If you haven't already, check this out:

http://earth.google.com

You need to download the application and pretty much need Hi-Speed internet for it to work properly. Check out the 3D tilt feature.

Apple Macintosh computers are not supported at this time (but we are working on it). :p

a coworker spent pretty much all day today being mystified by it. i had seen it as the keyhole (?) application a few months back, when it was just a trial. pretty neat, the interface still seems a little clunky though (they changed it around but it still looks as clumsy as i remember it). we were debating the practicality of it as he bounced around from street to street following traveling directions.

the fake 3d buildings are pretty neat though. but it looks like you need a really fast connection and a supercomputer to make it tolerable.

I downloaded it last night and spent some time playing with it. I have a high speed connection, tons of RAM (640MB), a pretty good graphics card, but a slow processor (950MHz). Flying around was cool, the graphics looked really good, unfortunately, it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r for details to load. I don't know if it's because of the slow processor or just because you need a T3 line to stream fast enough to make it bearable. But even with the waits (it was like waiting for a graphic intensive webpage to load on a dial-up connection *shudder*) it was a fun program to use. And once the detail is cached it loads quickly when you revisit.

Check out the 3D tilt feature.
I couldn't figure out how to control the 3D tilt. How do you do that?

i think it's the CPU. said coworker mentioned he downloaded it last night but experienced slowness due to his poor video card.

I would expect the CPU to affect the smoothness of flying around, not the download speed. But I don't have a fast computer to test this on and make a comparison. Like I said, once cached the details render quickly when I return to a previously visited location.

Anybody with a 2+GHz processor and a cable modem want to report on how long it takes for details to render on a location never before visited?

"Google Earth downloads temporarily delayed"

- Denied!

"Google Earth downloads temporarily delayed"

- Denied!

Yeah. :(

If you've already downloaded and installed it, it still works for you. But they've halted any new downloads. Wish I had kept the Install File so I could have offered to email it to you.

The Earth At Night (Beta Temporarily Closed)

Welcome, frustrated would-be planet surfer.

We appreciate your interest in accessing 3D geospatial information, but due to the technical limitations of this beta launch, Google Earth has been forced to take a brief breather. Please check back with us soon.

Thanks,

The Google Earth Team

I downloaded and installed it yesterday on my Dell Inspiron 600m, 512 MB 1.4 GHz P4. The video is ATI Radeon Mobility 9000. It works fine for me.

I haven't seen a way to determine the date and time of each photo segment; any of you see anything like that?

"Google Earth downloads temporarily delayed"

- Denied!

Try visiting today's (http://makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/06/30/) Makezine Blog (http://makezine.com/blog/). There are a number of postings, including this one (http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/06/drawing_with_go.html) with a video (http://downloads.oreilly.com/make/googleearth.mov).

I guess if you carry a Garmin Foretrex or Forerunner, you could retrace your steps around the Magic Kingdom.

Steven

It works fine for me.
I just tried again right now and it's working nice and fast for me too. Much faster than before. Perhaps my previous slow experience was due to the server issues on Google's end. So many people downloading and playing. It might have clogged them up.

Oh, and I figured out the tilt thing (found the button). Geeze do I feel stupid. :rolleyes: