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March 31, 2010
Where 2.0 - Day 2: Part 2
(don't forget to read part 1 of today's activities)
First up in this session we had Michael Arrington of TechCrunch and Tim O'Reilly. These two were fairly entertaining, but didn't talk about geo much at all. Quite a bit about search, and some about Michael's fear of Facebook.
That was followed by Othman Laraki of Twitter. He showed many examples of how geo has been used with Twitter over the last few years, even when it wasn't explicitly capturing lat/lon. Some examples were James Buck's famous "arrested" tweet, and the Atlanta Gas Shortage (#atlgas) in 2008.
After Othman we heard from Michael Halbherr of Nokia. They're doing some cool stuff with their handheld maps. In particular, their Ovi Maps (turn-by-turn navigation) are now completely free and becoming very popular. Since their launch on January 19, they've been averaging nearly 100,000 downloads per day.
Lastly was Dennis Crowley of foursquare. He recognizes that tools like foursquare are used much more often when game elements are included, which explains the variety of badges and other toys in foursquare.
Also in this session Matt Gallaga officially released SimpleGeo, a place to host all of your geodata.
After lunch, I checked out "The Big Picture from the Big Players". This was a discussion moderated by Danny Sullivan of SearchEngineLand, with a panel including:
• Dylan Smith of Yelp
• Blaise Aguera y Arcas of Bing Maps
• John Hanke, VP of Geo at Google
• Tom Wales of Yahoo Local
Some highlights:
- Hanke and Aguera both felt that small businesses were moving to the web quickly, but that it was still in its relative infancy.
- Fake reviews on sites like Yelp are a big problem, but with solutions out there. Hanke feels that larger crowds will help drown out self-promotion, and Aguera thinks that check-in models like foursquare will help grant ranking and authority factors to users, similar to the algorithms that rank web pages today. Wales says that even with some issues, the value is still worth it.
- When check-ins were added to Yelp, they saw a 4x increase in photo uploads.
- On how smartphones are changing things: Smith says on the web, Yelp can tell you "what's good to eat in San Francisco" and that's adequate. On a phone, you want to know what's good right here.
- Hanke says that most new features in Google Earth and Google Maps are used by less than 5% of the users.
Nothing groundbreaking, but a lot of good insights. After that session, I had a chance to ride in a Google Earth-equipped Audi, and a video of that is coming later this evening.
Tomorrow's schedule looks to be solid, with topics behind led by people from DigitalGlobe, GoWalla, Facebook and others.
Posted by mickmel at 10:29 PM
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March 26, 2010
Bow waves for more realistic-looking ships
The folks at PlanetInAction have created some cool applications for Google Earth, including "Ships" and the "Apollo Moon Lander".
They've now released a seemly simple enhancement for Ships, but it's something that has taken a great deal of time and research - bow waves. You've probably seen the waves coming off of boats before, but the physics behind them are quite complex. You can read all about it on their site, as it's really quite interesting.
You can also check out this video that they've produced that show the waves in action:
Posted by mickmel at 6:58 AM
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Capetown goes 3D
Google has just pushed out their 3D buildings for the week, including another new city - Capetown, South Africa.
Check it out for yourself -- fly there with this kml file
.
Posted by mickmel at 6:36 AM
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March 25, 2010
3dBizMap launches first city - El Segundo, CA
A few days ago, CyberCity 3D unveiled 3DBizMap, a slick way to showcase your city using the Google Earth Plug-in.
Today, they're unveiling the first city that's using the technology: El Segundo, CA.
This could be a great feature to add to any website focused on a particular city -- government sites, travel, etc. It's quite slick.
In the case of El Segundo, they've added a variety of layers to the 5,166 3D models in the city to showcase business listings, city news, and even embedded YouTube videos.
You can check out their blog for more info, or below is the full text of their press release from this morning:
El Segundo, CA- CyberCity 3D announced today the launch of 3DBizMap.com for El Segundo, CA--the first scalable, web-based, economic development portal designed to assist city and urban growth efforts.
CyberCity 3D, a 3D-geospatial application service provider headquartered in El Segundo, CA, built this innovative web portal utilizing 3D buildings, city information, and business content to display on Google Earth™ through the Google Earth™ API plug-in.
The 3DBizMap can be used to attract new businesses, enhance and promote a city, and provide current businesses with local marketing and advertising opportunities. Key features of the City of El Segundo site (www.3dbizmap.com/elsegundo) include: 5,166 3D city models and building customization, business listings, business search, links to business websites, "real time" building space availability, video through YouTube™, and up-to-date city news.
