The Map Room

Another year, another Icelandic volcano with a difficult-to-pronounce name. Here’s Earth Observatory’s satellite image of Grímsvötn’s ash cloud (above) and Ogle Earth’s post about visualizing said ash cloud in Google Earth. Here’s an ESA article on the ash plume that includes animations of its spread (via GIS Lounge).

Clement Valla collects instances where Google Earth’s 3D terrain layer doesn’t play well with the satellite and aerial imagery — elevated highways and bridges, for the most part. The effect is redolent of Dali — and it’s what happens when you try to make a 3D model of 2D imagery of a 3D surface. Via Boing Boing and Kottke.

Well, not quite — but you can view Mercury imagery in Google Earth by downloading a KML file. That sounds like a very good way to peruse all that new imagery from the MESSENGER spacecraft, now orbiting the planet, in its geographical context.

Google has updated Google Earth’s base layer imagery with new high-resolution imagery from the Sendai, Japan area. The imagery was collected on Sunday and Monday, so this is an incredibly fast turnaround. The imagery will also be available in Google Maps later on. See also Google Earth Blog.

Previously: Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Maps.

Google Earth 6, released today in beta, includes improvements to how Street View and historical imagery are integrated, plus 3D trees. Yes, trees: species-accurate but not necessarily individual-tree-accurate. (Stefan says: “The rest of Google Earth is pretty much the same, a sign that this application is maturing.”) All the details at Google LatLong, Google Earth Blog, Ogle Earth.

You may recall that our friend Frank Taylor of Google Earth Blog has been sailing around the world. Recently he made headlines because his kite aerial photography of Manihi atoll in French Polynesia, taken last May, has been added to…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google has announced that recent GeoEye imagery of the toxic sludge spill in hungary, taken on October 7, is now available as a KML overlay for Google Earth. The overlay view can be toggled between before- and after-the-spill views of…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth Blog addresses the question: how often does Google update its imagery for Google Earth?…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Mobile versions of Google Earth now have bathymetric and other ocean data: it came with Google Earth 1.1 for Android last month and Google Earth 3.1 for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad today….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth Design debunks myths about Google Earth: “Over beers a topic that often came up was misconceptions about Google Earth from those with no GIS or Google Earth experience, so I’ve put together my personal list of myth busting…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Read The Washington Monthly’s article on the troubles Google has encountered when presenting disputed names and boundaries in Google Earth and Google Maps. The problem, it seems, is that governments and people protesting various boundary and name disputes (Arunachal Pradesh…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth 5.2 was announced yesterday; the update adds enhanced GPS track support (viewing the track’s elevation, speed, etc.), an integrated web browser, and improvements to the pro version (CNet, Ogle Earth). On a related note, Stefan reports that version…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Nearly two years after releasing a browser plugin allowing Google Maps API developers to embed Google Earth into a web page, Google has integrated “Earth view” into the Google Maps site itself: “Earth” is now a tab beside “Map” and…  •  Continue reading this entry.

The shmoo-like Google employees from College Humour’s “Google Street View Guys” video return to image the world for Google Earth from a balloon. (Note: it’s not entirely clean.) Via Google Earth Blog. Previously: Google Street View Guys….  •  Continue reading this entry.

The mobile version of Google Earth is now available for the Android mobile phone platform. It’s available for the Nexus One and most devices with Android 2.1. (Which, Gizmodo says, “effectively limits it to the Nexus One. The good news…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Matt Fox has put together a Google Earth layer of IFR Enroute Low Altitude Charts, which are used for airplane navigation under instrument flight rules at altitudes below 18,000 feet (5,500 metres); note that the charts are not current and…  •  Continue reading this entry.

For the rest of you, the news is straightforward: Google Street View has added imagery from Norway and Finland, and has dramatically expanded its coverage of Canada, including more than 130 cities and major highways; it’s also added ski runs…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Recent updates to Google Earth include higher-resolution underwater terrain data for some parts of the ocean floor and historical aerial photography taken over European cities during the Second World War….  •  Continue reading this entry.

