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May 21, 2008

Google Earth Gets Layer for News

Google Earth has a new layer: Google News. Writing on the Google LatLong blog, Brandon Badger, Product Manager said, "By spatially locating the Google News' constantly updating index of stories from more than 4,500 news sources, Google Earth now shows an ever-changing world of human activity as chronicled by reporters worldwide."

The Google News layer can be activated through the "Layers" menu on the left-hand side of Google Earth. Expand the "Gallery" mode and select "Google News." Then browse the world for the latest goings on.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 16, 2008

Google Releases Updates to Google Earth; Includes Street View

Less than a week after Microsoft released updates to Live Maps and Virtual Earth 3D, Google announces updates to its Google Earth product. The most anticipated update is the addition of Street View, previously available on Google Maps.

Here are more updates straight from the Official Google blog:

• New navigation includes improved zoom control, so you can swoop down from outer space to street level in a single seamless motion. And with the addition of the "look" joystick, you can look up at buildings or across a mountain range. • More, faster 3D buildings - Navigate through a lot of new 3D content. Besides adding thousands of buildings contributed by people around the world, they’ve added dozens of photo-textured cities and towns in the U.S. and elsewhere. • Street View - The popular and sometimes controversial Google Maps feature has now been integrated to Google Earth. • Sunlight feature – Watch the sun rise over the Alps, for example. • New languages - 12 new languages are included in the update and they are: Danish, English (UK), Spanish (Latin American), Finnish, Hebrew, Indonesian, Norwegian, Portuguese (PT), Romanian, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:19 PM | Permalink

December 26, 2007

Google Senate Testimony: Homeland Security

Now that NORAD has once again proven its superior technological power by tracking Santa across the globe (a task once thought impossible before the advent of Google), we can all rest a little easier. Who would've dreamed the new, more whimsical military-industrial complex could be so much fun?

Not Ike.

We like Ike, too. But WWII hero and former President Eisenhower never envisioned a military-industrial Googleplex that could Do No Evil.

Google Earth, for example, enables Homeland Security teams to collaborate (encouraging teamwork), focus (attention is paid to the task at hand) and comprehend (converts data into understanding). Google Earth solutions for homeland security include Google Earth Pro (Try it free for 7 Days!) and Google Earth Enterprise Solutions.

So what is Google exec J.L. Needham testifying before Congress about? Here on YouTube, he tackles the SEO debate on the use of Google sitemaps. Will Google protocols help government Web sites rank higher? You decide.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:09 PM | Permalink

July 24, 2007

Google Earth Catches Chinese Sub, May Hurt With China Relations

Guess Google is officially that big that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. But you would think the left hand would be aware when righty is firing a gun at it!

The recent pictures taken of Chinese submarines by Google Earth and published for the world is a great example. Google and the internet in general has a delicate relationship with the Chinese government and this latest blunder will impact it.

That there are coordinates to the whereabouts of six subs according to the PC World article, including a new type never photographed before, also shows the automated nature of Google.

Is Google heading us into the Terminator-type future? Their planned purchase of DoubleClick has raised privacy issues, but let's forget about them sharing the information with anyone else... what can they ultimately do with it themselves.

Posted by Frank Watson at 10:29 AM | Permalink

July 18, 2007

Google Readies To Photograph America

Gizmodo’s Charlie White has posted pictures of an armada of cars with mounted photo equipment taken a Google HQ.

The 30 Chevy Cobalts are an interesting addition. Watch for them in your neighborhood!

Posted by Frank Watson at 11:28 AM | Permalink

June 26, 2007

Google Earth Outreach Non-Profit Initiative Launches

At the Googleplex East this afternoon, Google's introducing Google Earth Outreach, "a new program designed to help nonprofit organizations around the world leverage the power of Google Earth to illustrate and advocate for the important work that they do." The room is packed with mostly representatives of non-profit organizations

The program allows non-profits to layer content and applets over Google Earth to tell stories about their work. Non-profit organizations are invited to apply for Google Earth Pro grants (an annual subscription normally costs $400) to receive technical support from Google to kick-start their online programs using Google Earth.

Pilot partners here at the 'plex include Dr. Jane Goodall, Kathy Bushkin Calvin of the United Nations Foundation and Earthwatch President and CEO Edward Wilson.

John Hanke, director Google Earth and Maps, says the program grew out of the company's 20 percent time employee program (in which staffers dedicate that percentage of their work time to independent projects). The project is in KML, "the HTML of the earth." The company has posted online tutorials to help novice users get started, and to teach them best practices in creating earth-related content.

