Business Archives

July 2, 2009

North Shore City, New Zealand in Google Earth

In response to yesterday's post on 3D terrain a GEB reader in New Zealand, Paul van Dinther, forwarded me an article in a local paper which describes how North Shore City shared high resolution imagery and 3D terrain data with Google for Google Earth. The data was released back in April, and is quite impressive. I spent some time this morning flying around this nice looking suburb area north of Auckland. The aerial imagery is clear and sharp at about 6cm resolution, and the terrain is very well done. You can see shoreline cliffs, roads, and even footpaths in the sides of hills in the terrain.

I've made a brief GE 5 tour of the North Shore City area showing some of the high resolution aerial imagery, 3D terrain, the navy base, and views of Auckland. Here's a screenshot from North Head (a park on a hill) with an impressive view of Auckland and Mount Victoria on the right:

Many cities around the world have started promoting themselves by giving more accurate imagery, terrain, 3D models and other data to Google for use in their mapping tools. This is an excellent example of how Google Earth is getting better in a way that is mutually beneficial to users of Google Earth, and providing economic benefit to those living there.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 9:01 AM | Comments (3)

Sponsored Ads:

June 15, 2009

Using Google Earth to Review Urban Development Project

Gerardo brought to my attention a post at the GEC about a proposed bridge construction project at the Columbia River in the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington region. The author, Nick Falbo, has produced some excellent Google Earth visualizations in opposition to the project. The visualizations use the new Tour function of Google Earth 5, and he's created embedded versions of the Tours on his blog. You can watch the three tours here - using the GE plugin in your browser, or visit his blog page to download the GE content directly. The tours include narration, 3D models of proposed bridges, and overlays to illustrate possible effects of the road project.

This is not at all the first time Google Earth has been used to visualize urban projects. Check here for some others:

• New York Buildings project
• Fight against logging plan in Santa Cruz
• Cape Wind Project

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:33 AM | Comments (1)

May 27, 2009

New "Businesses" layer for Google Earth and iPhone Google Earth

Google has added a new "Businesses" layer visible in both the desktop Google Earth application and iPhone Google Earth. For the savvy desktop Google Earth user, this isn't exactly "new". You could have (and still can) show most of the same placemarks by turning on the "Places of Interest" layer folder which is hidden near the bottom of the layers list. However, the new "Businesses" layer is found under the top layer folder called "Geographic Web" along with the Panoramio and Wikipedia layers (which are also available in Google Maps and the iPhone Google Earth. This just makes it a tad easier for people to find useful placemarks for businesses in any given area, and makes available all this info to iPhone Google Earth users for the first time. (Just a little nit: I don't like the fact the layer is underneath the "Places" layer folder - it should be right below the "Wikipedia" layer IMHO).

The layer lets you see different placemarks for different types of businesses (fork and knife for restaurants, shopping cart for stores, etc.), and clicking on the icons provides reviews and other details and links to get directions. On the iPhone version you can even click on the business phone number to call them with a single click!

This new layer feature was announced during the Google I/O conference going on right now in California. I hope we get a couple of other announcements for the Google Earth platform today or tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'm envious of the Google I/O attendees who all got a free developer Android phone for attending!

Posted by FrankTaylor at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2009

3D Disneyland Resort Paris in Google Earth

Almost a year after Disney released Walt Disney World in Orlando in 3D for Google Earth, the Disneyland Resort Paris is now also available in amazing 3D detail! The entire park area - including trees, rides, signs, even Mickey Mouse!; and also the Disney Studios - are all in amazing 3D detail for Google Earth. You can simply turn on the "3D Buildings" layer in Google Earth and search for "Disneyland Paris" to see for yourself. For the impatient, here are a couple of screenshots to whet your appetite (video will be forthcoming):

NOTE: Because of the detail of the park, it may take a while (depending on your computer and especially bandwidth) to load all the sights. HINT: Mickey Mouse can be found beneath the tallest building. I also found Captain Hook hanging out.

