Slashdot Mirror
Google Earth Launching For Free
Nathan Weinberg writes "Google launches Keyhole 3 today, rebranded Google Earth, and are dumping the subscription rate (except for a $20/year "plus" versions with prettier pictures) available soon at earth.google.com. The program lets you fly around a 3D globe, with overhead satellite photos, tilted 45-degree photos, 3D rendered buildings, and overlays that display everything from roads to hotels to bike routes. I have a lot of info and screenshots at InsideGoogle, and Search Engine Watch has a big writeup. With yesterday's Google Video release, this is shaping up to be a major week for the search giant."
C'mon, let's fan it!
Soar, to the tune of
Satriani: Crystal Planet.
Foam poses no threat,
Can it?
Burma Shave
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Anyone tested this in Wine (or something with better 3D support like Cedega) yet? Any luck?
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
I get a CRC error when I try to unpack the .exe
Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know. IT'S BEEEEEETAAAAA.
Google should change their logo to put that little Beta under the 'le'.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Looks like we need to take advantage of this to plot Wi-Fi Everywhere. Rock on, guys, see you at the next interview interval.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
It is like NASA World Wind, but better.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This is the best web application I have seen for years. Now I will be able top spy on my neighbours from the other side of the house!
C'mon...
I have been unable to find examples of 3D buildings - anyone else have luck?
512MB RAM
Next, Google will offer free RAM over net or what?
Google, you're all about Linux- why can't ya come up with a Linux (and a MacOS X) version, hm?
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Thanks for not being evil!
-Mike
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
Aw man, c'mon Google!
Slashdot: 24 hours behind every other site or your money back!
Every week for Google is a "best week." This does seem useful, as I am terrible with directions.
Blech. 'Nuff sed.
Oh well, what the hell...
Wow, this is great. The images are better than what they have for Google Maps, at least for my house (I can zoom in a lot farther). And the tilting and rotating are really fun. They have a few famous sightseeing places included by default, and just rotating and zooming around the Three Sisters or Yosemite was almost breathtaking. Integrating with their direction and local services is probably a good idea, though I doubt I'll use it much, but the images themselves are very well done. Good job, Google.
Its actually pretty addictive for a GIS geek like myself. Plus it was neat to have it help me plan my camping trip this weekend.
It totally blows away any geographical user interface ESRI or Autodesk or anyone else has. They should be embarrassed with their current ArcIMS and MapGuide products - such rudimentary interfaces and poor performance.
Whats even more interesting is the Google Earth Enterprise suite. Being able to load my own satellite data and GIS data into this would be interesting. But like I've said before in other posts about google maps, the biggest problem for GIS groups would be the lack of an "Identify" tool (perhaps its there but I havent seen it in any of the screenshots). And still no scale bar at the bottom either, though they do have a north arrow.
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
Get your own free personal location tracker
The most giving and innovative collection of people in the world? It's cliched to say, but holy crap every day it seems like something amazing is done by this company. Big ups.
adventure-today.com
painting waypoint, tracks and routes over the maps?
Well, I guess Slashdot already have a quite complete coverage of Google stuff, but if you wan't to beat the rush for some hours I recommend the Google Blog (with RSS)
Won't be long before someone comes up with a version of Hell. Oh, wait a minute. I forgot that AOL cornered that market. I'm sure Microsoft is working on something, and an open source version shouldn't be too far behind. Although it's a bit hard to improve on hot, hotter, and hottest.
Q: How can Google afford to give away so much for free?
A: Volume.
"We currently do not offer a Macintosh version of Google Earth."
Maybe next year with the Intel OS X boxes.
I can't wait to see what else is in store. I have been reading the concept of all this tying together to be like a portable OS, which would be great. All they would need to really kick this off is some sort of office suite, storage, and calendar functionality, right?
Who's with me?
I just "splurged" and bought myself a $29.95 subscription to Keyhole a few days ago. Now what?
Man, just my luck. Just when I thought being able to show girls how I zoomed into their backyard and saw a fuzzy sattelite photo of them sunbathing topless was gonna get me laid. Now every Joe Schmo geek will be able to do it.
I guess I'll just stick to writing some social network things until it finally happens for me.
I noticed this in conjunction with the giving away of CNN video last week. Is this another death knell in the paid content arena?
