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Google Earth Studio
- davissorenson 8y agoLooks nice, but it's yet another Chrome-only project.
- tjpnz 8y agoI'm not sure why you're being downvoted but this is a pretty serious shortcoming.
- richev 8y agoTrue, but their FAQ addresses this: > Our 3D rendering engine currently uses a Chrome-only technology called Native Client to power Earth Studio. However, we’re closely tracking the evolution of WebAssembly (especially threading). Stay tuned!
- burgerboy 8y agoPeople here just have to hate in everything Google does eh?
- tjpnz 8y agoJust dead technologies that haven't gained industry wide adoption.
- zapzupnz 8y agoNo, people hate that Google is observably becoming the next 1990s era Microsoft. NaCl is already deprecated in favour of wasm but this thing still uses NaCl. This should just not have been released until it was ready. Forgive the world for thinking this smells like IE and ActiveX from an infinitely scarier company with much more power than Microsoft ever had.
- SquareWheel 8y agoIt's nothing like ActiveX. Native Client was an open and modern recreation of a dying API (NPAPI). It didn't catch on, so it's being deprecated.
- zapzupnz 8y agoSure, but realistically, that makes no difference when (A) only one browser ever implemented it, and (B) its continued use by its originator company _despite_ deprecation last year (after its team was destaffed two years ago) still stinks of an attempt at lock-in, open source or not.
- jchw 8y agoThere are still things you can't do with the web platform alone. WebAssembly is still in its infancy, and not everything is really figured out yet. In this case, it looks like they're held back by the lack of proper threading: >However, we’re closely tracking the evolution of WebAssembly (especially threading). Stay tuned! It seems reasonable to get this program out and running today and move it over to WebAssembly in the future. One of the alternatives would've been to deliver a native app to every platform, but Chromium is already a native app that runs on many platforms that you can compile yourself, and then you get a security sandbox for free. Seems a better to me, frankly, especially in a world where many "desktop" apps just ship with Chromium anyways.
- burgerboy 8y agoWhat a nonsense statement. Would you rather this project just not exist at all rather then use a technology specific to chrome? It's like saying because an app using the Mac touch bar is Mac only is a terrible thing. It's not. It's how platforms work.
- zapzupnz 8y agoYou've made a bit of a logical leap in the way you've interpreted my post. So, because I think Google shouldn't use a technology that they themselves marked as deprecated, leaving it only supported in their own browser using their own technology that only they implemented, it shouldn't exist in any way shape or form — despite the fact that wasm is already supported in Chrome and other web browsers? Obviously, they should have just waited until they'd finished porting to wasm. The world would have survived without the NaCl version of a tool they never had before; bloods wouldn't run down the streets if we'd have had to wait a little bit longer for the only version of the tool that should have released. > It's like saying because an app using the Mac touch bar is Mac only is a terrible thing It's really not. The touch bar doesn't purport to be a standards-compliant technology available for every platform to access in an equitable way; apart from the fact it's only on Macs, nothing about it was ever advertised as being explicitly designed for cross-platform use. The analogy to Chrome, a browser that is advertised as standards-compliant and even advancing standards, to the extent that it already includes wasm support, utterly falls apart. > It's how platforms work Chrome is not a platform, and I find myself shocked when anybody thinks so. It's as though the lessons of the past (IE, ActiveX, plugin lock-in) remain unlearnt; a new generation of people who don't know how good they've had it for so long. Chrome is __not__ a platform; it is merely the window through which we consume the real platform: the open web. When Google tries to push Chrome as a platform, we need to all push back. We've had one browser as a platform, and it was not good, it was unhealthy for developers as well as advancements in web technologies, and I and anybody who still has to support IE5 and IE6 do not want to see that again.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- black-tea 8y agoWe've come full circle. If you work for Google I hope you're proud of yourself.
- jchw 8y agoThere are some differences between Chrome and previous browser incumbents: - Most of Chrome is open source. This would surely run in Chromium. - It's cross platform. - It supports web standards. WebAssembly for example. Are things really full circle? I mean the situation could be better but the amount of things that work seamlessly between multiple browsers has never been larger. Very advanced web apps are now assumed to work across at least Chrome and Firefox, and probably Edge, with only a handful of exceptions, when in the past most things beyond basic pages simply didn't or required Java or Flash binary blobs. I don't think anyone in the browser space is intentionally making things worse, things have mostly just gotten better. NaCl may be a notable exception, but prior to WebAssembly it seemed like a good idea, and frankly the technology itself still seems pretty useful. NaCl also still has a lot of things WebAssembly doesn't yet. I see no bad intentions. Just people making the best out of a rapidly moving platform. Someone else in this thread mentioned a WebAssembly port is coming eventually, no reason to doubt it given NaCl is deprecated. Also, P.S.: The NaCl situation is unideal, but frankly I'd rather boot up Chrome to run something than, for example, installing and using an NPAPI plugin that has full privileges and code I can't inspect. (I am, actually, a Firefox user at home.) (Disclaimer: Google employee, but nowhere near the Chrome team.)
