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May 31, 2011
New Google Earth Imagery - May 31
Google has just dropped some more fresh imagery on us! Thanks to GEB reader 'Munden' for being the first to spot it!
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 - 1-June, 7:39am EST]
- Chile: Temuco -- thanks 'Rodrigo Pastor'
- France: Vannes -- thanks 'yves'
- Japan: Hachioji -- thanks 'Munden'
- Norway: Preikestolen -- thanks 'Andreas'
- Romania: Timisoara -- thanks 'cristi'
- United States: California (various areas), Indiana (South Bend), New Hampshire (Manchester), West Virginia (Huntington) -- thanks 'cristi', 'Jonahrf' and 'Munden'
If you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know!
Posted by mickmel at 9:11 PM
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May 25, 2011
Excellent visualization of Grimsvotn's ash cloud
Last April we showed you a variety of imagery and tools related to the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption in Iceland, as it caused some major travel delays across the globe.
This year, the nearby Grimsvotn volcano is the one erupting and causing issues, though it's on a much smaller scale than Eyjafajallajokull's was. To show the extent of the ash cloud from Grimsvotn, Adam Burt has built a very cool visualization in Google Earth.
Not only is it a great visualization, but it has a few extra dimensions that you wouldn't expect; elevation and time. You can fly through the visualization to see how the ash spreads differently at different elevations, and you can also animate the entire cloud to see it in motion.
To try it for yourself, simply download this KMZ file.
For more, check out the post over on Ogle Earth.
Nice work Adam!
Posted by mickmel at 7:08 AM
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May 24, 2011
A collection of weather and storm tracking tools for Google Earth
A few years ago, Frank collected a variety of weather-related tools for Google Earth and put them into a nice package. Since then, a few of those tools have disappeared and a few new ones have been added, so I've rebuilt the collection with those changes made.
Two of the big contributors to the old file were GUIweather and WeatherBonk, and both sites are now completely gone. They both provided some excellent data, so it's quite a shame that they're gone. However, we've now added data from the World-Wide Lightning Location Network and NASA Goddard's TRMM Project.
If you already have a copy of the old network link, it should automatically refresh with the new information. Either way, you can download the KMZ file here.
If you have other valuable data that you think should be included, please leave a comment and include a link to their KML/KMZ data that we can include. Thanks!
Posted by mickmel at 7:45 AM
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May 23, 2011
Saving the Tigers of Sumatra
Google Earth is proving to be a great tool to track deforestation around the world such as proving the deforestation of Sarawak and leading to some interesting discoveries like the Amazon Geoglyphs.
A related story has just come out about an area of Sumatra that is one of the last homes for the Indonesian Tiger, and it's being destroyed by paper companies. The WWF has put together a variety of KMZ files to show the destruction in the area, with features such as geo-referenced photos as seen here:
To learn more simply head over to their site and scroll down below the Google Earth screenshot to find the various KMZ files, or watch the video below for an overview of what's going on in Sumatra:
Posted by mickmel at 7:10 AM
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May 20, 2011
New false color image of the Morganza flooding
The NASA Earth Observatory has just posted a very powerful false-color image of the flooding that resulted from opening the Morganza spillway last week.
The reason for the false-color in this imagery is to more easily highlight the flooded areas. Specifically:
The false-color images combine infrared, red, and green wavelengths to help distinguish between water and land. Clear water is blue, and sediment-laden water is a dull blue-gray. Vegetation is red; the brighter the red, the more robust the vegetation. Gray patches away from the center of the floodway are likely farm fields that have recently been burned or cleared.
To see it for yourself, you can download this KML file. Be warned that it's pulling a 4MB image, so it'll take a few seconds to load.
(via NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day)
Posted by mickmel at 7:58 AM
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Pix4D can automatically turn your 2D aerial photos into 3D
When discussing the new Ovi Maps 3D a few days ago, one interesting point about their maps are how they are generated -- hundreds of aerial photographs, automatically converted to 3D.
It's apparently growing into a popular technique, as Pix4D is showing off some similar technologies.
In the article they mention using the Swinglet CAM as a great way to capture the imagery for uses like this. The "4D" part of the equation is time; you can view the progress of 3D buildings through time, assuming you've done enough captures of a particular area.