The thing I am beginning to notice is that the apparently we, internet users as a group, are against the idea of paying web based subscriptions. However, we are willing to pay money to get better services or to actually "own" a product. Case in point for google, the ability to use NMEA GPS to feed directly into google earth is worth an extra twenty dollars. And I do believe that iTunes is wildly more popular than napster for this very reason. If this trend continues to hold, should yahoo start offering us those music downloads for free, albeit at a lower quality? (Since they already stream music for free from launch).
By the way is there any mention of any ads within the software, or is google just giving this out for free now?
Once again no Mac version for a Google program. Come on guys. Share the love! You guys don't support OSX at all!
Currently hooked on AMP
"Apple Macintosh computers are not supported at this time (but we are working on it)." OSX users rejoice :)
Kiteboarding Gear Mention slashdot and get 10% off!
They're both Windows-only.
Fuck you, Google, fuck you NASA.
The title says it all - so for those of us (unlucky enouch) to be running Linux, the VMWare Windows XP install does not seem to support the faster method of DirectX ... that much for it ...
== With enough Will Power, one could move mountains. With enough Brains, one would just leave them where they are ==
I believe Google is infringing on prior art on the whole "Earth" thing. They are attempting to rebrand it, push it as an original and then patent it away from the original creator - God.
God will soon be unable to continue providing his "competing" Earth service due to rigorous patent laws, and everyone will PERISH - All because Google has the legal power to take a page from MS's book and assert that it was their idea in the first place.
Please contact your local congress(wo)man today and let hir know of this nefarious plot.
www.olin.edu
is a Google-branded GPS system to tie into Google Earth. Then I could have a realtime You Are Here.
Google, in their holy crusade against Microsoft has launched their most powerful attack on the monopoly yet -- offering a Windows only tool. Google... What happened?
The zoom effects in quaility are next to none. This people are dangerous! People at Google: we are not worthy! we are not worthy! we are not worthy! we suck!!
- these are not the droids you are looking for -
or google moon?
Direct X Google Earth "no worky" with my VMware Windows XP Pro either. But I did not expect it too, either.
--ken
Bitcoin pyramid: Join here: http://www.bitcoinpyramid.com/r/1427 it's FREE!
Considering the pace at which Google is moving with it's new products, looks like future computers will be needing just a web-browser to do most of the daily work. Pity we need an OS to run a browser.
Wow,
What a great way to visualize approaches to airports you haven't been to before. Just go to the airport you want, tilt the view angle and line up on the runway and you've got a perfect perspective of what the surrounding environs look like. No more trying to blindly search for the airport as you go to a new one. You can research ahead of time and get all your landmarks down pat!
Hmmm...
somthing about Google and Earth in the same URL excites me.
Am no fek Buddhist, but this is enlightenment.
... as most of you are drooling over new features. google maps, google earth. is there any business cases that some small company actually benefits from these? how.
Does it run in Wine? Their web page mentions the use of OpenGL for rendering, which is obviously a good sign... anyone tried that?
Google launches YOU off of the earth for free???
bah...
I am very surprised the personalized search feature based on your search history hasn't been news on slashdot yet... I was nicely surprised with it this morning... maybe on slashdot tomorrow... making google's week complete!
That's all I've got to say. That app is AWESOME.
The guys at MapQuest have got to be feeling like total losers these days. It's hard to believe I once thought MapQuest was cool.
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
I can see the Dept of Homeland Security not liking this project one bit as anyone anywhere can get the layouts of every city and street with a broadband connection.
Don't get me wrong, I think this is a great tool, but i feel it won't exist without debate.
"Insert Sig Here"
Where's the Mac OS X version?
...well, it would have been, except I downloaded this thing and started playing with it.
It's seriously cool. Ran amazingly smoothly, too! Not something I'd want to run off a dialup, though.
It's the land of the brave, and the home of the free
Where the less you know, the better off you'll be.
Great products for free. Some of the best engineers/scientists in the world. Constant amazing releases and press... How many people are just giving up on their aspirations to innovate now, or are replacing their aspirations with "* work at google"?
/. it would seem the answer is no, that people are willing to let Google be the only software company.
Is there even a desire for Google competitors? Reading
More cross referencing data between your Google desktop search, your Google internet search, your Gmail, your blogspot account and now this.
And well, when Google goes belly up it will nice to sell all that fat juicy data to whoever the highest bidder is.
