Install Earth

I was just checking out a neat interface called “Flash Earth” today. It was built by Paul Neave in Flash. With it, you can view the earth from 7 different mapping applications including Ask, Yahoo maps, Google Earth, NASA and OpenLayers. It doesn’t have the bells and whistles that Google Earth has in its full form, and it isn’t meant to necessarily, it’s meant to be a zoomable mashup of 7 different mapping programs.  And it’s interesting to compare the different programs. It’s especially nice after years of reading blog posts which are pro microsoft, or pro yahoo or anti this or that, each giving its own opinion of whose imagery is better, etc. With this little simple interface, you can see for yourself.

It’s more of a novelty item than a vital tool like Google Earth, in my opinion. For me, Google Earth allows me to print maps, make trip routes, email locations and maps to people or myself, find restaurants and points of interest wherever I go, etc. It’s much more important to me to have THOSE features than to just see where my house is on a map. But if that’s all you need, and also if you want to compare the different 3D mapping sources, then check out “Flash Earth”.  It really is a fun tool and it will finally end the arguments of whose imagery is better.  Because those were REALLY annoying.

Technorati Tags: neave.com, paul neave, google earth mashups, flash earth

Are you a creative person?  Do you have a little time on your hands?  Did you like designing/making models when you were a kid?  Do you STILL like it?  Well, this might be just the project for you…

SketchUp  is a 3D modeling software tool that Google offers for free.  You can download it right from that SketchUp link and start using it to create 3D models of anything you want.  Google also has a 3D Warehouse where you can upload your 3D model, and if it’s really good and meets all the criteria, it will actually be added to Google Earth and become part of the “Best of 3D warehouse” layer.

You can do this just for fun for yourself, or you can use it as a way to showcase your work professionally.  You can even join a community of people who are all working on a 3D model of a particular city.  Click here to help out on 3D models of a city.  All the information, and a great pdf for tips on creating awesome 3D models are all on Google’s 3D Warehouse page.

And if you really start to get serious about 3D modeling, there’s a Pro version of Sketchup available on the same SketchUp page I linked to above.

Here’s a great model of Dodger Stadium that’s part of the 3D Warehouse.

It was created by jtb321, one of the many creative people who’ve submitted models.  You can see all of jtb321’s models from that link.  And you can look around the warehouse and see other people’s submissions as well, for inspiration and ideas.

Do it.  You know you want to.

Technorati Tags: google sketchup, sketchup, 3d models, 3d modelling, 3d warehouse, jtb321, sketchup 6.0, sketchup pro

You may or may not know that there’s a whole separate and almost secret aspect to the newest version of Google Earth. It’s called Google Sky. If you click on view–>switch to sky or click the little saturn icon, your view will switch to the sky from where you just were. So if you were looking around Brooklyn, NY and switched to Sky, you would instantly see the sky as it looks from Brooklyn, NY. You wouldn’t be able to see the earth in Sky mode, but you can easily switch right back to earth when you’re ready.

There is a layers panel for Sky, just as there is for regular Google Earth, but the options are different and related to sky views. You can get help and get questions answered related to Google Sky by going to Sky Community in the Layers panel and looking at other people’s questions or ask your own. There’s also the Welcome Sky layer which gives you some information.

Like any other technology, though, you find out the most by just trying it out for yourself and seeing how it works.

Just thought I’d let you know about that in case you didn’t know. Have fun!!!

Technorati Tags: google earth, google sky, layers panel, sky community

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