Google Releases Earth to Beta

Cros13 writes "Google has released a beta of it's Google Earth software to subscribers of the existing Keyhole service. New features include 3D models of buildings in selected cities, input from your gps receiver and a better search system. I have posted screenshots here and here." This product is in competition with Microsoft's Virtual Earth, as we reported earlier.

Indiana...

[Anonymous Coward]

looks a little boring

Well hell

[Anonymous Coward]

We didn't need Google to tell us that

Re:Indiana...

[takeya]

Google Releases Earth to Beta

Great to see the final version is out!
Ba dum tsss

The Windypundit article

[metlin]

Why wasn't a link to the Windypundit article [windypundit.com] placed in the blurb?

It's just off the page and contains a lot more information.

Re:The Windypundit article

[fm6]

That would require actually reading TFA. Slashdot editors who do that are summarily fired!

hmm

[professorhojo]

i know all the words in that title, but i just can't parse that sentence.

Re:hmm

[whitehatlurker]

i just can't parse that sentence.

Well, it's simple: "Google" released control of Earth (our planet) [all hail our Google overlords] to the planet Beta [all hail our new Betan overlords].

And in related news.

[rossdee]

Magrathea sues for copyright infringment.

Re:And in related news.

[Nos.]

I was going to be so clever and post a link to a google maps view of Norway and exclaiming how beautiful the Fjords were. That is until I scrolled east of NA, past the British isles, and found.... Alaska!

Re:And in related news.

[jusdisgi]

Try it clicked on the satelite view. That shows the whole earth, whereas the map view only has the U.S. and U.K.

Re:And in related news.

[kalidasa]

You should zoom in enough [google.com] to see Slartibartfast's handiwork.

Earth Beta Release

[Sandbox Conspiracy]

So I've been living on the alpha version this entire time?

Re:Earth Beta Release

[nxtr]

Clearly. It's plauged by a malfunctioning thermostat that cycles every 10000 years. It's also got a random system crash that requires a total reboot. No one's sure when next one will hit but with a 65 million year uptime, we're due for one soon.

Re:Earth Beta Release

[Meostro]

...but with a 65 million year uptime...

Those 16-bit unsigned ints will be the death of us, literally! Y2K's got nothing on Y2^16 Millennia...

Re:Earth Beta Release

[doormat]

So I've been living on the alpha version this entire time?

So that would explain all the trolls. Hmm... it neatly coincides with the introduction of CAPCHA techniques...

Re:Earth Beta Release

[rovingeyes]

Yeah those damn rats were satisfied. For further releases check the Hitchhiker's guide.

Re:Earth Beta Release

[imroy]

I think you mean *mice*... sigh... some people just aren't serious when it comes to their nerdiness.

Re:Earth Beta Release

[calibanDNS]

Do you think there is anyway to get my account transfered to the Beta and and the final version, or will there be a server wipe?

Re:Earth Beta Release

[Jesus_666]

What's more important, are there going to be separate servers for the different communities? From the problems between the "USA" and "Terrorist" clans we can clearly see that split servers might be a good idea... Also, I've heard rumours about the "USA" clan trying to explore an area, called "Mars", which so far isn't available for the players. Maybe that's the second server?

Too bad no one's heard anything from the developer for the last 2000 years. Talk about a bad information policy...

Re:Earth Beta Release

[Jeff DeMaagd]

It turns out that all the Earth Alpha versions kept spitting an answer, being "42", but never saying what the question was.

Re:Earth Beta Release

[HanClinto]

Ah, so the perpetually unstable release

Obligatory humorous post.

[fm6]

Zonk, if you don't word your headlines more carefully, you're just begging people to make silly posts like this one: Earth is still in beta? After 3 billion years?

Re:Obligatory humorous post.

[Arctic Dragon]

"Earth is still in beta? After 3 billion years?"

Gmail will probably be a beta just as long.

Re:Obligatory humorous post.

[SlayerofGods]

Because there's still several billion bugs in the system :D

Re:Obligatory humorous post.

