Google Earth is a computer program featuring 3D representations of Earth based on satellite images. The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite imagery, aerial photography, and GIS data into the 3D globe, allowing users to view cities and landscapes from different angles. Users can browse 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 can use the program to add their own data using Markup Keyhole Language and upload it through various sources, such as forums or blogs. Google Earth is capable of displaying various types of images that are overlaid on the surface of the earth and also a Web Map Services client.
In addition to Earth navigation, Google Earth provides a host of other tools through desktop applications. An extra ball for the Moon and Mars is available, as well as a tool for viewing the night sky. Flight simulator games are also included. Another feature allows users to view photos from various places uploaded to Panoramio, information provided by Wikipedia in multiple locations, and Street View imagery. The web-based version of Google Earth also includes Voyager, a feature that periodically adds tours in the program, often presented by scientists and documentaries.
Google Earth has been viewed by some as a threat to national privacy and security, leading to programs banned in many countries. Some countries have requested that certain areas be obscured in Google satellite imagery, usually areas containing military facilities.
Video Google Earth
History
Google Earth was originally developed by Keyhole, Inc., a Mountain View-based company established in 2001. Keyhole, after being separated from Intrinsic Graphics, received funding from venture capital firms Central Intelligence Agency, In-Q-Tel and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in addition to the smaller capital of Nvidia and Sony. Keyhole developed the program under the name Keyhole EarthViewer , and sold the product for use in areas such as real estate, urban planning, defense, and intelligence. Google acquired the company in 2004, encouraging public interest in technology and geospatial applications. Since then, Google has given this program a focus on exploration, with tours provided by humanitarian outreach programs, 3D modeling of hundreds of cities, and 3D balls from other planets.
Maps Google Earth
Image
Google Earth imagery is displayed in the digital globe, which shows the surface of the planet using a single composite image remotely. After enlarging considerably, images move to different images from the same area with finer detail, which varies in date and time from one area to the next. The image is taken from a satellite or an aircraft. Prior to the launch of NASA and USGS's Landsat 8 satellite, Google relied in part on the image of Landsat 7, which suffered hardware damage that left a diagonal gap in the image. In 2013, Google uses datamining to fix this problem, delivering what is depicted as the successor to the Blue Marble of Earth image, with one large image of the entire planet. This is achieved by combining multiple sets of images taken from Landsat 7 to remove clouds and diagonal gaps, creating a single "mosaic" image. Google now uses Landsat 8 to provide higher quality imagery and with greater frequency. Imagery hosted on Google's servers, contacted by apps when opened, requires an Internet connection.
Image resolutions range from 15 meters to 15 cm resolution. For most of the Earth, Google Earth uses digital elevation model data collected by NASA's Radar Shuttle Topography Mission. This creates a three-dimensional field impression, even if the image is only two dimensional.
Every image created from Google Earth using satellite data provided by Google Earth is a copyrighted map. Each instance of Google Earth is made up of copyrighted data that, under the United States Copyright Act, may not be used except under a Google-provided license. Google allows the use of non-commercial private images (e.g., on personal websites or blogs) as long as copyright and attribution are maintained. Instead, images created with NASA World Wind world software use Blue Marble, Landsat or USGS images, each of which is in the public domain.
In version 5.0, Google introduced Historical Imagery, allowing users to view previous imagery. Clicking the clock icon in the toolbar opens the time slider, which marks the time of the imagery available from the past. This feature allows the observation of changes in the area over time. Utilizing timelapse feature allows the ability to view videos that can be enlarged for 32 years.
3D imagery
Google Earth displays 3D building models in several cities, including photorealistic 3D imagery. The first 3D buildings in Google Earth were created using 3D modeling apps like SketchUp and, starting in 2009, Building Maker, and uploaded to Google Earth via the 3D Warehouse. In June 2012, Google announced that it would replace the user-created 3D buildings with auto-generated 3D mesh. It will begin gradually, starting with selected big cities, with the exception of cities like London and Toronto that need more time to process the detailed imagery of their large buildings. The reason given is to have greater uniformity in 3D buildings, and to compete with Nokia Here and Apple Maps, which already use this technology. Coverage began that year in 21 cities in four countries. As early as 2016, 3D imagery has been expanded to hundreds of cities in over 40 countries, including every US state and covering every continent except Antarctica.
In 2009, in a collaboration between Google and Museo del Prado in Madrid, the museum selected 14 paintings to be photographed and displayed at 14,000 megapixel resolution in the Prado 3D version in Google Earth and Google Maps.
Street View
As of April 15, 2008, with version 4.3, Google Street View is fully integrated into Google Earth. Street View displays 360 ° panoramic photos in different cities and neighborhoods. Photographs taken by camera mounted on the car, can be viewed on different scales and from different angles, and navigated by the arrow icon worn on them.
Water and oceans
Introduced in Google Earth 5.0 in 2009, Google Ocean features allow users to zoom below the ocean surface and view 3D bathymetry. It supports more than 20 layers of content, containing information from leading scientists and oceanographers. On April 14, 2009, Google added subsea terrain data to the Great Lakes.
