My Google Map Blog

We recently came across an article about an interesting find in Google Earth imagery. At Longcross Studios in Surrey, England, the Millennium Falcon of Star Wars fame can be seen. It is hidden behind barriers but they omitted to cover the top.

Millennium Falcon, at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England.

The Millennium Falcon above was used in the filming of the latest Star Wars movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The filming took place in 2016 before the above image was captured, and at that time the Millennium Falcon was part of a much more elaborate set that can be seen here.

The original, used in earlier movies, was apparently built at Pembroke Dock in Wales then transported to Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. A couple of other versions of the Millennium Falcon have been built for recent movies at Greenham Common, UK, for Episode VII and at Malin Head in County Donegal, Ireland for Roque One. Unfortunately neither has been caught in Google Earth imagery.

Back in 2013 we had a look at a KML file with a list of locations from the earlier Star Wars movies. For a comprehensive list of locations including the most recent movies see this Wikipedia page. Unfortunately it doesn’t provide an easy way to export the locations to Google Earth.

The post The Millennium Falcon in Google Earth appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

With the latest Star Wars movie arriving in cinemas this Friday it is a good time to look at filming locations for the previous Star Wars films.

First, here is a nice site describing most of the locations in Tunisia. However, for a much more comprehensive list of global locations there is site appropriately called Star Wars Locations, where you can find a KML file of all the locations on that site. When exploring the locations be sure to turn on the photos layer, as for many locations the satellite imagery is not very good and most locations do not have Street View. Wikipedia also has quite a comprehensive list.

You can also explore the world via Street View as seen from the cockpit of several Star Wars vehicles using this site

We weren’t able to find out much about the locations for The Force Awakens locations. Wikipedia says filming took place in Abu Dhabi, Iceland, Ireland, and Pinewood Studios in England. We also found this article that shows some locations, but isn’t very specific.

The post Star Wars in Google Earth appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

Last month we looked at some sets from Star Wars that were visible in Google Earth, but what if the actual movie had been captured by Google Earth?  Tom Ward recently came up with some photos that seem to show it quite well.

It reminds me of the artist a few years ago who recreated scenes from the Bible (Garden of Eden, parting of the Red Sea, etc) using Google Earth. This is certainly a unique way to look at the Star Wars universe, and the photos are very well done!

Check out the full collection of Star Wars imagery via the @TomWardStudio Twitter account.

The post If Star Wars was in Google Earth appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

Roughly 35 years ago, the original Star Wars movie was filmed in a variety of locations around world.  The opening of the first movie features Luke complaining about having to work at his uncle’s moisture farm, and was shot in the country of Tunisia.  The sets have been left virtually untouched for all this time, and New York-based photographer Ra di Martino recently traveled out there to photograph them.

So how did she find the area?  Google Earth.  From Co. Design:

A few years ago, when Di Martino was working on a project on the Chott El Jerid, a salt lake in Tunisia, she was scanning the site on Google Earth. “I saw a tourist photo on Google Earth of a ruin used for the Star Wars films that was attached to the location.” She tracked the structure to somewhere near Tozeur, an oasis city in the country’s central region close to the Algerian border.

While that article doesn’t supply the locations she discovered (only the photos and story), Star Wars Locations can help us with that.  They offer a page dedicated to Google Earth that includes a comprehensive KML file that shows the various locations around the world that were used in the movie.

You can read more about Di Martino’s adventure on the Co. Design Blog.

The post Tracking down Star Wars in Google Earth appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

View larger map (thanks StreetViewr)