via 5Kingdoms Blog

Posted by FrankTaylor at 9:16 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2009

Where 2.0 - Day 2 - Short Summary

The Where 2.0 event is stock full of all kinds of talk about mapping technologies, research, and interesting tales of map development. This time I'm just going to write about highlights:

• Air Force Plea for Help - an intelligence officer from the US Air Force described some of their challenges to incorporate the rapidly advancing mapping technologies into the military. He made an impassioned plea to the developers at the conference to offer their services to the organizations like his who desperately need more modern integrated solutions. He said he would be available throughout the day to talk to developers. It must have worked because I heard many people asking where to find him throughout the day.

• Google Maps Announcements - Googlers Lior Ron and Steve Lee did the Google Keynote. Lior started by showing the rapid pace of growth of both map data and features for the Google Maps platform. He had some great animations showing how people have contributed to create maps of countries all over the world using Map Maker. He also described the new capabilities allowing people to edit map details in Google Maps (which was later mocked by one of the other presenters because of its complexity). And he went on to show Google My Maps, and Google Latitude and the upcoming built-in location feature of Firefox 3.5. Google announced two main things: Google Maps Data API, and Google Adsense Ad Unit for Maps (see my comments on this in my post on monetizing your maps).

• Live Lidar - The guys from Velodyne had a live spinning Lidar unit in the conference hall. This definitely was the biggest crowd-pleaser. Their technology derived from doing the Darpa Challenge - the contest for autonomous cars driving over the desert. Apparently their technology was used by most of the contestants. Since then, one company has been using the technology to help DOT organizations map roads in an amazingly useful way. But, the biggest hit was when they turned it on and mapped the audience live in 3D. They even had us do a crowd "wave" which was captured in a video. Hope to add a link here of the resulting video. Very cool!

• Mobile Augmented Reality - There was a cool panel session on using the mobile platform to offer augmented reality. I think this already happening with maps and Street View. But, these guys were talking about some pretty cool stuff with annotations on Street View like views as you walk down the street. The iPhone Google Earth could do a lot of this if Google would start enabling other layers to be shown. Haven't heard any rumors about this yet, but I figure its been nearly a year since iPhone GE came out...

There was a lot more going on throughout the day. But, I'll leave it to other bloggers to fill in the gaps in my summary. I had some cool discussions with the guys from 360Cities.net, spoke to someone from Gigapan (who I hope to use for the Tahina Expedition), and met lots of interesting folks throughout the day. Had some good feedback on the workshop, and lots of people asking questions about the sailing trip. So, I really enjoyed the day!

I guess this is a not-so-short summary. :-)

Posted by FrankTaylor at 9:56 AM | Comments (1)

---

More entries for this category:

