Google Earth’s Street View, on view to everybody

The revolutionary way of showing a 360° view of the world that Google Earth offers through Street View arouses resentments in every continent. And now that the giant of the Net is announcing this product’s new functions (like the layers of weather, radar, etc.), “the Big Brother of the streets”, made possible by the Google cars that go around the cities recording the main spots at ‘eye level’, has become the target of computer hackers in some countries where its ‘panoramic eyes’ are ‘not allowed’.

Although up to now Google has faced at least thirty legal investigations related to Google Earth’s Street View, the news reached the top of the webs headings when the UK’s authorities admitted that they have been working on this issue, although they finally concluded that ‘there is no evidence that the data captured by Google –in relation to private WIFI networks- has caused any individual detriment.”

However, legal and criminal actions initiated against Google in USA, Asia, Oceania and Europe because of the way in which its cars drive through the cities recording them (at least 23 countries are discussing the possibility of restricting or banning this activity in their territories) to offer an ‘eye level’ view to any Google Earth or Maps Google user, don’t seem to be the only problem the company has to face. Many people are also pointing their fingers distrustfully to its main video portal.

In Russia, a judge banned YouTube because it was considered to encourage ethnic discrimination and violence in one of the published videos. This clearly brings up a problem that has been subject of debate for quite some time in different parts of the world: the companies’ and users’ responsibility as regards the access to freedom of expression and information.

But despite some differences, and judging by previous similar situations, Google will surely find the way to guarantee its Google Earth tool, which has also been approved by the millions of users around the world.

Goggle, the new Google search engine for mobile phones

Google just announced the launch of Goggles, which if continues to be developed, without a doubt it’ll change the concept of internet search. For now, it’s only available for the Android systems, and it can be bought over the phone accessing AndroidMarket.

This new application “recognizes” a photo taken with the mobile phone camera and starts an automatic search regarding the content, with no need to introduce any word. Using different tools to explore the image, the program will immediately give us the most relevant searches.

As regards places, Goggles doesn’t even need the photo. With only focusing the camera on the place from which we want information, whether it is a monument or a store, and leaning on the GPS, this tool will provide us with all the information.

At the moment, Google Goggles has a limited use to places, books, contacts information, works of art, monuments, whines and brand logos, but in the future, it is estimated that it will identify food, animals, plants, and even suggest chess moves, taking into account the disposition of the pieces on the table.

This is a new effort by Google to keep on innovating. Regarding the images, it was already launched during the current year, Similar Images and then Image Swirl, which is a search engine that gathers the results based on the contrast similarities, color and the position of the objects.

The new technology, especially its potential more tan its current use, has caused more than one to be alert. Based on the assumption that Goggles will evolve till being able to identify people, many wonder what is the limit. Although the information collected by Goggles is protected by Google’s privacy policy, it can’t be assured how the giant internet uses it or will use it.

This way, Google adds to Google Maps, Froogle, Google Book Search, Google Earth, Google Scholar, Talk, Video and News, a new application that promises revolutionize the way to search on net of networks, even when it will cause a lot of controversy what will be the use of the information given.

Travel to the past with Google Earth and relive “Historic Images”

Apparently, Google, the most important internet search engine, not only leads the market in that field, but also in the development of applications. This can be seen in the continuous avant-garde tools that introduces daily. This time around, and added to its new feature called “Historic Images”, which allows you to see almost any spot on Earth and “go back in time” to be witness of their evolution, now it’s possible to superimpose to Google Earth certain antique maps to go back in time even further.

For obvious reasons, with Google Earth you’ll not be able to do big jumps backwards, and in most cases, there will be only 8 years to enjoy sharp and surprising satellital images. Depending on the place you choose, the age and availability of “Historic Images” may vary, but to go back many years, David Rumsey offers on his website a single file (Rumsey Collection), which loads shortcuts on Google Earth to superimpose a lot of old maps with the original layers.

