For the past year, a team of 13 Roundarchers have worked to design, develop and launch StrataLogica™ which is a web-based learning application, built for our client NYSTROM Herff Jones Education Division, that delivers map and atlas content in an engaging 3D, interactive environment built on the Google Earth API.  As discussed in our recent blog post on the Google Code blog, we faced some interesting challenges during this project being one of the first enterprise scale applications to use the Google Earth Plug-in and its JavaScript API as its foundation.

Early on in the project, our team was able to solve the core challenges of being able to wrap Nystrom’s 2D map content on the 3D earth in a way that preserved the image quality of the their print products and developing a framework for managing editorial content required to be shown on the earth.  Here I will discuss the additional challenges we faced in creating a compelling and immersive educational experience while working within the framework required by the Google Earth API.

Our experience designers were faced with several challenges. Key among them were providing maximum space for the content, large targets for users of touch screen devices, and access to a set of tools to mark up the maps.  The graphics also needed to appeal to the diverse target market: K-12 students and their teachers.

The solution included opening a chromeless browser window and interface components that open over the map to access options and tools that close when not needed.

The user interface is written in JavaScript and the gap between user input and the earth is bridged by the Google Earth JavaScript API.  Developers were faced with the hurdles of being able to track and provide users control over the layers of Nystrom content, provide an interface to Google layers, and create tools the user could use to add content to the map that could be saved and restored.

Users can be licensed to use one or more map series. These include labeled and unlabeled base maps, additional thematic maps or related maps, views, hotspots, and place marks. We chose to dynamically generate a menu called the Map Chooser, the contents of which are supplied by a JavaScript object created by server-side Java code. The specific elements are based on the user’s access rights and available CMS content.  When the user selects a map series, the KMLs for the Superoverlays and other content are loaded into the plug-in using the Google Earth API. A reference to each layer loaded is retained so its visibility can be toggled or it can be unloaded.

At the bottom of the page is a tool bar that expands up when clicked to reveal a set of tool icons. One of these is ‘Settings’ which lists Google Layers that can be turned on or off. When the layer’s checkbox is changed, the event handler determines the state and layer to be changed and then passes that request to the Google Earth API. A JavaScript table of rules is used to preset the settings appropriately for the map being displayed.

The tool bar also has a selection of tools for marking the map, replicating and extending the experience with the traditional educational map materials. A special KML is loaded to hold user-created markings.  Users select a tool for the type of marks they want to make; for example, draw lines, place a map symbol, or add a place mark with a pop-up balloon. Mouse event handlers attached to plug-in components return the geo-location of mouse clicks to the JavaScript code where KML strings are composed and then loaded into the plug-in after running the KML string through the Google Earth API’s parseKML method.

The team has just launched a new version of StrataLogica which allows teachers and students to collaborate in real-time on assignments and group projects and create dynamic presentations which can be played back in a movie-like sequence.  Greg Knapowski and I are in San Francisco this week showing off the new release at the Google I/O Developers conference in the Sandbox with our clients from Nystrom.  Look for more blog posts when we return.

The IT world is aflutter with discussions about cloud computing.  This amorphous concept has become the IT buzzword of the year.  But cloud computing should not be the domain of the geeks.  In fact, cloud computing should really be exciting marketing departments and product designers.   It has the power to change how organizations conduct marketing and how they design products.  What is Cloud Computing in Marketing Terms?

According to Wikipedia, Cloud computing “is the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the Internet on a utility basis.”  In layman’s terms, this means that a whole bunch of applications are becoming available as services on the internet.  You can access them as an application (think salesforce.com) or better yet as an API where you can build the interface and use the service.

A few examples:
Varian, a manufacturer of electronic measurement devices, decided to forgo the annual industry conference and instead create an immersive web experience entitled The Varian Experience.   This is just the type of web application that IT departments hate.  Unpredictable volume with high spikes that needs to be deployed globally and immediately.  This is why so many of these applications end up on underpowered agency servers.  But instead, we hosted the application on Amazon’s EC2 cloud.  For a fee starting at $50 a month, we got more stability and scalability than most Fortune 500 web sites today.  Check out The Varian Experience later this month.

Nystrom, the industry leader in classroom maps, knew that they needed an electronic map offering to compete in the digital age.  The first reaction was to create their own mapping interface.  But after assessing the time and effort to create even a basic offering, we looked for a better way.  We ended up creating a application that sits on top of Google Earth utilizing their open API.  We use Google Earth for basic mapping functions and we have created an overlay application which displays Nystrom’s educational maps and content.  We brought the product to market in less than 6 months and Nystrom now focuses on content creation versus basic mapping.  Check out StrataLogica.

When Tesla Motors reinvented the automobile with the world’s first commercial electric car, they wanted to do more than just reinvent the engine and drive train.  They wanted to change how cars are conceived, designed and built.  Franz von Holzhausen, famed designer from VW, GM and Mazda has an ambitious vision to recreate the in-car experience as well.  In the Model S, Tesla’s breakthrough sedan, there are two LED screens where the instrument panel and center console are in most cars.  The center console itself is a 17-inch multi-touch display.  Sitting in the car, you immediately get the sense of how these screens define your experience, and that is exactly what Franz intends.  Whereas electronics in today’s automobiles are proprietary and out of date before they even leave the showroom, the Tesla experience will be constantly updated, heavily leveraging the cloud, and will be completely personalized.  To take one example,  in the current prototype we were able to add GPS navigation leveraging a $40 USB drive and Google maps.  We had the working application up in less than a week.  Ditto for internet radio.  Ditto again for HD radio.  Try that on your BMW iDrive.  Franz can redefine your driving experience constantly and by doing so keep the Tesla brand fresh in the eyes of its customers.  Check out the Tesla Model S .

If you are a marketer or a product designer, you should really consider how the cloud can help to accelerate, change or even redefine what you are trying to do.  And do it quick.  The IT community is already starting the backlash against the cloud.  In a recent Gartner conference, the IT dialogue has moved from the possibilities of the cloud to the risks.  Many of the risks are real but all are manageable but talk of risks will carry the day if marketers and products designers aren’t more imaginative in how they use the cloud to advance their causes.