Flying Archives

April 29, 2008

Google Earth for Pilots

This is part of a new series exploring Google Earth uses for different professions/hobbies.

If you're a pilot, there are many ways Google Earth can be used to really enhance your trip plans both from an aviation and ground-based perspective. But, Google Earth goes way beyond just trip planning as a tool for pilots. I'm a pilot myself, and have been using Google Earth to enhance my flying experiences for nearly three years.

F16 cockpit for Google Earth Flight Simulator

Here are just a few ways you might use Google Earth as a pilot:

  • Destination familiarization - Never been to your destination airport before? Zoom in to Google Earth, and most of the time you're likely to see high resolution satellite or aerial photos to help get you familiar with what the airport looks like. You should be aware that the photos can be an average 1 to 4 years old, so things may have changed since the photo was taken (just like charts). More importantly, since Google Earth is 3D, you can get a perspective on the lay of the land. It helps to know what the surrounding hills and valleys look like. Use the search function to help find businesses you need such as rental cars, hotels, restaurants, etc. You can also get driving directions and discover fun places to visit like beaches, amusement parks, museums, etc.
  • Flight Simulator - Google Earth has a built-in flight simulator (tips on how to use). Only two types of planes are available (Cirrus SR-22 and an F16). It's not built for accuracy of flight, and the flight instrument simulation is kind of basic, so I wouldn't use this for flight training. It's intended to help give you a better perspective on the 3D terrain in Google Earth. It can also help give you a pilot's-eye view of your trip and help familiarize you with your planned approaches. Or, you can just use it because it's fun!
  • Flight Planning - I typically use AirNav to plan an initial route (I really like the ability to plan a route with low-cost fuel stops). After planning a route, you can use Google Earth to visualize it. GE will recognize searches for four-letter airport designators (like KATL). You can even get full sectional charts for overlaying in Google Earth. You can also load the DAFIF Nav Aids database for the entire world into Google Earth so you can see your primary nav aids along your route (I haven't yet seen an intersections database for GE, but you could input placemark coordinates for them if you have them). And, check out Flyagogo, a Google Maps mashup which was designed for pilots
  • Weather Planning - there are all kinds of weather tools for use with Google Earth (here's a collection of some of the best). These are not geared specifically towards aviators, but they can be another set of data until you get to your regular weather resources.
  • Flight Review - Take a handheld GPS with you on your flights, and use Google Earth to visualize your flight afterwards. Download your GPS tracks to your PC. You can then view your GPS tracks in 3D (complete with altitudes) and see what things you flew over during your trip. Here's a post describing how I do this using a Garmin GPS and some other tools to enhance the track data.
  • Sightseeing - If you're on a long trip, you might want to make sure you fly to or over some particular sight. Recently I missed seeing something really unique because I didn't check my planned flight for interesting sights. Next time I won't because I input a waypoint in my GPS to help remind me.
  • Plane Afficionados - If you like planes, you might be interested to know that Google Earth not only shows houses, but also airplanes. And not just planes sitting on the tarmac, but planes captured flying around too. There are many plane aficionados using Google Earth to discover all kinds of planes. For example, look at this collection of DC-3s. Or, this frequently updated list of planes in flight. And, there are even folks who have simulated 3D flying like this Red Bull Air Race. You can also track airline flights in near-real-time in Google Earth.
  • Aerial Photography - Maybe Google Earth will inspire you to become an aerial photographer. A year and a half ago, I had great fun flying over an air and space show in New Mexico and working with Google to put some aerial photos I took into Google Earth on the same day. That photo is now what you see if you look at the Las Cruces airport.
  • Recreational Flying - If you're into paragliding/gliding, you should check out this paragliding forum which also provides resources for recording and viewing your tracks for Google Earth.

These and many other stories related to flying and Google Earth can be found in the Flying category of Google Earth Blog.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 09:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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April 24, 2008

How to Get 3D Buildings in Google Earth 4.3 Flight Simulator

Flight Simulator with 3D Buildings in Google Earth 4.3Google apparently thought the 3D buildings in Flight Simulator mode would slow down performance for many computers. So, with the new Google Earth 4.3 beta (version 4.3.7191.6508) they automatically disable the 3D buildings layer when you turn on the Flight Simulator. As a pilot, and flight simulator fan, I really don't like this - and have sent multiple messages requesting Google re-enable the feature before 4.3 is finalized. Note: download Google Earth 4.3 if you haven't already.

