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Google Maps Now Zooms Out To a Globe Instead of a Flat Earth (venturebeat.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the keep-scrolling dept.

Google Maps has been updated to present you with a 3D globe of the planet when you zoom out. Previously, Maps would have shown you a flat map of the world. An anonymous Slashdot reader shares a report from VentureBeat: About two weeks ago, however, Google quietly rolled out (hehe) a change so that the service now presents you with a 3D globe. You can manipulate the globe as you'd expect -- spin it, zoom in, and zoom back out. Google Earth, watch out -- Google Maps is coming for you. Globe mode only works on desktop, but all major browsers are supported, we're told. We tested it on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge -- they all showed the globe just fine. This is all thanks to WebGL.

61 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. How about any map projection by DalM · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It would be fun (if unnecessary and nerdy) if Google would let the user select any map projection they want, or even create their own.

    1. Re:How about any map projection by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      It would be fun (if unnecessary and nerdy) if Google would let the user select any map projection they want, or even create their own.

      So flat earthers could go on living their fantasy and have a high tech map to show their earthly vision.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:How about any map projection by DalM · · Score: 1

      Ok? Assuming "flat earthers" really exist and aren't just Russians trolling us (I don't believe they actually exist), do you think not having their flat earth projection on Google Maps is going to sway their opinions at all?

    3. Re:How about any map projection by hey! · · Score: 1

      It would be fun to see Google's data center energy bill if they did. Google maps uses pre-rendered map tiles.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    4. Re:How about any map projection by tsa · · Score: 2

      https://www.independent.co.uk/...

      --

      -- Cheers!

    5. Re: How about any map projection by DalM · · Score: 1

      Yeah. Still don't believe they exist. No one is really that stupid. No one. She was played by a unreasonably devoted group of trolls.

    6. Re: How about any map projection by meglon · · Score: 1

      Rule 1: Start with the assumption that all humans are stupid. You will never be disappointed.

      * * * * subsection (a): Never ever underestimate the levels of stupidity humans can achieve, with, or without, effort.

      --
      Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
    7. Re: How about any map projection by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      What an adorably innocent worldview, never change!

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    8. Re: How about any map projection by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Trump has a loyal following. Of COURSE people are that stupid.

      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    9. Re:How about any map projection by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      In this new version of Google Maps, the turtles are gone too.

    10. Re:How about any map projection by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      I'd like to see it zoom out to a hollow earth.

    11. Re: How about any map projection by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Still don't believe they exist. No one is really that stupid.

      What about Apollo hoaxers? Are they too stupid to exist, too, or would that be Apollo denial denial?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    12. Re:How about any map projection by tender-matser · · Score: 1

      So flat earthers could go on living their fantasy and have a high tech map to show their earthly vision.

      That's an idiotic thing to say.

      By definition, any map projection is a mathematical transformation from an ELLIPSOID to a plane.

      The problem with google maps is they don't use an actual projection, but a hack which assumes that the earth is a perfect SPHERE, which is just as pretentiously ignorant as assuming the earth is flat, only less funny.

      That kludge was invented in order to simplify the javascript in the pre-canvas/pre-html5/pre-webgl era, it has no redeeming properties beyond that, in spite of its continuing use in most web map applications.

    13. Re:How about any map projection by tender-matser · · Score: 1

      No shit. There is a thing called 'caching' -- they would cache the tiles rendered in the most used projections. And it would make no difference to their energy bill -- It's not like everybody is going to use his special projection just to spite google.

      You're already able to load your own kml tracks & features with the google maps api -- which works by you giving google some publicly accessible url, and they fetching it and on-demand rendering the vector data into semi-transparent tiles just for you.

      And besides, libraries like OpenLayers are able to reproject tiles on the client-side. And most maps data is vector-like (places, roads, countours) which is much better (and faster!) if served raw and rendered by the client.

    14. Re:How about any map projection by hey! · · Score: 1

      Correctly reprojecting raster data is computationally very expensive.

      I looked into how OpenMaps does this; it doesn't really reproject raster imagees on the fly but rather it breaks the image up into triangular regions an applies a uniform affine transfomation of all the points in the triangle defined by the reprojection of the vertices into the target coordinate system. It's a clever shortcut that's sure to be adequate for many purposes but I suspect it would create noticeable problems with aerial imagery.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    15. Re: How about any map projection by DalM · · Score: 1

      At least Apollo hoaxers can't physically just purchase a plane ticket and literally go to the moon by themselves. "Flat earthers" (which I still don't believe actually exist) could simply prove their theory by getting their pilot license and flying in a straight line for a few hours. None of them have ever done that.

    16. Re:How about any map projection by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 1

      This is precisely what keeps Linux from going mainstream: it allows every nerd to have their little special option for everything. The sheer volume of options overwhelms even many of us geeks!

    17. Re: How about any map projection by rpstrong · · Score: 1

      Even if they did go through the non-trivial process of getting a pilot's license, how would flying in a straight line for a few hours prove anything? You would see nothing but virtually flat, featureless ocean until you ran out of fuel and had to turn back.

