Digital Earth Blog

Google Maps Mania has just highlighted Enkin, a slick new augmented reality program that is being built for the Android platform.

You’ve probably seen demos like this before, but this one sounds like it’s pretty much ready to launch.  The developers say that some Android hardware will have the necessary components built in (compass, GPS and camera), so would expect that we’ll be able to use this software later in the year!

Check out the video below for more:

Enkin from Enkin on Vimeo.

Firefox 3 is set to be released tomorrow, and Mozilla is hoping for five million downloads.  My concerns had been two-fold:  Firefox 3 breaks the Google Toolbar and the Google Earth Plug-in.  However, the toolbar has been updated today to work with FF3, but what about the plug-in?

There has been no word from Google about a possible update, so maybe it’s not coming.  However, with Firefox 3 getting rave reviews, I would expect that the adoption rate will be quite high.  I would hate to see the plug-in take a bit step back by suddenly not working on millions of computers…

Google Earth Blog has revealed some extra 3D buildings that were recently added to Google Earth.  Some of the cities with new models are:

• San Diego, CA
• Chicago, IL
• Dallas, TX
• Sydney, Australia
• Tokyo, Japan

????????

• Christchurch, New Zealand

Since there wasn’t an official list provided, there may be more out there.  If you notice any other areas with new buildings, please let us know in the comments.

This is the update you’ve been waiting for!  Google Maps StreetView has been updated with a TON of new stuff.

37 new areas:

• MA: Springfield
• NY: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse
• NJ: Newark
• VA: Virginia Beach
• NC: Charlotte, Winston-Salem
• SC: Columbia, Greenville
• GA: Atlanta
• FL: Boca Raton, Cape Coral, Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Sarasota, West Palm Beach
• AL: Huntsville
• MS: Jackson
• TN: Knoxville
• KY: Lexington, Louisville
• OH: Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo
• MI: Ann Arbor
• MO: St. Louis
• KS: Topeka
• NE: Lincoln
• OK: Oklahoma City, Tulsa
• NV: Reno
• CA: Bakersfield, Fresno, Sacramento, Stockton

10 new parks and recreational areas:

• Everglades National Park (Florida)
• Florida Keys
• Grand Teton National Park (Wyoming)
• Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming/Montana)
• Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado)
• Joshua Tree National Park (California)
• Death Valley National Park (California)
• Lassen Volcanic National Park (California)
• Sequoia National Park (California)
• Lake Tahoe (California/Nevada)

Expanded coverage in 15 existing areas:

• Boise
• Boston
• Kansas City
• Miami
• Nashville
• New York City
• Orlando
• Philadelphia
• Phoenix
• Portland
• Richmond
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• Tampa
• Tucson

There is all kinds of fun stuff to go find!  Share your best ones in the Google Earth Hacks Streetview section.

Google has just updated Google Maps Mobile to version 2.2.  The primary enhancement in this version is public transit — now you can get information on bus, train and ferry routes right from your mobile.

You can download the application by visiting this link with your phone, or you can read more on the Google LatLong Blog or on Google Maps Mania.  In addition, they’ve produced a short video to show off the new features:

To go with the new “version 2″ 3D data for Miami, Microsoft has updated Vienna and Seattle.  In addition to that, they’ve added a ton of new imagery.

I normally like to list all of the updated areas, but it’s simply too much.  You can view it all on this page.

The total amount of new imagery is reported to be around 69.2TB, which is amazing!  However, I don’t know how that number is computed.  Is that raw imagery?  Compressed?  Anyone know how that figure is derived?

In any case, it looks to be another awesome update.

It’s a few weeks later than we expected, but Disney World is now 3D in Google Earth — and it’s impressive!  They’ve included the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Disney Resorts.

There are actually two parts to this:

• The normal 3D buildings layer will add all kinds of visual goodness, such as buildings, trees, statues, etc.
• The special Disney layer will add information about the parks and the hotels.

To activate the 3D buildings, simply check the box next to “3D Buildings” in the “Layers” tab like you normally would.

To activate the Disney layer, go to “Gallery -> Travel and Tourism -> Walt Disney World”.  Once you’ve turned that on, along with the 3D buildings, fly down there (KML) and check it out.

The 3D aspect of this is stunning, but be warned — it’s very graphically intensive.  I’ve got a pretty solid machine, and it slowed it down quite noticeably.  Still, it’s well worth checking out.  Have fun!

Update: Frank Taylor has just made a nice little video that takes you through the 3D Magic Kingdom.  Check it out:

Here’s another fun game using the Google Earth plug-in, based heavily off of the Monster Milktruck demo.  It has quite a few limitations (the biggest being no altitude adjustment), but it’s another step in the right direction.

The plane simply hugs the ground, and it runs in a pretty small window.  The small window is an attempt to use less bandwidth.  Since the plane can’t stop (or even slow down), the imagery has a hard time keeping up.  The small window helps with that a little bit.

Despite the shortcomings, it’s a fun little app and it has me even more excited about the possibilities for the future.

About two months after the first four “version 2″ cities were released, Microsoft has just unveiled Miami 2.0.  Like the other four cities, it features a massive increase in the number of buildings, along with a whole bunch of 3D trees.  According to the Virtual Earth 3D blog, Miami now has 46,344 3D buildings (up from about 4,000) along with “hundreds of thousands” of trees.

To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed with the pace of these new cities.  They’ve bragged a few times that these cities are generated through a “100% automated process”, so I expected a few new cities per month.  To only have one new city after two months is a bit of a letdown.  That being said, Miami looks awesome and I can’t wait to see more!

Well, new to them at least.  Panoramio has brought out a new feature to allow you to “Look Around” some landmarks using a very simple, intiuitive interface.  As Google Earth Blog points out, this feels very similar to Microsoft’s Photosynth.  In addition, as Google System points out, it’s not nearly as cool.

I’m a bit disappointed that this doesn’t yet work in Google Earth.  I was picturing something much more similar to Photosynth, where you could interact in a 3D world.  Still, it’s a very nice start and works very well.  The transitions between photos are very smooth and really help illustrate how the photos are related to one another.

Some places to check out, as suggested by the Panoramio blog:

• St. Peter Square in Rome
• Alhambra from Albaicin
• Mount Rushmore
• Roofs of Lisbon
• Chicago’s Hancock Tower
• Stockholm from Katarinahissen
• The Red Square of Moscow
• Brandenburg gate in Berlin
• The Taj Mahal
• The Sydney Opera House

Update: A little more info is now up on the Google LatLong blog.