"3D is a groundbreaking approach that not only showcases our existing businesses and amenities, but entices prospective, new enterprises to come here," said El Segundo Assistant City Manager Bill Crowe. "What better way to promote El Segundo, 'The City That Invests in You'."
CyberCity 3D customizes its engaging, template-based 3DBizMap.com websites for each city, creating a geospatial 3D city model that's deployed on Public Google Earth™ through the Google Earth™ API plug-in. It then hosts the website portal that integrates city business data on the 3D built environment on www.3DBizMap.com/cityname. Hosting services include database management and updates as well as monthly city data reports that provide portal search and link histories.
The business map portal is a logical extension of CyberCity 3D's business, extending city map data to web 3D environments.
"Our 3D portals visually represent each city in an engaging and immersive way," states Jackie Murphy, CyberCity 3D's Director of Product Management. "The 3DBizMap gives cities the opportunity to be innovative in delivering their city data to the public."
Posted by mickmel at 7:52 AM
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March 24, 2010
The Points of Interest return!
Last week, Google made a variety of changes to the "Points of Interest" area in Google Earth. While the changes featured a number of improvements, they also removed a variety of features. That blog entry was one of the most-commented ever on GEB, with well over 100 comments from users expressing their displeasure.
Google was quick to respond, offering apologizes and promising to fix the issues "shortly". I'm pleased to announce that the fix is here!
Google has combined a few things to come up with the current solution. They've left the new "Points of Interest" button in place, but they've added granular POI control underneath the "More" section in a new group titled "Place Categories", as seen to the right. This allows novice users to simply choose the smart/generic "Points of Interest" layer, while advanced users can choose precise items from the new controls. In addition, you can now once again expand the "Labels" folder to select "Populated Places", "Islands", etc.
The "Transportation" layers aren't back yet, but they're working on those. In addition, they invite you to submit your suggestions on how they can further improve these layers.
Posted by mickmel at 5:10 PM
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March 23, 2010
New Google Earth Imagery - March 23
There is new imagery starting to appear in Google Earth. Only a few places have been located so far, but there are certainly more out there.
[UPDATE 25-MAR -- The "updated areas" KML file is now available. Download it here.]
As is often the case, 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-March, 8:36pm EST]
- Agentina: Resistencia, Chaco - Thanks 'pertile'
- Antarctica: Various - Thanks 'Rider'
- Brazil: Porto Alegre and south of Alegrete, RS - Thanks 'Rafael'
- France: Apt, Carpentras, Questembert - Thanks 'jlb'
- Norway: Ålesun and Stavanger - Thanks 'brano' and 'Maggern'
- Romania: Craiova - Thanks 'twist3'
- United States: California (Riverside), Florida (Palm Beach County) and Texas (Odessa, Tyler) - Thanks 'Andreas' and 'Andrew'
If you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know!
Posted by mickmel at 12:30 PM
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March 22, 2010
About the changes to the "Places of Interest" layer
A few days ago, we showed you some changes that Google had made to the Places of Interest layer in Google Earth. 100+ comments later, it was clear that most of you are unhappy with the changes that were made. The good news is that Google is listening.
Below is a brief statement I just received from Matt Holden, Product Manager on the Earth Team.
-------------------
On March 19, we made some changes to the Google Earth layers panel intended to make browsing easier, particularly for casual users of Google Earth. While we're excited about our new "Places of Interest" layer, with more descriptive icons, we've heard many complaints from some of our most loyal users and acknowledge that we made some mistakes in this release, which we are working to address as soon as possible. In particular, we realize we have taken away some important features, and we are working on returning those to our users shortly.
We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your feedback.
Matt Holden
Product Manager
Google Earth Team
Posted by mickmel at 7:04 PM
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Google Earth finally coming to Sudan, Iran and Cuba
For years now, users in Sudan, Iran and Cuba have been unable to download Google Earth. Loading up the page to do so would give them this error message:
The reason was US export restrictions, which Ogle Earth talked about back in 2007. However, a few weeks ago the US lifted those restrictions for some countries. Does that mean Google Earth is now available for those users?
The answer is "not yet, but soon". Ogle Earth has the full story, but it sounds like Google Earth will be available in Sudan, Iran and Cuba in the near future, which is good news for everyone.
