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January 31, 2011
Kite Photos of Tikehau Island Now in Google Earth
When Google updated its imagery last week, my latest set of kite aerial photos went live from our Tahina Expedition. This time a small motu island in the Tuamotus atoll of Tikehau, in French Polynesia is now visible in very high resolution. The photos were taken last June when we visited the island on our sailboat Tahina.
One day, during our week long explorations, we had a chance to take some kite photos. I had found a small motu that looked like a good candidate. Jason, one of our temporary crew, helped fly the kite. I drew "TAHINA" in the sand hoping it would show up in the pictures (read more about that day). Jason was holding the kite string while wading in the shallow waters upwind of the island so we could capture the entire island with the camera dangling from the kite string a 100m in the air. I was standing on the beach holding the remote to control the camera, and my image was captured in several of the straight down photos. Weeks later, I managed to upload all the photos to our server. My friend Stewart Long, of GonzoEarth, is a professional at processing aerial photography. In his spare time, Stewart worked over the imagery and, a couple of months later, we sent it to Google. Finally, the imagery went live in Google Earth early last week. So, now everyone can see it!
I was pleased to see our name TAHINA showed up clearly, and not only that - because of the way the imagery stitched - pictures of me ended up showing up twice on the beach! (No, that's not my twin - just Frank twice!) If you visit this place in Google Earth 
, you can see the rest of the motu in ultra high resolution (much higher than most Google Earth imagery, you can even zoom in further than seen above). Or try visiting the location in Google Maps.
This is the fifth set of kite aerial imagery we have had published so far. For some other examples check out: Manihi village, BBQ Island, and Petite Tabac. If you're interested in how we take the photos, read this post and view the photo album to see how its done.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 1:32 PM
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January 26, 2011
Haiti, one year later
It's been just over a year since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, and things are slowly improving. However, more than 1.2 million residents are still living in tent cities, and there is much work left to be done.
The New York Times has built a very impressive interactive map that allows you to view certain areas of the city from three different times: before the quake, just after the quake, and now.
One of the most amazing transformations is likely in the Petionville Tent City, which used to be an elite country club. It now holds roughly 60,000 Haitians and has become a nearly fully functional city with its own hospital, church and school. The before and after shots of the golf course are amazing:
Acronym Online has some good info about this New York Times feature, but your best bet is to go check it out for yourself on their site. Be advised that Flash is required to view the map.
Another great way to explore the imagery is simply to fly there in Google Earth and see if for yourself (KML to Petionville Tent City). Google has added imagery for that area roughly a dozen times over the past year, and the historical imagery tool is very valuable there.
Because so much historical imagery has been added in such a short period of time, the date slider can get a little crowded. Be sure to use the [+] and [-] icons in the historical imagery slider so you can see the individual dates, as seen to the right.
Posted by mickmel at 7:19 AM
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January 25, 2011
L'Aquila being rebuilt in 3D
Nearly two years, ago, the city of L'Aquila, Italy was hit by a major earthquake, destroying much of the city. Today, most of the city remains in ruins.
Barnaby Gunning has created a website, Comefacciamo, to encourage people to build out the entire city in 3D in its current state. As you may have seen on the SketchUp Blog last week, they've already accomplished quite a bit. For example, check out the images below of the Santa Maria Paganica to see just how well-detailed some of these models are:
A few days ago, Google organized a workshop to help volunteers learn how to use the various modeling tools available to them. One of the best tools to help model L'Aquila is Building Maker, which recently added the city to it's growing list of available areas. For a bit more on how to use that, check out these getting started videos.
If you'd like more imagery for your models, you'll want to look at this page on the Comefacciamo site, which has hundres of high-res images of the buildings in the city.
For more info, you can fly to L'Aquila in Google Earth using this KML file, visit the L'Aquila 3D site or get more info from this post in the SketchUp Blog.
