Environment Archives

April 28, 2008

Links: Science Uses, Compass, GM vs VE, Healthy Planet, and more

  • Science Uses - Google Earth has been embraced by scientists in the fields of Paleotology and Archeology before. But, now - according to Anthropology.net - scientists have actually endorsed using GE for science in an academic, peer reviewed journal. Their paper appears in the Journal of Human Evolution in an article entitled: "Google Earth, GIS, and the Great Divide: A new and simple method for sharing paleontological data.”

  • Compass - Barry Hunter has created a cool screen overlay to help you get a more accurate compass reading in GE 4.3.

  • GM vs VE - Sean Gorman of Fortius One has posted an interesting comparison of KML support between Google Maps and Virtual Earth. The end result? Both have some shortcomings.

  • Healthy Planet - Dr. Mark Mulligan, of Kings College in London (who has developed some great Google Earth content) has now formed a new environmental web site called: HealthyPlanet.org. HealthyPlanet.org will help make people aware of areas of the Earth needing environmental attention, and will enable people to volunteer help by becoming “Land Guardians” for a plot of land. Places needing attention will appear in maps using Google Maps or Google Earth. People visiting the site can become "armchair volunteers" by donating money. Donor can also get involved by helping map the areas using tool Dr. Mulligan has developed. Read more about the announcement.

  • GPS Map Tool - Leszek has announced a really cool software tool which lets you upload maps or aerial photos to a Garmin handheld as fully viewable charts. They act just like your built-in charts. He's calling it Moagu (Mother of all GPS utilities). Sounds like a fun application, and I plan to give it a try.

  • Mineral Resources - Valery Hronusov has been gathering and publishing another huge dataset. This time he is making available placemarks on mineral resources all over the world. You can see the many different KML files on mineral resources for different regions at his GISPlanet blog.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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April 22, 2008

Google Earth For Earth Day

Earth Day in Google EarthToday is Earth Day. A time to sit back and think about our wonderful planet, and some of us will be out picking up some trash, or just enjoying nature. For those of you stuck inside due to weather, work, or other reasons - perhaps you might want to spend the day exploring our wonderful planet through the power of Google Earth. Here are a few links of stories from Google Earth Blog (GEB) describing environmental related content available for viewing in Google Earth:

  • Basic Tips on Using Google Earth

  • Environment Layers - Greenpeace, ARKive (endangered species), Unicef (water and sanitation), UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)

  • Rising Sea Levels - Animations showing what would happen if ice melting caused seas to rise too high - e.g. New York City.

  • EPA Air Quality Report - US Environmental Protection Agency's air quality report for Google Earth - called AirNOW

  • International Polar Year - Collection of content for Google Earth about the Earth's poles, and science projects ongoing to study the arctic environment. Part of the International Polar Year project.

  • Sea Ice Melting - Dramatic animation of data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center showing ice extents from 1979 through March of 2008 on both poles. See other GE data from NSIDC.

  • Google Earth Outreach Showcase - See environmental and science content for Google Earth.

  • Amazon Indians Using Google Earth - Primitive indians learn to use GPS and Google Earth to help protect their rainforest - true story!

  • Upper Green Valley - Issues of gas drilling impacting the environment in one location

  • Neighborhood Fights Logging With Google Earth - Neighbors in Santa Cruz, California successfully stop a logging plan by using Google Earth. Read the full story.

  • Blue Marble Add-On - This file lets you view a prettier image of the Earth from NASA for Google Earth. It shows the view of the Earth from space, with or without clouds, based on the current month. The clouds are closer to real time - updated every 15 minutes. The picture of the Earth and clouds disappear automatically as you get closer so you can see GE's built in satellite imagery without interference.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:55 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 18, 2008

Links: GE Lesson, GETools, Microsoft KML, 3D Bridges, Royal Australian 3D, EPA Award

  • Stonehenge GE Lesson - Noel Jenkins has released another well-prepared school lesson which involves Google Earth - this one is about Stonehenge. via Noel's JuicyGeography blog.

  • GETools - Brian Flood - author of the excellent Arc2Earth tools for GIS folks, is working on some new tools for working with Google Earth. He's working to turn the tools into a product which he's calling GETools. He has been developing various ways to interact with Google Earth through its little-known API (which also hasn't seen a lot of development by Google). Based on some demonstration videos he has released, the tools will enable some pretty cool functions. My favorite is the implementation allowing draggable directions to work inside Google Earth (I believe he's leveraging the Google Maps API to perform the same function in Google Earth - which Google hasn't done themselves!). I'm looking forward to seeing these tools released Brian!

