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April 30, 2009

PhotoSketch for SketchUp - 3D Buildings from Photos

It appears a very cool plugin for SketchUp for creating 3D buildings is about to be released. Someone yesterday spotted some YouTube videos showing tutorials of the new product. PhotoSketch is being released by BrainStorm LLC and looks like it could put a lot of power in the hands of model makers. The product enables you to create 3D buildings from photographs. You will need a few photos from different angles of the buildings. The software will then extract 3D data, and then let you apply the photos to the surface of the models as textures.

See one of the tutorials here to get an idea of how it works:

Similar custom technology has been used by the likes of Google and Microsoft to generate 3D models in an automated fashion using custom software and algorithms. This new tool will make it possible to generate similar models with a relatively small amount of manual effort. So far a price for PhotoSketchUp hasn't been released. But, you most likely will also have to have SketchUp Pro (which costs $495) - unless the plugin works with the free version of SketchUp.

This story via DigitalUrban

Posted by FrankTaylor at 9:45 AM | Comments (2)

April 29, 2009

More Discoveries with Google Earth

Google Earth continues to play a role in helping scientists, historians, and armchair researchers make discoveries about the past. Here are two recent stories to come across my scans (note: neither of these directly involve GE being used to make the discovery, but in each case both the story is interesting and GE plays a role).

• Early African Mammal Fossils - Paleontologists from the University of Michigan report on the discovery of 20-40 million year-old mammal fossils in a rock quarry in Egypt. The story is a bit intriguing due to how it came about - first through a whale skeleton discovered in a block of limestone. Then, more significantly for this post, paleontologist Philip Gingerich used Google Earth to discover which rock quarry the fossil came from. Finally, the paleontologists confirmed they had found the right site in person and discovered a cache of ancient fossils. Read more details in the news release.

• Nelson's Trees - This story came through my news scanner because most stories are reporting Google Earth's involvement, however it appears Google Maps/Earth are only playing a role in making more people aware of the locatin. According to the DailyMail, the UK's National Trust is trying to draw more attention to this historical site by sharing the location in Google Earth/Maps. It's an interesting story. Just a mile east of Stonehenge lies a living memorial to Nelson's Battle of the Nile. A Baron planted a bunch of trees representing the ships during the battle to commemorate it. Each tree apparently represents a ship in the battle. It would be really interesting to see a map overlay from the battle to see how closely the plantings match the map. You can see Nelson's Trees in Google Earth here .

Here are just a few other stories where Google Earth played even greater roles in discoveries:

• Armchair Archeology - Discoveries of ancient ruins in France made with Google Earth.
• Ancient Roman Ruin - This discovery was also made by a non-scientist with Google Earth.
• Australian Meteor Crater - discovered with Google Earth
• 1000 year-old fish trap - this was recently reported

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:33 AM | Comments (0)

April 28, 2009

Two Collections: US Coast Guard and Right Whales

Two interesting marine related Google Earth collections came to my attention:

• US Coast Guard - First, in honor of Earth Day last week, the US Coast Guard worked with Google Earth Outreach to release an excellent collection of Google Earth content which shows how active the US Coast Guard is around the world - especially with helping with the environment. You will find placemarks showing recent environmental safety missions (usually helping control oil spills on sinking ships), and you can even follow a research mission into the Arctic Ice. I really enjoyed viewing the layer you can download here .

• Right Whales - Yesterday Google posted about a new KML collection showing reported Right Whale sightings . Right Whales are an endangered species which are being closely monitored along the east coast of the North America. The US Coast Guard asks that you report any sightings over radio while at sea. You may recall I actually spotted, reported and photographed my own sighting of these amazing creatures back in February (while sailing to Miami). Unfortunately, the NOAA KML file released does not show reports of whale sightings in the Georgia/Florida area (a prime breeding ground of the Right Whales in the winter). I spoke to Kurt Schwehr of the University of New Hampshire who worked with NOAA to produce the file. NOAA has a sighting advisory system - so I reported my sighting there. Maybe it will show up in the KML file later.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:15 AM | Comments (0)

H1N1 Swine Flu in Google Earth

There have been many maps being shared showing locations of suspected and confirmed cases of Swine Flu in the last couple of days. See GoogleMapsMania for a string of posts on different maps using Google Maps. Of the maps I've seen so far, the one by Google Maps user Niman (who has a profile that says 'Biomedical Research, Pittsburgh, PA USA) seems to do the best job. View it in Google Maps here, or even better - view it in Google Earth (where you can see all the points at once and it automatically updates via the network link). Purple means confirmed cases, pink suspected, and yellow are negative cases (not swine flu).

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:45 AM | Comments (5)

April 27, 2009

Plane Wreck Mystery Solved with Google Earth

There are so many great ways Google Earth can be used to help people. TechCrunch posted a story this weekend of a family who finally discovered a plane crash site which had been a mystery for over two years (the family had lost loved ones in the crash). A very interesting part of the story is that someone, who had been searching for Steve Fossett's crash with Google Earth, actually provided the key piece of information. It turned out there was a forest fire, on the same day, and in the approximate area of this crash (not Fosset's) . This person realized it was the same date and contacted the family. After checking the facts, and using Google Earth to plan a scouting mission, the family went there and found the plane wreck. The family has now put together a web page describing how they used Google Earth to help.

This is just a really brief summary of the story. I highly recommend reading TechCrunch's excellent write-up.