Jane Goodall, via a video link, is looking mighty embarrassed at the lengthy introduction ennumerating her achievements, awards and honors. "When I began my work we only had paper and pencils." She's telling us how recently, villagers in Tanzania didn't understand flat maps researchers showed them, but quickly began to cooperate with her organization's water conservation efforts once they were shown electronic 3D maps of their area from which they recognized the local terrain. And she just treated us to a heartfelt greeting in chimpanzee - what a treat!

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:15 AM | Permalink

May 10, 2007

Google Launches New "Geo" Blog

Google has started a new blog focusing on Google Earth, Maps, Local and APIs. Lat Long Blog will chronicle Google's efforts to build the "geoweb," according to John Hanke, director of Google Earth & Maps.

I don't think that there is agreement on what the geoweb is, but I think there is a lot of enthusiasm and energy across many fronts to make it happen. I expect the "it" will evolve substantially over the next few months and years as we (the geo ecosystem on the web) collectively figure out how "earth browsers," embedded maps, local search, geo-tagged photos, blogs, the traditional GIS world, wikis, and other user-generated geo content all interrelate.

Google's geo products and services include the My Maps custom mapping features of Google Maps, as well as geo searches, which surface user-created geographic information in local searches in Google Maps and Google Earth. The blog cites two examples of geo searches: windsurfing near San Francisco and Jerry Seinfeld in NY.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:29 AM | Permalink

January 15, 2007

Google Earth Getting Press Accurate or Not

There were two different articles about Google Earth over the last couple of days. First the claims the program was being used by Iraqi terrorists to target British troops in Basara - this one has been well discussed and dismissed.

The second was its use to plot out a pot dealer's plants that he had left in a GPS device found when he was pulled over with some of his stash.

This continued 'urban legend' of Google Earth being used for all sorts of things is amusing. The product is not downloading live satellite photos. The company has worked with various governments so as not to allow information to be used for harmful purposes etc.

I guess we just want to believe Google is this all seeing Big Brother - while it may have the potential to get there, they are not there yet.

We need to stop the misinformation.

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:08 PM | Permalink

November 13, 2006

Merge Historical Maps With Current World In Google Earth

Google Earth in 4D from Googling Google is a very nice catch about how Google Earth now allows you to view historical maps within the software. Want to see how people thought the world used to look, before all those satellites were taking pictures? A new layer makes this possible.

For this to work, you have to have the latest version of Google Earth, Google Earth 4 (which will kindly change your default search engine in Internet Explorer to use Google, unless you untick that box -- so pay attention if you don't want that change. For more on Google being worried about changing IE's search defaults, see my Searching Via Internet Explorer 7 & The Battle To Be The Default Search Engine post).

Next, within Google Earth, you need to activate the Rumsey Historical Maps feature. Google gives instructions here. The screenshot below also shows what to change:

Select a map, and it's placed over the existing world. For example, here's the Lewis & Clark map:

You can then zoom in for more detail, though I wish it were easier to blend the real world more with the historical map. Terrain boundaries, along with roads if you switch them on, are shown in a hard-to-see yellow. Even better would be if actual satellite images could some how be lightly ghosted behind the maps.

Here's a close up on the Lewis & Clark map:

Here's part of San Francisco from 1853:

Sadly, one of my favorite old maps, that of California as an island, isn't offered. Not to fear! The David Rumsey site, which provides maps to Google Earth, allows you to browse a much wider collection of maps. You don't need Google earth to do so, either. Of course, you can't then overlay the maps on to of current plots of geographic features and roads. Still, it's well worth a visit. Here's an example of California as island, that I was talking about:

Postscript: Garett Rogers from Googling Google sent how to get the underlying "real" world information to show through. Look at the Places sidebar. You should see an unnamed slider bar at the bottom. Don't see it? Try minimizing that window, then reopening it. Still don't see it? Go to the Layers window and select the map you've enabled. Then click off that to any other map, then quickly click back to the map. That should make the slider appear (I didn't see it at first because of this bug). Move the slider to the left slowly and the underlying "real" information will start to bleed through.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:27 AM | Permalink

November 9, 2006

Google, Microsoft And The '3-D Web'

When Microsoft launched its Live Local/Virtual Earth 3-D platform earlier this week, the memorable quote from Virtual Earth GM Stephen Lawler was, "It's the beginning of the 3-D Web." As a factual matter that statement may not be entirely accurate, but symbolically it is.

Numerous companies, such as Planet 9 Studios, have been working on 3-D modeling for a long time. Then, of course, there's Second Life and MTV's Virtual Laguna Beach. Now comes 3B, which allows users to create their own personalized 3-D "villages." There's also the world of avatars, which is growing.

In the larger context of online trends, we're seeing the rise of more imagery and visual information initially exemplified by Flickr and more recently by online video and YouTube. Sharing and community are integral to these experiences. (Also, check out the provocative new demo of Microsoft's Photosynth. Here's a previous post on it.)