Posted by mickmel at 10:16 AM
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A fun Google Earth video for you
Last year, the guys at College Humor created a fun video about the "team" that captures imagery for StreetView. Now they've released one about those same two guys capturing imagery for Google Earth.
It's a pretty cute video. For those that are interested in how imagery really gets into Google Earth, you can read Frank's post about that from last March.
Posted by mickmel at 10:01 AM
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March 19, 2010
Google enhances the "Places of Interest" layer
Google has just made some changes to the organization of the Layers in Google Earth, as seen below:
The biggest change involves the "Places of Interest". Not only did it move from the bottom of the list to nearly the top, but it's undergone some major changes. In the previous version, it had a huge list of subitems you could select. Those are gone, in favor of a single checkbox.
Google has also redone the icons in Google Earth, as well as the way they appear. When you're high in the air viewing an area, you'll only see icons for major attractions (stadiums, museums, airports, etc). As you zoom in closer, you'll see smaller items, such as restaurants and and hotels. There are still a lot of items that show up in the middle of the street, but hopefully people will continue to reposition the markers to make things more precise.
Other changes in the list include:
• Panoramio getting top-level treatment instead of being buried in "Geographic web".
• Traffic moved from the top-level into the "More" category.
• Quite a bit of reordering (see the screenshot above).
This is the first major change to the Layers list in quite a while, and it seems like it was very well-planned. What do you think of the changes?
[Update 22-March, Google has responded to your concerns about these changes]
Posted by mickmel at 3:53 PM
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March Madness in Google Earth
Google has just created a few files to help show off the venues for this year's NCAA Basketball Tournament. All of the venues in this tournament are in 3D in Google Earth and are quite impressive to view.
You can view them all by downloading this KMZ file, or you can view them all in a special MyMap that they've created. In addition, you can view the 14 venues by downloading this KML tour or browsing them all in EarthSwoop.
Posted by mickmel at 10:03 AM
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GEB app now available on Android
Earlier this year, we showed you the iPhone app that we had created. We're pleased to announce that our Android app is now available too!
The app is very similar to the iPhone app -- it shows you our recent entries, videos and Tweets. Once again, we thank MotherApp for making it possible.
If you have an Android-powered phone (Droid, Nexus One, etc), you can find the app from the Android Market on your phone. Give it a shot and let us know what you think!
Posted by mickmel at 9:47 AM
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March 18, 2010
Remarkable 3D models in Spain
Here's a quick video tour of some new 3D models in San Sebastian-Donostia, Spain, created by SketchUp user Gipuzkoa3d. He built the movie, which shows off models that he and others have created.
Update: The video was removed from YouTube (I have no idea why), but you can still view the awesome models using the KML file below.
To get there you can search for "San Sebastian-Donostia, Spain" in Google Earth, or just use this KML file.
Posted by mickmel at 8:15 AM
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March 17, 2010
Searching for gold in Google Earth
If you ever like to pan for gold, a new tool might be able to help you out. Using a U.S. Department of Interior database, Gold Maps Online has created a variety of KML files to help highlight areas where gold is currently being found.
From their site:
This map can be viewed as a near real-time look at America's active gold deposits. It's near real-time because gold mining claim holders are required to pay annual fees to maintain ownership. They wouldn't do that if they weren't finding gold on the property. This is a map of where prospectors are finding gold in 2010.
The maps aren't free, but you have a few good options. You can try a free sample map to see what it looks like. If you'd like another state, simply contact them and mention GEB and they'll give it to you for free!
These maps are quite well done and could be rather valuable if you happen to be planning a search for gold.
Posted by mickmel at 6:25 AM
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March 16, 2010
A Google Earth flight sim with an iPhone controller
If you're fortunate enough to own a Mac and an iPhone, you can try out a slick new flight sim for Google Earth called "EarthGlider". Combined with their iPhone app ("Flype"), you can control your flight sim using the tilt controls built into the iPhone!
Once installed, you can tilt the iPhone in any direction and your plane on the Mac will do likewise. You can also use the iPhone screen to choose your starting location, adjust speed, and other tweaks.
The Mac software is free, though the iPhone software will set you back $3.99. If you're a fan of flight sims, that is certainly a small price to pay. Here is a video of the software in action:
You can find Flype in the App Store and you can download EarthGlider from their site. While it's only available for Mac, a Windows version is in the works.
Here's another brief video showing it off:
If you try it out, leave a comment and let us know what you think of it.