During the hunt for Steve Fossett's crash site, tens of thousands of people checked imagery in Google Earth/Maps that had been released after the crash site. But, there was not enough detail in the imagery to see the wreckage. It wasn't until a hiker discovered some personal items identified to be Steve Fossett's that a closer search found the wreckage. Google Earth did play a small role in discovering the location of Fossett's crash site based on a ground-level photo - before they released the location to the public. But, now, the same hunt resulted in solving this other mystery allowing the family to get some closure.

Just a few related stories of Google Earth coming to the rescue:

• Hurricane Katrina - Google Earth helped rescuers and residents with emergency efforts and damage assessments.
• Pakistan Earthquake - Again GE helps in rescue and damage assessment efforts
• Sichuan Earthquake - GE helps visualize earthquake location
• California Fires - on multiple occasions Google Maps and GE have been used to help with fires in California. These maps and satellite photos have helped rescue workers, residents, and even people just trying to avoid the areas.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:55 AM | Comments (1)

April 26, 2009

Swiss Fighter Video Synched - GE 5 Style

The Swiss Fighter video synchronization I did back in 2007 has served as a test bed for various GE technology innovations. This time, an idea Keir Clarke came up with last week inspired me to update the concept yet again. He threw together some javascript to load a YouTube player next to the GE plugin and play a GE 5 Tour in synch with the video.

The concept I wanted to re-create is the flight of a Swiss Fighter Jet, shown in a popular video found in YouTube, which shows some amazing flights through the Swiss Alps. The re-creation was done by flying with the Google Earth flight simulator (after finding the same mountains and airport). Only this time, instead of capturing the scene with video, I've used Google Earth 5's Record Tour mode to capture the sequences. I then had to splice together the recorded tours of each segment and edit the timings a bit to get them to approximately synchronize with the original video.

Even though I had re-created the flights before, it took a few hours to pull all this together and make it work. To see the synched video and GE 5 Tour - click here and make sure you follow the instructions.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 9:24 AM | Comments (5)

April 24, 2009

Formula One Circuit Tour - Car Simulation

An interesting Google Earth KML file was created by Romyn Perret-Green and hosted on his site TheKMZ.co.uk. Apparently Romyn. who is an IT industry veteran, has recently become enamored with KML. He also appears to be a Formula One fan and has released a KML file which really helps you visualize the 2009 Formula One season. You can download his KML file here . He has tracks and turns data for many of this year's races around the world, and background data on the various teams. But, what I found really interesting is the visualization tool he's created to show some of the tracks. Romyn created GE 5 Tours for some of the tracks that put you in the driver's seat of a formula one race car and drives you around the track. Just look under one of the tracks for "Circuit Tours" and select it and open the folder. Then double-click on a "In Car" tour to start the tour. Here's a YouTube of a direct screen capture from Google Earth of one of the tours (there is no audio - I'd like to see him add that!):

Some nice touches with the speedometer on the wheel showing approximate speeds around the course, and the wheel movement mimicking the turns. Nice work Romyn!

Posted by FrankTaylor at 9:55 AM | Comments (2)

April 23, 2009

Largest Proposed Urban Solar Power Plant in the US

Yesterday, on Earth Day, Exelon and SunPower Corp. announced an agreement to build the US's largest urban solar power plant near Chicago, Illinois. The 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) facility is scheduled for completion by the end of this year. The $60 million project is contingent upon Exelon receiving a federal loan guarantee under the recently passed federal stimulus legislation.

Concept3D has created a 3D visualization of the solar power project viewable in Google Earth. They shared a YouTube video yesterday which starts with a brief tour of Chicago, and then flies to the east side of Chicago where the plant is proposed to be built. They show the current site, then add 3D models of the photovoltaic solar panels. Not only that, but they show how the panels will track the sun as it passes over each day. The visualization then illustrates how a large community of houses can be served by the energy created by the plant. See the video below:

I hope to get a link to the KML file of this visualization and add it here later.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:51 AM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2009

Use Google Earth on Earth Day

Today is Earth Day. A time to sit back and think about our wonderful planet, and some of us will be out picking up some trash, or just enjoying nature. For those of you stuck inside due to weather, work, or other reasons - perhaps you might want to spend the day exploring our wonderful planet through the power of Google Earth. Here are a few links of stories from Google Earth Blog (GEB) describing environmental related content available for viewing in Google Earth:

• About Google Earth Layers - Google has a ton of environmental content built into the Google Earth Layers. Read this article to learn about layers and how to use them.

• Environment Layers - Greenpeace, ARKive (endangered species), Unicef (water and sanitation), UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), and lots of environmental layers under the Ocean layer

• Rising Sea Levels - Animations showing what would happen if ice melting caused seas to rise too high - e.g. New York City.

• EPA Air Quality Report - US Environmental Protection Agency's air quality report for Google Earth - called AirNOW

• NASA Earth Day Photos - NASA released these photos in 2008 in honor of Earth Day.

• Sea Ice Melting - Dramatic animation of data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center showing ice extents from 1979 through March of 2008 on both poles. See other GE data from NSIDC.

• Google Earth Outreach Showcase - See environmental and science content for Google Earth.

• Glacier Melt Survey - dramatic illustration of how fast glaciers are melting around the World.

• Amazon Indians Using Google Earth - Primitive indians learn to use GPS and Google Earth to help protect their rainforest - true story!

• Upper Green Valley - Issues of gas drilling impacting the environment in one location

• Neighborhood Fights Logging With Google Earth - Neighbors in Santa Cruz, California successfully stop a logging plan by using Google Earth. Read the full story.

