[UPDATE 5-September-2007: Check out Google Earth 4.2’s new built-in flight simulator]
Imagine running Microsoft Flight Simulator and Google Earth together. Imagine seeing your simulated plane, and other auto-generated planes, appear within the Google Earth. Turn on the roads layer, the airport layer, etc. and you can see all kinds of data associated with where you are flying that the Flight Simulator does not.
These are just the simple by-products of a free application announced in July by Juergen Haible (http://www.elbiah.de/). His application is called MyFSGoogleEarth and you can find it, along with instructions for installing it here. This is a program for the more serious Flight Sim user and requires at least the free version of FSUIPC.
As Google Earth becomes even more useful (in terms of data and interface), I expect there will be even better interfaces between GE and MS Flight Simulator in the future (despite the rivalry between Google and Microsoft). Great job Juergen!
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.
this does not work,,http://www.elbiah.de/).
gives you prety pictures you cannot use, spent 4 hours got all the links in earth, had colered squares while flying , then pc went bizerk,,
not worth the time…~!
As I am playing the new version of MS Flight Simulator, and amazed at the improvements in quality–I too asked myself, why the heck isn’t Google Earth of even MS’s equivlant rendering real-map images for the landscape??
I’d love to fly reconizable roads!! I want to flyby my house and not “guess” where it is…
I use MyFSGoogleEarth with FSX, null modem cable to a separate laptop, using the IP address of FSX PC. Works just great and makes it really interesting to see the real-life scenery when practicing approaches and getting to know the geography around an airfield.
The new GPS capability in GoogleEarth Plus (costs $20 to subscribe to GE+) also looks promising, but I haven’t looked into how you change the viewing position. Right now, it just gives you a viewpoint something like 500 ft above the ground while you fly. Not very useable. But actual scenery is the way to go! B2K
Flying with GE-FS F-16 looks nice but that HUD looks like something out of a comic book. So I went and changed a little here and there. Looks a lot more like an F16 now! I cant get the compass to show heading every 10 degrees. Can anyone help??
Copy this into generic.ini (C:\Program Files\Google\Google Earth\res\flightsim\hud):
% Generic Head Up Display Config
AirSpeedX = -0.4
AirSpeedFactor = 0.194384 % 1/kt
AirSpeedY0 = -0.2
AirSpeedY1 = 0.1
AirSpeedRange = 16
AirSpeedDV = 1
AirSpeedSmallInLarge = 5
AirSpeedLargeX0 = -0.05
AirSpeedLargeX1 = 0
AirSpeedSmallX0 = -0.03
AirSpeedSmallX1 = 0
AirSpeedValueX = -0.06
AirSpeedValueTextFlags = [left middle]
AirSpeedPointerX = 0.005
AirSpeedPointerAngle = 3.14159265
AirSpeedPointerLength = 0.015
AltitudeX = 0.4
AltitudeFactor = 0.0328084 % 1/ft
AltitudeY0 = -0.2
AltitudeY1 = 0.1
AltitudeRange = 16
AltitudeDV = 1
AltitudeSmallInLarge = 5
AltitudeLargeX0 = 0
AltitudeLargeX1 = 0.05
AltitudeSmallX0 = 0
AltitudeSmallX1 = 0.03
AltitudeValueX = 0.06
AltitudeValueTextFlags = [right middle]
AltitudePointerX = -0.005
AltitudePointerAngle = 0
AltitudePointerLength = 0.015
VerticalSpeedFactor = 196.85 % min/ft
VerticalSpeedRound = 10.0
VerticalSpeedX = 0.4
VerticalSpeedY = -0.25
VerticalSpeedTextParams = [center middle]
VelocityMark =
[
-.01 .00 .00 .01
.01 .00 .00 .01
-.01 .00 .00 -.01
.01 .00 .00 -.01
-.03 .00 -.01 .00
.01 .00 .03 .00
.00 .02 .00 .01
]
VelocityMinSpeed = 0
CompassSmallInLarge = 2
CompassLargeInHuge = 3
CompassTextParams = [center bottom]
CompassSmallY0 = -0.310
CompassSmallY1 = -0.295
CompassLargeY0 = -0.325
CompassLargeY1 = -0.295
CompassHugeY0 = -0.330
CompassHugeY1 = -0.295
CompassTextY = -0.331
CompassRange = 20
CompassX0 = -0.15
CompassX1 = 0.15
RollScaleHalfAngle = 60
RollScaleR = 0.2
RollScaleCenterX = 0
RollScaleCenterY = 0
RollScaleLarge = [30 60]
RollScaleSmall = [10 20 45]
RollScaleLargeR0 = 0
RollScaleLargeR1 = 0.025
RollScaleSmallR0 = 0
RollScaleSmallR1 = 0.0125
RollScaleTextR = 0.07
RollScaleTextParams = [center bottom]
RollScaleSegments = 10
RollScalePointerR = 0.005
RollScalePointerL = 0.02
SkidIndicatorMark =
[
-.01 .005 .01 .005
.01 .005 .01 -.005
.01 -.005 -.01 -.005
-.01 -.005 -.01 .005
]
SkidIndicatorY = 0.17
SkidIndicatorX0 = -0.1
SkidIndicatorX1 = 0.1
SkidIndicatorMin = -2.5
SkidIndicatorMax = 2.5
PlaneMark =
[
-.01 .04 .01 .04
.00 .05 -.00 .03
]
PitchLadderDV = 5
PitchLadderSmallInLarge = 2
PitchLadderSmallMark =
[
-0.08 0.0 -0.04 0.0
0.08 0.0 0.04 0.0
]
PitchLadderLargeMark =
[
-0.13 0.0 -0.04 0.0
0.13 0.0 0.04 0.0
]
PitchLadderY0 = -0.35
PitchLadderY1 = 0.35
PitchLadderXOffset = 0
PitchLadderLetterOffset = 7000
HUDColor = 65280
StallColor = 255
StallX = 0.7
StallY = -0.65
StallText = STALL
StallMinSpeed = 6
StallTextParams = [center bottom]
GearX = -0.85
GearY = -0.65
GearText = GEAR
GearTextParams = [center bottom]
FlapsX = -0.7
FlapsY = -0.65
FlapsText = FLAPS
FlapsTextParams = [center bottom]
HUDLineWidth = 1.3
HUDLineSmooth = true
ThrottleIndicatorX = -0.95
ThrottleIndicatorY0 = -0.8
ThrottleIndicatorY1 = -0.8
ThrottleIndicatorWidth = 0.00
ElevatorIndicatorX = -0.7
ElevatorIndicatorY0 = -0.5
ElevatorIndicatorY1 = -0.5
ElevatorIndicatorWidth = -0.0
AileronIndicatorY = -0.5
AileronIndicatorX0 = -0.8
AileronIndicatorX1 = -0.8
AileronIndicatorWidth = 0.0
RudderIndicatorY = -0.6
RudderIndicatorX0 = -0.8
RudderIndicatorX1 = -0.8
RudderIndicatorWidth = 0.0