Sounds Bring Google Earth to Life 84
Strudelkugel writes "The BBC is reporting that a Californian company has created software that can layer relevant recorded sounds over locations in Google Earth. The firm, Wild Sanctuary, has thousands of hours of recordings from all over the world. Company director Dr. Krause has spent over 40 years collecting sounds from natural and man-made habitats. '... his recordings include more than 15,000 animal noises, and sounds from a huge array of habitats, including cities, deserts, mountains and the marine environment. It is the largest library in existence of natural sound, he said. He said the idea would be to zoom-in on a particular area and then have the option to listen to the accompanying sound.'"
Neat (Score:5, Funny)
Make a game of it! (Score:1, Funny)
e.g.: click!
Mooing, oinking, a shrieking chimpanzee, baboon howls, clucking, grunting, snoring....
The local zoo you say? Nope - Washington DC.
Great (Score:5, Funny)
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But at least they'll know the answer to the question "What is the sound of one hand fapping".
(Google Cat is listening to you masturbate.)
Superman (Score:1)
I wonder if he can differentiate between bathroom grunts and bedroom grunts. That'd be interesting to find out, eh?
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NOW, WASH YOUR HANDS!
do you hear that? (Score:5, Insightful)
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If it was the _real_ background noise it could be useful.
Hear the different bird chirping for birdwatchers.
Check the traffic noise if you want to move there.
Ditto for 7am lawmowers.
Check how far you have to go from the freeway, railway, industry zone to have your peace.
etc.
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Re:do you hear that? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:do you hear that? (Score:4, Interesting)
Seems pretty useful to me. I wish that more public entities would publish their SHP boundaries in KML/KMZ so I wouldn't have to convert them myself [lazylightning.org].
It could become a real useful tool for the web.
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Actually I take that back - it does make a sound on paper; once you think through the implications of the idea it will make the crinkling sound of paper being wadded up and tossed in the trash.
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San Fernando Valley Sounds (Score:5, Funny)
Weird (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Weird (Score:5, Funny)
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"DEVELOPERS!, DEVELOPERS!,DEVELOPERS!, DEVELOPERS!DEVELOPERS!, DEVELOPERS!"
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This location is copyrighted. (Score:5, Funny)
Thanks a lot guys...
SWEET!!!!!!!!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
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Sounds as if eternity was sucked into itself for infinity and back.
Hehe (Score:3, Funny)
I'd pay money to zoom over a well-known cattle farm, let's say the King Ranch in Texas for instance, and hear an old, familiar sound:
"The cow says: MOOOOOOO"
...Yes I'm simply amused, what of it?
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Cowchip flingin' championship tourney in progress...details at 11!
The question is! (Score:1)
Will they release the "sounds of Vegas" (Score:2)
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Sorta off-topic, but I promise it's worth it. There's a funny bit by Lewis Black (I believe it's on the White Album) where he's describing being incredibly astounded by people gambling in Vegas casinos around Christmas while carols are playing over the loudspeakers.
Granted I'm doing the bit no justice by attempting to explain it, but for some reason it leaves me in stitches every time.
40 yrs of a life / 1 click / "that sucks" / CTRL-W (Score:4, Insightful)
Please... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:40 yrs of a life / 1 click / "that sucks" / CTR (Score:2)
Never mind what you do, there'll be always someone to dismiss it and not
Re:40 yrs of a life / 1 click / "that sucks" / CTR (Score:4, Insightful)
Memes (Score:5, Funny)
1. We've done the toilet humour reference.
2. We've done the Microsoft reference.
3. We've done the George Bush reference
.
.
4. Oh Yeah... Profit!!!
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1. We've done the toilet humour reference.
2. We've done the Microsoft reference.
3. We've done the George Bush reference
4. Oh Yeah... Profit!!!
Surely 4 is another microsoft reference.
