The Geothermal Systems in Google Earth

 

Google.org was using Google Earth to visualize Geothermal Data in the United States.

Google has continued to increase the amount of data behind the map, making it a more and more powerful tool as times goes on.

 

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If you’re unclear on what Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) are about, read this snipped from the Google.org EGS page:

Enhanced Geothermal Systems, or EGS, attempts to do just that. EGS produces heat and electricity by harnessing the energy from hot rock deep below the earth’s surface, expanding the potential of traditional geothermal energy by orders of magnitude. EGS is a big challenge, but with the potential to power the world many times over, it demands our immediate attention. At Google we support efforts to advance EGS through R&D, investment, policy and information.

To see this data for yourself in Google Earth, simply load this KMZ file (which was last updated just a few days ago). Also worth your time is this short article in Forbes that talks a bit more about how EGS could benefit all of us.

The "GE Flight Simulator" gets update

 

Late last year we showed you Xavier Tassin’s Google Earth Flight Simulator, which is a very well-built flight simulator that is powered by the Google Earth Plug-in.

 

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The site has seen solid growth over the past year, and now over 70,000 users visit each month, with 40 to 50 users connected at most times.

The latest version (.07) includes some nice upgrades:

• 10 aircraft: from the Piper Cub to the A380, through Douglas DC3 and Sukhoi Su-35, helicopters and hot air balloon.

• A map rendering over 30,000 runways to take off from and DAFIF airspace charts (using Google Fusion Table and Google Maps)

• Real time, local weather conditions (Cloud coverage, wind speed), wind lift on relief.

• In-game chat

• Time slider to select current time of the day.

• Improved physics, animations, flight models, instruments and multiplayer

• Improved user interface, fine control settings, saved preference

This is another great example of why it’s so great to build games using the Google Earth Plug-in — Xavier has certainly made some great enhancements, but there has also been thousands of new 3D buildings (and 3D trees) added to Google Earth in the past year, making it even better!

You can try it for yourself at ge-flightsimulator.com or check out a few more beautiful screenshots below.

 

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An excellent 3D Campus Map in Duke University

 

Similar to other colleges we’ve shown you in the past, such as Northeastern University, Duke University has just unveiled their new 3D campus map and it’s quite impressive.

 

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With the help of concept3D, the map has become an excellent source of information for the school. Powered by the Concept3D “CampusBird Atlas” CMS, Duke staff can edit the map and publish new information on their own. In addition, all data is mirrored between the Google Earth Plugin API and the Google Maps API on the site; it appears seamless to the end user, but it’s a tricky piece of work on the back end.

The map includes 3D models of 325 buildings across the campuses. The map also includes satellite views and traditional two-dimensional street maps and offers overlays that display details such as dining locations and parking permit requirements, photos related to the buildings and videos linked to specific campus locations.

The maps are only accessible via the Plugin (no downloadable KML), and you can view the new map here on the Duke website. In addition, the map is fully functional on mobile devices.