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August 31, 2009
Station Fire in California in Google Earth
The LA Times put together a Google Maps map of the Station Fire (or La Canada fire) in the Los Angeles area which you can view in Google Earth in 3D right here 
. Google Earth is a great tool for getting the full perspective on where a fire is at and what the terrain looks like around the fire. Not only that, but you can load recent satellite imagery overlayed in GE to see where the fire and smoke are going. That's what GEC member 'Hill' posted in this overlay . NASA's MODIS satellites group are have a shot from 30-August - see here - they are now supporting KML overlays on the page.
Fire Tracking - Discovered this collection of Google Earth files showing up-to-date fire information on a global basis based on data from NASA's Modis satellite system. The work is done by the University of Maryland's FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management). The link shows a page where you can select different regions around the Earth. You can choose 24 hour, 48 hour, and a time series for 48 hours (a time animation). They also have a network link for the whole world. Very handy way to find out where the fires are. Watch out for the Africa fire folder though...there are LOTS of fires there!
US Forest Service Active Fires Map - The USFS has a web site dedicated to tracking active fires. They use a combination of satellites from space which detect the fires, and combine that with ground-based information to produce the maps. All data points are placemarks with further information. Check out the fire map for the continental US which includes the California fires.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 1:29 PM | Comments (1)
Google Earth Users Talk, Google Listens
One of the things I like best about the Google team developing Google Earth and Maps, is that they really listen to their users. Over the past few months, Google has been making many changes to their imagery processing for Google Earth. The goals seem to be to make imagery more consistent in appearance, improve coloration so the view of the globe looks less "mottled" (with strips of different photos), and to improve the interface between the 3D ocean bathymetry and the coastlines. According to GEB readers, and yours truly, some of the changes haven't been for the best.
For example, when GE 5 first came out, the interface between the coastlines and the new bathymetry actually covered over data for some islands and parts of coastlines. Google recognized the problems, but it took quite some before the changes were fixed. Several months. Then in June, Google introduced new coloration for the US. GEB was pretty vocal about complaining on this one - and a month later Google fixed it for some areas (but, not all). Unfortunately, they also added a new "coastline cutting" algorithm to cut the shape of the aerial imagery to the shape of the coastline. Many GE users complained about this one. Although it does look "cleaner" when viewing from higher altitudes, the change resulted in a loss of valuable data of offshore imagery (showing ships at sea, air traffic, anchorages, and more). Some of us told Google they should at a minimum not introduce the coastline cutting to the "Historical Imagery" archives. Again, Google has been listening: the recent imagery update removed the coastline cutting from most of the historical imagery!
The processes Google uses for making changes to the imagery, processing them for the servers, verifying the quality, and then delivering them to their live servers has taken at least 60 days normally. However, there are signs Google is improving the update speed.
Last week, an imagery update was pushed out (and found by GEB readers). Several places were found to have sub-standard imagery - clouds in the satellite photos, and dark and poor contrasted images. Now, only a few days later, several people have reported some of those images have been fixed. That's a much faster turn around!
On behalf of GEB readers, and other GE users, I would like to thank Google for listening. And, hopefully with their improved processes, we won't have to wait so long for future changes to materialize.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:45 AM | Comments (10)
August 28, 2009
KML File Showing New Imagery, Imagery Updated in Google Maps
[UPDATE Sept. 1: Google has released the official list of locations (and KML file) with new or updated imagery - see here.]
Yesterday, a couple of people sent me links to a Google KML file that appears to be the official file for this recent 26-August update. The file name indicates it is the "September" update, and most of the updates found by GEB readers here match the changes shown. I guess Google was just a bit early with this one. However, GEB readers found several locations which were not shown in the KML file (which I verified by comparing to Google Maps). Last night Google also updated the imagery in Google Maps, so we'll have to wait for Google's post today for the official details. I'll add update this post with the official list later today (most likely).
Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:54 AM | Comments (18)
August 26, 2009
New Google Earth Imagery - August 26
[UPDATE Sept. 1: Google has released the official list of locations (and KML file) with new or updated imagery - see here.]
Just got a report - and verified - there is a bunch of new satellite imagery in Argentina. It's a little early for the next monthly update, but I guess Google has some reason for an update. No idea yet how big this update is. The update for Argentina includes lots of medium resolution Spot Image imagery.
