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The amazing things about Google Earth


Google StreetView Sightseeing

Googlers in Google Maps StreetViewAlready people are beginning to notice interesting sights and giving tips for the new StreetView imagery found in Google Maps (just announced yesterday at Where 2.0). Someone was quick to point out you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to control the views more interactively in StreetView. If you are zoomed out, you can use the up/down keys to drive forward and backwards. Otherwise the arrow keys let you pan and tilt your view. Also, the imagery is higher resolution in San Francisco than in the other cities. Here are some examples of interesting StreetViews dropped as comments at the GEB in the last 24 hours:

One commenter pointed out it would be cool if you could view these in Google Earth as well. I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment. Google really needs to support Flash and Javascript in the Google Earth placemark balloons. Not only would it enable things like StreetView, but you could also implement embedded videos in Google Earth, sounds, and much more. Google really needs to up the priority for implementing enhanced web browser integration in the placemark descriptions.

Another thing about the StreetView. This technology is coming from a company called Immersive. This is not the technology Google is rumored to be announcing this week for acquiring 3D building data using the robotic car technology from Stanford.

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. Matt Giger says

    Google Earth is falling behind due to it’s structural limitations in my opinion. Scripting should already be possible with Javascript, it isn’t a difficult language to integrate within a program. Flash integration would be amazing if done well, but that would be almost impossible without support from Adobe, and it would be a performance killer.

  2. Keene says

    The new StreetView is very nice. One thing that would be great is if the actual Lat Long coordinates could be show either by default or turned on for the image. In general, I wish Google Maps gave the user better ways to get lat long data for points in Maps. It would be handy for a number of reasons.
    Thanks
    Keene

  4. David Sterry says

    Nice tip using the keyboard. I wonder how long before a small army of people demand to be blurred out. On the other hand, maybe people don’t care that they’re placed there as long as the time is a secret. The only thing I could use to get a good idea of picture timing was to look at the front of movie theaters. Anyone know of an outdoor clock with date in the covered area?

  6. Jimmy Lemon says

    Hey Frank – sounds like you are having a good time 🙂 I am loving this Street View – seems much faster than the windows version that didnt seem to take off. I have been cruising around Vegas a little bit. So far I have found some “Hot Babes” on the strip. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Las+Vegas&ie=UTF8&ll=36.124183,-115.171223&spn=0.024265,0.054245&z=15&om=1&layer=c&cbll=36.111959,-115.17308&cbp=2,302.605147058823,0.5,0
    Sorry thats link is a bit long 🙁



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.