Google Earth

[derstuka]

I might be the last one to discover this, but last week a friend showed me Google Earth and I am hooked now. It seems that Google bought out Keyhole (a dotcom startup company, which spent 4 years stitching together statilite & aerial photography photos) last year. I can see my dad's hot tub in his back yard, my brother's pond, and even the pyramids of Giza! Soo cool! Keep in mind that the photo's are 1-4 years old and are not current, it is amazing, AND scary at the same time!

http://earth.google.com/

Oh, and if you haven't used it yet, and want to, download the free software (10mb) and remember where you save it, because you have to click on it and unzip and install the software from there. You need a decent video card, and PC for it to work well. If you have a kick-ass video card, then you might be able to count the shingles on somebody's house!

Oh, and I was even able to find my favorite mtn bike trails in the photo's, as well as slickrock in Moab! Crazy!

[accadacca]

Yeah I have seen it. Pretty amazing stuff. :nod:

[derstuka]

You should check out the Pyramids when you get a chance. Very good photos of them! You can even see all the tombs & excavating around them.

[rockgremlin]

hmmmmm.....you got a listing of all the best nude beaches in the world handy? :haha: :2thumbs:

[Sombeech]

hmmmmm.....you got a listing of all the best nude beaches in the world handy? :haha: :2thumbs:

Ditto.

You'll probably only be able to see really fat people though. :lol8:

[derstuka]

Yeah, I have to second what sombeech said. Only the fat people would show up, however, I betcha the CIA could zoom right in on a person close enough to see if they have tattoos, or, ahem, a young lady with healthy lungs... :2thumbs:

[accadacca]

Of course rockgremlin had to chime in with the perverted take. :lol8:
If you have some time derstuka see if you can zoom in on the Playboy mansion. :five:

[derstuka]

The eagle has landed captain! Well, I think I have the mansion at least. If I had a better video card I could zoom in better. I know that they have a HUGE backyard with all kinds of stuff in it. Incase you have a better one, the address is: 405 Hilgard Ave LA Los Angeles CA 90095, or incase Hugh ever invites you over!

[rockgremlin]

Of course rockgremlin had to chime in with the perverted take. :lol8:

Whatever!!! :roll: You're practically worse than I am! You're just pissed cause I thought of it first. :haha:

[derstuka]

Actually, I was kinda jealous that it was thought of before me. If those thoughts are perverted, then I have more pervertion that the three of you combined! :hail2thechief:

[accadacca]

Actually, I was kinda jealous that it was thought of before me. If those thoughts are perverted, then I have more pervertion that the three of you combined! :hail2thechief:
:roflol:

Just pokin' the ribs a bit. But really you should be ashamed.........see anything at the mansion? :lol8:

[derstuka]

Yeah, I saw Pam Anderson and Jessica Alba putting on suntan lotion for a photo shoot, you should check it out!

[Sombeech]

I went to Google earth, and I can't download .exe files at work!! :frustrated: :frustrated:

I hate my server.

I've been messing around on the Terraserver for a while. It's pretty cool. Does Google Earth get better resolution?

Terraserver:
http://www.terraserver.microsoft.com/

[derstuka]

Can you only view the US thru the terraserver thingy? Looks like maybe...

[Sombeech]

Yeah, probably.

Maybe I will have somebody e-mail me the google one...

For me to be able to receive a .exe file through email, it has to be zipped, and then sent.

[derstuka]

Does Google Earth get better resolution?



It depends I think. Most of the photos looks the same, but from what I saw on terraserver, you can't zoom in as far close as google earth; however, many times zooming in more will only cause it to blur/distort. I think that both of them do better around large cities, and not as well around some rural areas. Just depends on the photos that they got. Google earth is cool because you can look at any place on the earth, not just the US.

[accadacca]

Maybe I will have somebody e-mail me the google one.
It is 10mb!! :scared: I just zipped it and put it on the server for you and anyone else that needs the zip file.

