Google Earth Showed Protesters Way To Conquer Parliament

Demonstrators revealed yesterday that they had used Google Earth to plot their protest on the roof of the Houses of Parliament last week against the expansion of Heathrow.

The website, which allows users to zoom in on satellite photographs of Earth, “showed us all the walkways, steps and other details we needed to make our way across the roof from the door to the far side where the public could see us”, said Leo Murray, one of the five protesters.

The planning for the stunt began last autumn after the government published documents for a public consultation on a possible third runway at Heathrow.“What really enraged us was the government saying it supported the idea [of a third runway] even before the consultation began,” said Murray, 31, a postgraduate student in animation. “The consultation was also rigged to exclude almost any mention of climate change.”

Tamsin Omond, a 23-year-old with a first-class degree in English literature from Cambridge, described how they were able to map out the interior of the Palace of Westminster without raising suspicions. “We sent in a reconnaissance group who simply wandered around till they found the route to the roof ending in an open door. The fag butts around it showed it was being used by smokers,” she said.They managed to recruit a young Commons insider who, thanks to having a security pass, was able to carry the banners, handcuffs (bought from a Soho sex shop) and other equipment past the body scanners and X-ray machines that are supposed to protect the buildings. (...more)

The Bible According to Google Earth

The Crucifixion

(via Mental Floss) Here’s a cool idea realized: a Sydney, Australia-based art collective called The Glue Society has re-created scenes from the Bible as if captured by Google Earth’s ubiquitous satellites. Says Glue Society’s James Dive: “We like to disorientate audiences a little with all our work. And with this piece we felt technology now allows events which may or may not have happened to be visualized and made to appear dramatically real. As a method of representation satellite photography is so trusted, it has been interesting to mess with that trust.” Let’s see what they created!

The Garden of Eden

Noah and That Large Boat of His

Parting of the Red Sea

Google Earth Heads For The Stars

Google Earth has added more time killing fun with Sky for Google Earth. Check out the latest version of Google Earth to get the Sky layer which allows users to “explore the universe from the comfort of your chair.”

The Sky layer allows you to view and explore the universe just like regular Google Earth. There are information balloons and timelapse orbits to illustrate the planets relationships. You can zoom in on galaxies that are hundreds of millions of light years away, or explore the constellations and even witness a supernova explosion.

Explore the sky in Google Earth 4.2

google earth

3-D Model of Watercrest Flood Verification on Google Earth

Watercrest Flood Verification at Papermill Center gets a little Google Earth 3-D model. This is where all the fancy FEMA Flood maps get done in high-tech style, kinda. Actually, it's just an uneventful strip mall but we call it home.

• Watercrest Flood at Papermill Center Download

Knoxville Sunsphere on Google Earth

The 1982 World's Fair brought Knoxville one of its most known landmarks, the Sunsphere. Located off Clinch Ave in Knoxville, the Sunsphere and the remaining World's Fair Park have undergone renovations over the last few years.

1st model without textures

Most notable is the addition of the new Knoxville Convention Center, seen above to the right of the Sunsphere. Whether you remember the Sunsphere from the '82 World's Fair or the episode of the Simpson's where it was dubbed the "Wig-sphere," there's no doubting you know it when you see it. I always thought it looked a little like a big golf ball on a tee.

I have made a basic model for Google Earth of the Sunsphere. I have yet to add textures for the sphere. I'll get around to that later. I'm also working on the Convention Center and the little Amphitheater to the left. As I add the details and such I'll update both the Google layers and this site.

I have updated the Sunsphere with textures and changed the base from a square model to a hexagon model. Here's the new link for the Sunsphere Google Earth download.

Why Google Earth Isn't "Live!"

Maybe someday down the road there will be live imaging on satellite programs like Google Earth. For now, however, we have to deal with the possibility that because of people like Homer Simpson that day will not come soon.

Google Earth maps out Darfur atrocities

As of today, when the 200 million users of Google Earth log onto the site, they will be able to view the horrific details of what's happening in Darfur for themselves. The great thing about programs like Google Earth, and any other modern web-driven object, is that they hold to power of knowledge.

"At Google, we believe technology can be a catalyst for education and action," Elliot Schrage, Google's vice president of global communications and public affairs said. " 'Crisis in Darfur' will enable Google Earth users to visualize and learn about the destruction in Darfur as never before and join the museum's efforts in responding to this continuing international catastrophe." Google Earth maps out Darfur atrocities

Google wins key ruling in patent dispute over Earth software

Online search leader Google Inc. has won a key court ruling in a patent dispute over its popular three-dimensional software that provides Internet tours of the Earth.

In a summary judgment issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock in Massachusetts decided that Google Earth doesn't infringe on a patent issued to Skyline Software Systems Inc. in 2002.

Skyline, a privately held company in Chantilly, Va., had been pursuing a patent infringement claim since 2004 when it first sued Keyhole Inc., whose technology powers Google Earth. Mountain View-based Google bought Keyhole for an undisclosed amount in October 2004.

Keyhole's 3-D technology powers mapping software that ranks among Google's biggest successes outside of its search engine. Google said its Earth software has been downloaded more than 100 million times [...continue article]

A CRUISE MISSLE OVER UTAH?

Someone posted a find in Google Maps of what they claimed was a cruise missile in flight over south central Utah captured in the satellite photo. However, on the Google Earth Blog the guys got to work on the picture and concluded it is really just a jet with dark wings. It's hard to see at first, but you can look hard and see wings shadowed.

