« July 2008 | Main | September 2008 »

August 29, 2008

Track Hurricane Gustav in Google Earth

Track Hurricane Gustav in Google EarthHurricane Gustav looks like it is headed for the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Google Earth is a great tool for checking weather, and especially for tracking hurricanes. You can overlay weather satellite photos, radar, storm tracks, real-time lightning strikes, pressure maps, wind maps, sea surface temperatures, and more. Google Earth Blog (GEB) has written about many of the tools available in the past. Not only that, but we have pulled together a single network link that lets you get access to many of the tools in once convenient package. Download the GEB weather tools and check out the many datasets starting with two different storm tracking tools. You can also read more details about the collection.

To help you understand what's possible with these weather tools, here is a video demonstration:

There's also an excellent new tool available for Google Earth which lets you follow the hurricane hunters as they fly into the storms and collect data. Check out the story about live hurricane hunter mission data.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 07:01 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

August 28, 2008

WikiLoc Now A Google Earth Layer

WikiLoc layer in Google EarthWikiLoc is a free site which lets you upload and share GPS tracks. As mentioned last February, they have particularly good Google Maps and Google Earth support. Well, today, Google has announced that WikiLoc has its own layer under the Google Earth Gallery layer folder! Once you turn it on, you'll have to zoom in to locations to see if WikiLoc placemark icons appear for user data uploaded for that area. I'm glad to see Google adding another GPS layer with broader user-generated data. Previously Google had shared GPS data for select locations/sites like Tracks4Africa which was focused on southeastern Africa (which was recently "demoted" from the Gallery to the More layer folder in Google Earth). The immediate effect will be that WikiLoc is likely to get a ton of new traffic and more people uploading GPS data. When Panoramio was first added as a Google Earth layer their user generated data skyrocketed many orders of magnitude. They ultimately were acquired by Google due to its popularity. Hopefully Jordi Ramot, WikiLoc's creator, will be prepared for the onslaught.

(By the way, I've hiked the trail in the screenshot myself!)

There are many other GPS data web sites out there which include Google Earth support. Here are just a few GEB has covered before with different slants on the type of data they support:

Posted by FrankTaylor at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Links: Panoramio Contest, Lunar Challenge, Fire Detection

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 27, 2008

Google Earth Shows Cows Magnetic? Really?

Magnetic Cows in Google EarthFor the past couple of days I've been seeing the reports of a scientific study about cows conducted using Google Earth. The results from this study sound like a hoax. German scientists studied hundreds of herds from around the Earth found in Google Earth, they say that cows seem to align themselves with the magnetic north when lying or grazing. See Los Angeles Times story. This study was actually published in the proceedings for the National Academy of Science. It's been a scientific fact that birds and bees seem to navigate via magnetic fields. But, this is the first I've herd that cows can do it!

Naturally, I wanted to see if I could duplicate the scientists' results. So, I started looking for herds of cows in Google Earth and placemarked their locations. Here is a collection of cow herds found in a few countries. I used Barry Hunter's magnetic compass add-on for Google Earth (see post), so you can see the difference between true north and magnetic north in the GE compass.

Check out the placemarks and see what you think. Personally, I don't see any evidence that cows are aligning themselves more towards the north than any other direction. Is this study for real? In the attached screenshot, these cows are pointing north - but, they might have a reason for that - feed bins. There are a lot of cows in similar pens nearby aligned north/south or east/west - all due to feeding. If the scientists used those types of groupings for their statistics, I think they are pretty bogus.

The other possible explanation that occurs to me is that the scientists were looking at the shadows. The shadows of cows (and other objects) in Google Earth will generally point to the north/south because most of the photos will be taken as close to noon as possible to get maximum brightness.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 10:05 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack

August 26, 2008

OgleSweden - Panoramas of Sights in Sweden in Google Earth

Stefan Geens, who writes the tech-savvy Google Earth-oriented OgleEarth blog, has just spent a little over two weeks traveling throughout Sweden recording interesting sights. Naturally, he chose to create a special "OgleSweden" blog and map his trip and use a special camera rig to take some excellent panoramic photos. He says he used the Google My Maps feature to map each segment, and you can view the entire route in Google Earth with links to the panoramic photos. I wish he had included a small version of the panoramas you could view in each placemark, but the photos are definitely worth viewing in a browser where you can see more details. I think the tool he is using to view the panoramas requires an <iframe>, which isn't supported in placemarks. Make sure you read Stefan's posts as well, as he provides some interesting perspectives on each site and the culture and history of Sweden. Great work Stefan! Here's a sample of the panoramas:


