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Tracking the Tour de France in Google Earth on Android

As he’s done in years past (2012, 2011), Dennis at CyclingTheAlps.com has built some great tools to help track the Tour de France in Google Earth.  However, this year he’s added a new way to track the event with a very full-featured Android app.  The app includes detail from every stage of the 2013 Tour, and uses Google Earth to help showcase the event.

Here are some screenshots from the app:

The app costs a few dollars, but is likely well worth if it you’re an avid cycling fan. If you just want to check out the routes for free, you can always view them on his site.

You can download the app for your Android device from this page on Google Play. Nice work, Dennis!

In addition, Google has partnered with the Global Cycling Network to provide information, commentary, fly through’s and much more for each stage.  You can read more about it from this post on the +Google Earth page, or watch the video below for a sample:

Find Mountain Bike Trails with the MTB Project

We’ve seen websites and projects over the years that use Google Earth to show off trails including the Appalachian Trail, Civil War trails, and tons of others with sites like EveryTrail.  The site we’re looking at today, mtbproject.com, focuses specifically on mountain bike trails and does an excellent job of showing them off.

mtb

They have a variety of tools to help explore each trail, including maps, elevation, comments, rating, information, photos and more.  If you click on a specific trail, such as the Dupont Ridgeline Loop, you can click the “View in 3D” button on the map to get a great popup that includes a Google Earth-powered 3D view of the course.

If you’re into mountain biking, this site is an incredible resource to help you find your next great trail. You can check it out at mtbproject.com.

(via Google Maps Mania)

The world of Hockey in Google Earth

As they often do the, folks at Google Sightseeing have a post that takes us on a tour around the world of a particular topic. Their choice this time? Ice Hockey.

Growing up in Michigan, I played quite a bit of hockey (most of it on the lake behind our house). The lake has many more houses around it now, though it’s almost certainly still a great place to play hockey for a few months each year. Despite a variety of historical images in Google, everything in that area was captured during warmer months (which tends to produce nicer looking imagery).

lake

Now that I’m in Atlanta it’s a bit of a different story (even more so now that our NHL team the “Thrashers” moved to Winnipeg a few years ago), though hockey is still very popular around the world.

The story on Google Sightseeing includes various historical stadiums and other buildings around the world, including a handful of great murals in Street View like the one seen here:

mural

I encourage you to check out their full post to learn more.  You can also found a few hockey resources over on Google Earth Hacks, such as this file of every NHL arena or a list of other hockey-related files.

Tracking the International Tour de Taiwan Ultra Marathon in Google Earth

A few days ago the 2013 Taiwan Ultra Marathon kicked off, a 14 day race that covers an astonishing 1100km. The runners are all carrying a Leadtek GPS device, and the organizers have put together this simple map to help track them.
However, Steven Ho (who has created tours such as this mountaineering trip and a neat tribute to Steve Jobs) wanted to be able to follow the race in Google Earth. Steven tried to get the organizers to produce a KML file of the runner’s data, but was unsuccessful. Instead, he built a handful of tours to help show off the race and included “rabbit” data to show the approximate location of the runners.

ultra-marathon.jpg

You can read more about Steven’s work on his blog and try it for yourself by clicking the image at the top of that page.
Along with that Google Earth Plugin integration, Steven has built a handful of KMZ files to help keep up with the event. You can use this KMZ to see a map of the course, this KMZ for a guided tour of the course, or this KMZ to see the current location of the rabbit.
Great work Steven!

Race Formula One tracks with Google Earth

We’ve seen quite a few driving games built on top of Google Earth over the years including Drive the A-Team Van and this great simulator from Katsuomi Kobayashi. Today’s comes from “MisterFoley” and is a great take on Formula One racing.

f1.jpg

They are a few 3D-rendered cars to choose from, and a handful of 3D objects around the course. What makes the game unique is the timing to rank the fastest drivers, and the fence around the course to keep you from cheating. I ran a couple of fast laps and didn’t crack the top 10, but maybe you can do better!
There is currently only one track available (Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia) but more are expected to be added soon.
Give it a try for yourself at www.mister-foley.com/page/games and see if you can make it onto the Top 10 fastest drivers list.