• Blue Marble Add-On - This file lets you view a prettier image of the Earth from NASA for Google Earth. It shows the view of the Earth from space, with or without clouds, based on the current month. The clouds are closer to real time - updated every 15 minutes. The picture of the Earth and clouds disappear automatically as you get closer so you can see GE's built in satellite imagery without interference.

[UPDATE Here is Google's post on Earth Day with a new featured gallery of environmental and science GE content. ]

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:07 AM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2009

Links: Ocean Now, Michigan Earth Day, Goldman Prize, Convention Center, Queen Mary

Sometimes its not possible for me to do full write-ups on every piece of news. So, here's a round-up of Google Earth-related news, tips, applications, or content.

• Ocean Now - Google added a layer to the Ocean -> Ocean Expedition layer folder of Google Earth for National Geographic. It's called Ocean Now and follows an expedition to the southern line islands in the Pacific. They are using Google Earth as a way to view their blog posts and show their position on the map. They've been sending explorer Michael Fay ashore to each island they visit and divers to check the status of reefs and the document the sea life. You can follow them at the Ocean Now web site which includes photos and videos of the amazing islands, reefs, sharks, and more.

• Michigan Earth Day - The University of Michigan is hosting an Earth Day event on science applications of Google Earth. Via LatLong.

• Goldman Environmental Prize - Google has helped produce a multimedia GE 5 Tour which highlights the works of the winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize. One winner from each continent receives $150,000 each. The GE Tour is an excellent way to illustrate the location of the winners and the places they are working to help address environmental concerns. Check it out here directly in GE , or go to the Goldman Prize site to watch it in the GE plugin.

• Convention Center - Concept3D, an professional 3D modeling business, writes about a project they've completed to visualize and market a convention center. They use Google Earth plugin to show the 3D content as seen in this video. The visualization includes interior views of exhibit floors, and symbols which show where WIFI is available in conference rooms.

• Layer Tips - Google has posted some tips to address some FAQs for problems people have with layers. I'm glad they are doing this because these same problems are asked by GEB readers quite frequently. Especially the NASA Earth Lights one - (I think they should remove that layer or set it up to automatically turn off). What Google really needs to do is to re-design the layers user interface. There's a wealth of useful information in the layers, but many people are unaware. And, I've been hoping for years now they would at least add search to the layers, but they haven't even done that.

• Queen Mary - GEB reader Paul van Dither wrote to share an interesting visualization technique. He stacked the floor plans for the Queen Mary cruise ship in 3D so you can view it in Google Earth. It's a bit tricky to view each floor plan - unless you have a 3D mouse. See it here (5 Mbytes).

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:21 AM | Comments (1)

April 20, 2009

3D Tour of Tahina Expedition Catamaran

It is with great pleasure that I introduce the 3D model of the Tahina Expedition catamaran. A big part of the expedition is to enable people to visualize our trip in Google Earth, so naturally I wanted a 3D version of the vessel. Thankfully, Gerardo Paz (who also translates the GEB in Spanish) happens to be a professional 3D SketchUp modeler. He produced a few variations of Tahina at anchor and under sail. You see a taste of the models below, but to really see them follow this link to the Tahina Expedition where you will be presented with a GE 5 Plugin Tour of Tahina with some nice music.

The post with the Tour uses the Google Gadget that lets you embed a GE 5 Tour in the plugin. And, I hand-edited the Tour KML to add the song (see instructions here). I still have some rough edges to clean up for the Tour, but it needs to wait until I get home.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, check out the article about the new underwater ROV (remote operated vehicle) we just received last week!

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:15 AM | Comments (3)

April 17, 2009

Where 2.0 - 39% Earth Day Discount, GEB Holding Workshop

Although the deadline for early registration for Where 2.0 has gone by, O'Reilly is now offering a 39% discount for registration in honor of the upcoming Earth Day. I've attended the past three Where 2.0 conferences, and will be there again this year (in fact, I'm on the Program Committee). The conference is a great place to meet developers, bloggers, and users of the latest GeoWeb technologies. You can register now, just use the discount code of 'whr09erd' to get the 39% discount. The conference will be in San Jose, California on May 19-21.

And, if you're going to Where 2.0, you'll have a chance to meet the author of Google Earth Blog - Frank Taylor (that's me). I've been asked to hold a workshop titled "Extending Google Earth". The workshop will be an open discussion about ways to leverage the Google Earth platform for all kinds of applications - with a special emphasis on the new Google Earth plugin, and GE 5 Tours and other features. The workshop will focus on demonstrating capabilities, and what can and can't be done, while providing pointers to developer resources (as opposed to focusing on coding).

Posted by FrankTaylor at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)

Wilkins Ice Shelf Collapse in Google Earth

The news came out just a few days ago that the last remaining bridge of ice connecting two islands in Antarctica disintegrated and the Wilkins Ice Shelf is now just a pile of broken ice. Now, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has released a Google Earth time animation showing satellite photos of the break-up of the Wilkins Ice Shelf over the past few weeks, including the final bridge collapse. You can watch the time animation of the photos of the collapse here (600 Kbytes). After the file loads, just hit the play button in the time slider that appears in the upper left of Google Earth. This and other interesting Google Earth content is available at the NSIDC site.

via OgleEarth

Related: Arctic Ice Melting Animation

[UPDATE 22-April: Thanks to some suggestions I made, NSIDC reduced their file size on the above GE File from 17 MBytes to 600K - they liked my suggestions. :-) They had full-sized PNGs. I suggested smaller JPG files instead.]