It's a great concept, and yet another way to generate 3D models. As all of these techniques continue to evolve, I expect we'll see an even more rapid expansion of 3D models in Google Earth.
Posted by mickmel at 7:21 AM
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May 19, 2011
Blue Marble in the year 3000
Ever since Frank put together the "Blue Marble" overlay, it's been one of my favorite overlays for Google Earth. I leave it on almost all the time, because it creates such a nice view of the earth when seen from very high altitudes.
Of course, the Blue Marble only shows how the Earth looks right now. What if you could see the past (and future) of our planet with a similar overlay? That's what the folks at ZHAW have put together, and it's quite impressive. They've created a few animations that show changes in the Earth's glaciers, vegetation and sea levels throughout the years. Here's a look at their "Blue Marble 3000" animation, which begins 21,000 years ago, and ends in the year 3000.
They also have a version of it that starts with present-day Earth and goes until the year 10,000:
In addition to the views, they've created overlays that you can use inside of Google Earth. You can find more info about Blue Marble 3000 here, and Blue Marble 10,000 here.
They collected the data from a variety of sources, and certainly had to make some estimations for future ice and shorelines. Still, it's an interesting look at where we've been and where we might be heading.
Posted by mickmel at 7:08 AM
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May 18, 2011
New Google Earth Imagery - May 18
It's once again time for an imagery update to Google Earth! Thanks to the Palm Beach Gardens GIS Division for letting us know about it.
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 - 19-May, 6:46am EST]
- Australia: Helensburgh -- thanks 'Pete'
- China: Lushun, Xiaopingdao -- thanks 'Munden'
- Greece: Athens, Khania -- thanks 'Andreas' and 'Munden'
- Hungary: Batonyterenya, Paszto -- thanks 'eHOG'
- Iceland: Selfoss -- thanks 'Noel'
- India: Pallimukku -- thanks 'Munden'
- Japan: Kamijima, Sanuki, Minamiawaji -- thanks 'Munden'
- New Zealand: Hamilton -- thanks 'Erik'
- Norway: Various areas -- thanks 'Munden'
- Poland: Ryn -- thanks 'PaSKud'
- Portugal: Castelo Branco -- thanks 'lain'
- Romania: Various areas -- thanks 'cristi'
- Russia: Severodvinsk -- thanks 'Munden'
- United States: Alaska (Anchorage), Florida (Broward, Miami, Navarre Beach, Palm Beach), Michigan (Grand Rapids), New York (Buffalo), North Carolina (Hickory), Texas (Dallas), Virginia (Lynchburg) -- thanks 'Brian', 'ChrisK', 'Corey', 'GT", 'Munden' and 'toyle'
If you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know!
Posted by mickmel at 4:25 PM
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A panorama from the top of Mount Everest
Back in 1989, Australian climber Roderick Mackenzie become the 271st person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. While up there, he captured a 360 degree panorama of the view from the top, which appears to be the only panorama ever captured up there.
Steven Ho stumbled upon that panorama recently and thought it would be great to compare the panorama to the always-improving terrain of Google Earth. With that in mind, he created an excellent page that uses the Google Earth Plug-in to change your view as you browse around the panorama. It works great!
To learn more about what he's done and to try it for yourself, visit Steven's blog. Click the panorama image at the top of the text to enter the panorama/plug-in page. Once you're inside of it, simply drag the top image around to view any particular area, and the bottom image will stay in sync automatically.
Nice work Steven!
Posted by mickmel at 7:45 AM
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May 17, 2011
Imagery from the Louisiana flooding
A couple of days ago we showed you the location of the Morganza Spillway and the expected flood area, and now some fresh satellite imagery is coming in to show what's actually been happening.
The imagery comes via GeoEye, and covers various parts of the Mississippi River from Illinois down to Louisiana. You can view all of the imagery using this KML file that Google unveiled last night.
For more, you can check out some additional imagery that was captured on Sunday and shown on the NASA Earth Observatory site, or see it in Google Earth with this KML file (note -- it's a 4MB image, so it make take a few seconds to load).
The white area next to the spillway is whitewater being churned up by the fierce flow of water, and you can clearly see fields and other nearby areas that have been flooded. I expect we'll see more imagery from this area in the coming weeks as the water continues to rise.
