Google Earth – Geography making History

There are no two doubts about the fact that Google Earth is one of the coolest things on the internet right now. There are not many in the web space who dont know about Google Earth now. From kindergarten to commerce, the Google Earth fever has left none untouched. GE is one new age tool that awaits further exploitation.

Start clicking, zoom, hover and pronto, you just reach where you want to be.The first thing that I did and I presume that every one does when they log into Google Earth is to search for their residence location. Thanks to the data collected by NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, the digital elevation model (DEM) was made possible. And this means fantastic views of anyplace on earth, anywhere, anytime, and that too in 3-Dimensional format. Fantasies can’t get any better.

It is interesting to note that Google Earth looks significantly similar to the ‘Earth’ program described in Neal Stephenson’s sci-fi classic Snow Crash. Google Earth may have been born out of a tradition of technology for flight simulators. But every time I open Google Earth, I know I am automatically connecting to Google’s servers, getting terabytes of geographical, political and social data. This powerful experience is truly one of its kind on the internet, and that too for free.

Placemark is one of the best features of this tool. It allows me to add as much information as I like and this could range from notes, addresses, photos, landmarks, restaurants, reviews, and a lot more. I can even read the information others want me to see about this place. Thanks to the .kml file formats, visual sharing cant get any better.

Originally created by Keyhole Inc, Earth Viewer was the name of this fascinating 3D virtual globe. Keyhole Inc seems to be a bunch of real talent to conjure up an interesting tool called Earth Viewer. And Google, as usual, have been smart enough to lap it up and rename their flagship product as Google Earth.

Google Earth may not have enjoyed the kind of popularity it now does, had it been restricted to Keyhole Inc’s paraphernalia. Keyhole shot to limelight during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when media majors such as CNN, ABC, CBS & other news networks used sophisticated 3D flyby imagery from its EarthViewer product line. From flying over Baghdad to zooming into the bombing targets, EarthViewer married videogame-style 3D graphics to hug satellite image data and ariel photos of Earth creating the biggest media impact of all times. This delighted the viewers and investors to no end.

Not only did Keyhole Inc churn out Earth Viewer, but also made a product for easy car navigation, called EarthStream. A smart company with whacky tools enjoyed a huge and active customer base. Not to mention biggies like the United States Department of Defense, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, US Army CECOM, state and federal governments, defense, homeland security, and Intel and so many more. I presume they now belong to Google.

Education is one area that has been truly revolutionized by Google Earth. For once what we thought of Mother Earth, sitting in our kindergarten rooms and classrooms is now unfolding right before our eyes. I do not know how Education can get any better than the way it going now. The child does not have to sit for hours trying to figure out the simple-complex working of our Earth. He or she need not spend hours pondering how a person standing on the north or South Pole does not fall in the cosmic abyss. It is no longer a planet sitting on the PC, but also an encyclopedia, an atlas, a flight simulator, a teaching aid, all rolled into one.

Unlike 2D images found in maps, we can now view 3D images of major sites, such as of the Mount Everest. While interesting dimensions are not restricted to unique locations, similar layers will be added to major cities and buildings in the US and Japan, creating a seamless user experience.

Geography learning is not the same. From expansive land masses to extensive water bodies, you just have to fly over them to see. Zoom down to specific locations for the micro picture of how the terrain looks like. Now, the deserts, lakes, mountains, plateaus are not in your imagination, but on your screen.

And if you thought that learning was restricted to Geography, hang on. Google Earth is being used be plethora of professionals such as economists, geologists, astronomers, pilots, naturalists, eco-conservationists, students, healthcare professionals, and many more for various activities. From predicting epidemic out breaks, locating your blind date’s house, geospatial planning, disaster management, species conservation to weather monitoring, Google Earth is being used more actively than one can imagine.

Sometimes, playing around with GE can be a spiritual experience by itself. To see the planet so big, yet so small is an unimaginable nirvanic sight. Maybe this is the way God sees planet Earth, and can yet drill down to each and every place and person. I do not know. I get this powerful yet humbling feeling whenever I fly from one location to another on Google Earth. To see it rotate, zoom, fly into, fly away, is truly amazing. All this is with an eerie feeling that we are indeed going too far with everything, maybe for the best.

Available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and host of other languages, it is truly cutting across the language barriers. I guess that’s one way of saying that we all are one.

Google Earth does have its share of brickbats. There were major concerns if Google Earth could lead to national security issues and then there are minor concerns if Google Earth could catch people in topless sunbathing acts. Skeptics’ apart, I think Google Earth rocks.

But, I also think it is kind of scary.

It is true what New York Times had to write about Google… “For anyone who has ever dreamed of flying…”