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February 27, 2010
Satellite images from Chile earthquake and ways you can help
The first satellite images from the earthquake in Chile are starting to roll in. Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, who is currently aboard the International Space Station, has been sending back images today. They're not high-res, but they're still quite stunning. In the image below, you can see what appears to be silt and dirt in the water, apparently as a result of the quake.
We've put together his three images into a single KMZ file
so you can take a look using Google Earth. I'd expect Google will release some images within the next day or so, but no word on that yet.
In the meantime, Google has started putting together some information about the quake. They encourage users to contribute data via Map Maker, and they've created a special version of the Person Finder tool to help loved ones locate each other.
In addition, they've set up an earthquake relief page, which allows you to easily contribute a donation to the cause.
If you're aware of other resources we should mention, please leave a comment and let us know.
[UPDATE 28-Feb, 4:54pm EST]
Astronaut Noguchi has sent back another image, this time of Santiago, the capital city of Chile. You can download the KMZ file here or check out the image below.
Still no word on any official imagery from Google, but I suspect it's coming soon.
Posted by mickmel at 3:48 PM
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February 24, 2010
Upload your Picasa Web Albums to Panoramio
Google has just released a simple but very useful new feature -- one-click upload from Picasa Web to Panoramio. If your photos are geo-tagged and in a public album, simply click the "Upload to Panoramio" button and off they go.
The great thing about this is that it's fast. Since it's sending directly from one server to another, it goes very quickly. However, they have a few improvements that could be made.
1) Be able to upload more than one at a time. Right now, you need to click that link and upload each picture individually.
2) Even better, be able to flag photos for Panoramio while you're uploading them to Picasa, saving a step in the long run.
I would expect both features to eventually make it in there. In the meantime, this is just another way for users to add photos to the already massive collection on Panoramio, making the site more useful for everyone.
Frank has already pushed a bunch of his photos over using this system, and he's quite pleased with how well it works. More info about this new feature can be found on the Google Lat Long Blog.
Posted by mickmel at 6:25 AM
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February 23, 2010
New Google Earth Imagery - February 23
It seems that Google has just pushed out some fresh imagery for Google Earth. We've only found a little bit of it so far, but there's certainly more out there.
[UPDATE 24-FEB -- The "updated areas" KML file is now available. Download it here.]
As always, you can use Google Maps to determine for sure whether or not a specific area is fresh. This new imagery isn't in Google Maps yet, so you can compare Earth vs. Maps to see what's new; the fresh imagery is already in Google Earth, but the old imagery is still in Google Maps. If you compare the two side-by-side and they're not identical, that means that you've found a freshly updated area in Google Earth!
[UPDATED -- 23-Feb, 8:05pm EST]
- Argentina: Just west of Buenos Aires (thanks 'Leonardo') and San Rafael, Mendoza (thanks 'carlos')
- Brazil: Tubarão and Laguna (thanks 'Tiago')
- China: Parts of Hainan Island (thanks 'Munden')
- Croatia: Zadar (thanks 'Nono')
- France: Grenoble (thanks 'yves')
- Indonesia: Western part of Bali, among others (thanks 'okasbali')
- Japan: Sasebo (thanks 'Munden')
- Poland: Warsaw (thanks 'Kaczor')
- Romania: Galati (thanks 'Cristian')
- Russia: North and northeast of Saint Petersburg (thanks 'Rider')
- United States: California (near Bakersfield - thanks 'GT'), Texas (Austin - thanks 'Steven') and along the gulf coast (thanks 'Munden')
As I said, there are likely many other areas with recent updates. If you find any, leave a comment and let us know!
Posted by mickmel at 3:01 PM
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Google Earth on the Nexus One; Hands-on Review
We discussed Google Earth on the Nexus One when it was unveiled last month, but now it's officially been released! Frank has had a chance to play with it, and here are some of his thoughts.
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I was excited to find that Google Earth for Nexus One came out today. I've really been missing having Google Earth on my phone after my iPhone went swimming with me back in December. Now I can use Google Earth as a handheld mapping tool while we're sailing from destination to destination. One thing a lot of people don't realize is that all versions of the Google Earth application cache the most recent imagery and data you've visited. So, you can visit places you're planning to go before you lose cell phone service, and still use Google Earth when off line. This applies to the Nexus One/Android version as well.