Extremely high resolution version

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:28 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

August 25, 2008

Sailing Passage From Exuma to North Carolina

On August 13, we picked up our new sailboat in Exuma, Bahamas and sailed it to North Carolina - just a few days ahead of what was soon to be Hurricane Fay. Helping me crew were my long-time friend Fred Burke, and my daughter Trisha. We had just enough time the evening before to put fuel and provisions on the boat. Fortunately, the boat came with pretty much everything you need to conduct a blue water passage. You can download this KML file to see GPS tracks (colorized by speed) with placemarks identifying significant events (such as raising sails, fishing, being boarded by the US Coast Guard, etc.). Read on after checking out some photos and video clips (these pics are also geo-tagged in the KML file):

The winds were forecasted to be light most of the anticipated 4 day passage. The calm before the storm. This proved to be mostly true, although we did manage to sail a fair bit and used the sails to enhance our motoring speeds for most of the trip. A catamaran has two engines, but you only need to use one engine to maintain a good rate of speed - a little over 8 knots on our new boat. With light tail winds, it was very hot the first day. We trolled a fishing line in the water and actually caught a couple of barracuda - but, no fish we could eat (barracuda can cause ciguatera illness).

The second day we considered stopping in the Abacos for fuel, but the dock did not answer our hail by radio. So, we decided to cross over to Grand Bahamas and get fuel by the end of the day. We had a great afternoon sail - our first real sail of the passage. We got in to Grand Bahamas Yacht Club just one hour before they closed at 7 PM - got fuel and some quick provisions, and left within an hour. We saw very little boat traffic both days in the Bahamas. The fuel dock told us that business has been very slow due to the high fuel prices. At $6.22 per gallon for diesel, I could see why! That evening, we continued around Grand Bahamas and headed out to the Gulf Stream where we hoped to catch the current for faster speeds northward.

At 1:30 in the morning, just outside the Bahamas waters, Fred noticed a radar signal of a boat - but, could not see any lights. He was looking for it with binoculars when suddenly he was blinded by a floodlight. The radio burst on with "This is the US Coast Guard". They asked us some basic questions (name, origin, destination, type of vessel, how many on board, etc.). Normally that suffices, but it was a calm night with a full moon. They "suggested" they would like to board our vessel to check for "safety compliance". They both checked our papers, and thoroughly searched the vessel (I'm guessing in case we had "extra" visitors or "goods" on board). Very nice and professional guys - even if they were carrying weapons (and lots of ammo). They gave us a certificate that we met all safety regulations, and let us continue our way (by the way, they let us maintain speed and course the entire time). It essentially kept us from having a boring night of motoring with no wind - and kept us awake of course.

We did manage to catch the Gulf Stream for a good solid day which added nearly 35% more speed to our boat for a good 24 hours. But, we lost the current when it turned to the east - earlier than expected. We had a few sightings of cargo vessels along the way, and even had a couple of visits from dolphins (see the video in the slideshow). We got to fly the spinnaker for a couple of hours, and we had stronger winds at the very end - unfortunately, on our nose. We tacked our way for a few hours towards Beaufort, but ultimately motored the last hour or two into the harbor entrance. As a final touch, the tide was going out, so we had 3 knots current against us on the way in. Each night we had calm winds, so we had pretty straightforward night watches. The full moon made it easier to see the horizon and water surface - but, also spoiled what would have been some great starry nights. We had no storms or squalls cross us the entire way.

We arrived after 4.3 days and 862 nautical miles at the Beaufort Docks. Look at the KML file above for lots of details. I used GPSVisualizer to colorize the track according to speed. The photos were geotagged using Google Earth. If there were more photos, I would have used some other tools. Turn on the "Waypoints" folder to see all of the placemarks.

Special thanks to Virgil of EarthNC, who provided me with electronic charts I could use in Google Earth to help provide perspective as we went along. I cached imagery for our intended route so I could use Google Earth off-line. Virgil also shared some Bahamas charts he's been working on. Which came in handy when we did the approach for fuel in Grand Bahamas. EarthNC has some great tools and data for boaters turning Google Earth into a rich chart plotter.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 07:52 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Links: Burning Man, Earth API, GlobalMapper, Hazards Database, X-Prize

  • Burning Man 2008 - Today marks the start of Burning Man 2008. Burning Man is the outrageous ultra desert party/art exposition held each year in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada for one week. Basically a wide variety of people build a city in the desert. There is art, music, drinking, and much more. There are basically few rules (except for safety). People build things and destroy things. They play, they party, and they even work. When the event is over, the entire city is dismantled leaving just the desert behind again. According to the web site, you really can't explain it except by going there. Read "What is Burning Man?". You can see the 2006 Burning Man in Google Earth - an aerial photo was taken. Last year there was a 3D map of parts of the "city". This year, the city will be moved over a couple of kilometers to reduce environmental damage. There is talk of providing an online map, more aerial photos, real-time tracking, and social networking for this year's event. More to come.