Posted by mickmel at 8:50 AM
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January 24, 2011
Flooding Google Earth
We've discussed how flooding can be visualized a few times in Google Earth, because it's a great medium with which to show off catastrophes such as that. In addition to helping with fresh imagery from recent floods in Pakistan and Nashville, it's also been used to help bring to life the 1966 flood in Florence and an animation of how rising sea levels would affect various cities.
Today's post comes from Richard Treves over at Google Earth Design. He's recently read Will Self's "Book of Dave", which imagines a future where sea levels have risen over 100 meters.
Richard has taken that idea and given step-by-step instructions on how to simulate a 100m rise in sea level for any area of the world. I took his example and put it over London, with the results seen here:
To view that file in Google Earth, you can download this KMZ file.
It's a great way to visualize something like this, and Richard put together a great guide for it. However, I'd like to make one small correction. In step #4, he advises choosing "Relative to Ground" for the water level. While this will put water 100m deep in the area you choose, it's not necessarily representative of a 100m rise in sea level. Instead, choose "Absolute" in step #4 (as I did in the KMZ above) to see what it would be like if the sea level rose 100m world wide.
As Richard mentions, and as you'll see in the screenshot above, leaving 3D buildings turned on is a great way to see the scale of the depth of water. Check out his blog and go try it for yourself.
Great job Richard!
Posted by mickmel at 8:49 AM
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January 23, 2011
New Google Earth Imagery - January 23
It's been over a month since the past update, but thanks to some sharp-eyed GEB readers ('Andreas' and 'r m'), we're now aware that Google has just pushed out a new update!
As is usually 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-January, 5:08pm EST]
- Canada: Manitoba and northwestern Ontario -- thanks 'Steven'
- China: Takla-Makan desert and Tibet -- thanks 'Neutravo'
- England: Various areas -- thanks 'Steven'
- Ireland: Ballycotton, Castlebar, Kinsale -- thanks 'r m'
- Norway: Maloy -- thanks 'Andreas'
- Scotland: Various areas in the southwest area of the country -- thanks 'Dunk'
- Spain: Catalonia and Zaragoza -- thanks 'Nacho' and 'Neutravo'
- Ukraine: Pervomaisk and Sevastopol -- thanks 'Sean'
- United States: Florida (Lakeland, Sarasota), Georgia (Macon, Augusta), Illinois (Champaign), Missouri (Branson and Springfield) and Ohio (Toledo) -- thanks 'Kevin' and 'Munden'
If you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know!
Posted by mickmel at 2:07 PM
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January 21, 2011
Make your SketchUp models more realistic with Shaderlight
We've been big fans of Google SketchUp, since before they purchased it (and made it free) back in 2006. Every year we've seen improvements made to the product and last September saw the release of SketchUp 8, with a handful of excellent new features.
One of the great features of SketchUp is the many plugins that it supports. One of the newer plugins on the block is called Shaderlight and it's quite amazing. It's one of a variety of products that help turn your SketchUp rendering into a very photorealistic image. For some examples, check out the images below which were both created by "Sully114":
Boat Interior
Villa Interior
Those photos are very impressive, and the Shaderlight folks have put together a video to show you how it works. It's a great demo of the system, showing how powerful it is and yet how easy it is to use.
As with most products like this, you can try out a free version of it to see how well you like it, and then upgrade to the Pro version ($199) if you're wanting more out of it.
Posted by mickmel at 10:00 AM
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January 20, 2011
Predict how much solar power your house could generate
The fact that the rise of alternative energy and the rise of Google Earth are happening at the same time has led to some amazing Google Earth visualizations of potential alternative energy use, particular with solar power. We've seen a 3D rendering of the solar panels at the Googleplex and the US Solar Jobs Map, which shows the potential for hundreds of thousands of new solar-related jobs in the next few years.
We also showed you the Berlin Solar Atlas Project, which allows you to view the "solar potential" for over 14,000 roofs in the city. Today's story is very similar, but on a much wider (though less detailed) scale.
Coming from the University of California - San Diego is the "California Solar Irradiance Map", which shows the entire state of California and the amount of energy a horizontally oriented solar panel could expect to receive over the course of a year.