Posted by mickmel at 8:55 AM
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March 15, 2010
Cities getting dressed up for the Google cameras
Since Google Earth was released, we've seen a number of cases where companies and individuals have prepared something special for the satellites. We had the Firefox Crop Circle, the Maxim magazine cover and there are literally thousands of logos and other items that are visible from above.
Now that Google StreetView is getting so popular, cities are trying to look their best for those Google cameras. Of particular note is Windsor, Canada, which has been looking really bad in StreetView. When the Google cars first captured the city, they caught it in the midst of a labor dispute, which resulted in images of trash in parks, overgrown sports fields and other ugliness. Worse yet, Google captured crime tape and bloody bandages outside of a lounge where someone had been recently murdered. Google was willing to remove the murder scene, but has yet to revisit to fix the less important issues.
Windsor councillor Ron Jones has even indicated that the city would help pay the bill for Google to come back and reshoot. While I understand why they'd want to do that, I can't imagine Google would go for it. If they paid, they'd presumably know exactly when the cars would be coming by and could get ready for it. This would certainly lead other cities to request the same treatment, as virtually every city could do some things to look nice if they knew the exact timing of the StreetView cars.
Posted by mickmel at 9:42 AM
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March 12, 2010
A big week for 3D buildings; Five new cities added
Google typically releases a city or two with each 3D buildings update, but this week they dropped five on us! The new 3D cities are:
• Barcelona, Spain
• Bloemfontein, South Africa
• Port Elizabeth, South Africa
• Pretoria, South Africa
• Mulhouse, France
Not only is this a larger number of cities, but the quality of some of the buildings is remarkable. For example, look at this building in Mulhouse; the quality of the imagery used on the building is amazing.
At first I thought maybe it was a separate model that was created by hand in SketchUp. However, those buildings are clickable so you can see the details about it, and this one isn't. In fact, much of the city is in this same sharp quality. I then assumed they used StreetView imagery to model the facades, like they did in some California cities late last year. The imagery doesn't quite match up (the StreetView images of the building shows flowers in many of the windows), but that could still be the case. Perhaps they used older StreetView imagery to help create the models? Regardless, they did a superb job and they look great.
The other city you need to take a close look at is Barcelona. The coverage there is quite remarkable as well. You can read about it on the Google Lat Long Blog, or watch this view tour that Google created to help show it off. Enjoy the cities!
Posted by mickmel at 9:41 AM
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How Fredericton, Canada went 3D
Google has posted the story of Fredericton, Canada, and how they became a 3D city in Google Earth.
By using the Cities in 3D program, the City of Fredericton was able to get more than 100 3D buildings added to Google Earth back in January. The building are very well-done and quite detailed, and you can see a fly-through of the city here:
For more information, you can read the full blog entry, visit Google's Cities in 3D page, or fly to Fredericton yourself by using this KML file.
Posted by mickmel at 9:28 AM
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March 11, 2010
New StreetView imagery - March 11
Google has just released what appears to be another substantial batch of StreetView imagery. Thanks to a few tips (thanks 'Duncan' and 'Munden'), we know about a lot of areas already.
Updated areas include: [UPDATED 8:51am EST, 11-March]
• Hong Kong and Macau: Details
• Northern Ireland
• Japan
• Netherlands
• UK: Leicester and Leicestershire, among others.
You can browse StreetView using the normal Google Maps interface, but don't forget that you can also use StreetView inside of Google Earth.
If you know of any more updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know!
Posted by mickmel at 8:55 AM
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March 10, 2010
Use StreetView to make Points of Interest more precise
For a long time now, my biggest complaint about the points of interest (restaurants, car dealers, etc) in Google Earth and Google Maps was that they weren't accurate enough. They were close, but not precise. Google has already provided tools to help place markers more accurately, but now you can use StreetView to put them right on the buildings!
The process is quite simple. First, click on a marker, then click "more", then click "Move marker", as seen below:
After you do that, you'll be presented with a split screen. Move the marker on the map or in the StreetView window to place it as accurately as possible.
Be sure to save you changes and you're done! Over time, this will help to make the layers in Google Earth considerably more accurate.
In a sad twist of fate, we've also learned that Google may stop updating their StreetView imagery in Europe. Google and the European Union continue to disagree on the length of time that Google should hold the unblurred imagery in storage, which has lead Google's Michael Jones to say:
"I think we would consider whether we want to drive through Europe again, because it would make the expense so draining," Michael Jones, Google's chief technology advocate and founder of Google Earth, said in an interview at the Cebit Technology Fair in Hanover.
