Digital Earth Blog

Rumor has it that the iPhone firmware will be updated to version 1.1.3 next week. Part of that update will include a few new features for the Google Maps app on the phone.

• One part will be a hybrid view, which the phone currently doesn’t have.
• The other is the addition of the “My Location” feature, which is already available in the mobile Gmaps for other phones.

I’ve had these features on my Nokia N95 for a while now, so it’s nice to see that they’re finally making their way to the iPhone.

(via Spatially Adjusted) Here is a slick video showing a person flying through Virtual Earth using the Wii Remote (with a Nunchuk).

The movement is strikingly smooth. He’s moving multiple directions at once (something you can’t do with the Sandio mouse), and it almost looks on par with the Space Navigator.

I have a Wii, so I wonder how on earth you can set something like this up…

Video: Wiimote Interface for Virtual Earth

Frank Taylor at the Google Earth Blog has compiled a list of the 25 best Google Earth stories of the year.  It’s quite a good list, covering everything from Steve Fossett to the flight sim to Darfur.

Check it out.  Agree with the list?

As reported by the Google Earth Blog, the NORAD Santa Tracker for this year is ready.  You can download it from the NORAD Tracks Santa website.

Gather the kids around the PC and watch Santa’s progress throughout the day!

With so many people traveling over the next 10 days, I thought it would be worth reminding you about the excellent Google Maps Mobile.

The searching and directions are neat, but the live traffic is the real killer feature in this product. It saved us a good deal of time yesterday (don’t go down 75 — take 285 around) , and will likely be a big help again tomorrow.

Their latest update also included “My Location”, which is a simulated GPS using cell tower information. My phone has GPS (N95 FTW), but this is a useful feature on my wife’s BlackJack.

Bottom line: If you have a compatible phone, GMM is a must have during the holidays.

To go with yesterday’s 36 TB imagery update, Virtual Earth now has another 60 cities in 3D.  Amazing!

The list:

CALIFORNIA

* Chino (124 sq. mi.)
* Corona (65.17 sq. mi.)
* El Monte (129 sq. mi.)
* Fontana (100 sq. mi.)
* Fullerton (122 sq. mi.)
* Ontario (99.43 sq. mi.)
* Pasadena (108 sq. mi.)
* Riverside (123 sq. mi.)
* San Bernardino (126 sq. mi.)

COLORADO

* Arvada (207 sq. mi.)
* Aurora (237 sq. mi.)
* Boulder (131 sq. mi.)
* Lakewood (108 sq. mi.)

CONNECTICUT

* Hartford (89.32 sq. mi.)
* New Haven (70.29 sq. mi.)
* Waterbury (81.46 sq. mi.)

IOWA

* Davenport (93.46 sq. mi.)

IDAHO

* Nampa (103 sq. mi.)

ILLINOIS

* Peoria (83.34 sq. mi.)
* Springfield (79.38 sq. mi.)
* Waukegan (77.33 sq. mi.)

KANSAS

* Kansas City (53.21 sq. mi.)
* Overland Park (168 sq. mi.)
* Topeka (74.54 sq. mi.)
* Wichita (97.86 sq. mi.)

MASSACHUSSETS

* Lowell (85.32 sq. mi.)
* Springfield (87.43 sq. mi.)
* Worcester (54.55 sq. mi.)

MISSOURI

* Gladstone (82.76 sq. mi.)
* Independence (83.61 sq. mi.)
* Kansas City (94.76 sq. mi.)
* St Louis (129 sq. mi.)

NORTH CAROLINA

* Cary (83.93 sq. mi.)
* Charlotte (75.73 sq. mi.)
* Durham (113 sq. mi.)
* Fayetteville (99.34 sq. mi.)
* Greensboro (91.59 sq. mi.)
* Raleigh (104 sq. mi.)

NORTH DAKOTA

* Fargo (86.02 sq. mi.)

NEW HAMPSHIRE

* Manchester (88.08 sq. mi.)

OHIO

* Cleveland (122 sq. mi.)

OREGON

* Eugene (90.13 sq. mi.)
* Gresham (148 sq. mi.)
* Hillsboro (111 sq. mi.)
* Salem (77.59 sq. mi.)

RHODE ISLAND

* Providence (82.71 sq. mi.)

SOUTH DAKOTA

* Rapid City (207 sq. mi.)
* Sioux Falls (64.72 sq. mi.)

UTAH

* Provo (79.74 sq. mi.)
* Salt Lake City (99.66 sq. mi.)
* West Valley City (95.8 sq. mi.)

VIRGINIA

* Newport News (144 sq. mi.)
* Norfolk (172 sq. mi.)
* Richmond (99.76 sq. mi.)

WISCONSIN

* Eau Claire (86.58 sq. mi.)
* Green Bay (85.28 sq. mi.)

CANADA

* Lachine (60.9 sq. mi.)

UNITED KINGDOM

* Liverpool (43.04 sq. mi.)

