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September 30, 2010
Google launches Street View in Ireland, Brazil, Antarctica
While it's not yet available in Google Maps, Google has just announced that Street View will be going live in Ireland later today.
UPDATE: The new imagery is now live in Ireland, Brazil and Antarctica.
Also additional imagery in Hawaii (thanks 'Munden')
The Google Lat Long Blog has details.
According to the Irish Times, the imagery will cover more then 80,000km of road in the country including cities such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.
While Ireland is the only confirmed country so far, there are rumors that Brazil, Poland and perhaps others will finally get Street View coverage with this update. We'll know for sure once it goes live later today.
If you're not familiar with using Street View in Google Earth, check out this great tutorial that Frank created last year.
If you notice any updated areas in Street View, please leave a comment and let us know.
Posted by mickmel at 8:05 AM
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September 24, 2010
A new gaming platform for Google Earth
We've covered quite a few different games for Google Earth before, but we're always on the lookout for more. A new project by Dustin at AlterEarth.net has a lot of potential, and we thought we'd share it with you.
Here's what Dustin has to say about the site:
The concept is this: a free gaming site using Google Earth as the platform where users can play games, create and submit their own games, and edit current games to improve their functionality / features. I've created only a couple games for the site thus far, but over time that number will grow as users begin to submit their own games and I can focus more on the site development side of things. One of the games I've created is a grand theft auto style game, which I chose because I think it would get people interested and excited about the concept.
The games still seem to be quite buggy, but the idea of building a platform like this is a great idea. It seems to use a lot of the code from Monster Milktruck, which is probably a good place to start.
Here's a video that shows off what their "Grand Theft Auto" game looks like:
You can try the GTA game here
, or try "Ski Earth" here. He also appears to have a "Zombie Earth" and a "Godzilla" game in progress, but there aren't any details on those yet.
If you try any of them for yourself, leave a comment below and let us know what you think. Also, if you find (or create) and other Google Earth based games, please contact us and we'll check them out!
Posted by mickmel at 7:52 AM
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September 23, 2010
Recap of Google's recent 3D Basecamp
Earlier this month, Google held their "3D Basecamp" in Boulder, Colorado, as a way to once again bring together a wide variety of SketchUp experts. During the event, the big news was the release of Google SketchUp version 8.
Google has now put out a full recap of the event, along with a couple of videos. You can get all of the details on the Google SketchUp Blog, or check out some of the videos below.
Overview of the event:
The full 90 minute keynote, which shows off many of the new features in SketchUp 8:
For more, read the full entry on their blog, or check out our previous coverage of SketchUp 8.
Did you attend 3D Basecamp 2010? If so, what did you think of it?
Posted by mickmel at 9:19 AM
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September 22, 2010
The mass grave at Roopkund Lake
The folks at Google Sightseeing often come up with some great stuff, and the latest is no exception.
In 1942, a park ranger stumbled about Roopkund Lake and discovered 300-600 skeletal and mummified bodies all around the lake. Carbon dating later revealed that they had died roughly 1200 years ago from a massive hail storm.
The hail stones are estimated to have been the size of cricket balls, but it's still unknown why a large group of people would be living in such a remote corner of the Himalayas.
For more, check out the full post at Google Sightseeing. To visit Roopkund Lake for yourself, simple load up this KML file and fly over there.
Posted by mickmel at 7:55 AM
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September 21, 2010
New Google Earth Imagery - September 21
As pointed out by an anonymous GEB reader, Google has just pushed out a new imagery update for us!
As is almost always 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 -- 21-September, 10:16pm]
- Colombia: Bogota -- thanks 'CarlosA'
- Indonesia: Various -- thanks 'okasbali'
- Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur
- United States: California (various cities), Colorado (Denver), Florida (Miami), North Carolina (various cities), Ohio (Cincinnati), Oregon (Portland), South Dakota (Sioux Falls) -- thanks 'Chrisk'
If you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know!
Posted by mickmel at 4:56 PM
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10 Google Earth myths busted
Rich over at Google Earth Design has just published an entry titled "10 Myth Busting Facts about Google Earth".
Over the years, we've covered most of these myths on Google Earth Blog, but it's always good to re-post items like this to help out new users. Be sure to check out our Google Earth Basics page for a variety of tutorials.
Here Rich's list of facts that many users aren't aware of:
1 -- You can make your own map in GEarth. Use the "Add" menu at the top of your screen to add placemarks, lines, and other items to the map.
2 -- Google Earth isn't just satellite images and roads. Use the "layers" on the side of your screen to find a lot more data to use; photos, Wikipedia entries, 3D buildings and much more.
