Geo Informatics

Lecture 03
Google Earth

Dr. Nafeesa Shaheen

Google Earth 2
WHAT IS GOOGLE EARTH?
➢ Google Earth is a computer program, formerly known
as Keyhole EarthViewer, that renders a 3D
representation of Earth based primarily on satellite
imagery.
➢ The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite
images, aerial photography, and GIS data onto a 3D
globe, allowing users to see cities and landscapes from
various angles.
➢ Users can explore the globe by entering addresses and
coordinates, or by using a keyboard or mouse.
➢ The program can also be downloaded on a smartphone
or tablet, using a touch screen or stylus to navigate.
➢ Users may use the program to add their own data
using Keyhole Markup Language and upload them
through various sources, such as forums or blogs.
➢ Recently Google has revealed that Google Earth now
covers more than 98 percent of the world, and has
captured 10 million miles of Street View imagery, a
distance that could circle the globe more than 400
times.
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WHAT IS GOOGLE EARTH?
➢ In addition to Earth navigation, Google Earth provides a series of other tools through the desktop
application.
➢ Additional globes for the Moon and Mars are available, as well as a tool for viewing the night
sky. A flight simulator game is also included.
➢ Other features allow users to view photos from various places uploaded to Panoramic, information
provided by Wikipedia on some locations, and Street View imagery.
➢ The web-based version of Google Earth also includes Voyager, a feature that periodically adds
in-program tours, often presented by scientists and documentarians.
➢ Google Earth has been viewed by some as a threat to privacy and national security, leading to
the program being banned in multiple countries.
➢ Some countries have requested that certain areas be obscured in Google's satellite images,
usually areas containing military facilities.

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WHAT IS GOOGLE EARTH?
Google Earth contains;
➢ Satellite and Ariel imagery
➢ Highway maps
➢ Ability to create and save placemarks
➢ 3D landforms and 3D buildings
➢ Tools for measuring and creating paths
➢ Area measurement
➢ Ability to create image overlays
➢ Bathymetric imagery

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GOOGLE EARTH’S IMAGERY
➢ Google Earth's imagery is displayed on a digital globe, which displays the planet's
surface using a single composited image from a far distance.
➢ After zooming in far enough, the imagery transitions into different imagery of the
same area with finer detail, which varies in date and time from one area to the next.
➢ The imagery is retrieved from satellites or aircraft.
➢ Before the launch of NASA and the USGS's Landsat 8 satellite, Google relied
partially on imagery from Landsat 7, which suffered from a hardware malfunction that
left diagonal gaps in images.
➢ In version 5.0, Google introduced Historical Imagery, allowing users to view earlier
imagery. Clicking the clock icon in the toolbar opens a time slider, which marks the
time of available imagery from the past. This feature allows for observation of an
area's changes over time.

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GOOGLE EARTH’S 3D IMAGERY
➢ Google Earth shows 3D building models in some cities, including photorealistic 3D imagery made
using photogrammetry.
➢ The first 3D buildings in Google Earth were created using 3D modeling applications such as
SketchUp and, beginning in 2009, Building, and were uploaded to Google Earth via the 3D
Warehouse.
➢ In June 2012, Google announced that it would be replacing user-generated 3D buildings with an
auto-generated 3D mesh.
➢ By early 2016, 3D imagery had been expanded to hundreds of cities in over 40 countries,
including every U.S. state and encompassing every continent except Antarctica.
➢ In 2009, in a collaboration between Google and the Museo del Prado in Madrid, the museum
selected 14 of its paintings to be photographed and displayed at the resolution of 14,000
megapixels inside the 3D version of the Prado in Google Earth and Google Maps.

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GOOGLE EARTH’S STREET VIEW
➢ On April 15, 2008, with version 4.3, Google
fully integrated Street View into Google Earth.
➢ Street View displays 360° panoramic street-
level photos of select cities and their
surroundings.
➢ The photos were taken by cameras mounted on
automobiles, can be viewed at different scales
and from many angles, and are navigable by
arrow icons imposed on them.
➢ Using the Street View on Google Earth, users
have the opportunity to visit and explore 30
UNESCO world heritage sites with historical
context and pins for each one.
➢ The sites include, The Great Pyramid, The Taj
Mahal, Sagrada Família, The Dolomites, The
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, The Great Sphinx,
etc.

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GOOGLE EARTH’S 3D BATHYMETRY
➢ Introduced in Google Earth 5.0 in 2009, the Google Ocean feature allows users to
zoom below the surface of the ocean and view the 3D bathymetry.
➢ On April 14, 2009, Google added bathymetric data for the Great Lakes.
➢ In June 2011, Google increased the resolution of some deep ocean floor areas from
1-kilometer grids to 100 meters.
➢ The high-resolution features were developed by oceanographers at Columbia
University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory from scientific data collected on
research cruises.
➢ The sharper focus is available for about 5 percent of the oceans. This can be seen in
the Hudson off New York City, the Wini Seamount near Hawaii, and the Mendocino
Ridge off the U.S. Pacific coast.

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OTHER FEATURES
➢ Google has programs and features, including within Google Earth, allowing
exploration of Mars, the Moon, the view of the sky from Earth and outer space,
including the surfaces of various objects in the Solar System.

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HOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GOOGLE EARTH?
Google Earth offers excellent beginner tutorials for using the program.
Check them out:
– Google Earth: Beginner Tutorials
• Street View
• 3D Trees
• Historical Imagery
• Navigation
• Searching for Places
• Drawing and Measuring
• Placemarks and Tours
• Exploring Mars, Moon and Sky
• Moon in Google Earth
Ctrl+Click on above topics to follow link

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HOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GOOGLE EARTH?

Google Earth Basics Tutorial:

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klK27l3unng

Ctrl+Click to follow link

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A QUICK TOUR
• You can take a quick tour of
Google Earth when you open
the program.
• Go to help and choose Start-up
Tips. It will show you how to
get started.
• The next few slides are from
the Google Earth Feature Tour.

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NAVIGATION TOOL

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SEARCH PANEL

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PLACE PANEL

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LAYERS PANEL

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HIDE SIDEBAR

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ADD A PLACEMARK

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ADD A POLYGON

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ADD A PATH

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ADD AN IMAGE OVERLAY

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RECORD A TOUR

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HISTORICAL IMAGERY

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SUNLIGHT

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EXPLORE EARTH, SKY, MARS OR THE MOON

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RULER

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SHARE

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THANK YOU

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