Results tagged “googleearth”

Googleheim Competition: Gimme "Virtual Shelter"

The Guggenheim Museum and Google invite you to build something, somewhere. The alliteratively-named duo has launched the Design It: Shelter Competition, which asks contestants to design a virtual shelter using Google’s SketchUp 3D-modeling software and place it anywhere on the globe using Google Earth. The competition draws its inspiration from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture—students there design shelters as part of their training—but instead of winning a master’s degree, the prize for Design It contestants is a paid trip to New York City complete with free software swag and private museum tours.

Google Earth Car Spotted Stealing Souls in SoHo!

Have you ever actually seen a Google Earth car roaming around and capturing souls with its sophisticated camera technology? Nylon has a photo of one that was seen on Mercer and Houston streets in SoHo yesterday. They note, "The wild contraptions above the car record the latitute, longitute, and elevation of every place the car goes, while the camera snaps… well, you know, you’ve stalked your friends’ houses on Google Earth a million times before." Currently you can't go down Mercer on Google Maps, so we're guessing that's all about to change, and finally the world can glance upon yet another SoHo street.

The gnerds at Google Earth Blog point us to a bumper crop of new additions to Google's 3D version of New York City. This blogger's discovery is best read aloud in your most nasally, emphatic voice: "This is a HUGE update with at least hundreds (if not thousands) of new 3D buildings with photo textures applied. Basically, Google has completed nearly every building in Manhattan Island for Google Earth. Just fly to New York City and turn on the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth... This is the largest city I've seen done with photo-realistic textures to date.

The city's last privately owned island was sold to the federal government for $2 million. South Brother Island, a 7-acre island (just west of Rikers Island), will be turned over to the city's Parks and Recreation Department and will remain, as amNew York reports, "significant nesting colony for several types of shore birds, including Egrets, Cormorant, and Night Herons." According to the NY Times, the deal, which was "brokered by the Trust for Public...

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt, who has completely covered her house in mosaic tiles.

  • And the fight over a World Trade Center victim's estate was heard in a Brooklyn courthouse. Elsie Goss-Caldwell claims her ex-husband Leon Caldwell is a deadbeat who does not deserve any part of the $2.9 million awarded after the death of their son Kenneth, who worked on the 102nd floor of the north tower. Yesterday, Goss-Caldwell told a judge, "While I was planning a memorial service, hoping they might find him trapped somewhere," she says Caldwell filed a death certificate with the victim's unit. Caldwell countered that Goss-Caldwell shut him out of their sons' lives after their divorce. The judge will decide what happens with the money, which has been in escrow, after the two sides file their arguments.
  • There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to!

    Kottke discovered that Google Earth has added part of the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection to their software. That means you can now generate cool images like the one he made above, with modern day NYC buildings projected above the old maps. Neat!

    There's no line in the photo because THERE'S NO SHAKE SHACK. Click on the image above for a bigger version.Seems like Microsoft needs to update their shit because we all know that SHAKE SHACK IS THE BIGGEST THING TO HAPPEN TO BURGERS EVER!!!

    The internets are abuzz with Jason Kottke's "Manhattan Elsewhere" project. In it, he uses Google Maps and Google Earth to place Manhattan on the same map as other cities (Chicago, SF, Boston, Minneapolis, and the teeming metropolis that is Barron, Wisconsin!) The project is a loving remake of Bill Rankin's Errant Island of Manhattan project-- check that one out for LA and Philadelphia comparisons. Six years passed between the two projects, and it is fun to see how far internet maps have come since Mapquest-- especially in the 3D rendering department.

    Tomorrow is Earth Day, and there are a number of events in the city. Many are occuring at Grand Central Terminal, where there are exhibits, demonstrations, and musical perfomances with exhibitors like the Audobon Society, Google Earth and Recycle a Bicycle - check out Earth Day NY 2006. There's an Earth Awareness Festival tomorrow on Waverly Place, the events the Parks Department is organizing, and we are very partial to the events occuring at zoos around the city - activities and you can drop off your old cellphones at the Central Park, Bronx, Prospect Park, and Queens Zoos (plus the NY Aquarium).

    We've done tons of census race-data maps before, but this one at Webfoot is particularly well-built. One thing we learned right away: not too many Native American neighborhoods in the five-boroughs. There are, however, at least six high-density Asian spots. We've identified three-- can you name the rest? [Related: if you have Google Earth, Goth reader Phillip Gross suggests this cool census data overlay for similar information goodness.]

    Ooooh! If you enjoyed Saturday's post about Eyebeam's OGLE rendering, check out this 3D Atlantic Yards placemark for Google Earth. InvisibleMan built it using the information contained in the Atlantic Yards environmental impact statement. Once you download the program and install the placemark, you can move around the Atlantic Yards development in three dimensions-- it really gives you a sense of size and scale of the development. [Suggestion: InvisibleMan, hook up with Fruminator at Eyebeam and print out a 3D rendering of these buildings!]

    Those crazy cats from Eyebeam are at it again! Last week we talked about their awesome LED graffiti project, which we're hoping to see on the streets sometime soon. This week the eyecandy comes out of their OGLE project, which is a tool they've developed to capture 3D data in Windows. Once the data is captured, it can be turned into awesome renderings and then printed out on the futuristic 3D printer they have in the Eyebeam lab in Chelsea. The rendering above was drawn from map data (Google Earth?) and seems to be looking north from around 23rd Street. Look at the little Empire State Building! Sweet.

    Macintosh users rejoice! No longer will you have to be envious of your fellow Windows brethren. If you haven't heard the news, Google officially released their Google Earth client for Mac OS X on Tuesday and we can't be happier. Sure we had the beta that was leaked a few weeks back, but this is their final release.

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