  • Microsoft Maps KML Better Than Google Maps - KML was recently approved as an international standard by OGC. But, KML is already reaching wide acceptance in the geospatial visualization world. In fact, it appears Microsoft's implementation for KML in their 2D version of Virtual Earth is better than Google Maps' implementaiton of KML. And, it's true. I've tested it myself. Google Maps does not show large KML files with lots of vector data. But, Microsoft's recent update to Virtual Earth handles them just fine. Google thinks this is a good thing because they are excited to see KML reach broader implementations.

  • 3D Bridges - Gerardo Paz of Buenos Aires, Argentina (who translates GEB to Spanish) is also a 3D modeler, and he has posted some excellent 3D models of bridges in Argentina. Notice how he has even edited the underlying imagery to remove the aerial photo of the bridges while replacing them with 3D. You can see all four bridges here in GE. Here's a collection of other bridges found in 3D Warehouse.

  • Royal Australian 3D - The Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) has released a layer featuring hundreds of unique buildings and structures in Australia. This is similar to the layer for GE released last year by the American Institute of Architects. In the RAIA layer , each placemark contains photos and details of each site and links to more information. In addition, they have modeled 60 of their favorite structures and uploaded them to the Google 3D Warehouse, so you can easily choose and download them for viewing in Google Earth. I do wish their layer of placemarks highlighted the locations with the 3D models with a different placemark icon and provided a link in the placemarks to download the models. In fact, I sent that as a suggestion. See the Google post about this new content, and the RAIA web page.

  • EPA Award - The US Environmental Protection Agency has given an environmental award to Terradex for its development of a Google Earth network link called AirWatch that dynamically shows air quality for the US (and the UK, China, and Mexico City - see post). This work inspired the development of the EPA's AirNow application for Google Earth. See details from Google about the award announcement.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 09:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 11, 2008

Links: GE/SketchUp Classes, Sea Ice Update, Bergen Terrain, Waldo

  • Google Earth and SketchUp Classes Available - Alex Oliver of school (which does great SketchUp Training DVDs and samples on their site - see GEB review), has written to let me know they are the first Google Authorized Training Center (ATC) in the US. They now offer live training classes for SketchUp and Google Earth! The Google Earth class is currently being taught in 17 locations around the country and more being added each week. Here is the schedule of classes available. More details on the classes are on this page.

  • Sea Ice Update - The folks at the Snow and Ice Data Center have updated their Sea Ice Extent KML file. This file shows a time animation of the extent of ice at both poles. There is a magenta colored line which shows the average ice extent for comparisons. The new file not only includes the new March data, but also has a new option to turn off the layer when not in use. This makes it easier to keep the network link in your Place pane. See the GEB review of the Sea Ice Extent file. NOTE: there's also a new "Greenland Annual Surface Ice Melt" file at their GE page.

  • Bergen Terrain - Here's an interesting tip. A GEB reader from Norway named Ove Daae Lampe wrote to let me know the recent upgrade to the data layers included a high resolution terrain map for Bergen, Norway. This is very high resolution terrain - possibly from LIDAR? So high that buildings were captured and show up as bumps in the terrain. However, overall, the terrain looks very good, and makes me want to visit Bergen someday! The bumps in the terrain from the buildings will make it interesting when they go to put 3D models of the buildings. According to Mr. Lampe, they will soon have 3D buildings for the entire city as well.

  • Where is Waldo in Google Earth

    Waldo - An artist in Vancouver, Melanie Coles, wrote me an E-mail last week about her efforts (along with other art students) to place a huge 55' tall "Where is Waldo" character on the top of a building (see the blog). The idea being it would be caught by a satellite (or aerial photo) and placed in Google Earth someday. To help things along, they took their own aerial photo of it. I was able to find the location where they did it based on the photo, and I've added their photo as an image overlay in Google Earth . Their photo was taken at an angle (not straight down), so it isn't stretched properly over the scenery. But, you get the idea. Turns out her project has grabbed the attention of the media. Unfortunately, Google recently updated the imagery for Vancouver (although I've had reports they used four or more year old imagery). So, I have no idea how long it will be before they get new imagery. Hopefully someone will get a decent straight-down shot for Google to include. This isn't the first time Waldo has appeared in Google Earth.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 10:01 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

April 10, 2008

More Global Awareness Layers: ARKive and WaterAid

Last year, when the Google Earth Outreach program was announced, I predicted there would be a wave of new content once Google began working closely with all the non-profit organizations to develop Google Earth content. Well, during the last week, we have definitely see the first wave of new content. There are another two new layers added to the Global Awareness layer folder (read about the new process when layers are added):

  • ARKive endangered species in Google EarthARKive - ARKive is a "unique collection of thousands of videos, images and fact-files illustrating the world's species." Clever name! They have chosen to share a subset of their collection in Google Earth focused on endangered species. You can find the layer under the Global Awareness folder at: ARKive: Endangered Species. Each placemark contains a photo of the species, description of the species, and what is threatinging them. There are also links to the ARKive site for images and movies of the species.