With its typical sepia tonality, the drawings that were used to fill in the blank spaces, the ink they used to write, the stamp of the cartographic societies that published the map and the addressee, the old cartographies that Rumsey offers are mainly compositions of diverse parts, helping the discovery and investigation of many countries (for example: all South America in 1787, Spain in 1701, Greece in 1708, etc.)

Organized by continents, countries and age, the only thing left is selecting them on the lateral foldout menu “Places” to activate them and automatically superimpose with the Google Earth layers. This saves the tiresome job of importing other maps and having to put them with precision on the exact place.

This way, to the now well-known “Virtual Flights” around the world, “Street View” (360° panoramic view of the place), “Explore the Oceans” or travel the moon’s and Mars’ surface in 3D, amongst many options, Google Earth adds the possibility to “fly” to practically any place to see how it was a few years back. Just like that, we are able to go back in time and visit our native country, its condition in the past, follow the development of the new societies or neighborhoods, remember antique familiar places or see how the weather affected the Planet, to name a few of the many memories that you can relive with this new feature of Google Earth .

Google Earth

Whoever thinks of Google Earth as a simple software map is mistaken. Nowadays, this application is one of the most complete software for the 3D Planet´s images visualization, offering satellite images and different type of maps with the help the powerful Google search engine through the original stream technology.

The difference between the cartographic visualization software and Google Earth is that it features an original user-friendly interface: our planet. From this satellite space image of it, we will be able to see any place of the world, turning and rotating it using the mouse.

The most attractive option that Google Earth offers might be the possibility of making incredible zoom in to any region of the world map obtaining satellite images with different resolution levels and details as soon as we zoom in the region.
In this way, Google Earth allows a top-notch online view of cities, and even buildings and streets, but their quality may not be as good on low-end PCs due to technical streaming requirements. It´s also worth mentioning that highest image quality is available on most important cities and metropolis.

Interaction with the interface is quite simple. The sidebar is completely easy-to-use for those users not familiarized with geographic applications.
Just enter the name of the location you want to view, and Google Earth will take you to that spot in a matter of seconds. Hardware components as well as broadband will depend on the loading time as well as its visualization.

Google Earth presents an interesting feature to view different thematic “layers” providing additional information regarding the selected location, as well as climatic conditions in the area, travel services, photo galleries and more.
Another aspect to take into account is that Google Earth enables users to add their own information such as photographs and text.

To sum up, Google Earth stands as an essential application for cultural, educative and geographic purposes, and its success lies on the use of new satellite image visualization technologies. By adding new features on each release, Google Earth will rapidly become an indispensable tool for any PC user.

Google Earth

Whoever thinks of Google Earth as a simple software map is mistaken. Nowadays, this application is one of the most complete software for the 3D Planet´s images visualization, offering satellite images and different type of maps with the help the powerful Google search engine through the original stream technology.

The difference between the cartographic visualization software and Google Earth is that it features an original user-friendly interface: our planet. From this satellite space image of it, we will be able to see any place of the world, turning and rotating it using the mouse.

The most attractive option that Google Earth offers might be the possibility of making incredible zoom in to any region of the world map obtaining satellite images with different resolution levels and details as soon as we zoom in the region.

In this way, Google Earth allows a top-notch online view of cities, and even buildings and streets, but their quality may not be as good on low-end PCs due to technical streaming requirements. It´s also worth mentioning that highest image quality is available on most important cities and metropolis.

Interaction with the interface is quite simple. The sidebar is completely easy-to-use for those users not familiarized with geographic applications.
Just enter the name of the location you want to view, and Google Earth will take you to that spot in a matter of seconds. Hardware components as well as broadband will depend on the loading time as well as its visualization.

Google Earth presents an interesting feature to view different thematic “layers” providing additional information regarding the selected location, as well as climatic conditions in the area, travel services, photo galleries and more.
Another aspect to take into account is that Google Earth enables users to add their own information such as photographs and text.

To sum up, Google Earth stands as an essential application for cultural, educative and geographic purposes, and its success lies on the use of new satellite image visualization technologies. By adding new features on each release, Google Earth will rapidly become an indispensable tool for any PC user.