After a not-so-brief hiatus because of my "normal" research, I am once again adding photographs to the map. It is slow going, but I now have a pretty good workflow developed and so it doesn't take as long as it used to. In addition to viewing the images on the webpage, I am also making available the URL to the KML file. You can put the URL into Google Earth via the "Add --> Network Link" option and it will display all the markers and photographs on your own laptop. (You must be connected to the internet for this to work.)

The URL to copy and paste into Google Earth is: http://snowshot-map.appspot.com/snowshot-kml.kml

If you would rather download the KML, click here. Please note that photographs added to the map after downloading the KML will not be visible in your downloaded file. You will need to download the KML everytime a change is made. The option above will automatically update with the latest photographs.

Nick and I are continuing to add more photographs to the map, but currently about 1 in every 5 photographs doesn't upload correctly. We are aware of this and Nick is working on a fix. Also, you may notice that when you first click on an icon, the photograph only partially displays. If this happens, click the marker a second time and the picture should load in the pop-up display correctly. Lastly, we are trying to get the photographs as close as possible to their actual location. However, we are using automated tools to look up latitude and longitude coordinates for each location and sometimes there are mistakes. Please feel free to contact me if you notice a glaring mistake.

As I have mentioned before on the main website, I was absolutely amazed and overwhelmed at the response this project has garnered throughout the entire United States. I never expected to receive over a thousand photos! Needless to say, my initial plan to create a Google Earth file (KML) for people to download would not have been the ideal solution because the combined size of all the files is currently over 2 gigabytes! Thus, for the past few days, I've been trying to determine the best method of moving forward.

Fortunately for my sanity, a Civil Engineering student at Carnegie Mellon, Nick Doiron, contacted me with an idea on how to get all the pictures online and volunteered to help implement it. It is because of his genorosity and willingness to help me with this project that I am able to launch the Snow Shot of America Webpage.

Over the coming days and weeks, we will begine putting more and more photos online. I'm sure there will be hiccups along the way as we begin to move all 1000+ photographs into the KML. Please bear with us as we attempt to accomplish this feat.