6. Links: Geography Bee, Developer Marketplace, Monetize your Maps - May 21, 2009
7. Google Ads in Some Google Earth Panoramio Placemarks - May 6, 2009
8. Links: Ocean Now, Michigan Earth Day, Goldman Prize, Convention Center, Queen Mary - April 21, 2009
9. Nine Inch Nails Uses Google Earth Again and iPhone - April 7, 2009
10. Google Wants to Hear Your Google Earth Story - April 3, 2009
11. Links: Where 2.0, Map Lens, Historical Placemarks, Condé Nast - March 30, 2009
12. Google Announces Two New 3D Cities - March 7, 2009
13. Huge Update to Berlin's 3D Building Collection for Google Earth - March 4, 2009
14. Links: New 3D Town Project, Model Underwater, World's Largest Ship Graveyard - March 3, 2009
15. New York City in Photo-Realistic 3D Now in Google Earth - December 17, 2008
16. Links: Going Sailing, Mumbai Attacks, Street View, South Africa Award - December 11, 2008
17. Tomb Raider Challenge with Google Earth - December 3, 2008
18. Links: Where 2.0, Weather Buoys, Argentina, Earthscape, MapMyPage, and more - November 19, 2008
19. Peachtree City Public Information Interactive Map - September 30, 2008
20. McCain Geo-Biography in Google Earth - September 23, 2008
21. 600 Starbucks Closures in Google Earth - July 22, 2008
22. GIS Data for Canary Islands in Google Earth - July 15, 2008
23. Roses First 3D City in Spain for Google Earth - July 10, 2008
24. Google Releases More Map Crowdsourcing Tools - June 24, 2008
25. Where 2.0 - Day 1 - May 13, 2008
26. Impressive Upgrade to Virtual Earth 3D - April 11, 2008
27. New York Times in Google Earth - April 7, 2008
28. Links: Digital Urban Booklet, GE OSX UI Tweak, Peru Meteor Strike - March 31, 2008
29. Armageddon Pills in Google Earth - March 14, 2008
30. See Guys Putting Up Sign on Luxor Hotel & Casino - February 18, 2008
31. Links: Zillow News, Virtual Volcanology, Design in GE, GearthHacks News, Ski Time, VE Geocoding - January 18, 2008
32. Top 25 Stories of Google Earth 2007 - December 27, 2007
33. Governor of Alabama Unveils Google Earth Application - December 4, 2007
34. Links: Tracking Santa, Netherland Statistics, Boat Parades, OpenAerialMap - December 3, 2007
35. KFC Logo Stunt Now in Google Earth - November 19, 2007
36. Armor All Promotion in Google Earth - November 16, 2007
37. Defense Earmarks in Google Earth - November 7, 2007
38. Google Earth Christmas Gift: 15% Discount on SpaceNavigator - November 2, 2007
39. Links: Glider Towing, 3D Bonanza, John Hanke Presentation, Google Maps Profiles, Virtual Earth 3D Modeling - October 19, 2007
40. Business Layers Have Reviews and Pictures in Google Earth - October 16, 2007
41. Microsoft Virtual Earth Supports Basic KML and KML Searching - October 15, 2007
42. Links: Google Maps Zoom, GE Pro Classes, 10 Features of GE, Arc2Earth V2, Spot Image Layer - October 14, 2007
43. DigitalGlobe New Satellite WorldView I is Black and White? - September 18, 2007
44. The Gmail Video Collection in Google Earth - August 30, 2007
45. New Real-Time Traffic Layer in Google Earth - August 21, 2007
46. Virtual London Project Dead in the Water - August 8, 2007
47. Using Google Earth and Web 2.0 Mapping Tools for GIS Visualizations - August 7, 2007
48. News Roundup - Microsoft and KML, Minnesota Bridge, New Competition, and more - August 5, 2007
49. Energy Production Information for Western US - July 17, 2007
50. Largest Coca Cola Logo - Made from Bottles - July 12, 2007
51. Pool Guy Taps Google Earth - July 10, 2007
52. News Roundup - New GeoSearch, GeoWeb 2007, Traffic Gadget, Earthplot, Environmental Data - July 9, 2007
53. OgleEarth Roundup: Illegal Fishing Caught, Picasa Web Albums Review, Geo-Ads Patent, HeyWhatsThat - June 28, 2007
54. News Roundup: GE 4.1 Stuff, Plotting a Trail, Business Reviews, More Second Earth - June 20, 2007
55. Pict'Earth - UAV Aerial Photography Solutions - June 19, 2007
56. Road Maps and Local Search for Sweden in Google Earth and Maps - June 13, 2007