Very impressive, I must say…

Hot on the heels of the big Google Earth imagery update, Microsoft has released a big update for Virtual Earth.  This update totals about 36 Terabytes and includes the following:

Birds Eye (Obliques)

USA (Pictometry):

* Kern, CA
* Shasta, CA
* El Paso, CO
* Danbury, CT
* City of East Haven, CT
* Prince George, MD
* Kalamazoo, MI
* Kent, MI
* St Louis, MO
* Mississippi Metro
* Mecklenberg Metro, NC
* Raleigh, NC
* Hunterdon Metro, NJ
* Columbia, NY
* Erie, NY
* Nassau, NY
* Niagara, NY
* Orange, NY
* Rensselaer, NY
* Steuben, NY
* Ulster, NY
* Poughkeepie Metro, NY
* Philadelphia, PA
* Harrisburg Metro, PA
* Greenville, SC
* Spartanburg, SC
* Loudon, TN
* Knoxville, TN (parts 1 & 2)
* McLennan, TX
* Nueces, TX
* PotterRandall, TX
* Beaufort Metro, TX
* Richmond, VA
* Fairfax, VA
* Skagit, WA
* Dane, WI

Europe (BLOM):

* Brussels, Belgium
* Luzern, Switzerland
* Winterthur, Switzerland
* Zurich, Switzerland
* Frankfurt, Germany
* Madrid, Spain
* Zaragoza, Spain
* Castleford, UK
* Chester, UK
* Crewe, UK
* Darlington, UK
* Dearne Valley Urban Area, UK
* Harrogate/Knaresborough, UK
* Hartlepool, UK
* Leeds, UK
* London, UK
* Macclesfield/Pretsbury, UK
* Middlesborough, UK
* Milton Keynes, UK
* Newcastle, UK
* Reading/Workingham, UK
* Scarborough, UK
* Scunthorpe, UK
* York, UK

Orthos

3Di Hi-res (15cm, unless indicated):

* Allentown PA
* Bridgeport CT
* Cary NC
* San Bernardino CA
* Pasadena CA
* Ogden UT
* Manchester NH
* Fontana CA
* Corona CA
* Chino CA
* Gladstone MO
* Newport News VA
* Riverside CA
* Salt Lake City UT
* Stamford CT
* Waterbury CT
* West Valley City UT
* Aurora CO
* St Louis MO
* Kansas City KS
* EauClaire WI
* Cleveland OH
* Quebec city (30cm)
* Arvada CO
* Boulder CO
* Davenport IA
* El Monte CA
* Independence MO
* Kansas City MO
* Lakewood CO
* Overland Park KS
* Peoria IL
* Salem OR
* Topeka KS
* Wichita KS
* Calgary 2006 (30cm)
* Eugene OR
* Fargo ND
* Green Bay WI
* Medford OR
* Nampa ID
* Springfield IL
* Tokyo JPN
* Waukegan IL

GlobeXplorer (1ft):

* Birmingham
* Portland
* Maryland, Northern Virgina, DC
* Tampa Ft Myers
* Sacramento Region

GeoEye (1m):

* Valencia, Spain
* Oporto, Spain
* Thessaloniki (Salonica), Greece
* Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
* Goteborg, Sweden
* Copenhagen, Denmark
* Brussels, Belgium
* Oslo, Norway
* Grand Canaria/Las Palmas, Canary Islands
* Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
* Casablanca, Morocco
* Kuwait City, Kuwait
* Dhaka, Bangladesh
* Tahiti, French Polynesia
* Moscow, Russia
* Christchurch, New Zealand
* Wellington, New Zealand

GetMapping UK:

* Wales
* Scotland

Holland DKLN :

* Many Areas

Google has just updated a ton of imagery in Google Earth.  Google Maps hasn’t received the updated data yet, but should get it in a couple of days.

The complete list of updates, as per the Google LatLong Blog:

New high resolution:
Americas:

• Canada: Significant amount of British Columbia
• USA: Jefferson City (MO), Central Virginia, Tioga County (NY), Cayuga County (NY), Jefferson County (NY), Broome County (NY)
• Brazil: Uberlandia
• Colombia: Cali, Pasto
• Mexico: Veracruz

Europe, Middle East and Africa:

• France: Le Havre, Dunkerque
• Poland: Poznan
• Russia: Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Vladikavkaz, Volzhskiy, Barnaul
• Ukraine: Rivne, Odesa
• Morocco: Agadir
• Nigeria: Abuja
• Egypt: 2.5m imagery for eastern half of the country

Asia & Oceania:

• Japan: Kagoshima, Hamamatsu
• New Zealand: Manawatu Wanganui Province, Thames-Coromandel Province
• China: Guiyang, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan, Neijang, Anshun, Zhuzhou, Changde, Jiaoijang, Sashi, Qinhuangdao, Mudanjiang
• Indonesia: Sukabumi, Surakarta

2.5m imagery for the eastern half of Egypt.

Updated Imagery:
Americas:

• Canada: Calgary
• USA: Bend (OR), Reno (NV), Googleplex (CA), San Miguel (CA), Paso Robles (CA), Buellton (CA), Thousand Oaks (CA), Los Angeles (CA), Orange County (CA), Denver (CO), Saint Louis (MO), Knoxville (TN), Chattanooga (GA), Dayton (CA), Atlanta (GA), Desoto County (FL), Onondaga County (NY), Cayuga County (NY), McAllen (TX), Sanger (CA), Bellevue (WA)

Europe, Middle East and Africa:

• France: Nantes, Lyon
• Germany: Sindelfingen, Ausburg, Leipzig, Aachen
• Denmark: Entire country
• Niger: Niamey
• Zimbabwe: Harare
• South Africa: Johannesburg
• Iran: Tehran

Asia:

• Japan: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagano
• Thailand: Bangkok
• Vietnam: Hanoi

Antarctica: new 15m imagery

Updated Terrain:

• Massachusetts

(via Google Maps Mania) Google has just added StreetView capability for four new cities:

• Detroit
• Boston
• Providence
• Indianapolis

Go check ‘em out!