Beyond the overview map that you see above, you can zoom down and get specific data for thousands of individual points on the map, the most important of which is likely the "monthly mean irradiation" that shows how much energy could be generated at different times of the year.
To try it for yourself, download their KMZ file. To see the individual placemarks, be sure to turn on the "Placemark Data" folder inside of the KMZ.
Posted by mickmel at 7:25 AM
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January 19, 2011
Hunting for the Megalithic Stone Circle in Morocco
Over the past few years, we've seen some great discoveries in Google Earth, including some quite remarkable finds that were only made possible thanks to the widespread high-resolution imagery that is available in Google Earth.
Some examples include a geologist that "accidentally" discovered a meteor crater, another crater in the Saharan Desert, and a buried Peruvian pyramid.
Today we bring you the story of Graham Salisbury, and how he was able to track down the megalithic stone circle of Mzora using a black and white photograph and Google Earth.
Salisbury quotes several sources as saying it's "extraordinarily difficult to find" and "one would have to have access to a military satellite to find it", but he felt that it could be found in Google Earth with enough research and patience.
You can read all of the details on his blog, but he did an excellent job of figuring out which area to search and then tracking down. If you compare the screenshot from Google Earth below with the black and white image above, I think it's pretty clear that he succeeded.
If you'd like to see it for yourself, you can fly there using this KML file. Also, you can check out this post that Graham wrote which explains what the Megalithic site is all about.
Great work Graham!
Posted by mickmel at 11:04 AM
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January 18, 2011
The work of jgago93 in Chile
Last fall, Google added the cities of Santiago and Valparaiso to their Building Maker tool. The city was already partially modeled, thanks to the work of users such as gananunez, GecKo StuDio, Sergio and jgago93.
While all of them are continuing to do great work, I want to focus a bit on jgago93. Prior to Building Maker arriving in Chile, he had done a variety of excellent models in SketchUp. Below is an example of a convenience store (and apartments?) that he created. Notice the excellent textures he used, including the 3d railings on the right side of the building:
Since Building Maker is now available over there, he's made excellent use of it. Many of his recent models were created with Building Maker, and as of today he's generated a total of 108 models, 74 of which are already included in Google Earth!
His Builder Maker models are quite well done, too. For example, notice the building below. While the textures are rather fuzzy (not much he can do about that), he obviously spent a good bit of time to make sure the architecture was accurate:
Because of Building Maker and 3D modelers like the people we mentioned above, these cities (particularly Santiago) are becoming quite filled with 3D models and are looking excellent. Hopefully Google will bring StreetView to that area soon, as that will result in even better-looking models.
Have you done much with Building Maker lately? Leave a comment and show off some of your best work!
Posted by mickmel at 7:50 AM
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January 17, 2011
The WaterAid Point Mapper, helping find fresh water
As we've discussed a few times, fresh water is a remarkably scare resource in many parts of the world, and Google Earth has proven to be a great way to learn more about the problem. A great example is the UNICEF: Water and Sanitation layer that was released a few years ago.
The folks at WaterAid have recently developed a Mapping tool called the Water Point Mapper. It takes data via Microsoft Excel and uses macros to generate KML files. The tool is now widely used by WaterAid country programs and partner organizations across sub-Saharan Africa to map rural water points. The tool empowers communities to manage their water sources and offers district level planning and resource allocation.
The Mapper can generate a range of point-based and area-based maps for monitoring a wide selection of status indicators. The list includes water source coverage (with and without functionality), functionality, water source type, revenue collection and access distance. Also a range of water quality parameters can be mapped, such as fluoride and iron. It can be configured for use in any country, as long as you can provide them with the necessary shapefiles for district and sub-district administrative levels.
There aren't any sample files on the site, but they were kind enough to produce a few of them for us that you can check out. The first is a fairly standard map (KMZ file):
The next is a map that features "radius of influence" spheres, so you can see how much area each specific water distribution point is able to affect (KMZ file):
For more info, check out their site at www.waterpointmapper.org.
