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July 06, 2007
Live Earth Concerts in Google Earth
There is a lot of buzz in the news about the Live Earth concerts which are a series of concerts being held in 8 countries, and one special concert in Antarctica, this Saturday for 24 hours with the goal of raising awareness on the issues of global warming. Note the date is 7-7-07. Not surprisingly, Al Gore is one of the people behind it. It is being organized by Kevin Wall, and I saw them both on Larry King last night. Already some pretty big-name artists have been announced including Madonna at Wembeley stadium in the UK.
So, I went to do a search to find out where these events are being held. It surprised me that a quick search didn't produce a map of the venues (note: someone pointed out there is a map on the official site now with Microsoft Virtual Earth). So, after a bit of research, I created a list of placemarks of the Live Earth venues 
that lets you see each of the venues, including the rather remote concert at Rothera Research Station in Antarctica, inside Google Earth. You can hit the right-arrow "Play" button below the "Places" pane (or select "Tools->Play Tour" menu choice - more info here), and you'll be flown to each location. You'll notice the Wembley stadium is still under construction in the Google Earth satellite view. And, you'll get close-up views of all the other locations.
[EDIT 1632 ET: corrected Hamburg venue location to correct stadium, and added missing Sydney, Australia venue.]
Posted by FrankTaylor at July 6, 2007 07:59 AM
Comments
Posted by: toler at July 6, 2007 10:04 AM
Aah the wonderful irony. Live Earth Day. Save the Planet. And look at the swathes of car parks around the New York Giants Stadium! But tomorrow I'm sure they'll all be taking public transport.
Posted by: ShaneMcC at July 6, 2007 11:09 AM
Frank - you didn't have to go to so much trouble - there's a great map of the venues and artists already posted at the Live Earth site here http://liveearth.msn.com/ - scroll down to the Interactive Map link on the right hand side. It's the second entry on a search for "Live Earth" on Google, and the third on MS Search.
Posted by: rob at July 6, 2007 11:42 AM
Hi Frank - Sorry you had trouble finding the Live Earth Venu map. you can either go to the Live earth homepage and click the 'Interactive Map' link in the right margin
or for convenience I have a link to the venue map on my blog. it features Venues, Artist info and other points of interest related to the concerts
http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!2BBC66E99FDCDB98!8859.entry
Posted by: steve lombardi at July 6, 2007 01:18 PM
Unfortunately there are one error and one missing place.
Missing is Aussie Stadium, Sydney, Australia.
Wrong is:
Hamburg, Germany: Located is Hamburg Rothenbaum Tennis Arena. The actual place is HSH Nordbank Arena, former AOL Arena.
Posted by: Jorgen at July 6, 2007 02:40 PM
Thanks Frank for the nice collection. I'm going to attend the concert in Hamburg tomorrow. Looking forward to see Shakira and Snoop Dogg.
Posted by: MiG at July 6, 2007 04:07 PM
a little correction...the arena for Hamburg shows the Rothenbaum tennis courts....the venue for the concert is the soccer stadium (AOL Arena) west of it.
Posted by: MiG at July 6, 2007 04:13 PM
Wembley stadium construction is now completed, according to a soccer match a saw a few weeks back Frank.
Posted by: John Sapyta at July 6, 2007 06:40 PM
Live Earth was great but the best music video on the climate crisis is the Climate Crisis Jam created by the award-winning team at The Earthman Project.
It has been seen by more than 300,000 people since Earth Day.
Check it out at www.ClimateCrisisJam.Org
Posted by: Lanny Smith at July 8, 2007 12:28 AM
I made a MySpace page for Mr. Gore, come by and give a shout out. Plus how can I put the Madonna 'Hey You' video from YouTube on his page????? www.myspace.com/algoremyspacepage
I loved Live Earth, never have I been witness to such a seemlessly excellent production. I love all the PSA's. Everything was PERFECT, the music line-up, Mr. Gore, everybody. the production crew did an extraordinay job.
"Answer The Call"
Posted by: sixclouds at July 9, 2007 07:47 AM
i fink google earth is o.k
Posted by: tom at July 9, 2007 03:30 PM
Ok, so there's ALOOT of money and PR involved in this thing. AND the concerts and the broadcasting of them in itself produced heaps of carbon dioxide. Sure you can critizise this.
But I STILL think it's a very impressive initiative/action to use the extraordinary power of (live) music like this. With so many hours of music of course there will be some questionable acts (do I need to say PCD), but I was blown away by how many greatly talented artists were also involved in this. John Mayer, Missy Higgins, Sting, John Butler Trio, Eskimo Joe, Crowded House, Melissa Etheridge, Jack Johnson, Blue King Brown... Wow. (yes, I favored the Sydney concert).
With all the millions of people watching this thing, I think it's safe to say the message got across to a few. We need to change. And if this thing can help change the future it's worth every penny. That's what I think anyway.
Like BBC Environmental Analysist Roger Harrabin writes in his article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6274264.stm)
: "Every kilogram of CO2 generated round the world by the concerts will be well spent if it jolts politicians to respond with a little more urgency to the warning the scientists are sounding."
Posted by: Vimbai at July 9, 2007 05:41 PM
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you´ve got the Hamburg wrong. the actual venue is found here: http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&geocode=&q=Hamburg+aol+arena&sll=53.549838,9.973258&sspn=2.261708,5.141602&ie=UTF8&ll=53.587805,9.899046&spn=0.008827,0.020084&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1