For all you “Burners” out there (or those of us who wish we could go this weekend), we’ve just published imagery from Burning Man 2010, captured Wednesday, September 1st by GeoEye’s GeoEye-1 satellite. This annual event, taking place in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, celebrates both human individuality and togetherness, highlighted by the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy (“The Man”) Saturday evening. You can find the location of the “The Man” in the center of the annually-built tent city, shown below.
Black Rock Desert tent city (left) Location of “The Man” (right)
To view this great new Burning Man imagery in Google Earth, select the ‘GeoEye Featured Imagery’ button located in the Google Earth ‘More’ folder:
Also, if you’re headed out to Burning Man this weekend, be sure to check out this KML from Google Earth Community user “Portaplaya,” which provides a Burning Man street map.
Over the years, we’ve made many improvements to Google Maps to make it as useful and relevant as possible. From basics like road and street names, to labels for points of interest and landmarks, to panoramic images on Street View, we’re working hard to make Google Maps as reflective of the real world as possible.
As part of this effort, we include “places” directly on the map by providing clickable icons that link to the Place page for those locations. When you’re on Google Maps on your desktop or on your mobile phone, this makes it easy to explore the world around you and tap into information on the web that can help you make decisions. For example, you can use the map to answer questions like, “Is there a good place to eat near my business meeting?” or “What shops are on that street two blocks over?” In a pilot program in Australia earlier this year, we further expanded this idea of putting places directly on the map by allowing business owners to brand their locations with their own icons – helping users find familiar brands and helping businesses promote themselves. Interest in this feature has been growing, and today we’re excited to announce the beta of sponsored map icons in the United States.
Now, when you zoom in to areas of interest on Google Maps, you’ll more easily be able to spot the locations of companies and brands that are already familiar to you. That’s because we’re working with business owners to enable them to replace the standard icons that appear on the map at their business locations with their well-known company logos. These logos appear directly on the map when you zoom in to see a close-up view of an area. Just like the existing default business icons that appear in grey, these colored logos are clickable and open the Place page for that business. Both large and small businesses can claim their Place pages and enhance them with information including hours of operation, product inventory, photos and videos.
By helping users identify popular businesses, we’re making it easier to browse the map and navigate the real world. That might mean fortunately stumbling upon a nearby ATM when you’re looking up the address of the new restaurant where you’re dining tonight, or exploring the neighborhood you just moved into by figuring out where the grocery store is relative to your new apartment.
In the coming weeks, we’ll also make these sponsored map icons visible on mobile phones, because more often than not, you want to know what’s around you when you’re on the go. So if you’re rushing to meet friends who are impatiently waiting for you “across from the fast food joint,” you can quickly zoom in on the map to see exactly where that is. Or if you’re on the airport shuttle and just remembered you forgot to pack toothpaste, you can keep on time for your flight by checking out Google Maps and discovering that there’s a retail store just a block away from the hotel where you’ll be staying.
In addition to helping you find locations for some of your favorite businesses, these recognizable logos also help business owners promote the storefronts of their well-visited locations. Advertisers pay to have their company logos appear on the map, and to help you remember their locations the next time you’re in the area. Sponsored map icons are being offered as a limited beta to companies in the U.S. with multiple locations and a well-known brand. Participation in this beta does not affect visibility on the map; the new feature is only available to businesses that already appear on the map, and whose default icons can be swapped out for their logo.
Businesses across a variety of industries, from banking to retailers to self-storage, are participating. We hope you enjoy the ease of finding familiar businesses while browsing new, potentially unfamiliar neighborhoods on Google Maps.
In the four years that the SketchUp team has been working at Google, we’ve seen an unprecedented collection of user-generated 3D building models spring up all around the world. It is exciting and gratifying to see what you’ve all been able to do with SketchUp, and we’re always looking for ways to make your work more effective.
For all of you who are in on the 3D modeling action, I’m proud to announce the release of Google SketchUp 8 today. We’ve added loads of new features specifically designed to make it easier for you to build Google Earth-ready models of the places that matter to you.
Major new features for modeling in geospatial context and for creating new 3D building models for Google Earth.
Model directly from Google’s massive collection of earth imagery, including aerial, oblique and Street View photography in addition to detailed geometric terrain and user generated 3D building models.
Import and improve models created with Google Building Maker
Participate in a community of geo-modelers collaborating on the shared construction of a detailed 3D model of the world.
new “Solid” tools in SketchUp Pro for common additive/subtractive modeling operations
“Outer Shell” to quickly simplify complex models imported from Building Maker
“Union, Subtract, Trim, Intersect and Split” to create complex additive and subtractive form from simple components.
additional features in LayOut for documenting models professionally
Custom line styles
a simple set of dimensioning and annotation tools
native document export to DWG/DXF 2010 format
SketchUp 8 is available today in English, French, Italian, Spanish and German with more languages to be release in the weeks to come. SketchUp Pro costs $495, upgrades from any earlier version are available for $95. And, of course, there is still a powerful version of SketchUp available for free.