  • Earth API - The Earth API reference site was updated a couple of weeks ago. They added more sample code, and there is now a Earth API release notes page.

  • Global Mapper - Global Mapper has released an update that includes support for Google Earth's SuperOverlay. via Mr. Minton.

  • Natural Hazards Database - The NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) maintains a database of information about historical natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. They have created a KML file which lets you view the data which helps with planning for future events in areas like disaster recovery, disaster response, etc. But, it also helps you get a perspective on dangerous locations. This one is definitely worth a look. Posted at the GEC. Thanks to Gerardo for pointing it out.

  • X-Prize - In support of the Google Lunar X-Prize, there are a number of KML files that show things like the locations of the teams vying for the prize, 3D Rockets, and educational files. Check them out here.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 07:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 24, 2008

Circumnavigation: The Boat - Part I

Last week I announced the plan to begin a 5 year trip to circumnavigate the Earth by sailboat - and to make use of Google Earth in many ways. There are a lot of details behind this trip, so I'm sharing elements of the plan over the next few weeks in posts here at Google Earth Blog. I'm looking forward to telling you about some of the cool ways I will be using Google Earth to share our trip - but, now is a good time to introduce you to our new home and mode of transportation. Since the trip is for five years, we will be selling our house and our boat will be our main home starting sometime next year. We had previously owned a nice sailing catamaran and found it to be the ideal boat type for cruising and blue water travel. I should point out that sailing is an incredibly "green" mode of transportation. The primary means of movement is wind - you can't get much greener than that!

We attended each of the Miami and Annapolis Boat Shows, did a lot of reading, and communicated with many boat owners during the last 4 years looking for the right boat. We ultimately settled on a St. Francis 50, by St. Francis Marine built in South Africa. South Africa has a reputation of building some of the best catamarans in the world. Our last boat was also built in South Africa. This boat has 4 queen-sized staterooms with a private head (bathroom) for each room (we plan to have friends and family visit along the way). There is a nice galley in one of the hulls; between the hulls there is a large salon area with a dining table suitable for up to eight people , a navigation station (and large desk area), and a TV entertainment center. There's also an outside dining area suitable for eight, and the helm station with instruments all protected by a large "roof" area (called a bimini) giving protection from the sun and ocean spray - and there are solar panels on top (another important "green" element). The boat has two engines for times when you can't sail, or while maneuvering in a harbor. And, it has a generator for charging the battery systems when solar power can't keep up. See specifications including floor plans.

The boat we've just purchased was used by the builder at the Cape Town Boat Show last fall, and then at the Miami Boat Show in February (where I first saw it). Then, it was taken to the St. Francis Resort in the Bahamas where their sales representative lives (which is why we went to the Bahamas back in June). Here is a Google Earth file which shows where the boat was built, and the approximate route it took to get to the Bahamas along with the two boat shows. The boat had nearly 8000 nautical miles on it when we picked it up as a "new" boat. But, that's often the case when a US citizen buys a South African boat. These boats are designed for long-distance travel. Here are some pictures of a St. Francis 50 from their web site (no, it doesn't come with the cheerleaders). And, here are some pictures of it under sail.

The next part of this series will talk about going to pick up the boat and delivering it from the Bahamas to North Carolina where it will be kept part of the time while we are preparing the boat for the trip. Included will be GPS tracks, how Google Earth was used, pictures, and some other details about what happened during the trip.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 07:10 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

August 22, 2008

iPhone Earth App Available Now

[UPDATE 27 October 2008: If you're looking for the official Google Earth for the iPhone app story - which was released 26th of October, read this post. The post below was another iPhone app that looked like Google Earth, but was published by Earthscape in August.]