Posted by mickmel at 10:16 AM
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January 14, 2011
The 2011 GSA Penrose Conference
Last week, at Google's Mountain View headquarters, a group of 74 professors and students met for a Geological Society of America Penrose Conference to discuss "Visualizing the Possibilities for Geoscience Education and Research".
While the event was hosted at Google, and the Google folks certainly helped with logistics, the event was run by members of the geospatial community, for the purpose of discussing the role of Google Earth in higher education and research.
The week provided a wealth of ideas and information, such as Barb Tewksbury's discussion of geologic map interpretation and John Bailey and Sean Askey's presentation about generating tours from lines.
For a quick look at what the conference was like, Eugene Potapov shot this brief video:
To learn more about the topics discussed at the conference, your best resource for now are the blogs of Rich Treves and Meg Stewart, as they've both posted a lot of great information from the week. The official site should be updated soon with more detail about each presentation.
All in all, it sounds like it was a very educational week. Were any of you among the attendees? Leave a comment and let us know what you thought of the conference.
Posted by mickmel at 9:29 AM
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January 13, 2011
Mission Blue: Tracking the gulf oil spill recovery effort
Last April, we were all very aware of the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. There were a variety of tools released to help track the spill, including aerial imagery, visualization tools, EPA data and much more.
However, now that the leak has been stopped for a while, people are turning their attention elsewhere. That's where Mission Blue comes in. Their primary goal is to "raise public awareness and move people to help protect this vital natural resource", and in this case they're working to "identify areas with potential for Gulf ecosystem recovery".
Because the impact of the oil spill is still under debate, they're out on an expedition into the Gulf to see how the area is recovering from the spill. While they're out there, information and videos are being shared as often as possible.
If you have the "Places" layer turned on in Google Earth, you can click the blue ship icon just outside of Pensacola, Florida. Alternatively, you can simply download this KML file to view the expedition. Through the KML you'll find photos, videos, updates and links to updates on the National Geographic Mission Blue blog here.
Posted by mickmel at 9:10 AM
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January 12, 2011
Your SpaceNavigator now works with SketchUp 8, and the Shadow Bug is fixed
SketchUp 8 was released last year and featured a host of improvements. However, it had one big shortcoming -- the 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator no longer worked with it.
The SpaceNavigator is an excellent device, and for heavy users this was a big problem. There were some workarounds available, but no official solution until now.
In addition, Google has released an update for SketchUp 8 that improves a few things including some export fixes and a resolution for the famous "Shadow Bug". You can read the full release notes here.
Google is quite pleased to have conquered the shadow bug, and made a little video to celebrate:
You can get the latest version of SketchUp by going to [Help] -> [Check for Update] on Windows, or [SketchUp] -> [Check Web for Update] on Mac.
Posted by mickmel at 5:07 PM
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View SketchUp models in your hand with augmented reality
Augmented Reality is a concept that has a lot of potential in the coming years. In particular, technologies like Layar could prove to be very useful as the GPS accuracy and the underlying dataset continue to get more accurate.
A few years ago we showed you a neat augmented reality tool of a product called ARSights. They allow you to print out a "target", and then when you held the target in front of your web cam it would appear that you were holding an actual 3D model in your hands. It was very cool!
They've now just released version 2 of their SketchUp plugin that features a variety of enhancements, so it's a great time to see how things have advanced since then. Here's a quick video to show how it works, along with some of the new features.
As you can see in the video above, the new version allows you to use multiple targets at once, allowing you to piece together buildings like that. It's a minor enhancement that could have a major impact on the uses of the product.
To get started, your best bet is to begin with their "Quick Start Guide" (PDF - Windows | Mac) and go from there. After that, install their plug-in, print out the marker and give it a spin!
What do you think of it?
Posted by mickmel at 9:16 AM
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January 11, 2011
Use Google Earth to estimate point-to-point links
AlphiMAX has recently updated their Point-To-Point Estimator to support a handful of new Google Earth features, and the result is pretty slick.
