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Swiss Alps “Fighter” Tour in Google Earth

March 1, 2007

On Wednesday, Google released high resolution terrain for the Swiss Alps, and new high resolution imagery for Google Earth. The Swiss Alps are really beautiful to view in GE yourself, but I occasionally like to show YouTube video demos for 3D content like this. As I was considering my approach, my friend Scott Madry (the Armchair Archaeologist) sent me a link to a cool video showing a real-life jet pilot taking off and flying through famous places in the Swiss Alps. At this point, I had to do the geeky thing and see if I could make the same flight sequences in Google Earth! So, I spent all day trying to coerce the “G-Force” mode in Google Earth to fly in a rough approximation to this military pilot (not easy at all!). The main point here is that the GE terrain looks VERY close to the real thing.
Anyway, you can watch the real video on the top, and my video below using Google Earth. If you play both at the same time you can see I managed to get them to play close to in sequence (you might want to turn off the audio on mine since it’s just a crude mono-copy of the sound from the original).


Original

Google Earth

Some notes: Google’s imagery of the alps is summertime, but the jet video was in the winter. It took me like 50 tries to get the upside down turn over Mont Blanc with the mouse-based G-Force interface and no throttle control. The meticulous among you will notice other little flaws in my flying, but hey – it was only 8 hours worth of trial and error! Hope you guys like it. Digg it!
[UPDATE: Some have asked me – I just used the mouse with G-Force to control, and MS MovieMaker to splice the clips together and create the video. It took me a few minutes to figure out where each flight sequence was located and the flight path, and a bit longer to practice the right speed and approach.]

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.

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Filed Under: 3D Models, Flying, Google Earth News, Sightseeing, Video

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PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

Comments

  1. Lauren says

    March 1, 2007 at 10:43 pm

    Very nicely done; that obviously took a lot of work but it shows off the new terrain quite well! I wish I had a fast enough connection to try something like that.
    Not having a joystick, I’ve never played with the g-force mode much, but I didn’t realize it was possible to roll in GE. That’s the one axis of rotation that the space navigator doesn’t support — not that I miss it, really, but it would be kind of cool for making ‘flight sim’ type movies.

  2. Scot says

    March 1, 2007 at 10:57 pm

    This blog post made my day. Great work…thanks.

  3. Gopi P says

    March 1, 2007 at 11:10 pm

    Hello Frank,
    this one is awesome and really out of world……….
    i liked it very much……
    Just out of curiosity, did you used Space navigator from 3dconnexion for recording this video………. and what tools did you use to create the video file………
    once gain great job……… congrats
    Gopi P
    Sarnoff

  4. gulfstreme says

    March 2, 2007 at 12:16 am

    “At this point, I had to do the geeky thing and see if I could make the same flight sequences in Google Earth!”
    Priceless! I love it!

  5. Todd says

    March 2, 2007 at 12:26 am

    Great job, I was amazed to see you could match them so closely.

  6. GEORGE P STOUBIS says

    March 2, 2007 at 1:48 am

    PERFECT.VIEWTEC PEOPLE DONE IT SOME YEARS A GO BUT…YOU STREAM THE SAME SIMULATION EXPERIENCE OVER THE SAME SYNTHETIC TERRAIN TO 200.000.000 PEOPLE. CONTINUE GOOGLE EARTH.

  7. Renalid says

    March 2, 2007 at 3:35 am

    Great! Awesome!
    Thanks

  8. ZNO says

    March 2, 2007 at 4:13 am

    frank mate … that was stunning .. a fantastic piece of work!!

  9. Google Mapping Blog says

    March 2, 2007 at 5:41 am

    Wonderful!
    I’ve just linked you (http://google-mapping.blogspot.com/2007/03/wow-in-volo-sulle-alpi-svizzere-con.html) in my blog about google mapping and… google earthing 😉
    Thank you, Frank, and keep up the good job 🙂

  10. Barry Hunter says

    March 2, 2007 at 10:41 am

    Absolutely amazing, true dedication!

  11. JavaChip says

    March 2, 2007 at 8:21 pm

    Very nicely done!
    BTW, lauren made a comment about SpaceNavigator not being able to roll. My SpaceNavigator (the least expensive one) DOES support that axis of movement. The key to enabling this is to check the box called Tilt/Spin/Roll from the 3Dconnexion Control Panel. You can get to this screen by pressing the right button on the SpaceNavigator.
    Again, well done on the video.

  12. martin cheeseboy says

    March 2, 2007 at 11:41 pm

    You are truly a SUPER GEEK!
    That is an amazing piece of work, I can’t believe the level of synchronisation you reached. I salute you and I wish I had nothing better to do but fly around in GE with my spacenavigator…
    Again, well done!

  13. Andre seekXL says

    March 4, 2007 at 8:17 am

    Thank you and keep up the good Job 🙂
    Great!

  14. Josh Wilson says

    March 4, 2007 at 5:22 pm

    Nice video Frank. How do you get such a long video with that amount of clarity to upload on YouTube. I’ve tried doing a few using the original CamStudio (not CamTasia) but the quality just isn’t there after I shrink the video down to under 10Mb. Do you run GE at full screen while recording and reduce the video size later or run GE in a smaller window while recording? Also what software and codec do you use?
    Here’s a little scenary for your next flight 😉 http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=4da7dde3005b71b59a2179681175d7e7

  15. dude says

    March 4, 2007 at 11:18 pm

    awsum!

  16. Josh Wilson says

    March 5, 2007 at 1:58 am

    After doing a model of the Grande Dixence Dam, I saw your video and had to go back and do a model of the Mauvoisin Dam which you flew over. http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=b19f5f577b5eb764ec615c5cc5618f46

  17. Jacek says

    March 9, 2007 at 2:40 pm

    Only one word: RESPECT.
    These videos are absolutely breathtaking. Great work !!