Last May I published a video demonstration of a cool iPhone application I saw at Where 2.0 which looked like Google Earth. The video demo was such a huge hit, Earthscape - the company who made it - quickly made it into a product you can now buy at the Apple store (available for $10). I purchased the app a couple of days ago and have just now had time to make a new video demo:

A couple of things to note: Earthscape has a 3D terrain model for the Earth, and they have high resolution satellite or aerial photos for some areas - especially in the US. But, you won't find as much high res data as Google Earth. They have included a "Wikipedia" layer which includes placemarks to places from Wikipedia which when clicked on provide a summary of the related site. In the earlier demo I saw last May, they had the ability to use the iPhone accelerometer to tilt and rotate. But, the released app doesn't include that feature. Tom Churchill, CEO of Earthscape, told me they found the UI was confusing to some people. But, they hope to put the feature in an update to the app in the future. Given the limited utility at this time (no KML support yet, no search capability, and no accelerometer support), I'm not sure how many people will buy it for $10. But, it is a cool app to see on the iPhone. I hope it inspires Google to port a version of Google Earth to the iPhone (if they haven't already been working on it for months).

Here is Earthscape's video demo of the new application.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 10:15 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

August 21, 2008

Spinning the Globe

Ok, I've been hinting on this blog in various posts I've been up to something. And, things have not been slowing down enough for me to write. So, let me at least explain in general terms what I've been up to and how Google Earth will be involved.

Sailing CatamaranA few years ago, my wife Karen and I bought a sailboat and took our kids sailing around the Caribbean (see Google Earth visualization of that trip). My wife and I thought cruising and exploring by sailboat was such a great idea, we planned to do it again when our kids moved out for college. In fact, we decided we would sell our house, buy a new boat, and live and sail around the world for five years. Guess what? Our kids (who are twins) are starting college right now. And we just bought a new sailboat! I had to sail it from the Bahamas last week, that's why I had Mickey writing blog posts, the boat doesn't have satellite communications - yet.

Using Google Earth these past three years has only intensified our plans for the trip. First, to help us explore places we want to go. Of course, we want people to be able to see the places we go and will post Google Earth maps of our route and destinations. Since for three years I've been writing about the multitudes of different ways Google Earth can be used, plans have been made for some really cool Google Earth content coming from our circumnavigation. Real-time tracking, using Google Earth for nautical charts, geotagging photos, GPS tracks when we go ashore, aerial photography, and more (see a test run here). In the coming weeks, I will be sharing more about what is planned in those areas.

For five years, we will be geo-blogging our trip and leveraging Google Earth and many other tools to share our experiences. In addition to Google Earth Blog, there will be a new blog dedicated to the trip. The plan is to continue Google Earth Blog - although, I will get some help to keep the daily flow going. We won't be departing until sometime next year (originally it was going to be November 2009, but we may move that up a bit). We're very excited about this trip, and I'm also excited to share with you the plans I've been cooking up to leverage Google Earth to make following our trip an experience in itself!

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:45 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack

Google.org Visualizes US Geothermal Data in Google Earth

Enhanced Geothermal Energy Systems in Google EarthGoogle's environmentally focused non-profit has produced an excellent Google Earth visualization which shows information on geothermal energy available in the US. It's part of a web site Google has produced on Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) which is being touted as a possible answer to long-term electrical energy needs on a vast scale - a Googol even. The resulting KML file is really excellent. It lets you view geothermal energies at several depth levels, choose 3D or flat presentation mode, and uses time animation to view the different depths. Placemarks link to more information as well.

In addition to Google Earth, the KML file they produced uses tools from other Google products like SketchUp, and the Google Chart API. And they have produced a video which uses Google Earth to present their case. Both the KML and the video are definitely worth viewing!

Posted by FrankTaylor at 07:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 20, 2008

Upcoming: KML Handbook

KML HandbookOne of Google's documentation engineers, Josie Wernecke, has written a book which will be released this fall. It's called "The KML Handbook: Geographic Visualization for the Web". Notice the "for the Web" part - the book is not just focused on its applications for Google Earth - or even the new web-based Earth API plugin. It will be a guide to developers using KML for any applications of KML. The book will be published by Adison Wesley, and should be available in November. Here is O'Reilley's Rough Cut on the book.

Josie has been a writer of technical publications for graphics applications for a long time. I remember years ago when she wrote the book "The Inventor Mentor" which was a guide to using application tools for OpenGL while she was at Silicon Graphics.

via Let's push things forward.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 05:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 19, 2008

EarthGamz Using Google Earth Plugin

EarthGamz Olympics in Google EarthEarthGamz is a new site which is focused on connecting "...people to their passion of sports through the power of place". Naturally they started by producing a way to view sports information related to the Beijing Olympics. They have created an Earth plugin so you can view their Olympics information. They have placemark details on athletes showing their home town, the hundreds (probably thousands) of placemarks are organized by country or by sport. With the plugin there are simple buttons and drop-down menus to make the selections. Also, they have marked the venues in China visible in 3D through Google Earth's 3D Buildings layer. There is also a KML file , but this file only shows US athletes - the plugin has more complete data for lots (if not all) the participating countries.

