Google’s Virtual World launches, and it’s Lively

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I agree with Google Maps Mania on this — I’m quite disappointed that it’s not built on top of Google Earth.  However, it’s certainly a unique creation.  Google has just launched Lively.

It’s essentially Second Life, but with a million different worlds.  You create a “room”, then embed it on your site.  People can hop into your room and play around.  It’s certainly an interesting idea.

Below is a video with a bit more info, and here are a list of the most popular rooms so far, or go check out GEH Island.

Build and share collections with EarthSwoop

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It’s time to roll out a site that a couple of us have been working on for the last few weeks — EarthSwoop!

Bits and pieces of the code have been used in some of my other plug-in tools, but this takes it a step further. Using the Google Earth plug-in and a simple interface, you can build collections of common locations, all viewed using an icon-based system. For some examples, go check out the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the 30 Stadiums in Major League Baseball, or some of the venues in the upcoming Beijing Olympics. We’ve built 15 collections to get you started.

You can create a collection about any subject that you want. Once your collection has been created, the system will generate KML files for each location inside of it and give you embed code to put it on your own site. When viewing it, you can add other content such as WikiMapia and Panoramio to help provide more context.

Here is a brief video that shows how easy it is to start creating collections, and below is an embedded version of our NFL Stadiums collection. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Powered by EarthSwoop | More info about this collection

The top 5 ways to embed Google Earth content on your site

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Now that the Google Earth plugin works in Firefox 3 (Windows-only still…), we thought we’d run through some of the best ways to embed Google Earth content on your site.

5. Embed existing files and collections from Google Earth Hacks

Google Earth Hacks has over 20,000 files on their site, all of which can be embedded into your own.  In addition, their collections

can be embedded.  Both implementations are very straightforward, but require that a file is already on their site.  Here is what an embedded collection looks like:

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Powered by Google Earth Hacks | More info about this collection

4. Embed golf courses from Golf Nation

Similar to Google Earth Hacks, Golf Nation allows you to embed any of their existing courses onto your own site.  This could be pretty useful if you just played a round and want to embed that course into your blog post about your great score.  The quality of the files can vary quite a bit, so here is one of the better ones:

Powered by Golf Nation | More golf courses in Atlanta

3. Build your own map with StreetCities

StreetCities is by far the most complex integration we’ve seen, for better and for worse.  You have a ton of options on how you want your map to look, and it’s very well done.  It’s not a great place to go for a quick map, but it’s worth playing with when you have a chance.

2. Easily embed a KML with TakItWithMe

TakItWithMe was the first site to offer the plugin in an embeddable manner.  Their script is quite simple, and allows you pull a KML into the map.  However, the KML needs to be hosted online somewhere (no upload feature), which is kind of a bummer.  Still, it’s nice way to build a quick embed from any KML that you know of.

1. Embed a map in a few seconds with ShareIt

ShareIt is another entry from Google Earth Hacks, but this one takes the cake.  There are no frills with this one — just a very simple way to embed the map on your site.  Title it, find your location on the globe (either by zooming or by searching with the box below it), and that’s it.  If you want a simple way to show your house, your church, your favorite stadium, etc, this is the way to do it.

Powered by Google Earth Hacks | Map Details | Create your own!

There you have it!  Honorable mentions go to Tagzania and GMap-Track, both of whom offer embeddable plugin code as well.

If you know of any others, please let us know in the comments below.

Popular Science has a series of articles about Google Earth

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Popular Science is running a series of articles highlight various scientific visualizations using Google Earth.  Google Earth Blog has a great review of the series, along with KML files and links to other related stories.

The five areas they cover are:

Again, you should probably read the Google Earth Blog post while you’re reading the articles, as Frank did a great job of adding extra KML data and links to supplement each article.

Public transportation now available on Google Maps Mobile

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Google has just updated Google Maps Mobile to version 2.2.  The primary enhancement in this version is public transit — now you can get information on bus, train and ferry routes right from your mobile.

You can download the application by visiting this link

with your phone, or you can read more on the Google LatLong Blog or on Google Maps Mania.  In addition, they’ve produced a short video to show off the new features:

Disney World 3D has finally arrived in Google Earth

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It’s a few weeks later than we expected, but Disney World is now 3D in Google Earth — and it’s impressive!  They’ve included the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Disney Resorts.

There are actually two parts to this:

  • The normal 3D buildings layer will add all kinds of visual goodness, such as buildings, trees, statues, etc.
  • The special Disney layer will add information about the parks and the hotels.

To activate the 3D buildings,

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simply check the box next to “3D Buildings” in the “Layers” tab like you normally would.

To activate the Disney layer, go to “Gallery -> Travel and Tourism -> Walt Disney World”.  Once you’ve turned that on, along with the 3D buildings, fly down there (KML) and check it out.

The 3D aspect of this is stunning, but be warned — it’s very graphically intensive.  I’ve got a pretty solid machine, and it slowed it down quite noticeably.  Still, it’s well worth checking out.  Have fun!

Update: Frank Taylor has just made a nice little video that takes you through the 3D Magic Kingdom.  Check it out:

Minnesota city demands removal of StreetView images

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The 4,500 resident city of North Oaks, MN has demanded that Google remove StreetView imagery of their town

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.  However, they’re not a typical town, in that all of their roads are owned by the residents (meaning they’re private) and the city enforces a trespassing ordinanace.

While it’s certainly unique, since no other city has made a similar request, it seems that they’re well within their rights to request that, since the roads are private.

It makes me wonder if other cities (with public roads) will request this.  It would be interesting to see what happens with those.

OS independent 3D map of Stockholm released

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Hitta.se

, a Swedish search and mapping site, has just released a 3D map of Stockholm that works in virtually any browser in any operating system.

The technology is powered in part by C3 Technologies

, who explain their software as follows:

The technology is based on high-resolution aerial photography with carefully calibrated cameras. For every picture, the camera’s position and angle are calculated with extremely high precision, using a very advanced navigation system. This is what enables us to give each pixel its geographical position with decimetre accuracy. Then, using stereovision technology, we combine two sequential pictures to measure the area’s height profile.

The result is an aerial photograph with each pixel positioned in three dimensions. Over an entire city, thousands of such photos are combined into one coherent 3D model – through an automated process in our unique 3D-processor.

Thanks to all this, there is no one today who can take pictures with the same precision and speed as we can. One example is when we filmed all of Stockholm in October 2007 and created a realistic, yet zoomable and turnable, 3D model of the city in just 3 days.

It seems to be a pretty cool technology, considering cities can be created so quickly and it works on such a wide variety of platforms.  The detail is far worse than what Google Earth and Virtual Earth have, though it renders trees and “any object larger than a VW bus”.

Ogle Earth has a post that gets into a bit more detail and is well worth reading.

Google News now in Google Earth

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About a month ago, Google added items from the New York Times

to Google Earth.  Now they’ve taken it a step further by adding Google News entries as well.  This is pretty cool.

The New York Times addition was cute, but didn’t add much.  There simply aren’t enough stories to make it especially useful.  However, Google News brings in items from 4,500 new sources, so there are literally thousands of items on the map.  This is excellent, because it allows you to zoom in tight on an area, and see the latest news items from around there.

To activate this feature in your copy of Google Earth, just click on the “Gallery” category in your “Layers” tab, and check the box next to “Google News”.