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snkTab

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 13, 2004
580
1
Cincinnati, OH
I can't believe people aren't talking about this as I find it very interesting

http://earth.google.com/

Contains a ton of GIS inforamtion. You can litterally see incredible details of the earth. Restruants and shops are marked, even webcams that cover intersections are linked. You can view everything from your house, to the green zone in Iraq, to temples in Japan.

First thing you should do after installing. Type in your address, it'll fly you right there. Maybe turn on 3d builings tilt the camera so its facing the horizon and take a stroll down a london street.
 

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PlaceofDis

macrumors Core
Jan 6, 2004
19,241
6
that is pretty sweet, i didnt even know about it, so i guess that maybe why no one is saying anything, thanks for the info and links though, i will definitely be checking it out soon!

edit: i guess i should have checked out the links, i thought it would have been web-based, but you're right iGary....shame, oh well
 

snkTab

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 13, 2004
580
1
Cincinnati, OH
iGary said:
Maybe because there isn't an OS X client?

very true. Good news is that it uses open GL and the data is mostly stored online. I'd like to say also that's its very fast. I zoom in as fast as possible and it updates to higher res pictures of that area instantly almost. I'm moving an hour south and I found it a great resource as it could placemark all the potential places and show me what was around it.
 

skubish

macrumors 68030
Feb 2, 2005
2,663
0
Ann Arbor, Michigan
snkTab said:
very true. Good news is that it uses open GL and the data is mostly stored online. I'd like to say also that's its very fast. I zoom in as fast as possible and it updates to higher res pictures of that area instantly almost. I'm moving an hour south and I found it a great resource as it could placemark all the potential places and show me what was around it.

How do you get it so hi-res? I just tried it and it looked like crap.
 

dotdotdot

macrumors 68020
Jan 23, 2005
2,391
44
skubish said:
How do you get it so hi-res? I just tried it and it looked like crap.

Yeah, my Google Earth doesnt even show trees well! How did you get it to look GOOD!?
 

skubish

macrumors 68030
Feb 2, 2005
2,663
0
Ann Arbor, Michigan
dotdotdot said:
Yeah, my Google Earth doesnt even show trees well! How did you get it to look GOOD!?

I think it may depend on where you are looking. Go to a major city like Paris or New York and you should be able to zoom into a lot of detail.
 

NeoMayhem

macrumors 6502a
Aug 22, 2003
916
1
Looks cool, but I dont use products that only work on windows.

Google Maps uses the same data and does what I need, so I dont think I am missing much.
 

Inspector Lee

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2004
590
0
East Lansing, MI
Curious to see how seamless this is. I'd like to see them do this with USGS topographic quadrangles and digital orthoquads. Topozone is clunky and so is M$ terraserver.
 

mrzeve

macrumors 6502a
Jan 25, 2005
617
1
And no one ever takes me seriously when I say google is taking over the world..
 

Apple Hobo

macrumors 6502a
Mar 19, 2004
796
0
A series of tubes
Good news

Do you support Macintosh?

At this time, Google Earth supports Windows only; however, we hope to support the Mac OS soon. In the meantime, although it might be slower, some Mac users have had success running Google Earth with a PC emulator.


From another page:

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

snkTab

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 13, 2004
580
1
Cincinnati, OH
Yeah, Google Earth is in Beta.

Here are some fullscreens, with the UI cropped. The data seems to be different by country. The lower-res parts are satellite taken, while the higher-res shots are most likely aerial photography. America is pretty much maped, even land that is not in use gets photographed by the Department of Interior. Japan, England, France are all high-res. Austrailia, small islands, are not.
 

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snkTab

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 13, 2004
580
1
Cincinnati, OH
First photo has terrain mapping on. The second has 3D buildings turned on.
 

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killuminati

macrumors 68020
Dec 6, 2004
2,404
0
I just tried this out on my PC and it is sweet! I'm gonna go and see if I can find area 51 ;)
 

dotdotdot

macrumors 68020
Jan 23, 2005
2,391
44
killuminati said:
I just tried this out on my PC and it is sweet! I'm gonna go and see if I can find area 51 ;)

Oh, you'll find it alright. Just look for the huge white spot.

Area 51 has a HUGE white spot to cover it up - or Google implemented fake grass or something. Google Maps online has a big white spot...
 

snkTab

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 13, 2004
580
1
Cincinnati, OH
dotdotdot said:
Oh, you'll find it alright. Just look for the huge white spot.

Area 51 has a HUGE white spot to cover it up - or Google implemented fake grass or something. Google Maps online has a big white spot...

You'll find a lot of white spots if you look closely, mostly in NV or NM. The US government likes to make it obvious when it covers something up. God forbid they actually try to fake something. That's up Nasa's alley.

But yeah, my dad's in the military and he's shown me these spots on maps. Just a stupid little square or whatever covering who knows. Also, Washington DC is done in full detail, except for the capitol. Either because they want to hid something or no ones allowed to fly over it.
 

dotdotdot

macrumors 68020
Jan 23, 2005
2,391
44
Apple Hobo said:
Google Maps' satellite allows you to see Area 51. Link

Actually, I found something cool in Google Earth program.

Go to Places > Sightseeing, and they have already mapped out the cool places for you. Area-51 is there!
 
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