Developer gaia: "I just worked on the project"
The developer of the gaia program, which allowed working with the data of Google’s map services, announced the completion of work on his project . After receiving a letter from the company, explaining why his project violates the terms of use of services, the developer decided to remove all gaia distributions from his site and asked users to do the same.
The one whom habrararedtsiya in the first report on the program called "Seryozhkin", prefers not to disclose his name yet. He says - "for the time being."
Tell us a little about yourself.
')
I am 22 years old, born in Moscow. I have been interested in information technology since childhood (from 8-9 years old). I graduate from the institute with a degree in information security, I work as a programmer in
a large company (the main activities - hosting and web-projects).
How long have you been involved in the gaia project? Why did you find this interesting?
The first source codes of the project in its current form are dated April 4, 2006. Before that, there were several trial versions, then a break of several months. In total - about six months of leisure work in free time.
It all started with the desire to use the maps offline (having previously downloaded them) under FreeBSD (there was no client for it). A couple of evenings were poking around with colleagues on Google Maps, then suddenly they changed maps (before that, better images were available - apparently those that are now used in Google Earth; now the quality is lower and watermarks are added). Then there was interest directly to Google Earth.
Judging by the program and its descriptions, you are deep enough
studied the possibilities of gearth. What aspects did you study?
I would not say that deeply. In the end, only photos of the surface were available. Actually, the client’s research took quite a bit of time compared to writing the gaia code.
Is there a download statistics for the program?
About 4 thousand downloads. There were a lot of feedback: error messages,
thanks, suggestions of new ideas (including ready-made patches).
Then, when the project was closed - many sympathetic letters and requests to continue work.
Did you expect such a reaction from Google?
Honestly, I didn't really think about Google’s possible reaction, just
worked on the project. I didn’t wait for an answer to the letter sent by him after creating the site. Actually, I did not expect publication on news sites either.
It is necessary to pay tribute to the representatives of Google: communication with them did not cause
negative emotions.
At what stage are the negotiations with Google now? Not called to my job?
Negotiations as such are just two letters that are published on the site. Representatives of the company asked to remove the source, explained - why. After that, I fulfilled their requirements.
Call for an interview. I'll think about it.
What is the fate of the project?
Unfortunately, the project based on reverse engineering of Google Earth was doomed initially. The fact is that the maps used by Google do not actually belong to the company, but are provided on certain
conditions. Direct access to data violates these conditions, and further
violations threaten the existence of the Google Maps services themselves and
Google earth so i stopped working on a client research and wanted
so that nobody would continue it. However, I do not exclude the possibility
convince satellite information providers to ease license terms.
As for the fate of gaia in the near future, I plan to bring it to working condition using free NASA cards and upload the source code of the program to sourceforge.net . And then - it will be clear.
If possible, tell about your other projects (current or
planned)?
Yes, nothing to talk about. There have been a lot of beginnings in 10 years
plans too, but gaia, perhaps, the first serious project.
The one whom habrararedtsiya in the first report on the program called "Seryozhkin", prefers not to disclose his name yet. He says - "for the time being."
Tell us a little about yourself.
')
I am 22 years old, born in Moscow. I have been interested in information technology since childhood (from 8-9 years old). I graduate from the institute with a degree in information security, I work as a programmer in
a large company (the main activities - hosting and web-projects).
How long have you been involved in the gaia project? Why did you find this interesting?
The first source codes of the project in its current form are dated April 4, 2006. Before that, there were several trial versions, then a break of several months. In total - about six months of leisure work in free time.
It all started with the desire to use the maps offline (having previously downloaded them) under FreeBSD (there was no client for it). A couple of evenings were poking around with colleagues on Google Maps, then suddenly they changed maps (before that, better images were available - apparently those that are now used in Google Earth; now the quality is lower and watermarks are added). Then there was interest directly to Google Earth.
Judging by the program and its descriptions, you are deep enough
studied the possibilities of gearth. What aspects did you study?
I would not say that deeply. In the end, only photos of the surface were available. Actually, the client’s research took quite a bit of time compared to writing the gaia code.
Is there a download statistics for the program?
About 4 thousand downloads. There were a lot of feedback: error messages,
thanks, suggestions of new ideas (including ready-made patches).
Then, when the project was closed - many sympathetic letters and requests to continue work.
Did you expect such a reaction from Google?
Honestly, I didn't really think about Google’s possible reaction, just
worked on the project. I didn’t wait for an answer to the letter sent by him after creating the site. Actually, I did not expect publication on news sites either.
It is necessary to pay tribute to the representatives of Google: communication with them did not cause
negative emotions.
At what stage are the negotiations with Google now? Not called to my job?
Negotiations as such are just two letters that are published on the site. Representatives of the company asked to remove the source, explained - why. After that, I fulfilled their requirements.
Call for an interview. I'll think about it.
What is the fate of the project?
Unfortunately, the project based on reverse engineering of Google Earth was doomed initially. The fact is that the maps used by Google do not actually belong to the company, but are provided on certain
conditions. Direct access to data violates these conditions, and further
violations threaten the existence of the Google Maps services themselves and
Google earth so i stopped working on a client research and wanted
so that nobody would continue it. However, I do not exclude the possibility
convince satellite information providers to ease license terms.
As for the fate of gaia in the near future, I plan to bring it to working condition using free NASA cards and upload the source code of the program to sourceforge.net . And then - it will be clear.
If possible, tell about your other projects (current or
planned)?
Yes, nothing to talk about. There have been a lot of beginnings in 10 years
plans too, but gaia, perhaps, the first serious project.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/4725/
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