Sailing Archives

March 9, 2010

Playing games in Google Earth

Since Google Earth was first released, a variety of people (including myself) have looked for ways to use it for gaming. While it will never be a true gaming platform, there are still some fun choices out there to play with. Here are a few of the best:

• The Flight Simulator: This was first unveiled with Google Earth 4.2, and it's a built-in feature of Google Earth. You can fly as either an F16 or an SR22, and start from a variety of airports around the world. Press CTRL-ALT-A (or Command+Option+A on Mac) to get started. This video gives a nice overview of the controls:

• GEWAR: One of the first games people thought of when Google Earth came out was "Risk". Playing that kind of game on the Google Earth platform would be pretty cool. It was something I chewed on for a while, but couldn't figure out how to make it work. Eventually I discovered a way to create dynamic network links and I created "GE War" in mid-2005. It was mostly a proof-of-concept game, but it became quite popular. I eventually handed the game off to some of the more active players, and they've been improving it ever since. You can check it out at GEWar.net, where they have nearly 80,000 registered players.

• Ships: Last year, PlanetInAction.com released a neat game simply titled "Ships". It gave you the ability to take the helm on 3D ships, and was very well done. Here's a video tour of the game:

• Apollo 11 Moon Lander: The same guys that brought you "Ships" also released the "Apollo 11 Moon Lander" game. It's a very simple game, but it's very well executed with 3D models, responsive controls, and audio taken directly from the Apollo missions.

Beyond those, there are a wide variety of other games you can play. A few more:

• GEMMO: A DND-style game.
• Mars Sucks: Blast aliens from your space ship.
• Milktruck Madness: Drive a milktruck around the earth. No scoring or lives (and really, no point to it), but it's quite fun.
• Football: An American-style football game.

Do you know of any others we've missed? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by mickmel at 10:25 AM | Comments (2)

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March 5, 2010

Frank's kite imagery of Petite Tabac is now in Google Earth

Back in January, we showed you the incredible photos that Frank took while visiting the island of Petite Tabac. You might recognize it as one of the islands used in "Pirates of the Caribbean", as seen below:

As part of the imagery update last week, Frank's photos were added to the primary layer in Google Earth!

If you look close (as seen in the image below), you'll see their dinghy ("Coconut") and you can see Frank standing on the beach just east of there!

Here is a KML file to fly you directly to the island so you can see it for yourself.

He also shot a pretty cool 360° panorama while he was there, which you can check out on his blog.

This isn't the first time his photos landed in Google Earth. Last November, some of his other kite imagery also made it into Google Earth.

Posted by mickmel at 8:30 AM | Comments (1)

January 6, 2010

Frank's Tahina Expedition is now in the Ocean Layer of Google Earth

Frank Taylor has dreamed (and planned) for many years to sail around the world and share it with people by using Google Earth and other tools. He's trying to visit many places he's seen in Google Earth in person. As most of you know, he finally departed late last year on his voyage aboard the Tahina.

He's been faithfully blogging about the adventure, but now even more people can follow his expedition; through the main "layers" menu in Google Earth. Google introduced the "Ocean Expeditions" layer when Google Earth 5.0 came out, and they've been expanding it ever since. Now the Tahina Expedition is part of the layer.

If you open the Ocean layer and then turn on the Ocean Expeditions layer, you'll see a bunch of icons. In the NW Atlantic ocean you'll find a large icon, under which you'll find the "Tahina Expedition". Loading this KML will show placemarks of his various stops, with blog entries and connection lines between each one.

While this makes for a neat way to keep up with Frank's journey, you can even see more Google Earth details, including his GPS tracks, on the Tahina Expedition map page, follow his blog, RSS feed or the @GoTahina Twitter account.

Posted by mickmel at 8:24 AM | Comments (1)

December 17, 2009

Stunning virtual cruise tours

The folks over at PlanetInAction.com have just released a stunning bit of work for CleanCruising.com.au.

Clean Cruising tasked them with finding an innovative way to show the itineraries for thousands of cruises -- nearly 6000 in all. Using Google Earth, combined with 3D models of each ship, PlanetInAction has done just that. They have hand-built models for dozens of cruise ships, all with amazing detail and accuracy.

Now that the ships are rendered and the technical challenges resolved, they've started building out some of the itineraries. To see them in action, check out the 42 night Cherry Blossom Cruise (seen below) or the 7 night Western Caribbean Cruise, or just watch the video below:

The actual Google Earth tours are not yet available, but they hope to release them soon. In the meantime, you can watch the high-res videos of the tours at the links above. Below is a tour of the "Oasis of the Seas", the largest cruise ship in the world. We covered her journey from Finland to Florida last month, and below is a video that walks you through the 3D model of the ship.

This is a very cool use of Google Earth, 3D models and the tour feature. I could see this (or something similar) becoming a default layer in Google Earth someday. For now, enjoy the HD videos they've released.

Posted by mickmel at 9:39 AM | Comments (3)

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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More entries for this category:

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

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