Posted by mickmel at 7:34 AM
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May 16, 2011
3DHawaii expands with private label product and a great trip giveaway
Nearly a year ago, we showed you the excellent 3DHawaii site and their great use of 3D models with the Google Earth Plug-in.
They're now in the process of launching a private label platform for anyone that could benefit from having a custom 3D solution on their site, such as hotels, travel agents, etc. The first site they're launching via this program is the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and it's very impressive. The 3D models, created through a partnership with CyberCity 3D, are stunningly good. All of the imagery is available inside of Google Earth, but it's presented very nicely on the HHV site.
As a promotion to celebrate the launch of their 3D site, they've created a simple contest. If users go on the Hilton 3D site and find the five penguins located throughout the resort, they are entered to win a five-night stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. In case you are wondering "Why Penguins?", Hilton has live penguins at their resort and its one of the things they are known for. The Penguins are very easy to find (it walks you though it), but it's a great way to show off some of the amenities of the resort.
You can learn more about the new private label product on their blog. Now go enter the contest and win yourself a five-night stay at a great hotel!
Posted by mickmel at 7:51 AM
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LiDAR views of the Carolina Bays
We've talked about the Carolina Bays before, but today we've got a great new way to view them. Michael at Cintos Research sent over some information about their new use of LiDAR DEM hsv-shaded imagery to expose as many of the Bays as they could -- over 22,000 so far!
If you want to just see one quickly, here's a KMZ file to download. To see the rest of them, you can pull individual KMZ files from this Google Fusion Table that they've put together.
To take it even further, their data includes placemarks for each of the 22,000 bays, with transparent png overlays to show the exact location of each Bay. Turning the overlays on and off help to reveal the bay in the standard Google Earth imagery.
For more about this project, check out the entry at IdeaScale.com.
Posted by mickmel at 7:11 AM
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May 15, 2011
The Morganza Spillway in Google Earth
As many of you have likely heard about, the Morganza Spillway in Louisiana was opened yesterday afternoon to intentionally flood hundreds of homes, in the hopes of saving thousands of homes further south. You can view the spillway using this KMZ file (via 'Textularia' at the GEC), seen here:
At this point, the Corps of Engineers are planning to use Scenario 1A, which keeps the spillway open at 1/4 of its maximum, a rate of roughly 150,000 cubic feet per second.
The results of that can be seen in their Potential Inundation image, viewable in Google Earth via this KML file or seen here:
This type of flooding is a known risk for those that live in the area, but it's still heartbreaking for people to watch their homes be destroyed. Hopefully this effort will pay off and the New Orleans levees can withstand the pressure from the river over the next few weeks.
Posted by mickmel at 8:13 AM
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May 13, 2011
Real-time recycling and bus info in Google Earth
We've seen a lot of interesting real-time data feeds into Google Earth over the years, the most common being real-time air traffic and a feed of real-time satellite locations.
A new set of models from iNovmapping brings it to a different level -- stationary objects with real-time data inside. For now, their demonstrations are for bus information, found by clicking on a bus stop, and recycling information, found by clicking on a recycling container. Here are a few screenshots and KMZ files to show you what we're talking about.
Bus Stop - KMZ
Recycling Container - KMZ
What makes these very unique is that the KMZ files aren't necessary to make them function -- they're just to help you locate the models. In every other real-time product we've seen in the past, it's been managed via a network link. In this case, they've added an iframe to the description box on the 3D model itself, and then they can update the information inside of the iframe with up-to-date data about that location. You don't need to load any external KML files or network links; you can just use the standard "3D Buildings" layer in Google Earth.
If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time we've ever seen something like this and the potential for it is huge!
• Find a house on the beach, click it to get real-time rental prices.
• Click on a restaurant to get operating hours for today.
• Click on a house for sale to get info about pricing, open houses, etc.
• Click on a conference center to see what events are happening inside today.
