Google To Create 3D Maps Of The Earth
Silicon Valley Watcher has the scoop that Google plans to use trucks quipped with lasers and digital photgraphy equipment to create three dimensional maps of the Earth’s surface, starting with San Francisco.
The trucks would drive along every San Francisco street using the lasers to measure the dimensions of buildings, to create a 3D framework onto which digital photos can be mapped. This would complement the mostly top-down view of San Francisco available through Google’s Keyhole satellite photo application.There have been several test runs of the specially equipped truck along San Francisco streets. One problem is that vehicles and people can block the automated laser and digital photo systems. This could be eliminated with a second pass, but Google wants to achieve results with a single run.
While the geek in me says “cool”, the rest of me can’t figure out the application for this. The only thing that comes to mind is letting you walk down the streets in a full 3D environment, like a first person shooter. That might be kind of cool. The one thing I hope they are aware of: a mapping service is only as good as its coverage. Just like with A9’s street-level photos, if Google doesn’t have enough areas scanned in, it won’t be very useful. Cool, no doubt, but not useful.
(via John Battelle)
>a mapping service is only as good as its coverage.
Amen, brother. Amen. - Francis from the Philippines
Comment by Francis Ocoma | June 9, 2005
Google should then match the satellite photos and maps to ground level photos, for 100% functionality. You want to see what you’re going to be dealing with/travelling to, etc.
What say, people? Would you use online maps and satellite images a lot more frequently if they were always matched to the ground-level photos? And how would you use that?
Comment by Robert Johnston | June 10, 2005
Um.. I think they’re just buying themselves a couple of years to corner the market.
In the long run, they must be planning to do 3D mapping from triangulating from 3 or more satellites. That’s probably not possible yet.
I can see a million applications for this, and have been thinking about this type of thing for years.
Comment by Emmet | June 11, 2005
Several times I have used the USGS DEMs to construct topographical models for landscape layouts and discovered the sad truth that the satellite photos were usually quite dated, particularly the high-res 3 meter sets. Here I am talking about changing geographical features due to erosion, where man-made features tend to be even more dynamic and change more rapidly. And I am sure that every traveler has been the victim of erroneous map information due to street and highway layout and name changes. How often, I wonder, does Google intend to update its scans to keep the maps valid, and at what cost? This is certain to be an ongoing (forever) project. The idea is great, but I don’t see any practical way to ensure that reliable information can be maintained on any but the major cities in the United States alone.
Comment by Mark Bunds | June 13, 2005
[…] As Nathan said on InsideGoogle a little while back : […]
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