Until recently, the Google Earth dataset was the base dataset, and every update would be followed a few weeks later by the Google Maps version, as the maps version of the imagery is just a series of snapshots of the base imagery at different resolutions, one for each zoom level.

Not so any more. As of today, zoomed out Maps imagery enjoys the sheen of consistent post-processing. In places like the UK and Germany, where everything is in high resolution anyway, this is a welcome improvement. Quite possibly, the change was precipitated by the oohs and ahs that greeted Microsoft Live Local’s last UK dataset upgrade.

Some commenters make a good point, however. in areas where high-resolution imagery is not omnipresent, the color-shifted strips provided tell-tale signs of interesting high-resolution imagery to explore. Google Earth still has this advantage. To me, the colored strips in the Australian Outback are a feature, not a bug — an undocumented nudge towards the good stuff in Google Earth.

Also today in Maps: Double click to zoom for everyone, and continuous zoom for Windows users. In sum, all three improvements constitute a successful catch-up maneuver by Google, feature-wise, vis-à-vis Live Local. Meanwhile, Google Maps and Earth still far, far outshine the competition when it comes to content, and in this game, content very much is king. (I’m still in awe of the breadth of the last Google Earth dataset update from over a month ago.) (Via Zorgloob)

Google’s updated the download thank you page for Google Earth 4 beta. Newly featured KML includes a KML version of Google’s Green Summer website, KML for Turn Here‘s “Short films, cool places”, and (gasp) The Da Vinci Code Tour (argh — no link for you). (To try to make up for that, Google also briefly links to a great Shakespeare placemark collection further down the page, and to Declan’s avian flu map.)

And Google Earth Community now has over half a million members. That’s more people than in Antwerp.

• I’ve updated the Ogle Earth link page. If you think something’s missing that should be there, do let me know.
• Fascinating: The Internet and World Health, a blog by a doctor, Andrew Dean, that discusses the internet’s role in public health, has an example of how Google Earth should/could be used in the near future to help with public health surveillance in towns with limited resources. He also throws out an idea for constantly updated content that I’ve never seen mentioned before: Have airlines carry cameras that feed Google Earth’s database.
• Google Earth Philippines is a website that houses an exhaustive collection of placemarks and 3D content for the Philippines. One KML file in particular is interesting: Mass transit we’d like to see. It’s a clever way to lobby for more public transport and thus better quality of life in Manila. Google Earth Philippines is run by Philippines Makeover, a blog that wants us to “dream up a better Philippines”. Both sites are worth a visit.
• RoboGEO, a very useful photo georeferencer for PC, is updated to version 4.2. Among the new features, you can now associate any kind of file with a photo, not just audio files.
• eDrawings has released a free plugin for SketchUp, matter-of-factly called eDrawings for SketchUp, that lets you view your SketchUp creations in 3D inside the browser (using ActiveX, so for Windows only). Release notes, press release, download here.
• Coincidence? On the same day, MediaMachines makes FLUX open source. What is FLUX? In part, it’s a browser plugin for PC using ActiveX to render 3XD content. No, 3XD isn’t a SketchUp format, but MediaMachines recently released the KML2X3D converter. Press release.
• Zmarties notices that in addition to the update to Google Earth 4 beta, the preview of Picasa next version (integrated with Google Earth) has a new build number as well.

Chris Holmes, he of GeoServer, writes:

As for your query about ArcIMS comparing to GeoServer, as server’s they’re quite comparable. Where ArcIMS wins is out of the box wizards to make new front ends. We support a wide variety of clients with open standards, and haven’t gotten much farther than some nice ‘preview’ maps and example demos, but not a click x, y, and z and get your stuff. But a new mapping client — OpenLayers — is making huge strides, so that it’s as easy to work with GeoServer, or any WMS, as it is to make a google map. So it’s pretty easy for anyone with even a bit of programming experience. Hopefully we’ll get to super easy wizards sometime soon.

A (somewhat critical) French Géoportail blog notes that the top search result for “Géoportail” in Google is no longer geoportail.fr but “an American site,” referring to Ogle Earth. Ahem. I’m Belgian. Still, I’m looking forward to the conspiracy theories.

(If only I’d known how I’d done that, so I could apply it to the googling of “Google Earth”, where this blog wallows around 60th place.)

A small but solid update for Google Earth 4.0 beta is out for Mac (4.0.1658), PC (4.0.1657) and likely Linux too (build date: July 5). Download from the usual place. Google Earth blog has the scoop. As the Mac version does not contain the updated release notes, I’m posting the complete changelog below the fold.

Continue reading Google Earth 4.0 beta update →

Dr. Mark Mulligan, of the Environmental Monitoring and Modelling Research Group at King’s College, London, writes:

Some of your readers may be interested in the Google Earth topographic overlays that I have generated for the globe (at 90m resolution) from the NASA Space Shuttle Topography Mission data, processed by http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org.

The previews (and access to the raw CSI-processed data) are available at http://www.ambiotek.com/topoview. Activate the elevation folder, then click the placemark for the tile you want to view, then click the green box in the balloon that appears.

It works very well for me, and it’s great fun in the mountains. Remember, you can play with the opacity slider. (Note, green box = the one with “WWW network link” on it. On a Mac, you will need to grab it quickly before it disappears.)