Digital Earth Blog

Google releases SketchUp 7

mickey — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:46:44 +0000

Google has just released version 7 of SketchUp, their excellent 3D modelling tool. They’ve added a variety of tools at both ends of their userbase — it’s easier to get started, but it’s also more powerful for their advanced users. Here’s a short video showing some of the new features:

For more information about this release, visit the official Google blog, the Google Earth Blog or Ogle Earth.

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Google releases SketchUp 7

A few new 3D cities in Google Earth

mickey — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:21:44 +0000

As reported by the Google Earth Blog, there are a few new 3D cities in Google Earth — Pittsburgh, PA and Seattle, WA. There may be others, but those are the two that have been found so far.

I’ll keep poking around see if any other cities have fresh 3D imagery in them. Here’s a shot from Pittsburgh, which looks great.

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A few new 3D cities in Google Earth

Amazing 3D recreation of Ancient Rome in Google Earth

mickey — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:57:19 +0000

Google is about to unveil a new layer for Google Earth that shows over 5700 3D buildings from the city of Rome, circa 320 AD. This is based at least in part from the model of the city we showed you last year from the University of Virginia. If nothing else, they’re both based off the the “Plastico di Roma Antica”, a highly detailed plaster version of Rome that was built in the 1970’s.

The layer is not yet available, but will be found under “Gallery –> Ancient Rome 3D” when it’s released. You can find much more info about this layer at the Google Earth Blog, the Official Google Blog, Google’s new Ancient Rome page, or the video below.

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Amazing 3D recreation of Ancient Rome in Google Earth

MapQuest adds more new (old) features

mickey — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:02:50 +0000

As their lead over Google Maps continues to dwindle, MapQuest has rolled out a few more new features. By “new”, I mean new to MapQuest, not new to online mapping.

In this case, the new feature is draggable route changing. This is almost identical to the feature that Google released about 16 months ago.

It’s a good move by MapQuest. Before they can really try to innovate, they need to catch up first. This is another step toward that goal. I still think they’re toast in the long run, but it’s nice to see them continue to work hard to get caught back up.

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MapQuest adds more new (old) features

Huge imagery release for Virtual Earth

mickey — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:57:30 +0000

Microsoft has rolled out another enormous imagery release for Virtual Earth. Details can be found here, but the quick version includes:

Orthos

Spain
Japan

Obliques (Bird’s Eye)

United States
Japan
Australia
Canada
United Kingdom
Germany
Austria
Luxembourg

Sadly, once again, there doesn’t appear to be any new 3D buildings. C’mon Microsoft — those “version 2″ cities are amazing and we want more of them!

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Huge imagery release for Virtual Earth

StreetView released for Washington DC, Seattle and Baltimore

mickey — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:50:53 +0000

Very timely. On election day here in the US, Google has released StreetView for Washington, DC, along with Seattle, WA and Baltimore, MD.

The Google Earth Blog has a nice write-up about the new coverage and we’ll post our finds in the GEH StreetView database as we come across noteworthy locations. A few already submitted include the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and the White House. Have fun!

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StreetView released for Washington DC, Seattle and Baltimore

Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope finally has SpaceNavigator support

mickey — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:06:16 +0000

When WorldWide Telescope came out earlier this year, it blew a lot of people away — including me. It’s a phenomenal program!

However, it didn’t support the excellent SpaceNavigator device, making it much more difficult to use. I thought it was a bug at first, but it was simply not a supported device.

Today 3Dconnexion announced support for the software, and it works wonderfully. I’ve spent a good deal of time just browsing around this evening, because the SpaceNavigator makes it so easy. If you already have a SpaceNavigator, so download the latest version of WWTS and have some fun!

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Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope finally has SpaceNavigator support

StreetView now in Italy

mickey — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:52:39 +0000

Fresh on the heels of launching StreetView in Spain, Google has released StreetView in four major areas in Italy: Florence, Lake Como, Milan and Rome.

Check out some of the cool sights that Keir found on Google Maps Mania, and then submit your own to the GEH StreetView Gallery.

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StreetView now in Italy

StreetView comes to Spain!

mickey — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:53:28 +0000

It’s been a big day for Google. Earlier we had the Google Earth iPhone app come out (and yes, it’s very slick), and now we have StreetView in Spain.

They only added in four cities (Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia and Barcelona), but each seems to have rather extensive coverage. Google Maps Mania has found a handful of cool places, and we always encourage you to add your other finds to the GEH Streetview database.

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StreetView comes to Spain!

Google Earth has arrived on the iPhone

mickey — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:36:10 +0000

Somewhat out of the blue, though not totally unexpected after we saw EarthScape, Google Earth has been released for the iPhone!

It’s still being rolled out (Australia and Japan can get it now), and it’s not available for my area yet. I’ll post more details once I get it.

A little more info can be found on the Google Earth Blog, or you can check out the screenshots below.

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Google Earth has arrived on the iPhone