      [And you'd spend the rest of your life sitting back in the armchair at your club, sipping your brandy, and claiming that you were only minutes away from seeing the edge.]

      No, you'd want to go with a rocket, not a plane - which flat earther/rocketeer Mike Hughes is bound and determined to do.

    18. Re:How about any map projection by rpstrong · · Score: 1

      The problem with google maps is they don't use an actual projection, but a hack which assumes that the earth is a perfect SPHERE, which is just as pretentiously ignorant as assuming the earth is flat, only less funny.

      Why is this a problem (for the vast majority of their users), and how is it "pretentiously ignorant"? As you pointed out, the decision to go with the spherical projection was made to simplify coding - not because they weren't aware of the sphere/ellipsoid distinction.

    19. Re: How about any map projection by DalM · · Score: 1

      I was saying you could just fly around the earth. But I'm not really debating logic with you. There is no logic to debate in the flat-earth theory.

    20. Re:How about any map projection by DalM · · Score: 1

      That's not what keeps Linux from going mainstream.

      First of all, Android is Linux and it is mainstream. It's as mainstream as it can possibly be. I think it might be the most used OS in the world now.

      Second, assuming you are referring to the desktop, it's not the over customization that holds Linux back. It's two things:
      1) The lack of popular software. There is no MS Office on Linux. There is no iTunes. There is no Photoshop, etc. Yes, you can say "X is a great alternative to Y", and that's probably true. But why take the time and effort to learn X when you already know Y and all your previous work is already done in Y and everyone you know uses Y. You know Y. You like Y. Y isn't available on Linux. And your computer came with windows anyway. Stick with Windows and use Y.

      2) Your computer came with Windows. Many people don't even bother installing a new browser. Asking them to install a new OS is WAY TOO MUCH to ask. So, since few people are going through the trouble to install a new OS, the makers of Y aren't going to spend millions of $$$ investing in a high quality version of Y. Perpetuating the problem.

    21. Re:How about any map projection by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 1

      Your reasons are on target. Android may be Linux, but it is completely controlled by Google. Yeah, I know, you can download it and make your own custom version, but good luck getting anyone else to use your custom version! AND it has none of the one-off options of Linux, like "zoom maps out flat or spherical."

    22. Re: How about any map projection by rpstrong · · Score: 1

      To you there may be no logic in the flat-earth theory, but to a believer, there is.

      But I wasn't arguing logic, I was arguing logistics. And where is there 'logic' in suggesting that a person "just" do something that is well beyond the means of the average person?

  2. Mild, not wild. by jeadly · · Score: 1

    This has been the case in Satellite imagery view for quite a while.

  3. More than a few weeks by suso · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maybe they just rolled it out with the street maps view, but it's been doing that with the satellite view for a while now. Another interesting feature of satellite view is that it shows the current cloud coverage, not just an old photo of the clouds. I just noticed that recently, but maybe it's been there for a while.

    1. Re:More than a few weeks by lexman098 · · Score: 1

      Doesn't work for me. I don't see any clouds at all in satellite view.

    2. Re:More than a few weeks by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Zoom out....

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    3. Re:More than a few weeks by lexman098 · · Score: 1

      Zoomed out the globe, there were no clouds. It's pretty cloudy and rainy over me right now.

    4. Re:More than a few weeks by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Zoom out further. It only happens in the top 3 zoom levels. The top zoom level also gives you realtime daylight cover.

    5. Re:More than a few weeks by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Right. That totally makes sense. Because of course when you zoom *out*, you expect to see *less* detail.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    6. Re:More than a few weeks by Known+Nutter · · Score: 1

      Another interesting feature of satellite view is that it shows the current cloud coverage, not just an old photo of the clouds. I just noticed that recently, but maybe it's been there for a while.

      That... that is very cool.

      https://i.imgur.com/6N275N2.pn...

      --
      Beware of the Leopard.
    7. Re:More than a few weeks by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Right. That totally makes sense. Because of course when you zoom *out*, you expect to see *less* detail.

      No you expect to see *relevant* detail. E.g. you don't expect to see the country name while you're looking at a street. Likewise it doesn't make a lot of sense to show the global cloud cover while zoomed in at a level where you're probably interested in some detail of the map.

      Plus we're talking global realtime data here. Just how high resolution do you expect it to be?

    8. Re:More than a few weeks by Xylantiel · · Score: 1

      It looks like they've changed their whole projection logic at a variety of zoom levels, maybe all of them. If you look near the poles and move the map around, even zoomed in you can see shapes change and things rotate slightly if you move it east/west. The movement appears to be a constrained tip+spin like for a globe on a stand rather than "free axis" movement like a ball rolling across the floor. This makes sense because the latter wouldn't keep north in the upward direction at the center of the map. Previously I think it was just a slide in a mercator projection. There are disadvantages to this projection since near the edges of the view, the cardinal directions are not aligned with left/right/up/down. But nominally this effect is the real geometry of the sphere.

    9. Re:More than a few weeks by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      I might want to see local cloud cover though.

