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3D Helicopter View Added To Google Maps

Posted by Soulskill on from the merging-the-flight-sims-and-directions dept.

Zothecula writes "Those not content with getting a 2D top-down or 360-degree street level view of a planned route using Google Maps can now enjoy a virtual flight over the route thanks to Google adding a new Helicopter View. The new feature, which currently only works in a full browser and requires the Google Earth plugin, lets users see 3D view, and should come in particularly handy for walkers or bike riders looking for a more intuitive view of potentially tiring hills."

53 comments

  1. Not that new. by The_mad_linguist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Google Earth has had a flight simulator built in for years now. The difference between normal google Earth, a F-16 in Google Earth and a helicopter in Google Earth isn't that noteworthy.

    1. Re:Not that new. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The flight simulator just lets you fly wherever you want. Helicopter View follows a pre-determined route.

    2. Re:Not that new. by Oxford_Comma_Lover · · Score: 1

      Cue the privacy protest in 3, 2...

      (Note: See Florida v. Riley, IIRC, for a case on law enforcement flying overhead to spot crime). https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Florida_v._Riley

      --
      -- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
    3. Re:Not that new. by Sockatume · · Score: 2

      I don't think you understand what helicopter view is.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    4. Re:Not that new. by rwa2 · · Score: 2

      Not that I've tried this "new" helicopter view, but Google Earth had that kind of navigation track animation since the Keyhole days. I think the only news is that they've tied that feature into maps.google.com using a plugin.

    5. Re:Not that new. by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      This view is actually a lot better than the old path-following, which wasn't sufficiently damped for routes involving a lot of right-angle turns (the camera would swing nauseatingly) that you tend to get with road directions. It's a tool for a specific purpose (an overview fly-by of your route). Regardless, it's not a flight sim.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  2. Now it needs some 'simulation' by Hsien-Ko · · Score: 1

    so I can drop buckets of water on fire with a nice jerry martin 11khz WAV soundtrack, land my chopper and walk my spazzy pilot across the earth.

    1. Re:Now it needs some 'simulation' by darthdavid · · Score: 1

      I see I wasn't the only one thinking of Sim Copter...

    2. Re:Now it needs some 'simulation' by ewanm89 · · Score: 1

      Or a bit of Wagner's Ring Cycle.

  3. Modern Man by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Heaven forbid that you would get tired.

    1. Re:Modern Man by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If God had meant for men to climb hills, He wouldn't have invented escalators.

    2. Re:Modern Man by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Heaven forbid modern man learn to read the topo view of google maps.

    3. Re:Modern Man by camperdave · · Score: 1

      Heaven forbid modern man learn to read the topo view of google maps.

      Google maps has a topo view? Since when? And more importantly How do you access it? You're not thinking of terrain view are you?

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  4. Full browser? by Bogtha · · Score: 1

    currently only works in a full browser and requires the Google Earth plugin

    Any ideas on what this means? I read both articles, but they didn't seem to mention what this "full browser" requirement is.

    --
    Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
    1. Re:Full browser? by dicobalt · · Score: 1

      Clearly a full browser is a browser that is full as opposed to one that is only partially full.

    2. Re:Full browser? by gregrah · · Score: 1

      Just guessing, but maybe by full they mean "not a mobile browser"?

    3. Re:Full browser? by smitty97 · · Score: 1

      I'm a pessimist, you insensitive clod! A full browser is completely devoid of empty.

      --
      mod me funny
    4. Re:Full browser? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You keep opening tabs and websites until your computer gives an out of memory error.

    5. Re:Full browser? by Cyko_01 · · Score: 2

      Here are the results of my own testing:

      Works In:
      firefox 7
      google chrome
      IE8

      Does Not Work In:
      safari 5.1 (windows)
      Opera 11.51

    6. Re:Full browser? by Cyko_01 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Netscape navigator 9.0.0.6 (I have it installed just for laughs) shows the 3D button but the plugin shows some errors and crashes the browser if you try it anyways.

    7. Re:Full browser? by OzPeter · · Score: 1

      Doesn't seem to work on Safari 5.1 (Snow Leopard) either.

      --
      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    8. Re:Full browser? by mobets · · Score: 1

      Crashed for me in Firefox 7.01.

      --

      It was me, I did it, I moved your cheese
    9. Re:Full browser? by syousef · · Score: 0

      Netscape navigator 9.0.0.6 (I have it installed just for laughs) shows the 3D button but the plugin shows some errors and crashes the browser if you try it anyways.

      You're on the wrong site. Saddism is over there....oh wait...whaaa?

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    10. Re:Full browser? by daid303 · · Score: 1

      Guess: not a mobile browser.

    11. Re:Full browser? by Thrashing+Rage · · Score: 1

      Netscape navigator 9.0.0.6 (I have it installed just for laughs) shows the 3D button but the plugin shows some errors and crashes the browser if you try it anyways.

      You're on the wrong site. Saddism is over there....oh wait...whaaa?

      And i thought i was the only one that did that, got Mosiac and Lynx too? Been going thru stuff and got a couple of the last netscape (whatever) was last version.

      But back on topic this really reminds me of Choplifter and Rescue Raiders :P

    12. Re:Full browser? by Cyko_01 · · Score: 1

      Netscape is actually a surprisingly capable browser! It actually scores better on acid3 then firefox 2.0.0.12, opera 9.26 and most surprisingly IE7 or IE8, with a score of 58/100

    13. Re:Full browser? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      works fine for me on Safari 5.1 snow leaopard - you sure you have the plugin?

    14. Re:Full browser? by camperdave · · Score: 1

      I don't think of it as partially full. I think of it as full, but with a safety margin in case of overfilling.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  5. Why not XHTML5? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    WebGL (OpenGL ES) is perfectly capable of this and requires no plug-in.