3 -- Any map you make in Google Earth is not visible to anyone else unless you publish it. While you can certainly use the items in #1 to create your own maps, those maps are private unless you share them with others via email, or by posting on a site like the Google Earth Community or Google Earth Hacks.
4 -- You can publish your own map without going through Google. This is very similar to #3, but it's from the opposite angle. Not only can you create your own maps, but Google doesn't have to get involved at all. Create a map, share it, post it, email it, whatever. There's no gatekeeper to go through to be able to share your maps.
5 -- The satellite data in Google Earth is historic, i.e. its not imagery taken today. This is one of the most common myths: Google Earth imagery is live, and you can watch people in real-time. In fact, it's not even close. Frank wrote an excellent post about this last year, and it's worth reading to gain an understanding about the process of moving imagery from satellites to your computer.
6 -- Google does not censor satellite imagery. While there are a few cases where they've censored imagery in the past (like around the White House), it's far less common than most people think. The fact that companies like CNN still thinks it's real-time (and actively censored) certainly doesn't help...
7 -- You can use Google Earth offline. You can browse an area of the map, let Google Earth store that imagery on your system, and then you can use it when you're not connected to the internet. [details]
8 -- You can tilt the view to see mountains in 3D. This is less of a myth than it once was, but it's always worth mentioning; you can tilt your view to see 3D mountains and buildings. You can read this article for help getting started with it.
9 -- Google Earth is not a security threat. Pointing back to items #5 and #6 on this list, Google Earth isn't the security threat that people think it might be. Having access to aerial imagery isn't a big deal for people that want it, and the fact that it's months (or years) old makes it much less helpful. If Google Earth were to cease to exist, you could still get similar imagery from Google Maps, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, Mapquest and various others. Google Earth just has the best interface. :)
10 -- You can use Google Earth to explore other Planets, the Sky and History. Recent versions of Google Earth have added lots of great things to Google Earth, including Mars, the moon, the night sky and historical imagery. These are all wonderful tools that are easy to access, but a lot of users don't even realize that they're there.
Be sure to check out his full list to see his comments on each item.
What other misconceptions about Google Earth do you encounter from others? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Posted by mickmel at 8:30 AM
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September 20, 2010
Google Earth for iPhone updated with retina display, ocean floor
Google has just updated their iOS app to version 3.1.0 with a few nice enhancements. According to the upgrade screen there are three new features.
1 -- Native support for iPhone4 and Retina display: Google Earth is now incredibly sharp and detailed on the iPhone 4.
2 -- Underwater bathymetry and ocean surface: Similar to the recent update on Android, you can now explore under the ocean floor from your iPhone!
3 -- Ocean content layer: Also similar to Android, you can now view a layer with various stories from the sea.
With this update in place, the iPhone and Android versions of Google Earth are virtually identical. The latest Android update gave it a few features that it was lacking (like the two-finger "look around" mode), and now this update gets iPhone caught back up with the ocean features.
There are still quite a few features missing from both versions (tracks, elevation profiles, native KML support, 3D buildings, etc), but I'm sure we'll slowly see those included in the future as phones continue to become more powerful.
What's the one feature you'd like to see added to the mobile version next?
Posted by mickmel at 8:25 AM
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September 17, 2010
Excellent flight-tracking layer from FlightWise
FlightWise.com, with some help from Google, has just released a very nice KML that shows thousands of near real-time flights over the United States.
The data is roughly 15 to 20 minutes behind the current time, due to FAA restrictions. However, this is an excellent tool to get a look at all of the current flights in the US.
By hovering on a plane, you can see the flight number and a path of their journey to that point. Clicking on a plane gives you more information about the flight, including an option to view the full path of the flight as a KML tour. Opening the tour will show your plane with a larger red icon, and it will fly the entire path of its journey to that point.
For more information or to try it for yourself, you can:
• Read about it on the Google Lat Long Blog
• Try it using the Google Earth Plug-in
• Download the KML file for use in Google Earth
Posted by mickmel at 8:20 AM
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Fresh imagery from the Four Mile Canyon fire in Colorado
As you may have seen, last week brought a major wildfire to Four Mile Canyon in Boulder, Colorado, with 169 homes and 6,181 acres destroyed.
Similar to their response to the San Bruno fires, Google is releasing as much data as possible, including some brand new imagery of the area.
In addition to the fresh imagery, they helped community members to work together in building a collaborative map to help residents stay informed with the latest information about the fire.