The new imagery is not yet available in Google Maps (as usual), so you can verify whether imagery you suspect is new by looking (and zooming in) on the same area in Google Maps. Use the "View in Google Maps" option to zoom immediately to the same spot. If the imagery doesn't look the same up close, then that area is new. Google has updated Google Maps with the new imagery as well, so we can no longer easily verify new imagery. Leave a comment below if you have found something new and I'll add it to the growing list below.
NOTE: For those of you disappointed with new imagery which has clouds or lower resolution, don't forget the new Google Earth 'Historical Imagery' mode which lets you view imagery previously available. You can go back to better imagery if needed. However, there does seem to be several examples of poor imagery (clouds, reduced resolution, color changes) added to the base layer with this update.
New and updated imagery [UPDATED 28-AUG 0910 ET]:
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Argentina - large areas of medium resolution Spot Image imagery. Thanks to Gerardo Paz!
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Poland - Auschwitz in high res - Thanks 'BeadieJay', Warsaw - and areas north and south.
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Germany - Around Hannover (north and south), "harz" mountains, areas around Hamburg, villages east of Itzehoe, South of Cuxhafen, near Bremen (NW), Cloppenburg and "more"; thanks to "MontyPython". Frankfurt - Thanks 'Thilo'
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Chile - Santiago (can't confirm this one) - Report by JP; found new section west of Valpraiso (green).
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France - many areas in northern France (Cherbourg, Cholet, Lavel, Chaumont, and Pau, Clermont-Ferrand, Figeac). Thanks 'Steven'
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USA - Ugly green is back in Arizona for Mount Hopkins/Mount Wrightson - Thanks for report by 'Steven' - now have to complain to Google again. San Mateo County, CA (updated imagery, different coloration) - Thanks 'GT'; Travis County, TX; Minneapolis; - Thanks 'Roy'
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Serbia - Begrade (late-July 2009 imagery) - Thanks 'barakuda'
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Peru - Lima (many clouds - reduced quality) - Thanks 'Auquicu'
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Finland - south of Espoo (bad quality with clouds), eastern part of Helsinki, Western Kirkkonummi - Thanks 'Rauski'
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China - Shanghai - many areas - Thanks 'Marc'
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Mexico - Much of southern Mexico now has medium resolution Spot Image imagery. - Thanks 'Thilo'.
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New Zealand - Several areas including Christchurch, Wellington - Thanks ZNO
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Sweden - Gothenburg - (dark and oversharpened - bad quality) - thanks 'MrCharlie'
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Bosnia and Herzegovina - Sarajevo, Beograd - thanks '12345'
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Antarctica - Ross Island, areas near Dry Valleys. New imagery, but coloring is kind of inconsistent - thanks 'Tom'.
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Brazil - São Paulo, Santos, São Vicente, Guarujá and Praia Grande also changes to Joinville and Guaramirim. - Thanks 'Tiago Carraro'
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UK - Huddersfield, Bradford - Thanks Damien and Chris
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Russia - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Monino - Thanks 'Munden'.
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Guam - Thanks 'Munden'
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Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:23 PM | Comments (77)
New World's Largest Optical Telescope
Back in mid-July the new Gran Telescopio Canarias (Grand Canairies Telescope) was formally inaugurated by King Juan Carlos I of Spain at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands of Spain. You can see an excellent representation of the location, and 3D model of the observatory dome, in Google Earth here :
If this gets you excited about astronomy, you should check out the Sky mode in Google Earth. Check out the GEB archive of many stories about Sky.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2009
Educational Uses for Google Earth
Nearly every year at this time, I make sure to remind educators - and students - that Google Earth is a great tool for education. It's not just about learning about geography, Google Earth is a platform that lets you put practically any learning into geospatial context. Not only that, but it is a very versatile 3D presentation tool for teaching things, or for students to present their assignments (and maybe get a great grade for such an innovative way of presenting their hard work!).
And, don't forget that Google Earth isn't confined to Earth. Google Earth 5 also has Sky (perfect for astronomy classes), Mars for Google Earth, Ocean for Google Earth, and the brand new Moon for Google Earth. And, you can add on other planets as well - see Jupiter for example.
Another new feature in GE 5 that could help teachers and students is the touring capability. Here are two great examples of what tours can do that might open your eyes for educational applications: Apollo 11 Tour, and a news overview Tour of Afghanistan. Read more about Tours.
