Sightseer
Registered: 07/13/06
Posts: 47
|
Trouble viewing this email? Click here to read the Sightseer.
 |  |
 |
|
|
February 2007 Issue |
| |
New Google Earth Search Capability 
Search is at the heart of everything we do here at Google. That's why we're excited to announce a new search innovation that's available today in Google Earth. Now you can now search through all of the world's Keyhole Markup Language (KML) files, making the millions of Google Earth KML files on the Web instantly accessible for geobrowsing and exploration.
 The new search capability can be found within Google Earth. It allows you to find relevant Google Earth content related to the place you are looking at in your Google Earth View. For example, if you search for "Lord of the Rings" in the "Search->Fly-To", while looking at New Zealand, the search results panel on the left will show 2 sets of results: red bubble icons for results from Google's local business search index, below that, web results in green globe placemarks, which include a small snippet (like web URLs with snippets on Google.com) and are checked off by default.
In the information bubble for a placemark from the web search results, you'll find a link at the top to the KML/KMZ file that contains it. Click this link and you'll instantly open the file, which shows up under Temporary Places in the Places panel. You can then browse the content by clicking on the files's various placemarks, much as you'd browse links on a web page. So in the above example, you can open the search result for "Lord of the Rings Tour" and browse through locations of, and information about, 37 different scenes. |
Remote Controlled Aerial Photography for Google Earth
 Last year, David Riallant of France released a Google Video showing the deployment and use of a drone (a remote controlled small aircraft) with a digital camera mounted to take aerial photos viewable in Google Earth. The drone can be controlled while simultaneously viewing the flight using virtual reality goggles. Since the drone can fly at low altitudes, it can take very high resolution photos. A company called Pict'Earth was formed to sell the technology; they've released an example of high-res photography of a gravel pit taken from a drone which you can see now in Google Earth  . Turn on the loaded network link and as you zoom in you'll see higher resolution photos using a KML feature called regions. They've highlighted each photo tile, so you can see how regions work. Flying one of these drones with the goggles must be a blast! |
Spreading the Word on Human Rights Issues
 International organizations that track human rights issues are using Google Earth to illustrate evidence of abuse visible from space. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), for instance, recently released dramatic before/after satellite photos showing villages which have been destroyed in Darfur (example - turn on/off the layers "March 2006" and "November 2006" to compare the areas marked in red) and similar destruction in Zimbabwe (example - turn on/off the loaded layer to compare areas marked in red). There are also examples of damage from the conflict between Israel and Lebanon (see example of damages in Beirut). The AAAS data involved collaboration with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Read more on the AAAS web site. |
Show us your University Campus in 3D
 The Build Your Campus in 3D Competition has launched! This spring, higher education students in the US and Canada can honor their campus turf and hone their 3D design skills by modeling their campus buildings in Google SketchUp, geo-referencing them in Google Earth, and submitting them through the competition website. Winners will get a visit to the Google campus, all expenses paid.
Students can team up with other students, or take the project on themselves (for the best results, we recommend including a faculty advisor). The deadline for entries is June 1, and the winning entries will be posted to the 3D Warehouse by July 10. Good luck and happy sketching! |
Google Earth Used to Fight Logging Proposal
 Rebecca Moore is a member of the Google Earth team who has made the news by using Google Earth to help fight a proposed logging plan in her neighborhood near Los Gatos, California. The plan, proposed by San Jose Water Co., is to log 1,000 acres of timberland in the Los Gatos Creek watershed, which contains redwood and Douglas fir trees. Last year Rebecca produced a Google Earth file documenting the layout of the area showing the trees, creeks and streams, schools, and homes which would be effected by the plan. The file helped gain considerable support in the fight against the logging plan (even Al Gore showed his support after seeing the proposed plan). A few months ago, Rebecca and a local helicopter aerial photographer jointly performed extensive photo analysis of the area. On January 31, a presentation by opponents to the plan was made at a public hearing using a movie (Quicktime, no audio) which reveals through photo analysis that the proposed logging exceeds a California legal requirement by possessing too much commercially viable land to qualify for an open logging plan. The fate of the plan will be decided soon.
There are examples of other citizens concerned about logging issues using Google Earth to present their cases; see, for instance, the logging plans for the Victorian rainforest, and the island of Tasmania.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Google Earth Free | Google Earth Plus | Google Earth Pro | Product Tour
© 2007 Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043
Google Earth Home | Support Help Center | Subscribe | Privacy Policy
|
|
Previous Topic
Index
