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HOW GOOGLE EARTH WORKS
PART II
THE LONGEST LIST OF THE LONGEST
STUFF AT THE LONGEST DOMAIN NAME AT LONG LAST
How does Google Earth work?
Google Sky has been a part of Google Earth software
since 2007. This feature uses digital mapping and photography from NASA, the
Digital Survey Consortium, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Google Earth pulls
together a map of space, with the planets and constellations being just a few of
the things that can be looked at. And the flyover feature that’s available for
traveling the streets of New York is also available when using Google Sky. So
hop among the stars and truly see that even the sky has no limit! Google Sky has
every option that is available in Google Earth so you can make a roadmap among
the stars and use different layering to highlight different items. Plus you can
also click just about anywhere in outer space and be taken to different NASA
links where you can learn more about the history, development, and features of
that particular location. Use the Hubble Showcase to check out some actual
pictures taken from the Hubble Space telescope. That’s definitely something that
only Google Earth can do!
Google Sky has so much more than just this too. You
can take a tour of the Life of a Star and find out just how a star is created,
what it does during its lifespan, and how it eventually dies out. You can also
take advantage of the User’s Guide to the Galaxy, which will give you a complete
tour of outer space.
Even though Google Earth brings us features that
were unheard of before are actually available to us through fairly simple
technology. Google Earth was once a program that could be purchased for $90 and
was known as Keyhole. Google purchased Keyhole and instantly had access to
digital pieces of information that had been collected through the use of
satellites and aircraft. There are many different programs and pieces of
software that are used to collect the images. TeleAtlas and EarthSat are just
two of the different programs that are used to make up the collective images.
Programs such as these use actual photographs and maps and turn them into
digital form. Because Google Earth uses information from differing sources,
different areas may be a bit more unfocused or appear clearer and crisper than
others.
There are a few tricks to Google Earth that make it
different than actually looking at the world through a video webcam. The first
is that pictures are not taken in real time. So if you’re checking out your
friend’s neighborhood, you won’t find them walking their dog down the street.
Some locations are dated only every three years, although some areas such as
those in developing communities are being updated much more than that.
Another thing to be aware of when using Google
Earth is that more populated areas are usually updated more often and have more
information available pertaining to them. For instance, Google Earth has a wide
range of information on countries such as the United States, Canada, and the
United Kingdom. However, information about a neighborhood in India might not be
vast. And while you can search for the Egyptian pyramids, you’ll be hard-pressed
to find a coffee shop in the area.
Getting this amount of information packed into one
software, and make it so even those with a slow-running modem could have access
was one of the biggest challenges Google faced when creating the software.
Essentially they do it by taking one big picture and breaking it up into pieces.
Even though you don’t see it happening, it then feeds itself into your computer
bit by bit very quickly. Google Earth also uses the computer’s cache, so once
you have searched for and visited a location, if you choose to go back there,
Google Earth will be able to pull up the information very quickly using the
cache. This is one of the most basic ways that users can customize Google Earth.
Users can also bookmark favorite places and highlight certain areas, shops,
hotels, and such that are of particular interest to them. Then they can save it,
print it, or email it. Google Earth has such innovative technology that you can
go anywhere, find anywhere, and do just about anything with that information!
But while many people marvel at Google Earth’s capabilities, it has its fair
share of skeptics. If you think about, while you’re tinkering around in Google
Earth and reaching out to touch all four corners of the globe, someone could
very well be looking into your neighborhood and checking it out. And just like
everything else on the Internet, this raises its fair share of privacy concerns.
Google has quickly dispelled the idea that Google Earth could be used for misuse
or for any types of stalking, cyber or otherwise. This is because Google Earth
isn’t bringing any new information to the table. It’s simply using information
that’s readily available otherwise and presenting it in an entirely new way. And
there’s also the fact to consider that Google Earth does not provide real-time
images. This means that no one can watch the actual happenings of a neighborhood,
they can just view the layout of it.
Other than personal privacy, Google Earth has also
has many voice concerns over the intrusion to national security that such a
program could cause. Countries such as Britain and Australia have voiced these
concerns as well as the United States. However, South Korea has been the most
vocal about these concerns. This is because it’s known that South Korea is still
largely at war with North Korea. Government officials in South Korea don’t like
the idea that anyone in North Korea can pull them up using Google Earth and have
an up-close look at military operations and such. However, there is a lot to the
argument that if Google Earth has been able to obtain this information, than
North Korea probably had it long ago.
With its ability to do so very much, and yet make
it completely customizable to the user, it’s truly amazing how unique and
innovative Google Earth is! Add to that the fact that it’s currently free and
the software becomes that much more incredible!
Google Sky
PART 1
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