Here are some links to some important resources on the subject of Google Earth for education:
- Educational Uses of Google Earth by GEB - links to many resources
- Google's Earth for Educators web site
- Many layers in Google Earth useful for education
- Google Earth Basics - many tips from GEB on using Google Earth.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 9:13 AM | Comments (2)
August 24, 2009
Links: Alphabet Soup, 3D Models movie, Fire tracking
Alphabet Soup - GEC member 'thomasdebruin' did some painstaking work identifying an entire alphabet (plus punctuation) in the aerial/satellite photos in the Netherlands. You can download the placemarks in GE here
. This is just one of several similar efforts out there. My favorite trick with satellite "alphabets" is GeoGreeting.com which lets you send a message with an aerial/satellite imagery alphabet using Google Maps. Maybe they could do a localized version for the Netherlands now.
3D Models Movie - The Google SketchUp team has put together a nice movie touring many of the better Google Earth 3D models out there. Watch it here (I recommend hitting the "HD" button and going to "fullscreen":
Fire Tracking - Discovered this collection of Google Earth files showing up-to-date fire information on a global basis based on data from NASA's Modis satellite system. The work is done by the University of Maryland's FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management). The link shows a page where you can select different regions around the Earth. You can choose 24 hour, 48 hour, and a time series for 48 hours (a time animation). They also have a network link for the whole world. Very handy way to find out where the fires are. Watch out for the Africa fire files though...there are LOTS of fires there!
Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:52 AM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2009
Afghanistan News Overview in Google Earth
As part of a news feature called "Crossroads Afghanistan" CBCNews.Ca has created an excellent Google Earth tour which describes the situation in Afghanistan. The GE tour is narrated by a news commentator and has nice photo overlays to illustrate points, and zooms in to the different areas of the country while describing conditions there. The tour is embedded in their web site using the Google gadget for embedding tours with the GE plugin - watch it here (you may need to scroll down the page a bit). It's well done and well worth watching (I learned several things I didn't know about Afghanistan). via tweet by @googleearth
More information on Tours for Google Earth:
Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:02 AM | Comments (1)
August 20, 2009
Non-profit's Guide to Using Google Earth/Maps
Many non-profit organizations have found Google Earth and Maps to be fantastic tools to help raise awareness (and money) for their causes (and organization). The organizations which have received the most benefit have put together a message in a way which takes advantage of the geographic information and data available from Google's mapping tools. If the non-profit cause is particularly interesting to a wide audience, Google sometimes takes a hand in helping introduce these non-profits through their Outreach program. This means the mapping content gets promoted through Google blog posts, and included in Google Earth layers which can give your non-profit, and your cause, incredible exposure to millions of people around the planet.
The Google Earth Outreach program has also developed a suite of tools and tutorials to make it easier to develop Google Earth and Maps content.
This past spring, Chris Peters and Mano Marks (of Google) wrote an excellent article which serves as an introduction and guide to using Google's mapping tools to help non-profits. It has a great compendium of links to examples, tools, guides, forums, and blogs to help non-profits.
All of these tools and tips are equally applicable to anyone looking to develop useful content with Google Earth.
Here are some examples of non-profit content which have experienced great exposure through Google Earth:
Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:59 AM | Comments (1)
August 19, 2009
Links: August Sightseer, Google Earth Explorer, California Fires, European Map Maker
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August Sightseer - The latest issue of the Google Earth Sightseer newsletter is out. You can have Sightseer delivered by E-mail by subscribing here.
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Become a GE Explorer - The Sightseer announced a new Google Earth Explorer program to teach tips and tricks on using GE. You play a game which is designed to help you learn more about what Google Earth can do. If you successfully make it to the end of the program, you can call yourself a "Google Earth Explorer". I completed the game, and it does a good job of teaching many interesting features of GE. But, I think Google should offer some kind of prize at the end - right now it just says "Congratulations" for becoming a Google Earth Explorer.
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California Wildfires - The annual wave of California fires has begun. Once again, you can find Google Maps to help see the location and status of fires. These maps have helped save lives, helped people with evacuations, aided firefighters and other emergency workers, and helped keep people informed.
