Google Earth: A 3D interface to the planet [Archive]

Zed

5th September 2005, 20:44

http://earth.google.com/index.html

Installed this most excellent application (10mb) today and had the family gathered around the pc for an hour checking out different cities of the world. Works best with Broadband or faster.

10 out of 10 from me!! :clap:

sAsLEX

5th September 2005, 20:48

http://www.googleearthhacks.com/

has some good stuff on it too

Wolf

5th September 2005, 20:55

Yep, it's pretty cool. Need broadband to get decent speed out of it, though, so I can't use it at home.

One of my workmates showed it to me ages back - he kept "flying' into buildings in NYC while shouting praises to Allah. It's so hard being a pagan when Christians like him are more OTT than me... He's also the guy who, while we were in the Warehouse, rearranged some of the male and female "kissing dolls" on display into male-male and female-female pairs! That bit in the "Lord's Prayer" is quite apt for him - he doesn't need to be led into temptation, he finds it more readily than I do!

skelstar

5th September 2005, 21:35

From what I can see its not supporting the Mac. Suck.

riffer

5th September 2005, 21:47

Yeah well it may not support the mac at present but at least it has an accurate picture of Infinite Loop, Cupertino, unlike a certain Seattle-based competing product...

which for some strange reason shows an empty lot. :nono:

Joni

5th September 2005, 21:52

Im gonna get me Maaa to make a big sign that says "hi Jo"... then I will have a lookie at Johannesburg :D

Pixie

6th September 2005, 01:43

Googlemaps works ok for dial-up

phantom

6th September 2005, 08:04

yeah been playing with it at work for a while now. Its interesting that if you "fly " to the white house and several other sensitive buildings that it's effectively greyed out ( can't see NZ's spy base either )

Zed

6th September 2005, 08:13

Its interesting that if you "fly " to the white house and several other sensitive buildings that it's effectively greyed out ( can't see NZ's spy base either )Understandably so I suppose.

Does anyone know if this program is unique or are there other more sophisticated ones available? I see Google advertises a $400 Pro version too, not that I'm that keen, but it would be an awesome tool for business or educational purposes. :hitcher:

I think to be able to view our world like this is a massive achievement in IT!

bungbung

6th September 2005, 08:20

Have a look at a similar NASA program called "world wind" it wraps satellite and aerial pictures over contours.

Zed

6th September 2005, 08:33

Have a look at a similar NASA program called "world wind" it wraps satellite and aerial pictures over contours.Great, thanks. Downloading the 45mb file now...better leave the pc for 1/2 an hour.

Hitcher

6th September 2005, 08:46

Oh my god! It isn't flat after all...

zadok

6th September 2005, 09:00

Good application. SpeedMedic put me on to it. Some areas are 'greened out' I have found. Those areas don't allow a close view. This includes my house! Don't know why that is.

Wolf

6th September 2005, 10:34

Good application. SpeedMedic put me on to it. Some areas are 'greened out' I have found. Those areas don't allow a close view. This includes my house! Don't know why that is.
Fess up. What Agency do you work for? Fucking spook. Bet you've got billions of dollars of tax-payer-funded surveillance equipment in your basement next to the modified Aston Martin. Wait, you're in Aussie so that would be an HQ Holden with submarine conversion and beer fridge. :rofl:

SPORK

6th September 2005, 10:51

I remember on the Somethinawful.com forums that for a brief time there was no fuzziness or whatever covering up Area 51, or the White House, or King-Kongress, or anything. I was going somewhere with this, but now I've forrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Biff

6th September 2005, 12:16

Get the pro version - you can see the holes left from car bombs on the streets of Baghdad, and people walking the streets - If that's what floats your boat.

I noticed that the owner of my old house back in the UK has a boat parked up in the back garden!

Great tool - I'm just trying to work out how to make best use of it though, other than spying on the cute chick that lives at the end of my street sunbathing.

Zed

6th September 2005, 12:35

Get the pro version - you can see the holes left from car bombs on the streets of Baghdad, and people walking the streets - If that's what floats your boat.I guess I'm behind the times and didn't realise this software was available, for free, to the public domain!

Great tool - I'm just trying to work out how to make best use of it though, other than spying on the cute chick that lives at the end of my street sunbathing.Just make sure you don't give the program to your neighbour!! :o :pinch:

You reap what you sow Biff.