To view the new imagery, simply download this KML overlay and check it out. For more information, you can visit the Google Lat Long Blog.
Posted by mickmel at 7:54 AM
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September 16, 2010
Slick quiz using new features in Google Earth 5.2
The Encyclopedia of Life has just put out a very nice quiz using new features in Google Earth 5.2 including JavaScript in the information balloons and some use of the <Region> tag to hide information.
It's similar to a quiz that National Geographic put out in late 2007, but the new features in Google Earth 5.2 have made it an even better experience.
You can try the quiz using this KMZ file, which can be found on the "Interactives" page on the Encyclopedia of Life website.
Have you come across any other quizzes like this? Share you finds in the comments section below!
Posted by mickmel at 8:59 AM
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September 15, 2010
Get your building modeled by PopArchitexture
We've discussed a variety of companies that can help you get your home or business modeled in Google Earth. I'm always happy to show off new companies, as increased competition is always good for us consumers.
The latest is a company called PopArchitexture. They got their start in Google's "Build Your Campus" competition back in 2006.
PopArchitexture offers three different pricing levels:
• 'Pure and Simple' tier: For $95, receive a 3D digital model viewable in Google Earth or embeddable on any website.
• 'Detailed' tier: For $295 and up, receive a detailed 3D digital model for GE or embeddable.
• 'Sophisticated' tier: For $595 and up, receive a hand built 3D paper model as well as a detailed 3D digital model.
In addition, you can get a 10% discount on any order that uses the voucher code 'GEARTHBLOG'.
The paper models are a unique option, and they appear to be quite cool. Here is an example of one they recently built for a client:
Of course, they're not the only option out there. We've covered a variety of different companies in the past, and here is a brief rundown:
Concept 3D: They offer custom 3D models in various formats including high quality photorealistic renders to Google Earth. They also offer web development services and interactive campus mapping service in Earth/Maps using 3D, 360 degree photography and video, which can leverage their Campus Bird interactive map site and CMS. Prices vary based on scope of project.
CyberCity 3D: For residential 3D they offer two options: "Premium" ($100-$150), usually done with terrestrial photo-textures provided by client and "Deluxe" ($200-$300), which includes more detail with added geometry.
Estate 3D: As we covered a few months ago, for $99 they'll do a single building that's composed of 50 faces or less.
Luna Tech Designs: They provide 3D modeling services, 360 degree photography, and custom 3D Geo portal services. Their community based portal system can integrate data directly from participating chamber online databases, municipal GIS systems, business websites, and rich media content from anywhere on the web all through a single interface. Average prices for 3D models range from $100 to $400. Portal service pricing varies based on scope of project.
Posted by mickmel at 8:41 AM
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September 14, 2010
Fresh imagery from San Bruno
As they do after many major events, Google has released some incredible imagery of the recent fires in San Bruno, California.
Google's imagery is used by a variety of organizations to assist in disaster recovery, so they strive to get it posted as quickly as possible. In the recent past, Google has responded with imagery for events such as the flooding in Pakistan, the Haiti earthquake, the Gulf oil spill and the earthquake in Chile.
The San Bruno imagery isn't yet available in Google's base layer, but you can view it by using this KML file. For more information, you can read more on the Google Lat Long Blog.
Posted by mickmel at 7:45 AM
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September 13, 2010
A ton more data from the Pakistan flooding
Last month, we told you about Google's quest for more data to help with the massive flooding in Pakistan.
The "Unigeo initiative for Pakistan" has been developing a network link that has a ton of data related to the Pakistan flood.
The latest version (4.1) includes a slight "pre-loaded" transparency on the layers in order to keep the underlying information visible as well as a more ergonomic search panel.
Currently, the included layers are:
• Pakistan affected districts - 2010 Aug 16
• Flooding General overview - 2010 Aug 11
• Floods in Charsadda district - 2010 Aug 02
• Situation in Kheshgi area - 2010 Aug 04
• Charsadda and Nowshera districts - 2010 July
• Situation in Hyderabad - 2010 Aug 29
• Red Cross + Red Crescent Society - 2010 Aug 29
You can get the full KML file here, or check out their site for more information.
Another great resource to check out would be local.com.pk, which has quite a bit of excellent information regarding flood relief. For example, their Hunza Landslide page is very well done, and was featured in a recent TEDxLahore talk, which you can view here.
Posted by mickmel at 8:53 AM
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September 10, 2010
Beautiful new 3D buildings in Las Vegas
Our friends at CyberCity 3D are at it again -- they've just posted some new 3D buildings in Las Vegas and they look great!
