a great example of the layered reuse of buildings in Rome; originally built in the Republican period, the Pantheon was retrofitted with the front portico in the Imperial period, and then later converted into a church. The shape of Piazza Navona also displays its historic foundation as the site was originally the Stadium of Domitian in the Imperial era.



Central Rome showing the Pantheon and Piazza Navona


Lastly, let's head over to the Vatican City, where we can see great examples of the Renaissance and Baroque architecture of the city in Saint Peter's Basilica and the colonnade by Bernini around St. Peter's square.



St. Peter's Basilica and Piazza in Vatican City


There is much more to explore in Italy's modern capital, so have a look around this beautiful city! And don't forget, a few years ago we also released ancient Rome in 3D which allows you to see Rome as it was in 320 AD.

To see Rome in Google Earth for yourself, use Google Maps with Earth view or turn on Google Earth's "3D Buildings" layer and search for "Rome, Italy". Alternatively, you can download this KML tour from the Google Earth Gallery to take a virtual tour of the 3D landmarks for yourself. As always, feel free to use Google Building Maker or Google SketchUp to make any improvements or additions to the city or to model your own town.



Happy touring!

Posted by Mason Thrall, Program Manager, Geo 3D

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/08/explore-ancient-and-modern-with-rome-in_22.html

[G] Introducing GTFS-realtime to exchange realtime transit updates

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 08:55 AM PDT

Google LatLong: Introducing GTFS-realtime to exchange realtime transit updates

(Cross-posted from the Google Code Blog)



In June, we launched Live Transit Updates, a feature that adds realtime public transport information to Google Maps and Google Maps for mobile. This feature is powered by the GTFS-realtime feed format. Today we're making the specification of this format public on Google Code. GTFS-realtime allows public transport agencies to provide realtime updates about their fleets. If you're developing a trip planner or similar application, you can process these feeds and keep your users up-to-date with realtime information.



GTFS-realtime is an extension to GTFS, the General Transit Feed Specification, published by Google in 2006. Nowadays, GTFS is a very commonly used feed format that public transport agencies use to (publicly) provide their transport information. As opposed to GTFS feeds, GTFS-realtime feeds contain very dynamic information. This means that they have to be updated frequently and applications that use them have to fetch them frequently as well. This requires a significant infrastructure from the transport agency's side, but it results in a continuously updated description of the current situation.



The specification currently includes three types of realtime updates: Trip Updates, Service Alerts and Vehicle Position updates. Each type of update has to be provided in a separate feed, and can be used independently.



Trip Updates are a way to present changes in the timetable. When a trip is delayed, canceled, added or re-routed, a Trip Update can be used to provide this information in realtime. Service Alerts can be used to notify passengers about special circumstances in the public transport network. In a Vehicle Position update, an agency provides the current location of an individual vehicle.



To encode realtime updates, Protocol Buffers are used. Protocol Buffer data structures can be processed very efficiently, resulting in low processing times compared to other popular data encapsulation standards. Because Protocol Buffers are compressed, they also use communication bandwidth efficiently. Protocol Buffers are very easy to work with, and there are libraries available for many programming languages.



The specification was designed through a partnership of the initial Live Transit Updates partner agencies, a number of transit developers, and Google. It has been published under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, the same license used for GTFS. You can discuss the specification and propose changes in the discussion group.



MBTA (Boston) and Trimet (Portland) have already made their GTFS-realtime feeds available for use in your applications. BART (SF Bay Area) and MTS (San Diego) have committed to making their feeds available in the future as well. We hope that many more agencies will follow!



Posted by Vladimir Rychev, Software Engineer
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/08/introducing-gtfs-realtime-to-exchange.html
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