ManDownUnder

6th September 2005, 12:43

try moon.google.com - pick a spot and zoom right in - it's quite impressive!

I didn't find footprints from the landings, but there's HEAPS of other stuff to digest...

Biff

6th September 2005, 12:46

I guess I'm behind the times and didn't realise this software was available, for free, to the public domain!

Oops - erm - it's not. But I'll sell you a licence for $500.

Just make sure you don't give the program to your neighbour!! :o :pinch:

You reap what you sow Biff.

Trust me Z - if the lovely lady took the time to attempt to zoom in on my back yard to watch me sunbathe - that satellite better be fitted with a wide angled lens.

crshbndct

6th September 2005, 12:58

will this actually show you stuff in real time? or like a new update each day.

its awesome, but the resolution over whangarei and ngunguru is obvoiusly not there yet.

ManDownUnder

6th September 2005, 13:11

will this actually show you stuff in real time? or like a new update each day.

its awesome, but the resolution over whangarei and ngunguru is obvoiusly not there yet.

Not quite realtime - you need to subscribe to the FBI spy satellite service (or the CIA's one... they have one each coz they don't share). Select the various options you want, weapons quidance on/off, infrared on/off, auto add nude beaches to favourites on/off

A mere $5 million a month gets you the basic package, with options taking it up from there.

Hope this helps
MDU
PS the answer to you question is actually no - they're a whole bunch of old photos taken over time and resized and glued together to make up a collage

Wolf

6th September 2005, 13:31

try moon.google.com - pick a spot and zoom right in - it's quite impressive!

I didn't find footprints from the landings, but there's HEAPS of other stuff to digest...
Love the moon one. Full marks.

It seems that before they fuzzed out "Area 51" you could see a lunar landscape and a lot of cameras...

Hitcher

6th September 2005, 13:42

Love the moon one. Full marks.

It seems that before they fuzzed out "Area 51" you could see a lunar landscape and a lot of cameras...
And the bus.

Wolf

6th September 2005, 16:30

Have a look at a similar NASA program called "world wind" it wraps satellite and aerial pictures over contours.
45mb file then another 23mb for .NET download then it downloads directX then ages to load. Whew, I thought Micro$haft had the monopoly on bloatware!

myvice

6th September 2005, 17:40

Cool program but most of NZ is a bit messy. Satellites on the piss?

erik

6th September 2005, 17:48

45mb file then another 23mb for .NET download then it downloads directX then ages to load. Whew, I thought Micro$haft had the monopoly on bloatware!
I've just tried them both, I reckon google earth wins, way faster and easier to set up, seems to run faster too (panning and zooming etc) and it has higher resolution from what I've looked at (NZ and Croatia).

It's a pity they don't have more of auckland in high-res.

crshbndct

6th September 2005, 21:16

*cue song by the artist formerly known as prince*

could you be...(could you be)
the most beautiful track in the world......(in the world)
i can see...(Ican see)
your the reason why god made the internal combustion engine

James Deuce

6th September 2005, 21:18

Jeremy

6th September 2005, 22:11

Anyone else noticed the moon is made of cheese? Zoom in on the moon.

Sniper

6th September 2005, 22:24

Anyone else noticed the moon is made of cheese? Zoom in on the moon.

So is it green cheese?

texmo

6th September 2005, 22:56

Understandably so I suppose.

Does anyone know if this program is unique or are there other more sophisticated ones available? I see Google advertises a $400 Pro version too, not that I'm that keen, but it would be an awesome tool for business or educational purposes. :hitcher:

I think to be able to view our world like this is a massive achievement in IT!
My friend from mangwhai heads has one that is updated weekly and you can see the car parked outside his house, much better than google cant rember the name though.

Eurygnomes

7th September 2005, 03:25

I played with this the other day - saw the flat into which I'm moving in Prague. What a COOL toy. Not sure how "useful" it's gonna be though...

crshbndct

7th September 2005, 08:45

It's a pathetic shadow of its former self.

and yet, still the best circuit on the formula 1 calendar by a long long way.
i love how eau rouge is actually a public road

Wolf

7th September 2005, 12:46

I played with this the other day - saw the flat into which I'm moving in Prague. What a COOL toy. Not sure how "useful" it's gonna be though...
So you'll know all the shortcuts they don't show on the maps before you get there...

