Virtual Earth Mobile is a powerful Windows Mobile-based application that allows you to access and interact with the maps and information provided by the Windows Live Virtual Earth Web Service.
The latest version of Virtual Earth Mobile, contains new features including a support for dragging maps with the stylus and a support for text-based directions. This version also includes bug fixes.
Check it out … it is very cool!
This is a cool newclip I found about googles new quest into the scape of lord of the rings.
With Google Middle Earth you can zoom in so close on Middle Earth locations like Isengard that you can almost see Saruman in the window!
Following in the Elven footsteps of Google Earth, "the globe that fits inside your PC", comes Google Middle Earth, the new lord of the satellite imagery-based mapping products.
Google Middle Earth is a free, full-featured download that lets you explore the topographical majesty of the lands of Gondor, Rohan, and Mordor. Google Middle Earth's impressive geographic mapping software is definitely the one product to rule them all.
With Google Middle Earth, you can measure the real distances from Hobbiton to Rohan, or from Osgiliath to Rivendell. And you don't need to be a Dunedain Ranger to track your way home from the Watch-tower of Amon Sul.
Mark your favorite areas, like the Black Gate, Isengard, or the Dark Tower. Zoom in on Minas Tirith or Helm's Deep. See more of Isuldur's land than you could from the top of the Tower of Ecthelion.
This product dwarves any other standard web-based map service.
Planning a fellowship quest? Map the best route using advanced trip directions. Why travel the extensive Misty Mountains, when you could take that shortcut through the mines of Moria?
Google Middle Earth contains terabytes of aerial and satellite imagery which will let you spend hours mapping out interesting locations like Lothlorien and Edoras.
Want to see how really big Fangorn Forest is? Ever wondered where Dwimorberg was located? Curious to know how long the Brandywine River is? Google Middle Earth combines high-resolution satellite photos of actual Middle Earth locations, allowing you to measure and judge actual distances! And it doesn't take a wizard to search and find locations like The Shire or Minas Morgul.
With regularly updated satellite imaging allowing the user to view real changes to the world of man, Google Middle Earth definitely deserves to wear the Crown of King Elessar. Now that's what we're Tolkien about!
There's definitely a double edged sword to Google Earth and military intelligence. Anyone can gather the data for whatever means they want. Unfortunately that can put our troops in harms way. There's really no middle ground here, we either get rid of earth or grow up and learn amongst ourselves in peace. I vote for the latter! Here's an interesting article with coordinates on the subject…
In the last 18 months, Google Earth (earth.google.com) has revolutionized military intelligence, but the military doesn't like to admit it. By putting so much satellite photography at the disposal of so many people, in such an easy- to- use fashion, much more information has been made available to a lot more people. That includes people in the military, and those they fight.
If you have a PC with a high-speed Internet connection, you can use Google Earth, and find satellite photos of all sorts of interesting stuff. For example (just enter the coordinates given below into the "Fly To" box in the Google Earth program);
An American air base in Afghanistan Longitude: 34°56'50", 69°15'34"
The Pentagon: 38.87, -77.506
North Korean nuclear test site; 41.279, 129.087
North Korean air base; 39.905 125.49
Russian subs in Petropavlovsk naval base; 52 55' N 158 29' 25" E
Kiska, Alaska, World War II shipwreck; 51°56'4.44"N, 177°27'22.10"E
Kiska, Alaska battlefield, showing bomb craters preserved in the frozen landscape; 51°57'4.64"N, 177°32'53.07"E
Google Earth's major problem was not it's ease-of-use, but the manner in which it showcased the shortcomings of the American NGA (National Geospatial Intelligence Agency). The NGA is responsible for taking the satellite photos, spiffing them up as needed, and getting them to the troops. Trouble is, the stuff still isn't getting to the troops that need it, when they need it. This was made very obvious when Google Earth showed up, and demonstrated how you can get satellite images to anyone, when they need it, with minimal hassle.