- hueving 8y ago>I see no bad intentions. It doesn't take bad intentions to end up destroying an open ecosystem, just a lack of effort to create standard solutions while being the majority market share gorilla. Microsoft employees likely thought they were doing good by adding non-standard features to IE as well given that "standards couldn't keep up" for them either.
- jchw 8y agoSorry, I just don't see that pattern repeating here. Nothing like JScript or MSJVM, no ActiveX or BHO or COM. NaCl solved real problems people had. NaCl allowed secure native code inside Chrome extensions and webapps, before Asm.js and before WebAssembly. It helped with removing insecure NPAPI usages (in the past, a Chrome extension could contain an NPAPI plugin![1]) Nowadays, NaCl is a lot less necessary. Many apps can run just fine in Asm.js and WebAssembly. This is definitely due to cross collaboration from the browser vendors, improving JavaScript performance and solidifying the idea of a cross-platform, safe, portable binary format that could be implemented by all browser vendors. That seems like a fantastic outcome to me, as an end user. Other browsers could've implemented NaCl if they pleased. I recall Mozilla pushing for pure JS and later asm.js instead. In the end, the solution we really ended up with is a lot like a mix of NaCl and Asm.js. You could argue we would've gotten here without NaCl, but I think the end user is certainly better off without things like NPAPI plugins. [1] https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/npapi https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/npapi
- w-ll 8y agoThat first scene in the bg video made me feel very un-easy. Edit: This also reminds me that I'm still upset there is no easy way to have the satellite view on google maps without the 3d info. I've read articles describing how to use the old sat maps but nothing seams to work.
- CamperBob2 8y agoI don't like the 3D 'enhancements' either, but if they look like they do in this video, I'll stop complaining. It's the fact that they actively degrade the tile content that annoys me.
- greenknight 8y agoin the menu with satellite enabled.... disable globe. this takes it back to the 2D map style.
- wtallis 8y agoGetting the plain imagery in Google Maps without the falsified 3D models is pretty straightforward. After switching to satellite view, just open the sidebar that lets you select between regular map, satellite, and terrain views, and below it you'll find globe, traffic, transit, bicycling. Click the globe option to disable it, and it'll revert to the plain 2D view.
- w-ll 8y agoThanks; I've found it. But really this ux is bad... its a 2nd level sidebar... The hamburger menu is only available after the places or location info menu is open. What ever happen to the map layer options you get with google maps on a 3rd party.
- wtallis 8y agoWhat platform are you using? In a web browser, it's not a second-level menu; the hamburger button is always accessible at the left end of the search box.
- pavlov 8y agoSeems to be like After Effects with Google Earth as the only input. Impressive. What are the use cases?
- geek_at 8y agonews stations who don't have good animators
- jordache 8y agowhat do you mean good animators? How do you animate 3d maps otherwise? You seem to imply this is a competing solution for some existing products that will produce broadcast quality video files of flybys of 3d maps...
- kkarakk 8y agoyeah it's called stock footage. people do buy aerial flyby footage you know, if you just need it for flavor(like in a youtube video about your area) this is an amazing solution vs either finding stock footage or buying a drone and creating your own
- tjpnz 8y agoNews stations that don't have access to drones?
- TimTheTinker 8y agoAny idea whether it supports other basemaps or layers? I’m interested in loading some content from ArcGIS Online or a local raster/feature dataset.
- jordache 8y agoIs there robust integration of google maps with arcGIS in general? If not, then I would not expect any unique integration of the two platforms strictly for the google earth studio context.
- lightedman 8y agoI'd much rather they get proper KML/KMZ from live sources working in the mobile app. That would be an absolute game-changer. Google, why do you not have feature parity on mobile? You have pretty much every other feature EXCEPT this.
- baroffoos 8y agoClicked just to see the message saying Chrome only. Nice to see the devs at google still don't give a shit about browser diversity and standards.
- burgerboy 8y agoSometimes things have technical requirements that aren't available on other platforms. How about you stop with the anti Google circlejerk?
- KevanM 8y agoWorked (as was able to submit an access request) on the latest Firefox.
- slowwwclap 8y agoDid you get a response? I've been waiting to get access.