Microsoft acquired Vexcel for, among other things, the company's capacity to do automated 3-D rendering. Vexcel CEO John Curlander said that the company is rendering eight cities a month, moving quickly to 16. Accordingly, the Virtual Earth 3-D platform will have well over 100 cities by the end of Q2 next year. By contrast, Google is letting the community build 3-D models, which is proceeding steadily according to Google Earth GM John Hanke. Also, Google has a way to rate/rank the best and most detailed models, among duplicates, for maximum quality ("model complexity.")

You can bet that Google will be accelerating the development of these 3-D models for Earth.

All the coverage in the past week has been around the "red meat" competitive question of whether Microsoft has now surpassed Google Earth with Virtual Earth 3-D. The answer is both yes and no. Yes, in the sense that Microsoft has made 3-D cities broadly accessible by making them available in the browser (though there's still a plug-in to download). No, in that the experience of using Live Local 3-D in the browser is currently much slower than using comparable functionality on Google Earth 4.

Both products have APIs/developer tools that allow third parties to build on top of these "platforms." But let's forget about the "who will win?" issue. Let's look at the bigger picture, which is more interesting anyway.

The question of what's next in search is often posed and left unanswered, because it's very hard to image what might replace the ubiquitous text box. But, in my opinion, a partial answer is starting to emerge. It involves variables of place (local/geo-coding), rich media (images, video, 3-D) and community. I wrote some time ago on this blog about Google Earth as a "geobrowser" and alternative Web-search paradigm.

Almost anything that you can do in text/2-D can be done in a more fun and engaging way in 3-D and/or with video. With limited exceptions pictures are, in fact, worth more than a thousand words.

The Internet is rapidly becoming more "textured" and rich media and community are at the center of that trend. In one corner, social search is being seen by some as a successor to machine algorithms (or at least the future includes some hybrid). In another, "social networking" sites -- which might be now better labeled "social destinations" -- continue to gain more and more consumer traction. In addition, online video is growing fast both as consumer experience and as an online advertising vehicle.

There is much more to discuss in terms of how geo-location, rich media and community play out in search (or "discovery"), as well as the advertising opportunities that may lie on the other side for both large and small businesses. My point is only that the foundation is now being pretty clearly laid for new search and discovery tools and new user experiences that are much more complex and engaging than what exists today.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 4:07 PM | Permalink

November 6, 2006

Google Earth Release 4 Adds Drawing Tools

Nathan Weinberg reports that Google released a new version of Google Earth. The new version has "path and polygon drawing tools" to enable you to "easily sketch figures on the imagery for richer annotations and can share these overlays as KML or KMZ files." There are some other features, but that one is the most significant.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:02 AM | Permalink

November 2, 2006

GPS, Geotagging, Images and Maps

The NY Times has a long and relatively interesting article on geotagging images and mapping. It primarily discusses Flickr and, to a lesser degree, Google Earth and Picasa and other services such as TripTracker. The article also goes into the geocoding/tagging technology itself. Not discussed in the article is Microsoft's "Photosynth," which is an interesting hypothetical application and extension of all this technology.

Mapping, images (including video) and local/travel are rapidly coming together in very rich applications, as alternatives to pure text-based online navigation.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 2:01 PM | Permalink

October 24, 2006

November Elections Mashups

Maps have long been important in politics, as anyone who works in politics or watches the TV coverage on election night knows. And then there's the familiar saying, "All politics is local." Now, as reported on the Google Earth Blog, Google Earth has added "U.S. Elections Guide" and "U.S. Congressional Districts" information layers. By selecting these layers in Google Earth (not available on Google Maps) you can see boundaries of U.S. voting districts, links to information and news about the candidates, where to vote, campaign finance data and other election-related information.

Map-based real estate site HotPads has also created an interactive elections map for the coming November election. Click on any state and you can drill down on U.S. Congressional districts and information on representatives from Wikipedia and other sources. Here's an example from Florida.

I'm sure there are more out there. Let us know if you find them.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 10:50 AM | Permalink

October 20, 2006

Google Earth Helps Cops In Drug Bust

The Journal Times reports Sheriffs in Racine County used Google Earth to pinpoint the locations of marijuana fields in the County. Officials arrested Dean Brown last Friday, when they arrested him, they found a GPS device with coordinates in saved memory. Drug agents plugged those coordinates into Google Earth to view satellite imagery of the location and pinpoint the exact area of the marijuana fields. Brown now faces six criminal charges including "possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia, and four counts of manufacturing marijuana."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:52 AM | Permalink

