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November 30, 2011
Seamless Topographic USGS maps
A few months ago we showed you Matt Fox's excellent topographic maps of New Zealand, which were quite impressive. Over the years he's had many requests to create similar maps with seamless USGS topographic data, and now he's starting to roll them out on his site.
As you can see from the image above, the maps are remarkably sharp. The are distributed through a rather unique system; rather than just downloading a KMZ file, you download an installation program that adds the maps to your PC as Super Overlays. To try it for yourself, Matt is offering a free download of the San Francisco area, available here.
For comparison, you can check out our "best topo map interface" post from 2006 (a free service of USGS topo maps for the US). While they were impressive five years ago, the new maps are significantly higher quality.
For more, be sure to visit Google Earth Library and read Matt's full blog entry.
Posted by mickmel at 7:54 AM
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November 23, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the US and I'm looking forward to having my folks come down from Michigan, taking it easy, enjoying time with family, eating the big meal, and watching the Lions lose.
A few years ago, Frank created the world's largest Thanksgiving greeting card. You can check it out 
in Google Earth. Feel free to share the link with your friends or family. (By the way, if you look closely, you'll see a placemark with a turkey icon. Check out the placemark for a little Thanksgiving trivia.)
Posted by mickmel at 7:27 AM
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November 22, 2011
Previewing the 2012 London Olympics in Google Earth
The 2012 Summer Olympics, to be held in London, are getting closer all the time. As they're working hard on preparing the various venues for competition, you can use Google Earth to follow their progress.
A handful of venues already have 3D models in Google Earth, including the London Aquatics Centre (model details), seen here:
Another great model is the London Velodrome (model details), which will house the indoor track cycling events:
A great overview of the venues can be found in this Google Sightseeing post from last week. In particular, you can grab their KML file to quickly find the venues in question.
Google added fresh imagery just prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as well as the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, so I expect we'll see some great new imagery in London sometime before the games begin next summer.
Posted by mickmel at 8:45 AM
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November 21, 2011
Exploring the earth with NASA and Google Earth Portable
We've told you about Google Earth Portable before, a small server with pre-loaded Google Earth data on it that allows Google Earth access in remote areas.
While it's often used in disaster situations, it can also be used for conducting research in areas that are far from internet connectivity. A great example of that is a project that Google and NASA conducted at Kelly Lake in British Columbia.
Discovery Channel has a great video that features Googler Sean Maday (who has shown us some cool Google Earth Plug-in tools in the past). The video isn't embeddable, but you can watch it here on the Discovery Channel site.
Posted by mickmel at 8:03 AM
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November 18, 2011
Tracking wave-powered robotic gliders across the Pacific
Back in 2008, Liquid Robotics unveiled the Wave Glider, an unmanned maritime vehicle that can travel vast distances across the ocean, collect data, and return for maintenance without ever requiring a ship to leave port.
Yesterday they began the Pacific Crossing (PacX) Challenge Expedition, explained here:
Liquid Robotics launched four Wave Gliders that will attempt to travel the longest distance at sea ever completed by an unmanned marine vehicle. The robots will travel together to Hawaii and then take separate routes across the Pacific, one pair arriving in Japan and the other in Australia. While at sea, the Wave Gliders will be routed across regions never before remotely surveyed and will continuously transmit valuable data on salinity and water temperature, waves, weather, fluorescence, and dissolved oxygen.
The gliders can be tracked in Google Earth by using this KML file or the PacX Gallery page.
You can learn more about this event from the Liquid Robotics PacX page or this post on the Google Lat Long Blog.
Posted by mickmel at 7:37 AM
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November 17, 2011
Exploring Mauna Loa in Google Earth
At over 2,000 sq. mi., Mauna Loa is the largest volcano in the world. In fact, if you measure it from its base deep in the ocean, it's the highest mountain on the planet!
Google Sightseeing has recently created a great tour of the volcano, showing off some of its most amazing features like the lava flow (KML) seen below.