EarthGamz also has a Facebook application for the Olympics and their site describes plans to involve social networking with their sports viewing applications. They say they will have a new "Top 100 Golf Courses in 3D" application released on August 19th. I like the idea of leveraging Google Earth's technology to create sports-focused geospatial information and tying it to social networking. Their first release for the Olympics is pretty slick!

Posted by FrankTaylor at 09:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 18, 2008

August Geographic Web Layer Update

New Geographic Web Layer in Google EarthI'm back from a four day trip with practically no Internet access (more details about the trip coming). I have some catching up to do.

On August 7, I mentioned the discovery of the new Geographic Web layer updates for Google Earth. I think the Geographic Web layer has some fantastic data (millions of geotagged photos, Wikipedia articles all over the planet, and more), and the new update enhances that data in quality and quantity in many ways. However, I made some comments on the change in design involving redundancy, and the new colors, shapes, and sizes. Rich Treves also comments on his Google Earth Design blog about the new changes. And he largely agrees with my thoughts, and even suggests some other design alternatives that would have kept the look more consistent to what people have grown used to with the previous design of the icons.

Google finally announced the update on August 12th and explains some of their reasoning. One thing I didn't realize is that the new Places sub-layer also includes data from the Google Earth Community as well. Not only that, but the Wikipedia layer also checks your local computer language and will show you Wikipedia entries in your language if you are one of the supported 18 languages. I like the idea of trying to integrate the different sources of information. However, if you turn on too many layers in Google Earth at the same time you can get lots of semi-duplicated information. That could be ok. But, I really hope Google puts a lot of attention into the UI for the layers into their next update of Google Earth. There's great information in the layers, but I think it can be so confusing that many people don't realize the wealth of information available. And, Google is often modifying the existing layers organizationally and from a design perspective - including the most popular ones - and this causes confusion.

One last thing, I don't think I mentioned yet - but, noticed last week - that Google added a Summer Games 2008 layer (which is really just a placemark to get you to turn on the layer) under the Places layer folder.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 10:10 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

August 15, 2008

The Conflict Between Russia and Georgia

Conflict in GeorgiaThe recent conflict between Russia and Georgia has been a huge news story lately, overshadowed by only the Olympics. Taking place in a foreign, unfamiliar area, many people have been turning to online mapping sources to help better understand the situation.

SearchEngineWorld did a comparison of the quality of data in Georgia across the three major online maps (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo). They picked Microsoft as the clear winner, and Google as the clear loser due to a lack of data in the area.

Google has explained the lack of data on their LatLong blog. In a nutshell, they haven't been able to find data that is good enough in the region, so they simply haven't posted much of anything. They insist that no data has been removed for political reasons -- it's just never been there. Both Google and SearchEngineWorld agree that basic data beats no data at all, and Google is preparing to launch some new data in Georgia, as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan and "other significant regions of the world".

If you're looking for some extended data for the region, there are some good choices. Catholicgauze has posted some excellent files in the Keyhole BBS. Other useful resources include a map of the latest Georgia-related YouTube videos, a nice Google Map-based overview from Maplandia, and a large collection of information in this file on Google Earth Hacks.

If you know of other great sources for map data related to the conflict, please share them with the rest of us by posting in the comments below.

Mickey

Posted by mickmel at 07:47 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 14, 2008

Could StreetView imagery be used to enhance Google Maps accuracy?

Google Blogoscoped has raised an interesting idea: could Google use OCR on their StreetView imagery to improve the accuracy and/or functionality of Google Maps? There are a number of intriguing possibilities:

  • Simply make the maps more accurate. If you can read an address off of a building, or the name of a business, you'd know exactly where to place the pin in Google Maps.
  • Make text searchable. Even if a new location wasn't in Google Maps yet, you could still help people find it if they searched for the right keywords.
  • Overlay translations. If you are browsing a location that isn't in your native language, Google could overlay translations of the words found in the photos.
  • If Google could update the imagery more often, you could find sales, job openings and other tidbits like that. I can't imagine they could update it that quickly, but you never know what might happen a few years down the road.

Other suggestions from the Blogoscoped forums include inserting ads (maybe even overwriting billboards), or using face-detection to try to identify criminals. I think Google would face some serious opposition to the second idea (and maybe the first), but it's interesting to see the ideas that people come up with.

The tricky part to this is obviously the OCR. You've got relatively low-quality photos (at least that's what they show us), taken with a wide variety of light, at different angles, different fonts, etc. It wouldn't be easy. However, applications like Evernote with its amazing OCR can give us some hope. Google certainly has the technology and the horsepower to get this done, but I wonder if they'll try it or not?