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:35 AM | Comments (1)

April 16, 2009

USS New Jersey Battleship in 3D

The pace of growth in the technology of Google Earth has grown so fast this year, it is sometimes hard to take notice of the more "mundane" additions. It's been a while since I wrote about the addition of a 3D model in Google Earth. Thanks to a little tweet, I saw a new 3D model of the USS New Jersey Battleship which is located on the river in Camden, New Jersey - seen here with Philadelphia in the background. The model is viewable as part of the 3D Buildings layer (again, I think the layer needs to be re-named with all these non-building 3D objects). You can view it here .

The model was created by A R Baboon who has created many other models in the 3D Warehouse, six of which are in the Google Earth 3D Buildings layer.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 9:11 AM | Comments (2)

April 15, 2009

Synchronized YouTube with Google Earth Plugin

I'm going to give Keir Clarke at GoogleMapsMania the honorary title of "Google Earth plugin/Tour maniac"! Keir's latest creation is a little app that can play YouTube video's sideb-by-side with a Google Earth Tour so you can both watch a video and see its geospatial context, or view related 3D related content. This is a great idea! See his two examples: a mini-documentary of Frank Gehry with a GE tour of some of his buildings in 3D in GE, and a tour of the Vatican while viewing the 3D GE version.

My very first thought when I saw Keir's idea here was of a similar thing I did back in 2007. At the time, I wanted to create a synchronized playback of a YouTube video showing a Swiss fighter jet flying through the Alps, while I flew the exact same sequences in Google Earth. At the time, there was no flight simulator in Google Earth - just a crude mouse control. I did a fair job of screen capturing the video se quences and produced a video you could play along side the original. See the results here. I'm going to have to try doing the same thing with a GE 5 Tour and use the Flight sim and record it as a GE Tour this time, and try that with Keir's synchronized playback app!

Related:

• Frank Gehry 3D tour (before the Tour mode)
• Keir's tour gallery with GE Plugin
• Keir's Mars Tours with GE Plugin

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:01 AM | Comments (3)

April 14, 2009

Submarine Sim for Google Ocean

Speaking of submarines, when the new 3D Ocean was added to Google Earth 5 back in February, my first impression was that the experience of going through the ocean was like being in a submarine. A week ago, André, the author of WikiSailing, let me test his latest creation: a submarine simulator for the Google Earth plugin. You can now try out André's sub simulator at: www.Sea-Seek.com which is an on-line nautical guide which provides information and photos about coastal navigation and ports. Just scroll down and look on the lower right for "Virtual Dive". You can choose to be a submarine or a killer whale.

Hit the "Run/Pause" button to start. I suggest you click on the "Speed" option's "+" key to make the sub go faster. Then use the right and left arrow keys to turn. You can use the up and down arrow keys to control your depth.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 3:12 PM | Comments (1)

Great Lakes Under Water Features Added To Google Earth

Google not only added new imagery and new 3D terrain during the past few days, but also the Great Lakes underwater terrain to Google Earth 5. They announced the Great Lakes coverage at the LatLong blog today. The Great Lakes data was created by NOAA and they've created a narrated GE 5 Tour which you can watch right here:

Posted by FrankTaylor at 12:20 PM | Comments (2)

Tahina Expedition Announces Partnership with VideoRay

One of the objectives of my upcoming five-year around-the-world Tahina Expedition is to explore the undersea world and marine life. We will of course snorkel and scuba dive and use underwater cameras and video. But, scuba diving involves a lot of work, equipment, and careful safety precautions and is less practical to do every day with only two of us on board. Of course, the ultimate solution would be to have our own underwater submarine, but our boat isn't big enough to carry a multi-ton submarine.

A year ago I discovered a really cool company that makes a product that seemed perfect for our needs. This product is an underwater remote operated vehicle (ROV), but it's not a really big one like you may have seen on TV in the past. This one is classified as a "Micro-ROV" - and is only about the size of a small backpack. The ROV is loaded with gadgets including video cameras, motors for maneuvering, and a grappling device (or "hand") to pick things up. You use a control panel up on the surface with computer display, switches, and joystick controls, and you can even use an X-box wireless controller for driving the ROV. For a gadget loving geek, who also loves the water, you really can't find something much better than this - an underwater robot! After watching a couple of videos of this thing in action, I decided I HAD to have one for our trip! See video:

The company is called VideoRay (http://www.VideoRay.com) and their devices are used in a wide range of applications from marine research to crime scene investigations, from ship inspections to TV documentaries. The oil and gas industry use them to make inpsections in situations which would be hazardous to divers. They are even used for tourism to show people shipwrecks! Last fall I attended a VideoRay conference of users of the devices and was amazed at the innovative things people had added to their ROVs including stereoscopic cameras, sonar, 3D tracking, and more. And, there were all kinds of entrepreneurial applications of the ROVs as well.

So, last summer I made a presentation about the Tahina Expedition to VideoRay, and discussed several ways we could use their ROV to help generate underwater video content to share with the world. More importantly, we could add the content to our Google Earth layer so people can see geotagged videos of various underwater sights including coral reefs, sea life (fish, dolphins, whales, sharks and more), shipwrecks, and who knows what else? VideoRay was very supportive of the Tahina Expedition's goals, and we worked out a deal where the Tahina Expedition will be able to use one of their ROVs during our trip!

