Pridgeon and Clay make heavy business feel light with Google Earth Pro

Posted by Steve Koets, Global Director of Business Development for Pridgeon and Clay

Editor's note: Whether it's in the factory, warehouse or office, manufacturers need to work efficiently to bring their customers what's needed. This week we're focusing on how companies in the manufacturing industry are using Google solutions to work better and stay connected. Today's guest blogger is Steve Koets, Global Director of Business Development for Pridgeon and Clay. Watch our manufacturing webinar and see what other organizations that have gone Google have to say.

At first glance, our business seems pretty simple: we make metal parts for the automotive sector. However, the processes involved in making those parts is anything but simple. The coordination and logistics to supply parts to a supply chain that make the parts to almost every car manufacturer in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe requires more than 120 metal stamping presses around the world. In addition, we buy, ship, and process raw materials, coordinate delivery of our products, and manage our global sales teams. With all of these moving parts, we needed a business analytic solution that could help us understand all of these processes as it relates to our need to make good business decisions.

Google Earth Pro gives us the visibility into our product, production and sales processes that we need to make sure we’re operating efficiently. With Google Earth Pro, we use layered views to show us where our component parts are selling, what cars our parts end up in (by tracking the part through production and into the actual cars on the roads), and the distribution of those parts in the various markets. Earth Pro helps us distill and understand our millions of data points, making it easier for our teams to analyze and make smart choices on a variety of topics.

Google Earth Pro allows us to manage our financial forecasting by area and helps in our business plan and goal setting. When the automotive market was struggling in 2008, or when the Tsunami hit in 2011, several of our suppliers and customers started to halt production at their factories. Since we had an accurate understanding of our integration of the supply chain and sales via Earth Pro, we were able to adjust our production patterns and weather the loss and change in our business. Earth Pro gave us insight as to the scale of events unfolding in the world and helped us make better decisions.

When selecting new potential plant locations, Google Earth Pro helps us to find the best place to optimize and make the right decisions. For example, we are currently looking to place an additional plant in the future in Mexico. By combining layers with the location of metal suppliers, customers, potential customers, and other market data (such as population density for possible employees), we figured out where we should place our factory to make our procurements, shipping, and business costs more effective. By scaling this practice to all our plants around the world, Google Earth Pro has helped us to be competitive and in the right place at the right time.

Google Earth Pro allows us to touch our data every day, tweak it to fit our needs, and visualize relevant information to help us make informed decisions. And it’s simple – anyone with a browser can use it. On a quick virtual meeting with our business units in Europe, we installed Earth Pro and they were placing their first pushpins in minutes to show the locations of their local facilities and relationships. Now, we have hundreds of thousands of pushpins used globally on all types of data, and hundreds of layers for every aspect of our business. Google Earth helps turn our heavy business lighter – with all of our data at our fingertips.

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Celebrating Earth Day with Google Earth Pro 7.1: better ways to edit maps and measure site views

Posted by Peter Birch, Product Manager, Google Maps for Business

With Google Earth, you can see just about any location in the world (or even locations outside our world, like galaxies in outer space). Three-dimensional imagery and satellite maps allow you to virtually trek the globe from the comfort of your computer, bringing the world's geography to your fingertips. Today we’re announcing new features for Google Earth Pro that let organizations easily edit maps and accurately measure complex site views.

As a premium edition of Google Earth, Google Earth Pro 7.1 lets you visualize, analyze and share 3D map data and imagery. Using Earth Pro, you can make smart decisions about a location without physically being there. For example, a construction company could calculate the site area and slope of a potential property using Earth Pro’s advanced measurement tools.

With version 7.1, Earth Pro offers two new capabilities:

• Map-Making: Create legends and scales and add titles to a map, directly from Google Earth Pro. You can also print your customized map or save it as an image. To conduct an environmental survey, for example, enhanced map-making tools let you highlight changes to land mass over time and document those changes directly in the map by adding a legend. 

• Viewshed: Identify and calculate viewpoints, measuring distances and visualizing potential views. For example, an architecture firm could use the viewshed tool to measure a view from a building or window without being physically on-site.

With simple tools for visualizing, capturing and sharing geospatial information, Google Earth Pro makes it easy to interact with the world around you right from your computer. To celebrate Earth Day, we're offering Google Earth Pro 7.1 (normally $399) for $199 for the next 24 hours. To take advantage of this price, sign up before 9:00 am PDT on April 23, 2013 (Promo code: EARTHDAY199). 

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Google Earth Pro helps Rockware geologists uncover the layers of the Earth

Posted by Jim Reed, geologist and R&D director, RockWare Inc.