New imagery from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the ESA’s Mars Express orbiter has been added to Mars in Google Earth. “With these updates, nearly half of the martian surface is covered by imagery having a nominal resolution of…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google explains “the principles we follow in designing our mapping products, particularly as they apply to disputed regions” — e.g., when two countries disagree about what a body of water is named or where a boundary is disputed. “That can…  •  Continue reading this entry.

As anticipated, a 3D model of the Moon has been added to Google Earth on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. (See also Google Earth Blog.) Features include all kinds of content for the…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google has made available recent satellite imagery of Tehran from the IKONOS satellite via a Google Earth layer. How recent? Last Thursday. It would have been higher resolution if it had come from the GeoEye-1 satellite, but weather apparently played…  •  Continue reading this entry.

North Korea is very much in the news lately, but very much not on the map. The North Korea Uncovered project is trying to do something about that: it’s a Google Earth layer (KMZ file) that maps installations, landmarks…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Old maps of Japan from David Rumsey’s collection that are viewable as a layer in Google Earth have gotten Google into a bit of hot water in Japan, the AP’s Jay Alabaster reports (Huffington Post, Japan Times, Washington Post). The…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth bloggers are on the move: Stefan Geens (Ogle Earth), lately a resident of Cairo, is relocating to Shanghai; Frank Taylor (Google Earth Blog) is preparing for a five-year trip around the world by sailboat with his wife. Stefan…  •  Continue reading this entry.

IKONOS imagery of the Italian region of Abruzzo taken after Monday’s earthquake (whose epicentre was in L’Aquila), is now available in this KML file, Google LatLong reports. See also this landing page (in Italian). Previously: Italian Earthquake….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google LatLong points to a couple of resources for residents of the Fargo-Moorehead area affected by the flooding of the Red River: this My Map, put together by the owner of several Fargo-area radio stations (see above), and this…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Dead Pixel in Google Earth (2008) is a work of concept art by Helmut Smits; the 82×82-centimetre square of burned grass represents one pixel from an altitude of one kilometre. Via La Cartoteca. (Photo credit: Jeroen Wandemaker.)…  •  Continue reading this entry.

The need for accurate and up-to-date maps during a natural disaster or other humanitarian crisis is obvious. Teaching humanitarian aid workers how to make use of maps and mapping software is the idea behind the Field Guide to Humanitarian…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google has exclusive access to the GeoEye-1 satellite’s high-resolution imagery for online mapping purposes; sample imagery from the satellite, which was launched last September and began commercial operations last month, has been posted as a sign of things to come….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Like its historical imagery, Google Earth 5.0’s Mars features have been updated not very long after the launch of Google Earth 5.0. In addition to layers showing historical maps of Mars (like Schiaparelli’s) and narrated guided tours (that really do…  •  Continue reading this entry.

It hasn’t been that long since the release of Google Earth 5.0, which added historical satellite and aerial imagery via a slider, but Google LatLong is already announcing a significant update to Google Earth’s archive of historical imagery; the blog…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Frank Taylor isn’t the first person to explain at length how Google Earth imagery isn’t real-time imagery, but it’s something that seems to require repeating; his explanation also goes into considerable depth about how old the imagery can be (months…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Both Google and Microsoft announced updated imagery for Google Earth and Virtual Earth last week; detailed lists of what areas have been updated are available on Google LatLong and the Virtual Earth evangelist’s blog….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth’s GPS support was once limited to its $20/year “Plus” version; now that that version has been eliminated, it’s available in the free version. Free Geography Tools and Google LatLong have some details; about 200 receivers are supported….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Got aerial imagery? Google wants it — and now that Google Earth 5.0 supports historical imagery, it doesn’t matter how old it is (Google LatLong). James makes a valid (albeit snarky) point that this is another example of Google wanting…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth 5.0 was released today, with a bunch of new features. The ocean layers were not unexpected: ocean floor bathymetry was released a couple of weeks ago (see Stefan’s critique), and the previously announced presence of Sylvia Earle…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Last month, the Armed Services Inauguration Committee revealed to the public a 40×40-foot map used to plan the inauguration (via Vector One); another view is here (thumbnail above; via MapHist). New Google Earth imagery for Washington, D.C. finally de-pixellates…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Another Google Earth imagery update; details at Google Earth Blog and/or Google LatLong. Yahoo’s expanded its international map coverage. “We’ve added detailed coverage to 45 new countries, with new data in a further 30 countries,” says the Yahoo Geo…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Last month’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai have apparently triggered India’s long-simmering moral panic about maps, satellite imagery and security in general, and Google Earth in particular. A petition has been filed before the Bombay High Court demanding a ban on…  •  Continue reading this entry.