Fuck off Google. You are not wanted
I've been a Keyhole LT subscriber for a while now so I got to test Google Earth betas for a couple weeks now. It's pretty nice, but they actually removed one of my favorite features. In one of the betas there was the ablility to measure area by just drawing a polygon on the map with the measure tool, then it vanished! I really want that one back, it's great when looking for houses and such. For simple rectangular shapes it's not a big deal because you can still measure in 1 dimension and just do the math, but for complex shapes it's much harder now. ::Digitac
Word of warning, for those that are old enough to remember when programs used to ask by default where you wanted to install them:
:)
GoogleEarth installs in c:\program files. No option is given, unless you choose "custom" install.
Not a show-stopper, but I really wish developers hadn't moved to that model. I have multiple partitions for a reason!
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
So do you get to see any of Area 51?
if you try the Area 51 coordinates on
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/
you just get a topo map!
-- Believe your Justice!
C'mon download download! Gooooooogle!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Just buy a cheap Windows machine and a KVM. Seriously.
My other first post is car post.
You just need higher volume to offset the cost. Something around infinity should do it.
Sorry to have this particular topic bust everyones balls, but doesn't this promote terrorism to a certain extent? Considering that I live outside of the US, my territories are not really graphically covered (from a high resolution perspective). But the US territories seem to be beautifully depicted with high resolution. Wouldn't you use this tool to plan something? Doesn't this bother anyone? Don't get me wrong...I love this stuff! Find it to be the cheapest (and laziest) travelling alternative around, but certain security measures should be taken. For that matter, does anyone know if the people that realesed this have considered this?
Is there even a desire for Google competitors? Reading /. it would seem the answer is no, that people are willing to let Google be the only software company.
Speak for yourself by all means you fuckwit troll. Maybe YOU want to have your entire life PWNED by Google and passed onto Government and big business but some of us don't.
Take your Lobotomised Google Eutopia and stick it up your asshole.
This makes me wonder if the US goverment would see this as a security risk as it gives such detailed info that terrorists could use against them. It wouldn't suprise me if this gets shut down for that reason.
DEAD DEAD DEAD DELETE ME
Who else read this and thought Google had started launching space probes and satellites for free?
:)
They have to do something with the exhaust from all their server farms... pipe it all into a single tube, and make the worlds largest blow-dart gun that can launch into space
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
I know this is really just a pipe dream because Google wouldn't do it, but I could see this being very useful in a car computer application. I have been doing some heavy duty searching and there just isn't a good app for in-car navigation available to the general public.
If Google allowed you to cache their street data and then project colors over the topo maps instead of the "streaming" satellite images, this would be a killer navigation aid for in-car usage. Point of Interest and Address data could be stored in a few gigabytes (they do it on DVDs nowadays) on a harddrive and updated every night when you drive in to the garage (over Wifi).
Hackers...take your mark, get set, GO!
I wonder if this tool will make the peeps in Homeland Security go nuts.
There are some pretty good satellite images available.
G .jpg - LG.jpg
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/area51/Area51-072503-L
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/area51/Area51-4M072503
You can compare them with google maps, it was posted yesterday.
I like the map & satellite imagery Google has given for the Earth. My question: why stop there?
... why not include ... "Moon" as well? In fact, we have the imagery for other celestial orbs ... why not Mars? Mercury?
Okay, so you see the "Map" and "Satellite" links in the upper right
In short, why stop at Google Earth?
Global warming is neither science, nor politics. It is a religion.
It's just not that tough to write cross-platform apps any more. What's Google doing with all that supposed brain-power that've got?
IF you type a search for Honk Kong you get nothing, but after a few minutes of figuring how to zoom down to the right place I found it clear as day. The problem here? I don't speak cantonees... and most people in HK do speak english. So why no hits for the search?
P.S. And yes this is a big deal, HK is not part of China no matter how much the land grabing Reds in Beijing want it to be. Give it a name and it has a voice, Redmond we know complies with censorship of the people in China but has Google gone down the same dark road?
Careful what you say around me.. I will assume you mean it.
This was cool when I saw it at 8am on Digg.
OMG!
/me hugs Google. We loves it. It came to usssssssssss.
OMGWTF!!!
OMGWTFOMFG!!!!!!111one!!!
Really, I love this. Mmmmmmmhhh Google.
Global warming is a cube.
This is really cool, but I'll be really impressed when the whole thing updates in real-time à la Snowcrash. ;-)
The first thing that I did was to look up my boyhood home in Louisiana. I haven't seen it in twenty years. Tears came from my eyes as I looked down on the lake where my friends and I used to swim and fish, and I fell in the love for the first time.
