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Make AR Movies from Google Earth 3D Models

Augmented Reality (AR) is the mixing of computer generated data and reality in video footage. I received an E-mail from InGlobe Technologies that they have released a new free application which lets you create AR movies using Google Earth 3D Models. They had already previously released an interface for making movies with SketchUp 3D Models, which I have been planning to play with. Now they’ve gone a step further and let you use the GE plugin to select 3D models and make AR movies with them. Here’s a cool example showing what we’re talking about:


All you need to do is visit their site ARSights.com, download their application, make a simple printout on your printer (which the video recognizes as the model “base”), select what 3D model you want to use, and use a web cam to make a video.
According to its makers:

ARSights is mainly targeted to:

  • those who are fascinated by 3D and Emerging Technologies,
  • Google Earth fans who are eager to see what the next step
    with this incredible tool will be

  • those passionate about geography, archaeology, architecture as
    well as of other topics and wish to approach them in an
    immersive and completely new way

  • people who are curious about the newest trends in web
    technologies and gadgets,

  • fans of virtual reality
  • cyberexplorers
  • and a lot of other people.

ARSights is completely free and can be accessed by everyone
with no restrictions.

via DigitalUrban and e-mail from its makers.

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: Planet Search, Interactive KML, FlightSim, iPhone GPS

  • Planet Search – Recently Google revealed they had added a new feature to the Sky mode of Google Earth (which lets you see the night sky instead of the Earth). The new feature lets you search for our solar system’s planets in the “Fly to” search panel. It then flies you to the location and zooms in so you can see the planet. I like the fact it lets you search for “Pluto” too. Also, if you turn on the “Our Solar System” layer, you can use the time slider to show the position of the solar system planets over the course of the next three months. I wrote a post last year about a KML file which lets you view the locations of planets discovered outside our solarsystem – aka “exoplanets”.

  • Interactive KML – Google has announced a new tool to help with learning KML. They have an interactive KML sampler which lets you simultaneously view samples of KML with the Earth API plugin. Of course, you can also copy any KML sample text and then paste it right into Google Earth to view them as well. I did notice a few of the KML samples didn’t work properly though.

  • FlightSim – A GEB reader named Jasper sent me an E-mail to let me know about his new tool for linking Google Earth to MS Flight Simulator (MSFS). His tool is called GPS60 (because it simulates Garmin’s GPS 60 handheld GPS). The application is very versatile. It lets you not only simultaneously view your position in MSFS also in Google Earth, but it also logs your track and even functions as a TCAS (showing positions of other planes in the sim). Check it out here along with documentation of the features, screenshots, and a log of the changes. He has released several updates recently. This isn’t the first time a link has been created between these two apps. Back in September of 2005, someone did something similar (no longer available). But, Jasper’s version is available now and has some cool features.

  • iPhone GPS – EveryTrail is a popular site for uploading GPS tracks (and geotagged photos) and viewing them in Google Maps/Earth. They sent me an e-mail a while back letting me know they have released an iPhone application for EveryTrail. Their new app lets you record tracks with your iPhone (I assume this is only practical with iPhone 3G with its GPS ability), and you can also take geotagged photos through their app. Here’s the link to their iPhone app page. On another note, EveryTrail’s Earth API support disappeared when they started supported Maps Flash API, but they plan to get it back in there soon.

Links: Walking, Havana, Eclipse, Oil, Follow the Boat

  • Walking Directions in Google Earth – Google has announced you can get walking directions in Google Maps. This new capability is in beta since they don’t have thorough enough maps on pedestrian paths and walkways to give the most optimum routes. They encourage you to use common sense especially when going to unfamiliar places. But, the routes might help you calculate distances, or get an idea of routes in unfamiliar places. You could also drag the routes to adjust them to go by a park or a particular site. You can also view walking routes in Google Earth. Assuming you may choose multiple destinations, I recommend using a tool from Nearby. First, set up your walking directions in Google Maps. Then select the “Link to this page” and copy the “Past link in E-mail”. Then visit Nearby’s Multi-destination routing in KML tool, and paste the link. Click the “Get it now” button and you will get a link to “Download Google Earth KML File“.

