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July 30, 2010
New weather features in Google Earth 5.2
With all of the great features in Google Earth 5.2, one that often gets overlooked is the great weather enhancements.
The radar layers have been around since late 2007, and they haven't changed a whole lot since then. In March of 2008 they expanded to more countries, giving you satellite and radar imagery for any place that you want to see.
With this latest update, they've added a bit more eye candy. If you fly beneath a rainstorm, you'll actually see rain falling in Google Earth! This requires a fairly powerful graphics card, though I don't know the specifics on that.
Turn on the radar, find a green area and watch it rain! If you're not able to see it, here's a screenshot to show you what it's like:
For more about this, you can read the full entry on the Google Lat Long Blog.
Posted by mickmel at 9:22 AM
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July 26, 2010
One of the youngest craters on Earth
A recent story by National Geographic highlights how researchers used Google Earth to discover one of the newer craters on Earth; only a few thousand years old.
As Stefan at Ogle Earth notes, the findings of some researchers were recently published in the journal Science, they require a subscription. Fortunately, he was able to grab the coordinates of the crater so you can see it for yourself. Simply fly to 22º 01' 06" N 26º 05' 15" E or use this KML file
to take you there.
Of course, there are hundreds of known craters all across the planet. One of Frank's oldest posts showcase them, and you can download this KML file to view them all in Google Earth.
What is the most interesting crater that you've found in Google Earth?
Posted by mickmel at 8:03 AM
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July 23, 2010
Interactive multi-layered Google Earth map of 4 degree temp rise
Regardless of your views on climate change, Google Earth has proven to be simply the perfect tool to lay out the various scenarios that we are facing. In the past, we've shown you items such as the Climate Change Tour of Cold Places and various tools related to the COP15 conference in Copenhagen last year.
The latest tool to be released comes from the UK Government, with data from the FCO (British Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and the DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change), showing the potential impact of a 4 degree rise in global temperature. They believe that global warming must be contained to 2 degrees Celsius, which this project illustrates.
Here's what they have to say about it:
On 14th July, the FCO and DECC launched an interactive map showing some of the possible impacts of a global temperature rise of 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. It underlines why the UK Government and other countries believe we must keep global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. The map includes videos from the contributing scientists, led by the Met Office Hadley Centre, talking about their research. It also includes examples of what the FCO and British Council are doing to build understanding globally of the urgent need for all countries to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy.
To check it out, you can visit www.fco.gov.uk/4degrees and view it using the Google Earth Plug-in or by downloading their KML file to your computer.
Posted by mickmel at 9:35 AM
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July 22, 2010
Louisiana Earth
In an effort to help residents with emergency planning assistance, the state of Louisiana has launched "Louisiana Earth".
As explained in the Google Lat Long Blog, the program is designed to help with the following:
Louisiana Earth was released as part of the state's "Get a Game Plan" campaign, to assist citizens in creating evacuation plans by providing access to all of the states evacuation routes, sheltering points historical hazard data and other information that is essential during an evacuation such as locations of and available occupancy of hotels, gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, veterinary clinics and banks.
More info about Louisiana Earth can be found in this short video:
As Brant Mitchell, Louisiana's Deputy Director of Homeland Security, mentions in the video, this is based somewhat off of Virtual Alabama which was released a few years back. Both programs are essentially a large new group of default layers to help provide a large amount of data to the end user -- evacuation routes, oil spill updates, and even festivals and events occurring across the state.
It seems to be an excellent tool, and could be of great value to the residents of Louisiana.
Posted by mickmel at 9:07 AM
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July 21, 2010
Google increases border accuracy in Google Earth
One thing that I've seen a lot of emails about over the years is border issues; borders that aren't quite accurate enough, or (most often) borders that are in political dispute. People didn't like that Google was seeminly "taking sides", even though they were really just trying to make them as accurate as possible.
With some nice new changes, borders are now much more accurate and disputed borders are indicated as such. Here's a great example of a disputed border, where it is unclear who this island belongs to:
The accuracy of borders is also greatly improved. Google has some great examples on their blog that you should check out.
The new updates are live in Google Maps, and will be coming very soon to Google Earth.
Posted by mickmel at 8:03 AM
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Seville, Spain goes 3D
Google's latest 3D city has just been released -- Seville, Spain!
Like all of their recent cities, this one looks phenomenal. Thousands of beautifully rendered buildings. Check out the video below for a quick fly-through:
For more information about the new 3D buildings in Seville, check out the post on the Google SketchUp Blog.