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. -- Mark Twain
This is just another in a long list of great work that comes from google, which I will use and enjoy for a long time.
I saw this complaint before, about slashdot being way too pro-google.
I generally dismissed such claims, but this is too much.
Google launches a Windows-only client service, and slashdot doesn't even *mention* the fact that it's Windows only?
That's just ridiculous. I know a lot of people with influence on slashdot now work for google, but this is too much.
Should you consider that the "plus" version is not worth the 30 USD you shelled out for it three days ago, Google offers you a refund. The refund is pro-rated according to the number of months of the year you have been using your subscription.
Here
Remember, you heard it here first.
OS-G is going to be FREE (except for the extensions of course).
Heard any good sigs lately?
I think it goes without saying that I wish I could update TFA. When I wrote it at 1 AM, 13 hours before it hit /., Earth hadn't yet been uploaded to the web, so "launching" in the title and "available soon" in the article haven't been accurate for many hours. Also, I would have mentioned the enterprise versions of Earth, which can cost a butt-load of money for those interested.
I might be missing something here but can anyone find a way to default it to measuring the elevation and eye alt in metres?
I can measure distance in km, but not change the bottom info bar.
Cheers
I am pissed off that everytime something innovative comes out, someone has to be a token Slashdot user and say 'No Linux Version' or 'No *nix? This sucks' or whatever other equivalent you can pull out of Slashdot's archives.
I was checking out the comments on Threshold 5 and was surprised to find half the comments along these same lines!!!
This is a FREE PROGRAM. It is FREE. It is also damn innovative, one of a kind (well...not quite, but for the features it has, definitely), and they even took the time to make it run on DirectX and OpenGL.
My gut instinct tells me that there will be a Linux Port sometime - it's in freakin' beta people quit your bitching.
Even if there isn't a linux port, you shouldn't be complaining because someone has to take the time to code all that - are you willing to go put in the time and do that work? I thought not. Now shut up while I go fly through San Francisco checking out Google Earth's awesomeness in 3D.
Strange things are afoot at the state of Missouri. Why would that state, and Indiana, require full coverage so soon?
These are some of the things molecules do...... given 4 billion years -Carl Sagan
People have been helping each other to make the most out of this software for years. To visit the most interesting landmarks and learn how to use Google Earth to its maximum potential, take a look a the official BBS.
...You will be assimilated.
So who's going to need whom in the near future? It will get to the point that no one will buy Windows if it won't support the Google Meta-Operating System.
"Is this Winkhorst a nova criminal?" "No just a technical sergeant wanted for interrogation."
...index my website?
Seriously though, have any other slashdot readers having trouble persuading googlebot to visit? I am beginning to think the google sandbox isn't a myth.
My site is valid XHTML 1.1 and CSS 2.1, textual rather than graphical, and chock full of updated content. Any suggestions - what am I doing wrong?
So if Google wants, they can add the moon or the rest of the universe. I wonder what Google would charge to put a building on Mars on universe.google.com
Is this serious?
Holy crap The Beer Store is being given away for free?! QUICK, TO CANADA.
For more information, click here.
it has happened: Google has constructed a second Earth.
I hope to see you all at the launch.
No, I'm sure of it, you didn't. Read and try again. Continue practicing as much as you need, there is no time limit.
You may begin.
I don't think it is wise of the developers to use the default IE proxy settings! There's an enormous amount of data, and it is better and faster served directly from Google's server.
You seem determined to make it so.
This would make a kick ass game if someone would hack it to the tune of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego"
I remember that there was once such images available on the web, but I forgot the URL.
You are standing in Chicago.
A huge green fierce snake bars the way!
I have a licensed Crossover Office installation (Wine + a lot of hacks to try to smooth things over for end users). I tried installing Google Earth as an "unsupported app" under the cxoffice setup. With the operating system set to "Win XP", the installer completed fine, but the application failed to launch. The most illuminating error message I could squeeze out of it was:
err:module:import_dll No implementation for KERNEL32.dll.Module32NextW imported from L"C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Google Earth Plus\\base.dll", setting to 0xdeadbeef
err:module:import_dll No implementation for KERNEL32.dll.Module32FirstW imported from L"C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Google Earth Plus\\base.dll", setting to 0xdeadbeef
err:module:LdrInitializeThunk Main exe initialization for L"C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Google Earth Plus\\GoogleEarth.exe" failed, status c0000142
I gave up for now. I'll try this out when I get home and can boot into native windows - I'm all linux here at the office.