It is my great pleasure to welcome our newest partner for the Tahina Expedition: VideoRay. They are a great company with a really amazing product. If you have any need for an underwater video capability or un-manned underwater applications these are the guys to contact.

Even better news for the Tahina Expedition: a VideoRay ROV is being delivered to Tahina right now! Expect a post soon showing the delivery of our new ROV, which I plan to call Rover. :-)

Posted by FrankTaylor at 10:12 AM | Comments (1)

April 13, 2009

Weekend Google Earth Update Included New 3D Terrain

Google has revealed today that the update over the weekend not only included new imagery, but also new 3D terrain in Google Earth. The 3D terrain is one of the things which makes Google Earth so much more unique than regular mapping tools like Google Maps. I like the different slant in Google's post that includes some hints on locations with new terrain in this Google LatLong post. Tomorrow Google will probably reveal the full list of areas with new terrain. But, you can try to puzzle out their clues.

I'll post any answers people make by commenting to this post. I'll start by answering the first three of the eleven location clues. Here are the answers so far (UPDATED 15-April - all answers confirmed from LatLong):

1. Marina Del Rey, California - even the jetty shows up in the terrain!
2. Las Vegas, NV - check out the Hoover dam, looks like the 3D model needs to be adjusted to the new terrain
3. Coit Tower in San Francisco - the terrain definitely looks improved there.
4. San Sebastian, Spain - Thanks to GEB reader David. Says: "the terrain looks now very real!"
5. Pittsburgh, PA - Thanks to GEB reader Scott M.
6. Ottawa, Canada - Thanks to GEB reader Justin C.
7. Helsinki, Finland - Clue "Onnea" means "Good Luck" in Finish (thanks to Google Translate). Solved by Frank T.
8. Auckland's Mount Victoria - Thanks to GEB reader Craig
9. Cincinatti, OH
10. Girona, Spain
11. Lake Superior / Great Lakes - this was a reference to the new bathymetry

Related:

If you want to learn and see more of Google Earth 3D terrain, read this earlier post which includes a link to a 3D tour of some of GE's terrain.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:45 PM | Comments (9)

Visualizing GPS Tracks for Trips with GE Plugin

Last week I noticed an interesting application of the Google Earth plugin for playing back a GPS track with photos on a travel site called @trip (www.a-trip.com). @trip, like many GPS track travel sites, lets you upload your GPS track and photos. They also have software available for download to geotag your photos and organize your journey log for viewing on the site. I didn't download the software, but it appears to be free and is made by the same company called Mobile Application Technology based in Taiwan.

What I found interesting is that @trip actually developed a playback mechanism very similar to the new Tour mode for GE, but by using the GE API. You can see an example by visiting one of the trip pages at @trip, and clicking on the 3D option buttons on the right. This will load the GE Plugin application which uses a 3D car as your point of reference in the 3D scene for playback - which automatically points in the direction of your travels. They have their own set of controls for playback that includes speeding and slowing down the playback. You can adjust your view with the mouse and your camera stays pointed in the new position. It's well done, and accomplishes the task. I only found myself wondering if you could select different objects (instead of the car) for different modes of transportation (boat, person hiking, plane, etc.).

Shortly after Google released GE 5, popular GPS travel journal site EveryTrail released support for the GE Tour playback by generating a Tour KMZ file you can view in GE (the plugin didn't support Tours until earlier this month). Maybe EveryTrail will support the plugin now that they can playback these Tours.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:40 AM | Comments (1)

April 11, 2009

Easter Weekend Imagery Update for Google Earth

[UPDATE 15-April: Google has posted the full details (at the bottom half of the post) for the imagery and terrain update.]

Google has pushed out a new imagery update in Google Earth just in time for Easter! No details have been released, but after a few E-mails from GEB readers (thanks Andreas, Jan, and Doug!) I've confirmed several updates. Thankfully, Google did NOT update both GE and Google Maps at the same time like they did last time. This means we can compare GE to Google Maps to confirm whether the imagery is new.

Below is a list of what has been found. If you find other areas which are new (just check with Google Maps to verify whether imagery is new), then report it here in the comments. Here's the list so far (UPDATED 1730):

• United States - New broad coverage of high resolution for states which still had low resolution imagery: Arizona, Mississippi, Kentucky, Virginia, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, Maine, New York, and western Pennsylvania. (Thanks to Andreas for these) Also, New York City, NY.

• India - India has been re-colorized (like Australia had done in December). The imagery looks a lot less like patchwork when viewed from above.

• France - New area in central France near Chateauroux.

• Spain - San Sebastian and other areas along the north coast. Thanks Jan W.

• Sweden - About 1/3rd of the country now has high res and blended with new colors. Thanks Brian, Dunkleosteus.

• Morocco - Looks like lots of Morocco has medium res Spot Image imagery.

• Brazil - São Paulo. Thanks joaorcunha, Bill S.

• Scotland - A few strips of new high res. Thanks Chris.

• Antarctica - Many places have new high res. Thanks Xavier.

• South Korea - Entire country high res. Thanks Thilo.

