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Google Earth, Now With Browser Goodness

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Fri May 30, 2008 01:44 PM
from the nutritious-and-delicious dept.
Businesses Google The Internet Software
Google announced this week that their Google Earth application can now be used from the browser, instead of having to download and install the desktop application. "Google also launched an JavaScript API that lets you interact with the globe, draw markers, add layers or integrate with Google Maps. 'The Google Earth Plug-in and its APIs let you embed the full power of Google Earth and its 3D rendering capabilities into your web pages.' Google LatLong blog announced that each Google Maps mashup can take advantage of the new 3D view by adding a single line of code. 'Our goal is to open up the entire core of Google Earth to developers in the hopes that you'll build the next great geo-based 3D application, and change how we view the world.'"
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  • Now they can connect your browsing habits with your satellite voyeurism.

    • Now they can connect your browsing habits with your satellite voyeurism.

      Awww, come on, that was funny.

      Did someone give mod points to a Google worker?

  • Why, why, why (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sakdoctor (1087155) on Friday May 30 2008, @01:50PM (#23602765)
    So now it can run substantially on a (huge) plug-in inside my browser. How is this different or more convenient just because the window is wrapped in the browser.

    Seems everything must run inside the browser these days. When can I get windows vista for firefox?

    • Re:Why, why, why (Score:5, Informative)

      by mmkkbb (816035) on Friday May 30 2008, @01:56PM (#23602851) Homepage Journal
      You could theoretically embed this in a web page where one would use maps now.
      • No theoretically here. If you already have Google Maps you just add this line:
        map.addMapType(G_SATELLITE_3D_MAP);

        That is it.

        • You could theoretically embed this in a web page
          But then it would no longer be a web page.
          By your standards, YouTube is not a web page because it contains FLV video, nor is Slashdot because it contains SWF advertisements. If I have an HTML page that uses the object element to embed rich media, what makes it a "web page" or not a "web page"?

          • Re:What is a web page? (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Qzukk (229616) on Friday May 30 2008, @02:35PM (#23603309) Journal
            By your standards, YouTube is not a web page because it contains FLV video

            If I turn off plugins and go to this website, what do I get? The example screenshot shows Google Earth taking up the entire browser, so my guess is "a blank page" (or one begging me to install their plugin).

            I use YouTube on a fairly regular basis on my x86-64 system without the crashtastic 32-bit flash wrapper. I can see the title of the movie, links to related movies, and download the flv to watch in mplayer.

    • Re:Why, why, why (Score:5, Funny)

      by commodoresloat (172735) * on Friday May 30 2008, @02:48PM (#23603515) Homepage

      When can I get windows vista for firefox?
      It's not likely to be available for firefox, but soon you will be able to run it within emacs.

  • Unfortunately (Score:3, Informative)

    by gnick (1211984) on Friday May 30 2008, @01:50PM (#23602775) Homepage
    Unfortunately, as with the current version of Google Earth, it does not support proxies requiring authentication... Not sure which version this changed in, but older versions work fine.

  • Not compatible with: (Score:5, Informative)

    by Andy_R (114137) on Friday May 30 2008, @01:51PM (#23602787) Homepage Journal
    All Linux browsers
    Firefox (Macintosh)
    Safari (all platforms)
    Firefox 3 (all platforms)
    Opera (all platforms)... ... and so on

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Colonel Korn (1258968)

      All Linux browsers
      Firefox (Macintosh)
      Safari (all platforms)
      Firefox 3 (all platforms)
      Opera (all platforms)... ... and so on
      I never expected to see Google release something that was (practically) IE exclusive...
    • But it's still compatible with over 80% of the browsers out there ;)

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Jason Earl (1894)

        But it's still compatible with over 80% of the browsers out there ;)

        Sure, once the end user downloads a plugin.

        This new software runs on almost precisely the same number of computers as the old one, but now it has the added advantage that Microsoft can break it every time they rev their browser.