CC3D created these "deluxe" 3D Las Vegas buildings (actually resorts) for Team Vision Virtual as part of TVV's plan to build out 3D destination travel sites for 10 cities/regions over the next 18 months. TVV and CC3D teamed up earlier this year to build the impressive 3DHawaii site, so a Vegas version of that site could be pretty neat. Team Vision is the "first-mover" in this space and CyberCity 3D is the production partner as well as a content partner with Google.
CyberCity even built a nice tour to guide you through the city. You can download the tour to check it out for yourself.
Posted by mickmel at 7:21 AM
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September 9, 2010
Google Earth gets a new website
Google has just updated the official Google Earth website with a great new look and a much more clean interface.
As you can read on the Lat Long Boog, they're encouraging users to explore the five main areas of the site:
• Showcase: Various featured content.
• Video tutorials: Tutorials on how to do basic tasks like create placemarks, record tours, etc.
• More products: Information on related Google products.
• Community: Various ways to connect with other users, such as the Google Earth Twitter account.
• Industries: Information for educators, media, developers, etc.
All in all it's a very nice update, though right now only the English version has been upgraded. Check it out for yourself at earth.google.com.
Posted by mickmel at 3:17 PM
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Google Earth 5.2 is now out of beta: Version 5.2.1.1588
Back in June, Google released version 5.2 of Google Earth, which introduced us to some great new features such as tracks, elevation profiles and a variety of other enhancements.
Now, just shy of three months later, Google Earth 5.2 has come out of beta. Most of you were likely running version 5.2.1.1547, and it's now been updated to version 5.2.1.1588. The update tool inside of Google Earth isn't showing it yet, but if you head over to earth.google.com and download it from there you'll be getting the latest version.
Most of the updates are minor bug fixes, but Google is taking this opportunity to show off a few Google Earth Pro features in a bit more detail: Vector Regionation and Image Regionation. Simply put, these are ways to allow you to view vast amounts of information on the screen; Google Earth will show less detail when you're far away, and slowly add more info as you zoom in.
You can read about both features on the Google Lat Long Blog, or watch the video below for more information about Vector Regionation:
Posted by mickmel at 8:29 AM
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September 8, 2010
New Google Earth Imagery - September 8
Google Earth has just rolled out some fresh imagery for us! Thanks to GEB reader 'orb2222' for being the first to let us know about it.
As is almost always 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 -- 9-September, 6:39am EST]
- Canada: Quebec -- thanks 'Steven'
- China: Western areas -- thanks 'Steven'
- Ecuador: Latacunga -- thanks 'Snakeye'
- Kyrgyzstan: Western areas -- thanks 'Steven'
- Poland: Various cities -- thanks 'orb2222'
- Russia: Various places -- thanks 'AlexeiD'
- Spain: Basque Country -- thanks ''Neutravo'
- Sri Lanka: Various -- thanks 'Steven'
- United States: NW Bay Area, CA : Dover, DE : Louisville, KY : Shiawassee County, MI : Houston, TX : Richmond, VA : Spokane, WA -- thanks 'belmaktor', 'Steven', 'Matt' and 'ChrisK'
If you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know!
Posted by mickmel at 4:09 PM
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Old Kashgar
Back in July, Stefan Geens of Ogle Earth had a chance to visit Kashgar, a city in west China. It's a place he's wanted to visit for a long time, but had to hurry to see it; the government is in the process of demolishing 85% of the old town!
He spent more than a week in the city, photographing and documenting everything he possibly could. The result is nothing short of amazing.
As you can likely guess, Stefan took all of that data (georeferenced photos, GPS tracks and a superimposed map) and created an impressive file for Google Earth.
You can download that KMZ file here, and I highly recommend you visit his blog to read the entire story.
Posted by mickmel at 8:36 AM
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September 7, 2010
The Google Earth COM API is being phased out
One of the neat things included as part of SketchUp 8 was the new way that it pulled in imagery from Google Earth. Rather than using the Google Earth COM API, as it had for years (Frank covered it in 2006), it pulls in imagery via Google Maps which results in color imagery instead of the black and white that you're used to.
While the color imagery is certainly a great feature, it appears there is another reason for the change as well -- Google is eliminating the COM API.
Instead, Google is encouraging developers to take advantage of the powerful JavaScript API that was released in 2008 along side the Google Earth Plug-in. This allowed for a wide variety of applications, like the popular "monster milktruck!" demo.
It's worth noting that current and all past versions of Google Earth (5.2 and earlier) will continue to support the COM API, but future versions will not.
