The KML Handbook: Geographic Visualization for the Web

Foreword

If you have ever hiked a ridge or climbed an Alpine peak, you know that magic moment when your view rises above what’s immediately around you to reveal the new and distant land beyond. This is my sense as I write this foreword. I look back at a decade-long climb to advance Earth browsing technology from an idea to a patent to a start-up business and finally into the everyday lives of hundreds of millions of people. I look ahead to those further peaks—the greater good that you and other KML developers work by building on what we have done. But most of all, I look inward to see how a decade of virtually exploring our planet has raised my own perception, tolerance, and respect for spaceship Earth and its crew.

Experience has vividly demonstrated ...