        Oh yeah, that's progress.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by dave420 (699308)
          Sure, but it also means it can be embedded in a web-page, and interfaced with via javascript. No more downloading KML files and waiting for Google Earth to load them, the webpage can directly show you what it's describing. That IS progress. Just think how useful Google Maps would be in a stand-alone application, compared to how useful it is now. The fact it can be extended using JS and presented in a web-page is how it really becomes useful. But I guess it's more fun to ignore all that and just have a
    • people consider google one of THE web companies.

      yet they have LOST the notion of platform independance, at least in this case.

      the start of the true downfall of google? (nah, that was when they rated on that guy and let the chinese take that poor dissident away).

      I just can't understand why you'd write a 'web program' and also have WINDOWS CODE in it. boggle!

      the shine is wearing off the google, it seems.

  • Real markers (Score:3, Funny)

    by abolitiontheory (1138999) on Friday May 30 2008, @01:55PM (#23602847)

    ... that lets you interact with the globe, draw markers, add layers or integrate with Google Maps ...

    Aww crap! I thought they meant real markers! ...

    Anyone know how to get sharpie out of LCD?

    • Re:Real markers (Score:5, Funny)

      by gstoddart (321705) on Friday May 30 2008, @02:04PM (#23602931) Homepage

      Aww crap! I thought they meant real markers! ...

      Anyone know how to get sharpie out of LCD?

      Take off and nuke the whole site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. ;-)

      Cheers

    • Re:Real markers (Score:4, Informative)

      by dotancohen (1015143) on Friday May 30 2008, @03:17PM (#23603913) Homepage

      ... that lets you interact with the globe, draw markers, add layers or integrate with Google Maps ...


      Aww crap! I thought they meant real markers! ...


      Anyone know how to get sharpie out of LCD?

      Despite what the manual says, paint thinner cleans LCD monitors just fine. Make sure you put the thinner on the rag, not directly on the screen. Added advantage: the fucking glossy laptop screen is not so glossy anymore. It actually came out more uniform than I would have though had I known beforehand that it would be less glossy.

  • Web or Linux 3D SketchUp? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Doc Ruby (173196) on Friday May 30 2008, @01:56PM (#23602857) Homepage Journal
    3D models for inserting into Google Earth are made with SketchUp [wikipedia.org], which is a 3D desktop studio available only for Windows, and MacOS, not Linux. When will Google finally release a Linux SketchUp, or at least include its main modeling features into the Web version?

    Or even better, when will there be a simple way to use existing (and good) Linux 3D studio tools to make standard-format datasets that are easily and completely importable into Google Earth (whether desktop or Web)?

    Hell, at this point I'd even settle for a way to import the paths in a 2D PostScript (or PDF) file into something that makes them 2D lines/areas on a 3D canvas that I can put into Google Earth, rotated and positioned for at least an idea of what a fully 3D model would look like. But to do anything like that right now, I need a Mac or a Windows machine.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by fotbr (855184)
      I'd be interested in any good linux 3d tools at all, but it seems the linux community is happy with blender, and doesn't seem to care that its interface is horrible (ie, the gimp syndrome -- "we want to be different, even at the cost of being good").

      IF you can tolerate blender's handicapped interface, you might be able to export into a form google earth can handle (or, as the forums will tell you "write it yourself").

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=allOsEHARo8

        Blender isn't any good, you say?

    • Wine (Score:5, Informative)

      by tepples (727027) <slash2006@3.14159pineight.com minus pi> on Friday May 30 2008, @02:26PM (#23603191) Homepage Journal

      When will Google finally release a Linux SketchUp, or at least include its main modeling features into the Web version?

      Have you tried SketchUp in Wine [blogspot.com]? If you did, and it didn't work, have you submitted problem reports to the Wine team and to Google?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Google Earth 3D models simply use COLLADA XML [khronos.org] format. Sketch up just exports it for you in this way.

      A lot of 3D modeling software supports export to COLLADA, which can be used in KML (google earth).

      For Example:
      Blender [illusoft.com]
      3DS Max [feelingsoftware.com]
      Maya [feelingsoftware.com]

      etc...