[FidelCatsro]

Wasps and ants are features not bugs

Re:Obligatory humorous post.

[Ronald Dumsfeld]

Earth is still in beta? After 3 billion years?

Yeah, the mice never tracked down the bug introduced by the arrival of the B-Ark.

Young earther?

[benhocking]

After 3 billion years?

You must be one of them "young earthers" [creationists.org] I've heard about. (Most scientists put the earth at about 4.54 billion years old [usgs.gov].)

Re:Young earther?

[fm6]

No, in order to qualify as a YE, you have to deny that "billion" is an actual number!

Re:Young earther?

[dhakbar]

Find me a creationist who thinks the earth is any older than a few thousand years old...

Re:Obligatory humorous post.

[EddieBurkett]

Earth is still in beta? After 3 billion years?

At least it made it to beta. Imagine if it was vaporware. 3 billion years to get a planet out of Beta doesn't sound so bad when you realize that in 3 billion years Duke Nukem Forever will still be in development.

Re:Obligatory humorous post.

[fm6]

I'm taking bets on whether Harlan Ellison will finish "Last Dangerous Visions" before then!

Re:Obligatory humorous post.

[matth]

Actually I think it's more like 6,000 years.. not 4.5billion.

Re:Obligatory humorous post.

[fm6]

And the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, not 3.

If you're going to nitpick, you should add "according to current theory"!

What would you use Keyhole / Google Earth for?

[Enigma_Man]

Other than the "wow neat" factor, and nifty interface, what are some actual uses/features in Keyhole/Google Earth that aren't covered by things like Google Maps.

-Jesse

Re:What would you use Keyhole / Google Earth for?

[tgd]

Planning terrorist operations, didn't you read the /. article about the government passing a law to make it easier to get your records from your ISP? They want to know who downloaded Google Earth, duh!

Re:What would you use Keyhole / Google Earth for?

[VAXcat]

I'm a pilot, and it's durned handy to be able to get a satellite eye's view of an airport I haven't been to before, so's I can pick out some landmarks. It's not that easy spotting a weedpatch airstrip from the air the first time over it, and the aerial photos in Keyhole help, especially the slant view feature.

Re:What would you use Keyhole / Google Earth for?

[Jagasian]

Cue posts about possible uses for terrorism.

Re:What would you use Keyhole / Google Earth for?

[Blue-Footed Boobie]

especially the slant view feature.

You racist clod!!

OR

Oh, so you fly into Japan a lot?

Re:What would you use Keyhole / Google Earth for?

[Reverberant]

As an engineer, Google Earth (or in my case, more likely MS's Virtual Earth since MS has at least hinted at Mac compatibility via Firefox, while Google Earth seems to be Windows only), would be a godsend - I spend a lot of time looking over aerial photos to identify buildings (or 'sensitive receptors' as we call them in the noise biz) and the more detail we can get, the better we can make our estimates.

For example, having a clearer indication of building height or terrain features can help us create better sound propagation models that accounts for shielding or diffraction. Sure, GE/VE won't give us exact values, but every little bit helps. Topo maps help a bit, but if you've ever had to model an area with complex geometry (say San Fran or Seattle) topos become unwieldy pretty quickly.

We spend a lot of money right now sending people to certain project areas to help get a better sense of the terrain and building geometries. Having an fairly accurate 3D model of these features can save hundreds of thousands of dollars just in travel costs.

Re:What would you use Keyhole / Google Earth for?

[Enigma_Man]

So far, all of these (except the building heights one) have been uses that are easily already covered by Google maps. Having an isometric view vs. a straight-on view may help, but all of the information is still there. Is there anything that Keyhole _can_ do that Google Maps very definitely and specifically can not (other than eye-candy)?

-Jesse

Re:What would you use Keyhole / Google Earth for?

[rsborg]

Other than the "wow neat" factor, and nifty interface, what are some actual uses/features in Keyhole/Google Earth that aren't covered by things like Google Maps.

• don't discount the "wow neat" factor... it's great at parties :-)
• Real Estate. I use it to look at open homes I am interested in, and to see if there are any things like trailer parks, railroads, cemetaries or other things nearby which might detract from the value/comfort of the potential location.