At this point it seems unlikely that Google would stop capturing StreetView imagery over there, but the possibility now exists that they might.
Posted by mickmel at 8:06 AM
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March 9, 2010
Playing games in Google Earth
Since Google Earth was first released, a variety of people (including myself) have looked for ways to use it for gaming. While it will never be a true gaming platform, there are still some fun choices out there to play with. Here are a few of the best:
• The Flight Simulator: This was first unveiled with Google Earth 4.2, and it's a built-in feature of Google Earth. You can fly as either an F16 or an SR22, and start from a variety of airports around the world. Press CTRL-ALT-A (or Command+Option+A on Mac) to get started. This video gives a nice overview of the controls:
• GEWAR: One of the first games people thought of when Google Earth came out was "Risk". Playing that kind of game on the Google Earth platform would be pretty cool. It was something I chewed on for a while, but couldn't figure out how to make it work. Eventually I discovered a way to create dynamic network links and I created "GE War" in mid-2005. It was mostly a proof-of-concept game, but it became quite popular. I eventually handed the game off to some of the more active players, and they've been improving it ever since. You can check it out at GEWar.net, where they have nearly 80,000 registered players.
• Ships: Last year, PlanetInAction.com released a neat game simply titled "Ships". It gave you the ability to take the helm on 3D ships, and was very well done. Here's a video tour of the game:
• Apollo 11 Moon Lander: The same guys that brought you "Ships" also released the "Apollo 11 Moon Lander" game. It's a very simple game, but it's very well executed with 3D models, responsive controls, and audio taken directly from the Apollo missions.
Beyond those, there are a wide variety of other games you can play. A few more:
• GEMMO: A DND-style game.
• Mars Sucks: Blast aliens from your space ship.
• Milktruck Madness: Drive a milktruck around the earth. No scoring or lives (and really, no point to it), but it's quite fun.
• Football: An American-style football game.
Do you know of any others we've missed? Let us know in the comments.
Posted by mickmel at 10:25 AM
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March 8, 2010
Models and Maps for NC State Centennial
We've talked about Concept3D on here a few times in the past. They've modeled Tiger Woods' home in Sweden and Boston University, and they have a variety of ways to work with you on your own project.
Their latest is North Carolina State Centennial, and it's another spectacular piece of work.
You can check out their slick interface, which uses the Google Earth Plug-in and adds a variety of useful layers, by clicking this link. If you'd rather fly there in Google Earth and check it out, here is a KML file for you.
For even more, you can watch the two videos they've produced that show off the campus:
Posted by mickmel at 11:24 AM
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March 5, 2010
Frank's kite imagery of Petite Tabac is now in Google Earth
Back in January, we showed you the incredible photos that Frank took while visiting the island of Petite Tabac. You might recognize it as one of the islands used in "Pirates of the Caribbean", as seen below:
As part of the imagery update last week, Frank's photos were added to the primary layer in Google Earth!
If you look close (as seen in the image below), you'll see their dinghy ("Coconut") and you can see Frank standing on the beach just east of there!
Here is a KML file to fly you directly to the island so you can see it for yourself.
He also shot a pretty cool 360° panorama while he was there, which you can check out on his blog.
This isn't the first time his photos landed in Google Earth. Last November, some of his other kite imagery also made it into Google Earth.
Posted by mickmel at 8:30 AM
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March 4, 2010
Chile is updated with new(er) imagery
[UPDATE: 7:56pm EST, 4-March: This appears to be a standard imagery update, and not just focused on Chile. Details at the bottom of the post.]
It appears that Google is doing an imagery update of some kind, but we're not quite sure the extent of it yet. Thanks to GEB reader 'David' for discovering it.
If you look around parts of Chile (Talcahuano, Coronel, part of Concepcion, and Tome and then another tile around Pelluhue), you'll find newer imagery there. The imagery is very sharp and quite new, but it's from before the recent earthquakes. Most of it seems to be from September, 2009.
Also of interest is that the Google Maps imagery is already updated as well; we don't have the typical delay between Earth and Maps to compare what's new.
So what does this mean? I have two theories, but I'm open to others:
1. This is a routine imagery update that happens to include some imagery from Chile. The last update included some imagery from Chile, also from last September. Are there other places on the globe that have been updated? Let us know if you find any.
2. Google is preparing to release post-quake imagery, and they wanted to provide a more recent base layer for comparison. The imagery for much of Chile was up to five years old, so getting it caught up to 2009 is a solid improvement.
