Highlights:
What's New in Google Earth?
New Imagery
New and Updated Layers
Earth API Demo Gallery
GeoEducation in Alaska
Panoramio Contest Winners

Explore Further:
13,000 Real-time Satellites
Large Hadron Collider
Map the Candidates
KML in Research: Conference and Contest
Tips & Tricks: Using Alternate Public Imagery
Placemarks of the Month
October Calendar
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Please note that the latest version of Google Earth is 4.3 (beta). Make sure you download the latest version. Some of the content mentioned in this newsletter will only work properly on Google Earth 4.3.

What's New in Google Earth?

Each month we highlight the newest additions to Google Earth content. If you haven't been subscribing to Sightseer for long, check the forum for previous editions.

New Imagery

On September 5th, we introduced another imagery update for Google Earth. This update includs many cities in the US, the state of West Virginia, and parts of a few states in New England. Also, many countries in Europe and the Middle East were updated, as were a few cities in Japan and Australia. Medium resolution imagery was added for Greece, Turkey, and a portion of Australia. Finaly, there were many small strips of new high resolution satellite images added all over the globe, especially in Canada, Mexico, and China. Read more.

New and Updated Layers

Several layers were added or updated since the last issue of Sightseer.

• WikiLoc - We added this new GPS layer under the Gallery layer folder. Spain-based Wikiloc aggregates thousands of GPS tracks for various outdoor activities provided by its growing user community. The layer not only lets you display the GPS tracks in Google Earth, but also gives you additional information like the distance covered, the elevation maxima, a personal description of the trip, and pictures taken by the user. This can be interesting to explore and very helpful for illustrating a trip. Read more.
  
  
• UNEP: Atlas of our Changing Environment - We re-launched one of our oldest and most popular Global Awareness layers in September. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The layer now showcases 187 sites around the world with a special emphasis on environmental change in Africa over the past few decades. The layer allows you to compare current and historical aerial and satellite imagery, read stories of environmental degradation and restoration, see photographs taken on-location, and leave comments about each site. Read more.
  
  
• Hurricane Season 2008 - In response to the series of tropical storms in August/September we released a temporary hurricane layer under the Weather layer folder. This layer appeared while storms were active in the Atlantic and showed storm tracks and forecasted paths. Data came from the National Hurricane Center. The season is not over yet, so check the Weather layer when hurricanes are present. Other storm tracking tools are available with a wide range of weather data in Google Earth.

Earth API Demo Gallery

We introduced a new Earth API Demo Gallery for examples of Google Earth plugin applications. These demos serve as samples of ways the plugin can be used to create applications. See the Earth API developer's guide for more information.

GeoEducation in Alaska

Five Googlers visited three rural school districts in Alaska to show teachers and students how Google Earth and Maps. The idea for an educational outreach tour began when one active Geo developer, John Bailey of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), told us about his experiences teaching undergrads with Google Earth. We wanted to learn more and help spread the word on how educators are using these technologies. Read conclusions from the trip. Read more about Google Education Tools.

Panoramio Contest Winners

We announced the winners of the June 2008 Panoramio photo contest. The locations of all the photos in Panoramio are viewable in Google Earth or Maps. Look for the layer under the Geographic Web layer folder.

13,000 Real-time Satellites

Many people have no idea how many satellites orbit around the Earth. Now you can see the real-time positions of over 13,000 satellites updated every 30 seconds with Google Earth. The satellite positions come from a US government-sponsored database which Analytic Graphics, Inc., has interfaced with to make the data visible in 3D. Zoom around in space and pause to see the names of the satellites. Click on the satellite placemark icons to see more information on each one. Here is a YouTube video showing what the satellite visualization looks like. You can view the actual collection with AGI's KML file in Google Earth. You can also watch it in your browser using the Earth plugin on this page by Google Earth Blog.

Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a particle accelerator and collider located at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. On September 10th, the LHC completed its first major operational test. Large particle accelerators are built in circles to get particles up to near the speed of light. The LHC is nearly 27 km in circumference and is located 50 to 175 meters underground, making this massive underground structure difficult to visualize.

Google Earth 3D modeling guru Joe Wade, who is known in the Google Earth Community as 'jpwade', posted a 3D diagram and models showing the LHC operation. Download the LHC model . Joe floated the underground portion of the LHC directly above its actual location so you can see how the subsurface structures look in 3D. Joe included a folder with YouTube videos in placemarks which provide some excellent information about the project. The large deep structure is the new ATLAS particle detector system.

Just for fun, Joey also included a little animation showing two particles in opposite directions going around the collider. After loading the file above, just click on the play button to the right of the time slider to see the animation.

Map the Candidates

Google Earth Community member Hidenori Watanave created a "geo-mapping" application to track the locations of the US presidential candidates. He scanned images on the Internet to determine location. He then created a KML file which shows the images geo-located in Google Earth and lines connecting to the birthplace of each candidate. Read Hidenori's explanation of the project.

Another candidate visualization for Google Earth is a geo-biography of John McCain's early life including his military service. Download the McCain KML and follow the instructions inside Google Earth. You double-click on the placemarks to move forward and backwards through the storyline. The file was created by BrightGIS as an example of political promotion. Read more.

KML in Research: Content and Contest

As part of our effort to expand the use of Google Earth in higher education, we're excited to announce a couple of programs for the fall.

We've partnered with the University of Michigan to co-host the Scientific Applications for Google Earth Conference on October 22nd and 23rd in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Keynote speakers include Tim Killeen, Assistant Director of Geosciences at the National Science Foundation, and Dan Adkins, former Director of the National Science Foundation Office of Cyberinfrastructure. Details about the conference are available here.

Google also recently launched a KML in Research contest for students and academics. The goal is for people working with KML to get some exposure for their work and have it showcased at the American Geophysical Union's annual Fall meeting in December. Get more details about the contest here.

Placemarks of the Month

Singapore Grand Prix - See story
Track of Hurricane Ike - By Naval Research Laboratory
Magnetic Cows - See story

October Calendar

Click on the links below to fly to places associated with this month's events. Don't forget to click on the Placemarks in Google Earth to read the descriptions.

October  4 - Launch of Sputnik 1 (50th anniversary)
October 11 - University of Sydney
October 13 - First Aerial Photo
October 24 - Sheffield Football Club
October 27 - John Cleese Born
October 31 - Peter Jackson Born

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