Google Earth Redesigned • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#211

Post by macNchz » Tue, Apr 18, 2017, 4:04 PM UTC

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…

I can easily get absorbed browsing 3D cities with Apple Maps on a large-screened iPad. The touch interface plus the beautiful imagery makes it a really great experience overall.

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#212

Post by phkahler » Tue, Apr 18, 2017, 4:04 PM UTC

VMG wrote: post #89

Aaargh20318 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure why you're trying to say ? Two wrongs make a right ? For the record: I think that JS is a horrible idea too. What happened to the old rule of thumb that once you let someone else run their own code on your machine you should consider it compromised ?

> What happened to the old rule of thumb People realized it's a stupid and impractical rule and ignored it.

>> People realized it's a stupid and impractical rule and ignored it.

If by "people" you mean developers, and by "stupid and impractical" you mean inconvenient.

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#213

Post by user5994461 » Tue, Apr 18, 2017, 4:12 PM UTC

"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

#214

Post by rocky1138 » Tue, Apr 18, 2017, 4:13 PM UTC

problems wrote: post #178

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.

Do you think they will ever go back to building what people want?

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#215

Post by lern_too_spel » Tue, Apr 18, 2017, 4:20 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #195

callahad wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like the first hurdle is that it's relying on the deprecated document.registerElement API from an early draft of the Web Components specs, which prevents the app from booting in Firefox. Edit: Paul Kinlan reports that Earth is using PNaCl ( https://twitter.com/Paul_Kinlan/status/854351477506277378 ), which means it fundamentally can't run outside of Blink.

Can somebody fix Google's code? It's just Javascript, right?

PNaCl is a binary executable format.

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#216

Post by iplaw » Tue, Apr 18, 2017, 4:22 PM UTC

excalibur wrote: post #179

> Loading in progress. 0 of 4.543 billion years processed. Impressive.

Same problem here. On the first page visit, it loaded to 3,XXX,XXX,XXX of 4.543 billion years and froze. On refresh, it doesn't load a damn thing.

I am using up-to-date Chrome.

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#217

Post by tantalor » Tue, Apr 18, 2017, 4:22 PM UTC

euyyn wrote: post #198

CameronBanga wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible, although Apple doesn't advertise it or make it real easy to get to. Sharing locations using Apple apps can present a web page, with an embedded map that works fine in a browser: https://maps.apple.com/place?address=10365%20Gorenflo%20Rd%0... There have been a couple small indie projects which basically load Apple maps in an iFrame, but I think they've been mostly C&Ded.

I only see the vectorial map in that link. Is there a way to see satellite, or even better, 3D?

Not vector; those are jpg tiles.

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#218

Post by spankalee » Tue, Apr 18, 2017, 4:22 PM UTC

krisdol wrote: post #181

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.

What web technology does this use, specifically, that prevents firefox usage? Or is it just a chrome plugin they decided not to port?

I think the issues is that it uses NaCl - I assume they compiled the existing Earth engine to run on the web.

Most likely web-based Earth was launching just too early to switch from NaCl to WASM, which just shipped, and they'll port to NaCl soon.

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#219

Post by iplaw » Tue, Apr 18, 2017, 4:24 PM UTC

excalibur wrote: post #179

> Loading in progress. 0 of 4.543 billion years processed. Impressive.

Clearing the cache did nothing.

Re: Google Earth Redesigned

#220

Post by spankalee » Tue, Apr 18, 2017, 4:24 PM UTC

callahad wrote: post #193

dkns wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember when inbox launched it could be only used under chrome/chromium. Then somebody changed their user agent in firefox to chrome and magically it started working just fine. So you might want to try that.

Looks like the first hurdle is that it's relying on the deprecated document.registerElement API from an early draft of the Web Components specs, which prevents the app from booting in Firefox. Edit: Paul Kinlan reports that Earth is using PNaCl ( https://twitter.com/Paul_Kinlan/status/854351477506277378 ), which means it fundamentally can't run outside of Blink.

Earth uses Polymer, which works cross-platform using polyfills, so that's not what's making it Chrome-only. It's NaCl.