Google has already released the major highlights to the Nexus One in their blog post yesterday. The one cool new feature is voice recognition for flying to places. I tried "Cartegena, Colombia" (where I happen to be at the moment), and it flew right there. Cool!
The screen on the Android is higher resolution than the iPhone, so the imagery looks really good. It's one reason why Google was able to add the Roads layer to this version (off by default, look under the "Settings" to turn on the layer), since reading the labels would otherwise be very difficult with lower resolution screens. The other reason is that the Nexus One has a more powerful CPU and graphics rendering capability. The pans and zooms are very smooth on the Nexus One.
There are some things I missed with the Nexus One version:
1) I expected it to take advantage of the motion sensing elements of the phone to allow you to pan or tilt your view. You have to use their "Look around" button and your finger to pan or tilt.
2) They only appear to use the GPS to let you find "My Location". I had hoped it would let you follow your position and lay a GPS track. Maybe a later version?
3) The ocean is still flat on the Android/Nexus One version (like it is on iPhone as well) - i.e. no 3D bathymetry. I think the Nexus One should be able to handle the Ocean (at least as an option). Although, I guess only a small percentage of users would need or want that, so it's a reasonable performance impacting constraint.
4) Another feature I was hoping to see would be the ability to load a KML file so you could put your own content on the phone. I found no way to do this with this version. I suspect the Nexus One could handle most reasonable sized KML files just fine. Since it can do the roads layer, I'm sure it could show GPS tracks and other common KML files. I'm sure a future release will do this.
Despite my hopes for more, I'm thrilled to again have GE available on the phone. GE on a phone can be very handy while traveling!
Posted by mickmel at 7:59 AM
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February 22, 2010
The tallest buildings in the world
With Google releasing new 3D imagery almost every week, urban sightseeing in Google Earth is getting better and better.
Last month we mentioned the opening of the Burj Khalifa, so we thought it was probably time to look at more of the world's tallest buildings.
1. Burj Khalifa: 828m KML - 3DWH
Burj Khalifa, formerly known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m. Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010.
2. Taipei 101: 509m KML - 3DWH
Taipei 101, also known as the Taipei Financial Center, is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The building was the world's tallest (with occupiable floors) until it was surpassed in height by the Burj Khalifa on July 21, 2007. The skyscraper was officially the tallest building until the opening of the Burj Khalifa on the 4th of January 2010.
3. Shanghai World Financial Center: 492m KML - 3DWH
The Shanghai World Financial Center located in Pudong, Shanghai, China. It is a mixed use skyscraper which consists of offices, hotels, conference rooms, observation decks, and shopping malls on the ground floors. On 14 September 2007 the skyscraper was topped out at 492.0 meters (1,614.2 ft) and became the second-tallest building in the world; as well as the tallest structure in the People's Republic of China, including Hong Kong.
4. International Commerce Centre: 483m KML - 3DWH
The International Commerce Centre is a 118 floor skyscraper under construction in West Kowloon, Hong Kong; as part of the Union Square project built on top of Kowloon Station. The development is owned and jointly developed by MTR Corporation Limited and Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hong Kong's metro operator and largest property developer respectively. Its formal development name is Union Square Phase 7 and the name International Commerce Centre was officially announced in 2005. International Commerce Centre will be completed in phases: from 2007 to 2010.
5. Petronas Towers: 452m KML - 3DWH
The Petronas Twin Towers, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are twin towers and were the world's tallest buildings before being surpassed by Taipei 101. However, the towers are still the tallest twin buildings in the world. They were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004 if measured from the level of the main entrance to the structural top, the original height reference used by the international organization Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat from 1969 (three additional height categories were introduced as the tower neared completion in 1996).
6. Nanjing Greenland Financial Center: 450m KML - 3DWH
The Nanjing Greenland Financial Center is a 450-metre (1,500 ft) supertall skyscraper currently topped-out in Nanjing, China completed in 2009. The 89-story building features office space and retail space in the lower section, and restaurants and a public observatory near the top, which is topped off with a spire. The tower's stepping is functional, helping separate these sections.
7. Willis Tower: 442m KML - 3DWH
Willis Tower, formerly named Sears Tower, is a 108-story 1,451 feet (442 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. At the time of its completion in 1973, it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the World Trade Center towers in New York. Currently, Willis Tower is the tallest building in the United States and the fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the world as well as the fifth tallest building in the world to the roof.