11*43+456^2
I couldn't find any weapons of mass destruction either.
Google is smart; they're reserving their Linux and Mac versions for the $400 pay level, because they know you whiny idiots will pay for it.
I was a Keyhole subscriber for a little over a year before google bought them.
As nice of an improvement the Google Earth software is, overall the product has become worse since google bought it.
The overall resolution has been decreased from many covered areas and super high-res areas have been removed entirely.
You used to be able to clearly make out the exact shapes of cars in the SF Bay Area, now they are blurry colored blobs. In the super high res areas, you could pretty much identify the model of most cars and sometimes even make out individual people.
If you are a long time subscriber like me, google placates you with an option to login to the 'legacy' database.. but if you are new.. no dice.
Doesn't that seem strange? I really hope they reintegrate the higher res data, it is profoundly better.
I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt that when they increased their coverage area they had technical issues with the highest res data, but it's been awhile now and they havn't changed their stance of "Oh.. umm yea..login to legacy.." since the new primary database came out.. so I'm fairly worried.
...when you skipped the first part:
Google Earth is a broadband, 3D application that not all computers can run.
* Apple Macintosh computers are not supported at this time (but we are working on it).
* Windows-based desktop PCs older than 4 years old may not be able to run it.
* Windows-based notebook PCs older than 2 years old may not be able to run it.
It's the funniest thing I've read today. I like telling users: Your computer is too old! I'm amazed that the recommended configuration is the same as Doom III...
Get your Unix fortune now!
I can see my house from here!
And, for those of us who don't like to get ripped off by cab drivers (as a comedian on "Just for Laughs" did it), we can get the landmarks straight and talk about them :D
Foxed Design
Tempting though it is, I am going to
resist the temptation to install Windows
just to run this app.
If I want to look at things from the air,
I'll just have to get in my airplane and fly
around.
Bastards.
Download Stellarium at http://stellarium.sourceforge.net/ and you can pull up our night skies, only thing you need is your Lat/Long and a form of reference (conveniently provided by Earth) to get your bearings. Select an appropriate remote location in G-earth away from city lights and voila, instant geeky-but-still romantic date. Just add wine and an appreciation for the starry nights.
* Making waffles just so I have something to Twitter *
Was I the only one that thought a flight simulator + google Earth = hours and hours of fun?
There's a remarkably similar product in Neal Stephenson's amazing book, Snow Crash. Is he getting royalties?
First off: IANAL. IAAPWLTBSU (I Am A Physicist Who Likes To Blow Shit Up).
But I did scan through the EULA, and nothing jumped out at me regarding Google's tendency to collect personal information. This is good news. It looks like Google Earth isn't going to collect obscene amounts of data or scan through my entire computer and upload all my porn to Google Videos.
I'm not paranoid. Really.
Has anyone here read Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" this is starting to turn into that book. All they need is a voice activated Librarian. So very cool.
Though Google themselves may not provide it.
How long will it be, really, before someone either reverse-engineers (or Google provides?) the queries and data that go back and forth? It seems pretty obvious that all of the data is kept server side, and the download for the Windows(tm) version of the application seems to only be about 10MB or so (so I'm guessing - and it IS only a guess - that there's not a lot of processing that the client side has to do).
QT has OpenGL classes in it, doesn't it? How long before there's a "KGoogleEarth" project?...
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
Where are the nudie sunbathers?
Perhaps on his/her typing skills. At least the poster isn't operating a big rig or heavy machinery right now. No worries.
Great! Now we just have to wait for google librarian!
typically i find these maps and sat. images kind of boring and not useful. This is different, you can turn on roads, county/country borders and dining locations. You can find your own house and view it in good enough resolution as to actually see and identify your car in the driveway! When scrolling out you can see locations of local pizza places and stuff, all very cool. It does all this and does it smoothy with fading transitions, very very neat. Way to go Google.
Mike
I heart the RIAA & MPAA, im sure its mutual...
...I think Hiro Protagonist (http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/snowcrash.html) would approve.
What next, the Metaverse? (please???)
Where's the nice pun on gearth (sic). google must be losing it.
Speaking of which, for those of us into climbing/hiking, for most of the Canadian Rockies (Three Sisters in Canmore is included as a default sightseeing point, yay!) the resolution and elevation are sufficient to get a general idea of what you're heading into. I've pored over topo maps and the like, but you never get the sense of what you're getting into.