"Hmmm, there's an alley into a park between these two houses, out of the park onto this street, down this right of way and across to the shops..."

Biff

7th September 2005, 12:58

My friend from mangwhai heads has one that is updated weekly and you can see the car parked outside his house, much better than google cant rember the name though.

Multimap.com? (or .co.nz)
Frequently updated.

The CIA's one is the best. But bloody expensive (and a long drawn out process to register) to sign up for access, and they sometimes 'blank' certain areas of the world/cities at certain times...but great if you want to read the heading of a newspaper of some random person walking down the street.

Zed

8th September 2005, 21:59

I've just tried them both, I reckon google earth wins, way faster and easier to set up, seems to run faster too (panning and zooming etc) and it has higher resolution from what I've looked at (NZ and Croatia).I've also tried both now and IMO Nasa's software is better because of the terrain elevation and heaps of other extra features over Google. Yes, it is harder to setup and uses more pc juice but it's worth it, you need a relatively fast computer though. Also not as user friendly to navigate but there is a keyboard map available and mouse instructions.

Attached are some World Wind 1.3 screen shots of Coromandel Peninsula (must ride around there some day soon?) and Auckland from different angles. :cool:

erik

8th September 2005, 23:40

Hitcher

9th September 2005, 09:01

It's always interesting to observe from Windows screen shots what other applications others run...

Sniper

9th September 2005, 09:04

It's always interesting to observe from Windows screen shots what other applications others run...

I had the same thought earlier this morning. Soon someone shall make a slip up and show us how many porn sites they are currently browsing

crshbndct

9th September 2005, 09:27

I had the same thought earlier this morning. Soon someone shall make a slip up and show us how many porn sites they are currently browsing

oh whoops.

Zed

9th September 2005, 10:21

hmmm. Have you tried any of the add on stuff for World Wind?
There is actually some higher resolution NZ stuff, but it's black and white, kinda old looking, and doesn't seem to conform to the terrain data. Take a look at the attached image of auckland city focussed on AUT and Albert Park etc.. It's still worth a look though.
I haven't really used it much though, I just installed the OneEarth add-on.

One thing I don't know if you realise, but World Wind by default exagerates the elevation data by a factor of 3. You can change it to 1 in the options. Google Earth has it at 1 by default, which makes it look flatter.

It's easy to waste heaps of time messing around with these things... :)No I havn't even looked at any of the add-ons, I spent a fair bit of time last night just trying to suss out the keyboard navigation. It's choice once you get the feel of it because it's like a flight simulator!

I did know about the eggagerated elevation, you can increase/decrease it using the number keypad 1-9 if I recall correctly, but Google Earth is just flat and boring in comparison.

Good entertainment! :clap:

Sniper

9th September 2005, 10:25

oh whoops.

Hot Donkey porn? I really dont want to know

Hitcher

9th September 2005, 11:44

IE AND Firefox. Why?

crshbndct

9th September 2005, 13:03

IE AND Firefox. Why?

im at work all those pages were just blank with edited headings, and i have firefox setup to just open in a new tab, so i couldnt just double click the files and have them all showing titles

my normal homepage for firefox is a blank page that says "Microsoft Excel - Progress Summary.xls" as the title.

Sniper

9th September 2005, 13:06

im at work all those pages were just blank with edited headings, and i have firefox setup to just open in a new tab, so i couldnt just double click the files and have them all showing titles

my normal homepage for firefox is a blank page that says "Microsoft Excel - Progress Summary.xls" as the title.

Well I was worried about the "Anal Creampie eating at kiwibiker" :puke:

Hitcher

9th September 2005, 14:19

my normal homepage for firefox is a blank page that says "Microsoft Excel - Progress Summary.xls" as the title.
Ahh, the old "Hide! The boss is coming!" ruse...

SpankMe

4th October 2005, 13:50

Sniper

4th October 2005, 14:08

Must have a look tonight, thanks Spank :niceone:

Zed

4th October 2005, 17:01

Anyone notice that red square patch of high res imagery in Saudi Arabia just under the border with United Arab Emirates? Some cool looking geography and what looks like Oil industry builds ( or terrorist training camps :D ). One of them has a name on the building but google doesn't find anything on it.Yeah, now you mention it, that's one area of the earth I havn't focused in on yet, lol. Looks like the surface of mars from this shot, and when you get up closer it actually looks huge swirls of red sand! :confused: