On the forums at AVSIM, a flight simulator afficionado site, somebody has posted a side-by-side comparison of the same view of Seattle in Google Earth and in Microsoft Flight Simulator X. The FSX view looks much better — but much of it is fake.
Ed Parsons muses about the larger implications of the “Australian flying car” meme that propagated throught the internet over the past week.
Grasshoppermind notes the existence of digital cameras with built-in GPS, but wants to know — where are the video cameras with built-in GPS?
Austin Cot√© observes that “sometimes Google Earth is like an M. C. Escher painting”, and he posts a picture to prove it.
The BBC cites Google Earth as an example of a service that might end up diminishing our privacy while enhancing our quality of life.
Astronomers name a recently discovered earth-like exo-planet “OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb”, after this blog. (Thanks Declan!)
Ok Stefan, you know I can’t let that last one about the new planet go :-). They didn’t name it after your blog – they named it after: OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment). Delusions of grandeur…sheesh!
I first knew of Escher effects here: http://tinyurl.com/9xjyu and marked that point at Tagzania. If you want to see it by yourself download the KML:
http://www.tagzania.com/item/8462
Other strange effect reported here:
http://tinyurl.com/93aar
And congratulations for the planet!
I’ve seen the Escher effect in mid-town Atlanta at Peachtree St between 13th and 14th St.