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European Map Maker - Google's Map Maker program has been extended to more European countries. Map Maker enables you to make modifications to Google's maps by using software to allow you to make edits or contribute data. Map Maker is now available in 170 countries. Once the data is verified, it eventually makes its way into Google Earth and Google Maps.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:45 AM | Comments (2)
Street View "Partners" Also Added
Back in June, Google added a special Street View for Disneyland Paris. In addition to the new countries of Portugal, Taiwan, and Switzerland which got new Street View imagery on Monday night, Google also rolled out several new partner sites with Street View imagery. This new wave of partners include: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Thunderhill Raceway Park, San Diego State University and LEGOLAND California. Google is looking for other partners who can have their location shot with Street View and featured in their program. And, if your site is too tight for Google's Street View car to drive through - don't worry - they also have Google Street View Trikes which can even shoot in narrow walkways:
Related information:
Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:26 AM | Comments (1)
August 18, 2009
Google Releases Street View in Switzerland, Portugal, and Taiwan
Started getting comments last night from GEB readers (first was 'Steven') about the release of Street View imagery for Switzerland, Portugal, and Taiwan. Switzerland has most of the populated areas covered. In the case of Taiwan, the new imagery is focused around Taipei. In Portugal, the focus is on Lisbon and Porto. Here is a screenshot from Google Earth of Porto, Portugal:
Here are instructions for using Street View in Google Earth. The advantage to Google Earth is comparing views to 3D buildings and terrain, and looking for more information about sites with the GE layers. The interface for Street View in Google Maps is a little easier to share in blogs, and tweets thanks to the embed feature. First, here is a coverage map for Street View around the world:
And, here are a few Street View shots from Taiwan and Switzerland:
And here is a shot from Switzerland:
Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:12 AM | Comments (9)
August 17, 2009
Finland's Helsinki Now Has 3D Buildings in Google Earth
Late last week, Google released an update to the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth. If you turn the layer on, and fly to "Helsinki, Finland" they have also added most of the city with 3D Building models with photo-realistic textures.
This adds to the growing list of cities which Google has added to the Google Earth layers with 3D buildings. Google has not released any details on how the cities were modeled. But, I suspect they are using data from a variety of sources using techniques such as photogrammetry from aerial photos, possible use of Lidar data and photos from Street View, and licensing data from various 3D city modeling firms. Here is a list of recent posts summarizing cities added to the 3D Buildings layer.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:57 AM | Comments (5)
Links: Picasa Street View, Cool Screen, ArcExplorer Earth, SketchUp Podium Prize
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Picasa Street View - Google has added geotagged photos from Picasa Web Albums (PWA) users to the "User Photos" of Street View. I'm hoping they'll also add PWA photos to the Geographic Web layer for Google Earth, and Google Maps "Photos".
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Cool Google Earth Screen - Gerardo Paz e-mailed me this cool link (Gizmodo - here's English version) to an article about a Google Earth visualization for Lufthansa showing real-time flight tracking on a cool panoramic screen. The content was designed by WHITEvoid and apparently won some awards. Here's the video:
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ArcExplorer Earth - ESRI has released a new version of their virtual globe ArcExplorer. According to Mapperz this upgraded version has improvements for a wider audience including better KML support (GE's file format). Here is ESRI's announcement, and the official page for ArcExplorer.
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SketchUp Podium Contest Winner - SU Podium is a third-party plugin application for Google SketchUp that lets you create photo-realistic renderings from SketchUp scenes. They held a contest recently and the winner got featured in this SketchUp Blog post. Pretty cool how the winning artist created the scene.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:11 AM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2009
Links: Geo Hackathon, Bhuvan Launched, China-India Error
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Seattle Geo Hackathon - On September 3rd, Google is holding a Geo Hackathon in Seattle. Google Maps/Earth API, KML, and more can be used. Follow the link for details.
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Bhuvan Launched - India's space agency ISRO announced their own 3D virtual globe called "Bhuvan". The application reportedly runs in your browser, uses satellite imagery from India's own satellites, and they claim has even higher resolution data than Google Earth. Unfortunately, their servers have been inundated and many people haven't been able to use the application yet. See this news report (notice the comments describing the troubles). Also, here is a news video announcing the new product. It's interesting how all the news stories compare the Bhuvan to Google Earth.