The possibilities are endless, though most of the business ideas mentioned above don't have 3D models yet. Those that do would then need to find a way to keep the iframed page updated daily, which could be technically challenging and/or time consuming. While there are some issues to work out, this is still quite impressive.
iNovmapping wants to take it even further, though. Some ideas they have for the future:
For example, developers could incorporate feeds of shows in Theaters or of expositions in Museums. This would turn the 3D layer more useful and would create an incentive on the part of the real-estate owners to put their buildings on the GE 3D Layer. Another feature ... is the possibility of clicking buildings on the Earth Layer of Google Maps. Everyone likes to see realistic models but we appreciate it evan more if they speak back at us.
They make some great points. While Google Earth is an amazing tool, it's historically been quite anti-social. Any social games or social apps of any kind end up using the plug-in via the browser, rather than try to do it inside of Google Earth. I tried making a discussion forum inside of Google Earth a few years ago, but it was quite clunky. If (when?) Google ever moves "My Places" into the cloud, that could help with sharing, but until then it's very limited. It's great to see a company like iNovmapping try to push the envelope a little bit with methods like this.
Posted by mickmel at 9:35 AM
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May 12, 2011
Slick tool to view before/after shots of the Tuscaloosa storm
In the days following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, we showed you a great tool from ABC news that used Google Earth imagery with a slider to flip back and forth between pre and post-earthquake imagery.
Now we've been shown a similar tool for showing damage from the tornadoes that hit Tuscaloosa, and it's just as impressive and heart-breaking as the Japanese imagery.
To try it for yourself, simply head over to this page on the Tuscaloosa News site. Use the blue buttons on the right side to select an area to view, and slide the white bar from side-to-side to view the difference in the imagery.
Posted by mickmel at 7:58 AM
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Can Google come update my area?
We get emails quite often asking if/when Google will be updating the imagery in a particular area. The short answer is no, we have no idea when new imagery might appear and we don't know Google's plans for updating a particular location. We discussed this question last year, but a few things have changed since then. Here is an overview of some options you have if you're wondering about the next update for a specific area.
Disasters
As we've seen recently with Japan (and previously with Christchurch, Haiti and others), Google is quick to respond to a natural disaster and tries to publish updated imagery as quickly as possible.
Historical Imagery
While the historical imagery in Google Earth is typically older than what's on the base map, that's not always the case. Check your area, and you may find that the historical imagery is newer than the main imagery.
Get updates about your area
A few months ago, Google introduced the "Follow Your World" tool, which allows you to sign up for notifications when a particular location is updated.
Things are speeding up
Google is gradually increasing the pace and quantity of their imagery updates, so every area should start to see a more rapid cycle of fresh imagery in the coming years.
How it all works
Of course, be sure to check out this excellent post from Frank a few years ago that explains how the entire imagery process works.
Posted by mickmel at 7:36 AM
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May 11, 2011
The damaged rainforest in Sarawak
The state of Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo, is the site of an interesting political battle recently. Their Chief Minister claims that 70 of Sarawak's forest cover is intact, but imagery from Google Earth seems to indicate that it's far worse than that. In fact, some environmentalist groups estimate that logging has cost Sarawak 90 of it's primary forest cover.
Mongabay has written a very detailed article about this situation, including quite a few photos. For example, the image below clearly shows logging roads all throughout Sarawak, while virtually none are visible in Brunei to the north.
Google Earth is making it increasing difficult for governments to lie about this kind of behavior. As the pace and quality of imagery updates continue to improve, things will only get better for those that wish to expose this type of thing.
Be sure to read the entire article on Mongabay for more information and many more photos.
Posted by mickmel at 7:54 AM
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May 10, 2011
High-res imagery of the Mississippi River flooding
GeoEye has just released some brand new high-res imagery of the flooding that is happening near Cairo, Illinois, due to the rising Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
You can view it yourself using this KML file, or read more on the GeoEye blog.
Based on text in the KML file, the image was captured two days ago, on May 8. That's quick work to get it published so quickly! Fortunately for residents of the area, the river appears to have crested and should begin receding in the next 24 hours or so. Let's hope it does.
Posted by mickmel at 11:17 AM
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Powerful drag-and-drop capabilities with HTML5 and the Google Earth Plug-in
HTML5 and the Google Earth Plug-in both have some powerful tools for web developers, and Googler Sean Maday has put together a great demonstration showing how they can work together.