The tool already had a lot of great features in it, such as the ability to factor in temperature, terrain data and a variety of other factors.They added Google Earth support to it a while ago, via the Google Earth Plug-in, and it worked very well.
Then they recently added support for Google Earth 6, including the new 3D trees that were part of that release. For a P2P estimator, being able to see trees in the system is certainly an important part of it. The coverage of trees in Google Earth is still relatively small, making this feature somewhat less useful, but it's certain to grow quickly in the future.
If you'd like to try it out for yourself, simply visit their site and dive in. It's required that you have an account on their site for it to work, but otherwise you can get up and running fairly quickly. If you'd just like to see a resulting file, here's a KMZ file of a test set of data.
Not many of us will need a Point-To-Point Estimator in our work, but for those that do the new enhancements to this program should be very useful!
Posted by mickmel at 8:15 AM
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January 10, 2011
Unbroken: Louis Zamperini's journey in Google Earth
Last year, Laura Hillenbrand released a book titled "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption", based on the life of Louis Zamperini (details on Amazon). The book has been very popular, quickly becoming a best-seller and recently being picked up by Universal Studios to be turned into a movie.
The life of Zamperini is amazing, and the book is excellent. Zamperini, a world-class runner that competed in the Berlin Olympics in 1936, is drafted into World War II. He fights a number of missions before his plane goes down and he's trapped in a raft at sea. After 46 days at sea, he floats into the Japanese-controlled Marshall Islands, and he's placed in various POW camps for the next few years.
In reading the book about his journey, I realized that it would pretty cool to track down his various missions and POW camps in Google Earth. I was right! However, I was unable to find a decent timeline of his life, so I spent a few hours researching it and created one myself. After that, I did more research to find all of those locations in Google Earth and ended up with a pretty cool file.
The file includes locations from his early days (homes, school), the various places he went for military training, the Pacific missions he completed, the POW camps he was placed in, and the various stops on his journey home. You can download the KMZ file here to try it for yourself.
[File updated 1/10/11 with his home address in Olean, NY -- thanks Alec]
[File updated 2/14/11 with a more precise location for Naoetsu -- thanks David]
I had hoped that historical imagery might come into play with this, but the old imagery in the Pacific and Japan doesn't go back nearly far enough (as opposed to Europe, where many locations have historical imagery dating back to the mid-1940's). However, one good example was Hamilton Field, where he stopped over on his way to Hawaii. The present-day imagery no longer shows a runway, but if you switch to the 1993 imagery you can clearly see the runway still there.
All of that being said, I'm sure the file isn't perfect. If you make any corrections to it, please email me the updated version (mickey@gearthblog.com) and I'll update this post.
So, have you read the book? What did you think of it?
Posted by mickmel at 7:40 AM
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January 7, 2011
FaceTime around the world
When Apple released the iPhone 4 last summer, one of the great new features was FaceTime -- a phone-based video chat, the likes of which we hadn't really seen before. It had some limitations (wifi-only being the biggest), but it's proven to be very popular.
Not long after that, a variety of apps were released to help improve the service in various ways. One of the more popular is FTFun ("FaceTime Fun"), which allows you to FaceTime with other users without giving away your cell phone number or email address. To date, there have been roughly 180,000 calls using this service, so it's been quite popular.
To help show off all of these calls, the FTFun folks have created a variety of Google Maps and Google Earth files to help visualize the data.
As you might guess, the data is anonymized so that they don't give away precise user locations. What's neat the variety of ways in which you can view it all:
• Last Three Hours: KML | Google Maps
• Yesterday's Calls: KML | (too many to show in Google Maps)
• Live Data, updated every two minutes: KML | Google Maps
Google Earth is a great place to show off geo data like this, and the guys at FTFun have done a nice job of allowing you to view the data in a variety of ways. I'd maybe like to see thinner lines on it (especially on "Yesterday's Call"), as things can get quite congested, but it's nonetheless a fun use of Google Earth.