Although Sears' naming rights expired in 2003, the building continued to be called Sears Tower for several years. However, in March 2009 London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings, Ltd., agreed to lease a portion of the building and obtained the building's naming rights as part of the agreement. On July 16, 2009, at 10:00 am Central Time, the building was officially renamed Willis Tower.
8. Guangzhou West Tower: 440m KML - 3DWH
Guangzhou West Tower is a 103 story supertall skyscraper under construction at Zhujiang Avenue West in Tianhe District at Guangzhou, China. The building was topped out on 31 December 2008. Construction of Guangzhou West Tower, designed by Wilkinson Eyre, broke ground in December 2005. When complete in 2009, the building and its twin will become one of the tallest highrise buildings in Guangzhou and China, and will be used as a conference centre, hotel and office building. Floors 1 to 66 are planned to be used as office, floors 67 to 68 are mechanical equipment, floors 69 to 98 as hotel and in floor 99 and 100 there will be an observation deck. There is a hotel lobby on the 70th Floor.
9. Trump International Hotel and Tower: 423m KML - 3DWH
The Trump International Hotel and Tower, is a skyscraper condo-hotel in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The building, named after real estate developer Donald Trump, was designed by architect Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Bovis Lend Lease built the 92-story structure, which reached a height of 1,389 feet (423 m) including its spire, its roof topping out at 1,170 feet (360 m). It is adjacent to the main branch of the Chicago River, with a view of the entry to Lake Michigan beyond a series of bridges over the river. Trump announced in 2001 that the skyscraper would become the tallest building in the world, but after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the building plans were scaled back, and its design has undergone several revisions. When topped out in 2009 it became the second-tallest building in the United States after Chicago's Willis Tower. It is expected to be surpassed by the 1 World Trade Center in New York City in the middle of 2013, and by the on-hold Chicago Spire if completed. Trump Tower surpassed Chicago's John Hancock Center as the building with the world's highest residence above ground-level and held this title until the completion of the Burj Khalifa.
10. Jin Mao Tower: 421m KMLKML - 3DWH
The Jin Mao Tower is an 88-story landmark supertall skyscraper in the Lujiazui area of the Pudong district of Shanghai, People's Republic of China. It contains offices and the Shanghai Grand Hyatt hotel. Until 2007 it was the tallest building in the PRC, the fifth tallest in the world by roof height and the seventh tallest by pinnacle height. Along with the Oriental Pearl Tower, it is a centerpiece of the Pudong skyline. Its height was surpassed on September 14, 2007 by the Shanghai World Financial Center which is next to the building.
It's quite a collection of buildings, and all of them look amazing in Google Earth. What your favorite man-made structures in Google Earth?
Posted by mickmel at 8:46 AM
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February 19, 2010
A bit more 3D to play with
A couple of noteworthy 3D-related items:
• Beautiful 3D model of the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort: CyberCity 3D, who we mentioned yesterday for their 3D coverage in Chula Vista, has revealed a 3D model of the Sheraton Resort in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The quality of the building is quite remarkable. I like that they include trees in there, and I hope that someday soon Google will find a way to put 3D trees all over the earth. You can view the resort by using this KML file.
• Weekly 3D release from the 3D Warehouse: It doesn't appear that there are any new cities this time, but they've added more models that users have built using SketchUp and Building Maker. Check and see if your creations are in there!
Posted by mickmel at 6:14 AM
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February 18, 2010
Links: Google I/O 2010, The Spaceport Field Guide, Chula Vista in 3D
What to expect at Google I/O 2010: Google is starting to unveil some of what can be expected at Google I/O 2010, coming in May. If you're considering attending the event, check out their list of sessions and see what you think.
The Spaceport Field Guide: The Spaceport Field Guide (SpFG) is a Google Earth-compatible file developed by SpaceWorks Commercial that provides a database of worldwide launch sites and associated facilities. The tool offers information about global spaceports including location, current and potential facilities, current and potential launch vehicles, and a rating of operational readiness (as defined by a Spaceport Readiness Level or SpRL). You can learn more on their website, or download the KML file here.