- fbelzile 8y agoIt looks like they are waiting on WebAssembly Threading. I agree with you though, Google should help develop WebAssembly vs just creating a Chrome only solution: "Our 3D rendering engine currently uses a Chrome-only technology called Native Client to power Earth Studio. However, we’re closely tracking the evolution of WebAssembly (especially threading). Stay tuned!"
- markdog12 8y ago> Google should help develop WebAssembly Google is heavily involved in WebAssembly planning and implementation in Chrome/V8. They have threading enabled chrome://flags
- pgeorgi 8y ago> Google should help develop WebAssembly vs just creating a Chrome only solution The people who can do Google Earth Flybys might not be the same that could implement WebAssembly Threading, even though they work at the same company.
- spacegod 8y agoAs a GIS developer I don't know what my thoughts are on this.
- enriquto 8y agoThink about something and write it, then!
- ruytlm 8y agoI wonder how long it will be before this can be built on as a world for a video game.
- tasuki 8y agoMaybe it already has and you've been playing it for years!
- dethos 8y agoSome years ago there was a company that developed a "Social network" plus some games (Rally, etc) on top of google earth. It was called YoubeQ.
- onion2k 8y agoGoogle seem to think that's a good idea - https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2018/03/16/googles-linkage-of-the-unity-engine-with-google-maps-is-a-game-changer/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2018/03/16/googles...
- ethiclub 8y agoHere's hoping* that this eventually matures into a widely available (if not free & free) 'Scenario Pack/API' provided by Google and available to any Developers, - Not just for leisure, but for practical purposes. We need Google maps and street view to become consolidated (through a combination of physical mapping with drones, and CG via Unity etc.). Once this is seamless, and any 3d point in space + direction can generate a full 3D render (in real time), it will allow for 'Scenarios' - Instances of the Gmaps globe that are pulled into applications. 'Scenarios' might be used in games: - a 'real world snapshot, no wipes' scenario hosted on a game server, where players undertake a FPS survival game in an exact replica of the entire globe. - On another server, there may be a '1991 zombie apocalypse scenario, 2 week wipes' scenario being hosted, where 'filters' have been applied to the real world snapshot to make the globe appropriately aged and decimated, with appropriate models and characters for that world. Or more importantly, it might allow for serious modeling when utilized by certain platforms: - Used for traffic flow - This could be incredibly valuable for use cases such as '3-dimensional traffic theory over San Francisco low altitude airspace - What impact to delivery drones will there be if a new skyscraper is raised in this zone?' - For city councils and architects that are measuring heat absorption of concrete from the sun on the hottest day of the year / to model the wind flow through a city street that is acting as a wind tunnel. The key to its success would be a) accessibility (Google or a third party maintaining this as an easily accessible platform & api) and b) rapid automation/layers (Being able to quickly load template 'scenarios' and apply 'filters' to them, rather than manually manipulating the instance). While there are plenty of academic and technical tools available now for modeling, there is nothing ubiquitous and simple enough that allows a layman to 'load up the world as of 15/12/2018, now raise the global temperature by 5 Celsius, now fast forward 20 years.' If Google provides the API, then industries will rapidly set itself up around it. It will be interesting to see how security & privacy are handled in these spaces. How do you prevent (and should you prevent) someone mapping the inside of your own home? Presumably, the primary strategy will be simple obfuscation (3d zones are tagged with a certain privacy level, which forces them to be randomly generated with each instance, rather than allowing true mapping) *And goes without saying, here's hoping Google practices change so consumers aren't taken advantage of with such a platform
- Jagat 8y agoSo how long before this is sunset?
- jannes 8y agoYou could probably animate a regular sunset with it a few times before Google sunsets it.
- exodust 8y agoI signed up. I've been waiting for years for a way to animate Google Earth. Don't care that it's Chrome-only, good to see they addressed this in their FAQ.
- trynewideas 8y agoMerry Christmas to Jon Bois
- avolcano 8y agoFirst thing I thought. Wonder what he's been using to animate Google Earth in his existing stuff - manual camera movement and screen recording?
- trynewideas 8y agoPretty much: https://twitter.com/jon_bois/status/764180167656955904?lang=en https://twitter.com/jon_bois/status/764180167656955904?lang=...
- cee_el123 8y agoWhat representations does Google use to store such a humongous amount of geospatial data ?
- enriquto 8y agoA multi-scale pyramid of tiled images allows O(1) access at arbitrary scales at positions, independently of the size of the whole thing. It may be something like that.
- mmanfrin 8y agoSomeone at Google must really like Jon Bois.
- r618 8y agoLast time I used Google Earth desktop application to animate flythru over France for a client, using waypoints and its camera recording; I'm somehow surprised that this use case is so common that they made a separate product for it - well, probably is )
- slowwwclap 8y agoDid anyone manage to get access yet? I did submit a request.