The good news is that there is a work around to make the 3D buildings come on in GE 4.3's Flight Simulator. The process is just a bit of a pain, and you have to do it each time you start up the Flight Simulator. Here are the steps:

  1. Enter Flight Simulator mode - Select "Tools->Enter Flight Simulator". Optional: fly to a city which has 3D buildings (tip: San Francisco, Baltimore, Atlanta, Raleigh, Charlotte - these all have lots of 3D buildings). NOTE: - there is a bug in GE 4.3 if you select the "Current View" option in the "Enter Flight Simulator" window, you may end up at an higher altitude than you expect upon starting the flight (much higher). Just fly back down to the city level.

  2. Open the Sidebar - Sidebar shortcut - Press 'Ctrl + Alt + B' (or + Option + B' on the Mac) to bring up the sidebar

  3. Turn on 3D Buildings - Turn these on in the Layers pane in the lower left after the sidebar opens.

  4. Turn Off Sidebar - IMPORTANT - before resuming the flight simulator, turn off the sidebar by hitting the sidebar shortcut from step 2

  5. Resume flight - Now you can resume flying the flight simulator by hitting the SPACE key and the 3D buildings should stay on for your current flight.

NOTE: - See GEB's Tips on Using Flight Simulator.

NOTE 2: If your machine doesn't have good performance with the 3D buildings, then you shouldn't try to fly with them turned on. I don't think Google should automatically turn off the layer though. Do you?

Google Earth 4.3 (beta) was released last week on April 15th (see GEB's first impressions). This new beta has some very nice new features like sun lighting, new navigation controls, better 3D building performance, and Street View imagery (see the video demonstration, and more details on the release).

Posted by FrankTaylor at 10:11 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

March 17, 2008

Links: SR22 Cockpit, Jane Austen, Magnetic Pole, Taiwan GE Bonanza, Tutorial, VE3D on Mac

  • SR22 Cockpit - Not satisfied with just doing a cockpit add-on for the F16, Gerardo has also done a cockpit add-on for the SR22 for Google Earth's built-in flight simulator. It's a screen overlay showing the cockpit while you fly the simulator. Make sure to check out the tips on using GE's flight simulator.

  • Jane Austen - An excellent Google Earth documentary showing the life and works of literary legend Jane Austen (3.5 Mbytes) has been posted by GEC member 'LuciaM'. The collection is organized into three sections: The biography layer shows the actual places that she experienced over the course of her life from the small town of her birth to estates in Kent through to her final resting place amidst Saxon kings. The second marks the real places in her literary works. The final section identifies the historical buildings used as backdrops for the major film adaptations of her books. The placemarks are annotated with information about Austen's life, as well as quotes from her letters and books. LuciaM also developed the excellent collection about the Six Wives of Henry VIII.

  • Magnetic Pole - An excellent collection of time animations for Google Earth visualizing the Earth's magnetic fields changing over time has been posted at the GEC by Stefan Maus. The animation covers from the year 1590 to 2010. Be careful not to load all the visualizations at once as they will bog down your memory. But, carefully used these animations are excellent. Turn on the time animation and prepare to wait a while to load each frame.

  • Taiwan GE Bonanza - Steven Ho of Taiwan has done a huge amount of work in Google Earth, but most of it hasn't been seen in the English-speaking world. He has recently started a new blog in English to share some of his amazing collection for Google Earth. His posts usually have YouTube videos as well as links to the KML files. I especially like this post with a very innovative application of screen image overlays. Note that the KML file has a jet fighter instead of a remote control plane in the animation.

  • Tutorial - Spatial education site Geochalkboard has released a tutorial for the spreadsheet mapper which Google released that lets you create nice KML files without programming KML.

  • VE3D on Mac - Stefan Geens discovers that the Windows emulator software for Mac OS X from VMWare called Fusion is now good enough to run Virtual Earth 3D on Internet Explorer. While you still can't run VE3D on a Mac natively - this at least lets you check things out with it without having to boot up Windows under bootcamp.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 14, 2008

YouTube API on Swiss Fighter Video

Last year in March I was planning to show off the new Swiss Alps imagery and high resolution 3D terrain in Google Earth. I decided to mimic a cool YouTube video of a Swiss Airforce fighter flying through the alps by flying the same flight in Google Earth (mind you, this was before the flight simulator was added to Google Earth, so I had to use the much more difficult G-force mode to do the flying). The video was a huge success, and even Google's CEO Eric Schmidt is a fan of my stunt. I set it up so you could play both videos next to each other so they were in synch. But, you had to push both play buttons.

Juan Ignacio from the Canary Islands sent me an E-mail that he has used the new YouTube API to add a single Play button to start both videos at the same time. You can visit his post to try it out (it's in Spanish - but, just hit the big Play button). I asked Juan if it was possible to use the API to turn off the volume on my version of the video (where I made a poor copy of the original song). UPDATE: He's already implemented this request!

