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What Is Google Earth?
What Is Google Earth?
An example of a widespread geospatial technology application is the popular
Google Earth software program. Google Earth is a virtual globe—a program
that provides an interactive three-dimensional (3D) representation of the
Earth. Google Earth brings together several aspects of geospatial technology
into one easy-to-use program. You can examine satellite imagery or aerial photography of the entire globe, zoom from Earth orbit to a single street address,
navigate through 3D cities or landscapes, measure global distances, and examine multiple layers of spatial data together, all with an intuitive interface.
In many ways, the coolness and simplicity of use of Google Earth makes it feel
like a video game of geospatial technology, but it’s far more than that. Google
Earth is able to handle vast amounts of geospatial data swiftly and easily, and
enables users to specify and create their own location-based spatial data (see
Figure 1.8 for a look at Google Earth and some of its layers).
Before Google Earth, there was Keyhole’s “Earth Viewer,” a program
that enabled you to fly across a virtual Earth, zooming in and out of locations and imagery. Google purchased the Keyhole company and the first
version of Google Earth was released in 2005. Google Earth is freely available for download off the Web and relies on a high-speed Internet connection to send the data from Google servers to your computer. For instance,
when you use Google Earth to fly from space to your house, the imagery you
see on the screen is being streamed across the Internet to you. The imagery
on Google Earth is “canned,” that is to say, it’s fixed from one moment in
time, rather than being a live view. For instance, if the imagery of your house
used by Google was obtained in 2005, then that’s the snapshot in time you’ll
be viewing, not a current image of your house. However, Google Earth has
FIGURE 1.8 A view
of downtown Boston,
Massachusetts from
Google Earth. (Source: Gray
Buildings © 2008 Sanborn,
© 2010 Google)
Google Earth a freely
available virtual globe
program first released
in 2005 by Google.
virtual globe a
software program that
provides an interactive
three-dimensional map
of the Earth.
What Is Google Earth?
What Is Google Earth?
An example of a widespread geospatial technology application is the popular
Google Earth software program. Google Earth is a virtual globe—a program
that provides an interactive three-dimensional (3D) representation of the
Earth. Google Earth brings together several aspects of geospatial technology
into one easy-to-use program. You can examine satellite imagery or aerial photography of the entire globe, zoom from Earth orbit to a single street address,
navigate through 3D cities or landscapes, measure global distances, and examine multiple layers of spatial data together, all with an intuitive interface.
In many ways, the coolness and simplicity of use of Google Earth makes it feel
like a video game of geospatial technology, but it’s far more than that. Google
Earth is able to handle vast amounts of geospatial data swiftly and easily, and
enables users to specify and create their own location-based spatial data (see
Figure 1.8 for a look at Google Earth and some of its layers).
Before Google Earth, there was Keyhole’s “Earth Viewer,” a program
that enabled you to fly across a virtual Earth, zooming in and out of locations and imagery. Google purchased the Keyhole company and the first
version of Google Earth was released in 2005. Google Earth is freely available for download off the Web and relies on a high-speed Internet connection to send the data from Google servers to your computer. For instance,
when you use Google Earth to fly from space to your house, the imagery you
see on the screen is being streamed across the Internet to you. The imagery
on Google Earth is “canned,” that is to say, it’s fixed from one moment in
time, rather than being a live view. For instance, if the imagery of your house
used by Google was obtained in 2005, then that’s the snapshot in time you’ll
be viewing, not a current image of your house. However, Google Earth has
FIGURE 1.8 A view
of downtown Boston,
Massachusetts from
Google Earth. (Source: Gray
Buildings © 2008 Sanborn,
© 2010 Google)
Google Earth a freely
available virtual globe
program first released
in 2005 by Google.
virtual globe a
software program that
provides an interactive
three-dimensional map
of the Earth.