Well worth $29/yr.

Re:What would you use Keyhole / Google Earth for?

[kouhoutek]

I signed up for Keyhole in January, and was a little bummed when Google Maps came out, thinking I had wasted my money.

Google Earth sure made up for it:

• Maps is plenty slick, but Earth's interface is still better if you want to have a look around an area
• you can take driving directions, and actually replay the whole route, isometrically, in 3D, looking down and where your car would be
• you get your custom push pins, so places of interest become a permanent fixtures to your application
• you have a greate

Re:What would you use Keyhole / Google Earth for?

[sho222]

I recently purchased a home long distance, and using Keyhole was just about the only way I can imagine doing something like that. Being able to get a bird's eye view of a potiential house, overlaying local light rail and subways (with correct colors for the lines no less), finding nearby restaurants and shops, viewing local crime stats, and creating custom "push pins" in a folder structure to track all of the homes were just some of the indispensable features present in Keyhole that Google Maps just didn't

Re:What would you use Keyhole / Google Earth for?

[greenstork]

A friend and I were out hiking this weekend and thought about how nice it would have been to see a satellite topo image of our route ahead of time or even to be able to plan trips that way. We both conceded that it was just a matter of time, with the advent of Google Maps.

This type of program just confirms it. I think it would be tremendously useful although it seems like a stretch at this point, that it would feature actual trails. Mapping streets has been done but inputting trails and their exact elev

It's its not it's!

[ScentCone]

And somewhere on earth there's a special place for people who can't use the apostrophe correctly. Wish I knew where that was.

Of course "their" might have been a better choice anyway.

Re:It's its not it's!

[Enigma_Man]

That's a pretty great subject line right there. These are like second grade mistakes.

But, I guess we're all headed for a chatroom-English world anyway.

-Jesse

Re:It's its not it's!

[ScentCone]

The funny thing is that "it's" takes an extra keystroke and reflects a deliberate placement of a character. And that means that the typist thinks it should be there. I'm rarely one to bitch about typos here, and I've certainly made my share of them (no question!), but that sort of thing in the headline or summary is just sort of embarassing, and contributes to the further poor use of it by more monkey-see-monkey-do people. I mean, the apostrophe has a system! Slashdotters are all about systematic nuances, a

Re:It's its not it's!

[Shadow Wrought]

I used to live with an English major who did her darndest to help out my grammar skills and the like. "Its" and "It's" would always throw me. I'm pretty sure that you drop the apostrophe for possession, "Its Ryan's bike," and leave it there for the contraction "it is" (ie "It's Ryan's bike"). As you can see from my examples, however, it still confuses the hell out of me. So, since I figure half the time you need the apostrophe and half the time you don't, I make sure to throw the apostrophe in there abo

Re:It's its not it's!

[teeker]

This sounds like a job for...

Bob The Angry Flower! [angryflower.com]

Re:It's its not it's!

[codefrog]

I'd love to see a particular "it's" warning in the message-posting process. As in, when you submit your article or post containing that particular contraction, the system asks you if you know the difference between "it's" and "its" and if you're sure you used the right one. This particular user error is seen way, way too often around here and drags us all down.

Google's... Earth ?

[alexhs]

Since when does Earth belongs to Google ?

Moreover I'm worrying about Earth reaching release.
Everyone knows that vogons will destroy earth before it happens, so don't let that happen !

Re:Google's... Earth ?

[Grand]

http://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/669 .html [joyoftech.com]

*StarCraft stimpack sound*

[KefabiMe]

Ah, that's better. My dosage of Google news. Now I can start my day!

As seen in Snow Crash

[visgoth]

One step closer to the Earth program Hiro got in the book. Now if there were realtime updates of the datasets, showing things like moving cars and people, it would be cool and also very scary.

Crazy Hoosiers...

[TylerL82]

http://photos11.flickr.com/16639588_c9da324958_o.j pg [flickr.com]

Um...
Why does it look like Indiana isn't mapped?
There are lots of worse states out there...