Recently, a team of Googlers traveled to Peru and celebrated the winner (and community) of the Google International Model Your Town Competition. Jorge De Albertis of Lima won through a process where people all over the world voted for one of five finalists. His ability to win so many votes was a testament to the power of a community coming together to support Jorge’s efforts. His contribution creating 3D models of many of the historical buildings in the Barranco District of Lima has garnered a lot of attention in his country, and worldwide.
There were four majors parts to the celebration:
1. As part of the winning prize, Google gave a donation to a public school of Jorge’s choice. Jorge talked to the students and staff at a ceremony in the school’s courtyard, and we presented a large check to IE 7053 Reino De Espana Public School. Googlers helped students with a hands-on paper 3D modeling project, where they constructed models of the buildings Jorge submitted for the competition. The school graciously hosted a celebration for Jorge and Google, which included a welcome by student marching bands, traditional Peruvian dances, ballerinas, theater acts, singing, and a poetry jam.
2. Jorge and Google hosted a series of tech talks to over 80 design and architecture students and faculty at the University of Lima, explaining how others can get involved with modeling their communities. Demos were presented on Jorge’s project, SketchUp, Map Maker, and Building Maker. Watch a video of an interview of Jorge at the University of Lima.
4. Google held a celebration in Jorge’s honor at Picas, which was attended by designers, architects, educators, tourism officials, and the general Lima community. The fun-filled event had demo stations where people could learn more about Google Earth, Map Maker, Building Maker, and Google SketchUp. The band, Colectivo Circo played to a packed house. Jorge received a plaque and spoke to the community about his efforts. We are thrilled to have visited Jorge and to have met many people in the Lima community. Congratulations, Jorge!
Posted by Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp for Education Program Manager
Some of us now live far away from the places where we grew up, and I’ve often found something quite evocative and wistful about looking at photos of the streets where I used to live. A few of us decided to capture this feeling of nostalgia in an interactive music experience that we developed for the web.
The music experience, called “The Wilderness Downtown,” was created by writer/director Chris Milk, with the band Arcade Fire and several of us at Google. Drawing upon Street View in the Google Maps API as well as features made possible by HTML5, we created what we hope is a unique and deeply personal experience of traveling down the streets where you grew up. All this is set to Arcade Fire’s new song “We Used to Wait” off their newly released album “The Suburbs.”
“The Wilderness Downtown” was made possible by recent developments in modern web technologies and modern browsers, and was built with Google Chrome in mind. As such, it’s best experienced in Chrome or an up-to-date HTML5-compliant browser.
You can launch the project and learn more about it on our Chrome Experiments site at www.chromeexperiments.com/arcadefire. Enjoy the trip down memory lane!
From time to time we invite guest posters to share their views on items relevant to the use of Google Earth. Here we have a post from Google Earth Outreach grantees Amazon Watch and International Rivers, two U.S.-based organizations that support Brazil’s Movimento Xingu Vivo Para Sempre. Amazon Watch and International Rivers have used Google Earth to animate what could happen if the Belo Monte Dam Complex were built on the Xingu River in the Amazon. We’ve offered them some space to share their work and thoughts with our readers.
Please note: This is a complicated issue with many facets, and the views of this poster do not necessarily represent the official viewpoint of Google Inc.; we support the use of Google Earth for visualizations to create dialog.
Today, Amazon Watch and International Rivers are releasing a new Google Earth tour and YouTube video called “Defending the Rivers of the Amazon,” narrated by Sigourney Weaver, to draw attention to the impacts of the proposed Belo Monte Dam Complex on the people and ecology of the Xingu River.
If built, Belo Monte would be the world’s third-largest hydroelectric dam, and would divert the flow of the Xingu River, a massive tributary of the Amazon. It would flood the rainforest, displace more than 20,000 people, and generate greenhouse gases. On August 26th, the Brazilian government signed the concession to build despite protests by the region’s indigenous and local populations.
The idea for the Google Earth tour emerged when “Avatar” director James Cameron and cast member Sigourney Weaver traveled to the Xingu River in April with Amazon Watch and the Brazilian Instituto Socioambiental (ISA). The launch of this Belo Monte Dam 3D animation is timed with the re-release of Avatar in theatres. James Cameron has also produced an informational video on Belo Monte called “A Message from Pandora” to highlight one of many real Pandoras on Earth.
Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom; the animation uses map overlays and 3D models to illustrate the potential for solar and wind energy as an alternative solution to meet Brazil’s future energy needs, using data from studies performed in the country.
But don’t take our word for it; watch the video, interact with the tour, and see for yourself. Then follow the link to take action. The people of the Xingu will thank you for it.
Posted by Atossa Soltani, Executive Director, Amazon Watch and Aviva Imhof, Campaigns Director, International Rivers
Before coming to Google, I worked at a non-profit organization that responded to Hurricane Katrina by sending mobile health clinics to the Gulf Coast, where there was critical shortage of medical and mental health care providers. I traveled through the region regularly for nearly two years following the storm and each time I would visit the same spots, trying to get a sense of how they were recovering. In some places I saw rapid change and in others hardly any.
