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Swiss Alps “Fighter” Tour in Google Earth

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.

Reader Interactions






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

    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.

  3. Gopi P says

    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

    “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!

  6. GEORGE P STOUBIS says

    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.

  11. JavaChip says

    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

    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!

  14. Josh Wilson says

    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

  18. m8eyboy says

    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.

  20. Kenneth Dockery says

    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!

  22. elmo says

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

  23. sylvia says

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

  25. Ken says

    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?)

  27. Roger says

    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

    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 ?

  35. Leonard Powell Jr says

    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. 😉

  37. Markus Aurilius says

    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?

  39. rugs says

    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

    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.

  45. save fuel says

    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.



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.