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China-India Error - As mentioned a few days ago, Google made a mistake with a database update to Google Maps marking areas of a disputed region in India with alternate Chinese labels. Google explains the mistake publicly on a post at the LatLong Blog.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 9:45 AM | Comments (3)
August 12, 2009
Google Earth Lesson Presentation
Richard Treves writes the Google Earth Design blog where he often analyzes various Google Earth content and provides critiques and suggestions with the intent to help people understand how to improve the user experience. Richard works at the School of Geography at the University of Southampton.
Last year Richard began some work developing a lesson plan using GE to describe the flooding of the Brahmaputra River. Now he has upgraded the plan to use Google Earth 5's Tour option to present the content like a 3D movie. You can watch the new version here (it uses the GE plugin, and has audio, hit the "Play" button once GE loads). I think his new version greatly improves the presentation of the lesson content. The way he presents content for how water reaches the river is well done, and easy to follow. I like the use of placemarks which change to illustrate points. He also is using Dropbox to host the content, which is a pretty cool way to share GE content.
[UPDATE: Richard has updated his lesson to reflect the suggestions I made below.]
Since Richard likes to critique content, I have a few tips for him: 1) I think the first thing that should appear in his tour is a title screen overlay for the lesson (not just a voice intro). 2) He might want to mention on the title screen to turn on your speakers. 3) The embedded player should be set up with "Autoplay" rather than forcing the user to hit "Play". 4) Alternatively, his web page could also provide some pointers such as turning on audio/speakers, title, etc. 5) The video at the end could be embedded in the placemark or shown on the same web page.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:34 AM | Comments (3)
August 11, 2009
Planes For Google Earth Flight Simulator
Google Earth Community Member 'Amir B' has posted some excellent plane add-ons for the Google Earth Flight Simulator! His clever concept allows you to place animating planes into the 3D view while flying the flight simulator. Turning propellors, smoke from jets, awesome realism. It's really cool! It definitely makes it fun again to fly around in Google Earth. Below I mention tips on how to load and use the planes. But first, here's a video demonstration of what several of his planes look like in action:
Amir's post includes a Zip file with 5 different planes. He gives instructions in his post on how to download, install, and use the planes. Or, you can download and try just one of the planes right here: BF 109 . Once you load a plane you should see it appear in the middle of your screen in Google Earth:
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Animation - Turn on the animation by selecting the "Play" button on the time slider. Adjust the animation speed by clicking on the wrench icon in the upper right of the time slider pane and then adjusting the slider.
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Enter Flight Simulator - In GE, select "Tools->Enter Flight Simulator" and choose either the F-16 or the SR22 (slower) plane for simulation mode. Then select "Start Flight".
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Flight Simulator Tips - Read the GEB flight simulator tips post if you're new to flying in Google Earth. Here is a link to the keyboard shortcuts.
Amir has done a great job implementing this cool add-on to Google Earth's Flight Simulator! Footnote: Amir is also the leader of a an Iranian Alternative Rock band called Mirage Town.
Related:
- F-16 Cockpit add-on
- How to get 3D Buildings in Flight Simulator
- Flight Simulator Tips
- SR22 Cockpit add-on
- Run Flight Simulator on Mars or Under Sea
Posted by FrankTaylor at 11:39 AM | Comments (7)
August 10, 2009
Links/Tweets: Google Mistake, Shadow Animation, Locating Missile Strike,
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Google Mistake - fixed - News came out over the last few days that Google had made a mistake labeling some locations for Google maps in an area where a border is disputed between India and China. Google apologized for the mistake immediately, and today he labels are corrected. The timing was particularly bad because there was a negotiation about the disputed area between the two countries in progress. Stefan Geens wrote an excellent summary of the situation and explained how Google's disputed border mapping works.
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Eclipse Shadow Animation - Michael of HeyWhatsThat.com created this cool animation
(using Google Earth plugin) of the July 22nd solar eclipse which shows the umbra and penumbra shadow of the eclipse as it crosses the Earth. This was in response to a tweet with a link to a NOAA satellite photo showing the real shadow as seen from space.
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Locating Missile Strike - Stefan of OgleEarth also did an excellent job searching for the location of the missile strike that may have killed Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. Definitely worth a read to both see the location and how Stefan got his information.
