It is interesting that the photo detail on the 3D models in VE 3D are only available when you have the Aerial or Hybrid option turned on. When the roads are on, the model is just plain. It really stands out in Europe where the imagery is not very high resolution and you want to use the road layer. Interesting…
Google Earth has more 3D models available than any other digital globe and thanks to Frank for getting me a link to AT&T Park in San Francisco (I’m a huge SF Giants fan) from the Google 3D Warehouse. The 3D Warehouse is very easy to use, just click on the “View in Google Earth 4” and you see the result below.
Compare this to the Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D view:
The Google 3D Warehouse model is so much more detailed than the default Virtual Earth model. The biggest problem with this method that Google uses is the background. With Virtual Earth you get the whole city in the background and in Google Earth you get nothing (if you turn on the 3D buildings they cause problems with the AT&T Park model, not that you’d want them on anyway). So I do agree, you can’t compare Virtual Earth’s 3D cities with some of the wonderful models in the Google 3D Warehouse, but when looked at as a whole Microsoft’s method I think works better.
I admit it, I’m baiting Frank, but eye candy is a big part of these digital globes. Sure you can download a model for Google Earth, but you have to visit another site. I’d love to see some sort of connection to the 3D Warehouse from inside Google Earth.
Google Earth – Las Vegas
Microsoft Virtual Earth – Las Vegas
**Update – ** to be fair to Google Earth and Google’s 3D Warehouse, I’ve revisited this comparison in another post this morning.
Google Earth vs. Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D Revisited
More Microsoft Virtual Earth news in the Microsoft category
OK I do have a ban on use the phrase “ Killer”, but the latest post on the Virtual Earth Spaces got me thinking about a interview I heard on NPR Monday. Basically people are trying to make a buck off of Second Life by creating their own storefronts in Second Life. Why invest in such a virtual world when you could invest in the real world. Rather than going to second life to check out the new Prius, just fire up Virtual Earth 3D and visit the local showroom in your own town (or across the state) and see what they have in inventory. No sense putting crazy Second Life accessories on your new car if you can’t get them were you live. Sure it might be fun to drive the Prius off of a cliff in Second Life, but reality is where real money is made.
Imagine going on vacation and being able to walk around a city seeing where all the sites are before you visit. This has been talked about before with digital globes, but I think Microsoft just figured it out. I’m hooked guys!
Now how nice is this? The Ottawa County GIS Department and the Ottawa County Clerk have teamed up to offer real time election results for their county. Michigan is one of those interesting battleground states that everyone will be watching tonight. Results will begin to become available shortly after polls close at 8:00 pm EST so make sure you check back to see what your fellow citizens in Ottawa County are feeling. One note is that you’ll need Internet Explorer to view the maps so don’t try and use Firefox. Michael Muskovin, GIS Programmer for the county explains that the site is running ESRI’s ArcIMS and SDE 9.1 with Microsoft’s SQLServer on the backend. Mike explains the update process:
Our Clerk’s office receives results from the polls starting at 8:00. Their election software exports both ASCII and HTML files. In the past, they’ve only displayed text data using the HTML file (I’ve included a link to this file near the top of the page I sent you). I take the ASCII data and automated a process that updates the data to a SQL table. That table is joined to precinct and contest feature classes using unique candidate and race numbers. I then use a simple VALUEMAPRENDERER to display the winner on IMS.
Way cool!
I promise this won’t become the Virtual Earth 3D Sightseeing blog, but when you are a baseball fan, pictures like this just get you excited. Only 100 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training!
That’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards for those who don’t know.
Interesting idea, but it doesn’t make me want to buy anything. Still probably more eyes than buying space inside Second Life.
More Microsoft Virtual Earth news in the Virtual Earth category
Click for larger view
Someone emailed me worried that Slashgeo had shut down. They wondered what happened to the http://slashgeo.com/ website. I reminded them that the correct url is Slashgeo.org, but was surprised to see what was at the Slashgeo.com website. The link is NOT SAFE FOR WORK so be careful if you click on it.
I see that ESRI has posted their presentation on historic map effects with ArcGIS from the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS), NACIS 2006 conference. I’m not sure how much demand there is for these kinds of effects, but it is so damn cool that you have to take a look. Everything is included along with notes on how to create the effects. I wish they wouldn’t dump this stuff in the Basemap data models page as I think it gets lost in the shuffle, but I’m glad to see some new Desktop tips and tricks.
More Microsoft Virtual Earth news in the Microsoft category
3D is no longer just the domain of ESRI, Google and NASA. Microsoft has released their Virtual Earth 3D. What is different about Microsoft’s digital globe is that it runs inside your web browser. I’ll have to play with it some more when I get off of work, but it is visually amazing. It streams much slower than GE, but the detail is many times better. Click images for larger view:
The Digital Globe View
The detail of the 3D cities is way beyond Google Earth
Take a spin down the Las Vegas Strip
But, Tempe is still low resolution
It works with Internet Explorer 6 or 7, so Firefox users will have to wait for Microsoft to release a DirectX Firefox add-on (if that is possible).
