Sailing Archives

November 12, 2009

Tahina Expedition Departing Soon

In a matter of hours - as early as tomorrow evening - my wife and I will be departing on a five year sailing circumnavigation called the Tahina Expedition. I've mentioned the trip on Google Earth Blog several times (for example: here and here) because we are using my favorite application a great deal on the trip. For planning the trip, documenting our route, displaying our track as we travel, displaying our photos, and even contributing content which Google will share with everyone. Not only that, but we just announced today that National Geographic will be following our trip and using our content on their ocean-related sites.

Here's a couple of interesting Google Earth related projects we will be conducting on the Tahina Expedition:

• Kite Aerial Photography - I've got a camera rig that flies from a kite so we can take very high resolution aerial photos. The photos will be processed and sent back to Google so they can include them in the base imagery of Google Earth. See the first example in the post linked here.
• 360 Panoramas - We will also be taking 360 degree panoramas which will be put into Google Earth through the 360Cities.net layer. See the first test example of a photo taken a couple of days ago of Tahina.
• 3D Tahina - for fun, look at a 3D tour of our boat Tahina with the Google Earth plugin.

Make sure you book mark the Tahina Expedition site, and include our blog in your RSS reader. You'll be able to follow along on our five year trip and see all kinds of interesting photos, videos, and Google Earth content. There will also be a layer in Google Earth showing our travels (that will be announced soon).

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:09 PM | Comments (6)

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November 9, 2009

MS Oasis of the Seas heading for Florida

The largest cruise ship in the world, the MS Oasis of the Seas, is on a journey from Finland to Fort Lauderdale, FL. She's expected to arrive in Florida this week, with her maiden voyage from Miami scheduled for December 1.

A user named 'sladys' over at Google Earth Hacks has posted a KML file to see the journey of the ship. In addition, 'Naruto_fan' has modeled the Oasis of the Seas, along with her soon-to-be sister Allure of the Seas, in the Google 3D Warehouse.

The ship has already had quite an adventure. On November 1, she had to pass under the Great Belt Fixed Link bridge in Denmark. The bridge has a clearance of 213ft above the water, but the ship has a height of 236ft. This obviously posed a problem. By lowering it's telescoping smokestacks, waiting until low tide, and using a full thrust, the ship was able to squeeze under the bridge with about two feet to spare! Check out the video below to see it happen:

Posted by mickmel at 9:37 AM | Comments (0)

November 2, 2009

Caribbean 1500 Rally using Google Earth once again

As they have in years past, the Caribbean 1500 Sailing Rally is doing some cool stuff with Google Earth to help showcase their event, which begins today around noon EST.

They're using Magnatrax.net to help track the position of every boat and they have a variety of boat classes that you can track -- Cruising, "Bahamas Fleet", Rally Class 1/2 and Racing Class 3/4. Choose the one you want, then click the "Google Earth" link in the lower left corner. They show the current position of each boat, but they also take advantage of the Time Slider tool to let you see past locations.

They seem to have removed some of the other folders from previous years (weather and such), but that's ok. Google Earth has some nice built-in weather data, which you can easily use alongside of the race data. That's really the power of Google Earth -- being able to combine data from a variety of sources to help get the most information at one time.

The race begins later today, so keep an eye on it in Google Earth to see who wins.

Posted by mickmel at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2009

Fresh Update to the Ocean Expeditions layer

Google has just updated the Ocean Expeditions layer in Google Earth, and they've added some great content about expeditions around the world. To access this layer, simply check the Ocean Expeditions icon inside of the Ocean folder or you can open this kml file .

Once opened, a variety of ship icons will appear in the ocean. Ships with a yellow shaded background represent live or recent expeditions (such as the National Geographic expedition to Cocos Island), while ships with a blue shaded background represent expeditions older than six months (such as various expeditions by the Cousteau Society). As you zoom in, more details will appear. Also, if you select a placemark for a particular expedition, it will load tracks and other placemarks for more details on that expedition.