October 16, 2006

CBS News Partnering With Yahoo; CBS News Stories In Google Earth

Yahoo adds CBS news to video lineup from the Associated Press covers how Yahoo News will be getting CBS News video clips from 14 local markets in the US to post to Yahoo News. Meanwhile, CBS Puts News on the Map Inside Google Earth from Micro Persuasion covers how CBS has a special feed (background here) that will plot CBS News stories within Google Earth. CBS appears to have been doing this since at least August, so it's not new nor requiring a specific partnership to do, as with the Yahoo program.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 11:12 AM | Permalink

October 10, 2006

Maharashtra Farmers Fight Government With Google Earth

IBN Live reports that Maharashtra farmers are using Google Earth to fight back against a government ruling that they would take 25,000 acres away from them to build a Maha Mumbai Special Economic Zone. The government told the farmers that "only a small portion of the earmarked land is fertile and that some parts of it is submerged by salty creek water." But Google Earth came to the rescue of the farmers, where they were able "to prove to the authorities that the land is fertile," said Arun Shivkar an SEZ activist. No wonder the Maharashtra state government in India is upsetwith Google. Just kidding!

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:51 AM | Permalink

September 28, 2006

Beware: Giant Bug Found On Google Earth

Google Sightseeing reports a huge alien bug being found via Google Maps. Take a look at here or on Google Maps here and you will notice this huge bug about 200+ feet long on German land. Don't worry, it is not some alien from outer-space. It appears that a bug got stuck between the "glass plate and the film during the scanning process."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:04 AM | Permalink

September 22, 2006

Google & Saturn Team Up On Video Ads, Google Earth Promotion

Marketing on Google: It’s Not Just Text Anymore from the New York Times covers how Google is partnering with a traditional ad company to do an integrated campaign for General Motors, one that begins today to promote the Saturn brand in Google Earth, video ads through Google AdSense For Content and other unnamed Google products (fair to say, those old school text ads will be part of it).

Meanwhile, Cameron Othuis points out how BMW is letting opportunities slip by in by overlooking paid ads. Similarly, last month, Steve Plunkett dropped me an email where he was amazed that Pontiac was running those TV ads we've mentioned before about Googling them in his area but without paying more attention to the organic results.

To prove his point, he created a page to rank well for pontiac dealers dallas-ft.worth at Google, which now ranks first. Of course, that's a lot of words, making it easier to rank. A search on pontiac dallas doesn't list him, though pontiac dealers dallas does. While perhaps Pontiac could do more on the organic side, they aren't complete invisible -- and that big fat paid link at the top saying "The Official Pontiac Site" is pretty noticeable.

Postscript: See Google / Saturn Video Ad for an example of the landing page for the ads

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 6:58 AM | Permalink

September 13, 2006

Google Earth Adds Featured Content Partners

Google just announced that they launched new featured content on Google Earth from the United Nations Environmental Program, Discovery Networks World Tour, US National Park Service, Jane Goodall Institute and Turn Here. To access this information, open Google Earth, click on the "Featured Content" checkbox in the sidebar. By doing that, "icons for each Featured Content provider will span the globe, enabling users to click on individual locations and learn about the area’s significance."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:16 AM | Permalink

August 18, 2006

More On Google's Warp Speed Run Into The Star Trek Convention

I wrote earlier about how Google was going to be hunting for engineers at the 5th Annual Official Star Trek Convention this week in Las Vegas. Now more news about that and more.

The company's put out a press release about taking part in the show and set up a special site for Star Trek fans. Don't get too excited. The site has little to do with Star Trek and a lot more to do with promoting how developers can now put geo-location files (KML) on mobile phones. Way down at the bottom of the page are links to plot sci-fi related locations on Google Maps (see them here) or Google Earth.

Much cooler is an AFP article, Google builds bridge at Star Trek cult convention, about how Google's booth will feature a mockup of the Enterprise bridge (TOS, probably, rather than TNG or STE. Don't know the acronyms? Then you don't care which bridge it is). The main viewer will access Google Earth, which sounds pretty cool.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:12 AM | Permalink

August 4, 2006

More Chinese Military Secrets Found With Google Earth

The United Press International reports that another Chinese military secret was found with Google Earth. A German man zoomed into what appeared to be "miniature replica of China's disputed border region with India," and thought he spotted a secret Chinese military base. UPI says what was reported, as military tanks cannot be, since the terrain is not suitable for tanks.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:27 AM | Permalink

July 27, 2006

French Court Preventing Greenpeace France From Displaying Crop Data On Google Maps

BoingBoing spotted an interesting case where a French court ordered Greenpeace France to remove a site using the Google Maps tool to display "locations of commercial, genetically engineered corn fields in France." Greenpeace France overlaid an X in the spot of those corn fields. They have removed the site, but plan on appealing the order. "Greenpeace argues the online maps should not be censored because an EU law requires the French government to make the crop site information public anyway," Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing writes.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:36 AM | Permalink