What’s this? The Google Earth browser plug-in now works on Mac browsers (Safari 3.1, Firefox 3.0)? Now I’ll (finally) be able to view certain Web sites properly. Digital Earth Blog, Google Earth Blog. The combined Intel/PowerPC download is apparently 47…  •  Continue reading this entry.

The Google Geo Developers Blog announces the publication of The KML Handbook, written by the tech writer who wrote the KML 2.1 and 2.2 documentation, Josie Wernecke. Quoth the announcement: “It explains all the various elements and features of…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth for the iPhone is now available. I’ve been playing with it in on my iPod touch this evening. My instant reaction: Google has absolutely nailed the interface — Multi-Touch was meant for Google Earth, and using the accelerometer…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Cedric Sam has put together maps of the 2008 federal election results as Google Earth layers (at right, a screenshot). It’s well done: the riding are coloured to make a choropleth map, and contain pie charts to measure popular…  •  Continue reading this entry.

This is worth reading: Stefan debunks a number of recent reports alleging that Google caved to government requests to censor imagery; among the articles fact-checked is the well-circulated 51 Things You Aren’t Allowed to See on Google Maps, which we…  •  Continue reading this entry.

With even more hurricanes on the way, Google has added a “Hurricane Season 2008” folder to Google Earth. Previously: Post-Gustav Imagery; Mapping Hurricane Gustav….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google LatLong points to NOAA aerial imagery taken after the passage of Hurricane Gustav; the imagery has also been processed into a KML file for use in Google Earth, which would allow for some useful before/after comparisons. (The entry also…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Hurricane Gustav Tracking Maps Firstcoastnews.com FLHurricane.com IbisEye MIBAZAAR MSNBC StormAdvisory (click on Gustav) Wundermap Some are better than others; IbisEye, MSNBC and Wundermap are standouts. Via Anything Geospatial, Google Maps Mania, Kottke and La Cartoteca. Hurricane Gustav in Google Earth…  •  Continue reading this entry.

The Earthgamz Summer Olympics Google Earth plugin maps Olympic athletes to their hometowns; it uses the Windows-only embedded Google Earth plugin on the page, but you can also download the (somewhat unwieldy, in my experience) full KML file for use…  •  Continue reading this entry.

David Lanegran’s Minnesota on the Map: A Historical Atlas “brings together for the first time stunning but rarely seen maps of Minnesota through five centuries”; the Rochester, Minnesota Post-Bulletin has more: “The maps include early city plans of Rochester,…  •  Continue reading this entry.

You may be aware that, in addition to The Map Room, I have another project that I work on during the Olympics: DFL, which chronicles last-place finishes. I’m at it again — this is my third kick at the Olympic…  •  Continue reading this entry.

As reported last year, the provincial government of British Columbia is making its geographic databases available online and via Google Earth. The announcement was made last Friday; the Vancouver Sun has coverage. Via, and more at, AnyGeo….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Facebook app whereyougonnabe? gets an upgrade focusing on integration with other platforms (previously). Diana Eid takes a look at map art, focusing on three artists we’ve seen before: Matthew Cusick, Elisabeth Lecourt and Susan Stockwell (via GeoCarta). On the…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Another collection of nautical charts for use within Google Earth, this time from Navimatics (KML link). The marine maps cover the coastline of the lower 48, and are derived from NOAA’s Electronic Navigational Charts. Via Ogle Earth and Free…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren’t Allowed to See on Google Maps, a compilation of locations whose aerial imagery has been obscured in Google Earth and Maps. Categories range from government and military facilities to power generation sites; the list…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth Blog has a roundup of the latest imagery updates to Google Earth. Update, 7/16: Google LatLong post….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth Design has been around for more than a year, but I’ve apparently missed it until now; the subject of good map design within Google Earth seems a laudable one. Ryan Strynatka writes about his blog, The Fiducial…  •  Continue reading this entry.