Posted by mickmel at 7:49 AM
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July 20, 2010
Exploring the set of "Wipeout"
As the third most popular game show in the world, many of you have probably seen an episode of "Wipeout". For a while the the filming location had been a secret, but recent satellite imagery has revealed it and Google Sightseeing has written a great post to show it off.
Google Sightseeing does a nice job of exploring the entire set, such as the rotating planks, the spinning platform and the "Wipeout Zone".
For the full write-up, check out the post on Google Sightseeing.
Posted by mickmel at 8:12 AM
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July 19, 2010
Five Years of Google Earth Blog
Google Earth was released by Google in June of 2005. It was based on a product Google acquired when it bought the company called Keyhole in the fall of 2004. At the time GE was released, I was looking to learn about blogging and was searching for a topic. Google Earth was a perfect match for my criteria because I've worked with satellite and aerial imagery, have worked for many years in 3D computer graphics, have been a heavy GPS user since they came out, and Google Earth was my new favorite software product (and still is five years later). So, in July of 2005, I started writing this blog.
Google Earth has grown by leaps and bounds since 2005. Google has poured many milions of dollars into not only developing the software, but even more so into developing new data for Google Earth. There are many new kinds of data in Google Earth including: Street View imagery, photos from Panoramio, Wikipedia data, billions of points of interest data points on places of business, weather data, the night time sky, the Moon, Mars, and much more. Google also has 3D data now for the Earth's oceans along with many layers of information about the ocean and the life that lives in it.
When GE was first released, many countries had only low-resolution satellite imagery - with the possible exception of a few major cities. Today, nearly every city on the planet has high-resolution satellite or even aerial imagery. In fact, most countries now have most populated areas in high resolution, and the rest of the country in medium resolution satellite imagery. Many countries are completely covered in high resolution data. Only a few limited unpopulated areas still have low-resolution imagery. Now nearly everyone on the planet is able to search and find the places they've lived in Google Earth. Thanks to the historical imagery layer, you can even turn back the clock in many places and see locations at different points in time.
When I first chose to write Google Earth Blog (GEB), I didn't expect to keep it going for five years. I knew Google Earth would be an extremely popular product. Over the years, as I saw Google's continual commitment to growing the product and data, I knew it could continue to be popular for a long time. I was amazed when looking at GEB's statistics that people literally all over the world were reading my stories about Google Earth and the amazing applications people have made with the versatile product. In fact, by 2006 nearly five million unique visitors had read Google Earth Blog, and we have reached over 6 million readers since that time. I'm especially grateful that a significant number of several tens of thousands of people are regular readers of the GEB as well.
I'm glad Google Earth has continued its popularity. I had already been planning a trip around the world by sailboat, and since November of 2009 have already traveled over 10,000 miles from North Carolina to French Polynesia (read about the Tahina Expedition). Google Earth has played a huge role in my travels. For years I've been researching places to go with Google Earth and planning routes. Now, as we travel, I've been thoroughly documenting our trip by showing our GPS tracks and route plans, GPS tagging all our photography, and I've even taken my own super-high resolution kite aerial imagery which is being put into Google Earth (see BBQ island for example).
Until 2009, I wrote all the blog posts myself. But, at the start of my trip, I recruited Mickey Mellen to continue to write GEB while I concentrated on my travels. I think he's been doing an excellent job of maintaining GEB in my absence, for which I'm very thankful. I also want to give a big thank you to the support I've received from many people who are fans of Google Earth and the GEB who have continued to forward story ideas and tricks they've learned with the program. Way too many to mention individually. And I would like to give my biggest thanks to the very large team of Googlers who have worked on and continue to grow Google Earth and its related products and data! They are the best development team on Earth!
Captain Frank Taylor
Google Earth Blog - http://gearthblog.com
Tahina Expedition - http://TahinaExpedition.com
Posted by mickmel at 8:30 AM
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July 16, 2010
Team Vision Virtual launches 3dHawaii.com
Partnering with CyberCity 3D, Team Vision Virtual has released 3DHawaii.com, a comprehensive travel portal to show everything you need to know if you're planning a trip to Hawaii. The site makes extensive use of the Google Earth Plug-in, and showcases some of the stunning 3D buildings that we've come to expect from CyberCity 3D.