Since moving to California I haven’t been able to get back to the Gulf, but I think about that time often. I was excited back in 2008 when we made Street View imagery of New Orleans available, and I’ve kept track of updates to our overhead imagery of the area in Google Earth and Maps.
With the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaching, my mind has been with the hardworking and resilient residents of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi. I used the Historical Imagery feature in Google Earth to look back at some of the places I used to visit, and created these slideshows to show the change over time.
These by-now-familiar images of the Lower Ninth Ward are no less heartbreaking today than they were when we first saw them.
The Biloxi Bay Bridge, which connects Biloxi to Ocean Springs, MS, was heavily damaged in the hurricane and had to be rebuilt. The new bridge opened to traffic in November, 2007.
The Google Earth and Maps Imagery team has just finished rolling out new imagery across the globe, including a significant amount of aerial imagery in Eastern Europe. It’s been a while since we had a big update in that part of the world, and there are a ton of fantastic sights for all you armchair geographers out there to explore. Break out the Slavic dictionary, crank up the techno, and start zooming in!
Wawel Castle, Krakow, Poland
Airport/Racetrack, Dolna Mitropoliya, Bulgaria
Struga, Macedonia
High Resolution Aerial Updates: USA: Pittsburgh, Kane County (IL) Poland: Krakow, Tarnow, Nowy Sacz, Bielsko-Biala, Zory, Chorzow, Krosno, Kolbuszowa, Chorzow, Czestochowa, Kielce, Radomsko, Belchatow, Skarzysko-Kamienna, Kielce, Starachowice, Radom, Ostrowiec, Pulawy, Zamosc, Jelenia Gora, Swidnica, Glogow, Czech Republic: Vysocina, Jihomoravsky, Olomoucky, Moravskoslezsky Macedonia: entire country
Countries receiving High Resolution Satellite Updates: Cuba, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Murkina Faso, Nigeria, Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Madagascar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Iran, Pakistan, India, China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Japan, North Korea, Mongolia
Countries receiving Medium Resolution Satellite Updates: Myanmar
These updates are currently only available in Google Earth, but they’ll also be in Google Maps soon. To get a complete picture of where we updated imagery, download this KML for viewing in Google Earth.
Posted by Matt Manolides, Senior Geo Data Strategist
Three years ago we launched reviews for places on Google so that you could share your opinion of any place in the world. Your reviews help other users find places that are right for them.
We encourage you to continue sharing your experiences and opinions — both good and bad. At the same time, we want to ensure that the information posted in reviews is useful and relevant for everyone. So today, we’ve updated and clarified the guidelines and policies for writing reviews. These guidelines help to make sure that reviewers understand how to write thoughtful reviews, that readers will find them informative, and that the content of the reviews provide useful feedback for Google Places business owners. We’re also sharing more information about when and why some reviews may be removed from a Place page. Below is a quick summary of the updates. Be sure to review the updated policy for more details.
Tips for writing great reviews There isn’t an exact formula to writing a great review. Reviews are best when they reflect the unique opinion and viewpoint of an individual. You can share as much or as little information as you’d like: you might choose to describe the intricate details of a restaurant’s decor, or simply recommend your favorite dish. In the updated policy, you’ll find several best practices to consider when reviewing a business. These tips can help you convey your personal opinions clearly and effectively.
Does Google remove reviews? The short answer is yes. Reviews are intended as a way for people to share useful and relevant information. That encompasses a wide range of opinions, most of which are permitted by our policy. However, in instances in which a review is in violation of our policy, we will remove the review. It’s important to remember that negative reviews aren’t against our policy. We encourage you to share your honest opinions about a business. And if you’re a business owner, you can directly respond to reviews to share your side of the story.
The process for reporting a review that violates our policies hasn’t changed. You can still report a review using the Flag as inappropriate link found next to each review submitted through Google Maps. When a review is flagged, we’ll check to determine if the review violates our guidelines and take action accordingly.
This policy update is our latest step in our ongoing effort to improve your experience with business reviews. We hope you continue to voice your experiences, thoughts and opinions of the places you visit!
If you’ve ever modeled a building in Google Building Maker, you may have found yourself wanting to use crisper, more detailed photos in addition to the aerial oblique imagery. Or, you may have had problems with poor textures caused by other buildings blocking the view of your building. In response to these issues we recently added the ability to add your own photos to Building Maker, but now you can also use imagery directly from Street View on Google Maps!
Start modeling your building using the aerial imagery. After you have constrained a block in at least two aerial images, you will be able to “Add Street View Images” from a drop down menu on the left-hand side. Capture a few images from Street View and continue modeling as normal. The following video illustrates an example of using this new feature:
We have also added 6 new cities to Building Maker (all, with the exception of Vienna, have Street View imagery!):
Edinburgh, United Kingdom Florence, Italy Vienna, Austria Pittsburgh, PA, United States Santa Cruz, CA, United States Riverside, CA, United States
Also, if you’re headed out to Burning Man this weekend, be sure to check out this KML from Google Earth Community user “Portaplaya,” which provides a Burning Man street map.
