RE: [backstage] Google Earth and ba.com

[Ian Forrester]

Title: RE: [backstage] Google Earth and ba.com

I couldn't really comment on BA & Google, but imho there's certainly a lot of companies holding on to their data very tightly. This was discussed at great length at barcamplondon.

Html is still pretty painful to parse and so provides a safe (ish) haven/container for commercial data. With the move to xhtml, pages are easily parsed and that data becomes much more accessible. From a closed company point of view this is not good because your important/commercial  data can be duplicated. The same arguments are used for RSS/ATOM.

I'm not a fan of above, it reminds me of the backwards mindset of the recording industry suing there customer.

I'm sure BA could open up there flight information and still find a market for providing much more detailed or/and upto date information for google earth. I guess the weather channel would be one such example.

Cheers,

Ian forrester

-----Original Message-----
From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk" <backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk>
Sent: 09/09/06 18:48
Subject: [backstage] Google Earth and ba.com

This seems to be one of the first serious geo-'mashups' in the corporate
world.  But I believe that using the Google Earth app means that ba.com is
not willing to give any kind of rss feeds on their offers or flights....

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/goearth/public/en_gb?redirect=woffers_g
oearth

Ogle your British Airways holiday with Google
     
In a first for air travellers, British Airways and Google have teamed up to
make holiday preparation even easier by launching a new interactive service
through the airline's website, ba.com.

To celebrate its 'World Offers' fare sale, with more than 3 million seats
available, which launches today (August 31), the airline will feature Google
Earth satellite technology on ba.com, allowing travellers to zoom in on
their destination of choice as they take advantage of the excellent
discounts available on flights and hotels.

British Airways has created special 'layers' of information for Google Earth
to enable visitors to ba.com to see popular tourist hotspots and their
proximity to their chosen hotel - the ultimate planning tool for
holidaymakers, so they can organise their itinerary before they arrive.

Jayne O'Brien, head of brands and marketing communications at British
Airways, said: "Not only is this a great sale with discounts to more than
110 destinations but it also has the added customer benefit of allowing them
to familiarise themselves with the local area, hotels and amenities through
Google Earth.   Be it families checking how near their Florida hotel is to
Disney World, their Caribbean resort is to the beach or avid skiers
comparing the topography of different pistes - there's something for
everyone."

Obi Felton, Head of Consumer Marketing at Google, said: "We hope
holiday-makers have fun with this specially created tool.  People have
always enjoyed finding their own home on Google Earth and now they can see
where they'll be laying down their beach towel or enjoying après ski before
they fly."

The Google Earth layer is a further extension to ba.com's host of holiday
planning tools such as the travel checklist and online check-in, all aimed
at enabling travellers to prepare for their trip in advance and arrive at
the airport relaxed and ready to fly.

The US features heavily in the sale with London Heathrow to New York
starting at just £269 (saving up to £138).  Flights from Heathrow to Miami
and London Gatwick to Orlando and Tampa are on sale for £299 (saving up to
£183, £187 and £188 respectively).  The Far East is also within even easier
reach with flights from Heathrow to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing starting
from just £399 (saving up to £158, £125 and £145 respectively).

Ski destinations are available including the airline's new route to Calgary
from Heathrow that starts on December 1, 2006 for £399 (saving up to £185).
Shorthaul routes including Amsterdam, Barcelona and Geneva are on sale from
just £25 one-way.  Holiday spots such as Malaga, Alicante and Innsbruck,
served by franchise carrier GB Airways, start from just £29 one-way.

All hotels and car hire booked on ba.com have been reduced by 10 per cent
for the duration of the sale.

Customers can upgrade to World Traveller Plus from an extra £170 per sector,
and upgrade to Club Europe from just £50 more per sector on flights from
Gatwick, including taxes, fees and charges.

For more information on 'World Offer' flights go to ba.com, call British
Airways on 0870 850 9850 or visit your travel agent.

Notes to editors:
· 'World Offers' are on sale from midnight on Thursday August 31 until
midnight on September 26, 2006 for selected travel dates between November 1,
2006 and August 15, 2007 for longhaul flights and between November 1, 2006
and April 30, 2007 for shorthaul flights.
· All longhaul ticket prices are return fares and include all taxes and
charges. All shorthaul ticket prices are one-way fares and include all taxes
and charges.
· All are subject to availability.
· See ba.com/septemberoffer for more details.




-
Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group.  To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html.  Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/