  18. m8eyboy says

    March 11, 2007 at 11:49 am

    Hi Frank,
    Just blogged about your video: http://richrach.com/rich/?p=254
    Some friends and I are going hiking in the Alps this summer and I’ve been using Google to ‘visualise’ the routes. When the upped the resolution of the photos of the Alps it was like the mist had cleared! The videos are inspirational, and it’s a relief to see how accurate Google’s terrain mapping is.

  19. kaboltzky says

    March 15, 2007 at 4:28 pm

    WOW!
    realy great work…thx a lot.

  20. Kenneth Dockery says

    March 17, 2007 at 2:40 pm

    Very impressive…I thought I was alone in my attempts to duplicate flight paths. I like to do it real time during sporting events that use blimps and helicopters for aerial shots. I have even split screened a car chase in California. It adds that third dimension to the experience. Keep up the fantastic work!

  21. Martin says

    March 31, 2007 at 5:52 am

    just Perfect!
    What is the music that you chose ??

  22. elmo says

    March 31, 2007 at 11:22 am

    Brilliant piece of work – truly inspirational.
    But please tell – what is the music? Truly another masterpiece.

  23. sylvia says

    April 1, 2007 at 8:28 pm

    LOL very very cool. I can’t get that close to the runway on Google Earth though — is this a special version?

  24. Marcus Sundgren says

    May 3, 2007 at 2:46 am

    Very nice work!
    @Kenneth Dockery: The music I believe is “Ameno” from the album “Era” by Eric Lévi (ITMS -> http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=14917260&s=143456&i=14917281)

  25. Ken says

    May 13, 2007 at 8:01 am

    Wow you have done an amazing job on this!!
    Quite stunning and very impressive.
    I’m going to send this URL on to a few people I know will be well impressed by this.
    I have one question – where did you find out that this new imagery was available from on Google?
    (I’d like to create a “fly past” of the great wall of china – something like this – for kids at a school we are doing charity work for and Google images of the wall are too low res (I think Microsofts are better – but that doesn’t help me with Google Earth. Do you know if Google have an advance list of where they will improve the quality of images?)

  26. Andi says

    May 29, 2007 at 4:39 pm

    Hi Frank, this is amazing, Thank you!

  27. Roger says

    June 10, 2007 at 9:18 pm

    Frank,
    I have never been interested in flight simulation, until you showed this. So I finally decided to try the G-Force myself and the first place I went was the Tetons. They as stunning as the Alps.
    Although I could just as well have used the normal mouse mode to view the scenery, flying around yourself makes it absolutely breathtaking.
    Thanks for showing us the way.

  28. Frank says

    July 21, 2007 at 8:03 am

    Whow, this is the coolest video I have seen since a long time, also the music is great !!
    Can’t you add a post where you explain step by step how you did this ?

  29. Marc says

    August 6, 2007 at 3:05 pm

    Very cool. These videos are absolutely impressive.

  30. Hotel Bayern says

    October 5, 2007 at 4:49 pm

    excellent, very cool the video

  31. BoundBoy says

    October 15, 2007 at 2:21 pm

    This is a really cool video. Anyone can tell me the music used in the videos? I really like it!!!

  32. Hotel Bayern says

    January 12, 2008 at 4:34 pm

    Extrem cool video

  33. Dobr says

    January 15, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    simple want to say, that is really cool video. Add same video to your blog again.

  34. Last Minute Urlaub says

    January 19, 2008 at 3:16 pm

    fantastiv movie, great !!

  35. Leonard Powell Jr says

    January 24, 2008 at 9:17 pm

    Frank, you make me want to fly the alps! And I hate flying LOL. This was a work of genius and I was happy to have seen it. Please never stop. 😉

  36. Wellnesshotel Bayerischer Wald says

    March 5, 2008 at 7:03 am

    This blog post made my day. Great work…thanks.

  37. Markus Aurilius says

    April 24, 2008 at 9:22 am

    great video… is there anywhere where a person can get a step by step instruction guide on how to create a fly by video in GE pro?

  38. last minute billig says

    June 16, 2008 at 9:50 pm

    Unbelievable. Since when is it possible to see
    such 3d graphics with google earth? probably
    the pro version?

  39. rugs says

    July 10, 2008 at 8:54 am

    Firstly, where the HECK do you get the time to sit around and do this? Is this your job? It may be, I guess, but it’s certainly one of the most interesting jobs to tell people when you meet them at parties.
    I think, to answer the above poster, that it is the pro version that gets you such quick rendered graphics etc.
    Now, if Google Earth COULD put some season-engine in that would make it interesting. It would also make it very difficult.

  40. Peer says

    September 19, 2008 at 2:34 am

    Nice Video. I like the direct comparison between real flight view and simulation. As in many jet simulation games, they dont get the feeling for large distances. But anyway nice fly.

  41. urlaub says

    September 24, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    Man this is cool. A quick & simple flightsimulator!

  42. Daniel says

    October 18, 2008 at 8:56 pm

    Well done mate. Never seen a better copy of real fligt.

  43. Joe says

    March 10, 2009 at 11:13 pm

    Well I put the cocpit pics on the computer but how do i get them to go away please reply

  44. öldruckgeber says

    May 13, 2010 at 10:39 am

    thats very cool, great simulator.

  45. save fuel says

    August 19, 2010 at 6:52 pm

    That’s the one axis of rotation that the space navigator doesn’t support — not that I miss it, really, but it would be kind of cool for making ‘flight sim’ type movies.

  46. Peter says

    February 19, 2011 at 5:50 pm

    WOW ! great video great job
    thx
    Peter



PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

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