July 19, 2006

North Korean Missiles & Chinese Helicopter Training Site On Google Earth

The Register covers how Google Earth enthusiasts have spotted what appears to be a scale model mockup of a disputed section of the China-India border. Why does it exist? Perhaps to help train Chinese helicopter pilots in case of any military action. And Boing Boing covers how North Korean missile sites are being tracked in the software, including the Musudan-ri/No-Dong missile test site, Pipa Got naval base and Cho Do naval base. More details on the North Korean sites here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:01 AM | Permalink

North Korean Missiles & Chinese Helicopter Training Site On Google Earth

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:01 AM | Permalink

North Korean Missiles & Chinese Helicopter Training Site On Google Earth

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:01 AM | Permalink

North Korean Missiles & Chinese Helicopter Training Site On Google Earth

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:01 AM | Permalink

July 6, 2006

Incroyable! 'Le Tour' Uses Google Earth Not GeoPortail

WebProNews points to the Google Earth Blog in explaining that The Tour de France has integrated Google Earth into its site and functionality. In particular, the site offers complete 3-D rendering of all tour stages. But we must ask, why wasn't this done on France's homegrown Google Earth challenger GeoPortail?

Posted by Greg Sterling at 7:34 AM | Permalink

Incroyable! 'Le Tour' Uses Google Earth Not GeoPortail

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 7:34 AM | Permalink

Incroyable! 'Le Tour' Uses Google Earth Not GeoPortail

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 7:34 AM | Permalink

Incroyable! 'Le Tour' Uses Google Earth Not GeoPortail

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 7:34 AM | Permalink

June 28, 2006

Dell To Use Google Earth To Provide Enhanced Tech Support

The Detroit News reports that Dell is going to use Google Earth as a tool to enhanced their technical support services. The new tech support service, to be released today, is named "Platinum Plus." Platinum Plus subscribers will be given access to "Google Earth Pro to see in real-time how the Round Rock company is responding to technical support issues around the globe." Dell and Google have some recent past positive relationships this just adds to that list.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:54 AM | Permalink

Dell To Use Google Earth To Provide Enhanced Tech Support

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:54 AM | Permalink

Dell To Use Google Earth To Provide Enhanced Tech Support

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:54 AM | Permalink

Dell To Use Google Earth To Provide Enhanced Tech Support

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:54 AM | Permalink

June 14, 2006

Minority Report-Like Interactive Google Earth

Via our SEW Forums, a great find. Check out this video showing how PhD candidate Edward Tse of the Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs at the University of Calgary rigged Google Earth into an interactive tabletop display:

The video shows how using your hands, you can spin the world, zoom in, give it voice commands like "fly to boston" that flies you there within Google Earth and more.

Expect a Google job offer to be coming, Edward. Expect that tabletop display to be showing up in the Googleplex, which has been woefully lacking in cool stuff for visitors lately.

The Google search query display in the lobby, the map showing search activity around the world, the lava lamps, the white board with the Google Master Plan (see here and here). Old news. Besides, you can interactively play Warcraft III on the table, as well.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 6:55 AM | Permalink

Minority Report-Like Interactive Google Earth

The video shows how using your hands, you can spin the world, zoom in, give it voice commands like "fly to boston" that flies you there within Google Earth and more.

Expect a Google job offer to be coming, Edward. Expect that tabletop display to be showing up in the Googleplex, which has been woefully lacking in cool stuff for visitors lately.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:55 AM | Permalink

Minority Report-Like Interactive Google Earth

The video shows how using your hands, you can spin the world, zoom in, give it voice commands like "fly to boston" that flies you there within Google Earth and more.

Expect a Google job offer to be coming, Edward. Expect that tabletop display to be showing up in the Googleplex, which has been woefully lacking in cool stuff for visitors lately.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:55 AM | Permalink

Minority Report-Like Interactive Google Earth

The video shows how using your hands, you can spin the world, zoom in, give it voice commands like "fly to boston" that flies you there within Google Earth and more.

Expect a Google job offer to be coming, Edward. Expect that tabletop display to be showing up in the Googleplex, which has been woefully lacking in cool stuff for visitors lately.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:55 AM | Permalink

June 13, 2006

Google Earth: An Emerging 'Geobrowser'

I often hear people say about Google, "Other than search it's just a bunch of 'me-too' products." Whether or not you agree, you have to admit that in the case of Earth and Maps that's clearly not true. Although maps have become an important "battleground" in the so-called "search wars," it's an area where Google has clearly innovated with its developer tools and user experience.