57. News RoundUp: Football Game, VesselTracker, Antarctic Bases, Egyptian Digs, 3D Cities Help, Chimps, Gallery - June 12, 2007
58. Google Transit in Google Earth - June 5, 2007
59. ChartGeek - Sectional Maps for Pilots in Google Earth - May 28, 2007
60. News Roundup - GeoCommons, AC3D, LaudonTech Maps, MacFamilyTree - May 23, 2007
61. More Roads, POI, 3D Buildings in Google Earth - April 12, 2007
62. News Roundup: Amsterdam Google GeoDay, Google LitTrips, US Capitol - March 30, 2007
63. Traditional Advertising Gets Boost in 3D Google Earth - March 27, 2007
64. Google Earth Classified Ads by Safarri - March 26, 2007
65. Movie Making Information for 300 in Google Earth - March 20, 2007
66. gCensus - US Census Data for Google Earth - March 14, 2007
67. Lloyd's Using Google Earth for Insurance Visualizations - March 12, 2007
68. Major Layer Update for Google Earth - March 10th - March 10, 2007
69. News Roundup: Google Earth Resume/CV, Google Maps Interface to BMW cars - March 7, 2007
70. News Roundup - Tax Collector, Google Federal, Virtual Worlds Conference - February 28, 2007
71. World Oil Consumption - 3D Charts in Google Earth - February 27, 2007
72. FedEx Pilots "Smart" Tracking with Google Earth - February 23, 2007
73. Google Earth Advertising Gets More Credibility - February 21, 2007
74. News Roundup - India Censorship, SightSeer, Plazes, Education - February 5, 2007
75. Update to Ads in Google Earth/Maps - February 2, 2007
76. Shape2Earth - GIS Data to Google Earth - January 29, 2007
77. Dutch KLM Releases Air Fare Finder in Google Earth - January 24, 2007
78. News roundup: Google vs. Microsoft, 3D San Jose, Endurance, Weather, Off the Map - January 23, 2007
79. Google Announces Aerial Photo Shoot for Australia Day - January 26 - January 22, 2007
80. Google Earth Layers - January 11, 2007
81. SpaceNavigator Works on Mac OS X - January 9, 2007
82. News Roundup: GlobeXplorer Acquired by DigitalGlobe, Conferences, Google Telescope - January 8, 2007
83. Mars Sucks - A Game for Google Earth - December 29, 2006
84. Amazing Implementation of Marine Charts for Google Earth - December 21, 2006
85. NASA and Google Sign "Space Act Agreement" - December 18, 2006
86. Trulia Adds Google Earth for Real Estate Searches - December 5, 2006
87. Exciting New "3D Mouse" for Google Earth - The SpaceNavigator - November 27, 2006
88. Exclusive Economic Zones in Google Earth - November 24, 2006
89. Satellite Photo of KFC Logo and Viral Marketing Scheme - November 17, 2006
90. CBS News Does Google Earth - November 9, 2006
91. Baseball, 3D Stadiums, Videos, and Google Earth - November 2, 2006
92. Cape Town Travel Guide for Google Earth - October 31, 2006
93. Spanish Architecture Project in 3D by Tagzania - October 27, 2006
94. Live Flight Sales and Driving Tips with Google Earth - October 26, 2006
95. James Bond DVD Promotion Using Google Earth - October 20, 2006
96. News Roundup - October 9, 2006
97. Google Earth Enterprise in Oil and Gas Industry - October 3, 2006
98. Ad Campaign for Saturn Aura Uses Google Earth - September 26, 2006
99. Google Earth Las Vegas - September 22, 2006
100. Roundup - Pillows, redtrails, earthpoint, Robogeo 5, libferris, virtual land rush - September 20, 2006
101. Anousheh Ansari Blasts off to Space - September 18, 2006
102. Interview With Michael Jones - Google Earth Chief Technology Officer - September 14, 2006
103. Huge New Layers Update in Google Earth - September 13 - September 13, 2006
104. "Prison Break" on Google Earth - September 11, 2006
105. CBS News Does Google Earth - Missing Last Step - September 8, 2006
106. British Airways Uses Google Earth to Improve Online Sales - September 1, 2006
107. Turnhere.com - Videos About Places - August 15, 2006
108. Campus Maps with 3D Buildings in Google Earth - August 14, 2006
109. Music Group Audioslave Uses Google Earth for Promotion - August 4, 2006