Posted by mickmel at 7:21 AM
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January 6, 2011
The great work behind the London 3D Project
Jack recently contacted me to let me know about the "London 3D Project", which I wasn't previously aware of. They're a group of users that want to see more 3D buildings in London and rather than complain about it, they're getting to work! Since they started work in October, the team has constructed well over 100 models, and roughly 80 of them have shown up in Google Earth.
They're making a point to try to tackle a lot of the "boring" buildings that people otherwise might not model. For example, there are over 200 models of "Big Ben" in the 3D Warehouse, and most of the popular buildings in town have multiple models available. Their effort is focused on filling out the city with all of the models they can find, not just famous buildings.
To learn more about the project, you can visit their website at www.london3dproject.mfbiz.com.
You can also check out some of their models in the 3D Warehouse.
A project like this is also a great way to explore a city. Jack mentioned that they've come across a variety of interesting architecture and some buildings that they didn't even know existed. Not only have they discovered these buildings now, but they're sharing them with the rest of the community. Great work guys!
Posted by mickmel at 8:03 AM
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January 5, 2011
Enjoy some 3D fireworks in Google Earth
In celebration of the new year many people shot off fireworks. GEB reader 'Steven' took it a step further and created some great 3D fireworks in Google Earth! As you can read about in his blog, the fireworks are intended to duplicate the 2011 Taiwan New Years Eve show, based on the simulation that you can view here.
As you can see from the photo above, the fireworks aren't just simple animated images -- they're fully 3D! Some of them shoot into the sky, and some wrap around the Taipei 101 tower. As Steven points out in his post, animations like this are only possible because of the work of 3D modelers that created the buildings. In this case, credit goes to user tang Huang who created the exceptionally detailed model of the Taipei 101 tower.
To see the fireworks in action, you can view them here using the Google Earth Plug-in, download this KMZ file, or watch the video below:
Nice work, Steven!
Posted by mickmel at 8:54 AM
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January 4, 2011
Playing GeoGames in Google Earth
We've seen a lot of games built on top of Google Earth over the past few years, including some great ones such as GE War, Ships, Helicopters and the Apollo 11 Moon Lander.
Today we have a new game from CyberCity3D, who last month showed off a slick new map for Vixen's L.A. Happy Hours. This latest game is part of their new site: GeoGames3D.com.
The scavenger hunt-style game itself isn't too exciting, but it's very well crafted. You use a variety of clues to search around the city for prize boxes. As long as you're comfortable with the Google Earth controls, moving around to find the clues can be a fun little adventure. They also include "lifelines" to fly you there automatically if you get stuck.
The great part is that they're offering real prizes to those that win, including some $5 Starbucks and Subway gift cards. They're not huge prizes, but they're a fun little reward for spending a few minutes playing a game!
Head out to GeoGames3D.com and try their first game, titled "Globe Quest". Be on the look out for more games coming from them soon, and you can join their Facebook Page to stay in the loop when new games are released.
For more, check out their press release below:
CyberCity 3D™, a 3D modeling and social website company based in El Segundo, CA is getting into gaming--- scavenger hunt style.
The Company's new spin-off, GeoGames 3D, designs and runs geography-based games incorporating the Google™ earth/maps API plug-in. GeoGames 3D™ announces the games on its Facebook™ page and website; its sponsors also plug the games on their websites, Facebook and blog pages.
Players go to the GeoGames 3D landing page and click on a featured game, then run against the clock to decipher clues to secret locations on the 3D map. Each location contains a billboard with part of a secret code needed to win a prize. Those who get stumped can grab a 'lifeline', which will 'fly' them to the location. The first players to finish and input the complete code as well as the fastest overall players win prizes. Some sponsors also offer discount 'deal' coupons.
"Our 3D GeoGames compliment our 3D maps and location applications featured on our social portals. The Google™ earth/maps API is a great platform for this," states CyberCity 3D CEO Kevin DeVito.
Players need a little navigation experience on Google™ earth, but the site offers a tutorial practice game along with information on current and upcoming games.