There were a number of technical things about the new Google Earth rollout yesterday that went over my head; I'm not a developer and I was in a room of developers and engineers who were very much the intended audience at Google's Geo Developer Day on the Google campus. But I was impressed by a number of things yesterday that I'll try and capture here.

As Danny already posted, you can read about the new Google Earth 4 and associated features on the Google Blog. So I won't recap all those things. I'll run down what was interesting to me and where I think all this may be going.

Eric Schmidt, Larry Page and Sergey Brin introduced the session I attended and emphasized the importance of geography and location generally. Schmidt said, "Geolocation is one of the big opportunities around search." He pointed out that Google was "investing heavily in the 'core infrastructure': better maps, faster servers, more local context and data."

We also keep hearing on analyst calls that Maps and Local are areas of success for Google, both in terms of usage and revenue. But its competitors, most notably Microsoft, are being at least as aggressive in trying to build out maps and related tools and user functionality. So this is going to be an area of accelerated innovation in the next couple of years.

John Hanke, Google Earth GM, moderated the session and discussed a range of things both technical and non-technical. Among them he discussed the intended 3-D mapping of cities around the globe with Google's SketchUp product. This is also an ambition that Microsoft shares. But what was impressive yesterday was a demonstration by Mark Limber, product manager for SketchUp, involving the real-time creation of a 3-D model from scratch and using imagery from Google's 3-D warehouse. He created a textured, photorealistic building in downtown San Francisco and plugged it into Earth in less than five minutes. He also spoke about some of the potential commercial applications of the technology for realtors, architects, designers and urban planners, among others. Here's a laundry list of SketchUp's commercial uses.

Another impressive element of the discussion concerned the role of the "Google Earth Community," which Google clearly sees as integral to its build out of the data layer for Earth and Maps. Google's Michael Jones, CTO of Earth, discussed Google's philosophy of "participatory mapping" and demonstrated some of the applications that third parties had created on top of Earth, including the relatively well known National Geographic data layer. (As an aside, this starts to redefine what the magazine is by putting content in a geographic context.)

Jones also demonstrated how you can layer historical photographs on Earth and effectively "time travel" by showing prior views of an area (e.g., the San Francisco Bay Area circa 1900). He also spoke about how information that one wouldn't ordinarily think of as geographic can actually be integrated into Earth and Maps. As an example, he mentioned how a developer had mapped all of Shakespeare's plays in Earth (their physical settings) with their associated historical details and text.

Google is encouraging the community of developers, and increasingly ordinary users, build out data on top of Earth and Maps. And we'll see tools that make it easier for ordinary people to create "mashups" over time. To that point, speaker Jessica Lee discussed KML files (a version of XML for Earth) and how they're an alternative way to publish mashups for people who don't use the API. This may still be too complicated for most people but it's moving in the direction of broad accessibility.

During the Q&A session at the end, I asked two questions. One was about the future relationship between Maps and Earth. John Hanke had formerly told me, after the Google acquisition of Keyhole, that Earth was essentially a "laboratory" for Maps. Clearly it has become something much more. He laughed and didn't remember saying that. But he and his team pointed out in response to the question that Maps and Earth now had the same infrastructure and there would be more and more overlap in the products. They saw them, however, as different use cases ultimately.

The other question I asked, prompted by something Jones had said earlier, was about Earth as a "geobrowser." As an aside, I ultimately believe some version of 3-D mapping converges with multi-player gaming. Then things will really get interesting. Someone asked a question along these lines and Hanke, who has a personal interest in gaming, responded, "Let's talk about that offline."

But the notion of Earth or Maps as an alternative way to search the Internet or discover information is only going to gain momentum. Ask's CEO Jim Lanzone long ago discussed with me the limitations of the "ten blue links" approach to delivering certain kinds of content. Google Earth is the opposite of the ten blue links: it's a rich visual and location specific way to browse for content; and almost any type of data (including video) can be rendered inside of Earth. It's literally an alternative web-browsing interface and paradigm. And in that regard it's incredibly fascinating.

The level of enthusiasm from developers in the room yesterday was very interesting to observe. Speakers were interrupted by loud applause several times in response to various techical statements. Such remarks and the response to them were generally lost on me until their significance was explained in English. It was at times a little like being in a foreign film without subtitles.

People that understand mapping and the associated tools are really excited about it as a platform and interface. Also the showcase of mashups, most of which have no commercial application whatsoever, reflected the creative appetite and enthusiasm for mapping and its potential uses.