    P.S.: Yes, XHTML. Because I assume they’re professionals that require proper XML error checking of their code. Plain HTML5 is for those who think they are "pro" because they read a book about HTML in the .com bubble era.

    1. Re:Why not XHTML5? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Maybe because the Earth plugin existed before HTML5 implementations? Maybe because IE doesn't support WebGL? Maybe because *most other browsers* don't enable WebGL by default? Maybe because WebGL support is experimental?

    2. Re:Why not XHTML5? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trololololol. There is no XHTML5, all of the stupid XML cruft from (the now deprecated) XHTML standard was made optional in HTML5 because W3C realised that real websites (both dynamic template-based websites and static ones) are written by humans, not generated by Dreamweaver/<insert crappy WYSIWYG suite here>. Granted, you might still want to use self-closing syntax from XHTML due to force of habit, but not even IE6 chokes on mangled HTML.
       
      And I hate to say it but the Google Earth plugin is probably faster and more secure than WebGL.

  6. Linux Users Not Invited by Psion · · Score: 4, Informative

    Unfortunately, the plugin only supportes Mac and Windows. C'mon, Google!

    1. Re:Linux Users Not Invited by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      3D is hard to do on Linux... I should know, I'm a cross platform game programmer.

      I mean, it's not like you freetards have created a standard Open Graphics Library, and even if you did it's not like Firefox or Google would be using such a thing, especially not on OSX -- I mean, we know how they all hate open standards and free software. Google's sKetchup 3D editor doesn't run on Loonix or support .OBJ or .3DS either... wait, it does if you pay for it... Oh, and OpenGL does exist... and they're using it on OSX... Yeah, the lack of GNU/Linux support reeks of retardation...

      I mean, it's not anyone has OpenGL experience with Linux on their mobile Androi-- oh, nevermind... It's just dumb, and I hate their laziness -- It's hard not to think there are posterior motives afoot given how simple it is to use cross platform tools.

      If even indie game devs can figure out how to leverage cross platform, then WTF everyone else?

    2. Re:Linux Users Not Invited by alienzed · · Score: 2

      and during the Year of the Linux Desktop. What a shame.

      --
      Never say never. Ah!! I did it again!
    3. Re:Linux Users Not Invited by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it's not like you freetards

      Just fucking die

    4. Re:Linux Users Not Invited by jamarsa · · Score: 1

      it's not like you freetards

      Just fucking die

      Read the rest of the post, please

    5. Re:Linux Users Not Invited by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Looks like someone is mad.

      Hey, bro, stop taking words seriously.
      Also, learn to read a whole post too instead of snapping at a single word.

    6. Re:Linux Users Not Invited by daid303 · · Score: 1

      OpenGL works, it works great, it works wonderfully! (I hobby program games, not that I'm any good at it)

      But, there are problems with OpenGL in the linux world, if it works then it's great. If you driver works that is. If I try 3D on this machine then I get random X.Org crashes and artifacts. It's just some simple intel videocard with minimal 3D options, but I don't think windows is plagued by the same problems.

    7. Re:Linux Users Not Invited by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What else is there?

    8. Re:Linux Users Not Invited by sunderland56 · · Score: 1

      [...] even if you did it's not like Firefox or Google would be using such a thing, especially not on OSX --

      You were +1 insightful until you said that OSX is Linux. Now you're -1 offtopic.

  7. You don't have to run it in a browser by Animats · · Score: 3, Informative

    Google Earth is really a standalone Windows application. (Remember those?) Google didn't develop it; it was from a company called Keyhole, which sold it as a service for years before Google bought them out. I had a Keyhole account back in 2003. NVidia had a promotional deal; it was cheaper with an NVidia card.

    You could fly along a route in Keyhole, so a "helicopter view" isn't exactly new.

    1. Re:You don't have to run it in a browser by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yes, but now it's _google_'s helicopter view, so it must be way cooler.

  8. similar to Nokia Maps' 3D? by dwater · · Score: 1

    http://maps.nokia.com/

    Note that this also only supports a limited set of browsers/OSes:

    "
    Check out the list of compatible browsers
    Sorry, but for now, 3D Maps only supports the following browsers on Windows and Mac OS:
    Internet Explorer 7+
    Firefox 3.5+
    Chrome
    Safari 5+
    "

    and then there's Baidu which has a nifty model-based 3D view - I forget how to get that going now (something off www.baidu.com, probably), but it's quite impressive.

    --
    Max.
    1. Re:similar to Nokia Maps' 3D? by cpscotti · · Score: 1

      You mean this one: http://maps.nokia.com/3D/ ?
      Btw, it's way better than this bastardized "google earth inside the browser".
      Nothing new here..

    2. Re:similar to Nokia Maps' 3D? by dwater · · Score: 1

      yes, sorry - I had assumed people might notice the '3D' button on the top right.

      I tried it once on Microsoft OS, and it seemed to work really well. I guess this embarrased them into releasing what they have...though I've not tried it, so I don't really know.

      --
      Max.
  9. Isometric view? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The other day, a colleague mapped something on Bing, and I noticed the isometric view (bird's eye view) of Bing. I find it pretty cool -- and not just because my office building disappears if you rotate ;-).
    I'm hoping Google Maps will do something similar -- for me, this view adds something beyond top-down and street view.

    1. Re:Isometric view? by sunderland56 · · Score: 1

      You mean like this?

      Google calls it 45-degree view. Only available in certain locations. Complaints go to the people in the building shown.

  10. Re:Not that new. / Keyhole by Ozmodium · · Score: 1

    Agreed. I used this very thing in keyhole to demo the agenda we had for a gathering a long time ago. It was cool to allow people to see what parts of the city we were going to. Flying up and around allowed them to see that.