This is interesting: a video demonstrating a touchless, holographic interface using Google Earth. The projection is 2D, not 3D; think of it as a screen projected in midair, not a fully rotatable virtual globe in three dimensions. Via Google Earth…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google has announced a new plug-in and API that will allow Google Earth to be run from within a browser, once the plug-in has been downloaded. Windows-only so far (but most browsers on Windows), so I can’t add to what…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Links to Cyclone Nargis-related data viewable in Google Earth are available at Google Earth Blog, Google LatLong and humanitarian.info. Via Ogle Earth. Previously: Cyclone Nargis; More on Cyclone Nargis and Burma….  •  Continue reading this entry.

More on the devastation wrought on Burma (Myanmar) by Cyclone Nargis: UNOSAT has maps of the affected regions (as PDF files); the maps show the extent of flooding and the villages that have been completely submerged or flooded. Via Glenn….  •  Continue reading this entry.

What drives Glenn nuts about media coverage of Google Earth “is that most of these ‘writers’ refer to the imagery as being ‘Google’s’ as if a big bird is circling the Earth capturing high-res imagery almost daily. Hey man, the…  •  Continue reading this entry.

How does a global mapping provider like Google deal with disputed map names? (Think, for example, of Iran’s campaign in favour of the Persian Gulf instead of the Arabian Gulf, or South Korea’s on behalf of the East Sea instead…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Contour lines have been added to Google Maps’s terrain map layer, which adds its their usefulness (especially, for example, in a mountain context). But it has some way to go before it’s a suitable replacement for a topo map;…  •  Continue reading this entry.

A contractor is suing Google for allegedly stealing the idea for Google Earth’s Sky feature. Stefan argues that the lawsuit is “demonstrably frivolous,” citing evidence that the contractor was not the first person to moot the idea. From my perspective,…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Light pollution is the bane of astronomers worldwide. Cities generate so much light that their glow can be seen from great distances; that sky glow interferes with astronomical observations, reducing what can be seen, both with the naked eye and…  •  Continue reading this entry.

I still find the Google Sky interface less appealing than some dedicated planetarium software I’ve tried, but I’m still interested in the most recent updates, including, among other things, imagery from space-based telescopes and imagery layers from 17th-century celestial…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Catholicgauze points out that some content from The Onion’s Our Dumb World (reviewed here) is being put online, a bit more each week, both as a Google Maps mashup and a Google Earth layer; brief bullet-point-sized excerpts in each case….  •  Continue reading this entry.

A couple of quick updates about Google’s mapping stuff — quick updates seem to be all I have time or energy for at the moment, what with the full-time contract and the resulting lengthy commute. Google Transit’s features have been…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth 4.2 was released overnight. Perhaps you’ve heard about one of its new features — and I don’t mean support for KML 2.2. Sky in Google Earth: click on the Sky button and the program transforms itself from an…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Nikolas Schiller writes: The other day you featured my analysis concerning Google’s censorship of downtown Washington, D.C. I am contacting you with two updates concerning this research. 1. I discovered that the area in question is the exact same area…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google announces the latest Google Earth imagery update with a cryptic blog entry inviting us to guess from the clues; those with less patience can turn to Digital Earth Blog for the answers. (Update: Google’s official answers.) If the Ottawa-area…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Nikolas Schiller writes to point out an article in today’s Washington Post about Google’s updated imagery of Washington, D.C., and how Google massaged the fact that the most recent imagery available — 2005 imagery from the USGS — censored several…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Don’t miss this article if you’re at all curious about how Google Earth works on a technical level — how data measured in terabytes and terapixels get sent over a relatively straitened Internet connection and processed by a relatively limited…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Maps Is Changing the Way We See the World, from Wired’s July issue, is a far-reaching state-of-the-topic article that looks at Google’s mapmaking ventures and the tremendous amount of amateur mapmaking it’s stimulated. Covers all the bases. Noteworthy: “Today,…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Even though the new street-level imagery from Google is getting all the attention lately, the issue of censoring satellite and aerial imagery has not gone away. Not by a long shot. Via Ogle Earth: Henri Willox noted yesterday that French…  •  Continue reading this entry.