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Fovant Badges - I really liked this GoogleSightseeing story of the WWII badges drawn into the side of a chalk hill in the UK. The story has placemarks to the locations - I encourage looking at it with GE so you can see the 3D perspective. Here's a link showing several of the badges
with EarthURL.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:39 AM | Comments (3)
August 7, 2009
Cat 4 Storm Felicia Headed for Hawaii - See in Google Earth
Google Earth is a great tool for checking on weather - tropical storms in particular. Right now a category 4 storm is in the Pacific Ocean making a bee-line for Hawaii. The good news is that current forecasts have it losing strength before it reaches the islands. But, you can view the storm's track, forecasted path, satellite photos, and much more using the Storm Tracking Tools for Google Earth collected by Google Earth Blog. These tools are collection of great weather resources from a variety of organizations and individuals using data from NOAA, the US Navy, and many other weather providers.
In the screenshot below, you're seeing storm forecast and tracking data from iMapWeather.com and NOAA satellite imagery from just a few minutes ago showing category 4 storm Felicia:
Read the GEB storm tracking post for more details on how to use Google Earth to perform storm tracking.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)
Crisis in Darfur Layer Updated for Google Earth
A layer called "Crisis in Darfur" for Google Earth illustrates the visible evidence of genocide from satellite photos, and documented accounts, occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan. The destruction of villages is clearly visible in satellite imagery of the region, and is further illustrated through pictures and interviews with refugees. The layer was first introduced in 2007 and was even praised for raising awareness of the issues by President Bush, and many others around the world. The layer was created by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).
Last week, the USHMM, in partnership with Google, released an updated version of the Crisis in Darfur layer which shows more than 3,300 villages destroyed throughout Darfur. Using the Historical Imagery mode of Google Earth you can compare before and after imagery of the villages and see the destruction.
You can view the layer by going to the following layer sub-folder: Global Awareness->USHMM: Crisis in Darfur. Or, you can download the KML file directly here . You can also learn more about what action can be taken to help with the crisis at the Museum's web site.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:41 AM | Comments (0)
August 6, 2009
Google Treats 20 Super Modelers to Trip to Boulder
Boulder is the home base of Google's 3D modeling efforts. It was home to the company Google bought in 2006, @ Last Software, which built the 3D modeling software SketchUp. The Google SketchUp team has been sharing stories of people around the world who have made significant 3D building contributions to Google Earth (by uploading their models to the 3D Warehouse). This week, for example, they featured two guys from Antwerp.
Now Google has gone a big step further: Google has invited twenty of the most prolific geomodelers to their Boulder offices for a two-day "Super Modeler Conference". The modelers will get to meet with team members from SketchUp, 3D Warehouse, and Google Earth. And Google will most likely treat them to the usual Google hospitality of free food and treats.
Congrats to the lucky twenty geomodelers! Maybe Google could offer other treats on a random basis to geomodelers: free SketchUp Pro licenses, a 3D print of their best model, and maybe cool stuff from the Google store.
The Google Boulder Office can be viewed in Google Earth. There used to be a little easter egg there, but its gone now.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:23 AM | Comments (1)
August 5, 2009
Kaisei Project - Researching the Plastic Vortex
Cross-posted from the Tahina Expedition:
My wife and I are leaving in October to begin a five year sailing circumnavigation we are calling the Tahina Expedition. Our trip is not just about visiting remote pacific island atolls, sipping Coronas on the beach, and snorkeling around beautiful marine life. The Tahina Expedition also hopes to raise awareness about issues facing the oceans and the lives of those creatures and people who live in and around them.
One big issue is that mankind has for countless ages assumed the ocean is so big, that it can "wash away" our waste products and sewage. As human population has exploded, this approach could not continue. In recent decades, efforts have been made, by responsible governments and other organizations, to greatly reduce putting trash and untreated sewage into our oceans. In some areas of the world, beaches and marine life have actually recovered to some extent.
However, one very large related problem has only been introduced in the past century: plastic in the oceans. Plastic does not bio-degrade like many products. It does "photo-degrade" (due to the effects of the sun) to some extent over a long period of time (many years). Since the oceans are so vast, you would think it would take a LOT of plastic for people to notice the problem. Well, it has begun to be noticed.
There are vast currents in the Pacific ocean that keep the waters circulating. These areas are known as Oceanic Gyres. In the north Pacific Gyre there is an area that has become known as the Plastic Vortex - or the Garbage Patch. Here millions of tons of garbage (mostly plastic) have been accumulating for decades.
