Install Earth

This one is a really cute idea actually.  The World Wildlife Fund has come up with a way for you to go online and buy a baby tree which then gets planted in a rainforest in Indonesia.  That’s not the cutest part though.  They then give you the Google Earth KML file with the exact location of your tree, so that you can see it’s location and see the changes in it as the satellite imagery for that location gets updated over the years.  In essence, you’ll be watching your baby tree grow over the years.

Truthfully, the resolution of Google Earth in that rainforest in Indonesia isn’t the greatest.  But as you well know, Google Earth is always updating and getting new satellite imagery.  So I’m guessing it wont be too long before you can actually see the detail in the trees there.

So for only $5.50 a tree in the Sebangau National Forest can be yours, and you will know that you are contributing to the reforestation of Earth.  And that always feels good.

One small step toward improving the condition of planet earth.

If you want to purchase a tree for your very own, go to mybabytree.org.   Thanks to the Google Earth Blog for the info on this.

Technorati Tags: mybabytree.org, google earth blog, wwf, world wildlife fund, sebangau national forest, indonesia, deforestation, global climate change, google earth

Don’t think that because of all our existing technology everything to be discovered on earth has been.  There are still a lot of uninhabited locations of earth, a lot of space and a lot of ground.  Especially in Australia!

In fact, one geologist, Dr. Arthur Hickman, a leading authority in the subject in Australia, just made a discovery from using Google Earth.

He was apparently using Google Earth to find iron ore and discovered a crater in Western Australia that was previously undiscovered, despite very sharp and clear images which exist of this mountainous region called Hamersley.  He did his research, and consequently has now got a crater named after himself!

Feel free to do your OWN research and have a piece of nature named after you, as well!

Read the original news article.

Technorati Tags: arthur hickman, hamersley range, australia, google earth, geology, geological survey of western australia

A Google Earth community member known as satishgsk has created a series for Google Earth called “The Extreme Series.” Basically, it’s a series of landmarks of earth which are the most extreme of their kind. Two recent examples are “Deepest cave” and “Largest flower”.

Satishgsk does research and finds these extremes of life, gets a ton of info and at least one really sweet photo, often from Wikipedia, and updates this information every day.

If you go to satishgsk’s page I linked to above, you’ll see his updates and also be able to load this Extreme Places into your Google Earth or into Google maps, if you prefer.

This probably isn’t something you’ll NEED to get by in life, but it’s real interesting and fun to check out. For more specifics on this series check out Frank Taylor’s Google Earth Blog post about it.

Technorati Tags: satishgsk, bbs keyhole, google earth community, google earth blog, frank taylor, extreme places

I wrote recently about the 3D views of buildings and entire towns being done by people and submitted to Google’s 3D Warehouse.  Well, here’s some more information about what’s done, what’s being done and what’s to come.

This past summer a group of students of varying design and architecture majors at University of Massachusetts Amherst created a 3D visualization of nearly their entire campus using Google Earth and Sketchup.  Initially this was a project for a particular class, but it turned into something huge and fantastic that has now become a model for other campuses to follow.  The project was submitted to Google, and now everyone who has Google Earth can see the amazing work that was created by these Amherst students. Read the full U Mass article here.

Aside from it being a cool project that a lot of people participated in, the possibilities for uses of these 3D models is infinite.  The school can use these in civic planning proposals, to show prospective investors, or future students what the campus looks like, just for a couple examples.

Then take this on a bigger scale.  All schools and towns of earth in 3D.  How much better will this be for solving issues in a particular city, or for planning, making the best use of space?  When you have an accurate 3-dimensional view of something it’s ALWAYS easier to figure things out.

But trust me, none of these ideas are mine,  Google is all over it.  Yesterday they released “Cities in 3D”.  With this tool, cities and regions of earth will be able to share their own data of their own locations with Google Earth, who will then turn this information into 3D models.  The specifics of how local governments will fit into all of this, see the full article at GovTech.com.

Good things are ahead…I can feel it.  And of course, I’ll keep you posted as I find things out.

Technorati Tags: google earth, sketchup, amherst, umass, govtech.com, 3d warehouse, cities in 3D

A few years ago a website called Blackle.com was born. This was a website which was created to look and function just like Google’s search home page, but in black so as to use less energy than the official white Google home page. And this site was not made by Google. Further it was intended to show the wastefulness of Google to the world, by displaying how much energy is saved by doing your searches via Blackle.com instead.