A big update to Google Earth’s imagery and terrain layers on Saturday that includes Canadian, German and French cities, U.S. counties, Japanese cities/regions, 50-cm-resolution imagery for England, 60-cm imagery for many areas including Antarctica and Greenland, and 10-metre terrain for…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Yahoo and Microsoft have had mapping blogs for a while, but not Google — at least not until today, when the Google Lat Long Blog, which covers Maps, Earth, Local and the mapping API, made its debut. Now where’s the…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Frank and Stefan report on a new beta version, version 4.1, of Google Earth. Improvements include SpaceNavigator compatibility in the Mac version, more languages, tips and a feature allowing you to view the same thing in Google Maps. Previously: Google…  •  Continue reading this entry.

From last year, a brief article on Google’s Librarian Central on the sources of Google Earth imagery. We collect it via airplane and satellite, but also just about any way you can imagine getting a camera above the Earth’s surface:…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Matt Fox, whose work we’ve seen before, has started a new blog about Google Earth content — Google Earth Library — which already has a ferocious amount of material posted. Via Google Earth Blog….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google has updated its New Orleans imagery in response to the outcry over its decision — made last September — to update that imagery with higher-quality images that were unfortunately, and impolitically, before Hurricane Katrina. The Official Google Blog: [I]n…  •  Continue reading this entry.

A major feature on Google Earth from yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle, on the front page of the opinion section. Quotes Frank from Google Earth Blog and everything. Covers all the usual bases, from privacy implications to the way it empowers…  •  Continue reading this entry.

The data for NOAA’s nautical charts is free and available for download, but not necessarily usable in your software application. EarthNC has taken more than 600 NOAA charts and converted them into something Google Earth can use. They’re selling…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Yet another imagery update for Google Earth: updates to Spain, Connecticutt and Austin, Texas; high-resolution imagery for a number of English locations, a number of U.S. counties, the French cities of Poitiers and Rennes, and downtown Vancouver, B.C. Via Ogle…  •  Continue reading this entry.

A post on Valleywag, which I will quote here because I’m guessing most of you missed it, about Google Earth: “We’re hearing a rumor that the service, which overlays satellite imagery over a map grid, is actually forbidden in no…  •  Continue reading this entry.

UTM Flyer is a small, free program that lets you zoom to a location in Google Earth by entering UTM coordinates; it also converts between UTM and lat/long. Windows-only, so I haven’t tested it. Via Free GeoTools. Previously: New Google…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Matt Fox, who georectified the Great Salt Lake bathymetric maps for use as Google Earth overlays, has made available his entire collection of maps through a Google Earth network link. The collection includes topo maps of the western U.S.,…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth is updating its content faster than CN is derailing trains nowadays: yesterday’s updates include New Zealand roads and an Appalachian mountaintop removal layer, as well as many updates to many existing layers and folders. Google Earth Blog, Ogle…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Recent updates to the satellite and aerial imagery in Google Maps and Earth include 50-cm resolution imagery for Switzerland and Denmark, high-resolution (10 m) terrain for Switzerland, several French cities, full coverage for Utah and Wyoming, and a number of…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Much book-related news has been accumulating over here; past time I shared it. Surveying, Mapping and GIS reviews Dava Sobel’s Longitude, a book about John Harrison, who discovered how to determine longitude. I think I need to read this book….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Stefan broke the news this morning that Spot Image’s 2.5-meter-per-pixel imagery had been added to Google Earth; this is apparently a substantial improvement over the 15-meter-per-pixel base layer. More from Spot Image itself; the countries affected include Belgium, France, Belgium,…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Stefan has discovered two brand-spanking-new blogs that have started up this very month: the Google Earth Hacks blog accompanies the site of the same name; MapWrapper.com is a GIS blog with an interest in earth sciences and remote sensing. Previously:…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Maps of Stockholm from 1625 to 1922 are available as downloadable Google Earth layers; the file sizes can be quite substantial. It’s of interest to me that Google Earth is being deployed as a platform to distribute scans of…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth 4.0 — or, to be precise, version 4.0.2722 — is now out of beta, Frank and Stefan report. The version 4.0 beta was first released last June….  •  Continue reading this entry.