Pretty cool program for free. :cool2: Tell me if it works?

http://uutah.com/forum/files/GoogleEarth.zip

[Sombeech]

Just got it.

Very impressive! I'm going to make a little list of my favorite spots.

This can be a great guide for trail reports! I'll find out how to save the images, and post them along with each trip report.

[Sombeech]

Holy crap this thing rocks. :rockit:

The more I play around with it, I see that it SMOKES terraserver.

Play with the tilt feature. It will turn it into a 3D model.

Look at Moab, UT.

It places you near Lion's back, and just play around with it.


derstuka, you da man!

[crazy horse]

That thing is awesome. Scary, but awesome. I'm just amazed that I can follow roads all the way from my house to say, NYC. The crazy thing is that this is a child's toy compared to the technology the government has their hands on.

[Sombeech]

I'm building a list of bookmarks of all the bike trails...

[derstuka]

Holy crap this thing rocks. :rockit:

The more I play around with it, I see that it SMOKES terraserver.

Play with the tilt feature. It will turn it into a 3D model.

Look at Moab, UT.

It places you near Lion's back, and just play around with it.


derstuka, you da man!

Thanks...I like zoom out, then take earth with my mouse pointer, click and drag it around to another country then start zooming in. I was trying to see if I could see the Mcmurdo station in Anartica, but no luck yet.

[derstuka]

I'm building a list of bookmarks of all the bike trails...

Did you see slickrock trail yet? I'm sure you did if you saw Lion's back. Amazing how well you can see the back tire marks.

[accadacca]

I'm building a list of bookmarks of all the bike trails...

Did you see slickrock trail yet? I'm sure you did if you saw Lion's back. Amazing how well you can see the back tire marks.
I just found it! Cool! I am going to install it on one of my video editing computers here. This card is built in the motherboard. Crap!

[derstuka]

I found Amassa Back on there too, but it is a lot harder to find. It's addicting once you start finding stuff you know, places you have been, or want to go!

[derstuka]

hey sombeech and accadacca, I found the panama canal, so cool! I can even see a ship (or what looks to be a ship) in the locks!

[Sombeech]

Yeah, I'm having a ball with this thing.

[derstuka]

Glad to hear your having fun with it. Woo hoo! :rockon:

[mroy]

I think Google Earth is pretty sweet as well. Another tool along the same lines (though not as cool) that you can use is USA Photo Maps http://jdmcox.com/ It's kind of along the lines of terra server, but all the images are downloaded to your hard drive & stored there so you don't have to download them again, & you get a much greater viewing area than terra server. If you're around a city you can get the higher resolution urban photos, and you can switch to topo downloads as well. It will also interface with your GPS & let you download and overlay tracks so you can do maps of trails over the photos without the cost of the other versions of google earth. Just thought I'd throw that out there as well.

[rockgremlin]

That's awesome! Thanks for the heads up Mroy.

[Sombeech]

Check out the latest posts in the biking section. I've added snapshots, and attachments for navigation of the trails.

I will continue to add more...

[derstuka]

As I commented on another thread, SWEET job sombeech! You are the Google Earth Master now!

Hey, did you check on the pyramids yet? Depending on your PC, they are very detailed. You can see the steps just about.

[theprof]

Sorry I'd type more but my eyes are all blurry from staring at different images on google earth...... thanks a lot, guys.

Na, gotta say that I've used a bunch of topo programs, terraserver, and other programs to try and get the kind of detail, clarity, and information that google earth provides. Awesome program!

BTW, nice job on the additions to the reports, Sumbeech. Cool to see how others are using it!

[Sombeech]

Thanks for the compliments. It was a labor of love :haha:

No, really, it was pretty cool trying to find different trailheads. Be sure to download the attachment also for further navigation.

Hey, derstuka, I haven't found the pyramids yet. Can you attach the location tool so we can go right to it?

Thanks.