Chula Vista in 3D: The folks at CtyberCity 3D have just pushed their 3D models for Chula Vista, California into Google Earth. Like many of their other models (San Francisco, for example), these models are all gray. However, the 3,300 buildings are architecturally correct down to six inches, making for some pretty detailed models. Here's a KML file to fly you straight there.
Posted by mickmel at 9:01 AM
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February 17, 2010
Want to work for the Google Earth Enterprise team?
Google has a few openings on the Google Earth team, and has asked us to share them with you since you're some of the biggest Google Earth geeks around!
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Do you fondly remember the first ever Maps Mashup (housingmaps.com) and were you posting KMLs to the Keyhole BBS circa 2005? Are you a neocartographer with awesome web development and Java skills, who is interested in applying them to help Enterprise organizations build sophisticated business critical mapping applications? Did you always wonder what became of the awesome Keyhole Enterprise technology, and do get excited when you think about possible Enterprise use cases of Google Earth and Maps?
If so then consider applying for one of the Geo Enterprise positions listed below. There's no better place to be!
• Enterprise Earth Sales Engineer - Mountain View
• Enterprise Technical Solutions/Support Engineer, Geospatial - Mountain View
• Enterprise Maps Sales Engineer - Mountain View
Posted by mickmel at 10:15 AM
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February 15, 2010
Vienna goes 3D
Late last week, Google pushed out 3D buildings for Vienna, Austria. I played with it over the weekend, and it's amazing! I don't know the exact numbers, but I'd guess that it's among the best 3D coverage of any city on the planet. I was floored by the level of detail in Milan a few months ago, but I'm pretty sure that Vienna is even more widely covered.
I highly recommend that you check it out for yourself. Here is a KML to fly directly there, or enjoy this brief video that Google has put together:
Of all of the 3D cities that Google has added to Google Earth, which one is your favorite (and why)?
Posted by mickmel at 9:38 AM
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The newest imagery is sometimes "historical"
Though it may seem contrary to conventional wisdom, Google doesn't always put the newest imagery in the main layer of Google Earth. There are numerous instances when you'll find the newest imagery for a particular location in the "historical imagery" layer, while the default layer has slightly older imagery. For example, take a look at this golf course just outside of London. The current imagery was captured on March 5, 2006, but you can find historical imagery of the same location that's dated May 24, 2009. Why does this happen?
Frank discussed this briefly last year, but to really find the answer we need to go back to 2007 -- two years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Immediately after the hurricane hit, Google updated imagery of the area to reflect the damage, similar to what's they've done recently in Haiti. However, in March 2007, people began to notice that Google "updated" the imagery of the area with pre-hurricane photos. People were very upset about this, and it quickly became a national story.
Google's response was that "The previous imagery was directly after the storm struck, and was of inferior quality. Although the imagery of New Orleans is from pre-Katrina now, it is of better quality." While that was certainly true, Google did the smart thing and restored New Orleans with post-hurricane imagery a few days later.
Google continues to use this method (best imagery in favor of newer imagery), though I'm sure they are more cautious about adjusting imagery for sensitive areas. The imagery in the current layer is always what they consider to be the best for each area -- it's often the newest, but it also has to look sharp, be as cloud-less as possible, and have the overall color closely match the surrounding area. If you're looking for the absolute newest imagery for a particular location, be sure to check the historical imagery; it might have what you're looking for.
Posted by mickmel at 8:00 AM
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February 12, 2010
Links: KML2KML 3.0, new Building Maker cities, finding Home Plate
KML2KML 3.0.0 -- We first mentioned the KML2KML tool a while back after they released version 2.1. They've now released version 3 with a number of solid enhancements. If you have to do any complex KML tasks (regioning, splitting files, etc), this is a very useful tool.
More Cites in Building Maker -- Google continues to add cities to the very popular Building Maker tool. This time they've added five more cities, bringing the total to 71. The new cities are:
- Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Melbourne, Australia
- Stuttgart, Germany
Finding Home Plate at Seals Stadium -- In 1959, the San Francisco Seals baseball stadium was torn down. It had been home to greats such as Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays, but didn't survive after the Giants moved to Candlestick Park. Using Google Earth's Historical Imagery tool, Todd Lappin was able to determine the location of the old Seals home plate inside of the Office Depot that was later built on the old stadium grounds. Through rather unscientific methods, Todd was able to mark home plate on the ground inside Office Depot, right next to Aisle 6 (PC department). It's a fun, creative use of the historical imagery layer.
