NewsGlobe

NewsGlobe is an innovative software service that takes the contents of RSS, RDF and ATOM feeds and plots the items against a map of the world. The feeds can be anything from news stories to retail locations. Whatever you can get into a feed we can try and plot it on a map!

The result is a graphic way to display your information to your customers and users - speeding comprehension and aiding understanding.

Currently NewsGlobe supports the two major web mapping applications, Google Maps and Google Earth.

NewsGlobe for Google Maps Google Maps provides you with a 2D map and/or image of the world which you can embed in a web page. Feed items are placed at the country or major city they refer to. Clicking on an item will bring up a summary of the item, and a link to the full item. The map can be panned and zoomed to a high level of detail. Check out our Bird Flu tracker for an example.

NewsGlobe for Google Earth Google Earth is a 3D view of the Earth which runs as a separate desktop application. Like Google Maps you can pan and zoom down to car level detail. NewsGlobe operates as a dynamic layer Network Link in Google Earth. Again items are plotted to their country or city location, and clicking on an item brings up its details and a link to the main web page for the item. (Click on image for full-size screenshot)

See the coverage that NewsGlobe is getting to hear what real users, bloggers and reviewers are saying. NewsGlobe was used over 300,000 times in Nov 05 alone!

Using and Buying NewsGlobe

NewsGlobe comes in two main versions: a free Standard version, and a paid for Professional version.

NewsGlobe Standard

NewsGlobe standard is designed for personal use and allows you to view almost any RSS, RDF or ATOM feed in Google Maps or Google Earth. The key features of NewsGlobe Standard are:

• It is licensed for personal, non-commercial use only
• It reads RSS, RDF and ATOM feeds
• It displays in Google Earth and Google Maps
• It has a geolocation database for 300 countries (including adjectival variations), 250 world cities and 480 UK towns.
• There is no official support (but you can always try e-mailing use!)
• It's free (although we may use advertising to support the service)

Learn how to use NewsGlobe Standard.

NewsGlobe Professional

NewsGlobe Professional is designed for those requiring commercial use and/or greater functionality. The key features are:

• It reads RSS, RDF and ATOM feeds. Other formats can be added as required (even screen-scrape of HTML, SOAP and other web services etc)
• It displays in Google Earth and Google Maps. Other mapping services can be added as required (eg Virtual Earth), where APIs are available
• Geolocation is as for Standard Edition but we can also add country specific gazateers (for instance we have a 45,000 entry gazateer for the UK), National Grid conversion, and fixed or dynamic post-code look up. Whatever geo-spatial data you can embed in the feed we can probably make use of it!
• Support for ICBM and W3C GeoPoint item tagging
• Bespoke display of icons and information windows (eg colour coded to particular entry types/contents, display images etc)
• Log access to view system usage
• E-mail and/or phone support
• Licensed for commercial use

Pricing starts from £99/$150/€150 per annum, and full details are available on request.

Note that:

• Users are responsible for ensuring that they have the appropriate licences (and access keys) for the mapping system they are using - although we can advise on this.
• Our standard approach is to deliver software as a service - every thing runs on our servers. If you require NewsGlobe to run on your servers then we can support this but at extra cost.

Read our Geodata Tech Brief (PDF) on the new generation of Internet mapping technology and how it can help you visualise any location based data, or download the NewsGlobe flyer and specification sheet (PDF).