Google Geo Developer Series

I ran across this on Free Geography Tools.

Google has announced it’s Google Geo Developer Series of workshops/lectures at the Googleplex.

Here’s a synopsis of the first two workshops:

Feb. 20 @6pm: Quick & Dirty KML Creation
In this hands-on workshop, Googlers Mano Marks and Pamela Fox will show how to use tools within Google Maps and Google Earth to create, import, and edit KML. They’ll also show a quick integration of KML in the Maps API, and talk about when simple KML creation should be used in favor or more programmatic techniques. This workshop is useful for developers who haven’t had a chance to play with the Maps or Earth creation tools yet, and are looking for quick ways to create and share geo-data. Participants should bring their laptops and install Google Earth prior to the event.

Feb. 27 @6pm: Creating Custom Maps
In this talk, developer John Coryat (of maps.huge.info and usnaviguide.com) will discuss the various techniques for creating custom maps in the Maps API, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Demonstrations will include examples using a custom extension he wrote for overlaying images, and several examples of custom tile layers. This talk will be very useful for developers debating how to display large amounts of information on a map (especially polygonal data), or developers interested in creating custom maps from existing tiles (such as mapwow.com).

If you don’t live near the Googleplex, all of the videos will be made available on YouTube. You can sign up for the mailing list here.