My Google Map Blog

In our post on UrtheCast earlier this week, we incorrectly stated that Google Earth’s internal browser does not support flash content. It actually does and has done so since version 4.2.

To test whether Flash is working in Google Earth check the popups in the layer Ocean‑>National Geographic‑>Magazine Quiz, as they contain flash content. If you see the quiz questions and answers then Flash is working. If you see a message telling you to install the Flash player, then here is how to install it if you are on Windows. Other operating systems should be similar:
Go to this website in a browser. Select the link that says ‘Download the Adobe® Flash® Player system plug-in.’ On the next page, if you do not want it to install a copy of ‘McAfee Security Scan Plus’ then be sure to un-tick that offer. Then click ‘install now’. Run the file it downloads. When the installation is complete restart Google Earth and you should find Flash content is now working.

Once you have Flash working, you can view the UrtheCast videos from within Google Earth using this KML file

While identifying the location of the Barcelona, Spain, video, we discovered that it includes footage of the Montjuïc Castle, parts of which are censored in Google Earth. Not only is the aerial imagery for the location blurred, but the 3D imagery of Barcelona gives it a wide berth, clearly for censorship reasons.

Censored area in Barcelona, Spain, captured in uncensored HD video by UrtheCast.

Also of note is that since our recent post on UrtheCast, they have made two major announcements on their blog. Firstly, they plan to build and launch their own constellation of imaging satellites and secondly, they plan to acquire two already existing satellites, Deimos 1 and 2, together with their existing imagery archives.

The post Adobe Flash in Google Earth appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

UrtheCast is a company that captures satellite imagery from cameras mounted on the International Space Station (ISS). We mentioned them back in March 2012 when they first announced that they would be mounting two video cameras on the ISS. Since then, they have successfully mounted the two cameras and on Wednesday 17th June, they released the first sample videos. They say it is 4K video with a resolution of 1m. They also claim it is the first full colour HD video of earth from space.

We would have liked to put the videos in Placemarks in Google Earth, but the video player requires Flash, which Google’s internal browser does not support.

Boston, USA. Notice how the tall buildings appear to move because the ISS is moving overhead. Much longer videos of a single location would not be possible.

For the rest of the UrtheCast sample videos see their blog post.

Skybox Imaging, which was acquired by Google last year, also captures HD video, but theirs is black and white. You can see samples of Skybox videos on their YouTube channel.

The post UrtheCast Releases HD Videos of Earth from Space appeared first on Google Earth Blog.