• Austria - Several parts in central and eastern part of the country have new high res. Thanks Thilo.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 2:25 PM | Comments (48)

April 10, 2009

Simple Embedding of a Google Earth 5 Tour

Right after yesterday's post about how popular the Google Earth 5 Tours will be with the Google Earth plugin, I ran into a post showing a new Google Gadget that lets you easily embed a Tour in a browser with a simple code snippet. It uses Google Gadget to generate the necessary code, and provides a simple interface to give a URL for the Tour and for choosing options for the playback. Perfect for blogging and putting on a web page! As an example, here's the Jimmy Buffet Tour Google did for the GE 5 launch event (if you are using a feed reader, you'll need to visit the blog to see this) :

By the way, this is NOT a video! First hit the "Play" button to start. While it is playing, try clicking with the mouse and moving while the Tour is playing. Interactive 3D playback! You can also pause and go exploring GE and resume playback. I'm sure other developers will either modify or create tools for embedding Tours on your site as well. But, if you have a burning need to show off content and make it available on your blog/web site - you can start right now. I think my blog posts may get more dynamic in the future...

Posted by FrankTaylor at 9:52 AM | Comments (4)

April 9, 2009

Announcing TahinaExpedition.com

Those of you following this blog closely know that for months now my wife and I have been preparing for a five year trip around the world by sailboat. This life-long dream has turned into something even bigger ever since I started blogging about Google Earth. For almost four years now I have been flying around Google Earth visiting the places we hope to go on this trip. It has truly been an inspiration! Last year, I told Google about my plans, and Google agreed to partner with us, to share some of the unique content we're planning to acquire for Google Earth. You'll see GPS tracks, photos, gigapixel panoramas, HD video, underwater video, and even aerial photography coming from our trip all available in Google Earth.

We bought a sailing catamaran in August of 2008, which will be our home and main means of transportation around the world for the next five years. We named our boat "Tahina" which means "blessed" or "protected" in Malagasy (the language of Madagascar), and is also the name of a new species of coconut tree (which is why we named our dinghy "Coconut"). The boat will have some interesting gadgets including satellite communications, computers, electronic navigation, cutting edge camera equipment, and some underwater tools which will all be described as they are installed in the coming months.

Today, we are making public The Tahina Expedition web site and blog at TahinaExpedition.com. There are already 35 blog posts covering several trips and interesting preparations since we bought the boat last August, there's a photo gallery, and lots of background information about the expedition and the boat. Make sure to check out the site, and subscribe to our RSS feed. Join us on an exciting five year adventure! In addition to Google, we will be announcing a handful of other partners in the coming months as we prepare for our official departure at the end of hurricane season this fall - 2009. You can be sure the site will make increasing use of Google Earth, the GE plugin, Google Maps, and other online tools as we explore the world.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 3:55 PM | Comments (0)

Why Google Earth 5 Tours in a Plugin Rock

There were many new features added to Google Earth 5, but the "Tours" functionality is the one getting the most attention. Tours at their most fundamental level enable people to share dynamic Google Earth content, add music and narration, and give control to people viewing the content. Now that the Google Earth plugin supports Tours, you can now wrap up some good KML content with a Tour which shows the content in its best light, add some nice music and narration, and deliver it with a simple URL to a web page. It's like having an interactive 3D geospatial movie without having to download an entire movie. File sizes are smaller than a movie, yet more rich and interactive. At any time, you can change the view, or stop the Tour and explore Google Earth like normal. And you can have a bunch of Tours and controls added on a web page to provide new types of functionality.

Several Tours have been highlighted here at the GEB during recent weeks, and Keir Clarke at GoogleMapsMania has become quite enamored with Tours as well (even though its not a Google Maps application!). Google has just released a tour gallery of some of the better Tours all on the same web page interface.

Google Earth 5 and the new GE 5 plugin are still new, and developers are just starting to learn the ropes about how to create tours. The user interface for Tours still needs some tweaking (e.g. a "loading" progress bar while loading narration files, the touring control bar doesn't disappear when you delete a tour, recording mode isn't obvious). Also, I've had some problems on my machine where the GE plugin hangs up on some tours. But, the plugin and Tours functionality is all new - I'm sure these problems will be addressed. Although anyone can use the "Record Tours" function to create a basic tour, there are even more powerful capabilities possible if you can do a little programming and KML development. I'm really looking forward to seeing some amazing Tours in the coming months! I've just added a new Tours category to GEB so you can easily find all the related stories and new Tour content in one place.

Related news: Check out the new GEB Tours category.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:50 AM | Comments (0)

April 8, 2009

L'Aquila, Italy Earthquake in Google Earth

On Monday morning a earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck central Italy and was centered near the medieval town of L'Aquila. Many ancient buildings were destroyed, as well as modern ones, and over 250 people have been reported dead so far. The big earthquake on Monday has been followed by several only slightly smaller ones. Use the USGS Google Earth real-time earthquake monitoring tool to check the status of earthquakes world-wide. It is what I use any time I hear about an earthquake in the news.

Last night Google released post-earthquake satellite imagery (taken April 6th) of the region which emergency responders might be able to use to help in recovery efforts. You can view the high resolution imagery by loading this KML in Google Earth. Here is a KML file showing several of the sights of destruction as reported by the UK Telegraph. It's hard to see the signs of destruction seen in the ground-based photos when viewed in the post-earthquake satellite photo.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:41 AM | Comments (1)

April 7, 2009

Introduction to Mars Tour with GE Plugin

Google recently updated the GE browser plugin to support version 5 touring features. As mentioned yesterday, some people have already started using the tour function on web pages. Like Keir Clarke, I wanted to do a Mars tour, but I wanted to get the excellent "Introduction to Mars" tour narrated by NPR's Ira Flatow into the browser plugin.

