Google I/O extends virtually around the world

In celebration of Google I/O 2011, many Google offices around the world, as well as GTUG partners and Student Ambassadors, are hosting free viewing parties of Google I/O sessions. If you can’t attend Google I/O in person, these events are a way to connect with other talented developers and watch live feeds of the conference.

Part viewing party and part community building, Google I/O Extended events are free and worldwide, focused on bringing the developer community together to live-stream the keynote and other major sessions of Google I/O. Each location’s event will be a little different, so check the registration page of the closest location to see what they have planned. With limited space, registration is required. Learn more and find an I/O Extended event near you on the I/O Extended site. These events are being organized by local developer community leaders and university ambassadors, so please reach out to them specifically if you have any questions about the details.

Here are just a few of the locations hosting an I/O Extended event:

Africa

Asia

Europe

North America

South America and Central America

See more locations on the map and register for a Google I/O Extended event in your area.

We look forward to having you join us for Google I/O Extended!

CyberCity3D: Modeling 3D buildings using Satellite Imagery

CyberCity3D has been doing a lot of cool stuff with Google Earth lately. Last year we showed you their Hidden Treasures of Los Angeles map, and a few months ago they showed off some of their new GeoGames that provide an interactive experience for the user.

Their latest announcement is going back to their roots — 3D modeling. They’ve announced today that they’ve developed a system to produce 3D buildings from stereo satellite imagery, in a way that be scaled to a fairly large region.

As an example, here is a photo of their model of JFK International Airport, which you’ll see includes some rather detailed architecture.

jfk-yellow.jpg

The only real downside to this is that their system doesn’t yet put textured images on the buildings. Hopefully that is something they can figure out in the future. If you’d like to see their model of the airport yourself, you can download this KMZ file.

CyberCity3D has created hundreds of thousands of 3D buildings for Google Earth, and this technique may help increase the speed of that. If that can figure out a way to automatically texture the building, or least give users an easy way to texture it themselves, we could see substantial increase in 3D building coverage over the next year.

Visualizing the vast problem of marine debris

mdc.jpgWith the fifth international Marine Debris Conference taking place this week in Hawaii, Google and NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) have put together some resources to help visualize this growing problem. The conference aims to help provide tools and information, as well as to inspire innovation.

To that end, Google and NOAA have built a tour to showcase some of the major problems our oceans are facing, as well as the main sources of marine debris around the world. To view the tour, you can view the tour in the Ocean Gallery, download it as a KMZ file, or watch the video below:

For more, check out the Google Lat Long Blog or the official NOAA website.