From their press release:
Potential travelers who visit 3DHawaii.com can now explore the most comprehensive selection of hotels, resorts, restaurants, shopping centers, beaches, parks and visitor attractions available on the web, many in a 3D environment, to help them anticipate and plan their vacations and business trips to Hawaii. 3DHawaii.com introduces travelers to the many wonders Hawaii has to offer, in a captivating and engaging way. After exploring the options, travelers can make reservations using links on the site. Travelers will find aggressive rates for both lodging and activities. For hotels, travelers book directly with the property. For activities, travelers will book through MC&A, Team Vision Virtual's local wholesale partner.
"Hawaii's legendary landscapes come to life for travelers at 3DHawaii.com. We have invested in and published hundreds of high quality 3D buildings on Google Earth, which is going to drive a substantial amount of new web visitor traffic to our destination and our partners," said Craig Carapelho, CEO, Team Vision Virtual. Hotels, activities, shopping centers, historic landmarks and other venues featured will help solidify the decision-making process for prospective visitors, allowing them to actually 'experience' all of our state's destinations in 3D. It's the next best thing to actually being here. For hotels and venues that choose to participate in 3D Hawaii, they now have a new way of showcasing their property and an additional connection to the booking process."
It's an excellent use of the Google Earth Plug-in. Bruce Polderman, the Product Manager for Google Earth agrees: "We're impressed with 3DHawaii's implementation of the Google Earth plugin, And think its visitors will appreciate this innovative approach to vacation planning."
It doesn't stop here. Hawaii3D is just the first in a series of 10 markets planned in the next 18 months by Team Vision Virtual. Given the usefulness of the Google Earth Plugin for this type of project, along with the rapidly expanding install base of Plugin users, I expect we'll see a lot more sites like this come along in the next few years.
Posted by mickmel at 8:04 AM
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July 15, 2010
in3d's work in the Napa Valley
in3d.com is a company that you may not have heard of, but with the kind of work they've just released you'll certainly be hearing more about them.
in3d is a geosocial media development company that works with a variety of clients in northern California, including wineries, businesses and towns. Their site won't be going live for a few weeks, but you can already see some of their remarkable work in the video below, which showcases the Napa Valley region:
So far they have built around 40 locations in the region, and all of these buildings can be found in Google Earth. However, they don't have a KML to help you view them all easily. That would be a nice touch, and I would imagine that it (or something similar) will be available when their site launches later this summer.
3D development is a rapidly growing field, as we showed you last week. This kind of competition is good for everyone, as it will result in more high quality models for all of us to enjoy.
Posted by mickmel at 9:10 AM
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July 14, 2010
New Google Earth Imagery - July 14
It's only been 10 days since the last imagery update, and the next one appears to be upon us! Thanks to GEB reader 'Andreas' for being the first to let us know about it.
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 -- 15-July, 2:17pm EST]
- Bangladesh: Ishurdi Airport, Pabna -- thanks 'shajedul'
- Sweden: Northern part of the country -- thanks 'Anton'
- United States: Ohio (Cleveland), New York and Texas (Abilene) and Utah (Salt Lake City, Sandy) -- thanks 'Andreas', 'Jayson', 'McMaster_de' and 'Sean'
- Uruguay: Colonia -- thanks 'Enrique'
If you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know!
Posted by mickmel at 8:44 AM
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July 13, 2010
Exploring the Suwarrow Atoll
Google Earth provides a great way to "visit" some of the beautiful islands out in the middle of the ocean, which is something I often do. This is no doubt influenced by Frank's visits to various islands, including the amazing imagery he often captures with his kite-mounted camera (such as Petite Tabac and BBQ Island).
Stefan at Ogle Earth recently wrote an article all about the Suwarrow Atoll, located in the South Pacific. Made semi-famous by Tom Neale in his 1966 book "An Island to Oneself", Suwarrow looks like a beautiful place to visit.
To take it a step further, Stefan has created a KMZ file that shows the location of Suwarrow along with many of the places that Neale mentions in his book.
Two of Stefan's friends, Rhian and Andy, will be visiting it soon as they sail across the Pacific from Chile. Frank is relatively close to Suwarrow right now, but has no plans to visit (as far as I know).
As a commenter on Stefan's blog says, "Thanks for being such a thorough researcher, Stefan. Means we don't all have to travel there physically to enjoy the place.". I agree completely, as Google Earth gives us the opportunity to "explore" places like this from the comfort of our own home. It'd sure be cool to visit one day, though. :)
On a related note, @astro_wheels (astronaut Douglas Wheelock) posted a great photo of an atoll from the Line Islands, roughly halfway between the Suwarrow Atoll and Hawaii.