First, I asked Google's permission to use the KML file. Then, it turned out the sample code for the Earth API to load a tour was based on a simpler KML file (with only a Tour in the KML file). The Mars tour requires a "Tour resources" sub-directory that includes placemarks and overlays used by the tour. One of the Googlers responsible for the API sample code sent me an E-mail with a little javascript function (called 'walkKmlDom()') that "finds" the tour in a KML file. Once I modified the sample code, I was able to successfully load the Mars tour onto a web page. Google says they've now updated the sample code to include the function because so many people have asked for it. NOTE: Make sure you have the new GE 5 plugin - if you do NOT see Mars when you load the page below, then you don't have it.

You can see Introduction to Mars Tour in a web page .

View the page source to see how I modified the sample code to load the KML. Not bad for a rusty old Fortran programmer!

Posted by FrankTaylor at 3:10 PM | Comments (0)

Nine Inch Nails Uses Google Earth Again and iPhone

Gizmodo has a story about a new upcoming social networking app by the band Nine Inch Nails (NIN). The very clever iPhone Web 2.0 app invites NIN fans to get really involved by offering an app to listen to music, see photos or videos of NIN stuff or concerts, and to send tweets or IMs out to the fans around the world. A member of the band and its developers showed some really cool location-aware features such as: the ability to show other fans in the nearby area or messages they've sent both on the iPhone and with the Google Earth plugin. The GE browser interface lets folks without the iPhone get the geospatial perspective with a more interactive feel through the NIN web site. They can show where they have concerts, and fans attending the show can share messages, photos or videos with others attending the event, or with fans who can't make that show. Very cool stuff!

Check out the video below. The Google Earth browser interface part starts at about 5:00 into the video.

NIN also used Google Earth to represent the number and location of downloads of a new album last summer.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:13 AM | Comments (1)

April 6, 2009

Touring with Google Earth Plugin

Keir at Google Maps Mania is one of the first to actively make use of the new GE 5 Plugin for browsers to show recorded tours. Keir created a couple of recorded tours - one using the new Mars mode of GE 5 combined with a podcast by NASA about Mars , and the other of Mount Redoubt (the volcano which recently erupted in Alaska) with a narration including details from the US government about the status of the volcano.

Click the "Enter Tour" button to begin the tour. The rest of the buttons are self-explanatory. These are good examples of why I think the new GE 5 plugin will be very useful. It enables people to get 3D tours with music, narration, and interactive capabilities. For example, while these tours are playing back, you can grab the scene and look in a different direction. Or, you can pause and look around before resuming the playback.

News media and educators should definitely take note. With the new GE Plugin you can now have a snazzy 3D tour with the GE Plugin to show people a unique geographical location and add KML to illustrate key locations, add image overlays, etc. Combine that with the ability to do voice narration, and you've got a really powerful geospatial visualization capability anyone can use. Plus, the file size can be really small - the biggest part would be the voice narration in most cases. Even smaller than a video.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:04 AM | Comments (2)

April 4, 2009

Places Layer Added for iPhone Google Earth

The iPhone Google Earth application has had two layers since it was released last October: The Panoramio layer (which shows millions of photos around the world), and the Wikipedia layer (which shows Wikipedia article on places and things around the world). Now Google has added the Places layer: which is kind of a combination of information from Wikipedia, Google Earth Community, and Panoramio focused on describing places. The Places layer has both text and photos in the descriptions which makes it more interesting to view. Here are some screenshots showing the new Places icons and what a Places description looks like:

All three of the layers in the iPhone GE app (which also runs on iPod Touch) are part of the Geographic Web layer folder in the full Google Earth application. The iPhone GE itself hasn't really changed much since its initial release. I've been hoping they would add more functionality from the full application such as more layers, the ability to load at least simple placemark KML files, and better integration with the iPhone Maps application. It may be too much to ask to get full vector layers such as the Borders or Roads layers since I imagine the iPhone GE is already pushing limits in terms of graphics and memory on the iPhone. But, maybe the next generation iPhone/iPod Touch will be capable of more.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 11:55 AM | Comments (2)

April 3, 2009

Shaded Relief Map for Google Earth

GEB reader Jiro Shirota wrote to say he has completed a dynamic KML which shows Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model in a shaded relief format for the Earth. He had previously released one for just North America back in 2007. The new global shaded relief map shows gray-colored shaded terrain. It's a more visible way to look at terrain of our planet making it very apparent where the mountains and canyon geography exists. As you zoom in closer, higher resolution versions of the map are loaded automatically.

From Jiro's website:

This project is now managed by Caracle Creek International Consulting (CCIC) Inc. The new version of the shaded relief layer for Google Earth is now complete. This version covers the entire SRTM dataset (80% of the land on the Earth). It is based on the SRTM V2 product. A new "fill" algorithm was developed at CCIC, which significantly improved the cartographic quality of the layer without compromising the accuracy.

Related:

• Best Topographical Map for Google Earth
• Google Maps Terrain in Google Earth - a trick for showing Google Maps shaded relief and contours in Google Earth
• High Resolution Terrain Detail Option in Google Earth
• New High Resolution Terrain Western US and Canaries
• Google Earth More Realistic High Resolution Terrain
• New Terrain - July 27

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:44 AM | Comments (2)

Google Wants to Hear Your Google Earth Story

Google is asking for people to submit their unique and interesting stories about innovative Google Earth applications. In their post at the LatLong blog they talk about a landscape architect company which used Google Earth's 3D terrain to generate a sculpture model of the Yosemite Valley for a scenic overlook. Given the large community of innovative Google Earth applications written about at GEB, Google asked me to make sure GEB readers were aware of their form for people to submit unique stories. For some people/organizations, this might be a great opportunity to get some wider exposure if Google ends up choosing their story for a case study or Google blog post!

