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Google Earth's New Tool Lets You Measure Distance Between Anything On Earth (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the as-the-crow-flies dept.

Google Earth's new Measure tool is rolling out to Android and Chrome devices that will let you measure the distance and area of things on the map. An iOS version is said to be "coming soon." The Verge reports: With the tool, users can measure the distance between two points or the surface area of a selected chunk of the map. (Now you can finally find out how far your house is from the North Pole.) Users aren't limited to simple squares, either. The Measure tool will let you select the borders of an area so it's easier to measure irregularly shaped objects like parks, buildings, or even states and countries.

57 comments

  1. Huh? That's already been a thing since forever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Click the little ruler in the top bar. I can't remember that ever not being there and know for a fact it's been there for bare-minimum 5 years.

    1. Re:Huh? That's already been a thing since forever by thesupraman · · Score: 1

      You could do distance measurement in google earth before apps were apps, from what I can remember.

      Are they just taking the piss here, or is some wet-behind-the-ears kids actually thinking a feature they just found is new because they just found it?

    2. Re:Huh? That's already been a thing since forever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The finally made it a blatantly obvious feature. Any thing with a pulse can now do it, hence its brand new and never existed until now.

    3. Re:Huh? That's already been a thing since forever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah, and area measurements where only a thing in the pro version at first, when one still had to pay for it.
      When was that... 2015... so already three years... Strange, I was thinking it was more than 5 years...

      oh well. seems like our time mastering overlords have changed things again... and you know what we have to say and think about it...

      It's a good thing they did that.

      Stupid little buggers who should've been dropped on the head at childbirth and been buried alive.

    4. Re:Huh? That's already been a thing since forever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Probably just """new""" in the sense of "new on phones". Like how when Candy Crush came out, every idiot who had been too dumb to figure out how to use a computer until Apple dumbed it all down for them instantly became amazed and obsessed with a game that had been around for 20 years.

    5. Re:Huh? That's already been a thing since forever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was definitely there the first time I used Google Earth, in 2005.

    6. Re:Huh? That's already been a thing since forever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could it be that the tool now takes terrain into account? For instance, any given tool for finding the distance between two points on a globe would simply calculate the great circle distance.That measurement could change significantly if there were considerable slopes involved.

    7. Re:Huh? That's already been a thing since forever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Apparently the distance between my "equipment" and the "equipment" of Kate Upton (supermodel) is 1 million miles?

    8. Re:Huh? That's already been a thing since forever by johannesg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Click the little ruler in the top bar. I can't remember that ever not being there and know for a fact it's been there for bare-minimum 5 years.

      But now it's on mobile!

  2. To help NK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this to help Kim Jung-Un verify his missiles can reach D.C.?

    1. Re:To help NK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Correction: it's Putin's missiles, because Russia has provided the only engines that work. China's were a disaster.

    2. Re:To help NK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RUSSIAN SCUM!

  3. Driving Directions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's what I use driving directions for. After the ice poles melt, we can drive to the North Pole!

    1. Re: Driving Directions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only if your car is also a boat

    2. Re:Driving Directions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's what I use driving directions for. After the ice poles melt, we can drive to the North Pole!

      So, this summer's end. Nice trip!

  4. First again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Woot woot!

    All your firsts are belong to us.

    1. Re:First again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not even.

      Give it up already--cacheing guarantees you'll just continue to make a fool of yourself.

  5. Lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Google does something that cartographers and map hackers have been doing for a very long time, news at 11.

    1. Re:Lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More like this: News at 11 reports on something that Google has been doing for a very long time.

  6. Can we measure... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the distance between Xi Jinping and Whinnie the Pooh?

  7. Not so much by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I haven't checked this feature but I've often wanted a nice quick great circle measurement option regardless of whether there was any road between my A and B. For that, google has been singularly useless for as long as they had their maps around.

    1. Re: Not so much by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right click, measure distance.

      That's been around for many years

    2. Re: Not so much by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Erm, right click, measure distance?

  8. This was already done by Daftlogic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.daftlogic.com/

    They have distance and area calculators. Thanks for coming out Google.

    1. Re:This was already done by Daftlogic by Dins · · Score: 1

      Yeah, Google has been doing it for as long as I remember too - on its desktop app. Now they do it on phones. I'm so excited....

    2. Re:This was already done by Daftlogic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm so excited and I just can't hide it... I'm about to lose control and I think I like it!

  9. Geodesic and topographic corrections? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Somehow I doubt it. So, vaguely measure.

  10. It's not new is it? by sentiblue · · Score: 2

    I never tried checking the area... but I can click two points and measure distance and was able to do this on browsers a long time ago. This "new" thing must be only on mobile OS?

  11. Finally! Walking directions to the North Pole! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope Santa makes extra cookies for all of the kids that try to walk to the North Pole this December.