    • Re:Web or Linux 3D SketchUp? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by dotancohen (1015143) on Friday May 30 2008, @03:20PM (#23603949) Homepage

      When will Google finally release a Linux SketchUp, or at least include its main modeling features into the Web version?
      Write to them and ask them. You cannot expect them to guess that Linux users exist if you don't contact them, can you?

      While this might not really be the case at google, you really should write to Adobe (photoshop), Intuit (quicken) and other software houses to let them know that we want their products. I make it a point to write to one every week.
  • Currently this looks like it's only on Windows. I didn't see anything about when a Mac or Linux version might be available, did anyone else see anything?
  • What's the gap between this and the existing Virtual Earth 3D plugin? http://www.google.com/earth/plugin/examples/samples/index.html [google.com] vs. http://dev.live.com/virtualearth/sdk [live.com].

  • Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 30 2008, @02:09PM (#23602993)
    The Browser Edition. Come on, you know you want to make it!

  • Nice way to max the CPU (Score:5, Funny)

    by Zerbey (15536) * on Friday May 30 2008, @02:12PM (#23603025) Homepage Journal
    Well, it went mental and spawned three processes that happily chewed up my CPU and started eating memory as a side dish. Oh, and Firefox crashed.

    It's a beta, right? ;-)

  • exe? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Thelasko (1196535) on Friday May 30 2008, @02:17PM (#23603067) Journal
    Who makes a Firefox plugin that's an .exe file? Seriously, Google needs to read the how to page [mozilla.org] and follow the standards.

    • Re:exe? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by BitZtream (692029) on Friday May 30 2008, @02:25PM (#23603181)
      Well, using an out of process plugin is useful for ensuring that the browser remains reliable when the plugin experiences problems and crashes. Its also useful for sharing resources between applications via the out of process process (the exe).

      Those are just 2 reasons to do it, and its likely developers at Google know slightly more about making Mozilla plugins than you seem to think considering A) they pretty much had to read that page to make the plugin anyway, B) Google contributes to the Mozilla code base and has Mozilla developers on staff, and finally C) having delt with many Google engineers, I've yet to run into a twit who has made it past the God knows how many interviews it takes to get a job there, I.E. they tend to have more than a little clue.

      Perhaps you just aren't fully aware of their goals/plans/reasoning.
    • Did I miss something? I thought the exe was just an installer that installs the plugin for both IE and Firefox.

      • I thought the exe was just an installer that installs the plugin for both IE and Firefox.
        Then why wouldn't they just release the .xpi file? Either they have something to hide, wanted it to be windows only, or only wanted to code it once for both IE and Firefox.

    • Who makes a Firefox plugin that's an .exe file? Seriously, Google needs to read the how to page and follow the standards.

      Installing Extensions and Themes From Web Pages [mozilla.org] mentions something about the install method of an InstallTrigger object. In turn, that method's documentation [mozilla.org] mentions something about a whitelist. I assume the .exe method short-circuits around having to get the user to add each site to a whitelist through a (scary?) alert box.

      • Very close, I don't think there is an alert box for whitelisting. I think you have to go into some config file to do it. The correct way to write a pluign is to submit it to Mozilla for review. For some reason, Google decided not to go that way.

        I'm not a developer though. That's just how I interparate this page. [wikipedia.org]
    • What do you mean ANSYS has no undo button? Have you submitted a bug about it? Will check. I think Workbench has unlimited undo/redo.

      • I think Workbench has unlimited undo/redo.
        I asked the rep a few weeks ago. You can delete items you performed previously in workbench (provided you know what it is) but there is no undo in the traditional sense.

  • Fucking Blog Spam (Score:5, Informative)

    by street struttin' (1249972) on Friday May 30 2008, @02:31PM (#23603253)
    Try linking a real link instead. http://code.google.com/apis/earth/ [google.com]
  • I'm waiting for Canvas3D to stabilize. Currently there is an Opera build http://my.opera.com/timjoh/blog/2007/11/13/taking-the-canvas-to-another-dimension [opera.com] for Windows and Mozilla has an extension https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7171 [mozilla.org] Google should better invest more on that Mozilla Canvas3D extension.
  • The real question is whether or not the flight sim easter egg is still included. :D

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