A funny little video about Google Earth from Tais Toi Donc: Via Urban Cartography. Previously: Ground-level Google Maps….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Brian refuses to use Google Earth 4; he’s using version 3.x instead. “Why? Not for any technical reason. No; it’s purely a matter of user interface. It used to be, if not good, at least passable. Now, it’s a pain…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Yet another round of terrain and imagery updates for Google Earth; Stefan and Frank pass along the details. The updates include, among other things, a terrain upgrade for Mt. Saint Helens. Previously: Google Earth Terrain and Imagery Upgrades; Another Google…  •  Continue reading this entry.

There has been an explosion in mining claims lately; the Environmental Working Group’s U.S. Mining Database uses the Google Maps API to show active mines and claims on federal lands in the western United States. (There’s also a Google Earth…  •  Continue reading this entry.

A few new Google Earth layers to tell you about. Data from several web communities — Wikipedia, Panoramio and the Google Earth Community — are also available in a new “Geographic Web” layer. The “London: A Life in Maps” exhibition,…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Ogle Earth reports on terrain and imagery upgrades in Google Earth; locations updated include 12 German cities, six British regions, the island of Oahu, and the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur….  •  Continue reading this entry.

A couple of Google Earth items that made me happy. First, via Ogle Earth, the Google Earth Automator Pack, a (still-in-development) collection of Automator actions for the Macintosh version of Google Earth. Second, maps from the David Rumsey collection are…  •  Continue reading this entry.

A new beta of Google Earth 4 adds previously pay-for features (drawing paths and polygons) to the free version, brings altitude to image overlays (critical for weather, among other things) and includes other refinements, Google Earth Blog reports. See previous…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Missed this earlier. Google Earth’s time animation feature is now part of the free version, and Google Earth user Valery Hronusov has taken global paleogeographic data put out by geology professor Ron Blakey — whom we last met thanks…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Declan Butler has made a Google Earth layer from Reporters Without Borders’s Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index. I’m surprised they don’t put out a cartogram themselves. Via La Cartoteca (which just celebrated its first anniversary)….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Stefan speculates on some of the potential ways that Google’s mapping products could be integrated into its other services and products, as per a recent company directive to make their stuff work together better….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google has added election guide and congressional district layers for the 2006 mid-term elections to Google Earth, Google Earth Blog and the Washington Post’s tech blog report (the latter via Ogle Earth). I love electoral maps in general, so of…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google itself is getting into the Google Earth blogging action, but Using Google Earth is a bit more basic, more introductory in its coverage than Stefan and Frank are. It’s written by Google Earth team member John Gardiner. Via Ogle…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google for Educators, a web site about using Google’s stuff in the classroom, includes a section on using Google Earth in teaching, including some lesson plans. Via Ogle Earth. There’s also a page on using Google Maps in the classroom,…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Another update to Google’s satellite imagery today, Maps and Earth at the same time. Here’s an announcement. Via Google Earth Blog; I expect Frank Taylor will be adding to the list as more updates are discovered. See previous entry: Google…  •  Continue reading this entry.

A choropleth map of Flickr photos as a KMZ file for Google Earth; it shows how many photos from each lat/long grid have been uploaded to Flickr. I was intrigued to see that unexpected places like St. Helena and…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Concomitant with yesterday’s update of Google Earth’s layers, a new beta of Google Earth 4 has been released. New features include Japanese-language and timestamp support, but what caught my eye was a new UTM grid overlay (I’m big on UTM)….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Following on last week’s imagery update, Google Earth today saw a major update to its layers, including new “featured content” layers such as, I was delighted to learn, trail data for U.S. national parks. Also, 3D buildings for Japanese cities….  •  Continue reading this entry.

