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Google Earth Redesigned

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Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#171

Post by rocky1138 »

kmfrk wrote: post #77

I think it's a little funny and symptomatic of HN that we can't take a minute to fucking marvel at the fact that we've got something like this in the first place without going over the font or the whatever. Technology is amazing and moving rapidly, and if we can't take out five minutes to revel in an achievement like this, I don't know what the point is.

We all think it's great. But, I wonder why they basically rewrote what we've had for over a decade with Google Earth desktop. It's a tell that Google isn't making the smartest choices for its users but instead for itself.

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#172

Post by nxc18 »

HappyTypist wrote: post #158
LeonM wrote: post #54

I'm really impressed by the amount of detail in the 3D views (hold middle mouse button to look around). Even the fair at the field near my house [0] can be viewed in 3D!. Coincidentally they are currently building that same fair today, so for a moment I thought the images were live... [0] https://earth.google.com/web/@52.08511654,4.31805086,0.37952...

How can you look around on a Mac trackpad?

Hold shift/ctrl then click+drag.

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#173

Post by ygra »

LeonM wrote: post #54

I'm really impressed by the amount of detail in the 3D views (hold middle mouse button to look around). Even the fair at the field near my house [0] can be viewed in 3D!. Coincidentally they are currently building that same fair today, so for a moment I thought the images were live... [0] https://earth.google.com/web/@52.08511654,4.31805086,0.37952...

Maybe I'm just in an area where buildings are a tad more complicated than simple boxes, but around here the results vary between acceptable and catastrophic. As if buildings were haphazardly thrown together in all kinds of weird angles and shapes. I know there are limits to what technology can do, but overall I liked the combination of flat texturing and hand-modelled buildings better.

They also seem to have lots of trouble with pieces floating in the air, which imho could just be pruned (e.g. lots of floating train tracks here, presumably where there also has been a train at the point of geometry capture: https://earth.google.com/web/@48.51659545,9.06299404,316.491...)

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#174

Post by JepZ »

Well, it doesn't work for me. After clicking the link I see only some wallpaper and a text 'Google Earth'. I use Chromium 57 with Linux. Any ideas why it doesn't work?

Google maps (Earth + 3D) works without problems. When I open the website with Firefox I get a nice text telling me that google earth is an advertising platform for chrome ;-)

'Aw snap! The new Google Earth isn't supported by your browser yet. Try this link in Chrome instead. If you don't have Chrome installed, download it here.'

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#175

Post by dublinben »

cptskippy wrote: post #148
ClassyJacket wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it interesting that they recently introduced location sharing to Google Maps as a new feature... which it had back in 2009, until they got rid of it.

They had tons of handy features in Google Maps before it was redesigned using Material Design. We used the route elevation data often to plan hiking trips with our parents to determine if they would be able to make a trek. The map scale was absent from the first couple releases and when they reintroduced it, it would only appear on zoom and then vanish. It took 3 or 4 more releases for them to finally add an option b…

If you'd like to plan trips that have elevation data, I highly recommend komoot.com. It uses OpenStreetMap, and is a great tool for planning hiking or cycling trips.

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#177

Post by tps5 »

nxc18 wrote: post #169
tps5 wrote: post #153

I never see anyone talking about google's elevation data for buildings and the process they've used to drape imagery over that elevation data. I wonder why that is? Maybe this isn't a hard problem and it's just a question of getting high quality data. Still, I've never seen any other company come close to this. I do wonder what exactly is new here in terms of a casual user browsing the landscape. Google maps 3D offer…

Apple Maps does the same thing and was doing it before Google. Interestingly, Apple seems to have better imagery, at least where I am; trees are sharper and more realistic, the ground imagery is more detailed and the colors truer to life. In the forests, trees are rendered clearly enough that I can recognize the landmarks, which just isn't possible in Google's rendering. The only downside is that Google's colors are…

Can I check out Apple Maps in a browser? I'd like to take a look, but I don't have easy access to ios or macos.

The screenshots do look fantastic.

(Not a criticism of Apple if this isn't possible)

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#178

Post by problems »

rocky1138 wrote: post #168

How is this any better than the desktop version that's already out?

It's not - they just stopped developing the desktop one because now they're all about web-only.

It sucks too because we use the desktop one all the time at work - though we're slowly replacing it with custom Cesium-based stuff.

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#180

Post by phkahler »

futurix wrote: post #176

"Google Chrome required" - sure, because current crop of web developers are too young to remember dark age of Internet Explorer domination.

Yeah, I noticed the contradiction:

"Explore the far reaches of the world, right in your browser. "

But my browser is FireFox.

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