      As for the resolution, does it really matter? Display it minecraft style if you want. It's never going to be pinpoint accurate, since clouds sort of, like, move.

      Some genius is no doubt going to suggest looking out of the window. Crazy talk!

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    10. Re:More than a few weeks by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I might want to see local cloud cover though.

      As for the resolution, does it really matter?

      You just answered your own question.

      It is worth remembering what Google Maps is and isn't. If you're actually interested in cloud cover rather than the geographical features you wouldn't be on Google Maps in the first place.

      And no, looking out the window won't achieve what you're after, a trip to NOAA's website will though.

  4. Clouds are realtime too by fructose · · Score: 5, Informative

    When you zoom out in satellite imagery, the clouds are also realtime cloud cover. Pretty slick.

    1. Re:Clouds are realtime too by Gilgaron · · Score: 5, Funny

      Now they just need to make the street view real-time, too!

    2. Re:Clouds are realtime too by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

      hey, and all we need for that is a nightmarish, Orwellian panopticon!

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    3. Re:Clouds are realtime too by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      And if you zoom all the way out you get realtime sunlight coverage.

    4. Re:Clouds are realtime too by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

      Well, only if there's also a time slider so you can see a snapshot of what it looks like at a particular time and date.

      Ideally, using "Inspect element" on the slider should mean you can extend the date range to, say, the future, and see what Earth will look like later on today, or even next week.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  5. Flat Earthers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Well there goes my best argument that the world is flat. What's next? acceptance of gravity? Thanks Google...

    1. Re:Flat Earthers by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Well there goes my best argument that the world is flat. What's next? acceptance of gravity? Thanks Google...

      Well... Maybe you can use Google to find better arguments... And there is no such thing as gravity, it's just a curve in space time.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    2. Re:Flat Earthers by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

      According to Einstein, there is no space to be curved. Space is just the distance between points.

      Imagine the universe depicted as a large flat desert plane, like the midwestern US. The shortest distance between any two cities is a curved line.... and the ground is imaginary.

      This is why scientists didn't like Einstein.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    3. Re:Flat Earthers by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      flat desert plane, like the midwestern US.

      As deserts go that area's pretty green and agriculturally productive.

      Either your compass is upside down or your pants are.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    4. Re:Flat Earthers by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      And there is no such thing as gravity, it's just a curve in space time.

      That's like saying there's no such thing as air, it's just atoms.

      That's what gravity *is*. Having an explanation of it doesn't suddenly make it not exist.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  6. Don't be fooled by Google-heliocentrists by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Funny

    the earth is a flat disk born atop a giant turtle which is itself on top of a larger turtle.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Don't be fooled by Google-heliocentrists by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Funny

      ah, but what is the larger turtle standing on?

      A globe shaped planet.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:Don't be fooled by Google-heliocentrists by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 1

      No, the Discworld is standing on four elephants astride a Giant turtle (Atun).

      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    3. Re: Don't be fooled by Google-heliocentrists by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

      Crap, that means Google's going to shut down the Earth.

      --
      Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  7. The bad news is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...they renamed the planet to "Google." And without asking anybody. And nothing we can do about it...

  8. Re:Zetetic Astronomy by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

    Since you're the good pontiff, I know you're joking.

    What's amazing is that there are plenty of people here who would say that with a great deal of earnestness.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  9. Look out Google Earth? by Khyber · · Score: 1

    Hardly. No live KMZ support means it's doubly-useless.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  10. You now have the code for both. by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

    Let me pick the one I want.

  11. Fake news! by TJHook3r · · Score: 1

    Why bother manipulating our flat Earth into a globe shape, it's confusing.

  12. Don't underestimate flat-earthers by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    These people are determined and unwavering when it comes not to let facts get in the way of their ignorant prejudices.

    1. Re:Don't underestimate flat-earthers by adkyary · · Score: 1

      Who's really is

      The irony

  13. Solar System, inc space station. by stephenjsweeney · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm surprised no one's mentioned the ability to zoom out in satellite mode and view and planets of the Solar System, including the International Space Station. Or maybe that's always been a thing, but I've only just discovered it. Earth even appears to be shaded correctly depending on the direction the globe is facing the Sun.

    1. Re:Solar System, inc space station. by aquabat · · Score: 1

      Looks like they're using the celestia engine for that feature. When I zoom all the way out in satellite mode, I get a sidebar menu with the planets and other things in it. I clicked on Mars, and it went full celestia on me, with the pan and zoom from Earth to Mars. I really hope we get to track SpaceX missions with this in the future.

      --
      A republic cannot succeed till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.
  14. Flat Earthers running Google Maps by Eravnrekaree · · Score: 1

    I didnt know that Google Maps was run by people from the Flat Earther Society. I suppose they suddenly realized the earth is actually round.

  15. I felt a great disturbance in the Force... by Kelerei · · Score: 1

    ... as if a legion of Flat Earthers suddenly cried out in terror and started online flamewars. I fear something terrible has happened.

  16. Watch out Apple Maps - Google is catching up. by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

    http://osxdaily.com/2012/12/04...

    --
    Of course news about a fake are Fake News.