Michael

Say I want to add an application-specific property to a geo-uri, say an ID of an item that only makes sense for the application, but leave the remainder of the geo-uri useable to other applications. As far as I understand the specification, you have to register other parameters. Would it be possible to use domain-name-based parameter names? Like org.example.itemid, this way we could avoid collisions without having to register every parameter.

I think there are two extra parameters that would be useful: Time and direction.
I read somewhere in this blog that you have reasons against adding “Time”, because URIs should be independent of time. IMHO, for geo-uris, however, exactly the opposite is the case: If you find a geo link to some place, knowing an associated time would allow a mapping application to show you a map of the place at the time the link was created, or warn you if the area has changed substantially in between. Think of history books, which might want to point you to middle-age London.
This would also be useful for another application which could also benefit from direction: astronomy. Imagine taking a picture with a camera which includes a compass, and then later copying the link to that location into your astronomy-software and looking at the stars you just photographed. 3-d views of cities are also becoming common (think google streetview), therefore when you provide someone with a link to the location of your house, a direction helps him to look in the right direction.

Thanks for your work,

Michael

What about models other than WGS84?

I do have a suggestion though. I have become very accustomed to selecting text then right clicking and using the ‘Search Google for “???”‘ feature.

It would be great if there was a ‘geoLocate “???” in Google Maps” You could have a configuration menu to select either Google Maps, Google Earth or others.

basically you find all information needed (lat & lon) for a geouri in the address bar when you hit “link to this page” in the Google Maps interface.

You’re right, additional parameters could be placed in the search bar or as well as bubble content in Google Maps for instance.

Height and scale are two different parameters: height is part of the location definition and scale is a viewing property. We can’t use the height for defining the viewing scale.

And no, Google is not involved in this project All those examples are just proof of concepts and you could substitute Google maps with any other mapping API (as shown with OpenLayers).

Is there an easy way to find geo information (lat and long) in the appropriate format? In other words: how do I, as a webmaster, find the numbers to put in the geo: string? If this was a feature added to Google maps (finding the string) it would be real nice. I could then look up the location on the map and copy the geo: info and place it in my uri. Then I would also know approximately what map would appear.

Along the same line; would Google Maps use the height parameter to scale the map appropriately?

(Is anyone at Google being of any help with this project?)

I just added another WMS to your script to have some more information in the background. Unfortunately that area isn’t covered very well by free data services…

OpenLayers example plus geoland.at-WMS