See my original post which goes into detail on how the flight in GE was created.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 08, 2008

F-16 Cockpit Add-on For Google Earth Flight Sim

Here is a quick and easy add-on to make the flight simulator in Google Earth a lot more fun! My friend Gerardo Paz of Buenos Aires, came up with the idea to add an F-16 cockpit image overlay to Google Earth so you can get a more realistic feel to flying the simulator. If you haven't used the Google Earth flight simulator yet, make sure to read these handy GE Flight Simulator tips.

F16 cockpit for Google Earth Flight Simulator

Want to try this out? Simply load this F-16 Cockpit Add-on . Make sure you make the Google Earth window as large as possible for the best effect (if your screen is low-res, you'll have to wait for Gerardo to make a smaller one). Follow the tips above, or if you are already a GE flight sim expert, move to a location where you want to fly and just hit "CTRL-A" or "Tools->Enter Flight Simulator" (if you don't see this option, read the tips). Make sure you are using the F-16 and not the SR-22 aircraft. I just love the way this feels...I'm a pilot and flight simulator fan, but it's still amazing to me to see it in Google Earth. :-)

Gerardo added some transparency to the HUD and the computer display screen below. This helps add more realism and also helps when you try to land with the overlay turned on. Great ideas! If I have time later today, I'll make a video of this. Gerardo and I have already talked about some other things that could be done with this. See the post thread to make comments directly to Gerardo.

By the way, part of the inspiration for this came from the astronaut mode I wrote about in December. Check it out too.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 10:41 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

More entries for this category:

  1. Cool US Flights Visualization in Google Earth - February 07, 2008
  2. Guys Fly Balloon to 30 km Altitude - See it in Google Earth - January 25, 2008
  3. Major Geek Cred - January 17, 2008
  4. Tracking Flights in Google Earth - January 11, 2008
  5. Missed Opportunity - It's a Sign - January 09, 2008
  6. Top 25 Stories of Google Earth 2007 - December 27, 2007
  7. Astronaut Mode For Google Earth - December 18, 2007
  8. Two Old Planes Caught Close Up in Google Earth - December 09, 2007
  9. Google Earth and Santa Claus - December 07, 2007
  10. Links: Tracking Santa, Netherland Statistics, Boat Parades, OpenAerialMap - December 03, 2007
  11. News and Links - Out of Beta, Crysis, Our Dumb World, Visual ILS - November 30, 2007
  12. X PRIZE Cup Photos Mapped - November 01, 2007
  13. Trip Status, Links: PhotoOverlay tool, CIA World Factbook, Another BMNG - October 29, 2007
  14. Links: Glider Towing, 3D Bonanza, John Hanke Presentation, Google Maps Profiles, Virtual Earth 3D Modeling - October 19, 2007
  15. 2007 Wirefly X PRIZE Cup - October 08, 2007
  16. 3D Red Bull Flights in Google Earth - September 21, 2007
  17. Burning Man 2007 in Google Earth - September 18, 2007
  18. New DigitalGlobe Imagery for Steve Fossett Search - September 13, 2007
  19. Back to School - Educational Uses with Google Earth - September 11, 2007
  20. News Roundup: Flight Sim Tips, Clouds and Weather, KML 2.2, Google Solar Panels, Pollution - September 10, 2007
  21. Help Find Steve Fossett with Google Earth - September 09, 2007
  22. Flight Simulator HUD Display Guide, and an Advanced Tip - September 06, 2007
  23. Get Inside a Helicopter in Google Earth - September 05, 2007
  24. News Roundup: Flight Simulator Goodies, PhotoViewer Stuff, Video tourism - September 04, 2007
  25. Video for Flying with Google Earth Flight Simulator - September 03, 2007
  26. Flight Simulator Mode in Google Earth 4.2 - August 31, 2007
  27. Google Earth 4.2 Roundup - August 27, 2007
  28. R/C Planes and Camera Fun with Google Earth - August 12, 2007
  29. Biography of Neil Armstrong in Google Earth - August 06, 2007
  30. News Roundup: Panoramio 2 Million, Geographic Web, Loop the Loop, Starbucks, Bug in GE - June 28, 2007
  31. Pict'Earth - UAV Aerial Photography Solutions - June 19, 2007
  32. ChartGeek - Sectional Maps for Pilots in Google Earth - May 28, 2007
  33. Plane-shaped Pools in Google Earth - April 28, 2007
  34. Stephen Hawking Flies in Zero G - April 27, 2007
  35. News Roundup - Fixes for Windows Vista, Airshows, FBOWeb update, Photos with Search - March 19, 2007
  36. Meigs Field - Preserved in Google Earth - March 15, 2007
  37. Nine Planes in Formation - Faked in the Google Earth Database! - March 13, 2007
  38. NOT a Cruise Missile in Flight Over Utah - March 04, 2007
  39. Swiss Alps "Fighter" Tour in Google Earth - March 01, 2007
  40. SpaceNavigator News: Fly Inside Demo, Security Checkpoints - February 22, 2007
  41. Planes in Flight Hobby - February 13, 2007
  42. Sydney Aerial Photo Shoot - January 26, 2007
  43. Play Tour Mode in Google Earth - January 10, 2007
  44. New Imagery Update for the Holidays - Awesome! - December 17, 2006
  45. Santa's Toy Hunt and Santa Tracker in Google Earth - December 13, 2006
  46. News Roundup - Animated 3D, EmerGeo, Altered Oceans, Virtual Airlines - October 29, 2006
  47. Geotagged Photos from X PRIZE Cup, GPS Track too - October 25, 2006
  48. Flight Back from Las Cruces in Google Earth - October 23, 2006
  49. Same Day Aerial Photo in Google Earth - October 21, 2006
  50. Trip Report and News Roundup: Flight to Las Cruces, Sensors, BBC on Maps, New blog - October 18, 2006
  51. Flight of Space Ship One Depicted in Google Earth - October 12, 2006
  52. Plane Crashed into Building in New York - See Location in Google Earth - October 11, 2006
  53. Burning Man 2006 in Google Earth - October 03, 2006
  54. Take Flight Sim Scenery and Port it to Google Earth - September 28, 2006
  55. Google Earth as a "Flight Simulator" - September 15, 2006
  56. 3D 747 Airliner on Approach at Maho Beach in Google Earth - August 25, 2006
  57. Salute to the An-2 in Google Earth - August 10, 2006
  58. Goggles - Google Maps Flight Simulator, Also: Google Earth Flying - August 08, 2006
  59. FSEarth 3.0 - MS Flight Simulator and Google Earth - July 08, 2006
  60. Aeronautical Information System - June 26, 2006
  61. KC-135 Caught Refueling C-5 Galaxy in Mid-Air in Google Earth! - June 25, 2006
  62. Sightseeing Roundup for Google Earth - May 02, 2006
  63. Go Flying - Flight Tracklogs for Google Earth - April 30, 2006
  64. Tribute to 'Connie' in Google Earth - April 09, 2006
  65. FSEarth - MS Flight Simulator 2004 and Google Earth - April 06, 2006
  66. Maldives Island Group in High Res - March 24, 2006
  67. Flyagogo - A Pilot Google Maps Mashup (with GE tie-in) - March 23, 2006
  68. GlobalFlyer Attempting Third World Record - March 15, 2006
  69. Identifying Planes in Google Earth - March 01, 2006
  70. FSPilot Connects FS2004 to Google Earth - February 26, 2006
  71. Touch and Gos - February 22, 2006
  72. Follow Steve Fossett/Global Flyer in Google Earth - February 09, 2006
  73. Pilot World-wide Weather in Google Earth - February 08, 2006
  74. Gliders "Crashing" in Google Earth - February 03, 2006
  75. Flying Car? Not Really - January 23, 2006
  76. 3D Planes for Flight Tracking in Google Earth - January 19, 2006
  77. FBOWeb Flight Tracking Revisited - January 11, 2006
  78. Lancaster Bomber Caught Flying in Google Earth - January 10, 2006
  79. Slick Airfare Tool for Google Earth - December 16, 2005
  80. Planes in Flight in Google Earth (revisited) - December 06, 2005
  81. Near Real-time Flight Tracking in Google Earth - December 02, 2005
  82. The Ubiquitous DC-3 Found in Google Earth - November 23, 2005
  83. UFO Sighting Locations in Google Earth - November 04, 2005
  84. Magnalox - GPS Story Telling for Google Earth - October 19, 2005
  85. Huge Resource of 3D Glider Tracks for Google Earth - October 12, 2005
  86. Categorized African Animals in Google Earth - October 11, 2005
  87. Documenting a Recent Flying Trip - October 09, 2005
  88. Garmin Buys MotionBased - October 04, 2005
  89. Update to Planes in Flight Story - September 23, 2005
  90. Planes in Flight Captured in Google Earth - September 21, 2005
  91. MS Flight Simulator Interface - September 01, 2005
  92. Flying - Keeping a Flight Log - August 05, 2005
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