The Trainspotters of Google Earth is a slideshow from Slate on the phenomenon of Google Earth users finding all sorts of arcane locations and caught images: “As a simulacrum of the Earth, Google Earth provides a safe space for unlimited…  •  Continue reading this entry.

If you have a Flickr account and are interested in geotagging, don’t miss Frank’s roundup on Google Earth Blog: Three Flickr Photo Browsing Tools for Google Earth — the point of which is to allow you to browse geotagged Flickr…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Two forthcoming books on the horizon: A to Z GIS: An Illustrated Dictionary of Geographic Information Systems (Amazon), a terminology guide from ESRI Press (press release); and Google Earth for Dummies, which is self-explanatory (via Google Earth Blog)….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Ben has posted an e-mail exchange to the Geowanking mailing list that confirms that, according to a DigitalGlobe representative, “Google has signed an exclusive agreement with us to display our full-resolution imagery on the web,” which means that Google Maps…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google has received an award for its work — by the Google Earth team and others — during the Hurricane Katrina crisis. Think back to that time and recall how so many people absolutely relied on imagery imported into Google…  •  Continue reading this entry.

A black-and-white graphic from the Globe and Mail (direct link to image). A map-intensive Flash presentation from the Guardian. A Google Earth layer (KMZ format) showing the attacks on both sides — now, of course, it can be viewed…  •  Continue reading this entry.

A look back on Google’s Geo Developer Day on Monday, with some additional links on the subject. For summaries of the event, look at these reports from MacWorld and Search Engine Watch. The Google Maps API Blog discusses the…  •  Continue reading this entry.

News from Google’s Geo Developer Day, reported by Google Earth Blog, Ogle Earth and The Unofficial Apple Weblog: Google Earth version 4.0 (beta) is now available, with a new interface for all platforms. I say “all platforms,” because there is…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth Blog and Ogle Earth report that more areas of the planet now have high-resolution imagery in Google Earth, many of which are low-population areas like South Georgia Island, Siberia, the Australian interior and — wow — the Himalayas….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Old meets new: Google Earth layers for London in 1666 and 1690. Suddenly the purpose behind e_Perimetron becomes clear. Via Things Magazine….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Via Kathryn Cramer, Google Earth overlays for last weekend’s earthquake in Indonesia. See previous entry: Indonesian Earthquake….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Real-time data (or at least near real-time data) exists in the online mapping world, just not the real-time satellite and aerial imagery that uninformed people get exercised about — take traffic congestion data, for example. Weather data is another possibility…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Via Ogle Earth, a comparison of Google Earth and World Wind. Though I detect a distinct preference for World Wind’s open/free terms of use (it is, after all, a page on World Wind Central’s wiki), it’s quite positive about both…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Mentioned in passing during coverage of the Linux release of Google’s Picasa photo software is the news that a Linux port of Google Earth has been in the works. From the Linux Today article: [Google Open Source Program Manager Chris]…  •  Continue reading this entry.

First there was a massive update of Google Earth’s satellite and aerial photography, much of which affected (and improved) the imagery for Europe. Then that imagery was carried over to Google Maps, which again had an impact on European views….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Boing Boing reports that the archive of silly Tube maps (previously mentioned here) has gotten into a spot of legal trouble and has been taken offline. As a followup on this question, have a look at Stefan’s post about…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Mars: in the same vein as Google Moon (see previous entry); with visual-spectrum, infrared and elevation imagery. Here’s Google’s FAQ. Via Cartography, amongst many others. (Update: Announcement on the Google Blog.) Also, as Stefan notes, a Mars layer is…  •  Continue reading this entry.