Hopefully you'll find the Tahina Expedition in this layer in the not too distant future. :-)

Posted by FrankTaylor at 2:11 PM | Comments (1)

September 2, 2009

Preparing for the Big Trip

Those of you who are regular readers of GEB are probably familiar that last year I announced a plan to depart on a 5-year sailing circumnavigation. I've spun the Google Earth globe many times, but never managed to go around the real Earth myself. For most of my life, I've held the dream of circumnavigating by sailboat. Google Earth has definitely helped already in planning our destinations, but my plan is to help share our experience with GE in many unique ways. Google has even partnered with our expedition, which we call the Tahina Expedition. You'll not only be able to use GE to follow our path, see our route, and check our position, but you will also be able see our geotagged photos and videos. Some of the photos and video will be unique perspectives such as aerial photos taken with a kite, and underwater video taken with a remote operated vehicle (ROV) from VideoRay.

We are in the midst of final preparations for our planned departure after hurricane season (hopefully around the end of October or early November). We're hoping our house will sell before we leave - and that has kept us extremely busy.

There may be days when I miss making blog posts in the next few weeks. Once we leave, I won't be able to post every day. However, I'm in the process of arranging for someone to keep GEB posts coming. If you're interested in keeping track of our preparations and our trip, make sure to bookmark/save the RSS feed for the Tahina Expedition Blog. Also, expect a few progress reports leading to Tahina's departure, as well as more partnership announcements.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:52 PM | Comments (5)

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More entries for this category:

6. Kaisei Project - Researching the Plastic Vortex - August 5, 2009
7. Watch the LongPac Yacht Race - July 31, 2009
8. New Google Earth Imagery - July 2009 - Good and Bad Part 2 - July 11, 2009
9. World Oceans Day, 3D Design Competition, Britain Archeological Site, New Imagery Tour Idea - June 8, 2009
10. Where 2.0 - Day 1 - Workshops and Ignite - May 20, 2009
11. Current Positions of 10,000+ Ships World-wide in Google Earth - May 8, 2009
12. Henry Hudson 400th Anniversary in Google Earth/Maps - May 4, 2009
13. Two Collections: US Coast Guard and Right Whales - April 28, 2009
14. Links: Ocean Now, Michigan Earth Day, Goldman Prize, Convention Center, Queen Mary - April 21, 2009
15. 3D Tour of Tahina Expedition Catamaran - April 20, 2009
16. Submarine Sim for Google Ocean - April 14, 2009
17. Announcing TahinaExpedition.com - April 9, 2009
18. Endangered Right Whales Off Florida - February 20, 2009
19. Rowing Around the World with Google Earth - February 11, 2009
20. Google Earth 5 Released - 3D Ocean and More! - February 2, 2009
21. New View of Ocean Floor in Google Earth - January 17, 2009
22. Les Saintes Got Some Terrain in Google Earth - January 14, 2009
23. December Sailing Passage in Google Earth - December 30, 2008
24. Links: Santa Tracker Popular, Volvo Ocean Race, Lost World Discovered, Cold War KML - December 26, 2008
25. Links: Going Sailing, Mumbai Attacks, Street View, South Africa Award - December 11, 2008
26. Vendee Globe in Google Earth - December 2, 2008
27. Somalia Piracy Map in Google Earth - November 20, 2008
28. Links: Where 2.0, Weather Buoys, Argentina, Earthscape, MapMyPage, and more - November 19, 2008
29. Carolina Beach Inlet in Google Earth - November 4, 2008
30. WikiSailing - Flying/Sailing Sightseeing Tours in Google Earth - October 29, 2008
31. Using Google Earth at 90 MPH on a Boat - October 14, 2008
32. Introducing Our First Sailing Partner: Google - October 2, 2008
33. The Boat Story Continues - Boatyard, Name, Moving - September 21, 2008
34. Sailing Update - Arrgh! - September 19, 2008
35. Storm Preparations - September 4, 2008
36. Sailing Passage From Exuma to North Carolina - August 25, 2008
37. Circumnavigation: The Boat - Part I - August 24, 2008
38. Spinning the Globe - August 21, 2008
39. Links: Joshua Slocum, Chemical Brothers, Other Links - August 6, 2008
40. Links: Talks, boat slips, Trails.com, Featured - July 28, 2008
41. Links: Walking, Havana, Eclipse, Oil, Follow the Boat - July 23, 2008
42. Notes from the Bahamas: GE in Education, AGE More KML, Disney 3D - June 26, 2008
43. Clipper Yacht Race in Google Earth - June 1, 2008
44. Links: NBA Destination, EarthNC 2.0, Geo Education - May 7, 2008
45. Links: Games, KML, Data, and more - March 4, 2008
46. Miami Post - Links: Mapper Tool, GE Game, KML Wishlist - February 15, 2008
47. Top 25 Stories of Google Earth 2007 - December 27, 2007
48. Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2007 - December 26, 2007
49. Links: GE on Phones?, PhotoOverlay Tutorial, EarthNC Update, Time Embedder Tool - November 6, 2007
50. Caribbean 1500 Sailing Cup in Google Earth - November 5, 2007
51. Links: Ohio Class Sub, Galactic Delight, Constellation Drawings - October 5, 2007
52. News Roundup: Flight Simulator Goodies, PhotoViewer Stuff, Video tourism - September 4, 2007
53. Scientific Ocean Drilling Database in Google Earth - August 14, 2007
54. Our Sailing Holiday in Google Earth - August 10, 2007
55. Sailing with Google Earth for Navigation - August 6, 2007
56. Sailing in the Virgin Islands - with Google Earth - July 23, 2007
57. Encompassing the Globe - July 16, 2007
58. OgleEarth Roundup: Illegal Fishing Caught, Picasa Web Albums Review, Geo-Ads Patent, HeyWhatsThat - June 28, 2007
59. Watch Weekend Boating Live in Google Earth - May 18, 2007
60. EarthNC Releases Browser-based Google Earth Content - April 26, 2007
61. 677 US Marine Charts for Google Earth on 1 CD - March 31, 2007
62. Majesty of the Seas - February 9, 2007
63. Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in Google Earth - December 27, 2006
64. Route du Rhum - Live Sailing Race in Google Earth - November 1, 2006
65. Shipwrecks Around the Google Earth - September 2, 2006
66. Sailing Adventures and Anchorages of the Caribbean - July 1, 2006
67. Pete Goss in 2006 Shetland Round Britain and Ireland Race - June 18, 2006
68. Volvo Ocean Race Leg 7 in Google Earth - May 18, 2006
69. Multicup 60 - Live Sailboat Race in Google Earth - May 10, 2006
70. The Aviva Challenge - Sailing Record Attempt - May 3, 2006
71. Mini-news Roundup - April 10, 2006
72. Sailblogs.com Supports Google Earth - April 8, 2006
73. Follow Volvo Ocean Race Leg 5 - April 3, 2006
74. Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race in Google Earth - March 29, 2006
75. Maldives Island Group in High Res - March 24, 2006
76. Bermuda Treasure Shipwrecks Map - March 7, 2006
77. Follow Volvo Ocean Race Leg 4 in Google Earth - February 19, 2006
78. Follow Volvo Ocean Race Leg 3 in Google Earth - February 12, 2006
79. Transatlantic Sailing Adventure Using Google Earth - January 18, 2006
80. Volvo Ocean Race Leg 2 - January 6, 2006
81. Back on Land - December 19, 2005
82. Gone Sailing! Passage Plan in Google Earth - December 13, 2005
83. Transat Jacques Vabre 2005 Race in Google Earth - November 16, 2005
84. And They're Off! - November 13, 2005
85. Volvo Ocean Race in Google Earth - November 11, 2005
86. Another Sailor Documents Trips Using Google Earth - November 9, 2005
87. Watching Sports with Google Earth - September 27, 2005
88. Sailing the Seven Seas - September 10, 2005

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