Google Earth

The coolest program from Google

[gpmgroup]

[earth.google.com...]

[Dayo_UK]

Er - How big is the file download for the free version - surely it must say that somewhere?

Might give it a whirl - got to decide on what system though.

Edit - 10 Meg

[balam]

> I remember downloading a free program from NASA with the same data.

Sounds like you're talking about NASA's free World Wind [worldwind.arc.nasa.gov]. (It starts as a 180MB download, and then just eats drive space - IF you cache data.)

World Wind far surpasses anything else available (freely) online, but it's only worth the download if you're interested in more than seeing if you can spot your house from space.

[RonPK]

Nice to almost see my house. But: last time I checked, this country was called the Netherlands and our neighbors in the south lived in Belgium. According to G, the names have been swapped ;)

[engine]

FYI

Google's new satellite
imagery-based mapping product that combines 3D buildings and terrain with mapping capability and Google search. Based on Keyhole technology, Google Earth enables users to fly from space to street level views to find geographic information and explore places around the world.

[TravelSite]

Fantastic tool

I can see this being used in School Geography lessions! Population info would be great - as would being able to to type in Pyramids etc.

The different angles are amazing (though its only US cities that have been given the 3d treatment as far as I can see).

[JamieBrown]

FYI - the download is almost exactly 10Mb. :-)

[golles]

great, thanks for the post. i think this is excellent

[DamonHD]

Hi,

This is what I would love to have done with my site, given the resources... I have up and running a very low-grade version of the idea where you can zoom in by location and see samples of what the world looks like right there. But Google has the time and money to do it right!

Rgds

DHD

[balam]

> I can see this being used in School Geography lessions!

Not so long as...

> last time I checked, this country was called the Netherlands

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I can see my house here in Scotland!

[TravelSite]

me too (entered my postcode)!

It's weird how some parts are pretty detailed while other areas show much less - but I guess that will change in time. Perhaps in the future we'll get live images :)

[asp4bunnies]

I can see this being integrated into cars when onboard computers become more main stream. Imagine driving down a block, seeing a list of all stores in the nearbye area and which sales are currently going on.

Google rules.

[Chris_R]

Ths thing is awesome - would love to see it as an option in my in dash GPS a few years from now.

[moltar]

I can see this being integrated into cars when onboard computers become more main stream.

It's already possible. If you have high speed wireless connection, a laptop with G-Earth installed, you can bind this with GPS and it will move in real time.

[travelin cat]

No Mac version yet... but to Google's credit "we're working on it"

[adfree]

earthbrowser, for anyone who needs a slick one for the mac

[limbo]

Win 98 and macs :( ...

can't wait to get home to see what the fuss is about.

[balam]

I couldn't find anything on the site, so I suspect the answer is in the EULA...

Is the end user (of any version of the product) allowed to use, manipulate, alter & republish the data for non-commercial purposes?

As a hypothetical example, can I take a Google-generated view of my town, save it, crop out the Google copyright (and anything else I don't want), resize it, add a red circle around my house, put the graphic on my personal website (whether it's commercial or not), add a citation (not a link to Google) - but only if I feel like it, say "Look! My house from space!", and not expect to run afoul of the authorities?

I suspect the answer is a resounding "No!," but you don't know unless you ask...

[twist]

For my area the results are absolutely terrible. For example, the biggest hospital within 100 miles which is also one of the major hospitals in the state is named something completely different and in the wrong location. Not only that but the old hospital, which hasn't been a hospital for 15 years is listed as a hospital but at least it shows the right location. Not a good sign if your driving through the area and need to find the hospital fast. This isn't the only information thats wrong, most of the places in my town are completely off. My $215 gps unit with default built-in US map does a much better job. So it's not like the correct information isn't out there, I wonder why google's information is so far off?

[ryan26]

Good job, GOOG. Awesome toy.

[amznVibe]

Absolutely addicting to play with (and I am so not into games but this is like educational!)

Kinda dissapointed at the (lack of) resolution in some areas but I guess that can only improved in time.

They should use this in schools, learning geography was never so much fun!

[7_Driver]

Hmmm...

Doesn't work for me - bunch of errors when installing and running.

Odd - Google's photo viewer Picasa was the same.

There's something about my PC that Google doesn't like - and their testing doesn't catch.

Strange, because I can't think of another software vendor that I have any problems with - and I've got LOADS of stuff on this machine, that all works fine.

Shame - it looks awesome! (off to dig out another computer!)

[Chico_Loco]

No Mac version yet... but to Google's credit "we're working on it"

Yeah, I'm very disappointed in them for this. I know Windows rules by a long way, but even an aweful lot of free open source get ported to MAC, and those people have no funds at all. Google on the other hand has some massive fundage, plus a MUCH wider audience, so I would have expected them to dual-release versions for at least OS X & Linux.

[balam]

Too late to edit my last post, but...

<edit>
The answer [earth.google.com], as I phrased the question, is indeed "no."

So on that note, I'd like to say "Thank You!" to the American taxpayers who have spent billions of dollars supplying the world with much the same data as used by Google, but in the public domain.
</edit>

[EVOrange]

I mentioned this on another thread and it may not apply to all versions, but the Google Earth Plus that I have will fly a route for you.
In other words I get directions from my house to some place in NYC (just like Google Maps) and hit the button and it will fly me, (speed adjustable) along the route.
Most excellent. And as I said in the other thread, i'm just waiting for the goggles.

EVO

[sun818]

Lhis makes mapping points of interest more intuitive. I don't see it being used on a cell phone any time soon, but that would be the logical progression to merge local search with this tool.

[balam]

Regarding Google Earth being W2K/XP only...

WorldWind apparently runs on W95 and up (with some caveats), and since it's open source, if you're ambitious you can port it to OS X or *nix.

[bether2]

Does anyone know how Google Earth differs from Keyhole? Is it any faster?

I found Keyhole very exiting at first, but soon tired of waiting the long download time for images. (Am connected to internet with two-way satelitte system.)

[EliteWeb]

Apple Macintosh computers are not supported at this time (but we are working on it)......

Glad to see its on their todo list :D