Mickey Mellen

Using Google Earth to assist with fire and rescue

June 2, 2014

Uzi Bashan, the Fire Officer with Israel’s Fire and Rescue Commission, recently wrote an article on the Google Enterprise Blog on how they use Google Earth and Google Maps to help with their fire and rescue efforts.

From the article:

After the devastating Mt. Carmel fire in December 2010, which killed 44 people, injured dozens, and wiped out nearly 40,000 acres of forest, senior officers at the Fire and Rescue Commission realized we needed a more advanced fire alert system. This prompted our decision to deploy mapping technology from Google.

Now, using Google Earth Enterprise as our main GIS mapping platform, each call center operator has two screens – one displaying information from the national system, and the other displaying maps with Google Earth. Google Earth maps, with customized data layers, are automatically updated in real-time to show exactly where fires are and which firefighters are the closest to them. What used to take minutes now takes seconds.

It’s an excellent use of the Google Earth Enterprise platform, and I’m sure we’ll continue to see new examples like this in the coming months and years as other organizes streamline their processes in a similar manner. Be sure to read the full post at the Google Enterprise Blog.

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.

The best of Google Earth for May, 2014

May 30, 2014

We saw some amazing new Google Earth-related stories in May, and here are some of my favorites.

We took a look at some of the tornado damage in Mayflower, Arkansas.

We showed you some ways to use Google Earth to find a dark sky near you.

We revisited ways to use Google Earth to track the weather.

We shared the story of how Google Earth was used to help discover a long-lost forest.

We took a look at the new stadium that the Atlanta Braves are planning to build.

Google brought out some fresh imagery on May 19.

We shared some tips to make Google Earth more realistic.

We looked at some amazing images of (and interesting facts about) airport runways around the world.

What was your favorite story from May?

About Mickey Mellen

Abandoned theme parks in Google Earth

May 29, 2014

Last year we showed you a collection of the best roller coasters in Google Earth, highlighting some amazing parks around the world. A recent article in the Huffington Post takes it the other direction and highlights seven abandoned parks that can be found in Google Earth.

A great example is Six Flags, New Orleans, shown here:

From the article:

This theme park was closed just before Hurricane Katrina struck the region in 2005. It was heavily damaged in the storm and has been essentially abandoned ever since. Numerous attempts to rebuild it have fallen flat and the only salvageable ride (a Batman attraction) was moved to San Antonio. It has since become a film set and remains there today, crumbling into the dirt.

Using Google Earth’s historical imagery tool, you can go back in time to view some of the parks in their early days. For more, check out the full story on the Huffington Post.

About Mickey Mellen

Middle school students in Bluffton, South Carolina, build their town in 3D

May 28, 2014

Over the years we’ve seen a handful of schools integrate SketchUp to showcase their campus in 3D, such as Paragould and Hartford High Schools a few years ago.

The latest example comes from McCracken Middle School in Bluffton, South Caroline (hear Hilton Head Island), where they’ve modeled 14 historic locations around their town.

Six classes at H.E. McCracken Middle School in Bluffton used Google’s 3-D design program SketchUp to re-create 14 locations around Old Town this spring, drawing models of local landmarks like the Thomas Heyward House and the Bluffton Oyster Factory.

Students in the class, in its second year at H.E. McCracken, learn to use SketchUp and other Google programs, culminating in the historic-locations project. After the students learned how to draw in the program, they photographed and measured 14 of the 26 historic buildings in Bluffton during a field trip in February.

It’s awesome that they’re working on projects like this at the Middle School level, but it’s unfortunate that these models will never find their way into Google Earth. As of last October, you can no longer submit models for inclusion in Google Earth, as Google is pushing their 3D imagery instead. While I agree that 3D imagery is the future of Google Earth, I do wish they’d allow individual 3D model submissions as well.

Regardless, the students have done a great job with their project and I encourage you to read the full article on the Island Packet website.

About Mickey Mellen

Airport runways are beautiful in Google Earth

May 27, 2014

A while back we looked at some of the scariest airports in the Caribbean, but Lauren O’Neil has taken it further by finding some of the best-looking airports in the world in Google Earth.

You can find all of Lauren’s work at holding-pattern.tumblr.com. While her images are quite stunning, the logic behind airport runways can be even better.

Joseph Flaherty at Wired recent wrote a great article that explores the details of how runways are structured in terms of colors, symbols and fonts. A great example is in his “runway math” section:

Airport runways aren’t numbered based on priority, but compass bearings. A runway that is 194° away from magnetic north would be simplified to 190° to prevent rounding errors, and the last digit is dropped, leaving it at 19. Fun fact: Most runways are able to be used in both directions, and when approached from the opposite side the runway’s number is achieved by subtracting 18 or 180°.

I encourage you to read his entire article to learn more, then check out Lauren’s blog to see many other examples around the world.