For over two decades, the generals, and other officers with access to "satellite imagery", have been complaining about the difficulty they have in getting their hands on this stuff. Hundreds of billions of dollars has been spent on photo satellites since the 1960s, and the troops always seem to get leftovers, if anything. Yet the satellite people regularly con Congress out of more money so they can build more satellites, and neat systems that will get the satellite imagery "to the troops." The goods never arrive, or never arrive in time. Generals gave angry testimony before Congress about this non-performance after the 1991 war. The satellite people seemed contrite, and said they would make it right. If given the money to do it. They got the money and the troops got nothing.
Now the troops got access to Google Earth, and have seen what they have been missing. To make matters worse, the software Google Earth uses to get the job done, was first developed for the NGA. But the way the NGA operates, you have to worry about security considerations, and all manner of bureaucratic details. The troops are fighting a war, you say? Well, we still have to deal with security and keeping the paperwork straight. But now the troops are beating NGA over the head with Google Earth, and some in Congress are beginning to listen. But will they listen enough to get NGA to do right by the troops? That seems unlikely. NGA bureaucrats are close at hand, and the angry troops are far away. But at least the troops have Google Earth, unfortunately, so does the enemy.
I was surfing around and found this interesting article. I had no idea so many people are using Google Earth. 100 Million + downloads. That's amazing!
Here's the article:
For most of the 100 million people who have downloaded Google Earth, the biggest draw is the chance to look at 3-D satellite images of their homes, neighborhoods and favorite landmarks.
Next up: Google Earth views of hazards that could threaten those homes, from earthquake faults to landslides, tsunami zones and areas that can liquefy in a quake, all superimposed on the same detailed satellite images.
Some of these features are available now; others are under development at places such as the U.S. Geological Survey, which has been a leader in adopting the virtual globe technology.
"A real trick has been how to communicate that data to the public in an interesting and effective way," said J. Luke Blair, a geologist with the survey's Menlo Park office. "You can essentially make your own map — see where you live in the context of the geology of the Bay Area."
Since Google began offering Google Earth for free in June 2005, scientists have used it to illustrate volcanic lava flows, melting glaciers, the health of the earth's coral reefs and wave sizes in the Great Lakes.
"People have done things with it Google never envisioned," said Frank Taylor, a North Carolina entrepreneur who maintains a Google Earth blog at gearthblog.com. "It's much more valuable than just a picture of your house."
The technology combines satellite imagery, aerial photography, maps and Google searches to give users a wealth of geographic information.
USGS experts have tapped it to share real-time earthquake data, as well as maps that show the intensity of shaking. The public can join a 3-D virtual helicopter tour of the Hayward Fault and follow it right through the middle of the University of California-Berkeley's Memorial Stadium.
Offering hazard maps at such high resolution can be tricky, Blair said.
"What's frightening to geologists such as myself is the red-lining implications," he said. Many hazards are not mapped accurately enough to tell whether they pertain to a particular house or block, Blair said: "If you zoom in, and that line goes through somebody's house, it could be off by many meters." For that reason, managers at the survey are taking a careful look at how these 3-D maps should be released.
Broad appeal
At a recent conference of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco — the largest scientific meeting in the world — Google Earth workers and users extolled the virtues of the computer application before a standing-room-only crowd of hundreds of scientists.
"It gives you a very different perspective on the planet," said Bruno Bowden, a Google Earth project manager who showed a 3-D geological map of the United States one minute and the spread of avian flu across the globe the next.
The appeal goes beyond scientists and techno geeks. An online community has popped up around the product, with members sharing their own Google Earth images, discussing the environment, current events and travel, and even posting riddles for others to solve.
"It's 100 million people doing regular people things — `Can I see the beach at that hotel?' `My daughter is going off to school. What does it look like?' They're just curious," said Michael Jones, chief technologist for Google Earth. He is one of the founders of Keyhole, the Mountain View-based digital mapping company that originated the technology before Google acquired it in 2004.
With such a rapidly growing audience, others are getting into the virtual globe game.