Posted by mickmel at 8:58 AM
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February 11, 2010
The Vancouver Olympics in Google Earth
The 2010 Winter Olympics are upon us, and Google Earth will show you around the venues with a wide variety of excellent tools.
As part of the most recent StreetView update, Google has captured imagery from on top of Whistler, the ski resort where the Games will be taking place. The imagery was captured using the new "Street View snowmobile". Here's a quick video to show how it works:
More on the snowmobile can be found on Engadget, TechCrunch and Google's own Lat Long Blog.
Of course, part of the joy of Google Earth is being able to fly around and see things for yourself. In preparation for the Olympics, Google has added a lot of great stuff to Vancouver to make it quite an experience in Google Earth. The city was given the 3D treatment early in 2009 and all of the Olympic venues were added in 3D a few months ago. Then they came back a few weeks ago with more updates to the 3D venues, leaving us with some awesome models to play with.
You can see all of the main venues by browsing the 2010 Winter Olympics collection in the 3D warehouse, or by browsing this collection I created on Earthswoop.
There's also the 20 robotic searchlights that Vectorial Elevation has put up in Vancouver, which create huge "light sculptures" in the night sky. You can design your own sculpture using Google Earth or Google Maps, and the best ones will be used.
The last thing to explore is the New York Times Olympic Venue map. While it doesn't use Google Earth, it's an impressive 3D interactive tour of the various venues, and certainly worth checking out.
Posted by mickmel at 9:50 AM
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February 10, 2010
The world's highest mountains
Google Sightseeing has an interesting article about Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador, and how it can make a claim to being the world's highest mountain. While it's not further above sea level than Mount Everest, it's actually further from the center of the earth (and closer to the moon) than Everest because of the equatorial bulge.
Of course, mountains are always measured relative to sea level, so this doesn't really count. However, it gives us a good excuse to check out some of the largest mountains on the planet, all of which look stunning in Google Earth. Here's the five largest mountains, as measured by distance above sea level:
1. Mount Everest - 8,848 meters - KML
2. K2 - 8,611 meters - KML
3. Kangchenjunga - 8,586 meters - KML
4. Lhotse - 8,516 meters - KML
5. Makalu - 8,485 meters - KML
And even though it's not in the official top 5 list, we should also show off Mount Chimborazo, the "tallest" mountain in the world (KML)
If you enjoy checking out the mountains in Google Earth, here are a few more resources you'll find useful:
• Google Earth Cool Places: Mountains and Volcanoes
• Google Sightseeing: Natural Landmarks
• Google Earth Hacks: Mountains, Volcanoes
Are there any particularly awesome mountains in Google Earth that you're fond of? Let us know in the comments.
Posted by mickmel at 8:19 AM
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February 9, 2010
New Google Earth Imagery - February 9
Hot on the heels of last night's StreetView update, we find ourselves with a bunch of fresh imagery to enjoy, too! Ottawa, Canada and parts of Ireland have been updated, among others. See the bottom of this post for the full (and oft-updated) list.
[UPDATE 10-FEB -- The "updated areas" KML file is now available. Download it here.]
As always, you can use Google Maps to determine for sure whether or not a specific area is fresh. This new imagery isn't in Google Maps yet, so you can compare Earth vs. Maps to see what's new; the fresh imagery is already in Google Earth, but the old imagery is still in Google Maps. If you compare the two side-by-side and they're not identical, that means that you've found a freshly updated area in Google Earth!
[UPDATED -- 9-Feb, 6:08pm EST]
- Canada: Ottawa area (thanks 'Justin')
- China: Some areas in the south (thanks 'jonas91')
- Haiti: Imagery in the Port au Prince area is now from January 25 (thanks 'Munden')
- Ireland: Strip through parts of longford, westmeath, offaly and laois. Parts of donegal. East Kerry (area around Farranfore). Strip in east Limerick/ north Tippeary. (thanks 'rm')
- Poland: Various areas (thanks 'Dawud')
- United States: Porterville, CA and surrounding area (thanks 'Gary')
I'm sure there are many others, so if you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know.
Posted by mickmel at 3:44 PM
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February 8, 2010
StreetView added to Norway and Finland; many other updates elsewhere
Google has just pushed out a ton of new imagery in StreetView, including:
Canada: Great new imagery for the Olympics, using a special StreetView-equipped snowmobile!
