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July 14, 2006
Transportation Layer Improvements for Google Earth
New improvements to the "Transportation Layer" in Google Earth have been quietly introduced. If you open the Transportation Layer folder you will see there are several levels of information for both Airports and Rail. I had already noticed that the airports layer now have better accuracy for the "Airport Maps (USA)" which show outlines to US airports, and the color changed from white to yellow-green. Today I noticed that the Rails layer now show different colored tracks for some cities, and include train stations in some places as well. All of these layers are vector lines drawn over the satellite/aerial photos in GE. Apparently the colored tracks are for subways or local trains, and so far I have just seen them for major metropolitan areas in US cities. Please let me know by adding a comment if you find other locations. Try San Francisco, Los Angelos, Boston, Washington DC, and Chicago for examples. I suggest you turn on the Transportation layer and go exploring!
(By the way, the Golden Gate Bridge 3D model in this screenshot came from the Google 3DWarehouse)
[EDIT 0835: I just experimented with all the layers and found out that Germany and Italy in particular have much better information in the the layers (like schools, community services, parks, shopping, transportation, etc.) than I remember in the past. A lot of Europe has good data as well if you zoom in.]
Posted by FrankTaylor at July 14, 2006 07:59 AM
Comments
Posted by: Berliner at July 14, 2006 09:24 AM
Is there a central repository of all Google Maps and Earth layers, organized in some way?
Thanks
Posted by: Phil Wyatt at April 12, 2007 10:29 PM
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Just tried it out and it had indeed better data. Unfortunately it isn't very accurate and only shows regular rail in Germany. I hope Google will add further information soon, including "U-Bahn" and "S-Bahn".