Some are missing (Score:2, Funny)
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Boon for Children = Annoying for adults (Score:2, Insightful)
Boon for Hollywood (Score:2)
A tool like this could also help educate sound guys working on Hollywood movies. I've lost count of the number of movies set in jungles in Asia, Africa or South America where you suddenly hear kookaburras whip birds and bell birds. For all you geographically and/or ornithologically challenged types out there, that's a bit like using the
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Sooner or later you have to realize people aren't these magic computers who know everything and desire to. For a kid who never goes much further than 1 or 2 states over to
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Previously, they had walked around with an incorrectly labeled map showing South Korea as Tasmania, North Korea as Australia and so on - many of the Americans questioned about it barely blinked; "Wow, I never knew North Korea was so much bigge
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If the school system was made such that, past the very basic knowledge needed for socially functioning, children were able to deepen only on that which they show interest and have talent, the whole experience would be way more rewarding for all those involved. If later in
World Soundscape Project (Score:3, Interesting)
This sounds like a natural fit with the original vision of the World Soundscape Project [www.sfu.ca], especially since these are ambient field recordings. Too bad they ran short of funding and the momentum faded, I think they would have taken it somewhere like this. I like the fact that they're hoping to showcase changing soundscapes over time. It would be great if the GE community can contribute. If this stuff interests you, check out the literature on acoustic ecology [uoregon.edu].
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What could further G-E along these lines is to implement sounds in a spatial (3-D) fashion. That is, have the sounds fade-in or -out (seeming as if they are approaching/receding) while you're travelling across the landscape... blending together across regions, much in the way the sat-photos do.
Along with the "cruise" function, I would bring it into the African savannah and just let it roll along, or the South American rainforests; absorb the natural ambience and listen as the sound just flows in and out.
Join forces with Wikipedia? (Score:1)
Research a location on Wikipedia with a link to Google Earth for a look see and a hint of what it would be like to be there.
Or perhaps research on Orangutans with a link to a map of their native habitat and listen to what they sound like. Many kids have a a wonderful imagination. This could help expand it and their knowledge.
I'm not sure about the man made sounds though, can't reall
And in the near future... (Score:1)
Not Bad (Score:1)
Seriously, how can you not see(read:hear) this as sorta cool? I'm as jaded and cynical as the next guy, but I'm intrigued. Scrolling over various areas of the planet and hear the roar of Victoria Falls, the vibrant din of the rainforest, the grating cacophony of a busy metropolitan street, the ominous bells of Big Ben tolling the hour, and numerous other possibilities.
Think of the kids!
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Been done before kinda but still a good idea (Score:5, Interesting)
Someone else has mentioned Wikipedia, would this not be a great extension to that? Primary school teachers could access certain pages/places and play appropirate sounds. Since it seems the type of kids encylopedia cdrom that I played with as a child has been replaced by wikipedia, wouldn't it be great if wikipedia took on the two great things about those?
Encarta and "Encylopedia for kids" (by Microsoft) would often have short video sequences or sound clips to go with the articles. It was one of the best ways to gain an understanding of a process at times. Sure some pages might be quite dodgey if it was implimented but the wildlife,manufacturing,car/motorcycle history,science and engineering pages could be significantly enhanced by this sort of feature.
I'm aware of wikimedia, but why hasn't the main wikipedia design be altered to do these things already?
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On a more serious note, there are many problems with this idea. First and foremost, open sound recordings are few-and-far-between ("let's take pictures" but not "let's bring an audio-recorder to hear an elephant roar!") Then, there's the trouble of Wikimedia insisting on using a free media formats (namely Ogg) which have poor native support (you can't expect teachers to know how to download codecs, heh?) and a buggy/slow/e
roi ? (Score:1)
First, I'd like to congratulate the good Dr on his foresight to begin collection 40 years ago. However, no matter what he's charging for this service a 40 year up front investment is a staggeringly risky move.
Note to the humor impaired: the above is an attempt at a business joke.
This is a great idea (Score:1)
Imagine looking at mount Everest and hear the wind howling around it's peaks. Or looking at Manhattan New York and hear the hustle and bustle of the city noise grow stronger and more defined
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Sounds??? (Score:1)
It makes the Virtual Bicycle even more realistic.. (Score:1)
Sim City (Score:1)
Interesting (Score:1)
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I think that if time travel were possible, we'd already have had a someone from the future appear, bringing us the message "you must stop google".
Interesting sounds (Score:1)
Freesound (Score:1)
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/geotagsView.php?lon=