My Google Map Blog

Archive for May, 2014



The best of Google Earth for May, 2014

by Mickey Mellen on May.30, 2014, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

We saw some amazing new Google Earth-related stories in May, and here are some of my favorites.

We took a look at some of the tornado damage in Mayflower, Arkansas.

mayflower arkansas tornado

We showed you some ways to use Google Earth to find a dark sky near you.

dark sky

We revisited ways to use Google Earth to track the weather.

google earth weather

We shared the story of how Google Earth was used to help discover a long-lost forest.

long lost forest

We took a look at the new stadium that the Atlanta Braves are planning to build.

atlanta braves stadium

Google brought out some fresh imagery on May 19.

new google earth imagery

We shared some tips to make Google Earth more realistic.

realistic google earth

We looked at some amazing images of (and interesting facts about) airport runways around the world.

airport runways

What was your favorite story from May?

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Abandoned theme parks in Google Earth

by Mickey Mellen on May.29, 2014, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

Last year we showed you a collection of the best roller coasters in Google Earth, highlighting some amazing parks around the world. A recent article in the Huffington Post takes it the other direction and highlights seven abandoned parks that can be found in Google Earth.

A great example is Six Flags, New Orleans, shown here:

six flags new orleans

From the article:

This theme park was closed just before Hurricane Katrina struck the region in 2005. It was heavily damaged in the storm and has been essentially abandoned ever since. Numerous attempts to rebuild it have fallen flat and the only salvageable ride (a Batman attraction) was moved to San Antonio. It has since become a film set and remains there today, crumbling into the dirt.

Using Google Earth’s historical imagery tool, you can go back in time to view some of the parks in their early days. For more, check out the full story on the Huffington Post.

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Middle school students in Bluffton, South Carolina, build their town in 3D

by Mickey Mellen on May.28, 2014, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

Over the years we’ve seen a handful of schools integrate SketchUp to showcase their campus in 3D, such as Paragould and Hartford High Schools a few years ago.

The latest example comes from McCracken Middle School in Bluffton, South Caroline (hear Hilton Head Island), where they’ve modeled 14 historic locations around their town.

bluffton

Six classes at H.E. McCracken Middle School in Bluffton used Google’s 3-D design program SketchUp to re-create 14 locations around Old Town this spring, drawing models of local landmarks like the Thomas Heyward House and the Bluffton Oyster Factory.

Students in the class, in its second year at H.E. McCracken, learn to use SketchUp and other Google programs, culminating in the historic-locations project. After the students learned how to draw in the program, they photographed and measured 14 of the 26 historic buildings in Bluffton during a field trip in February.

It’s awesome that they’re working on projects like this at the Middle School level, but it’s unfortunate that these models will never find their way into Google Earth. As of last October, you can no longer submit models for inclusion in Google Earth, as Google is pushing their 3D imagery instead. While I agree that 3D imagery is the future of Google Earth, I do wish they’d allow individual 3D model submissions as well.

Regardless, the students have done a great job with their project and I encourage you to read the full article on the Island Packet website.

The post Middle school students in Bluffton, South Carolina, build their town in 3D appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

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Middle school students in Bluffton, South Carolina, build their town in 3D

by Mickey Mellen on May.28, 2014, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

Over the years we’ve seen a handful of schools integrate SketchUp to showcase their campus in 3D, such as Paragould and Hartford High Schools a few years ago.

The latest example comes from McCracken Middle School in Bluffton, South Caroline (hear Hilton Head Island), where they’ve modeled 14 historic locations around their town.

bluffton

Six classes at H.E. McCracken Middle School in Bluffton used Google’s 3-D design program SketchUp to re-create 14 locations around Old Town this spring, drawing models of local landmarks like the Thomas Heyward House and the Bluffton Oyster Factory.

Students in the class, in its second year at H.E. McCracken, learn to use SketchUp and other Google programs, culminating in the historic-locations project. After the students learned how to draw in the program, they photographed and measured 14 of the 26 historic buildings in Bluffton during a field trip in February.

It’s awesome that they’re working on projects like this at the Middle School level, but it’s unfortunate that these models will never find their way into Google Earth. As of last October, you can no longer submit models for inclusion in Google Earth, as Google is pushing their 3D imagery instead. While I agree that 3D imagery is the future of Google Earth, I do wish they’d allow individual 3D model submissions as well.

Regardless, the students have done a great job with their project and I encourage you to read the full article on the Island Packet website.

The post Middle school students in Bluffton, South Carolina, build their town in 3D appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

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