What other cool things could Google do with this if they decided to implement it?

Mickey

Posted by mickmel at 09:24 PM | Comments (6)

August 13, 2008

Google Announces the Mexican winners of their "Model Your Campus" contest

ITESM Campus in 3DAlong with the standard "Model Your Campus" contest that Google held, they concurrently held a contest for students at ITSEM (The Technology Institute of Monterrey), with the intention giving an award to the best model created by a student from that school.

After 111 submissions from 22 ITESM campuses, David Gómez-Urquiza Madero and Ricardo Pfeiffer Hurtado from the Santa Fe Campus were named the winners.

You can still view all of the campus models in the Google 3D Warehouse, and you can find David and Ricardo's winning entries here.

This was their second year with this contest (see the 2007 winners), and Google has said that it will continue next year. In addition, the school plans to attempt to model all 33 ITESM campuses. Bring on the 3D!

Mickey

Posted by mickmel at 07:17 PM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2008

Yahoo's "Fire Eagle" Comes Out of Beta

Fire EagleYahoo has just launched their entry into the growing world of "track your location" sites with the release of Fire Eagle.

The basic idea behind Fire Eagle is to become the link between your location and the services that you want to give your location to. You can feed your location to Fire Eagle from your GPS unit, cell phone, laptop, etc, then their applications can use it for whatever task you give them permission for.

Even though it has just launched, there are a large number of sites already using it, many of which tie into Google Maps. Google Maps Mania summarizes six of them, and others include major players such as Dash and Brightkite. There's even a plug-in available for Movable Type, which powers this blog. Wouldn't it be neat to see where Frank is right now?

I think the key to an application like this will be the mobile offerings they unveil. For example, the iPhone already has a slew of location-aware apps, none of which (as far as I know) feed data directly back into Fire Eagle. A free Fire Eagle app on the iPhone would provide a quick way for a few million more users to update their location.

All in all, it seems like a solid entry for Yahoo. The reviews around the web (TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, etc) have been quite positive. If you are a heavy user of location-aware services, I can see this being a great tool. If you're not, though, will it be enough to get you going?

Mickey

Posted by mickmel at 07:18 PM | Comments (2)

More Travel Days

As mentioned in previous posts (for those who are regular Google Earth Blog readers), I've been really busy for the last few weeks. I have another big trip out to the Bahamas, and will be out of touch for a few days. When I get back, I plan to do some posts explaining what I've been up to. There will be lots of GPS tracks, geo-tagged photos, and a cool story to tell. With much more to come. It's a project I've been working on for several years which I plan to announce publicly on this blog first. (Those of you who know me, already have an idea what this is about).

Anyway, for the next few days, you'll see some posts by a guest blogger: Mickey Mellen. He also writes DigitalEarthBlog, and is the developer behind EarthSwoop and Google Earth Hacks. I think he's qualified to give you a few days worth of posts for the GEB.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

3D Driving Directions and Driving Simulator

One of the Google Geo API team developers, named Roman Nurik, took one of the really cool Google Earth plugin demo applications (the Milktruck game) and created a really useful application. He combined Google's map driving directions with the Earth API plugin to create a 3D driving directions tool which also lets you simulate driving along the roads with a 3D car. If you have Windows (not yet running on Mac OS X, or Linux - but, Google promises they are working on that), then you should check out his 3D Driving Directions here (requires the GE plugin for your browser - IE, Firefox, or other Mozilla browsers supported). You can also read his post at the Google Geo Developer Blog where he explains how he developed the application. Well worth a read if you're an aspiring Geo developer. Amazing!

3D Driving Directions with Earth API

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 11, 2008

Watch Arctic Ice Melting in Google Earth

Last year, the arctic sea ice melted further than ever recorded by scientists. The northwest passage across northern America was ice free and boats could easily cross last summer. Polar bears and other arctic animals experienced an awful environmental change that threatened their survival. A Google Earth animation showing the sea ice concentration was prepared by the National Snow and Ice Data Center last year. The animation provided a dramatic look at just how far the ice melted and how thin the ice became. The same organization has created a new series of Google Earth animations which show the Arctic ice conditions for this summer. Already, there are signs the ice is melting very rapidly - and melting will most likely continue for another 30 days or more as the summer temperatures continue. The scientists are updating the animations automatically each day. If your computer has low memory, you may want to start with the 30-day animation. But, there are also 60-day and 90-day animations available (see instructions below). Besides demonstrating the fantastic ability Google Earth has of showing real-time information, this visualization is the most powerful way I've seen of showing climatic change in the Arctic. I've create this video showing what the animation looks like in Google Earth (this animation ends with August 9, 2008):

