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October 26, 2009
3D plane in flight in 3D Buildings layer
A sharp-eyed GEB reader named 'Will' has discovered something pretty cool. At the north end of the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, the Netherlands' main airport, there is a 3D model of an airplane coming in for a landing. The plane was modeled by 'KG800'. You can view the plane using this KML file 
. Be sure to have the "3D Buildings" layer turned on.
As far as we know, this it the first 3D plane included in the main "3D Buildings" layer. However, there are been plenty of planes added via third-party KML files before. There was a 3D Plane Tracker we showed a few years ago, the Wirefly X Prize Cup Event, and even an aircraft carrier that you can use with the flight simulator mode.
For normal satellite imagery of airplanes, you can browse this collection of planes in flight, a Lancaster Bomber from a few years ago, or a U-2 Spyplane discovered earlier this year. If you still want more, Google Earth Hacks has nearly 300 planes in their "aircraft in flight" category, and more than 900 "aircraft on the ground". You can even find tons of aircraft in Google StreetView: 121 in flight, or 283 on the ground.
All of that being said, it's still really cool to see a built-in 3D model of a plane in Google Earth. If you find others, please let us know.
[UPDATE 26-OCT: GEB reader 'Tom' just let us know that there are a few 3D planes parked at London Heathrow. I've created a KML file for you to check them out. Let us know if you find others.]
[UPDATE #2 26-OCT: GEB reader 'Christoph' pointed out that there's a second plane at Schiphol that we missed. You can view it here ]
Posted by mickmel at October 26, 2009 8:54 AM
Comments
Posted by: Christoph at October 26, 2009 12:11 PM
Funniest in my opinion is that the pictured 2-d plane misses the wing at the right side while it's shadow is complete
Posted by: Roel at October 26, 2009 1:39 PM
Slightly related: At the automatic generated 3D buildings for Copenhagen they also modelled a ship:
http://earthurl.org/#0wx8zK019sCA4wB6Y2fB
It's the Danish frigate "Peder Skram", F352:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peder_Skram_%28F_352%29
They have also modelled some construction cranes as well:
http://earthurl.org/#00g4zK6o2sCAw3Ci5D2oBB
Posted by: Peter Brodersen at October 26, 2009 1:54 PM
A real bad bad policy. I have complained to google repeatedly about dynamic objects being placed on the map in the 3D building layer. It causes real problems for applications that manipulate dynamic objects.
I have that problem with a commercial cruise ship tour generator I work on where berths are taken by ships part of the 3D buildings layer.
At the very least dynamic objects (Non buildings that move) should be on a separate layer so developers can turn them off.
Posted by: Paul van Dinther at October 26, 2009 6:06 PM
Not exactly a bad policy, but definitely a flawed way of adding 3D content. I've suggested to Google months ago (when they started adding non-building 3D content), that they should have a "3D Objects" layer with sub-layers like: "Buildings", "Structures", "Transportation", "Vegetation (Trees)", etc.
That way you could turn off unwanted layers that would otherwise mess up your applications.
Posted by: Frank Taylor at October 26, 2009 9:06 PM
i found two at Manaus Eduardo Gomes International Airport but i put my comment in planes in flight in google earth (revisited)
Posted by: brian at October 26, 2009 9:24 PM
some at a terminal at albuquerque sunport copy and paste albuquerque sunport and search on google earth
Posted by: brian at November 1, 2009 11:05 AM
As i tried to say before, cool image to stumble on. I didn't care if the wing was missing, because I like seeing how people apply the 3D builder app.
Posted by: Orange County IRS Tax Lawyer at November 4, 2009 3:09 PM
There's a Concorde at Heathrow.
Posted by: Ben at November 5, 2009 3:37 PM
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Nice. There's a 747 from KLM in 3D at Schiphol as well. Also note the bumpy terrain model of the taxi way...