Well, here’s an example which shows a kinder, gentler, possibly greener side to Google. Just for balance’s sake.

There is a website called I Love Mountains. If you go to this site you can input your zip code and find out how much you rely on coal mining derived from the removal of mountain tops in your zone. Using Google Earth’s API, I Love Mountains shows you your city, your city’s power utility company, and from where its coal is derived…all on a Google Earth map. Neat, huh?

Google Earth has endorsed the “I Love Mountains” site, and their National Memorial for the Mountains is actually included as part of the Google Earth software now. The Memorial appears in Google Earth as a field of nearly 500 American flags across the entire Appalachian Mountain range. Each flag represents a mountain which is has had its top removed for the purposes of mining the coal inside.

If you want more information on mining and mountain tops, check out the ilovemountains.org link above.

Technorati Tags: ilovemountains.org, i love mountains, coal mining, blackle, blackle.com

I just got a little tip off about something that’s going to be added to Google Earth’s imagery eventually.  While nothing is set in stone, I think it’s interesting and really, really cool so I’m going to share it with you.

There’s a graffiti crew called Smart Crew.  They’ve done work all over the world and there’s some mad talent among them.  One of their more recent adventures was in Japan.  With the help and support of some great people in the town of Urahoro, the Smart crew was able to create some of the biggest graff you’ll EVER see.  Graff big enough to see from SPACE!!!  Most graffiti writers think in terms of walls, billboards, tops of buildings.  But this, my friends, is the biggest graff idea I think I’ve ever seen.  And I gotta say it makes me proud.

Check it…

You should be seeing this piece stitched into the google earth imagery soon!

Click here for the original Smart Crew article. 

Technorati Tags: smart crew, graffiti, japan, urahoro, google earth, imagery

While Google Earth technology continues to advance, Google Maps continues to gain more and more 3D views as well.  If you’ve recently clicked on an area of Google Maps you’ve probably seen a link to “Street View”.  If you click on that, you can see the exact location of that spot on the map in 3D street view.  Every week more and more locations are being added to Google Map’s street view.  It’s an exciting advancement.

And it’s exciting for me personally because I’m moving in the next 2 weeks and I’d like to see the neighborhoods of the apartments that look good to me before I take the time to schedule to SEE the apartments.  And since mankind is essentially nomadic by nature, I’m sure I’m not the only person on earth who appreciates this particular feature that Google has created.

Just wanted to let you know about something new and cool and Google Earth-related.

Go check it out!  I’ll give updates as I find out things…

Peace.

Technorati Tags: google earth, google maps, street view

Ok I don’t know how many of the readers of this blog are technically inclined, but I wanted to post something about this just in case.

Google has just announced a new Sketch Up contest for 2008.  If you’re a student, and you are motivated to create a model of your school’s campus for Google Earth’s 3D warehouse, you can enter the competition and win an Apple iPod Touch, a Wii, a shirt, a hat and kudos and fame and all KINDS of stuff!

Here are the details directly from Google Earth, including the link for submission, contest rules, etc.:

Click here for Google’s SketchUp contest information!

Technorati Tags: google earth, sketch up, contest, wii, apple ipod touch

Wow, looks like soon there will be more and more options of layers in the Google Earth interface. I just found out today that someone has started a project to plot the locations of the birthplaces of all the major musicians throughout history on Google Earth. The way this would work is you would click on the placemark and you’d get info about that musician, a bio and even be able to listen to a bit of their music. I think that is unbelievably cool. The project has just gotten started but it’s generated a lot of interest and attention. I predict this will inspire others to create other plugins for similar types of information…like famous sports personalities, or artists. It really opens up a whole new realm of possibilities.

The person who is working on/heading this project is a member of the Google Earth community named Biggles99 and here’s the link to the full article. Check it out for yourself. It’s awesome!

Biggles99, if you’re taking requests, I’d like the Trip Hop genre marked prominently in Bristol, England with all the amazing musicians like Morcheeba, Massive Attack and Portishead noted. Actually I’m just going to write to you separately to see if I can help. But meanwhile, thanks so much for coming up with such a creative application for Google Earth!

Technorati Tags: google earth, music, musicians, genres, biggles99, plugins, placemarks