  • WaterAid in Google EarthWaterAid - WaterAid is an international charity whose mission is "to overcome poverty by enabling the world's poorest people to gain access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education." This layer shows water drop placemarks in places where the organization is working to help with these water problems. Each placemark has a photo, description of the project, and link back to the main site for more details. This layer can be found under the Global Awareness layer folder under WaterAid

Stefan Geens at OgleEarth points out that the Tracks4Africa layer, which shows GPS tracks and points of interest for areas not well mapped in Africa, has been substantially updated and now also includes photos from people contributing. This layer can be found under the Gallery layer folder under Tracks4Africa.

[UPDATE 1310 ET: Richard Treves blogs that he attended the Outreach event at the Google London offices where these new layers were announced.]

Other layers introduced in the last week:

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

More entries for this category:

  1. New Greenpeace Layer in Google Earth - April 03, 2008
  2. Wilkins Ice Shelf, Sea Ice Extent Animation - March 28, 2008
  3. Global Temperature Trends for Google Earth - March 24, 2008
  4. Buy a Tree for the Rainforest - Get a KML - March 21, 2008
  5. Links: Outreach Showcase, Spreadsheet mapping, Geo Test, KML Lesson Talk - February 26, 2008
  6. Big Update to Google Earth Outreach - February 13, 2008
  7. Links: Star Viewer, Green Screen, World Hockey, European Pollution, Golden Shadow - January 29, 2008
  8. Water Bodies in Google Earth - See Australia's! - January 28, 2008
  9. Links: KML Wrap-up, New Orrery, Zip Scribble, South China Sea - January 23, 2008
  10. Top 25 Stories of Google Earth 2007 - December 27, 2007
  11. Montserrat Volcanic Island in Google Earth - December 17, 2007
  12. Outreach Showcase - December 14, 2007
  13. Google Earth and Santa Claus - December 07, 2007
  14. Population Maps for Google Earth - December 05, 2007
  15. Links: EPA Air Quality, DigitalGlobe, Bolivia Protected Areas - November 27, 2007
  16. Arctic Ice Melting Animation in Google Earth - November 26, 2007
  17. Links: WSJ Article, Tornado History, Google Sky Exoplanets - November 15, 2007
  18. Links: Russian Oil Spill, KML Screen Overlay Maker, Android Demo - November 13, 2007
  19. San Francisco Oil Spill in Google Earth - November 12, 2007
  20. DOE Energy Efficient Buildings in 3D Google Earth - November 09, 2007
  21. Google California Fires Master Layer - October 26, 2007
  22. California Fires - Satellite photos, Fire Data in Google Earth - October 23, 2007
  23. San Diego, California Fires - See Smoke in Google Earth - October 22, 2007
  24. Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails in Google Earth - October 15, 2007
  25. Hurricane Followspot Animations in Google Earth - October 04, 2007
  26. Links: GE for scientists, Human body, Burma, Census Explorer, Virtual Earth, Cleanup Weekend - October 02, 2007
  27. Sierra Club Wants to Protect 52 Places in the US - See in Google Earth - September 28, 2007
  28. Google Earth Outreach Enhancements - September 16, 2007
  29. Back to School - Educational Uses with Google Earth - September 11, 2007
  30. News Roundup: Flight Sim Tips, Clouds and Weather, KML 2.2, Google Solar Panels, Pollution - September 10, 2007
  31. Greece Fires in Google Earth - August 28, 2007
  32. News Roundup: Peru Earthquake, Virtual Earth Update, Stefan's Alps Hike - August 16, 2007
  33. Scientific Ocean Drilling Database in Google Earth - August 14, 2007
  34. Virtual Globes at AGU 2007 - Call for Papers - August 08, 2007
  35. Rising Water Effects for Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro - July 31, 2007
  36. Energy Production Information for Western US - July 17, 2007
  37. Live Earth Concerts in Google Earth - July 06, 2007
  38. Quasi-global Near real-time Rainfall in Google Earth - July 03, 2007
  39. June Layers Additions/Updates for Google Earth - June 29, 2007
  40. Google Earth Outreach Announcement Video - June 28, 2007
  41. Notes from the Google Earth Outreach Announcement in NYC - June 27, 2007
  42. Introducing Google Earth Outreach - New Global Awareness Layers - June 26, 2007
