The City of Portland, Oregon’s GIS (Graphical Information System) team just announced public availability of their KML (GE compatible) files allowing access to several layers of GIS data for their city. This includes things such as crime statistics, zoning, earthquake data, flood plains, and a lot of other useful data.
The neat thing is that these are network layers and are based on your current view of the city. It takes a bit of time to get used to, but you zoom to the area of Portland you are interested in, and a couple of seconds later an image loads showing that layer’s data. You need to turn off a layer (click on it’s checkmark box in the Places box), before loading another one or things become confusing.
So, you can go to their web site at: www.portlandmaps.com/google.cfm.
If you’re just curious, I suggest scrolling down on this page and viewing their screenshots, and clicking on the corresponding KML file for the layer that interests you. Or you can click here 
to see the Zoning layer shown here.
This is yet another example of serious business applications using Google Earth as the visualization tool.
Play Tour (aka Fly Mode)
One of the nicest features in Google Earth is the “Play Tour” viewing mode. If you have a series of placemarks (for example, if you have entered in something for directions) you can fly along the path or series of placemarks.
For example, at the top left click on “Directions” and enter “Arlington, VA” at the start, and “Washington, DC” at the end. Next click “Search”. The route between these two will be calculated. Now, you will see small “Play Tour” and “Stop Tour” 
buttons appear in the lower right below the directions. “Route” should be highlighted. Click the “Play Tour” button and you will be flown along the route to Washington, DC. (For added fun, select “Buildings” to see the 3D buildings of the Washington, DC area).
If you have a series of placemarks in your Places, you can select the folder with those placemarks and use the Fly Tour mode there as well. A keyboard shortcut – F10 – can be used as well.
You can adjust the speed, viewing angle, and height by going to the menu item “Tools->Options” and selecting the “Control” tab. Click on “Advanced” to adjust the Camera Tilt and Range.
Most Popular GE Files
The GE/Keyhole Community BBS has some limited means of showing you which are the most popular Google Earth places. You can go to the subject forum of your choice – say “Earth Browsing” and then select the “Views” link (as shown to the right). This will sort the forum according to the most viewed threads. Reading the resulting threads will probably lead you to some interesting places, but it is not really a very good measure of the most popular downloaded GE files. I have yet to find a way to view the most downloaded GE files on the BBS. I assume Google will do this someday.
Another choice is the very nice gallery of Google Earth places at: www.gearthhacks.com. This site has a much nicer interface for determining good places to visit (note: you will have to do a minimal free registration to download from here). First, after going to their home page, click on “File Downloads”. Then, select “Most Popular“. Today’s top 5 places are:
- 747 on SCL final approach
- Eiffel Tower – 3d
- Statue of Liberty – 3d
- Pyramids of Giza – 3d models
- Golden Gate Bridge – 3d
To see the places themselves go here (after you have registered with GE Hacks you can load them into GE).
Another even nicer feature Google Earth Hacks has done is provide a network link which automatically shows you their current top rated places.
EarthPlot – Commercial Software
EarthPlot is a brand new software product which is intended for use with Google Earth. It was announced at the BBS there will be a demonstration version, and a full version will be available for $29.99. I looked at some of their screen shots and their sample GE File, and it looks like the product has some potential. It allows some sophisticated graphing and data visualization features and the import of data from a variety of formats.
What I find significant is that the beta version of Google Earth is already resulting in several new business opportunities. I’ve seen a few other ventures as well, and will be writing more about these new business opportunities in a blog entry later this week.
3D Buildings in Google Earth
[NOTE: With Google Earth 4 you just find the “3D Buildings” layer in the Layers pane on the lower left. Also, updated to add Japan with 3D buildings.]
Another feature not found by some beginning users of Google Earth is the 3D buildings layer. You turn on the “Buildings” option and, for 38 of the largest cities in the US, and many cities in Japan, Google has created 3D models of the many buildings in that city. Try Chicago, Illinois for example. Make sure, after you turn it on, that you use the “Tilt” feature as I described in an earlier entry.
Some enterprising guys posted their own smaller town in 3D at the GE Community BBS with a very nice model of their company’s (@ Last Software) building in Boulder, Colorado. Here is their post, and you can open their version of Boulder, Colorado in 3D. This is just a precursor of potential ways of advertising your business using the Google Earth.
[NOTE: if you aren’t seeing mountains, make sure the “Terrain” layer is turned on.]