Watch the short video below to see how he built an application that allows you to drag a KML file onto on web page and have it automatically parse the KML and display the data on a map. Even better, he shows an example where he drops a CSV file on the map, which is then geocoded line-by-line with the output being displayed on the map. It's a very simple yet very impressive demonstration.
Better still, Sean has made all of the code available for you to download and play with. Grab it at sigacts.com/html5/ and see what you can do.
Thanks Sean!
Posted by mickmel at 7:21 AM
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May 9, 2011
Google Earth Outreach Grants
It's been nearly four years since the Google Earth Outreach initiative was introduced, and they've done some great things with it in that time including some excellent resources related to the gulf oil spill last year. Now they're looking to expand their reach, by offering grants worth up to $20,000 to non-profit organizations looking to turn their mapping ideas into reality.
The Google Lat Long Blog gives some examples of organizations that have been promoted via Google Earth Outreach, along with some information to get you started with the grants program. The important piece to note is that applications will only be accepted until May 26, so you have just a few weeks to get your information submitted.
You can apply on this page, but be sure your organization and ideas meet their eligibility criteria before you apply. The requirements aren't too tough, but may rule some organizations out.
Is your group going to apply? If so, good luck to you!
Posted by mickmel at 9:08 AM
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Quickly share locations using the Google Earth Plug-in
As most of you know, I started Google Earth Hacks around the same time that Frank started Google Earth Blog. While the blog now occupies much of my time, I still try to add new features over at GEH from time to time.
A few years back, I created a tool called EasyLatLon as a way to very quickly find the latitude/longitude for any location on earth. With the development work I do in Google Maps, quickly grabbing lat/lon for a specific location can be quite handy.
Over the past few weeks, I've been working to add more features to the tool to make it more useful for our users. In particular, you can now save any location with a single click, whether you're logged in or not. From there, if you're logged in, you can then submit it to the site to share with others in just a few clicks.
Here's a quick video showing how it works:
If you ever have a need to quickly grab the lat/lon for a location, or want to show someone a specific location in Google Earth, I hope this tool is useful for you. You can always find it at gearthhacks.com/easylatlon.
Posted by mickmel at 7:53 AM
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May 6, 2011
New cities and expanded coverage in Building Maker
Hot on the heels of the new 3D buildings feature for Android, Google has now made it easier to add 3D buildings to Google Earth with the expansion of a few cities in their excellent Building Maker tool.
In particular, the coverage area for Fresno, Lake Tahoe, Austin, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego and St. Louis have all been expanded to allow you to model more of the sub-urban areas around the cities. For example, look at the map of Phoenix below; the blue outline shows the previous coverage, while the white outline shows the new coverage -- a major increase!
To try it for yourself, simply head over to the Building Maker site and give it a shot. For more about this update, check out the full post on the Google SketchUp Blog.
Posted by mickmel at 8:24 AM
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Good Earth for Android tablets updated; now includes 3D buildings!
Google Earth on mobile devices just took a big step forward with the release of Google Earth 2.0 for Android, with a special emphasis on tablets. It has some great new features, but is still lacking some of the features that we were hoping for.
When I purchased my Xoom a few months ago, I showed how well Google Earth ran on there, despite only having the scaled-up phone version to use. Now that the software has been customized specifically for tablets, it's quite amazing.
The big addition to this release is 3D buildings! Every 3D building that you can view on your desktop is now available on your Android tablet. The buildings use the same high quality texture as the desktop version, though there's no anti-aliasing built-in so things can look a bit choppy around the edges. Here's a quick video showing how it works:
Curiously, it doesn't appear to load any of the gray buildings from Google Earth -- only the ones that are textured. Nor do any of the new 3D trees load, though that's not a big surprise at this point.
In addition, they've worked on the "action bar" at the top of the screen to make it easy to search for locations, toggle layers, reorient yourself, etc. It's very well done.
Other nice new features include the new content pop-ups when viewing items like photos, as shown here:
The photo feature is nice, but it's difficult to view the picture full-size. Rather than clicking the photo itself, you need to click the small Panoramio link below it. Not very intuitive, though the overall photo viewing experience is quite nice.