  12. What geometry are they using? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Round earth or stupid?

  13. I just measured the distance beteeen... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...my turgid cockhead and your moms pouting pussy. The distance?

    Negative 10 inches! That's how deep I'm in her.

  14. Really? by meglon · · Score: 2

    Google Earth's New Tool Lets You Measure Distance Between Anything On Earth

    How about.... my hand from my cup of coffee? How about now? And now? Now?

    --
    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
    1. Re:Really? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 2

      For that we don't use google earth, we use all the hidden web cams around you.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    2. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure. Not a problem. And with sub-kilometer accuracy.

    3. Re:Really? by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      When I read that stupid-ass headline, my first thought was to ask Beau how far apart my ass and balls are.

    4. Re:Really? by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 1

      When Google Maps was fairly new, I trolled a friend of mine while on the phone in the work parking lot. I was running late and complained that Maps showed an empty parking space which was currently filled.

      I was right, but so was Maps -- IF you looked at the date of the picture, which you couldn't then. Still, it made for a great excuse for being 10-minutes late!

      --
      If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
  15. Earth is.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    flat. There, I said it.

  16. Does it measure? by mnemotronic · · Score: 1, Funny

    For the 5 major American political parties (Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green and Disaster Area), I tried to find the distance between their core platforms and reality. The measurement was so astronomical it required interpretation by a professor of Neomathematics from the University of Maximegalon. You know the one.

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
  17. Dick jokes in 3...2...1... by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    0...

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Dick jokes in 3...2...1... by tinkerton · · Score: 1

      Great. There goes my surprise effect!

  18. What a wonderful App world. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    It's amazing that it is now newsworthy when an app or website gets a feature that the desktop program has had since the very beginning.

    Given the ability to measure was one of the reasons why many people used Google Earth in the first place it makes me wonder WTF the app writers were thinking taking so long to implement one of the most basic and standard features their software has always had.

    What next, Office 365 gets the ability to change font size?

    1. Re:What a wonderful App world. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's amazing that it is now newsworthy when an app or website gets a feature that the desktop program has had since the very beginning.

      Given the ability to measure was one of the reasons why many people used Google Earth in the first place it makes me wonder WTF the app writers were thinking taking so long to implement one of the most basic and standard features their software has always had.

      What next, Office 365 gets the ability to change font size?

      Wow wow wow... FONT SIZE? Let's not get CRAZY here!

      0... Great. There goes my surprise effect!

      I measured all wrong and now I am surprised all over! And so was the AC in (#56846312)

      -----

      Great that a function that has been well known for a very long time is suddently discovered by BeauHD and that he decided to share his newfound knowledge with us all...

  19. Has been available for at least 7 years already... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I remember using this my android phone on version 2.3 Gingerbread and had this feature under a checkbox in the settings as a beta feature. Gingerbread was released in late 2010, so this has likely been available for 7 years or more...

  20. Great Circle Distance by PeeAitchPee · · Score: 1

    C'mon folks, us cavemen used to have to code this stuff ourselves back when the earth was still cooling. Remember Microsoft's Terraserver? Back then you could write your own front-end for it (well, you had to if you didn't want to consume the data thru Microsoft's site as there was no API). We'd calculate distance between points using Great Circle Distance with the Mean Earth Radius (6371 km) as r in the formula, which gives you pretty good results and is my guess as to what Google's using to calculate this stuff.

    1. Re:Great Circle Distance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always struggled calculating the meridian's semi-latent rectum.

      But, yea. Score +1 for reminding me about TerraServer.. They put so much work and money into it and the Google comes along and shits all over it.

  21. Projection-corrected overlays? by swb · · Score: 1

    I've always wished there was a way to take an arbitrary area in Google maps and then overlay it over some other area on Google maps with a correction for the difference in projection so as to easily compare the sizes of areas.

    1. Re:Projection-corrected overlays? by hipp5 · · Score: 1

      Not quite as streamlined as if it was just in Google Maps, but this service does what you're asking: http://mapfrappe.com

  22. Damn by XB-70 · · Score: 1

    It's still 4".

    --
    *** Don't be dull.***
  23. How will land calculations work? by jennatalia · · Score: 0

    As the crow flies or will they account for earth curvature? (I guess that's easy for you flat-earthers out there)

    1. Re: How will land calculations work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure the crow has to fly around the earth's curvature. And great circle measurements have always been in web based google maps so far as I remember.

  24. get your answer faster here by cellocgw · · Score: 1

    The answer is almost always "not far enough"

    --
    https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
  25. billions of miles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Finally I can try and measure the coastline.

  26. Re:Really? the "distance between anything" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (and no specified OTHER thing)

    is by definition ZERO...
    easy peasy