In addition to the amazing satellite imagery and 3D terrain in Google Earth, there is also Street View imagery in various places around the volcano. This KML file will take you to one of the highest Street View points in the area. If you're not familiar with how to use Street View in Google Earth, this post will help you get started.
The volcano had its last major eruption in 1984, putting us in the middle (or the end?) of the longest quiet period that has ever been recorded for Mauna Loa.
To learn more, check out the full post on Google Sightseeing and then grab their KML file to view all of the sights mentioned in the post.
Posted by mickmel at 6:53 AM
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November 16, 2011
Duke University unveils an excellent 3D Campus Map
Similar to other colleges we've shown you in the past, such as Northeastern University, Duke University has just unveiled their new 3D campus map and it's quite impressive.
With the help of concept3D, the map has become an excellent source of information for the school. Powered by the Concept3D "CampusBird Atlas" CMS, Duke staff can edit the map and publish new information on their own. In addition, all data is mirrored between the Google Earth Plugin API and the Google Maps API on the site; it appears seamless to the end user, but it's a tricky piece of work on the back end.
The map includes 3D models of 325 buildings across the campuses. The map also includes satellite views and traditional two-dimensional street maps and offers overlays that display details such as dining locations and parking permit requirements, photos related to the buildings and videos linked to specific campus locations.
The maps are only accessible via the Plugin (no downloadable KML), and you can view the new map here on the Duke website. In addition, the map is fully functional on mobile devices.
For new students or visitors that are trying to find their way around campus, tools like this must be incredibly helpful for them!
You can learn more about this great new map over on the concept3D blog.
Posted by mickmel at 7:52 AM
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November 15, 2011
Build your own Liquid Galaxy with the Fluid Nebula
We've shown you Google's "Liquid Galaxy" before -- a very cool eight-screen set-up that immerses you in Google Earth -- and we've even shown you how you can build your own. Of course, building your own would still cost tens of thousand of dollars, and isn't practical for most of us.
However, many of us have multiple monitors on our desk. What if you could turn those into a mini-Liquid Galaxy? Enter Xavier Tassin and Fluid Nebula.
When you start it up, it loads an instance of the Google Earth Plug-in on your screen. At bottom are links you can use to "Extend to left screen" or "Extend to right screen". In my case, as shown above, I did both! The various instances of the Plug-in are automatically synced together for a very smooth experience.
Of course, you could just stretch Google Earth across your screens, so why is this any different? The angles. The key to being immersed in the Liquid Galaxy is the slightly different angle being shown on each screen, and the same is true with the Fluid Nebula -- the side screens are shown at a 60 degree angle from the center screen.
That's great enough, but it gets better. Using your mobile phone or tablet, you can control the action by simply tilting your device and using the arrows on it to move! It connects through your local wifi network, and in my case I simply loaded fluidnebula.com on my Xoom and it worked great!
Go try it for yourself right now on FluidNebula.com. Obviously, the more powerful your computer and graphics card, the better the experience. You can also learn more on the +Fluid Nebula Google+ Page.
Posted by mickmel at 6:43 AM
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November 14, 2011
Crazy structures in the Chinese desert
As reported by a handful of readers, a popular story about "strange lines in China" is making its way around the internet. There are a variety of odd-looking items in the area of the Kumtag desert, but this one is the most striking:
You can view that location in Google Earth by using this KML file.
The big question is: what is it? Some theories I've seen floating around online:
• Calibrating grid for a Chinese spy satellite.
• Lines drawn with white material.
• Dust dug by machinery.
• Street map of Washington, DC.
There's certainly other possibilities as well. What do you think it is?
(via Gizmodo)
Posted by mickmel at 7:00 AM
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November 11, 2011
The 2012 Model Your Town competition is up and running
A few years ago, Google held a "Model Your Town" competition to encourage people to model their cities for Google Earth and earn a chance to win $10,000 for their schools. The winner of that competition was Jorge de Albertis from Barranco, Peru. Here's a quick video showing off what they accomplished.