I've used the tilt/rotate and careful zooming on some of the areas I've been this summer so far, and it's positively creepy. Having satellite textures mapped onto elevation data is the next best thing.
I've already poked around a few backcountry places that maps don't as show much fun, but the Keyhole data is veeeery promising. There's one block a bit north of Lake Louise that is VERY highly detailed for backcountry, looks like fun!
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
It's getting to the point where i'll cream my pants whenever I see a slashdot entry with "Google" in the title.. I just wonder: "Holy crap.. What have they perfected now?"
"hey, could you pass me a paper towel? er.. I mean... DEPLOY ABSORBTION PANEL!"
Ground Zero
The Forbidden City
The White House (censored!)
The Pyramids
Anyone having any luck with the crime statistics? I was kind of interested to see the crime stats in my area, but nothing's coming up when I click on the checkbox. (And I *know* there is crime around here.)
To everyone complaining that it's shitty of Google not to debut with a Linux version of Earth because they use Linux, shut the fuck up. Do you expect a discount from your ISP if they use Linux on their servers? Do you expect free tickets to movies that used Linux render farms for their special effects?
I bet most of you bitching don't even contribute to the body of open source software.
What the crap is up with Missouri? Except for a little chunk out of SE MO, every low-res picture is crazily vignetted. I mean you can see the border, mile-for-mile. Does the Missouri satellite have too long a lens hood or something?
The United States of America: We do what we must because we can.
So basically there is very little hope of seeing the highest res data reintegrated? That is a massive bummer, I most likely will not be renewing my subscription.
A bummer these only seem to work in the US, despite them having already added a very detailed road network with names, road types, and all in many countries besides there.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
seeing as so many of you have started threads there is no main one to post this to, look at the screenshot. There IS A LINUX VERSION.
If you have nothing useful to say post as AC.
Ok, so usually I am a bit annoyed by the fact that everytime google sneezes someone writes an article about it.
On the other hand, I used this thing for about an hour and it was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen google do. This rocks.
HJ
something about Google offering free Earth launches to orbit... heh.
It's $20 a year, not $20 a month, $10 less than what the used to charge for the paid version.
I think i'll stay with the Google Maps for now thank you. These images are about as 3d (actually a little less it seems) than the ones in MSFT Flight Sims. I have only looked at the Boston area so far (but it is a Major US city that Google has been looking at putting a Campus in even) and it's just flat. Not even the 60 floor John Hancock tower or Fenway park are in 3d. It's just putting an image on it's side.
Now let me note that I am running it in Virtual PC as Windows Users obviously still get preference due to shear numbers alone and OS X gets shafted, but I don't think that would change the 3dness of it. Also it's slower than... well it is Virtual PC trying to do 3d so i'll forgive that part.
Tibbon
tibbon.com
May Google add teletransportation within?
This is a lot of fun. Google never ceases to amaze me.
..look at the download page - instead of a normal download link, they use a form action - tsk tsk.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
But I, very unwillingly, take it all back and claim the opposite.
I used to love Map Quest as one of the few originally useful websites. Someone whined about the poor 3D graphics here, but really... It's not about making it look like Doom 3, but about compiling massive amounts of geographical data covering the whole goddamn planet.
I can see the roof of my house in Stockholm, Sweden. I can see the house of my friend in Absecon, NJ. I can see cars in the streets. I actually had to stick my head out my window and check that my backyard really looks the way it does in the application. It does of course.
This is about building a scalable infrastructure, that you can then stuff with information about not only streets and hotels, but all kinds of things. As image resolution improves and updates become more frequent, and people stuff more and more information about places in it, this will be a real step toward realizing Google's ultimate vision--to create an interface to all human knowledge (originally inspired by the ship computer on the USS Enterprise).
Google earth is fantastic. It worked very well for me with vmware workstation 5.0 under linux. I had to select OpenGL at the startup of liveearth. When selecting Divx, liveearth will lock up terribly under vmware and you need to do remove the program and and reinstall to get rid of the broken cache. Here is a screenshotfrom the building I work in.
Here is how to determine the accuracy of Google Earth's measure tool (goto Tool menu, select Measure).
It has been measured, in 1958, that Harvard Bridge is 364.4 Smoots plus one ear. I tried, and yes, it was about 364.4 smoots according to Google Earth.
