Google Earth Blog

The amazing things about Google Earth


Tours

Google Earth 5 – Record Tour Mode Features

[UPDATED] Another major new feature in Google Earth 5 is the new Record Tour feature. This is NOT recording video. Instead it is a major new capability for GE 5 that lets you record and play back scripted KML sessions. This means you can record things you want to show to a KML file, pass the KML file around and let someone else view it with their GE 5. This is way better than a video because you have the full resolution fidelity for a way smaller file than a video. And, there’s a lot more under the surface here than what you might think at first glance.
I’ve created a quick demonstration recording. The first thing you’ll notice is that I’ve also recorded a voice narration to my playback. You start by clicking on the “movie camera icon“, or selecting “Add->Tour” from the menus. Notice the “microphone” button next to the “record” button. When recording, the record button turns red and a counting timer appears.

Record gadgets in Google Earth 5

When you select the “microphone” gadget, it will record your voice and record your movements in Google Earth. (NOTE: you can add a narration after you record a movement session as well). The other thing you should notice is very exciting to me: while the tour is playing back, you can reach with the mouse and click and drag your view (NOTE: only if you drag the ground, not the sky) to look in a different direction than the playback! This is just one example of why the Record Tour is more powerful than a video. Before I go further, download this Grand Canyon tour (with narration – only 1.1 Mbytes). You may have to open the “Grand Canyon Tour” folder and find the record tour – then double-click it to start the playback. Here’s a screenshot of the tour in action:
Record Tour playback in Google Earth 5

One thing you can play with is speeding up, slowing down, or going backwards with the playback (at the expense of making my voice sound even funnier than normal!). Just click on the speed buttons on either side of the “Play” button in the record tour panel. Also, you’ll notice I’ve included a couple of placemarks which I opened during the recording. They also open during the playback. Very useful for illustrating a tour!
[UPDATE: Google has put up a post about historical imagery with some video of example tours. You can also download KML of the tours they show so you can play them in GE 5. Try this tour where they show different historical imagery of stadiums in Philadelphia during playback.]
Here are some other possibilities with the new touring:

  • Flight Simulator – You can record and play back sessions in the flight simulator!

  • Historical Imagery – You can record selecting different dates in the historical imagery slider showing different imagery.

  • Placemark control – record opening and using placemarks

There are many other possibilities including automatically playing back a GPS track, or how about adding music to your recorded tour? You may have to delve into the KML code to take advantage of more advanced features. Here’s the new documentation on Record Tour at the KML documentation site. There are a lot of possibilities with Record Tour.

Google Earth 5 Released – 3D Ocean and More!

[UPDATED] Today Google has released a major new version of Google Earth – Version 5. Clearly this new release merits moving up to the next version number. It contains a wealth of new data and features and has substantial new interface changes. This is exciting stuff!!

First up, there’s been great anticipation about a rumored ‘Google Ocean‘. Well, Google has met the anticipation of new ocean data – but, they’re not releasing a separate product. It’s all in Google Earth 5. First, we now have 3D bathymetry. Those new blue ocean floor magery is not just a 2D relief map – they are now 3D terrain. Move your mouse over the ocean and you’ll see below sea level elevations (negative numbers). But, the real surprise is when you first start flying towards the ocean and tilt your view. You now see an ocean surface! And, if your graphics card is new enough, you see wave motion on the surface.


The real pleasure comes when you fly under sea surface. You can both see the 3D bathymetry and see the surface above you for a real submarine-like experience!


And, there is a huge amount of new ocean related layers. Under the Layer pane in the lower left you’ll see a new “Ocean” layer folder. The folder contains a number of interesting new layers including material from National Geographic, Cousteau Society, BBC, NOAA, and more. There are locations of shipwrecks, tracks for ocean expeditions, GPS tracks of sea animals, and lots of information about the ocean environment. This was significant enough that Al Gore came to make the announcement. More on all of this in future posts. Especially given my interests in the ocean.
Here’s a video I’ve made showing off the new Ocean features:

But, Google Earth 5 brings us more than the huge new ocean data. Here’s a sample of major new features (each item will have its own post here and I will link to each one as I write them):

  • Historical Imagery – turn back the clock on your current view and see older satellite/aerial imagery
  • Recording Tours – An amazing new way to record tours in Google Earth and share the tours through a KML
  • 3D Mars – That’s right, you now have Google Earth, Sky, and Mars options. Mars has 3D terrain and more!

Watch for more posts about all these new features. This stuff is really cool. I’m only just getting started with all the new stuff. Watch for video demos as well.

[UPDATE: You can also have KML files that go under the ocean! This means you can show where cables go under the sea, or put a 3D model of a sunken ship into the ocean. Very cool!]

[UPDATE: Here’s Google’s post about the new ocean data. Also, here’s the Google Earth Ocean web site (with a video narrated by Sylvia Earle of National Geographics). And, here’s a post about the new Google Mars feature in Google Earth 5.]