One of the great things about Google Earth is how extensible it is using KML. You can use it to show off placemarks, build 3D structures, track wildfires, show educational resources, and much more.
Today’s example, from Thijs, shows how well Google Earth can be used as a scientific visualization platform. Some of the highlights of his work include:
Dutch bathymetry
: The bathymetry of the entire Dutch coast, varying in time from 1928 to present, with yearly updates in later decennia. It’s a total of 4gb of data on the server, so loading a full animation does take a while.
Hurricane Katrina: Animation of the measured winds during Katrina, and the associated water level set up.
Tidal water movement: Animation of water movement during a tidal cycle in an estuary.
For more, you can visit his website and see some screenshots or simply browse the raw files.
About Mickey Mellen
Mickey has been using Google Earth since it was released in 2005, and has created a variety of geo-related sites including Google Earth Hacks. He runs a web design firm in Marietta, GA, where he lives with his wife and two kids.