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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."
Anyone tested this in Wine (or something with better 3D support like Cedega) yet? Any luck?
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
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.
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
Aw man, c'mon Google!
Slashdot: 24 hours behind every other site or your money back!
painting waypoint, tracks and routes over the maps?
I agree about the streaming. It doesn't seem right to me that Keyhole, now Google Earth, loads more slowly than Google Maps. They clearly use the same map data in almost all cases. And in some cases, I even like the Google Maps interface better. For instance, the 'double-click to center' seems easier than the Google Earth 'double-click to center and zoom'.
However, Google Earth does have some serious advantages in altitude sensitive data. I like being able to see what elevation my mouse curser is at, for instance.
Additionally, Google Earth has the much needed city and road data for the rest of the world, which I would like to see incorporated into Google Maps as well.
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...
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
Based on Google's most recent published operating system statisics* they could make their software available to many more users by producing a version for Windows 95 or "Other" before making a Linux version.
(* obviously June '04 was a while ago but I doubt the statistics have changed much)
Was I the only one that thought a flight simulator + google Earth = hours and hours of fun?
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.)
I would think that Google could get similar high res data from DigitalGlobe, or to establish new relationships with AirPhoto for the old high res data. I remember reading on their forums, http://bbs.keyhole.com/, that they were comitted to reinstating the old high res data. -QMan
"OK, tell that to the families of more than 3000 people who died on 9/11"
Gladly. They've got more chance of being eaten by a shark than killed by a terrorist.
"People need to be more alert"
And report on their neighbors for being subversives. What a wonderful society we'd have then!
"I think people who aren't worried about it are pretty naive."
I think people who are more worried about terrorism than they are about driving to work don't have very good threat assessment skills.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Turning of the elevation feature didn't speed it up so either that's not it, or the streaming technology is ineffecient.
Turning off the elevation mapping should speed it up anyway... but without measurements there's no point in arguing that point.
On a larger, empirical argument that has more value, there's more to it than elevation... the elevation would be simple anyway since it's usually just a monochrome bitmap (well, compressed)... no color data. Like I said befure, there's more data. Street dynamics, names, multiple resolution levels for the textures (the most complex part)... all at once. With Google maps, you just download an image for the exact zoom level you are at.
If you haven't noticed, it does download multiple resolutions before you get your final result. This is what is slowing it down.
When I said it was free, I was making a point that you can't expect a compilation of the entire world for free... they'd have to increase their current storage (at least) capacity by more than an order of magnitude.
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.
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
I'm playing with Google Earth now. I'm currently on dial-up, and it's still usable, as long as you are very patient
It does have quite a few labels in Brazil, and it has a neat feature with user-added places in the BBS (looks like they decided to go retro instead of just calling a forum). There are already a few in Brazil.
Should be very neat, as long as people don't start spamming it!
BTW, I've used the trial of Keyhole LT, and Google's free version seem much nicer... A year ago, their trial didn't have *anything* on Brazil, too - not even Landsat-7's 15 meter images, just the default NASA Visible World images.
WorldWind is likely to take a big hit in popularity - the tiny download of Google Earth (10mb vs WW 200mb) is likely to be a major factor to some... Google's servers can also run circles around NASAs.
Too bad for the custom apps - WW being open source gave it a huge advantage there...