Re:Crazy Hoosiers...

[Webs 101]

It is mapped. They've turned the whole state into an Indy car track/parking lot/amusement park.

Sorta like that NASCAR oval that used to be Dallas/Fort Worth and the Massachussetts Memorial Hockey Arena.

Simpsons quote

[UnknowingFool]

Marge: Grandpa, this flag only has 49 stars on it.
Grandpa: I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missourah!

Re:Crazy Hoosiers...

[steve_bryan]

The reason Indiana looks like it does in the photo is that the entire state is mapped in high resolution. The same is true of Missouri, New Jersey and Massachusetts. In general the data sets vary in resolution for various places on Earth with large cities and even not so large cities in the US being shown in much greater detail. Before Keyhole was acquired by Google there tended to be an update about once a month with more places available in higher resolution.

It seems likely that essentially all of the Ea

Re:Crazy Hoosiers...

[TylerL82]

And New Jersey too.
I'm left with no choice but to consider it a vast government conspiracy.

Re:Crazy Hoosiers...

[iabervon]

It's autumn in Massachusetts but summer everywhere else (the screenshot is clearly from last week). New Jersey's looked like that since they finished paving it. Indiana, however, is just odd.

(The image data that Google is currently using in this and Maps is composed of the best images they could find from old data for each location, and these don't necessarily match in features like time of year, time of day, and weather; however, Indiana only seems to be grey in this screenshot, not in the data on Maps)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Closed Minded

[jusdisgi]

Note to offworlders, including the parent poster and the author of the blurb: possessive pronouns do not contain apostrophes.

Re:Closed Minded

[AyeRoxor!]

As a Google user that is beyond you're planet,

Hi. Welcome to Earth. Please study up on our language. Earthlings who can't even manage a basic comprehension of their mother tongue are frequently ridiculed as idiots. We expect no less from "supreme species" such as yours.

Out the Windows

[Doc Ruby]

Wake me when they release one with a Total Perspective Vortex [wikipedia.org]. I've got a fairycake craving.

Like Google Maps as a local application

[willith]

Take the functionality of Google Maps and make it into a local application, and that's what you get here. Instead of JAvascript-powered click-n-drag scrolling, it's OpenGL or Direct3D buttery-smooth, with texture filtering to ease some of the pixelation on the imagery.

The most amazing part is the driving directions--they're plotted out in front of you on the zoomable and scrollable earth, like Streets and Trips on steroids.

The ability to measure arbitrary lines and paths, carried over from the previous version of Keyhole, adds a nifty dimension. Instead of staring at a feature in the satellite imagery and wondering, "How big is that, anyway?", you can measure it and find out. I used it to definitively settle which of the two routes I can take home from work is shorter.

For $29, this app delivers, per dollar, more fun and utility combined than anything else I've ever purchased. You can use the layering features to do extremely useful stuff, like highlight the locations of ATMs, school district boundaries, golf courses, parks, show crime statistics, and even show placemarks set by people on the Keyhole web forum ("Look! I found a cool thing here!").

Sounds a bit like I'm babbling, but this thing is seriously hella-cool.

Re:Like Google Maps as a local application

[LWATCDR]

The question is when are they going to add a GPS link to this?
Just imagine how cool it would be to tell it what model and color of car you have and get a real time display of your car driving on the road:)
Okay this would best be used by your passenger/navigator.

Re:Like Google Maps as a local application

[jusdisgi]

For $29, this app delivers, per dollar, more fun and utility combined than anything else I've ever purchased.

I suggest you take a quick look at two products: beer and condoms.

Re:Like Google Maps as a local application

[moranar]

PVP [pvponline.com] said it first [thinkgeek.com]

Re:Like Google Maps as a local application

[telstar]

I suggest you take a quick look at two products: beer and condoms.

Dude, the guy just got excited over school district boundaries and ATM locations. Please don't encourage him to reproduce.

Re:Like Google Maps as a local application

[Anonymous Coward]

I suggest you take a quick look at two products: beer and condoms.