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:31 AM | Comments (1)

April 1, 2009

New Google Earth 5 Plugin Released

Google has quietly (so far - UPDATE: here's the Google announcement) released an update to the Google Earth Plugin that advances it to GE Version 5 status. This means some of the most important features from GE 5 are now available in the browser-based GE plugin and, more importantly, some are supported in the GE API (API stands for Application Programming Interface). This means developers can write applications for the browser plugin that take advantage of some of the GE 5 features. The GE plugin updates itself automatically to the latest version (UPDATE: I had a report that someone didn't automatically get the update - he uninstalled the plugin and it re-isntalled the new version. But, Google may just be slowly making the automatic updates). Note: This is NOT an April Fools joke!

So, what's included in the new release? You can read the list yourself on the release notes, but here are some highlights:

• GE 5 Tour Support - I'm very excited about this one - the browser plugin will now support playback of GE 5 recorded tours. There's a demo of this already.

  

  Mars Support - Another biggie, you will now be able to load the Mars database in the GE Plugin. Here's a sample using Mars in the plugin.

  PhotoOverlay Support - the plugin will reportedly support PhotoOverlay through the API. I know several developers who will like this one.

  Time Support - The time slider will now work/appear with time-based KML's.

  Ocean in Plugin - the 3D ocean added in GE 5 is now available in the plugin - see example . The API also supports negative altitudes for underwater applications.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:55 PM | Comments (5)

Real News: 3D Buildings, Red River Floods

Back to real news - this one is NOT April Fools...

New 3D Buildings

Google a few days ago apparently updated the 3D Buildings layer with a flood of new user-generated 3D models from the 3D Warehouse. Apparently, during the past few months Google was working on a better process for incorporating new 3D models into the Google Earth layer. According to Googler Bruce Polderman "Thousands of user-generated models were pushed live..." in this release. Bruce goes on to point out just a few of the new models like the Chrysler Building in NYC, and the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican City are both now among those included in the layer update.

Red River Floods

Google also tells the story of how Google Maps was once again used to help in a disaster crisis for the Red River Flooding in Fargo, North Dakota. You can see the map which was put together by a combined effort of local news and radio firms in Fargo in Google Maps, or with Google Earth .

Posted by FrankTaylor at 1:35 PM | Comments (1)

Google Does April Fools with Google Earth

As part of Google's grand April Fool's joke today where they released a new artificial intelligence called CADIE (the Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity), who chose a Panda as her iconic representation, Google also included a new download page for Google Earth that says the new version lets you explore the oceans from a submarine. You can download the KML file they created where CADIE gives you a tour of human places to visit, and there's a "chat window" where you can talk with CADIE. The chat window is based on the same program used for the Mars Easter Egg - which in turn is based on the age-old Eliza AI program.

By the way, the CADIE introduction video (shown here with the April Fools upside down YouTube mode) appears to have been voiced by Googler Melissa Mayers. Which is pretty funny itself.

Google Earth Blog had its own April fun with today's "news" story about next generation Street View technology.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 1:21 PM | Comments (3)

Google Previews Next Generation 3D Street View

Google has already started collecting data using next generation Street View imaging tools. Many people have taken photos of the new camera rig on some Google Street View cars, but no details on the instruments had been released yet. Now, in a rare glimpse of future projects, Google is releasing some preliminary details today of the data being collected for Street View 2.0.

The new instrumentation includes a custom FLIR thermal imaging camera, and laser scanning technology to collect 3D data. The new system is based on night vision technology used by the military, and scanning technology being tested at airport security stations. What's really amazing is that the system is capable of capturing interior building structures! This means Google is able to automatically generate 3D buildings, complete with interior layouts, which will be viewable in Google Earth. An example 3D house is viewable in Google Earth complete with interior data can be seen here:

The new Street View 2.0 data could be used to help improve the ailing real estate market, since people will be able to check on the quality of house layouts without even going to a real estate agent. And, Google Earth is the perfect application for viewing 3D data like this since most people use it for looking only at houses already.

Privacy

This same thermal imaging technology could show people in their houses. But, Google indicated they will use the same kind of automated technology used in the current Street View to blur any shots captured of people in their houses. "Before we release the imagery, you won't even be able to tell whether people have clothes on or not, or whether they are male or female" says Google spokesperson Bill Smith. "The blurring is really effective, so don't worry!" Other concerns are whether Google will be able to tell what products you have on your shelves in your house. Google says that kind of data would be collected anonymously. But, they indicated their automated databases will anonymously show advertisements only for products you don't already have. "This will make our advertisements even more useful!"

See example image possible with the system based on an image taken 01-Apr-2008:

A professor from Harvard University, Dr. A. Fooles (who has a BS in Privacy Public Relations) indicated the tactic of previewing this technology could be effective. He anticipates this new Street View technology won't be released until one year from today. "This will give plenty of time for conspiracy theorists, privacy police, and folks who just like to complain, a chance to cool off on the privacy issues so they can move on to the next problem before this is released." says Dr. Fooles. So far, the new, improved, never before seen data, is only being collected in the US and the UK. But, Google hopes to collect the data in all countries on the planet by next April. Amazing!

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:34 AM | Comments (8)

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