Given the technical possibilities, the use cases and the increasing competition, which will only fuel the continuing evolution of the product, it's safe to say that dynamic mapping and 3-D rendering online are at the beginning of a potentially explosive development cycle. And that will likely take us in directions we're only vaguely aware of right now.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 9:20 AM | Permalink

Google Earth: An Emerging 'Geobrowser'

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:20 AM | Permalink

Google Earth: An Emerging 'Geobrowser'

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:20 AM | Permalink

Google Earth: An Emerging 'Geobrowser'

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:20 AM | Permalink

Google Earth Won't Have Distribution Blocked

Google Earth is out in a new version with new features, as Greg Sterling will be detailing more on the blog later today. But meanwhile, Google escapes having an injunction against the software. Judge won't block distribution of Google Earth from News.com covers how Google is being sued by Skyline Software Systems over a patent dispute on terrain mapping. The judge in the case has denied a preliminary injunction request to block downloads of Google Earth.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 6:43 AM | Permalink

Google Earth Won't Have Distribution Blocked

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:43 AM | Permalink

Google Earth Won't Have Distribution Blocked

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:43 AM | Permalink

Google Earth Won't Have Distribution Blocked

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:43 AM | Permalink

May 2, 2006

Mazda's Google Earth Game

Philipp Lenssen points to Mazda EarthSearch sweepstakes game. You basically download a KML file that runs on Google Earth and follow the steps from there. The game shows you hints of historic landmarks, you use your search skills to locate the landmarks on Google Earth. So far they have two steps, where you locate two different landmarks. I located both and now I await an email for next week's continuation to the game.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 1:51 PM | Permalink

Mazda's Google Earth Game

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 1:51 PM | Permalink

Mazda's Google Earth Game

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 1:51 PM | Permalink

Mazda's Google Earth Game

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 1:51 PM | Permalink

April 7, 2006

Eva Longoria In Google Earth & Other Google Earth Deals

I skipped the entire iPod from outer space thing last month because it was clearly a hoax. But Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria being viewable in Google Earth is not. Well, sort of.

Suburbia pointed out that men's magazine Maxim is touting a giant cover of their 100th issue that's was constructed in the desert outside of Las Vegas. No, it wasn't shot from space. It was constructed on the ground, photographed and made viewable in Google Earth through an overlay file. Jossip has a nice rundown, along with some facts from the Maxim press release.

Sure, anyone can make an overlay file for insertion into Google Earth. But not anyone can get Google Earth to promote it. Clearly there's a deal in play here. The Maxim page about the Eva photo has a promo box pointing people over to Google Earth to do downloads of the software. And did you do the download? If so, you'll get this thank you page telling you to check out the Maxim cover as a featured item in Google Earth.

If you don't want to download Google Earth, you can get a sense of the cover here. But with Google Earth, you can zoom in much more.

If you're a Search Engine Watch member, the longer version of this post looks at some other Google Earth deals, including thoughts on them going into cars and taking ads along the way.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:17 AM | Permalink

Eva Longoria In Google Earth & Other Google Earth Deals

I skipped the entire iPod from outer space thing last month because it was clearly a hoax. But Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria being viewable in Google Earth is not. Well, sort of.

If you don't want to download Google Earth, you can get a sense of the cover here. But with Google Earth, you can zoom in much more.

If you're a Search Engine Watch member, the longer version of this post looks at some other Google Earth deals, including thoughts on them going into cars and taking ads along the way.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 7:17 AM | Permalink

Eva Longoria In Google Earth & Other Google Earth Deals

I skipped the entire iPod from outer space thing last month because it was clearly a hoax. But Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria being viewable in Google Earth is not. Well, sort of.

If you don't want to download Google Earth, you can get a sense of the cover here. But with Google Earth, you can zoom in much more.

If you're a Search Engine Watch member, the longer version of this post looks at some other Google Earth deals, including thoughts on them going into cars and taking ads along the way.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 7:17 AM | Permalink

Eva Longoria In Google Earth & Other Google Earth Deals

I skipped the entire iPod from outer space thing last month because it was clearly a hoax. But Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria being viewable in Google Earth is not. Well, sort of.

If you don't want to download Google Earth, you can get a sense of the cover here. But with Google Earth, you can zoom in much more.

If you're a Search Engine Watch member, the longer version of this post looks at some other Google Earth deals, including thoughts on them going into cars and taking ads along the way.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 7:17 AM | Permalink

March 14, 2006

Google Buys SketchUp; Google To Map The World in 3D?

Hot off the Google Blog we are told that Google has purchased SketchUp. SketchUp is basically a very very easy to use CAD program. They have recently released a SketchUp Google Earth Plugin that enables you to create 3D models of the objects within Google Earth. The press release says;

"3D for Everyone" is becoming a reality; we're bringing the '3D' part; Google's contributing the 'Everyone.'

Did Google buy them to make SketchUp popular to encourage the public to map the world in 3D? Want to discuss? Join the Search Engine Watch Forum thread named Does Google Plan to Map the World in 3D?

