Dimension of 3

Using 3D or 3 dimensional imagery with maps is a relatively new form of mapping. With the invention of the computer there have been all kinds of breakthroughs in how we can manipulate and view maps. 3D mapping and design is now a part of video games and movies too. The image above is an example of art made using 3D. As with any new form of creation, there are skeptics and there are people who welcome the new forms with open arms.

Google has set the precedent on software that uses 3D mapping and is easily accessible to the public. Companies like Microsoft and NASA are struggling to keep up with Google Earth, but have made fairly good attempts at creating something similar. There is debate over what the best software is when comparing Google Earth to other programs. So I decided to give them all a try. First of all, I am a Google Earth fan and have been for some time now. So I may have a bit of bias, but tried to keep an open mind.

I found NASA's World Wind to be very useful for example, you can overlay topo maps over the scene you are looking at. It has some quirks but is a very good 3D mapping program over all. Microsoft's Virtual Earth on the other hand, I found to be "not so much". It took a very long time to download, and uses Internet Explorer as the window. In all I find Google Earth to be the best, but each have their own unique tools and uses.

I wrote the following for a paper in last semesters Mapping Planet Earth class and thought it would be a good story for this blog: Having worked a good amount with Google Earth myself, I have decided to explain an interesting phenomenon I experienced discovering Google Earth:

At the time Google Earth came out, I was working for both the University of New Hampshire and the Museum of Science in Boston. I had been asked to produce a “Spatial DELE”, which was to be a “Spatial Data (or Digital) Enhanced Learning Experience”, that young children around New England would have access to in their schools (elementary up to high school) to better their understanding of the spatial world around them.

I had been slaving over making a demo DELE using IKONOS, Lansat TM, and MODIS images and integrating them into a PowerPoint “guide” for teachers to use with their students. I had been working on it for a few months and thought I had created something extremely valuable and marketable. Then at an annual meeting of about 30 teachers, I introduced what I had been creating for several months which was essentially a VERY crude Google Earth. At the end of my presentation, a teacher asked me if I had seen Google Earth, which I had heard of, but had not actually taken the time to look at. Needless to say after the conference, I checked out Google Earth and found my presentation to need to take a fairly different direction. I quickly incorporated Google Earth into the DELE and the DELE became more of a “How to use Google Earth” guide.

The above image is of San Fransisco using Google Earth.