That's what we've got for now. If you find any other updated imagery, please leave a comment and let us know. Thanks!
[[ UPDATED INFO BELOW ]]
As many of you pointed out in the comments, this appears to have just been a standard imagery update. Their methods were a bit different (updating Google Maps immediately) and they've released the new Imagery Update KML already. It appears to be a somewhat small update, but still covers portions of many countries around the world. Check it out and see what kind of great stuff you can find!
Posted by mickmel at 5:40 PM
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Marine Scientists dive into Google Earth
Google has just released a pretty cool new tour that features the 2010 Pew Fellows in Marine Conservation.
This tour features the work of various Fellows, and it is narrated by Isabella Rossellini.
About the Pew Fellowship:
The prestigious fellowship is awarded each year to five outstanding global leaders or teams for working tirelessly to preserve and protect the world's oceans and marine species. For the next three years, these marine scientists will work on their original, research-based marine conservation project.
You can view the tour using the Google Earth Plug-in, or you can download the KML file to view it in Google Earth. More information can be found on www.pewmarinefellows.org.
Posted by mickmel at 9:22 AM
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March 3, 2010
Solving a murder with Google Earth
On January 24, 2006, Jennifer Kesse vanished. The police quickly determined that she was abducted, but nothing solid has turned up in the past four years. Not long after that, a website was set up to help spread information about the case.
A tip recently came in saying her body was buried in a field in Orlando, Florida. The police conducted a massive search of the field, but came up empty. The field is very large, about 15 acres, and the body could be anywhere in there.
During this time, users on her site discussed the new events and came to a stunning revelation: using Google Earth's historical imagery, they found an image from approximately one month after she disappeared. The image seems to show some promising information:
The area in question can be found here.
They contacted us and we've touched base with Google to see if any other imagery was available during that time. As suspected, Google had no other imagery available because they have already put all of that imagery into Google Earth (much of it via "historical imagery").
However, this was enough for the police to go on. They plan to dig in that area based on this new information. There's no telling if this will amount to anything, but it's certainly an interesting use of the historical imagery.
We'll keep you posted if anything comes out of that.
Posted by mickmel at 11:17 AM
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March 2, 2010
StreetView: Trike winners and slick new photo viewing
A few cool bits of news about StreetView:
• Navigate through photos: Google has added a feature where you can navigate through user photos while in StreetView. The new feature is quite cool and feels a lot like Microsoft's Photosynth (seen in our Resources for Haiti or Frank's recent photos of Petite Tabac). This new StreetView feature is a neat way to fly from photo to photo, and offers a way for you to see much more imagery than the standard StreetView provides.
Here's a video of how it works:
• Winners of the Trike contest: Back in November, we told you about Google's contest involving their Streetview "Trikes". You could vote for places that you'd for the trike to visit, and winners would be announced. Well, the winners are here!
After more than 238,000 submissions, totaling more than 25,000 locations, Google started narrowing it down. Those 25,000 locations were put up to a public vote, after which the 24 finalists were revealed. The winners were:
- University Campuses: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
- Parks & Trails: Boulder Creek Path, Boulder, CO
- Pedestrian Malls: Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston, MA
- Landmarks: The National Mall, Washington, DC
- Theme Parks & Zoos: Detroit Zoo, Detroit, MI
Congratulations to the winners, and look for their imagery to appear in StreetView in the next few months!
Posted by mickmel at 9:45 AM
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A few more gorgeous hotels from CyberCity3D
CyberCity3D is getting good at building virtual hotels. A few weeks ago we showed you the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort that they built, and now they've got a few more to show off.
I really appreciate their attention to detail. Not only do they build excellent buildings, but they include trees, sheds, tables, etc. It's quite remarkable.
Their two new hotels are:
Sheraton Maui -- KML
Sheraton Waikiki -- KML
If you build any 3D models that you think should be highlighted on the blog, please let us know when they appear in Google Earth and we'll check them out.
Posted by mickmel at 9:26 AM
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March 1, 2010
Athens goes 3D
With the Winter Olympics wrapping up, Google thought it'd be fun to revisit the site of the first modern Olympic games. They've added detailed 3D coverage to the city, with thousands of buildings now showing off sharp 3D models.
They provide a list of fun places to check out, such as the Parthenon and the Herodeion Theater. If you can't load it up now, check out the video below of a short tour:
Posted by mickmel at 10:13 AM
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