Once you choose one of the files above, and it loads in Google Earth, put your mouse in the upper center to make the time animation slider appear. Then click the "play" button (triangular arrow like you see on a TV remote) to begin the animation. To speed up the animation, click on the "clock" icon on the left of the slider and adjust the "Animation speed" slider. Each frame of the animation has to load once before you can play the animation quickly. It may take a few moments to load all the frames (especially if you pick the 90-day animation). You can visit other test GE files by the Snow and Ice center at this site.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 07:56 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

August 09, 2008

DigitalGlobe, AEgis, NBC Make 3D Olympics

DigitalGlobe, AEgis, NBC Olympics in Google EarthDigitalGlobe, AEgis Technologies and NBC have combined forces and created a series of 3D models of the venues of the Beijing Olympics. This is a separate effort from the 3D models released recently by Google. They have created a special website to highlight this new 3D Beijing content which includes the ability to download some of the models in either Adobe 3D PDF, or KMZ files (currently only 1) suitable for viewing in Google Earth (NOTE: many of the buildings are already modeled in Google's content, so turn off the 3D Buildings layer to make sure you're looking at these versions).

Brady Forest at O'Reilly Radar posts details on the technology used to create these models. It's a combination of satellite photos, elevation data, ground-based photography, and 3D building extraction from photos (photogrammetry). Microsoft uses a similar approach for their 3D buildings data for Virtual Earth, except they are using even higher resolution photos from aerial photography (also used for their Bird's Eye imagery). My first thought is that this new DG/AEgis technology might be the technique used in Google's new 3D buildings which started appearing with Google Earth 4.3 (see thoughts about this). However, if you look closely at the textures of the new buildings - it's clear Google's new buildings were done with aerial photography, not satellite (looking at reflections of buildings). One thing is clear, the ability to generate 3D buildings using more automated techniques - and making them available to the public - is definitely becoming more commonplace. It won't be long before we all expect to see 3D cities rendered in our 3D maps.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 07:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 08, 2008

Google Launches 3D 2008 Olympic Games

Today Google has launched 3D versions of the main venues of the Beijing Olympics which you can view in Google Earth, or with their Earth API plugin. There are now over 35 new detailed 3D models of the stadiums and game fields already visible in the new satellite photos (taken less than a month ago). Check out Earthswoop to get a look at the 3D Beijing views (more of the stadiums will be added to EarthSwoop soon). Or visit Google Earth itself to get complete control and see descriptions of each venue. And Google has released a live Google Map mashup for tracking the games called 2008 Summer Games.

If you just want a taste of what it looks like, here is a video fly-through of the 3D Beijing Google has released:

[UPDATE 9-AUG: Google has offered a new layer which you find under the Geographic Web->Places->Summer Games 2008. It results in a bright red Olympics icon over Beijing which when you click on lets you load a new "Explore the Sumer Games" layer. This results in a network link which shows you Today's Events, Calendar, Events, and Venues. For each item, you are flown to the location of the event. Most of the venues are in 3D. There's a lot more 3D models than I realized in the collection!]

Posted by FrankTaylor at 01:45 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

August 07, 2008

New Layers and Photos for Google Earth

New icons/layers in Google EarthGoogle updated some layers last night for both Google Earth and Google Maps. The primary change found so far is in the Geographic Web layer folder in Google Earth. When Google announces the official list of changes, I will provide an update.

  • Panoramio - The Panoramio photo layer no longer has the blue circle icons which change to camera icons. Instead, there is a small square "photo" icon. The new smaller icon is less obtrusive when you zoom in close and therefore looks less cluttered in popular areas where there are lots of photos. Also, now the old camera icons are less likely to be confused with the StreetView icons. Not only have the icons changed, but also Google has added an additional 700,000 photos from the growing repository of uploaded photos at Panoramio (see blog post).

  • Wikipedia - The Wikipedia layer icon has been changed to the same icon used for Wikipedia in Google Maps (a white square with a "W" in it). And these icons are much smaller as well. Possibly too small. But, I'm glad they are being consistent between the two applications. I'm guessing an update to the database reflecting changes and additions at Wikipedia has also occurred as usual.