Microsoft introduced its own application this fall, known as Virtual Earth 3D or Windows Live Local. NASA has a similar product called World Wind, which it released in 2004.
In the scientific community, Google Earth seems to generate the most buzz, even if it isn't perfect.
One of the application's greatest drawbacks is that while many urban areas can be found in high resolution, not all can. Jones estimates that about two-thirds of the world's people cannot find close-up views of their homes on Google Earth. Then again, most of those affected live in communities that aren't likely to have computers, he said.
At this time, Google Earth is available in only a handful of languages, far short of the 200 Jones would like to offer.
One scientist at the San Francisco conference asked whether it was possible to see the interior of the Earth — to look at the three-dimensional structure of an earthquake fault, for instance. Negative. How about looking at the sun? Nope again.
Another issue: "The application's only as good as the data you put in," said Dina Venezky, a USGS geologist who has used Google maps for disseminating information about volcanic hazards.
And it's only as good as your computer, Internet connection and ability to wield a mouse.
"This is geared towards people who get their information from the Internet. It's not for everyone," Blair said. "I can't teach this to my mother and father so well."
Researchers' uses
Still, researchers say what you can do with the application is amazing.
You can track radiation levels at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine, follow the spread of malaria across the planet, see how the Earth's continents have rearranged themselves over millions of years.
The Jane Goodall Institute, known for its pioneering chimpanzee research, has been using Google Earth to illustrate blog entries that follow the daily dramas of the chimps.
The non-profit Amazon Conservation Team has been training Indians to use Google Earth to map and catalog their forest so they can monitor deforestation.
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch program uses it to monitor sea surface temperatures and hot spots.
Scientists are just getting started.
"The use of virtual globes for outreach and education appears to be in its infancy, with much potential," said William F. Manley, a scientist with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Even at this early stage, said Taylor, the Google Earth blogger, "scientists have never had so much exposure."
GOOGLE EARTH AT WORK
Researchers praise application's functions and utility. Here are some examples of how it's being used:
The Jane Goodall Institute: Known for its pioneering chimpanzee research, it has been using Google Earth to illustrate blog entries that follow the daily dramas of the chimps.
Amazon Conservation Team: The non-profit has been training Indians to use Google Earth to map and catalog their forest so they can monitor deforestation.
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch: The program uses it to monitor sea surface temperatures and hot spots.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED
U.S. Geological Survey work is at:
Google has just realeased a new "Geographic Web Layer" for Google Earth, turning an already fun application into one that's even richer in photos and info, thanks to Wikipedia, Panoramio, and the Google Earth Community. Made public Saturday, here's what the official Google blog has to say about this:
"We've taken the rich data of Wikipedia, Panoramio, and the Google Earth Community and made a browsable layer in Google Earth. Now you can fly anywhere in the world and see what people have written about it, photographed, or posted. I went hopping around from the southern tip of South America to the mosques in the Middle East to the Maldives Islands, immersed in a wealth of information, and I really felt like I was visiting each place through eyes of people who had been there. It was really engaging to compare, say, the Grand Canyon through the photos in Panoramio to the view from Google Earth, where I could follow the Colorado River through each.
Zooming around Google Earth is always mesmerizing, but it just got a little more informative. The product added user descriptions and photos1, pushing a “Geographic Web” layer on top of the landscape. Many such mashups are currently available, but community-powered markups previously required downloading a separate file.
Little icons now indicate selected entries from Wikipedia, geo-tagged photos from Panoramio, and posts by the Google Earth Community. All of this is very sparingly done, but it’s great to see Google incorporating community content into the default version of one of its product.
We didn’t recall hearing of Panoramio2 before, so we looked it up. Turns out it’s a small Spanish photo-sharing startup with just two developers and 50,000 total photos (as of the end of October). Google Earth had previously hyped the Panoramio feed on its download page3. The 3D animated photo mashup is similar to what we’ve seen of Microsoft’s Photosynth4 experiment. Where Photosynth is more elaborate, having pictures rooted to a map and all this surrounding context is the cheapest form of tourism we know of.