The 2012 competition is now under way, and the educational prize is now at $25,000! You can learn more on the official competition website or by watching the short video below:
If you're new to 3D modeling you can learn more on the Your World in 3D site, then gather your team and model your town!
(via the Google SketchUp Blog)
Posted by mickmel at 8:25 AM
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November 10, 2011
New Google Earth Imagery - November 10
Despite the previous imagery update occurring just a week ago, it appears that Google has pushed out a bit more new imagery. GEB reader 'Andreas' noticed some fresh imagery in a few places around the globe, but it's been difficult to determine if it's new to Google Earth or not. Most of the imagery is from about six months ago and it's already in Google Maps, but none of it shows up in recent update files.
Because the new imagery is already in Google Maps, it's a bit more work to determine which areas are new. To figure out if a particular area is new, you can:
1: Grab the official imagery update KML file
2: Look at the date in Google Earth for the imagery you think might be fresh.
3: Check the updates between then and now in the the update KML to see if it was released in a previous update. If it wasn't, then it's new!
[UPDATED -- 10-November, 1:16pm EST]
- France: Bourgoin-Jallieu, Libourne
- Germany: Waldkraiburg/Landshut
- Italy: Altamura
If you find any other new areas, please leave a comment and let us know.
Posted by mickmel at 1:16 PM
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Make your SketchUp models more realistic with Maxwell
For those of you that have been rendering for years, you know the name Maxwell. Using their Render Suite, which connects to SketchUp, you can create some amazingly realistic models. The problem has been that you were required to have the full Maxwell Render Suite, which is fairly expensive but produces amazing results.
The great news is that they've just released "Maxwell for Google SketchUp" -- and it's free! It works on both Windows and Mac and it works with both SketchUp and SketchUp Pro. Here's a quick video showing how it works:
If generating photorealistic models from SketchUp is something you're looking to do, you should also check out the Shaderlight and LumenRT plug-ins. For more about Maxwell, check out their Maxwell for SketchUp page or read more about this new plug-in on the Google SketchUp Blog.
Posted by mickmel at 8:19 AM
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November 9, 2011
Tripoli's Dar Bishi Synagogue re-opens in Google Earth
Google Earth is an amazing way to visit places around the world that you may never have the opportunity to visit, but it also allows people to visit locations that no one may be able to visit again.
A great example of that is the Dar Bishi Synagogue in Tripoli, Libya, which was heavily damaged in recent decades. While future restoration of the Synagogue is still the goal of pepole like Dr. David Gerbi, you can view the fully restored Synagogue right now in Google Earth!
From Diarna.org:
Media reports abound about the efforts of Dr. David Gerbi to restore the dilapidated Dar Bishi Synagogue, a former fixture of Tripoli's Hara Kebira (old Jewish Quarter). Gerbi, a Libyan Jew who has lived in exile since 1967, returned to his ancestral home this past spring as a volunteer in support of the anti-Gaddafi regime revolutionaries. Remaining after the fall of Col. Muammar Gaddafi, Gerbi single-handedly re-opened Dar Bishi for prayer - his own, as the last member of the disbanded indigenous Jewish community died in 2003 - and began restoring the synagogue by clearing decades of accumulated debris.
The work was abruptly put on indefinite hold on October 8th, Yom Kippur (the Jewish holiday of atonement), when hundreds of protesters gathered in Tripoli and Bengazi to assert "There is no place for the Jews in Libya." Gerbi was prevailed upon to leave the country after protesters attempted to storm his hotel and disagreements arose with the provisional government about whether he had received the proper authorizations.
You can see it for yourself in Google Earth by using this KML file, read more about it in the Google 3D Warehouse, or watch the short video below that was created by the Diarna team.