  • Havana Panoramas – 360 Cities has released a hundred high resolution geo-tagged panoramas for Havana, Cuba. You can view Havana at their web site, or you can view all their panoramas in GE – including Havana – using the PhotoOverlay tool. I recommend turning on the Geographic Web layer while sightseeing so you can compare ground photos of these sites to the panoramas from 360Cities.

  • Eclipse – Michael Kosowsky, of HeyWhatsThat wrote to let me know he has created visualizations for the upcoming total solar eclipse on August 1st. The path of totality crosses in Asia and the arctic regions (see the earlier post on the path visible in Google Earth). Michael uses his excellent planisphere application to generate a KML which lets you use the time slider to watch the total eclipse as viewed from Siberia. If you live in that part of the world, you can check to see how your view will look using the same animation by generating your own planisphere (enter your location, then choose the “Animation of the August solar eclipse” option and hit Submit. OgleEarth posts the full details we got from Michael.

  • Oil – Another oil consumption visualization from ‘giasen’ at the GEC. This one shows oil consumption per state in the US where the height is the number of barrels of oil consumed per square mile (100 meters for each barrel).

  • Follow the Boat – EarthNC is showing off some their excellent navigation and mapping tools for boaters by following one of their customers as they deliver a boat from Chicago to Florida via the Mississippi river. The customer is Captain Bill Foster, and he is using a 3G phone to upload position and web cam photos as he goes along. EarthNC is showing a map along with nautical chart information, live position, and web cam photos in a slick KML for Google Earth . Being able to watch a multi-day trip live in Google Earth is pretty cool. Captain Bill will probably stop for the night in places along the way, and he won’t always have good cell phone reception. By the way, yesterday he went through downtown Chicago. Here is a screenshot of the Chicago passage from within Google Earth.

Links: Big Dog, Plugins, Smoke, Stonehenge, SketchUp Camp, Kenya

Regular readers should read this one carefully – lots of interesting little tidbits today.

  • Big Dog – A bunch of news writers picked up on this story about a huge dog “seen from space” in the front of a hotel in London. And, you can in fact see the dog (just barely) in Google Earth. However, the imagery is actually from an airplane – not a satellite photo (you can see “BlueSky” in the copyright message – which is an aerial photography company in the UK). Aerial imagery is often better than satellite imagery since its easier to get higher resolution if you’re closer to the ground. Read more about Google Earth imagery.

  • Plugins – James Stafford has added a page dedicated to his experiments with the Earth API plugin. I have not yet written about his cute experiment with a mini-flight simulator (I was waiting for some new features like altitude changes). He’s added three new applications he’s playing with: 1) A polygon editor , 2) put some of his flight tracking KMLs into the plugin, and 3) my favorite – an astronomy application showing stars categorized on a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (I’m looking forward to his explanation on how that was done).

  • Smoke – My local TV news station’s web site used a Google Maps My Map to explain where smoke from a wildfire was coming from – blanketing the Raleigh area with smoke yesterday. This of course means you could view the map with Google Earth too. So, I had to mention this.

  • Stonehenge – Stonehenge has been in the news quite a bit lately. Saw this video from National Geographic showing Stonehenge being viewed through Microsoft Photosynth based on photos taken by a NG photographer (via VerySpatial). This made me wonder whether Panoramio’s new Look Around feature was available for Stonehenge. Sure enough, you can see Stonehenge using Look Around based on photos by many people. And, it works on the Mac as well as Windows!

  • SketchUp Camp – Google hosted Google SketchUp 3D Basecamp this week. Only 300 of 4500 people who expressed interest were able to go. AEC News Randall Newton has been live-blog reporting on 3D Basecamp. So far that’s the only source of regular news I’ve seen from the event. According to AEC News Google is saying there won’t be any product announcements at the event.

  • Kenya – Google recently released new street maps in Kenya. According to NetworkWorld students and a team from India were involved in creating the street maps. I believe this is based on Google’s methods used for street maps in India which uses GPSes in the hands of many people (“crowd sourcing”) to collect data. This way you use local knowledge to enhance the quality of the data. The new street maps are not yet in the Roads layer in Google Earth. So you can compare what they used to look like to now. Interestingly, the very useful Tracks4Africa (which was recently upgraded) and included Kenya with their crowd sourced data – has now been “demoted”/moved to the “More” layer folder in Google Earth.