Dude, the guy just got excited over school district boundaries and ATM locations. Please don't encourage him to reproduce.

Not real familiar with condoms, are we?

Re:Like Google Maps as a local application

[Elwood P Dowd]

show placemarks set by people on the Keyhole web forum ("Look! I found a cool thing here!")

That was the feature I was hoping for after I checked out Keyhole. Now you can have stringers uploading data to your Globe. Some day we'll be able to do GPS mapping of photographs so that they can be plastered on those 3D projections of buildings.

Like Snow Crash. Next they just have to build the Librarian.

Re:Like Google Maps as a local application

[Snaller]

For $29, this app delivers, per dollar, more fun and utility combined than anything else I've ever purchased.

Yeah, but surely you have to keep paying. its not just a pay once use forever.

I can't wait for the final release

[lxs]

For the last 4.5bn years we have struggled with an alpha version of the Earth.

We can all remember Earth 0.1 , which was flat.

Earth 0.2 was spherical but still lodged in the center of the universe.

Earth 0.3 has served us well for over 200 years, but is still buggy as hell. The tectonics engine constantly crashes, causing massive earthquakes.

I have good hopes for the beta of Earth, but for the final release I, and many users like me would like a bigger planet.

Re:I can't wait for the final release

[sPaKr]

1,097,509,500,000,000,000,000 cubic meteres ought to be enough for anybody.
Billus Gatos

You're in luck!

[wirelessbuzzers]

I have good hopes for the beta of Earth, but for the final release I, and many users like me would like a bigger planet.

E--N--L--A--R--G--E YOUR PLAN3T!

All-natura1 technique! No pi||s, no purnps, no mass drivers! Get a thick, firm K@ne band like your pr1mary always wanted!

Hav1ng tr0uble getting it up? Try our new sp@ce el3vat0r! V!@GRA C!AL!5, and nan0tube cable5 to GEO only $1 a d0se!

C@11 now! 1irnited t1me 0ffer!!!

Wait a second...

[mogrify]

... what's that out there in the Pacific Ocean? It looks like a conglomeration of floating debris centered around a couple of larger ships. And... is that a kayak? Wow, the resolution on this thing is amazing!

Re:Wait a second...

[EvilMagnus]

Haven't you checked Google Labs recently? There's a project there called REASON.

Microsoft will listen to REASON, I'm sure.

Sweet new game?

[ArsonSmith]

Can't wait 'til there is a GTA mod.

Big Diffence

[joschm0]

This product is in competition with Microsoft's Virtual Earth, as we reported earlier.

Note: Google now has screenshots and Microsoft has only stated that MSN Virtual Earth service is to debut in the summer.

Re:Big Diffence

[Deviate_X]

MSN have more than a screenshot, they have video [microsoft.com]. And unlike the google keyhole (google earth), msn virtual earth runs on Linux and OSX!

Virtual Earth: MSN's answer to Google Maps [msdn.com]

the Earth is still in Beta....?

[mestreBimba]

and here I'd though we had gone to gold years ago with the release of Adam 1.0...... they must have been debugging some of the problems with associated Eve software for all of these last few millenia.

I will now duck and cover.

Can anyone comment on whether "Earth"...

[rokzy]

...means "mostly USA" as with other Google services? would this be worth looking at for someone from the UK?

Next in Google Land..

[EvilStein]

They're going to launch a bunch of satellites that will take maps every so often.. probably with the same frequency that GoogleBot crawls the web. ;)

Now *that* would be pretty cool. Hey, Google is here in Mountain View.. and Moffett Field & Lockheed are right down the street, they could get some stuff goin' on with NASA...

Real time satellite imaging! Imagine being able to zoom in on a baseball game that's in progress. Suh-weeeeet!

Actually, I bet that the "topless beaches in France" would become an immensely popular search...

Re:Next in Google Land..

[Junta]

> Actually, I bet that the "topless beaches in France" would become an immensely popular search...

Oh yeah, those pixels are slightly more flesh/nipple colored than similar pixels on other beaches, I'm really excited here...

