Blog Posts » Gaia – a love letter from google

Gaia – a love letter from google

After reading The Earth is Square’s take on the email from google to Gaia I thought I’d add my 2 cents.

We have now become aware of your efforts and are concerned that you may not understand the developing global social impact of your engineering creativity.

Wow they have some great legal research staff at google, it took an article on digg before they noticed Gaia existed.

The data that we license for Google Earth and Google Maps is made available for use under the restriction that it not be accessed or used outside of Google’s client software.

We only have googles word for this, I’m not about to believe it without proof, sorry but my faith in corporate honesty isn’t what it used to be.

We appreciate that you like our software and enjoy the many millions of dollars and years of labor that the licensed data represents…..
…..and most of all, the sense of fair-play that is the basic relationship between Google and its users worldwide.

Can I hear violins?

The kindness through which Google has made the wonder of our planet available to more than 100 million users around the world is now threatened — not by a menacing and fierce business competitor — but by you.

Kindness==profit? Guess my dictionary is wrong, and actually wasn’t it keyholes kindness that made this happen, google just bought them out and rebranded keyhole. Oh and Mr Balmer look Michael called you menacing and fierce, get the steel chair ready ;).

If so, we really need to have you take down that code and refocus your work toward building an open earth viewer that uses open earth images (such as from NASA) or licensed earth images from willing providers rather than having the basis of your project being the improper use of our images.

Hate to tell you this Michael but there is this little open source program called World Wind that already does that, and has since before Google Earth existed, and for multiplatform there is ossimPlanet, WW2D+1 …….

We are like an iPod for Earth images. If people could get the music out to play on other platforms then the music companies would not allow Apple access to the music in the first place. This is the situation.

You sure are the ipod of Earth images, oh gosh I can’t go on too many easy jokes to make about that comment, I’ll just let you readers make them and post them in the comments section, lets see how many google ipod jokes are possible.

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  1. Anonymous

    You don’t have to be such a douchebag. They are using Google’s data outside the terms of use, therefor Google have every right to ask them to take it down.

  2. adamantium

    but what will this do for the freeBSD community?

  3. Anonymous

    Yes, I concur. You are a complete douchebag.

  4. Cezar

    I also concur. They are trying to say what there position is. They can use those images because they put in the terms that others downstream can’t. If that changes, then google can’t use them anymore. I can understand that position. They are at least attempting to be as nice about it as possible.

  5. MSTK

    Do you understand that letter? They’re saying that if Gaia uses those images, then the licensers will revoke their permission for everyone to use them, including Google Earth.
    Google is as much a victim as Gaia is, in this case.

    The real enemies here are the licensers, and I think that is where you need to aim your attacks.

  6. Bull_[UK]

    Did I say they should let Gaia keep serving the imagery, nope, I am just pointing out how funny I personally found the letter. I don’t know of anyone who has seen this contract between google and DG etc. (have you?) I’m not convinced that the contract states all the things google claims, if I’m proved wrong I’ll apologise, until then call me all the names you want I really don’t care.

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