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:42 AM | Permalink

Google Buys SketchUp; Google To Map The World in 3D?

"3D for Everyone" is becoming a reality; we're bringing the '3D' part; Google's contributing the 'Everyone.'

Did Google buy them to make SketchUp popular to encourage the public to map the world in 3D? Want to discuss? Join the Search Engine Watch Forum thread named Does Google Plan to Map the World in 3D?

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:42 AM | Permalink

Google Buys SketchUp; Google To Map The World in 3D?

"3D for Everyone" is becoming a reality; we're bringing the '3D' part; Google's contributing the 'Everyone.'

Did Google buy them to make SketchUp popular to encourage the public to map the world in 3D? Want to discuss? Join the Search Engine Watch Forum thread named Does Google Plan to Map the World in 3D?

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:42 AM | Permalink

Google Buys SketchUp; Google To Map The World in 3D?

"3D for Everyone" is becoming a reality; we're bringing the '3D' part; Google's contributing the 'Everyone.'

Did Google buy them to make SketchUp popular to encourage the public to map the world in 3D? Want to discuss? Join the Search Engine Watch Forum thread named Does Google Plan to Map the World in 3D?

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:42 AM | Permalink

February 10, 2006

Google Increases Resolution of Torino in Google Earth and Local

The Google blog announced yesterday, in the spirit of the Olympics, they have "updated Google Earth and Google Local with high resolution imagery of the surrounding area." I was able to get as close as a 100 feet on Google Local Torino. If you have Google Earth installed, you can click here to zoom into Torino on your desktop. The Google Blog also links to Google Maps Mania Blog's Winter Olympics Google Maps Mashups with some cool uses of the Google Maps API and the Olympics.

Postscript: If you're looking for fast facts about the games and some cool databases, check Resource Shelf.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:57 AM | Permalink

Google Increases Resolution of Torino in Google Earth and Local

Postscript: If you're looking for fast facts about the games and some cool databases, check Resource Shelf.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:57 AM | Permalink

Google Increases Resolution of Torino in Google Earth and Local

Postscript: If you're looking for fast facts about the games and some cool databases, check Resource Shelf.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:57 AM | Permalink

Google Increases Resolution of Torino in Google Earth and Local

Postscript: If you're looking for fast facts about the games and some cool databases, check Resource Shelf.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:57 AM | Permalink

February 3, 2006

Google and Fiat Partner to Offer Google Earth Game

How about creating a Google Earth game that's also a marketing tool? Sounds like a smart idea to me and it's precisely what Fiat has done.

According to Adverblog, (via a link on InsideGoogle) Fiat and Google have partnered to offer this contest (web site in both English and Italian which also celebrates Italy and the Winter Olympics that begin in Italy next week.

Under the snows of Turin and the Olympic valleys Fiat has hidden an exclusive Ferrari 360+ Experience pass and four Fiat Sedici cars. The game (Sedici contest) challenges users finding on a Google Earth map the places where such prizes have been hidden.

This is not only fun for the whole family (-: but it's also a great way for Google to reinforce their "cool" factor while at the same time introducing the Google Earth service to people who've never heard of it and/or used it. I'm sure that Fiat will also receive a sizable amount of free promotion as the mass media reports on the game.

A bit more in this post from Ogle Earth.

Of course, this is not the first Google Earth game. You can find three others listed here.

I'm thinking that we will see a lot more Google Earth "game" partnerships between Google and other companies, city/regional tourism organizations, and local advertisers.

I also would not be the least bit suprised to see Microsoft partner with others or simply promote their own products using Windows Live Local (WLL) both the aerial and the bird's eye imagery that WLL offers.

Posted by Gary Price at 4:52 PM | Permalink

Google and Fiat Partner to Offer Google Earth Game

How about creating a Google Earth game that's also a marketing tool? Sounds like a smart idea to me and it's precisely what Fiat has done.

A bit more in this post from Ogle Earth.

Of course, this is not the first Google Earth game. You can find three others listed here.

I'm thinking that we will see a lot more Google Earth "game" partnerships between Google and other companies, city/regional tourism organizations, and local advertisers.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 4:52 PM | Permalink

Google and Fiat Partner to Offer Google Earth Game

How about creating a Google Earth game that's also a marketing tool? Sounds like a smart idea to me and it's precisely what Fiat has done.

A bit more in this post from Ogle Earth.

Of course, this is not the first Google Earth game. You can find three others listed here.

I'm thinking that we will see a lot more Google Earth "game" partnerships between Google and other companies, city/regional tourism organizations, and local advertisers.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 4:52 PM | Permalink

Google and Fiat Partner to Offer Google Earth Game

How about creating a Google Earth game that's also a marketing tool? Sounds like a smart idea to me and it's precisely what Fiat has done.