I guess maybe it is exciting, since on the internet it is so hard to find detailed, close up pictures of topless or naked people....

Microsoft in competition with Google.

[augustz]

Google's product has been out for a period of time already.

Virtual Earth still appears to be unavailable to users.

Beta

[jusdisgi]

Well, piss. I've only got a VHS deck.

Another short (p)review

[sgarrity]

Here's another short (p)review with screenshots [newrecruit.org].

Re:Another short (p)review

[pizen]

Land Rendering
This was in Keyhole but it's still amazing. Screenshots really can't capture how amazing it is to freely move around a 3D world.

Freely moving around a 3D world? Is that anything like what I do all the time?

Angry flower...

[AyeRoxor!]

Google has released a beta of it's Google Earth software[...]

Submitter, please read this important memo [img104.echo.cx].

//Is this really one of the most difficult aspects of the written English language?

Windows app not an internet app?

[acomj]

The link is down but from the screenshots and other things I've read about this, it looks like a windows only application. Like picassa (googles photo program). I hope they integrate this into a browswer app because they've done a great job with mail and maps as internet apps.

Also I have this sneaking suspission the competetion will only run on ie.

Nasa has one also

[thr2k]

Nasa has a pretty cool mapping program as well.
World Wind 1.3
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/ [nasa.gov]

The servers are a little slow but its still a handy program.

Error:

[_ph1ux_]

Reality Corrupt.

Reboot Universe? [Y/N]

|

Google's and Microsoft's "earths"

[Jugalator]

Is this really Google Earth and Virtual Earth and not Google USA and Virtual USA?

I haven't really found any information about their coverage goals with these tools. I personally know my neighborhood well, and there are good national resources for my country in my own language too, so I imagine it's when I travel I'd find it would be nice to have a virtual Earth for this, but at the same time I can't imagine Google making this effort seen in the screenshots on more than a fraction of the actual Earth.

Open Source

[gr8_phk]

For those wishing there was an open source equivalent, the flightgear simulator has worldwide scenery produced by the terragear [terragear.org] project. Currently the terrain is based on the SRTM stuff from NASA, but I think there are some areas with higher resolution DEMs. Not sure, check it out. I'm also not sure how much geopolitical stuff or roads have been incorporated - their main purpose has been to feed the flight sim. Anyway, people interested a Free Software implementation have something to build on.

Oh, and the guy over at vterrain.org has some ambitious goals related to this type of thing too with lots of links to sources etc...

Will it run under OS X?

[Deslock]

RTFA and googled, but I didn't find anything to indicate that they'll offer non-Windows clients :-(

Re:Slick!

[GweeDo]

You don't. You think adwords is the only way Google wants to make money?

I got a better one...

[alexandreracine]

Looking at this picture [flickr.com] gave me some idears... So, how about putting all this data in a new game?
Behold! I present to you... (drum roll)

Grand Theft Auto : New York!

Humor note : Try our new live edition ;)

Re:hmm

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

You watch Fox and CNN too much. Believe it or not, most everything can be used to commit any number of terrorist acts, but a vast majority of people just use these things for what they're intended to be used for. "X can be used for terrorism and therefore should be banned/watched/curtailed" is a recent invention of the current administration to justify pushing their agenda.

If you ban Google Earth on the ground, then also ban Hotmail (those terrorist email communications!), keyboard (they type the emails with 'em!!), batteries (they power the bombs they describe in the emails with 'em!!!), and nail clippers (they won't be able to make the bombs if their nails are too long). etc.

Stop being paranoid...

Re:Those bastards...

[Ancil]

Google aren't forcing anybody to install their client

Ahhh yes, I remember the day when Bill Gates and his thugs "forced" me to install Windows. I certainly didn't choose between Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Definitely not.

Re:FP?

[Smidge204]

Actually, It reminds me more of a scene from Ghost in the Shell when they're tracking the vehicles through a 3D wireframe of the city. ...which, combining this with the Ride Finder, would be pretty much the exact same thing if they updated in real time!
=Smidge=