  43. News Roundup: Google Earth Nonproifts Initiative, Giant Earth Screen, Pollmapr, Conferences, - June 22, 2007
  44. Google Earth Helping Amazon Indians - June 19, 2007
  45. ISDE Day 3 Summary - June 08, 2007
  46. Google Earth More Realistic with Better Terrain - June 06, 2007
  47. International Symposium on Digital Earth - Day 1, Part 1 - June 05, 2007
  48. Google Releases High Resolution Terrain - Western US and Canaries - June 02, 2007
  49. Rising Water Effects for NYC in Google Earth - Part III - May 25, 2007
  50. Rising Water Effects for NYC in Google Earth - Part II - May 18, 2007
  51. New Google Earth Layers Update: Amsterdam 3D, Forest Service, Taiwan Roads - May 17, 2007
  52. News Roundup 1 - Education, Clean Cruising, Magnalox, NASA UAVSAR - May 06, 2007
  53. See the Googleplex Solar Panel Plan in 3D - May 01, 2007
  54. News Roundup - Chile Border Crisis, Caribou, Gumball Rally, Emotions - April 30, 2007
  55. Maverick Waves Explained - Illustration in Google Earth - April 23, 2007
  56. New California Marine Protected Areas in Google Earth - April 20, 2007
  57. New Google Earth Layers for April: Darfur, Trimble, and more - April 09, 2007
  58. Animation Roundup: Rising Sea Levels, Filling Grand Canyon, Global Clouds - April 06, 2007
  59. Utah Geo Sightseeing in Google Earth - April 04, 2007
  60. Historical Maps of Tornado Paths in the US - April 03, 2007
  61. The Awesome Victoria Falls in Google Earth - March 24, 2007
  62. Super High Resolution Photos in Google Earth - March 18, 2007
  63. Google Highlights New Layers - March 13, 2007
  64. Major Layer Update for Google Earth - March 10th - March 10, 2007
  65. New Snow and Ice Data for Google Earth - March 05, 2007
  66. Happy International Polar Year! Google Earth Presentation - March 02, 2007
  67. World Oil Consumption - 3D Charts in Google Earth - February 27, 2007
  68. NASA Releases More Earth Data for Google Earth - February 22, 2007
  69. National Geographic on Elephant Poaching - Google Earth Presentation - February 20, 2007
  70. News Roundup - FreeGeoTools, Sprol, Subsurface, conferences, Magnalox - February 12, 2007
  71. Google Earth Critical Tool in Fight Against Logging Plan - February 06, 2007
  72. Discovery Sunrise on Google Earth - January 29, 2007
  73. Daily NASA MODIS Satellite Imagery for Google Earth - January 20, 2007
  74. NOAA Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Weather Feed for Google Earth - January 13, 2007
  75. NOAA Releases Estuarine Bathymetric Data for Google Earth - January 12, 2007
  76. Upper Green Valley Environmental Issues Illustrated with Google Earth - January 10, 2007
  77. New Imagery Update for the Holidays - Awesome! - December 17, 2006
  78. Virtual Globes Sessions at AGU - Day 1 - December 13, 2006
  79. NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab Publishes Google Earth Content - December 08, 2006
  80. View Melting Glaciers in Google Earth - December 03, 2006
  81. Maplecroft Risk Analsysis Global Maps in Google Earth - November 22, 2006
  82. Protecting Rainforests in Victoria, Australia Using Google Earth - November 21, 2006
  83. Amazon Indians Using Google Earth to Protect Tropical Forests - November 15, 2006
  84. Earth on Fire - November 04, 2006
  85. End Mountain Top Removal Campaign with Google Earth - October 15, 2006
  86. UNEP's New Environment Layer in Google Earth - September 21, 2006
  87. Back to School - Educational Uses with Google Earth - August 29, 2006
  88. New Environment and Conservation Forum for Google Earth Community - July 17, 2006
  89. Map of Projected Sea Level Rise Effects on Vancouver - May 08, 2006
  90. USGS Releases Geologic Maps for Google Earth - April 25, 2006
  91. Earth Day - Google Earth Style - April 22, 2006
  92. NOAA's Coral Reef Watch Adds Google Earth Data - April 13, 2006
  93. State of Our Ecology in Google Earth - April 12, 2006
  94. Sierra Club Shows Public Land Sale Proposal in Google Earth - March 17, 2006
  95. More Satellite Environmental Data in Google Earth - January 31, 2006
  96. Global Fire Data in Google Earth - January 26, 2006
  97. Arctic and Antarctic Ice Floes in Google Earth - January 25, 2006
  98. Environmental Groups Leveraging Google Earth - January 16, 2006
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