As of June 2011, Google increased the resolution of several deep-floor floor areas from 1 kilometer to 100 meters. The high-resolution feature was developed by oceanographers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University from scientific data collected on research cruises. A sharper focus is available for about 5 percent of the ocean. These can be seen at Hudson from New York City, Wini Seamount near Hawaii, and Mendocino Ridge off the US Pacific coast.
Outside space
Google Earth can be used as a program to view outer space, including the surface of various objects in the solar system. Google has programs and features, including within Google Earth, allowing Mars, moon and sky views from Earth.
Google Sky
Google Sky is a feature introduced in Google Earth 4.2 on August 22, 2007, in a browser-based app on March 13, 2008, and for Android smartphones, with augmented reality features. Google Sky allows users to view other stars and sky objects. It was produced by Google in partnership with the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope. Dr. Alberto Conti and his co-developer Carol Christian from STScI plans to add a public image from 2007, as well as a color image of all the archived data from the Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys. Newly released Hubble images will be added to the Google Sky program as soon as they are published.
New features such as multi-wavelength data, major satellite positions and orbits and educational resources will be provided to the Google Earth community as well as through the Christian and Conti website for Sky. Also seen in Sky mode are constellations, stars, galaxies, and animations that describe the planets in their orbits. A real-time Google Sky astronomy transient mashup recently, using the VOEvent protocol, is being provided by the VOEventNet collaboration. Other programs similar to Google Sky include Microsoft WorldWide Telescope and Stellarium.
Google Mars
Google Mars is an application in Google Earth which is a program version for Mars planet image. Google also operates browser-based versions, although the maps have much higher resolution in Google Earth, and include 3D terrain, as well as infrared imagery and infrared images. There are also some very high resolution images from the HiRISE Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter cameras that have resolutions similar to those in cities on Earth. Finally, there are many high-resolution panoramic images of Mars landers, such as Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which can be viewed in a similar way to Google Street View.
Mars also has a small app found near the face on Mars. It's called Meliza, a robotic character that the user can talk to.
Google Moon
Initially a browser app, Google Moon is a feature that allows month browsing. Google brings the feature to Google Earth for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 2009. It was announced and shown to a group of guests invited by Google alongside Buzz Aldrin in Newseum in Washington, DC Google Moon includes several tours, including one for Apollo missions, incorporating maps, videos, and Street View-style panoramas, all provided by NASA.
Other features
Google Earth has many features that allow users to learn about certain places. These are called "layers", and include various forms of media, including photos and videos. Multiple layers include a tour, which guides users between specific places in the order they are assigned. Layers are created using Keyhole Markup Language, or KML, which the user can also use to create customized layers. Locations can be marked with placemarks and arranged in folders; For example, users can use placemarks to create lists of interesting buildings around the world, then provide descriptions with photos and videos, which can be viewed by clicking on a placemark when viewing a new layer in the app.
In December 2006, Google Earth added new integration with Wikipedia and Panoramio. For the Wikipedia layer, the entries are scratched for coordinates via the Coord template. There is also a community layer from the Wikipedia-World project. More coordinates are used, different types are on the screen, and different languages ​​are supported rather than the default Wikipedia layer. The Panoramio layer displays images uploaded by Panoramio users, placed in Google Earth based on user-provided location data. In addition to flat images, Google Earth also includes layers for user-submitted panoramic photos, navigable in a manner similar to Street View.
Google Earth includes several features that allow users to monitor current events. In 2007, Google began offering users the ability to monitor traffic data provided by Google Traffic in real time, based on information collected from the location of mobile users identified GPS.
Flight simulator
In Google Earth 4.2, flight simulators are added to the app. It was originally a hidden feature when it was introduced in 2007, but started with 4.3, given the labeled option in the menu. In addition to keyboard control, the simulator can be controlled with a mouse or joystick. The flight simulator can be ordered with a keyboard, mouse, or joystick attached. The simulator also runs with animation, allowing objects like a plane to animate while in the simulator.
Another flight simulator, GeoFS, is created under the name GEFS-Online using the Google Earth Plug-in API to operate within a web browser. Starting September 1, 2015, the program now uses the CesiumJS open source program, because the Google Earth Plug-in is stopped.
Galaxy Liquid
Liquid Galaxy is a group of computers running Google Earth creating an immersive experience. On September 30, 2010, Google made configurations and schemes for their rigs, placing code and setup guides on the Liquid Galaxy wiki. Liquid Galaxy has also been used as a panoramic photo viewer using KRpano, as well as a Google Street View viewer using Peruse-a-Rue Peruse-a-Rue is a method to sync some Maps API clients.
Version
Google Earth has been released on macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. The Linux version starts with version 4 Google Earth beta, as the original port uses Qt device. The Free Software Foundation considers the development of free compatible clients for Google Earth becoming a High Priority Free Software Project. Google Earth was released for Android on February 22, 2010, and on iOS on October 27, 2008. The mobile version of Google Earth can use the multi-touch interface to move around the globe, zoom in or rotate the view, and allow it to select your current location. The automotive version of Google Earth is available on Audi A8 2010.