Norway: All new
Finland: All new
Canada: More added, primarily in Saskatchewan and Alberta, possibly more in Quebec and Ontario.
Mexico: Various locations
UK: Various locations
USA: Alaska, Illinois (updated imagery in Chicago)
It's quite likely that other imagery has been added as well, but we haven't discovered it yet. If you haven't used StreetView in Google Earth yet, here's a quick tutorial on how to access it.
A couple of highlights from the imagery so far:
If you find any other areas that have new StreetView imagery in this update, please leave a comment and let us know.
Nod to 'Munden' at Google Earth Hacks for being the first to discover the new imagery.
Posted by mickmel at 11:35 PM
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Where 2.0 2010 coming in March; Discount for GEB Readers
For the past few years (2009, 2008, 2007, 2006), Frank has attended the Where 2.0 conference. I had the pleasure of attending with him in 2007 and we had a great time. Now that he's busy sailing around beautiful places like Bonaire, I'll be taking his place this year.
Where 2.0 happening March 30-April 1, 2010 at the San Jose Marriott in San Jose, California. Where 2.0 brings together the people, projects, and issues building the new technological foundations and creating value in the location industry. Developers, technologists, CTOs, researchers, geographers, academics, business developers, and entrepreneurs come together to debate what's viable now, and what's lurking just below the radar. Register before February 9 and save $300. Take an additional 25% off when using discount code: whr10ge
I recently had a chance to speak with Brady Forrest, Program Chair for Where 2.0, to talk about some of what we can expect at this years event.
You can find the full list of speakers on this page, but here are a few that he felt were worth pointing out:
• Dennis Crowley from FourSquare, Josh Williams from Gowalla and Jeremy Stoppelman from Yelp will all be there. Many people expect location-based services to explode in 2010, and these three companies are leading the way. Increasingly interesting game mechanics are expected to be developed this year, as turning these services into a more game-like experience will help to draw in more casual users.
• Speaking of Twitter, Elad Gil, Raffi Krikorian and Othman Laraki will be there. Of note is Ryan Sarver, formerly of Skyhook Wireless, who will be speaking on the "Increasing Usefulness of Location Data Geostreams".
• John Hanke of Google will be there. In the past, Google has been known to release some major developments at Where 2.0, such as the release of StreetView in 2007. No word on any big announcements, but it's always a possibility.
• Blaise Agüera y Arcas, the "Architect of Bing Maps" and the creator of Photosynth will be there to discuss user-generated and crowdsourced maps.
• Sean Askay, who created the very impressive "Map the Fallen" KML will be discussing his work on that project.
There are literally dozens of other speakers and events, and it should be a great week. If you plan on attending, leave a comment or send me an email and we can try to meet up. Hope to see you there!
Posted by mickmel at 7:21 AM
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February 5, 2010
Google Earth in Microsoft Flight Simulator
Google I/O 2010 is coming in May, but we're already starting to hear about some of the neat projects that will be unveiled there.
The first one is called GEVision, from the guys at PlanetInAction, which is trying to evolve into a 3D scenery engine. Their initial goal is to use Google Earth as the scenery in Microsoft Flight Simulator: "In the past various attempts had been made to use Google Earth scenery instead of the one included in Microsoft Flight Simulator FSX. Yet due to limitations in the interface technology this has never been fully achieved. GEVision is a new project that will enable the use of Google Earth as a full blown 3D scenery engine."
There have been some integrations of MS Flight Sim and Google Earth in the past, but nothing to this extent. Previous integrations include a version that used Google Earth as an overhead map and an idea to take Flight Sim Scenery and use it in Google Earth.
Over the past few years Google Earth imagery, combined with improved terrain quality and more 3D buildings, has blown past the quality found in Microsoft Flight Sim. The only real downside would be less realistic airports (MS Flight Sim does a great job with those), but that is improving with each new imagery update as well. On the flip side, Google Earth has a built-in flight simulator, but it's not nearly as full-featured as the one made by Microsoft. Combining the best of both could create something pretty neat.
The video below shows the vast quality difference between Google Earth and MS Flight Simulator X:
If you'd like more information about how to use the Google Earth Plug-in in a desktop application, this page should help. GEVision is expected to unveil some type of public release at Google I/O, so we're looking forward to seeing what comes out of it.
