Let’s try to think on the best next thing!
Google’s virtual globe incorporates around one-third of all land depicted in such detail that individual trees and cars, and the homes of 3 billion people, can be seen.
Although everyone is asking what is the worth of having the earth (on close to real-time) in a web, some of the most fascinating uses of Google Earth not very published today include:
- Google Earth was used to co-ordinate relief efforts in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
- Tax inspectors in Buenos Aires are using it to see whether people are correctly reporting the size of their properties.
- Roofers, landscape gardeners and solar-panel installers use the virtual maps to scout for potential customers.
- Google Earth seems to have been used in this way by Iraqi insurgents planning attacks on a British base in the city of Basra, for example, in which individual buildings and vehicles can be clearly seen.
All the views are of public streets, in aggregate, they challenge accepted notions of privacy—especially for those caught doing something naughty like uncovering a car getting a ticket from Miami police, a man scaling a locked gate in San Francisco and another man entering a shop selling sex toys (real stories).
Despite of the use of the tool, the question of the general public remains the same: When can I use, other than showing off my house to other people.
For me this tool has future, but little present.
These examples, I hope shows that little imagination and some guy with “mashing” capability will make a fortune.
on 08 Sep 2007 at 5:06 am # Mike Chirak
Mario,
What would be your idea to make Google Earth the next best thing?
Mike
on 08 Sep 2007 at 9:11 am # Alan Mcroy
I never see it from this angle.
Alan
on 08 Sep 2007 at 9:11 am # Alan Mcroy
I’ve never seen it from this angle.
Alan
on 09 Sep 2007 at 8:38 am # Daniel G.
Google features software called “Sketch Up” along with a Google database. In it, you can import, export, or create your own 3D models of real-life landmarks. From what I’ve seen, the volunteer effort to draft up virtual cities on Google maps has been phenomenal (mind you each design contains a high level of detail). If Google Earth would facilitate a virtual realm of some sort (more significant than what Second Life is doing), you’d create actual value off of virtual real estate.