In terms of performance, it certainly doesn't run quite as smoothly when you've got the buildings enabled, but it holds up quite well. Much of that will be based on the capabilities of your tablet, but the Xoom with its dual-core processor handles things quite well. It's very apparent that they worked hard to optimize performance on this version.
The only real downside is that they've ignored most of Frank's list of things the tablet version should have, specifically KML support. Having some degree of KML support on the tablet version would be quite nice, and I'm sure we'll see it someday. We believe that the new Android tablets are fully capable of supporting all of the features from the desktop version, and it's a matter of Google taking the time to port those features over.
If you have a Xoom, or one of the other few Android 3.0-enabled tablets, give it a shot and let us know what you think!
(via Google Mobile Blog)
Posted by mickmel at 7:10 AM
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May 5, 2011
The new Ovi Maps 3D vs. Google Earth
With Microsoft Bing Maps dropping their 3D support, it seemed that Google Earth might be the only 3D option in town. However, Nokia has recently launched Ovi Maps 3D, and it's a strong competitor to Google Earth -- at least in terms of visuals.
The images are generated by C3, who creates them by taking up to 100 images of a single location, and then automatically generating the 3D textures from it. The result is an amazing level of detail that includes buildings, trees, and even accurate highway overpasses, as seen in the image above. It launched with 20 cities, many of which also include StreetView-like views in some areas.
[Update from Frank: In 2008, Google also started introducing semi-automated 3D cities to Google Earth with the introduction of GE 4.3. Although they never released details on what technology was used, and several more cities were added, the technique used clearly was done with aerial photography and the quality is quite good. But, Google also favors the use of user-generated models from their 3DWarehouse over their own auto-generated buildings. Usually this means even better quality detail for buildings, but consistency in look and lighting suffers. To my knowledge, not many new cities were added with this technology in recent years. [End Update]
The only downside to Ovi's 3D city technique is that many buildings appear to be melting, as shown here.
Still, the overall look of the cities is great! They've done a very nice job, and the coverage is quite extensive. The control scheme is solid, though there's no SpaceNavigator support because it only runs in a browser.
The problem is that it stops there, as there is no way to extend it. No KML support, no plug-ins, no overlays, no API, etc. A huge part of what makes Google Earth so great is the ability to extend it with your own data, and that's a big hole in Ovi Maps. However, I spoke with their team for a while at Where 2.0 recently and was assured that an API was coming soon, though they wouldn't discuss whether it would support KML or not.
All in all, it's a solid first effort and certainly is something to keep an eye on, especially as they expand their 3D coverage and begin to offer an API of some kind. Go check it out at maps.ovi.com/3d and see what you think, or check out their promo video below to see more:
Posted by mickmel at 7:16 AM
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May 4, 2011
Explore Osama bin Laden's compound in 3D
It's just been a few days since Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and already there are a variety of 3D models of his mansion available in the Google 3D Warehouse. Some are nice renderings, some use very realistic textures, and one is simply meant to be funny. However, all of them show that there are some very talented modelers out there, being able to produce models of this quality in such a short time frame.
Here are some of the best ones, in no particular order:
From J.A. Alvarez | details | KMZ
From Mogens Bregnbaek | details | KMZ
I would assume that Google will post one of them as a default 3D model in Google Earth at some point. I wonder which one they'll use? Which one would you choose?
Posted by mickmel at 8:03 AM
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May 3, 2011
Geospatial Revolution: Episode Four Released
The fourth and final episode of the Geospatial Revolution project, created by Penn State Public Broadcasting, has been released.
If you've missed any of the previous episodes, I strongly recommend that you check them out. Episode One covered a wide overview of "how" and "why" questions regarding geospatial technologies, and Episode Two dug into more specific examples including the City of Portland and the well-known shipping company UPS. Episode Three discussed how geospatial technologies are using in war and in keeping the peace.
Episode Four covers four main topics:
• Monitoring a Changing Climate
• Preventing Hunger
• Tracking Disease
• Mapping Power to the People
As with the previous episodes, you can choose to watch each segment individually or simply watch the full 17 minute video below.
Congratulations to PSPB on creating such an excellent series of videos!
Posted by mickmel at 8:25 AM
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New Google Earth imagery coming this week
In a bit of a surprise move, rather than allowing us to discover new imagery in Google Earth, Google has pre-announced an imagery update that is due out later this week.