Posted by mickmel at 8:31 AM
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Google won't charge for heavy use of the Google Earth API
Good news for Google Earth API/Plugin developers who have massive daily visitors. At this time (no promises about the future), Google does not plan to charge for heavy users like they plan for heavy users of the Google Maps API. I got this from asking questions at the Google Developer Day Sydney #gddsyd
I should add that they wanted more people to be aware that only a very small percentage of Maps API users would be getting charged (less than 1%). They also said those who will be charged are applications which reach their limit over an extended period of time (several consecutive days) not just a one day occurrence.
Posted by Frank Taylor
Posted by mickmel at 8:07 AM
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November 8, 2011
Google Earth Blog is now on Google+
A few months ago, we mentioned that both Frank and I were on Google+. At the time, only humans were allowed to have accounts, so "Google Earth Blog" couldn't have a page on there. Now we can!
Starting yesterday afternoon, websites businesses can create pages on Google+ so we've created one to give you an easy way to stay up-to-date on the latest Google Earth news and information.
If you'd like to join us on Google+, just visit our page here and add us to a circle of yours. You might also want to check out the official Google Maps page or perhaps explore my circle of geo-related people on Google+.
If you're not on Google+ and have no interest in joining, we're certainly not leaving you out. We'll continue to be active on Facebook and Twitter, we've got our RSS feed, and you can even subscribe to get email updates. We want to make it easy for you to keep in touch in whatever manner you prefer, and we encourage you to ask questions and share your greatest Google Earth finds with us.
Posted by mickmel at 6:48 AM
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November 7, 2011
Grow a Google Earth Moustache for Movember
Invented in 1999 by a group of Australians, the Movember Foundation fights to raise awareness and funds for a variety of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer. The word "Movember" is a combination of "Moustache" and "November"; growing a moustache during November is essentially the trademark symbol of the group.
Last year GEB reader 'Damien', a Movember participant, decided to help give it a bit of promotion. Similar to our Halloween tradition of turning Google Earth into a pumpkin, Damien turned the earth in a giant smiley face with a moustache!
You can download the model from the Google 3D Warehouse or download the KML directly. For the best effect, be sure to disable other layers in Google Earth, particularly the "borders and labels".
You can learn more about the Movember Foundation at movember.com.
Posted by mickmel at 7:39 AM
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November 5, 2011
Heading to Sydney for GDD
I'm in Australia with Tahina, and the 2011 Sydney Google Developer Day is being held next week. Since it's only a short hop to go visit this one day event, I can't resist the chance to meet up with other Google enthusiasts and get an early look at Sydney. So, I'm leaving on Monday to make my way down there.
If you are also attending the Sydney Google Developer Day, and are a Google Earth fan and/or GEB fan, or even a Tahina Expedition follower, let me know by E-mail, and maybe we can arrange to meet up. I always enjoy meeting Google Earth enthusiasts and GEB readers, as well as fans of our sailing trip!
Posted by FrankTaylor at 4:13 PM
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November 4, 2011
Turning SketchUp models into real buildings
Over the years, we've talked quite a lot about SketchUp, Google's amazing 3D modeling tool. We've shown you tools to make your models look more realistic, how to animate them and much more. Ultimately, though, many of these models are intended to become real buildings, so how well does the finished product match up to the original model? Google wants you to show them.
As they recently posted, they're encouraging you to send in your SketchUp stories; a SketchUp model accompanied by a photo of the finished product. You can use this form to send yours in. Here's a video they created with a cute example of a new store being visualized and developed in SketchUp:
If you have any personal examples, please leave a comment and share them with us!
Posted by mickmel at 8:01 AM
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November 3, 2011
Rome Trip a Treat for Google Earth Community Members
Google recently invited some top contributors and volunteers for the Google Earth Community to a user summit. The Google Earth Community is an online discussion forum and meeting place to discuss content found or created for use in Google Earth. Over 1 million people are members of the forum from places all over the world. Since Google Earth is all about geography, and its volunteers and top contributors are from all over the world, it is only logical that Google have the summit in a unique and interesting geographic location.
