Google Earth Blog

The amazing things about Google Earth


steven ho

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!

Taipei 3D Models for Google Earth

While we are on the topic of 3D models, a GEB reader in Taipei, Taiwan named Steven Ho has sent me a collection of 3D models he has created for Google Earth. He has a blog (in Chinese) which shows off a number of interesting projects he has done. Of particular note is his collection of Taipei 3D Buildings (these are simple non-textured buildings, but they cover many buildings throughout Taipei).
Steven has also created a model of a new Taipei tourist attraction – a gondola system in the mountains near Taipei called the Maokong Gondola. He not only modeled the Maokong Gondola , but has also created a time animation showing it in use. However, this time animation is very memory intensive – you don’t need to turn on the 4D option though, just watch his YouTube movie:

Here are some details about it:

The Maokong Gondola was planned and built by Taipei City Government. It travels a distance of 4,030m with four stations at which passengers can embark and disembark: Taipei Zoo Station, Zoo Precinct Station, Zhinan Temple Station and Maokong Station. There are also two ancillary stations where the gondola changes direction. They are used to control the movement of the gondola and are not for passenger use.
The gondola is made of aluminum alloy and can carry eight people. This system travels at a speed of 3-5m/s and can carry a maximum of 144 gondolas at one time, a total of 1,300-1,990 passengers per hour in one direction. The shortest journey on the gondola is 17 minutes.

Google should probably talk to Steven Ho about his 3D buildings and including them in the default 3D Buildings layers. Great work Steven!