Google Earth Pro
Google Earth Pro was originally a business-oriented upgrade to Google Earth, with features like movie makers and data importers. Until the end of January 2015, it was available for $ 399/year, though Google decided to make it public for free. Google Earth Pro is currently the standard version of the Google Earth desktop app in version 7.3. The Pro version includes additional software for movie creation, advanced printing, and precise measurements, and is currently available for Windows, Mac OS X 10.8 or later, and Linux.
Google Earth Plus
Discontinued in December 2008, Google Earth Plus is a paid subscription upgrade to Google Earth that provides the following features to customers, most of which are available in Google Earth for free. One such feature is GPS integration, which allows users to read tracks and waypoints from a GPS device. Various third-party apps have been created that provide this functionality using the basic version of Google Earth by creating KML or KMZ files based on user defined or user-recorded user paths.
Google Earth Enterprise
Google Earth Enterprise is designed for use by organizations whose businesses can take advantage of program capabilities, for example by having a globe that stores corporate data available to anyone in the company. Starting March 20, 2015, Google has withdrawn Google Earth Enterprise products, with support ending March 22, 2017. Google Earth Enterprise allows developers to create maps and 3D globes for personal use, and to host them via platforms. GEE Fusion, GEE Server, and GEE Portable Server source code are published in GitHub under the Apache2 license in March 2017.
Google Earth 9
Google Earth 9 is the first version of Google Earth released on April 18, 2017, which has been developed for two years. The main feature of this version is the launch of the new web version of Google Earth, which is currently only available for Google Chrome. This version adds the "Voyager" feature, where users can view portal pages containing guided tours led by scientists and documentarians. This version also adds the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, represented by die, which brings users to random locations on the earth along with showing them "Knowledge Cards" that contain short excerpts from Wikipedia article locations.
Google Earth Plug-in
The Google Earth API is a free beta service, which lets users put Google Earth versions into web pages. The API enables advanced 3D map apps to be built. At its opening at the Google I/O developers conference in 2008, the company showed off potential applications such as games where players control milktruck on the surface of Google Earth. The Google Earth API has been discontinued since December 15, 2014 and remains supported until December 15, 2015. Google Chrome is ending support for the Netscape Plugin API (which relies on the Google Earth API) by the end of 2016.
Google Earth VR
On November 16, 2016, Google released a virtual reality version of Google Earth for the Steam Steam computer game platform. Google Earth VR allows users to navigate using VR controllers, and is currently compatible with Oculus Rift and HTC Vive virtual reality headsets. On September 14, 2017, as part of the Google Earth VR 1.4 update, Google added Street View support.
Google Earth Outreach
Google Earth Outreach is a charity program, where Google promotes and donates to various non-profit organizations. Starting in 2007, donations are often accompanied by layers displayed in Google Earth, allowing users to view projects and non-profit goals by navigating to certain related locations. Google Earth Outreach offers online training on using Google Earth and Google Maps for public education on issues affecting the local area or the world. In June 2008, training was given to 20 indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest, such as SuruÃÆ', to help them preserve their culture and raise awareness of deforestation issues.
Nonprofit organizations featured on Google Earth through the Outreach program include Arkive, Global Heritage Fund, WaterAid, and World Wide Fund for Nature.
Google Earth Engine
Google Earth Engine is a cloud computing platform for satellite image processing and geospatial data and other observations. It provides access to large databases of satellite imagery and the computing power needed to analyze the images. Google Earth Engine allows observation of dynamic changes in agriculture, natural resources, and climate using geospatial data from the Landsat satellite program, which passes the same place on Earth every sixteen days. Google Earth Engine has become a platform that makes Landsat and Sentinel-2 data easily accessible by researchers in collaboration with Google Cloud Storage. Google Earth Engine provides a shared data catalog with computers for analysis; this allows scientists to collaborate using data, algorithms, and visualizations. The platform uses the Python and Javascript application programming interface to make requests to the server.
The Google Earth Engine has been used multiple times as a tool for tracking deforestation. Initial applications of the machine have included mapping forests in Mexico, identifying water in the Congo basin, and detecting deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Using Google Earth Engine to track global forest loss or profits, the University of Maryland reports a comprehensive loss in global forest cover. The Carnegie Institute for Science's CLASlite system and Imazon's Systeme de Alerta de Deforesation (SAD) are the two institutions that partner with Google in the development of Google Earth Engine. Both organizations use this program to create forest maps that measure environmental disturbances. In addition, Google Earth Engine has been extended to further applications. These range from: Tiger Habitat Monitoring, Malaria Risk Mapping and Global Surface Water.
Controversy and criticism
The software has been criticized by a number of special interest groups, including national officials, as a privacy violation or a threat to national security. The general argument is that software provides information about the military or other important installations that can be used by terrorists. Google Earth has been blocked by Google in Iran and Sudan since 2007, due to US government export restrictions. The program has also been blocked in Morocco since 2006 by Maroc Telecom, the country's premier service provider.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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