"We're starting the games on a more basic level, but plan to push the learning curve as we increase the number of players and their skill sets soar," says DeVito. "We want to keep it fun, and add to the value by offering discount coupons to players, too."
GeoGames 3D's premiere client, the Hyatt Regency Valencia in Santa Clarita, CA, kicks off the New Year this Tuesday with a game offering free Sunday brunches to winners as well as 50 percent off brunch coupons. In the initial games, GeoGames 3D will also offer $5 gift cards to national chains for players outside Southern California.
CyberCity 3D is in negotiations with additional national and local sponsors, and plans to run games on a weekly basis for now, with its target on faster, daily games as momentum and player skills grow. The Company also offers social maps to its gamer clients as well as mobile applications.
Posted by mickmel at 8:17 AM
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January 3, 2011
The Year 2010 in Google Earth
Google Earth had another fantastic year in 2010 in terms of new features along with an amazing amount of content! The amount of new content Google has added in a single year is almost too large to comprehend. We wish we had detailed statistics on just how big it is, but Google doesn't usually release their content statistics. New imagery released during the year covered millions of square miles across all seven continents. And, not just current imagery, but in some cases multiple instances for different years going back several decades.
Also in 2010 we saw the release of Google Earth 6 and it's many great new features, tons of new 3D buildings released covering nearly every major city in the world, Street View was greatly expanded world-wide, SketchUp got some excellent new features, and dozens of applications using the Google Earth plugin were released.
Read the full entry to see our most popular posts and tips on Google Earth from each month in 2010.
January
In late January, we speculated on whether or not Google would release a special version of Google Earth for the iPad. The official Google Earth iPad release came in June and users loved it!
February
In February, the world watched the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and Google provided a wealth of tools to help provide additional information. Our post about the Games provided links to 3D models, Street View imagery and a variety of other interactive tools.
February was also the month where details were released on the horrible earthquake in Chile, and Google helped facilitate assistance by releasing imagery as quickly as possible. However, the first aerial imagery of the disaster came from Japanese astronaut Soichi Naguchi, and the photos were viewed many thousands of times by our readers.
March
In March, the big story was our post on the great games you can play inside of Google Earth. The number of games available to play using Google Earth technology continues to increase.
April
The big story in April was the volcano in Iceland that was causing flooding and delayed thousands of flights in Europe. NASA and GeoEye released imagery of the volcano, and it proved to be a very popular post.
May
Paul van Dinther from PlanetInAction has build some cool applications, but his most popular (at least on our site) is likely the "Drive the A-Team Van" game that he created to help promote the movie. It had nice controls, built-in collision detection, and allowed you to unlock special video clips from the upcoming A-Team movie.
June
June saw the final release of Google Earth 5.2, which offered some great new features such as tracks and elevation profiles.
July
July's hottest story was the imagery update they pushed out on July 4. It was a substantial update, covering a variety of cities around the world.
August
August was a similar story to July, with the big imagery update on August 10 capturing the "most popular post" title for the month. It was another large update for Google Earth, with tons more cities getting some fresh imagery.
September
The annual Burning Man event is growing more popular each year, and a special GeoEye-captured image of the event was a very popular item in September.
October
Our most popular post in October was Frank's announcement that his kite photos from Manihi were now available in Google Earth. The imagery he captures from the kite is quite amazing, and it's neat to see that imagery end up as part of the base layer in Google Earth.
November
The big news in November of the release of Google Earth 6. It brought out a handful of awesome new features and continues to raise the bar for what's possible with this program. Some of the new features included 3D trees, tighter integration with Steet View and an improved historical imagery system. Much of this was made possible by the slick new ground-level view, which allows you to browse around as if walking or driving on the ground.
December
Not surprisingly, the NORAD Santa tracker was by far our most popular post in December. People love it, and Google helps add more fun features to it every year.
It's been a great year! What is your favorite Google Earth advancement in 2010?
Posted by mickmel at 8:51 AM
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