He's already posted some great pics, and I expect many others. Follow him on twitter if you'd like to keep up with his latest images.
Posted by mickmel at 9:10 AM
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July 12, 2010
A walk-through of the new Disney imagery
The new imagery update earlier this month was quite impressive, cover a wide variety of areas around the world.
One of the updated areas was Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. We've discussed Disney before because of their incredible 3D models, and now the folks at ClubD23.com have written a great overview of what can be found in the new imagery.
This particular batch of imagery was captured on May 2 of this year, a rather busy day at the parks...
If you're a fan of Disney World, you'll want to read the full article on ClubD23. Among the things they discovered:
• An overview of Fantasyland Construction.
• Construction on Hacienda de San Angel
• A line of trees were cut so Monorail pilots can see the other Monorail across the way
• Construction of the massive Golden Oaks million dollar homes
• Flower and Garden Festival in full swing
It's a neat look at the new imagery and a fun way to see what's coming in the future at Disney World.
Posted by mickmel at 9:04 AM
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July 9, 2010
Berlin and Stuttgart are now in 3D
Google released quite a few 3D buildings yesterday. Not only did they publish my house (and presumably hundreds of other user-generated models), but they released two more full cities in 3D -- Berlin and Stuttgart.
As with their other recent 3D cities, these are very impressive with many thousands of models in each city.
Here is a video overview of the new buildings:
For more about this release, you can check out the Google SketchUp Blog.
Posted by mickmel at 9:35 AM
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Watch this weekend's solar eclipse in Google Earth
A few weeks ago, on June 26, there was a partial lunar eclipse for part of the world to see. This weekend, it gets even better with a full solar eclipse in the South Pacific on Sunday.
Michael at HeyWhatsThat.com has built a very impressive eclipse simulator using the Google Earth Plug-in. You can choose the eclipse that you want to view (like the upcoming "2010 July 11 Total Solar Eclipse"), then choose a place on the globe and a time to see what your view will look like.
Here is Michael's his brief description of how it works:
I use two instances of the Google Earth plug-in, one showing the Earth and the other the sky. Set your location by clicking on the Earth, set the time by clicking on the green timeline, and start an animation by clicking on the timeline's arrow. Use the dropdown menu on the bottom right to view other eclipses. (Note that the timeline shows your computer's local time, not the time at the chosen viewer location.)
Here is a video of the simulator in action:
If you want to try it for yourself, just head over to his site and explore. It's a very impressive simulation, and is a great use of the Google Earth Plug-in.
Posted by mickmel at 8:49 AM
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July 8, 2010
Want your home or business in 3D? Estate3D will do it for $99.
Many people out there would like to get their home or business modeled in 3D for Google Earth, but don't have the time or expertise to use Google SketchUp to do it themselves. Over time, Building Maker may provide a good way to do it, but right now it only covers a tiny fraction of the earth and the models tend to be lower quality than hand-designed buildings. What do you do in the meantime?
We talked last year about a few options. Concept3D and CyberCity3D both have packages available, and both do excellent work. The only problem is the pricing; Concept3D starts at $325, and CyberCity is likely in the same area (though they don't list prices). They're certainly worth the price, but what if you just want a simple model? Enter Estate3D.
Estate3D is a new service that will model your home or business for just $99. They'll supply you with the resulting KMZ file and they'll submit it to Google for you so that it'll appear in Google Earth in the main "3D Buildings" layer.
For $99, they'll do a single building that's composed of 50 faces or less; more than enough for most individual buildings. You simply take photos of your building, upload them through their site and give them a few days to turn it around. I had them do my house so I could see how the process worked, and you can can see the result below or view it in Google Earth (3D Warehouse, KML). It's a simple model, but they did a nice job with it. Along with the basic house, they added things like the front porch, back deck and the chimney.
They also provide you with an embed code so you can show the building off on your own website via the Google Earth API. This means users of your website will be able to navigate around the model in 3D, right in their web browser. Here is an example:
If you have a model that you need done, I highly recommend you check them out.
A few notes about that model: The cut-off garage doors are a result of some crazy hills on our property, not the fault of Estate3D. Fixing that would require some terrain editing, which goes well beyond what they do. Also, the trampoline and fort in the backyard are not part of their typical package; just a fun bonus to enjoy. Estate3d will take on any unusual Google Earth modeling tasks you might have - if they go beyond the bounds of their $99 package you can simply apply for a "custom building".
