Swine Flu + Google Earth = More To Be Alarmed About

Filed under: mashups

Ok, between me and you and the internets, I just have to say that I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist and giant skeptic when it comes to news and the media in general.  And this “Swine Flu” I have to put at the top of my list of ridiculous distractions from important and actual news that I ‘ve seen since…um…Bird Flu.

Since Obama’s election all the news was about the economy, what Obama is doing, what Obama isn’t doing and what he’s said he WOULD do that he hasn’t.  Fair enough.  Those subjects are important and relevant to our country and its survival.  In short they are NEWS.

The Creepy-ish Google Latitude Makes Good

Filed under: Satellite maps, current events

I wrote in an earlier blog post about the new Google Latitude, Google’s newest location-based service which allows you to locate anyone who is using Latitude, and conversely allows anyone to locate YOU if you’re using it.

In my prior article I stated that I felt it was stalkerish and had zero intention of using it.  And while I do still feel that way, I have to say that occasionally a situation happens that makes me question that viewpoint of mine and consider even *gasp* installing Latitude.

The First Google Earth Alphabet

Filed under: satellite images

Rhett Dashwood, a graphic designer from Australia.

Rhett Dashwood, a graphic designer in Australis, with clearly a lot of time on his hands, has just put together the first official alphabet using only satellite images from Google Earth.

According to Mr. Dashwood, this project took him six months to locate a landmark somewhere inside the state of Victoria which corresponded to each of the 26 letters.

Perhaps this will inspire you to find a satellite image alphabet in YOUR state.  Perhaps you’ll find it a giant waste of time.  Either way it’s kind of cool and interesting, so I thought I’d tell you about it.  Thanks to Telegraph.co.uk for the info.

Watch the Earth on TV

Filed under: 3D Satellite Imagery

In case watching the earth on your computer isn’t enough for you, as of yesterday the Dish Network is offering 24 hour live viewing of satellite imagery of the earth on their new channel called “Dish Earth“.

Dish Earth’s satellite images come from a camera on the Echostar 11 satellite, which was launched last year by DISH Network in an attempt to surpass Direct TV’s business and stay on top of the HD scene.  So now DISH network has over 100 HD channels, one of which is the new Dish Earth.

Satellite Maps May Save the Reindeer

Filed under: satellite images

The European Space Agency (ESA) sponsors a program called “Polar View”.  Polar View is a satellite program which concentrates on the Arctic and Antarctic for public good.  One way this global satellite imagery program is being used is by reindeer herders in Norway.  With this program, the herders are now able to view the snow’s depth and estimate the best locations for their animals to graze and reside.

No matter what the reasons may be for global climate change, that it is occurring is factual.  And Norway is a country very much affected by this.  So it’s vital to the survival of snow-dwelling animals to see and know where the snow is and where it isn’t, so they can survive.

Google: More than Just a Giant Conglomerate

Filed under: Google Earth

Google is just everywhere.  We all know it.  Some love Google’s everywhereness.  Some definitely do not.  It’s clear that they own a lot of businesses and they’re buying more all the time.  So when you’re anti-”The Man” the name “Google” can cause feelings of discomfort, much in the way that “Starbucks” can.

But there is definitely more to Google than just a giant game of Monopoly.

Google Earth Thief Busted

Filed under: current events

Tom Berge, a known thief in London, was just busted AGAIN…just three weeks after his last arrest.  His MO was to search Google Earth for historic buildings in the London area, scale up them, steal the valuable lead off the roofs and then sell it to companies who buy scrap metal.  All in all Berge stole about $200,000 US in rooftop lead at 30 different locations.

He got off easy after his last arrest, only having to endure a hundred hours of community service with a suspended sentence.  But having gotten caught yet again, just three weeks later, the courts weren’t so easy on him.  This time he has to serve a year in jail.

Snoop Around Under Water with Google Earth

Filed under: Google Earth

As you probably already know, Google Earth 5.0 has now added features which allow you to look at the world UNDER the water, using the flight simulator, as well as above it.  This is really fun and exciting, and creates a lot of wonderful possibilities for scuba divers, archaeologists and historians, to name a few.

The Washington Post, just yesterday, published an excellent article about some of the bodies of water which Google now features, as well as a lot of other great information that I could reword here.  But I thought it would probably be smartest to just have you take a look at that original article.  There are a TON of amazing links within that article as well.  I definitely suggest you look around there, click on the links, watch things, read things, download things, find out things.

Cheating Spouses on Google Street View

Filed under: 3D Satellite Imagery

The technological advances in finding out if your significant other is being faithful have changed and evolved a lot over the years.  Used to be people would hire a private investigator to watch someone.  I imagine that’s still done, but then came home surveillance video cameras fashioned out of ballpoint pens, cameras hidden inside picture frames and all connected to very expensive viewing equipment.  So that made things easier.

Apparently the newest, high tech way people have been finding out about unfaithful spouses is from Google’s street view.  It’s kind of luck of the draw, because it really depends when the satellite images were shot whether or not you get some scandalous goodies, but some have definitely shown up since the launch of Google Street View.

How Does Google Earth Get its Imagery?

Filed under: Google Earth

Over the years I’ve read countless complaints about imagery that’s years old in various locations on the Earth when viewed in Google Earth.  While Google Earth is always working to update its imagery, increase the resolution of images, I thought you might like to know how the whole procedure works

Google Earth acquires and licenses its satellite images from many different sources, including government organizations, directly from satellites, and from companies who sell their imagery to clients such as Google Earth.