If you know of other neat projects coming at I/O, send me an email and let me know about it.
Posted by mickmel at 8:59 AM
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February 4, 2010
Some parts of the ocean are now high-resolution
We mentioned it briefly a few days ago, and Google has now released some of that new data for the ocean in Google Earth.
As Google explains in their blog, most of the underwater terrain is generated use satellite extrapolations of water surface height. This technique has allowed them to create the undersea terrain for most of the planet, but it's rather low-resolution.
However, a handful of organizations are able to collect high-resolution data using other techniques, and some of that data is now available in Google Earth. This data is collected using echosounding sonar from ships, and it much more detailed than the standard ocean terrain in Google Earth.
This new data has come from a variety of sources, including:
- The Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping - Joint Hydrographic Center
- The Living Oceans Society
- The California State University at Monterey Bay
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)
Google has produced a short undersea tour to show off some of the new terrain. Download it and check it out. They'll continue to add more data as time goes on, so the data and imagery will keep improving over time.
Posted by mickmel at 8:15 AM
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February 3, 2010
New updates to the historical imagery
A sharp-eyed reader ('Sladys') has pointed out that more historical imagery has been added to Google Earth. In particular, it seems that a lot of imagery from 1943 has been added to Germany, France and Italy.
Some of the specific cites found with updates so far include:
Germany: Hamburg, Augsburg, Nuremberg, Freiburg, Koblenz Dortmund, Lübeck, Kiel, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Frankfurt/Main, Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Bamberg, Regensburg, Göttingen, Kehl, Magdeburg, Dessau, Leipzig, Dresden and more of Berlin.
France: Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Lyon.
Italy: Torino, Florence, Naples, Bologna, Rome.
Fresh historical can be difficult to find, as there's no good technique for searching out the new additions. You simply need to be familiar with the available imagery for a particular reason and recognize when new imagery becomes available.
Assuming this imagery is indeed fresh (which it seems to be, but we can't prove), Google will likely put out a blog post about it like they did for the new Berlin imagery back in November of last year. [UPDATE 4-Feb: Google has now posted about this imagery in two new blog entries: WWII historical imagery and Spotlight on Warsaw.]
To view any of the historical imagery in Google Earth, you can view this short guide that Frank created when the feature first arrived.
If you come across any other historical imagery that you think was recently added to Google Earth, leave a comment and let us know.
Posted by mickmel at 8:48 AM
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February 2, 2010
A Climate Change Tour of Cold Places
Over the past few years, The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has built some impressive Google Earth files, such as the Wilkins Ice Shelf Collapse.
They've now released a project titled "A Climate Change Tour of Cold Places", which was created as a collaboration with the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education. The 12 minute tour is narrated, and features a variety of photos and videos along the way. They call it a "tour of the snowy and icy regions of the world covering sea ice, glaciers, ice shelves, and permafrost".
You can download the KML of the tour here. For details about the data behind the tour, they have a comprehensive data sheet available. For more information, simply visit their site.
Posted by mickmel at 9:18 AM
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February 1, 2010
Links: Offline Installer for Google Earth, Better Ocean Visualizations, Updates to 3D Warehouse and Building Maker
Offline installer for Google Earth: When you normally install Google Earth, it downloads a small file to your computer and then downloads the main package as part of the setup process. That's not a bad thing, but can be frustrating if you would like to save the installer for other use, such as installations on a few computers at once. This simple guide shows you how to do it.
Better Ocean Visualizations: [UPDATE: 3-Feb: Google now has an official post about this new data] Google and NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) have teams up to help push more ocean data into Google Earth. According to Wired, The partnership will include porting more ocean depth, climate and other scientific data into Google Earth as well as providing online access to zoning and regulatory information near the coasts.
More information about this can be found on the NOAA News site.
Updates to the 3D Warehouse and Building Maker: Google has just pushed out a few nice updates to the 3D Warehouse and Building Maker that make them easier to use. In particular, rejected submissions to the 3D Warehouse get more informative messages (not just the generic "Processing Failed") and Building Maker submissions are automatically checked for "Incomplete Texturing" when you submit them, so you can correct the error immediately instead of having to wait for a message from the team.
Posted by mickmel at 6:27 AM
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