google earth

[backpack]

http://desktop.google.com/download/earth/index.html

Another useful timewaster...

[f2f]

i'm doing a flyover in the canadian rockies searching for summer snow as we speak

[Telenater]

Damn, that's cool.

Definite bandwidth hog though.


They really should integrate DOQ and DOQQ imagery though for locations that it's available as an intermediate between the landsat and USGS high res urban imagery.

Also, FWIW, the Landsat data they're using will never be updated unless Google/Digital Globe buy imagery from a commercial company or another country because our noble administration decided to spend NASA's money on going to the Moon and Mars rather than continuing the Landsat program which has proved so valuable for tracking changes on the earth's surface.

</rant>


edit: I didn't change the above, but I did realize that I'm on crack and that's Quickbird imagery not landsat. Still, I liked landsat because it was cheap for research and had a long library for change detection work.

[Buzzworthy]

Holy Bandwidth hog!

[lax]

how big is it?, im downloading ti now qand it says unkown fiel size

[iceman]

The interface is tiny, but the data is big.

[koolaideprived]

I have been entertained for hours... I currently am marking al of the peaks I have climbed and the ones I have yet to climb.

[Tippster]

how big is it?, im downloading ti now qand it says unkown fiel size

10,562,512 bytes

[skibum87]

can anyone else not see the earth? all i see is space and an ass load of stars

edit...NVM its there lol

[bagtagley]

Damn, that's cool.

Also, FWIW, the Landsat data they're using will never be updated unless Google/Digital Globe buy imagery from a commercial company or another country because our noble administration decided to spend NASA's money on going to the Moon and Mars rather than continuing the Landsat program which has proved so valuable for tracking changes on the earth's surface.

I thought the ETM+ sensor was toast, or crippled? What happened to purchase by a private firm. Wasn't some big engineering company looking to buy?

Anyway, we definitely need to continue funding for this and future projects. Access to "inexpensive" digital imagery is getting so limited.

[backpack]

apparently the beta is closed at the moment... though i just downloaded it again an hour ago

[Shepherd Wong]

Makes me dizzy. I'm guna boot all over my computer.

[Cornholio]

Un-fucking-real.

[Telenater]

I thought the ETM+ sensor was toast, or crippled? What happened to purchase by a private firm. Wasn't some big engineering company looking to buy?

Anyway, we definitely need to continue funding for this and future projects. Access to "inexpensive" digital imagery is getting so limited.

The scan line corrector on the ETM+ is done and the satillite isn't in an orbit that is easily serviceable (costs more to get a vehicle into that orbit to fix it than the L7 vehicle is worth.

I haven't heard of a company wanting to continue it. It has never been a money producing venture. I believe that the current thought is that 16 day repeat coverage isn't frequent enough (that's why the quickbirds all do off nadir image capture) and the current resolution isn't high enough.

Landsat had the advantages of covering far larger areas in a single pass (nadir) and having the long history and being cheap enough that active research not sponsored by the company producing the imagery was possible.

[mmcpheet]

Haven't had a chance to check the google one out yet, and downloads are down now, so it might be awhile.

It sounds like it is similar to the free program put out by NASA called world wind . It is also quite the bandwidth hog. I like the ability to view the landscape from other angles than just directly over it.

[pube-in-my-taco]

This google globe thing would be even more incredible if, instead of satellite imagery, I could overlay street maps and topo maps..

that would be freakin' amazing...

[koolaideprived]

World Wind will do topo but i find that it is quite a bit off on the actual elevation so things don't match up right, i.e. ridgelines on the topo map running through valleys on World Wind.

[cj001f]

I could overlay street maps

There's a show streets button.

[pube-in-my-taco]

There's a show streets button.

Yes there is, but its not as clear, nor does it load as quick as the streets on, say, google maps.

[Telenater]

Yes there is, but its not as clear, nor does it load as quick as the streets on, say, google maps.

Damn, this guy wants everything. Displaying something in 2d and in a rendered 3d are very different things.

A 3d rendering requires far more data and processing than 2d and as a result will never be as fast. For a pure road navigation map, imagery is almost never as clear as a barebones road schematic.

The software that NASA, Google/keyhole and dare i say it ESRI have put out is nothing short of amazing IMHO.

[backpack]

Yes there is, but its not as clear, nor does it load as quick as the streets on, say, google maps.

Yea, but it does load reasonably fast, and once the road data is cached the road maps load before the high-res images. The key thing is that unlike google maps that's sending you a flat, rendered image, google earth is sending you vector paths mapped to the globe and labeled with road names, and the view once you have the dataset loaded can be easily changed.

Plus, you can also view public transport systems, borders, census data, etc etc... pretty fun.

[chill winston]

The software that NASA, Google/keyhole and dare i say it ESRI have put out is nothing short of amazing IMHO.

c'mon dude, what about Autodesk?

[Core Shot]

Actually, google earth lets you change the view angle so you can see your favorite mountain ranges from any angle or view.

Its a low resolution 3-D topo tool that can be quite fun.
thx.

[Telenater]

c'mon dude, what about Autodesk?

I am a respectible GIS programmer, I categorically refuse to awknowledge that any CAD derived system has merit.

[pube-in-my-taco]

Damn, this guy wants everything. Displaying something in 2d and in a rendered 3d are very different things.

They're already overlaying 2-D satellite imagery over a topographical map - I'm sure it uses the same data source as Google Maps - and it would be easy to render the google street maps over the topographical renderings, similar to what TopoUSA 5.0 does.

So just as you can switch back and forth between satellite and maps on maps.google.com, you oughta be able to switch between maps and satellite imagery on this.