Maps more usable in Google Earth with OGC 'Style'

CubeWerx has just posted an interesting Case Study on Cascading WMS and Haiti response. In discussing the Cascading WMS and Haiti the article says -

"In emergency response situations, first responders need accurate information immediately. The overwhelming response of the mapping community resulted in an unprecedented supply of geographic data being made available in a very short time. But each of the services supplied its own slightly different interface to the data. People working to bring that data together and create ad-hoc applications in support of relief efforts would have to deal with the discrepancies."

The Cascading map server from CubeWerx is able to connect to each of the other services offered, analyze their descriptions, and create a single point of entry for application developers. The Cascading WMS also uses OGC web map standards (WMS), Style Layer Descriptor (SLD) encodings and some slick connectivity to provide access to UN and OpenSteetMap layers in a easy 'tree style' structure - with great looking legends and map styles as transparent overlays in Google Earth (above). Having used both the native WMS support in Google Earth and this one I can tell you it's ALOT easier to work with the Cascading WMS in Google Earth. With the growing use of Google Earth and WMS it seems this very cool capability will have additional uses for emergency response, earth science, and more. Click here to read more...

- Jeff and Glenn