The Kaisei Project is sending two ships to the Plastic Vortex to research and take measurements on the scale of the problem. On their site, you can view a Google Earth plugin visualization showing the current positions of the two vessels and placemarks showing progress reports as they make their way to the vortex. Most of the placemarks contain video blog entries.
The issue of garbage in the ocean is already having a huge impact on marine life. Birds, fish, jellyfish, sharks, and other creature all end up consuming plastic particles. Many of them die because they can't digest or are poisoned by the plastics. Some of these creatures in turn end up getting consumed by humans. So, not only are we ruining the oceans and marine life, but in a probably just twist of fate, we could be killing ourselves.
The Tahina Expedition plans to take note of trash, especially plastic, as we travel around the world on our sailing catamaran. My wife and I will begin the trip in late October and will continue for 5 years. You'll be able to follow along in Google Earth, and we'll be sharing a large array of photography including regular snapshots, underwater photography, HD video, and even aerial photography of places we visit which you'll be able to view in Google Earth (thanks to our partnership with Google). We hope you'll follow along on the Tahina Expedition Blog.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 11:07 AM | Comments (1)
August 4, 2009
August Imagery Update in a Handy KML
Once again, apparently this will be a permanent thing, Google has released the details on this month's imagery update as a KML file . So you can see where the new or updated imagery is located through a series of outlines viewable in Google Earth. Like this one from last month:
For fun, compare the official list to the details found by GEB readers over the last two days.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 4:26 PM | Comments (9)
Google Earth Surpasses 500 Million - Auto-Geotagging Coming
In a keynote address at the GeoWeb conference last week, Michael T. Jones presented some interesting facts (Michael is the Chief Technology Advocate at Google, and I think he's a really interesting speaker). Michael also revealed some interesting things about Street View and made a prediction which is quite interesting. First some facts he shared here (starting at about 2:08):
- 250,000 public websites hosting KML
- 500,000,000 KML/KMZ files hosted on public web sites
- 2 Billion placemarks - that's a lot of places!
- 500 Million Google Earth activations - After only 4 years since GE was released. Activations are the number of new installs of the program on a new machine (a big distinction from downloads which are much higher than that number). This number is much more representative of the number of users. From here (at 7:30).
Michael also talks about the marriage of Street View and Panoramio photos (see GEB stories here and here). But, Michael goes on to predict (at about 5:52) that in the future it will be possible for people to upload photos to the "cloud" and have photos automatically geotagged. How? By comparing your photo with large repositories of known photos (like Street View and Panoramio) until you find a match. What a concept! Imagine having the cloud compare your photo to billions of other photos to find a match and then tagging the coordinates for where it was taken. I'll go on to predict that Google will be able to not only auto-geotag, but also position the way the photo was taken and make a GE PhotoOverlay out of them (see some discussion about PhotoOverlays and advanced photo placement).
Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:25 AM | Comments (2)
Links: Timelapse 3D, Star Tweeting, New Imagery, GeoWeb Glimpse
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Timelapse 3D - Watch a timelaps movie of a detailed 3D building being made with SketchUp. It took about an hour for the experienced developer at db-3d to complete. Read his blog post. And here is a link to the 3D building shown in the video in the 3DWarehouse.via DigitalUrban
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Star Tweeting - The maker of EarthTwit, @HusseinNasser (a prolific tweeter and developer) added support for Sky in Google Earth. You can tweet a star now! Read more about EarthTwit.
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New Imagery - I'm expecting official details, and hopefully a KML file, on the new imagery released on Sunday. Already GEB readers have found many of the locations with new imagery.
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GeoWeb Glimpse - Over the weekend, @JasonBirch tweeted the location of some videos from GeoWeb (a conference held in Vancouver). I especially enjoyed the Michael T. Jones keynote (part 1 of 7) which revealed some interesting things about Google Earth (more on this later). Also, James Fee has some interesting observations from the conference.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:54 AM | Comments (0)
Map of Buried City Altinum - See it in Google Earth
Late last week I read about a scientific paper scheduled for publication which documented the findings of research on the ancient city of Altinum in Italy (near Venice). The city used to be a thriving Roman City until it was sacked multiple times because of its exposed location. The remains of Altinum have been buried in some fields north of the Venice airport. Rather than try to dig up the site, scientists jhave used satellite and aerial photography to map the locations of the buildings and roads of the city.
