Google Earth’s Incredible 3D Imagery, Explained

[HiFlyer 9,358]

So, one of the things I love about living in the age of the internet, is that sitting comfortably in my home I can go on random "Deep-dives" for information that sparks my interest. Once upon a time, that required a trip to the library, and my local branches soon knew me well from my constant visits and proclivity to be found in odd, dim corners of the library as a kid, sitting on the floor with my daily trove and reading away about the moon landing or world war two battle tactics or.....whatever.

Neeeeeeeeeeerdddddddd!!!!!!! 

Now my dogs get to watch as I wander the web instead, pretty much absorbing everything. Today's obsession after being awestruck by the Google Earth vr app in my Oculus, was just how exactly do they make those images that have me exploring the world in wide-eyed 3D in VR, or on a monitor screen, or maybe even on a phone or tablet.

 

[simmerhead 885]

Incredible. I always fire up Google Earth and Street View and explore the places I fly to in P3D. 

[WingZ 547]

It is incredible.

More so because anyone is free to use it...

Google is a part of my life (and maybe everyone's), and I suspect it knows more about me than I can remember.

[Jean-Jacques 120]

Amazing! Thank you for posting the video. JJ

[HighTowers 1,434]

Thats cool. So the next big question is when can I that imagery in my sim!!  hehe

[n4gix 4,947]

That was fascinating! Thanks for sharing the video link.

[MartinRex007 390]

Very cool, I wonder how long it will be before that technology will be able to be applied to flight sims? As real as it gets!

Thanks for posting!

[dmarques69 316]

Did you try google earth VR? it's mind blowing!

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Would be awesome when PC's have the power to use that sort of tech in a flight simulator, currently the display rate would be very slow. 20 years from now it could be the new standard.

[Silicus 877]

Thanks for sharing this!

Cheers!

[GACSavannah 227]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

 

[vp49p3 216]

6 hours ago, HighTowers said:

Thats cool. So the next big question is when can I that imagery in my sim!!  hehe

There's a freeware program in AVSIM's library called GENnav.  It's a moving map using Google earth.  You can adjust the viewing angle so that it uses Google Earth's 3d feature.  Sometimes I run it on a separate screen and often find myself looking at that screen more than the sim's.  It used to be a payware program and it's very well done.

[HighTowers 1,434]

9 hours ago, vp49p3 said:

There's a freeware program in AVSIM's library called GENnav.  It's a moving map using Google earth.  You can adjust the viewing angle so that it uses Google Earth's 3d feature.  Sometimes I run it on a separate screen and often find myself looking at that screen more than the sim's.  It used to be a payware program and it's very well done.

Cool thanks. I will check it out. I would think there's  some performance hit running both ?

[vp49p3 216]

6 hours ago, HighTowers said:

Cool thanks. I will check it out. I would think there's  some performance hit running both ?

Don't really know, as I used to run the program on a networked client computer.

[lencarne 6]

I look for GENnav in the library and cant find it. Can someone find a link for it please?