Google Earth Blog

The amazing things about Google Earth


mount everest

Awesome Google Earth image of Mount Everest from NASA

We’ve talked about Mount Everest quite a few times on Google Earth Blog.  Natural formations such as mountains and volcanoes tend to look stunning in Google Earth, and Everest is no exception.  In the past we’ve shown you a panorama from the summit, a map of the ice on the mountain, Street View imagery from it, and last year we commemorated the 60th anniversary Sir Edmund Hillary’s historic ascent.

The NASA Earth Observatory has just put out an image of the mountain that is simply awesome.

everest

The image was actually captured back in 2011, but it’s a stunning look at the mountain.  You can read more about the image here, or grab this KML file to view it directly in Google Earth as an image overlay.

For more, check out the main Earth Observatory site to see some of the great new items they’ve been publishing.

The ice of Mount Everest

We’ve looked at Mount Everest in Google Earth a number of times, including when Street View reached the mountain and the 60th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s historic ascent. The amazing size of the mountain coupled with Google Earth’s excellent views of natural formations makes it one of the best places to go sightseeing in Google Earth.

everest

NASA’s Earth Observatory recently released some maps showing the outlines of glaciers around Everest, overlaid on top of a topographic map of the area.  By matching it up and overlaying it on Google Earth, you’re given a very unique look at the mountain.

everest

You can see it for yourself in Google Earth by using this KML file.  For more, check out the full post on the NASA Earth Observatory site.

Today is the 60th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s ascent of Mount Everest

Today marks an amazing day in history; back on May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to ever reach the summit of Mount Everest. At a height of 29,029 feet, Everest is the tallest mountain in the world.

everest

To explore the mountain for yourself in Google Earth, you can use this KML file that was created by user H21 in the Google Earth Community back in 2005.  It’s a very useful file, as it includes a contoured overlay and placemarks of camps along the ascent.

everest-h21

All told, there have been a total of 5,104 ascents to the summit by 3,142 different people.  However, more than 200 have died trying to make it.  Reaching the summit in 1953 was an amazing accomplishment, and is one that Hillary will be remembered for forever.

To learn more, the Wikipedia entry for Mount Everest is quite comprehensive and includes a very detailed history of the various ascents.

A panorama from the top of Mount Everest

Back in 1989, Australian climber Roderick Mackenzie become the 271st person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. While up there, he captured a 360 degree panorama of the view from the top, which appears to be the only panorama ever captured up there.
Steven Ho stumbled upon that panorama recently and thought it would be great to compare the panorama to the always-improving terrain of Google Earth. With that in mind, he created an excellent page that uses the Google Earth Plug-in to change your view as you browse around the panorama. It works great!

everest-panorama.jpg

To learn more about what he’s done and to try it for yourself, visit Steven’s blog. Click the panorama image at the top of the text to enter the panorama/plug-in page. Once you’re inside of it, simply drag the top image around to view any particular area, and the bottom image will stay in sync automatically.
Nice work Steven!