Google Earth Blog

The amazing things about Google Earth


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3D Flight Tracking in Netherlands with Google Earth

One of my favorite KML collections from the early days of Google Earth (way back in 2005 – which is a long time in Internet time), was the real-time flight tracker by FBOweb that lets you watch incoming aircraft for several major airports in the US. I am a bit disappointed they haven’t enhanced the tracker very much considering all the new features in Google Earth since 2005. But, it still amazes people when I demonstrate live updating positions of planes in 3D approaching a major airport. (See a list of several cities to follow in this post).
Recently I ran across another real-time flight tracker in the Netherlands for Google Earth. The Geluidsnet web site (in Dutch) lets you watch planes arriving and departing from a few airports through this Google Earth network link (once it loads, click on “Schiphol area” to see the tracks for the last 30 minutes). They display a vertical “fence” below each plane to help visualize the altitude and paths. Orange fences are arriving aircraft, green are departing. The visualization gives a better sense of position and the number of planes when viewed from an angle. If you look closely, you will notice every few seconds the positions (and fences) change. Updating data like this is done using the power of the Google Earth “network link“.

3D Fligtht Tracking in Netherlands with Google Earth

You would think the data is coming from aircraft transponders. [UPDATE 1530 ET: And they are! In doing a translation of a page on the Dutch-speaking site, I read how they were taking sound measurements for noise pollution purposes related to aircraft – and interpreted this to mean that was how they were getting the data. But, locals have explained to me the data is in fact coming from transponders.] But, using Google Translate, I read that they are using sophisticated sound measurements and algorithms to record data on aircraft and can determine position, speed, and even aircraft types.

Astronomers Use Google Sky to Raise Research Funds

This is a cool way to raise money for your research projects. Borrowing on the old idea of selling stars to make money, the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium (KASC), which is a large international collaboration of scientists, has created the non-profit Pale Blue Dot Project. The idea is that people can peruse their database of stars which might have planets, and pay $10 to adopt that star. Copy the number for the star you select and go to the site to make your donation. The $10 will go directly to help pay for research to have the Kepler satellite search that star for planets. What a brilliant idea!

U2 in Flight in Google Earth

Thanks to GEB reader Mark Petersen for the tip.

Links: Santa Tracker Popular, Volvo Ocean Race, Lost World Discovered, Cold War KML

  • Santa Tracker Popular – The Google/NORAD Santa Tracker was yet again a huge hit. On Christmas Eve, GEB had about 50 thousand visitors searching for Santa and overall about 4X the normal amount of traffic. We had the tracker running for a few hours where I was visiting 4 of my younger nephews. I had a great time showing different types of GE content to them. But, the boys enjoyed playing with the Google Earth flight simulator the most.

  • Volvo Ocean Race – The official site of the Volvo Ocean Race (a round-the-world sailboat race with multi-person crews in 70 mono-hulls capable of 30 knot speeds), has released a Google Earth file that lets you track the boats as they complete their journey. The GE Volvo Race tracker includes placemarks with links to pictures, stories, and videos.

  • Lost World Discovered – In 2005, some scientists looked at aerial photography in Google Earth of a region of Mozambique in Africa which appeared to have undocumented forests. The scientists conducted some expeditions and discovered some pristine primeval forests with previously undiscovered wildlife and vegetation. Read more at the Guardian.

  • Cold War KML – Stefan Geens discovers some really interesting cold war perspective Google Earth content. First there’s a detailed analysis of current Russian air defense installations, and then there’s a file which highlights the current condition of the former Berlin wall locations.

Upgrade to EveryTrail GPS Trails Layer in Google Earth

Yesterday Google published an upgrade to the EveryTrail layer in Google Earth found under the Gallery layer folder. EveryTrail allows you to upload both GPS tracks and geotagged photos to its free service and the results can appear in their Google Earth layer. Once you turn on the layer, zoom in and look for the green EveryTrail logo placemarks. They mark the locations of available tracks which if you zoom in you can see more detail.
The new update to the layer includes an improved interface for viewing the geotagged photos. When you click on a green placemark for an EveryTrail location you see a gallery of photos for some of them. If you click on a single photo, you get a placemark “slideshow” which lets you see each photo and fly to each location. It’s pretty slick, and I recommend you try it out in Google Earth. You can also watch this video they released showing it in action:


By the way, EveryTrail also has an iPhone application you can download which lets you record your tracks and photos and upload them to their site in one convenient package. This is a pretty cool way to document your travel and get it into Google Earth with your iPhone. But, if you don’t have an iPhone, EveryTrail still makes it pretty easy with a GPS and camera. (To be fair, there’s another iPhone app called Earthscape which also lets you take photos and you can get KML from a User’s collection of photos – which came out earlier this year.)
Another note: I got a message from Joost Schreve (Founder and CEO of EveryTrail) and he says they have grown rapidly since their layer was added to Google Earth. They now have over 36,000 public trips from over 120 countries. And, their iPhone app is really taking off with over 500 downloads a day. He recommends reading the EveryTrail blog where they have been talking about and releasing other mobile phone applications as well as other news.
And another note: Another GPS track layer is also available in Google Earth called WikiLoc which was released in GE last August. See first review of WikiLoc at GEB. Wikiloc is another GPS uploading web site, and has some very nice Google Maps and Google Earth features. I like the feature that shows your vertical profile for your tracks.
Here’s a list of other GPS-related sites with Google Earth tie-ins from the past:

Top 10 Games With Google Earth

Google Earth is more than just a 3D map of the Earth. Between the cool data and the sophisticated interfaces to connect back end servers with Google Earth, it’s only natural games have been developed as well. Here are the best games I’ve seen with Google Earth over the last three years:

  1. Flight Simulator– Google themselves added perhaps the best game as a built-in feature: did you know there’s a flight simulator in Google Earth? Read some tips on starting and using the flight simulator, and here is a video for watching it in action.

  2. DND Game – You can actually play a role-playing dungeons and dragons game on top of Google Earth. The game is a multiplayer game in which you go and fight monsters found across the planet. Read more.

  3. Mars Sucks – This game places you in a space ship and you find aliens based on clues and blast them with your big guns. Read more.

  4. Football – This game lets you play an American Football game within Google Earth. Read more.

  5. Milktruck Madness – This one is played with the new Google Earth plugin. It simply lets you drive a milktruck around the Earth. But, it’s fun! Read more, try it out here.

  6. Battleship – This was a really cool idea for a game where you would mix going in the real world with a cell phone with Google Earth to play a battleship game. Unfortunately not available to play now. Read more.

  7. Where in the World – Each month, Google puts out a free newsletter which has a puzzle game. They give you a screenshot of a place on Earth, and you have to find where on the Earth it was taken. See a recent example, and you can see all the issues of the newsletter here.

  8. National Geographic Geography Quiz – As part of National Geography Awareness Week, National Geographic made this cool quiz in Google Earth. You can try the quiz here (a local copy, their link is broken at the moment). Read more.

  9. Fun and Games – The Google Earth Community has a whole forum dedicated to games in Google Earth. This is mostly guessing games similar to the newsletter, but it’s played in a forum and some of the puzzles are much more sophisticated. Read more.

  10. Geo Whiz – Yet another geography quiz game, this one is more interactive. It also uses the Google Earth plugin (Windows only for now). Check it out.