  • Places - There's a new Places sub-layer which is a new combination layer. It contains information on places combining a brief text overview and link to Wikipedia, and photos from Panoramio. This makes for an attractive and concise placemark description. But, there are some things I don't like about this new layer. First, because it uses a larger gray square icon which looks very similar to the new Panoramio layer. I wish that it was at least a different color to better distinguish it from the other icon. And, second, it seems somewhat redundant in some situations. You get combinations of Places, Panoramio, and Wikipedia icons all for the same place.

  • Too small! - I think the new icons are too small at some zoom levels. That, combined with the similarity of the new icons, makes it hard to both see the icons and distinguish the different types. In the screenshot thumbnail, you can barely see there are lots of icons. If you click on the thumbnail and see the full resolution screenshot, you can still have trouble seeing them. At least on my high resolution screen. Or maybe its just my aging eyes? I do think they should use larger icons when zoomed further out and convert to the smaller icons when clutter and image obscurity is more of an issue. They are already handling the clutter by presenting fewer icons at higher zoom levels.

  • China Road Maps - For the first time that I'm aware, Google has added street road maps for China. You can find them in Shanghai and Beijing in Google Maps (not in Google Earth yet). I'm sure Beijing was a priority in anticipation of the Olympics. Although, in China I think you're required to use China approved maps only, and Google has a different road map when used in that country.


    View Larger Map

Thanks to GEB readers Chris D. for the tip on the new GE layers, and Frederic for the tip on the China maps.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 03:21 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

August 06, 2008

Links: Joshua Slocum, Chemical Brothers, Other Links

I'm in London this week visiting with moderators of the Google Earth Community (GEC), and other bloggers like Keir Clarke of GoogleMapsMania, and Stefan Geens of OgleEarth. On Sunday I got to see parts of the Red Bull air race on the Thames. Met up with Keir and Barry Hunter of Nearby. Yesterday we got to visit the Google London offices (only they didn't let us bloggers wander around very much for some reason). I've been visiting many places in London I'd previously only visited through GE. Expect a post about the visit sometime after I get back. In the meantime, here are a few items of note:

  • Joshua Slocum - The classic 19th century book "Sailing Alone Around the World" is a favorite of sailors (or wannabes). Someone named 'osprey_lightning' at the GEC has finally posted a KML file showing the route of Spray (the name of the boat) as Joshua made the first solo circumnavigation. This is going to be one of my new favorite GE files. [UPDATE Here is a video describing the KML file by its author. Thanks to 'danescombe' for the tip.

  • Chemical Brothers - The music group has made the news with a "global video project" centered around the theme of their new singled "Midnight Madness". They are having a contest to see who can make the most interesting video somehow using Google Earth. I'm wondering if Google is somehow involved, or if they are just attempting to ride the coattails of Google Earth popularity? I think its a cool idea - especially if you're trying to get the attention of the tech world.

  • Other links - Stefan at OgleEarth does a great job of rounding up a bunch of news I've not had time to write about myself. Definitely some noteworthy items there.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 03:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 05, 2008

Marriage Proposal in Street View!

Google decided to take some new Street View images at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. This time they must have let the employees know, as there are many Googlers lining the street. They must have given advance warning, because some people came prepared.

One Googler named Michael Weiss-Malik, a member of the Google Geo team that dos Google Maps/Earth, actually decided to make a wedding proposal in Street View. He put up a sign which you can see here:


View Larger Map

He also has a web site called MarryMeLeslie.com which describes why he did it, and why it's called "2.0". If you turn your view to the left or right, you can see the line of Googlers down the street. Move your view down the street to get a look at all the interesting things they decided to show. You can also view these with the Street View layer inside Google Earth for a more immersive experience.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 07:01 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

August 04, 2008

New Street Views in Australia and Japan in Google Earth and Maps

Sydney in Street View in Google EarthGoogle has pushed out new Street View imagery for more new countries. Last month they introduced Street Views in France - specifically for the routes of the Tour de France. Now they've added extensive imagery for Australia and some areas of Japan! As with the July update, the new Street View imagery is available in either Google Maps or Google Earth. With Google Earth, just turn on the Street View layer and zoom into either Australia or Japan. As you get closer, you'll see more and more gold colored camera placemarks. Click on a placemark to see the Street View image for that location. Click on the image to be flown inside the image - Google Earth lets you experience the Street Views as if you are inside a spherical photo using the PhotoViewer feature. You can also check out the new Street Views with Google Maps for Australia and Japan.

via DigitalEarthBlog. From a hotel in London.

UPDATE: Here's the official Google announcement on the new Street Views. The update also includes 30 new cities in the US including New Orleans, El Paso, Savannah, Colorado Springs, and more.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 05:12 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Google Earth Blog Copyright © 2005-2008 Frank Taylor. All Rights Reserved.