CROCODILE HUNTER IN GOOGLE EARTH

The 3D download for the Sydney Opera House has a little bonus on it's shore front. The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, makes and appearance with his pet croc!

TOURIST INSIDE TOKYO TOWER ON GOOGLE EARTH

You can download the Tokyo Tower from the Google 3-D warehouse and get a little visitor included. Inside the tower is a tourist (below) that is in the bottom of the tower. With the 3D objects, you can go through them. Do this for the tower and in the bottom is the tourist.

EASTER ISLAND ON GOOGLE EARTH

I don't remember Easter Island being this detailed on GOOGLE EARTH when I first checked on it. However, GE updates a lot and it was what seems like years ago when I first started playing on GE.

One of the cool things about GE is how well they have incorporated information into their mapping. I like how over the last year they have really incorporated pictures into their layers without having to go download anything.

The Easter Island maps are no different. They have lots of images of the little stone dudes for you to view. Click on their pictures to view their data.

Vista Sidebar Traffic Gadget is released

The new Microsoft Vista Traffic Gadget exposes traffic Flow information for all of the cities that Live Maps has traffic flow data for, currently 24 major metros in the US. You can install the Traffic gadget from the gallery.

Not that I have Vista or plan to get it anytime soon, but it's nice to know that new technology is taking mapping and GIS very serious. The Google Earth & Microsoft Virtual Earth battle is being incorporated into new software very easily.

Australia gets roads, KML search details

Last week Australia got directions in Google Earth, and just now it got roads too. The alignment between road data and imagery looks good in Sydney, Perth and Canberra. In Melbourne, not so much.

The much publicized Google Mapping of Australia that began last month no doubt worked as a good promotion for the already popular Google Earth.

Top 10 Sports on Google Earth

With high-resolution images all over the globe, Google Earth has captured many sporting events actually in-progress, so today we proudly present - The Top 10 different sports you can actually see people playing on Google Earth!

GOOGLE EARTH SEARCHES UPGRADED

GOOGLE EARTH now can search for relevant information that ties into your GOOGLE EARTH views at the moment. Essentially you can find information customized to your GE experience. There's more on this from the Google Earth Blog.

Google Earth makes the news again as a tool of war

Unlike previous stories of GE being used to attack troops, this story focuses on GE being used as a form of defense planning for Sunni Muslims being attacked by Shia Militia. Although it does mention the use of GE by insurgents to identify ‘posible targets’

From BBC News: Google is playing an unlikely role in the Iraq war. Its online satellite map of the world, Google Earth, is being used to help people survive sectarian violence in Baghdad. As the communal bloodshed has worsened, some Iraqis have set up advice websites to help others avoid the death squads.

One tip - on the Iraq League site, one of the best known - is for people to draw up maps of their local area using Google Earth’s detailed imagery of Baghdad so they can work out escape routes and routes to block.

It’s another example of the central role technology plays in the conflict - with the widespread use of mobile phones, satellite television as well as the internet - by all sides and for many purposes.

CAR PARKED ON SIDE OF BUILDING FOUND ON GOOGLE EARTH

This car parked on the side of a building was taken to help solve a Google Earth mystery. Someone found the satellite version of this picture and wondered if the Google had made a mistake. Turns out it real and in the Netherlands. And at night the lights turn on.

Google Earth agrees to blur pix of key Indian sites

NEW DELHI: President APJ Abdul Kalam's concerns over Google Earth providing detailed and unhindered view of ‘sensitive' Indian establishments have been addressed, courtesy a formula which allows users uninterrupted access to the ‘eye in the sky' while camouflaging key installations.

Fuzzy, low resolution pictures and distorted building plans is how the government and Google Earth have agreed to get around concerns that images of sensitive military and scientific establishments available on the Web could either allow unauthorised snooping or become a ready reckoner for terrorists.

At a recent meeting between ministry of science and technology officials and Google Earth representatives, it was decided that installations identified by government would be carefully camouflaged. This, it was felt, was better than an outright blackout. Apart from well-known sites like BARC, there are many less prominent ones, and blacking them out would only attract attention to their locations.

Images of these locations will not be of more than 25-50 metre resolution, more like the older generation pictures provided by Indian Remote Sensing satellites. Official sources said Google Earth would distort building plans by adding structures where none existed or masking certain aspects of a facility. This could be done without attracting attention to such establishments, which range from laboratories, mines, military sites, space and atomic centres and residences of high-profile VVIPs.

The government list of such sites would be accepted by Google Earth. The controversy over Google Earth's images had gained momentum after Kalam, in October last year, expressed concern that unrestricted pictures on the web could have worrisome security implications. [via]

Abu Simbel Statues of Pharaoh Ramsses in 3D in Google Earth

[Via Google Earth Blog]

The archaeological site of Abu Simbel in southern Egypt is home to the fabulous twin temples built during the era of Pharaoh Ramsses II which include four 20 meter statues of the Pharaoh. The temples and statues were carefully moved by antiquities experts 60 meters up the mountainside in the 1960s out of necessity due to the building of the Aswan Dam which formed Lake Nasser.

Read more about Abu Simbel at Wikipedia. One of the Google Earth Community members, 'pmaxfield2' recently posted a 3D model of the statues and temple. Check out the model in Google Earth 4. He even used photos of the statues and the new feature in SketchUp 6 (the free 3D modeling tool from Google) called Photo Match to add realistic textures to the model. Viewing this model in Google Earth gave me a new perspective on this site and encouraged me to learn more about it. Great work pmaxfield2!