110. Vancouver in 3D for Google Earth - July 21, 2006
111. Weather Symbols in Google Earth - July 18, 2006
112. News Roundup - July 15, 2006
113. Magnalox Provides Live Tracking Interface for Google Earth - July 7, 2006
114. 1000 Pizzas Publicity Stunt Using Google Earth - June 28, 2006
115. Win a Free Trip from Surfing Magazine by Using Google Earth - June 21, 2006
116. RoboGEO - Simplifying Georeferencing of Photos - June 10, 2006
117. Digital Camera Illustrates Camera Shot with Google Earth - June 4, 2006
118. Forbes Magazine Article - Maps Mania - June 3, 2006
119. Pin in the Map - Keep it Simple - May 30, 2006
120. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Points of Interest in Google Earth - May 26, 2006
121. See More Recent Aerial Photos in Google Earth - May 22, 2006
122. Google Earth Business - May 21, 2006
123. Da Vinci Code Tour in Google Earth - May 17, 2006
124. Ads in Google Earth - May 10, 2006
125. Gulf Impact - Analysis of Damage to Oil/Gas Industry from Hurricanes - May 9, 2006
126. Win a Mazda CX-7 in a Sweepstakes Contest in Google Earth - May 1, 2006
127. Mission Impossible III Promotion with Google Earth - April 28, 2006
128. TheCity Local - Google Earth Dating Service - April 26, 2006
129. City of Bergen Norway Makes Smart Business Move in Google Earth - April 10, 2006
130. Honda Releases Traffic System in Japan for Google Earth - April 4, 2006
131. Apple iPod Ad in Google Earth? - March 27, 2006
132. Business and Google Earth in Information Week - March 22, 2006
133. Track "Amazing Race" TV Show in Google Earth - March 20, 2006
134. Google Earth E-mail Signature - March 14, 2006
135. Bed and Breakfast Locations in Google Earth - March 6, 2006
136. Here Comes the Oscars - March 5, 2006
137. Eye in the Sky Advertising - March 4, 2006
138. EarthPoint - Real Estate Listings with some GIS - March 3, 2006
139. Arc2Earth Released - March 1, 2006
140. Giant Frog Attacks Chicago - February 17, 2006
141. Visualizing Controversial New Buildings in New York in Google Earth - February 6, 2006
142. CNET Superbowl Guessing Game in Google Earth - February 2, 2006
143. Win a Fiat Sedici in Google Earth - February 1, 2006
144. South American Trade in Google Earth - January 27, 2006
145. Sundance Film Festival "Event Map" in Google Earth - January 24, 2006
146. KMLer for Converting ArcGIS for Google Earth - January 19, 2006
147. Real Estate for Google Earth by Re/Max - Again! - January 14, 2006
148. Top 500 Hotels in Google Earth - Travel + Leisure Magazine - December 28, 2005
149. Adidas Promotion Uses Google Earth - December 27, 2005
150. Company Specializes in Google Earth/Maps Services - November 28, 2005
151. Ski Resorts and Snow Reports in Google Earth - November 21, 2005
152. Everything You Wanted to Know About Singapore - November 12, 2005
153. Example of Google Earth Ad - November 8, 2005
154. EarthBooker - 80,000 Hotels in Google Earth - November 7, 2005
155. Real Estate Interest in Google Earth Grows - November 1, 2005
156. NewsGlobe a Geographic Locator for News - October 6, 2005
157. Cruise Ship Positions and Web Cams - October 5, 2005
158. Garmin Buys MotionBased - October 4, 2005
159. ~12 Million Google Earth downloads? Where's Mac/Linux Versions? - September 30, 2005
160. Google Helps NASA - September 29, 2005
161. Making Money with Google Earth - September 28, 2005
162. Security and Privacy Concerns and Google Earth - September 13, 2005
163. City of Portland GIS Adds 3D Buildings - September 3, 2005
164. Business Opportunities and Google Earth - August 30, 2005
165. Real Estate Done Google Earth Style - August 29, 2005
166. ABC Primetime Uses Google Earth - August 26, 2005
167. City of Portland GIS - August 25, 2005
168. EarthPlot - Commercial Software - August 23, 2005

Google Earth Blog Copyright © 2005-2009 Frank Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

All image screenshots from Google Earth are Copyright Google