Just this week, his usual audience EXPLODED. Why… because he uploaded a little video (seen over 50,000 times by now) of the French Google Earth killer, developped by the French IGN… And he was also mentionned as one of the top 15 influential bloggers in France by Le Monde newspaper. Funky.
Another proud vpod.tv alpha user; I have to say that indeed the BillautShow is fun to watch.
One of the only reasons around not to buy a Mac was that you could not run Google Earth on OS X. Alleluia! Your wishes (and mine) have been heard.
Somewehere in this very long thread of discussion about Mac vs. the world, you’ll find a link to a fully functional version of it. Not all menus (such as Help) are active, but it works! You know what? I feel like saying, Hurray Google!
Grab a copy while it lasts, because
With all the craze about Keyhole / Google Earth / Google Maps or MSN’s Virtual Earth, it is very easy to forget that cartography isn’t really something new. Navigators, explorers, travellers have been using for over a millenium.
If you want to see ancient maps of France, called the ‘Cassini’ maps, started in the midst of the 18th c., have a look here. Someday, someone should create APIs to them, and help genealogists find ancient villages that have changed names.
Note: see Cassini on Wikipedia.
Now playing: producer@mobuzztv.com - Adicciones
Totally amazing! Via Nature.com, via Slashdot:
“ Using satellite images from Google Maps and Google Earth, an Italian computer programmer has stumbled upon the remains of an ancient villa. Luca Mori was studying maps of the region around his town of Sorbolo, near Parma, when he noticed a prominent, oval, shaded form more than 500 metres long. It was the meander of an ancient river, visible because former watercourses absorb different amounts of moisture from the air than their surroundings do.
His eye was caught by unusual 'rectangular shadows' nearby. Curious, he analysed the image further, and concluded that the lines must represent a buried structure of human origin. Eventually, he traced out what looked like the inner courtyards of a villa.
Mori, who describes the finding on his blog, Quellí Della Bassa, contacted archaeologists, including experts at the National Archaeological Museum of Parma. They confirmed the find. At first it was thought to be a Bronze Age village, but an inspection of the site turned up ceramic pieces that indicated it was a Roman villa.
"Mori's research is interesting in its approach," says Manuela Catarsi Dall'Aglio, an archaeologist at the National Archaeological Museum of Parma. He says the find may be similar to a villa the museum is currently excavating at Cannetolo di Fontanellato, which was found during the construction of a high-speed rail network. "Only a scientific, archeological dig will tell," he adds.
The local authorities will have to approve any archaeological digs before they can take place.”
If you wanna have a look, the precise location is here:
“ Il sito ha le seguenti coordinate:
il centro si trova a (circa) lat 44.881446 - lon 10.421513 elev 25mt
l’intera figura è visibile da 600mt di altezza dal suolo. ”
This is a cool hack: news mapped onto Virtual Earth: now you can browse news by location! (via Scoble)
Update: and forgot to mention that Microsoft is now going after Yahoo!'s Konfabulator, Apple's Widgets, Google's Dashboard: it's called Microsoft Gadgets, available at 
www.microsoftgadgets.com
Just found this site, full of ressources to get the best of GoogleEarth: it’s conviniently called GoogleEarthHacks.com …
Now playing: Adam Curry - Daily Source Code for August 25th 2005 #228
You already know that I really enjoy using Google Earth. 2 hacks have quickly surfaced since the launch of a competing product by Microsoft this week:
Just got the email below in my inbox. It's great, I loved Google's Keyhole, I guess I'll like their new name ;). And I'm starting a new category on Maps...
Here goes:
Dear Rodrigo,
Today, we are announcing some exciting news. We are releasing a public beta of Google Earth (free), Google Earth Plus, and Google Earth Pro. As a Keyhole LT/NV subscriber, you receive access to Google Earth Plus, the upgraded version of the software.
Why Google Earth Plus?
Google Earth Plus features built in Google search, driving directions, and 3D buildings in 38 US cities. Additionally, Google Earth Plus includes these new features:
[lots of stuff]
We hope you'll enjoy Google Earth Plus. We are also happy to announce that we are automatically extending your subscription, set to expire on 6/3/07, for one additional year free of charge.
[that's super nice.]