Now, when Google decides to combine the two, with links to the Google personalized homepage news... will this become the new CNN? Fire in your home state? Just load up Google Earth, search news inside your state, double click fire, go to location, and click on icon to bring up list of pre-recorded and currently streaming video of the site. (And maybe with Google's new payment system, make small micropayments to whoever is doing the video/audio that you are watching.)
Next big thing in Google Adsense... amature video journalism.
I8-D
Damn... My whole city is covered with clouds... How come we have better coverage of satellite pictures from mars than earth???
Finally I can see my girl friend.
Anyone else got a real photo and a Google Earth image to compare side by side?
"Google Earth Launching For Free"
:(
Recommended configuration:
Operating system: Windows XP
It is only free if you pay for Windows
I downloaded the google earth installer, but it's actually the google earth plus version. Where is the free version?
At least World Wind is open source, so there's a much greater hope for a Linux port.
Earth: Check
Swords: Check
Business card that says I am an uber-leet h4x0r: check
now all I need is an obnoxious british butler AI Construct, and a deliverator, and I can finally fulfil my goals of becoming Hiro Protagonist..
wow...i love google
Click on the following maps.google.com link and then click the zoom one extra time for maximum zoom to view from around 2,200 feet above:0 51&spn=0.005375,0.007918&t=k&hl=en
...then compare it to Google Earth zoomed to around 500 feet above:
( 500%20ft%20above).jpg
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-23.547585,-46.665
http://www.radojevic.com/-23.547585,-46.665051%20
g
I didn't read the whole thread. So shoot me.
I just ran the program, and MAN, I am blown away! That is some really awesome work.
Someone should give them Google programmers a cookie. They are writing some tremendous stuff!
My site
My films
Has anyone noticed the differences between google maps and google earth. for instance, when looking at the place where my office is in tokyo, google maps shows the office tower it is in, while google earth shows a picture of the area before the tower was built. funny, me thinks cheers Majello
This opinion is mine, you can't have it.
How do you switch on the bicycle path that the slashdot article mentioned? Where is it getting the bike path routes? Is it like what the NYC has which is really great? Imagine you could bike from one side of the continent to the other without any problems...
Pick a technology and its benefit:
Technology: the wheel
Benefit: mobility
This makes me wonder if the US government would see inventing the wheel as a security risk as it gives such mobility that terrorists could use against them. It wouldn't surprise me if the wheel gets shut down for that reason.
Technology: the Internet
Benefit: gathering information
This makes me wonder if the US government would see the Internet as a security risk as it gives such easy access to gathering information that terrorists could use against them. It wouldn't surprise me if the Internet gets shut down for that reason.
___________________________
Don't blame me for this post. Blame the terrorists!
Here's mine (it's free to stay and miles from anywhere). (You need to save the follow as yadboro.kml )a rk>, 0</coordinates>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0">
<Placem
<name>yadboro</name>
<LookAt>
<longitude>150.2305882505102</longitude>
<latitude>-35.3322946558368</latitude>
<range>8087.96444245141</range>
<tilt>60.19050406521917</tilt>
<heading>-48.92496827168389</heading>
</LookAt>
<styleUrl>root://styles#khStyle550</styleUrl>
<Style>
<IconStyle>
<Icon>
<href>root://icons/palette-2.png</href>
<x>128</x><y>192</y><w>32</w><h>32</h>
</Icon>
</IconStyle>
</Style>
<Point> <coordinates>150.2177301272593,-35.33895705890842
</Point>
</Placemark>
</kml>
On Google Earth, I can see the navy ships in Norfolk pretty well.
Also in Europe practically all military bases are showed in pretty high detail, while most cities are not.
Isn't this odd?
Maybe we should better call it "Google Military Spy".
Google Earth has a web browser integrated in it. And it uses IE, not Firefox. To access it, just search for a business and click on a link in the pop-up.
Google have closed their downloads for Earth.
See http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4659.html for mirrors.
Not sure which version is the latest, but MajorGeeks have "Google Earth 3.0.0336 Beta"
Actually there exists (has existed for some years even) alternatives to Google Earth that also can be used by Mac and Linux users. Try the Virtual Globe at: http://globe.sintef.no/ (Java required). As it doesn't have the money for the hi-detail data Google can buy, it only uses the data NASA aand USGS gives avay for free. And in many cases 15m horizontal resolution Landsat images and 100m SRTM elevations are sufficient.