Part of the new Google Earth 4.2 which was just released today (download here) is a new photo viewing feature which lets you view photos in a totally new way. Rather than try to explain it in words, I’ve made a quick video to illustrate the new feature. It is really amazing! To see the first set of available photos using the new technique, you will need to turn on the new “Gigapxl Photos” layer under the “Featured Content” layer. This new layer shows placemarks for many places with photos that were taken with a gigapixel camera.
Some of the photos in the Gigapxl photo layer were taken by Google Earth Chief Technologist Michael Jones (read more about the camera and techniques at Gigapxl.org). There are some beautiful photos, and viewing them with the new feature in Google Earth is very cool. My only real disappointment is that the SpaceNavigator is not supported yet for panning and zooming with the new photoviewer. Hopefully that will be corrected soon.
Anyway, this new photo viewing feature is an open new feature and Google is releasing tools allowing you to easily put your photos in Google Earth and use the new photo viewing feature. More to come!
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.