[UPDATE: The imagery is now live in Google Earth. See the bottom of this post for a list of updated areas.]
Part of the update will include some high-quality imagery from Abbottabad, Pakistan, which was captured in May, 2010. They're offering a preview of that imagery via this KML file.
In addition, the very new GeoEye imagery of Abbottabad that we mentioned yesterday will be available in the historical imagery feature of Google Earth soon. Remember, historical imagery is sometimes newer than the base imagery.
It sounds like it's quite a major update, and we'll be sure to let you know when it goes live. Here is the full list of areas that will be getting fresh imagery:
High Resolution Aerial Updates: USA: Brookshire, TX; Brownsville, TX; Dallas, TX; Ft Stockton, TX; Hebbronville, TX; Houston, TX; Laredo, TX; McAllen, TX; Milwaukee, WI; Padre Island, TX; Wharton, TX; Zapata, TX;
Australia: Central Coast, New Castle, and Salamander Bay
Norway: Buskerud, Fredrikstad, and Oslo
Countries/Regions receiving High Resolution Satellite Updates:
Algeria, Angola, Antarctica, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, The Gambia, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, West Bank, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Posted by mickmel at 7:21 AM
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May 2, 2011
Imagery of bin Laden's compound from TODAY
It was great to find some (randomly taken) 2011 imagery of bin Laden's compound, but this is even more impressive -- GeoEye has already captured and published imagery of the location that was taken earlier today. If you know how Google Earth imagery works, you'll agree that this is an impressive feat. Granted, the quality is relatively low and it hasn't been added as a base layer in Google Earth, but it's still a solid effort.
Once again, thanks to Stefan at Ogle Earth for posting it. To see it for yourself, simply load this KMZ file to view it in Google Earth.
Be sure to see our previous post if you'd just like to see Osama bin Laden's compound in Google Earth.
If you're curious, GeoEye had this to say about the new imagery:
This one-meter resolution image shows a walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. According to news reports Abbottabad is the town where Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces. The image was collected by the IKONOS satellite on May 2, 2011 at 10:51 a.m. local time while flying 423 miles above the Earth at an average speed of 17,000 mph, or four miles per second.
Posted by mickmel at 7:58 PM
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2011 imagery of bin Laden's compound in Google Earth
While Google Earth only shows the 2005 imagery of Osama bin Laden's compound, Stefan Geens at Ogle Earth discovered some DigitalGlobe imagery of the area that was captured in mid-January of this year!
The imagery can be viewed via DigitalGlobe's Flickr account, or by loading this 6MB KMZ file. Stefan has added a yellow outline of the compound so that it's easier to find, but you can turn that off for a better look at it.
Stefan has been going a great job of keeping up with the latest developments today, so be sure to keep up with Ogle Earth for his latest discoveries.
Posted by mickmel at 4:05 PM
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Osama bin Laden's mansion in Google Earth
Ever since the news of Bin Laden's death last night, people have been digging around in Google Earth trying to find the location of the mansion in which he was killed.
[UPDATE 4: View some 3D models of his mansion.]
[UPDATE 3: GeoEye has captured some imagery of the compound from earlier today.]
[UPDATE 2: Some newer imagery of the compound has been discovered.]
[UPDATE: The location has essentially been confirmed by the BBC (via Ogle Earth).] You can fly there with this KML file or view the image below:
Google Maps Mania takes a shot at it, but admits that it's difficult to find. However, it seems that the location pinpointed by The Atlantic isn't quite right.
Stefan at Ogle Earth takes a shot at it as well, and seems to have it pinned down quite well.
The problem is that the newest imagery from the area is only from 2005, which is when the mansion is reported to have been built. Assuming that construction began before June 15, 2005, then Stefan's map seems to be the most likely.
Here is a KML file that shows the locations that Stefan mentions.
Other sites (such as Watts Up With That) are showing a building that fits the description quite well, but the imagery was from 2001 so it's not likely the correct location.
For now it seems that Stefan's map is the most accurate, though we don't know the precise location because there are a few possibilities in that area. We'll update this post as we learn more.
Posted by mickmel at 8:01 AM
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