Posted by mickmel at 9:28 AM
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July 7, 2010
More students using SketchUp to model their home town
I love hearing stories about students in school using SketchUp to model their city, like these schools that we mentioned back in May. Not only is it a great learning experience for them, but it helps make Google Earth more useful for everyone.
GEB reader Jiri wrote to tell us about his class of students age 12-15 who have been modeling their city of Trinec, CZ using Google SketchUp (view in Google Earth). Up to this point, the students have already modeled over 130 buildings in the city!
You can see details of the buildings inside this collection in the 3D Warehouse that Jiri created for the project.
If you know of other students working on similar projects, please contact us and let us know about them. I'm always excited to see these kinds of projects, and would love to showcase more of them on the site!
Posted by mickmel at 8:06 AM
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July 6, 2010
CyberCity 3D unveils the Sanborn Emergency Response Map
CyberCity 3D has teamed up with The Sanborn Map Company to create an "engaging map can be customized for a variety of uses for entities including Emergency Medical Services, Police Departments, Fire Departments, Utilities, and Public Safety. Available data includes specific building types and locations; emergency exits; fire hydrant/fire house sites; utilities; and parking." An example of the map is seen below, and you can try it for yourself here.
This product will officially launch at the 2010 ESRI International User Conference in a couple of weeks.
More merged products from the two companies are expected in the future, which makes perfect sense given their very complimentary offerings. I think we'll see some great stuff from them in the future.
The full text of their press release is below:
El Segundo, CA - CyberCity 3D, Inc., a state-of-the-art 3D geospatial modeling company based in El Segundo, CA and international geospatial solutions provider The Sanborn Map Company, headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO, today announced they will launch the first of a series of products resulting from their recent partnership at the annual ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, CA July 12th through the 16th.
The Sanborn Emergency Response Maps website combines Sanborn's detailed CitySets and CyberCity 3D's data integration to provide critical building and surrounding area information through the power of the Google Earth™ API plug-in. The site (www.cybercity3d.com/sanbornermaps) offers maps in 3D on Google Earth™ through its API plug-in, in 2D on Google maps™, in Google Street View™, and via satellite imagery.
This engaging map can be customized for a variety of uses for entities including Emergency Medical Services, Police Departments, Fire Departments, Utilities, and Public Safety. Available data includes specific building types and locations; emergency exits; fire hydrant/fire house sites; utilities; and parking.
"We look forward to working with Sanborn to deliver new and engaging public services web mapping sites. The synergies between the two companies are quite complimentary. Web mapping is undergoing great change and the combination of Sanborn's vast experience and strong relationships combined with CyberCity's cutting-edge technologies is a perfect fit," CyberCity 3D CEO Kevin DeVito stated.
"Sanborn and CyberCity 3D combined now have the largest online catalog of 3D structures. Coupled with the advanced web application services, we are even more capable to meet and exceed our customers' requirements today and in the future," said Robert Lega, Sanborn Products Manager.
The CyberCity 3D / Sanborn alliance enables the companies to provide groundbreaking GeoWeb solutions like the Sanborn Emergency Response Maps to a variety of government agencies and geographic information system (GIS) services as well as data products.
The CyberCity 3D/Sanborn collaboration integrates the two companies' 3D libraries to bring clients more 3D choices and high quality, cutting-edge web solutions-- including those built around the Google Earth™ API platform.
In their continuing partnership, the companies plan to create more merged products involving web publishing and planning.
About CyberCity 3D, Inc.:
CyberCity 3D (www.cybercity3d.com) specializes in emerging GeoWeb solutions for government agencies, the environment, geographic information systems (GIS), and travel destinations, as well as commercial and residential real estate. The Company also develops 3D, web-based, energy efficiency applications in addition to green house gas (GHG) information-gathering and computing tools designed to assist municipalities, utilities, and environmental agencies in their implementation of environmentally sustainable programs. CyberCity 3D is one of the first to offer realistic, three-dimensional, building and city models through the Google Earth™ API plug-in.
About Sanborn Map Company, Inc.:
Sanborn (www.sanborn.com) has been delivering quality geospatial solutions to clients worldwide since 1866. Sanborn provides high value solutions for mapping and geographic data, imagery and spatial analysis, custom applications, system integration, data management, and outsourcing as well as advanced web-based information systems, 3D modeling and visualization systems for customers worldwide.