Editors note: RockWare is a geological software company based in Golden, Colorado. Founded in 1983, RockWare develops a suite of earth science and mapping applications used across several industries and fields, including civil, environmental and geotechnical engineering.

As the early morning sun rises, we head into the Rocky Mountains’ Front Range to take some field measurements. The scenery is breathtaking: rusty-hued sandstone formations tilting at dramatic angles from the ground below. Studying the Earth’s natural history and uncovering the mysteries that lie beneath its surface is just another day as a RockWare geologist.

Using a GPS device and a few specialty tools, we move around the site and record the tilt of the rock formations. These data points don’t make much sense to the untrained eye. However, by plotting our data on a map, we can gain an intuitive three-dimensional understanding of the rocks and their orientation.

When we return to the office, we quickly import the data we recorded in the field into Google Earth Pro. The software produces interactive 3D visuals, which we can easily share with customers. At RockWare, we make extensive use of the Movie Maker feature, which allows us to animate complex events over time. For example, if a toxic spill is leaking into the water table, we can model the spread and speed of contamination. These animations help our clients understand the impact of these geological events and act accordingly.

We’ve seen a positive impact on sales and marketing, too. Google Earth Pro, in conjunction with RockWare’s software, gives us the tools to tell a client’s story through video, rather than just creating static maps and reports. With more dynamic ways to showcase our work, we’ve been able to advertise in a way we’ve never been able to do before. As a result, we’ve seen growth in our customer base via referrals and word-of-mouth.

Many of our customers already use Google Earth Pro in the office, which streamlines my job as a consultant. Instead of spending extensive time on product training, we can dive right into the project. Google has essentially created an environment where it's easy for RockWare and our clients to collaborate on geological projects, which simplifies the decision-making process.

Google Earth Pro brings our projects to life. It has not only contributed to RockWare’s business growth, it’s also reinforced my love for geology. Going out in the field, taking measurements, and actually being able see what I’m mapping makes my job that much more incredible.

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Announcing Google Earth Pro version 6.2: A more beautiful Earth and Parcel search

Posted by Dan Cohen, Google Earth Pro Team

We would like to share the new features available in the latest release of Google Earth Pro. Version 6.2 delivers a better user experience with improved imagery rendering and enhanced search.

Improved Rendering
Previously, the imagery in Google Earth Pro had patchy rendering because it was constructed by combining different satellite images. The improved rendering in Google Earth Pro version 6.2 addresses this patchiness with a new way of rendering imagery that smooths out differences between the separate satellite images. The improved rendering provides higher quality screen captures for Google Earth Pro users, as well as provides seamless base imagery for creating maps using spreadsheet or GIS import.

San Francisco before and after the integration of seamless imagery.

Parcel Search
Since June 2010, Google Earth Pro users have had access to the U.S. Parcel Data layer. Now users will be able to search that data layer for specific parcels. In Google Earth Pro version 6.2, users simply have to type the parcel number into the familiar search box to be taken to the location of the parcel in the visualization window and access property information such as the property address, standard use code, and last assessed value. The ability to query by parcel number, instead of having to manually navigate to the parcel location, will save the time of real estate and insurance professionals who frequently use the U.S. Parcel Data layer to remotely survey specific properties.

Real estate and insurance professionals using Google Earth Pro can quickly find specific parcel details by searching the Premium U.S. Parcel Data layer by parcel number.

These new features in conjunction with the other Google Earth Pro offerings, such as advanced measuring tools and the U.S. Demographics and Traffic count data layers, allow users to save time and money when making geographic decisions. Instead of traveling to survey a property, businesses can save time by searching for a parcel in the U.S. Parcel database and remotely measuring and inspecting those properties in just hours. Companies can spruce up their presentations and pamphlets to impress clients by using Google Earth Pro’s high resolution prints (now with seamless imagery). Other businesses use the Google Earth Pro import tool to overlay spreadsheet or GIS data on a map for visual analysis.

We encourage you to look at the release notes for Google Earth Pro version 6.2 (beta). If you’re not a Google Earth Pro user you can sign up for a 7-day free trial to try out the newest version. If you are currently using Google Earth Pro, the newest version is available for download here.

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Putting Your Search Results on the Map Instantly

Posted by Eliot Danner, Reperio Concepts

From large Government departments through to small local realty companies, geographic information can be extremely valuable to organizations. However, this useful information often ends up trapped in files or databases, inaccessible to the average employee or user. Many organizations make use of a geospatial tool that presents information in a geographical context.

Behind the scenes, it can be an expensive process to get to this stage because the data needs to be found and “geocoded.” Geocoding is the process of examining a piece of information containing geographic references and adding information about the map coordinates within the document. Once geocoded, a piece of data is available to be shown in a geospatial tool. To put it simply, it is the connection made between address information and map coordinates. This is often a manual process which can be expensive and time consuming.