If you're a developer, what do you think of this news? Have you moved on to the JavaScript API already and this is a non-event? Or does this have you scrambling to make sure your app will work with future versions of Google Earth?
Posted by mickmel at 7:58 AM
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September 6, 2010
Christchurch Earthquake Visualizations
[NOTE: If you are looking for information on the quake on 22-February-2011, please read this post.]
By now you've likely heard about the earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand over the weekend. While there have been no deaths reported, the magnitude 7.1 earthquake has caused quite a lot of damage.
GEB reader Kelvin sent us a file that is a great visualization of the quakes, with data from the GNS Science and their GeoNet website.
You can view the data by simply downloading this KMZ file and then clicking the [play] button in the upper-left corner. If you find any other Google Earth resources related to the New Zealand earthquake, please let a comment and let us know.
Posted by mickmel at 8:32 AM
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September 3, 2010
Burning Man 2010 in Google Earth
We covered some neat things with Burning Man (a very popular annual event that is "an experiment in community, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance") back in 2006 and 2007, and they've done some more cool stuff this year.
GEB reader Jeff has shared an image that was captured by GeoEye a few days ago that shows many of the participants forming a giant peace sign around the "man" in the center of the city. Here's the pic:
In addition, GeoEye has already published a fresh image to their "Featured Imagery" layer in Google Earth. You can find the layer titled "GeoEye featured Imagery" under the "More" section of your layers. Fly to this KML and turn the layer on, and you'll see something like this:
There will likely be other imagery coming in over the next few days. If you come across anything noteworthy, share your finds in the comments below.
Posted by mickmel at 7:14 PM
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AnotherEarth.org -- Two globes in one
John sent me an email last week telling me about a new project he's working on, and it's quite cool -- he calles it anotherearth. He explains it as follows:
This application gives you a number of tools with which you can easily and comprehensively compare two views of the Earth, using the Google Earth browser plugin. These include the ability to synchronize the movement of two Earths, select layers such as buildings, roads and borders for the Earths, jump to locations of your choice, undo/redo any movements, and save coordinates as a URL.
The controls are very fluid, and there are a lot of excellent potential uses for it. You can try it for yourself at anotherearth.org. What are some neat things you can do with it?
John has plans to add more features in the future, making the tool even more useful. If it were up to you, what kind of features would you add to it?
Posted by mickmel at 8:38 AM
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September 2, 2010
3D sounds with the Google Earth Plug-in
Paul over at PlanetInAction is at it again. The man that brought us Ships and Helicopters has a new toy for us to play with. This is more of tech demo than a game, but it's quite impressive.
He's simply calling it a 3D sound demo. Here is a brief video of it in action:
You can read the full write-up on his site, but here's the basics of it:
sound3D manages a collection of soundSource objects that have knowledge of the location they are at. A soundSource has a collection of channels. Each channel represents a sound file with associated falloff range. Outside this range the channel can not be heard.
Multiple sound channels per sound source enables you to use different sounding audio files for nearby and far away. The "far" file should sound more muffled and have a longer falloff range. These audio effects can be prepared in a sound editor such as Audacity.
The helicopter on the beach is a great example showing how this works. Move in close and notice how the engine sounds louder but also sharper.
Be sure to check out the PlanetInAction site for more info.
Posted by mickmel at 7:38 AM
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September 1, 2010
SketchUp 8 released
Google's SketchUp 3D Basecamp in Boulder, Colorado has just begun, and they kicked it off with a big announcement -- the release of Google SketchUp 8!
The biggest difference in this version of SketchUp is the amount of geodata that can be pulled into it. They've rewritten the UI for geolocating models, and they'll pull in a patch of terrain data along with color aerial photos via the Google Maps API. Because they're doing that way, Google Earth doesn't need to be open while you're working in SketchUp, saving system resources.
You can also perform geospatial searches from the 3D Warehouse to show nearby 3D models from other SketchUp users. This helps to add context to your project and offers some nice advantages.
Another neat feature is Building Maker integration with SketchUp. You can start Building Maker from within SketchUp, work on your building, and then convert the Building Maker model into a SketchUp model. The model will be cleaned up a bit (removal of unnecessary interior polygons), but it will maintain the imagery that you'll applied to the exterior of the building.
SketchUp Pro has also seen some upgrades, including some new tools and support for boolean operations such as intersect, union and split.
If you're a SketchUp user, this is a great update for you. You can download SketchUp 8 here, or watch the video below to learn more about the new features available to you.
Posted by mickmel at 2:04 PM
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