Posted by mickmel at 9:07 AM
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July 4, 2010
New Google Earth Imagery - July 4
It's been a few weeks since the last update, and now Google has just started pushing out their latest imagery update. Thanks to GEB reader 'Alsay' for being the first to let us know about it!
[UPDATE, 4-July 9:37pm -- Google has now posted about it in the Lat Long Blog, and updated the update KML as well.]
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 -- 4-July, 5:07pm EST]
- Brazil: Parts of Sao Luis -- thanks 'Anthony' and 'Florent'
- Bulgaria: Near Hamanli and Stara Zagora -- thanks 'JI'
- Chile: Large area centered on Bulnes -- thanks 'Munden'
- Hungary: Various areas -- thanks 'hhgygy'
- Iceland: Reykjavík -- thanks 'AKB' and 'Noel'
- India: Various areas -- thanks 'hhgygy'
- Indonesia: Depok -- thanks 'krz9000'
- Kazakhstan: Three Gorges Dam and Pavlodar -- thanks 'Drone'
- Netherlands: Amsterdam, Almere, Hengelo, Rijssen, Holton -- thanks 'Stefan'
- Pakistan: Karachi -- thanks 'Noman'
- Saudi Arabia: Jeddah and Makkah -- thanks 'Alsay'
- Thailand: Southern areas -- thanks 'Dominus'
- United States: Parts of Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Washington -- thanks 'Andreas', 'ChrisK', 'cristi', 'JI', 'Jun' and 'Meryl'
- Vietnam: Danang -- thanks 'Stvn'
If you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know!
Posted by mickmel at 5:54 AM
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July 2, 2010
2010 Tour de France in Google Earth
Just like last year (and some years prior), Thomas Vergouwen has built some great files for the 2010 Tour de France and sent them our way. The race begins tomorrow, so here are a few things to help you keep up with it.
Your best place to start is with the file from Thomas, which includes a wealth of information about the race, as seen in the image above. You can download the KML here or read all about it on his blog.
Another great KML for the race comes from the Google Earth Community via steephill.tv. This file is much simpler, but if you just want to check out the course without all of the extra info, this is a great way to do it. You can download this KMZ file here.
The race starts tomorrow, so enjoy the next three weeks of racing. If you know of any other great Google Earth files to compliment the race, please leave a comment and let us know.
Posted by mickmel at 10:55 AM
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July 1, 2010
The June Sightseer is out, with lots of great stuff inside
Google has just released the June issue of the Sightseer newsletter, with all of kinds of great information inside. If you don't get this great newsletter emailed to you every month, we'll give you a quick peek at what you'll find inside. If you'd like, you can sign up here to receive it each month.
While you've likely already read many of the stories they feature, here's a look at some of what's included:
• Google Earth 5.2
• Google Earth for iPad
• World Cup stadiums in 3D
• World Oceans Day
• The June 15 Imagery Update
Along with the feature stories, they also cover some unique Google Earth content that has been produced in the last month. Some are from our blog, but others (like the excellent "History of Islamic Architecture") can be found elsewhere.
Finally, they have their challenging "Where in the World?" challenge. They post an image of a location and you need to figure out where it is. I call it "challenging" because I can never find them. :) However, I'm always amazed by some of the people that can find these locations so quickly. Here is the image for this month:
If you're able to find it, congrats! Just don't spoil it for anyone else. If you enjoy that kind of challenge, check out Place Spotting, which has a series of images of similar difficulty.
Posted by mickmel at 10:05 AM
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Tracking Hurricanes with Google Earth
With Hurricane Alex making landfall, the 2010 Hurricane season is underway. As we've shared in the past, Google Earth can be a great way to track these hurricanes as they develop.
The first place to start is the weather and storm tracking tools collection which Frank assembled a few years ago. It's got a variety of layers that helps to view all of the current storms out there. You can read more about how he put this package together.
Another good resource is hurricane-tracking.co.uk's download page. Their files are quite useful, but they generate a new one for each storm. It'd be nice to see them wrap all of the files into a network link so that it'd update automatically, but it's still a useful tool to have.
Last year Google created a special layer for "Hurricane Season 2009" in the main "Weather" layer folder. They haven't created a 2010 version, but I hope they will because the 2009 version was quite useful. In the meantime, the "clouds" and "radar" information in there is still helpful, but doesn't do a lot in terms of storm tracking.
Do you know of other useful tools for tracking hurricanes/cyclones in Google Earth? Let us know in the comments section so others can use them as well.
Posted by mickmel at 9:11 AM
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