Google Earth Blog

The amazing things about Google Earth


Exploring the moon in Google Earth

Moon choice for Google EarthWhile hundreds millions of people have used Google Earth over the years, many aren’t aware of some of the great things it can do.  One of those is the ability to explore our moon, which is an excellent feature to have.  Google first introduced this feature back in 2009, and it’s still amazing to see.

Just look for the little planet icon in the upper middle of Google Earth and you’ll see an option titled “Moon“. The moon in Google Earth changes the virtual globe into a 3D rendition of the moon. The terrain of the moon is in 3D and there are layers telling you more about the moon.

Here’s a screenshot that Frank took a few years ago showing the Apollo 11 landing site:

Moon in 3D in Google Earth - Apollo 11

The first thing you should check out in the Google Earth moon mode is the awesome Apollo 11 tour found in the layers under: Moon Gallery->Guided Tours->Apollo 11. This tour is narrated by Andrew Chaiken and Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and is one of the best illustrations of the Apollo 11 mission I’ve seen to date!

Here is a YouTube video introduction of Moon in Google Earth by Google:

When this feature first came out, Frank was fortunate enough to be on hand for the official announcement, and he mentioned quite a few thoughts and features about this new piece of Google Earth.  After you finish reading that, head into Google Earth and try it out for yourself if you never have before.

Google adds a variety of animal parks and zoos to Street View

Google has just pushed out another major update to Street View, this time adding imagery from a variety of zoos and animal parks around the world.

street-view-zoo

The list of updated areas includes:

Australia
Taronga Zoo (Sydney)

Brazil
Zoologico de Bauru

Canada
Jungle Cat World Wildlife Park (Ontario)
Toronto Zoo

Chile
Buin Zoo

China
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

Germany
Tierpark Hagenbeck
Zoo Safari Park Stukenbrock

Japan
Asahiyama Zoo

Mexico
Chapultepec Zoo

Singapore
Singapore Zoo

Taiwan
Shou Shan Zoo

United States
Atlanta Zoo
Chicago Zoo
Houston Zoo
San Diego Zoo

You can read more about these new additions on the Google Lat Long Blog, all of which are available on the new Views site as well as inside of Google Earth.  If you’ve not used Street View inside of Google Earth before, the brief video below will show you how it’s done.

Viewing “ecological disintegration” using Google Earth

Last year we showed you the story of how California’s Department of Fish and Game was using Google Earth to track down marijuana fields to help avoid problems with local rivers.  Kevin Franck at Earth’s Internet has a similar story.  In a recent post, he digs through various ways he’s used Google Earth to track the progression of his local landscape in fairly depressing ways.

His post covers a handful of areas and examples, such as this one:

The very first time I drove to this exact spot in the early 1970s was when I got my Drivers License as a young teen and there were massive riparian forests here, mostly majestic old growth Cottonwoods and Willows everywhere. The creek was full and had a heavy meandering flow, even deep in many spots. There were also fish here, large ones too, which darted when you walked past the stream’s edge, although I cannot now identify them. But also mostly those small Top Minnow mosquito fish. I know I can’t get anyone to believe me about this, but never the less that is what I experienced. At best all I can do now is tell you a story. If I could have foreseen the future and what was to become of this place, maybe I would have taken actual photographs to back up the story. … It’s incredible, while it does take thousands of years for a health productive ecosystem to develop on a macro level, it only takes 150 years to screw it up under the excuse of enlightenment and manifest destiny. Pathetic when you ponder it really!

scissors-crossing

For more examples, as well as details on some of the techniques that he uses in Google Earth, check out his full post.

Nice work, Kevin!

Using Google Earth to understand geomorphology

Geomorphology is “the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them“, which seems to make Google Earth an excellent tool for that kind of work.  Holly Dolliver recently wrote a paper about using Google Earth to teach geomorphology, the abstract for which can be found here.

ox-bow-lake

Rich Treves at Google Earth Design read the paper and saw many examples that were showcased, but then he found that there was no KML file available to view them all — so he created one!

You can grab his KML file here and dig into to some of Holly’s finds. Rich has a few specific notes about the file and how to make the most of it over on his blog.

Good work, Rich!

The Wall – The World

Three years ago when the gulf oil spill was major news, Paul Rademacher created a unique tool to allow you to overlay the oil spill onto major cities to help get a better feel for the scale of it.

Recently, Paula Levine and Christopher Zimmerman (with permission from Paul) used some of that code to create a new site titled “The Wall – The World“.  The site overlays a 15 mile segment of the wall in the West Bank onto any city you choose.  The wall in the West Bank is shown on the left, your city is shown on the right, and the windows automatically are synced as you browse around.

thewalltheworld

This site is part of a larger series titled “Shadows from another place“, which uses maps to translate distant events on local grounds, in local terms.

To experience “The Wall – The World” for yourself, simply visit thewalltheworld.net.