Since a brief description of the location and an aerial photo was published, I immediately went searching for the site in Google Earth. Unfortunately, I didn't find it right away, so I did a quick search and found the location had been shared at the GEC by 'jean_thie', and an overlay of the map was made available in the post.
Stefan Geens of OgleEarth.com has published an excellent GE overview of the Altinum findings and includes great tips on using Google Earth (and the historical imagery mode) to delve even further into this interesting archaeological site. Stefan also found more of the researchers material and has overlayed several of their maps in this KML file . I highly recommend reading Stefan's post.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:28 AM | Comments (1)
August 2, 2009
August 2009 Imagery Update for Google Earth
[UPDATE August 4: Google released the official details on this update today, and also once again released a handy KML file showing the details on the globe. Read more.]
Google has pushed out an imagery update today for Google Earth. From various accounts, this one covers a lot of area. The update is currently only available in Google Earth, so you can verify whether imagery is new by clicking on the "View in Google Maps" option to compare the current new GE imagery to the previous release. If you find new imagery, not listed below, please leave a comment to this post so we can build a list. Some of the new areas are plainly obvious because of the changes in color visible from space.
I just want to recognize Google has been listening to feedback on imagery. In today's release they've improved the look of shallow waters - especially off the Bahamas and Caribbean. They're using some much better medium resolution satellite imagery now which looks way better than either bathymetry "blue" or low resolution landsat (that had bad color). The Bahamas waters (and other areas) look much more like it should from above.
Hopefully, Google will release another KML file showing the actual update outlines of new imagery tomorrow (Tuesday).
Here's the current places found by GEB readers with new and/or updated imagery [UPDATED - 3-August 14:03 ET ]:
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China - Beijing (very new GeoEye - dated June 29, 2009) - Thanks to the first report of new imagery by GEB reader Lynne.
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USA - Niagara Falls (high res restored) - Thanks 'GT'; Miami, FL - Thanks 'urd'; Lots of areas in Florida; Pascagoula, MS - Thanks 'Munden'
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Africa - These countries have new medium resolution 2.5m/pixel Spot Image: Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Most of Niger, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Madagascar, Angola - Thanks 'Steven'
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Bahamas - The blue green waters of the Bahamas are back! Thanks 'Steven'. I'm really glad to see this one because I felt GE had gone backwards in this area.
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Italy - Cadenabbia, Lombardy, Menaggio, Bellagio, Varenna - Thanks 'Rauski'; Amalfi Coast - Thanks 'fatboy'
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Balkan Peninsula - colorization changes, possibly more of Europe as well has new colorization. Thanks 'barakuda'
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Thailand - this country also was treated with new 2.5m Spot Image imagery in areas not already with high resolution.
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Spain - Costa del Sol Marbella - Thanks 'fatboy'; Catalonia re-colorized - looks much better according to 'JP'
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Gibralta - Thanks 'fatboy'
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Oman - Muscat - Thanks 'fatboy'
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Finland - Tampere, Rovaniemi, parts of northern finland - Thanks 'Rauski'
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Ireland - Cork - thanks 'robbiemoore24''; Dublin - thanks Noel B.
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Belgium - Apparently new high res for the entire country - thanks 'storaz'
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South Korea - Ulsan and Busan. Also re-colorization? Thanks 'Munden'; Cheju Island - Thanks 'jlb'
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Europe - many countries are "re-colorized" according to GEB commenters below.
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Vietnam - North and southern parts - Thanks 'urd'
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Mexico - Re-colorization for this country, one report of bad green colors (even clouds) - Thanks 'Munden'
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Cambodia - Also has large areas with 2.5m Spot Image - thanks 'Donalbain'
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Australia - Perth - thanks 'James'
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Poland - Warsaw area - thanks 'PaSKud'
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Brazil - Curitiba, Pinhais - high res - Thanks Andreas
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Ukraine - Makeevka, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Simferopol. Other areas in "dark" colors. Thanks 'oan'
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Argentina - Chaco Province: Taco Pozo, Presidencia de la Plaza, Charadai, Capitán Solari; Córdoba Province: Río Segundo, Pilar. Thanks 'Pertile'
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Turkey - between Manavgat and Antalya (but has clouds) - Thanks 'Richy'.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 2:43 PM | Comments (62)
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