The Batch Geocoding Blog has a comparison of the Google, MapQuest and Yahoo! mapping APIs; it’s a quick outline of what the author sees as the pros and cons of each. Via Very Spatial. Alex Stengel says MapMemo 2.5…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Evan Roberts asks, Why do you think Google hasn’t integrated USGS topographic quads as a layer in Google Earth? Not enough of a demand? Not relevant to its business model? Don’t want to step on the toes of GPS partners?…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth makes the cover of this week’s issue of Nature: inside, an article by Declan Butler on the uses of virtual globes by scientists, available free; an editorial and a commentary on the use of Google Earth during natural…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Macworld takes a second look at Google Earth; meanwhile, Google Earth, which was previously Tiger-only, has been quietly made available for OS X 10.3.9. And finally, the first book about Google Earth is finally out — but it’s in German….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Our friend Frank Taylor of Google Earth Blog has put together a page of Google Earth Basics for people new to Google Earth. That’s basically me: while I’ve been reporting what I could about Google Earth since its launch, I…  •  Continue reading this entry.

A busy day for Mac users, and not just because of the Macworld keynote. Google Earth for the Mac is now officially available (via GPS Review). Key system requirements: OS X 10.4 (Tiger), a 400-MHz processor, and 16 MB of…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Frank Bisono and Jaron Brass have managed to take a look at the Google Earth OS X preview that seems to be making the rounds; both have dual or quad G5 Power Macs, so naturally they report good performance. Commenters…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Mac rumour site AppleInsider claims that a long-hoped-for OS X version of Google Earth is under development: “Earlier this month, a pre-release version of Google Earth for Mac OS X that uses OpenGL rendering reportedly began making the rounds overseas….  •  Continue reading this entry.

Once more into the breach. India is the latest country where concerns are being expressed about the high-resolution imagery in Google Earth, now that several Indian cities have had their photos updated. As usual, the concern is about sensitive installations…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Ogle Earth reports that New York state comptroller Alan Hevesi is the latest politician to freak out about Google Earth as a potential tool for terrorists. But Hevesi does it in a particularly odious manner, invoking his status as trustee…  •  Continue reading this entry.

I’m totally the last person to be reporting this. A couple of weeks ago, Ogle Earth pointed to the story of Italian blogger Luca Mori (whose site seems to be down at the moment), who used Google Maps and Google…  •  Continue reading this entry.

There are several resources for keeping tabs on the next volley of tropical storms to hit the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. NOAA’s Storm Tracker page for Rita and Philippe has tracking maps and satellite photos. Google Earth…  •  Continue reading this entry.

In addition to the Forbes article I mentioned yesterday, both the BBC and New York Times (free registration required) cover the use of Google Maps and Earth by ordinary users to collect and distribute information about the disaster — i.e.,…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Another new blog to bring to your attention: Frank Taylor’s solid and eponymous Google Earth Blog. Via Ogle Earth. Map blogging is coming on fast and furious; that’s the fifth new blog I’ve reported on this month, and I know…  •  Continue reading this entry.

I don’t know how I missed Ogle Earth, but now that I’ve found it I’m keeping an eye on it. Written by Stefan Geens, with a mandate is to focus on Google Earth and its competitors, Ogle Earth has been…  •  Continue reading this entry.

I’m in the awkward position of having to write posts about Google Earth without so much as being able to download it — at least, not until their promised Mac version comes out. Until that hopefully-not-too-long-off day, I can only…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Wired’s article on Google Earth examines a heretofore overlooked feature: “Google Earth’s true special sauce is the way it allows users to create markers for just about any venue or location, write a note describing it and then share it…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google has halted downloads of Google Earth for now; it seems that their plan was to limit the number of users of the new, beta service. It’s something they’ve done before with betas — think Gmail — and is probably…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google has released an API for embedding Google Maps in your own web pages via JavaScript. Hacking Google Maps has just gone legit — not that Google seems to have had much complaint with the majority of the hacks out…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Google Earth is out. Requires a fast Windows PC. Three subscription levels, the basic one free. More once I’ve had a chance to look through the site; post your take in the comments. Via Google Blog. See previous entries: Google…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Stephen DesRoches downloaded a beta of the upcoming Google Earth (see previous entry) the other day, and has a report and screenshots. Looks impressive. Update: See also Windypundit (via MAKE: Blog)….  •  Continue reading this entry.