This year, Google invited over 30 top community moderators and contributors to Rome, Italy. It was a chance for many of these people, who have been participants for years now, to meet one another face to face. And, we got to meet a few of the Google Earth Google people as well. As part of the summit, future directions of the discussion forums and of Google Earth itself were discussed.
Google Earth Blog was invited to Rome as well. Although Mickey couldn't make it, Google was kind enough to bring me all the way from New Caledonia to Rome for the week-long event. My wife only allowed me to go if I brought her along, so we both made the long, but worthwhile, trip to the event.
Google also organized some tours of some of the top attractions in Rome. So, we got to see things like: the Colosseum, the Forum, the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. I also gave a short presentation on our travels with the Tahina Expedition and how we are using Google Earth to share our trip. You can read more about our trip (and see some photos) over at our Tahina Expedition blog.
Google recently updated the 3D buildings layer for Rome to add much more detail to this beautiful city. And, we got to hear from one of the Googlers behind the effort to convert the detailed 3D models of ancient rome which you can view in one of the Google Earth layers.
A big THANK YOU to Google for bringing some of the world's most enthusiastic Google Earth users together to such a wonderful place! You can read more about this in the recent post at Google LatLong. You can also read about an earlier similar meeting held in Washington, DC in 2007.
Posted by FrankTaylor at 5:53 PM
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New Google Earth Imagery - November 3
Google Earth has just rolled out some fresh imagery for us! It appears to be quite a large update, and rather focused in the United States this time. Thanks to GEB reader 'Munden' 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 -- 3-November, 10:15am EST]
- United States: Colorado (Burlington, Glenwood Springs), Connecticut (New London), Idaho (Aberdeen, Twin Falls), Illinois (Bloomington, Rockford), Indiana (Goshen), Kansas (Pratt), Michigan (Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing), Minnesota (Mankato), Montana (Bozeman), Nebraska (Colombia, Hastings, Norfolk), New York (Binghamton, Oneonta), Oklahoma (Enid), South Dakota (Hot Springs, McLaughlin, Philip, Wall), Utah (Monroe), Wisconsin (Eau Claire), Wyoming (Worland) -- thanks 'Munden'
If you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know!
Posted by mickmel at 6:18 AM
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November 2, 2011
View hundreds of new special Street View collections in Google Earth
Google has just released a huge variety of "special collections" for Street View, all of which can be seen from within Google Earth. This includes a wide variety of parks, all captured with the Street View "Trike" (a three-wheeled bicycle that has a Street View camera mounted on it). Among the parks are Kensington Gardens in London and Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark.
Of special note is High Line Park in New York City, an old elevated railroad track that has become a park since its closure in the 1980's.
Not only does it look great in Street View, but Google has produced a short video to tell you a bit more about the High Line and what makes it special:
If you're not familiar with how Street View works in Google Earth, check out this post for a quick overview. Be sure to check out Google's "Parks of the World" Gallery to see some of these amazing new Street View sights.
(via Google Lat Long Blog)
Posted by mickmel at 9:12 AM
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November 1, 2011
The Google Earth Clock
Here's a very cool use of the Google Earth Plug-in -- a well-animated clock. When you load up the site, it shows you the current time of day by using various locations in Google Earth that resemble the appropriate digits. However, rather than displaying static images of the numbers they actually load five instances of the Google Earth plug-in that are refreshed every few seconds to show new locations.
To try it for yourself, simply visit googleearthclock.cwandt.com.
They also have a link at the bottom of the page to allow you to submit new locations to show the numbers and colons, which will help it become even better over time.
One final touch I noticed is that if you keep your mouse off of it for a few seconds, all of the other text on the page goes away leaving only the clock on a black screen. It's a nice effect.
(via Google Maps Mania)
Posted by mickmel at 9:57 AM
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