For us, automating the search and geocoding process was the next logical step, so we developed a tool called GeoFind, which enables an end-user to easily find geospatially relevant data and show it on a map. GeoFind offers an on-the-fly geocoder combined with the Google Search Appliance (GSA) to locate and present information through Google Earth or Maps. The GSA can connect to multiple large document stores and securely crawl all of the content. GeoFind uses the GSA to process a search query and sends the results to the geocoding engine to look for geographic clues, such as addresses, city references, or landmarks. After it identifies the clue, GeoFind displays the search results via the Google Earth Globe or to Google Maps.



This is all done automatically without an administrator having to do manual data processing. For example: Imagine a police department wanting to make police reports accessible to the public on a map. The traditional approach would be to individually read and geocode the reports. Using GeoFind, it isn’t necessary to perform this expensive and time consuming data preparation. Instead, they can point their Google Search Appliance at the reports and have them immediately displayed on the map.

You can find out more about GeoFind at ReperioConcepts.com or contact me.

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Announcing Google Earth Pro 6.1: New Features and Easier to Use!

Posted by Coleman Rusnock and Dan Cohen, Google Earth Pro team

We are pleased to announce the newest release of Google Earth Pro! Version 6.1 focuses on user experience improvements that empower professionals to make faster geographic-related business decisions.

Google Earth Pro is a simple yet powerful tool used by industry professionals all over the world. Businesses in retail, construction and insurance save travel time by inspecting, measuring and profiling land parcels before visiting the site. Many companies use Google Earth Pro’s high resolution prints for client meetings and presentations. Other companies use the Google Earth Pro import tool to overlay spreadsheet or GIS data on a map. You can read about other use cases on our customer stories page.


Real estate and insurance professionals can analyze distances more effectively with the combined Ruler and Elevation Profile tool, as shown in this measurement of San Francisco, above.


Print high-resolution screenshots with scale bar and north arrow for client meetings and presentations.

Key feature enhancements in version 6.1 include:

• Enhanced Print Layout: Print maps and overlays in premium resolution for tactile collaboration with key stakeholders. Improved output and paper handling allow fine controls for professional-looking deliverables.


• Simplified Movie Maker: Create professional video presentations to share with your target audience. Render saved tours as videos, or take the director’s seat and record live actions from the 3D viewer.


• Consolidated Measurement Tool: View path length and elevation profile in one window to better understand the 3D environment surrounding your area of interest.


• Expanded Data Styling: With 64 unique styling attributes available for each imported dataset (compared with eight in previous versions), users have greater control over the look and feel of their data.


• Improved Networking Infrastructure: Earth Pro 6.1 offers better support for network proxies and SSL certificates commonly found in corporate networking environments, making it easier for business to use Google Earth Pro within their network security guidelines.

Click here to download the latest version of Google Earth Pro for your organization today.

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3D Visualizations that Wow Customers

Posted by Clay Maffett, The Google Earth Pro Team

Google’s users have always found creative and inspiring ways to get the most out of our products. The Google Earth Pro team is reminded of this daily as we speak with companies across industries around the world that use Google Earth Pro for a wide range of purposes, from planning transportation routes to mapping forest fire risk areas.

One such use case is that of Coherent Navigation, a nine-person startup that develops GPS receivers for the US Military.

"Our software is very complex and has capabilities far beyond any other solutions in the market today," said Bryan Galusha, Senior Development Engineer at Coherent Navigation. "But at the end of the day, it provides a single position, much like a glorified ‘You are Here’ sign in a mall.” In order to convey the value of such complicated software as quickly and concisely as possible, Coherent turned to Google Earth Pro’s visualization capabilities. “Google Earth enabled us to quickly create a visualization of our receivers’ performance that effectively communicated the performance and capabilities of the receivers to both technical and non-technical customers,” Bryan said. An example of such a visualization can be found below, with the green distorted sphere representing Coherent’s calculated position of the white van.


Beyond the ability to create still images like the one above, Coherent also utilized the Movie Maker tool to “create videos of our receivers’ performance to be shown after major technical demonstrations” to potential customers. Lastly, Google Earth Pro helped them demonstrate visually the satellite infrastructure their software uses to pinpoint location, shown in the screenshot below:

Ultimately, Bryan said, “Google Earth Pro allowed us to quickly and inexpensively create 3D visualizations with accurate satellite imagery that ‘wowed’ our customers.” We’re glad Coherent Navigation was able to use Google Earth Pro so successfully, and we hope their story inspires other creative uses of Google Earth Pro.

If you are interested in learning more about Google Earth Pro, you are welcome to sign up for a free 7-day trial to test drive the product.

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