6 ms·

Google Earth finally available in browsers other than Chrome

114 points by sohkamyung 7y ago

est31 7y ago
One of the reasons they gave for the delay of switching to wasm was that nacl had threading support while wasm didn't (wasm supports running in workers, but communication can only happen asynchronously through message channels, no advanced multi threading capabilities like sharing memory etc). Then spectre happened and delayed the wasm threading support of browsers even further. Chrome has experimental wasm threading now, but other browsers don't. So now the non-Chrome launch happens without usage of wasm threading.
qubex 7y ago
Isn’t working on desktop Safari (13.0.5).
- simion314 7y ago
  Article mentions it and the issue is related with WebGL2 support in Safari.
  - my123 7y ago
    It does work on Safari (tested it...) just not by default, enable the Developer menu then go to Development -> Experimental Functionality. You will have WebGL2 in the menu. edit: Didn't explicitly say it but you should choose the single-threaded WASM option when asked.
    - qubex 7y ago
      Thank-you. I can confirm it does indeed work on Safari with WebGL2 enabled.
      - Angostura 7y ago
        Oddly, I got the single threaded beta working OK without WebGL2 ticked in the Develop menu
    - greggman3 7y ago
      WebGL2 does NOT work in Safari. All it does is enable GLSL 3.0 ES shaders. No work has been done on WebGL2 in Safari 4 years. See the source http://trac.webkit.org/browser/webkit/trunk/Source/WebCore/html/canvas/WebGL2RenderingContext.cpp http://trac.webkit.org/browser/webkit/trunk/Source/WebCore/h... Search for "NOT IMPLEMENTED". You'll see 80+ WebGL2 apis are not implemented.
      - my123 7y ago
        Yes, Google Earth doesn't actually use the WebGL2-specific APIs, just shaders.
- microcolonel 7y ago
  Because Apple still doesn't support WebGL2 (similar to OpenGL ES 3.0) after all these years. Apple is involved with WebGPU, but they still won't even support WebGL2, which kinda pisses me off. No matter what people say, Chrome is not the new IE, Safari is; and thank god it's so unpopular.
  - giancarlostoro 7y ago
    You misunderstand the term Chrome is the new IE. IE used to be the dominating browser on the web. Whatever standards IE supported were reverse engineered by other browsers such as AJAX. IE eventually got overshadowed by the open web and fell behind. There used to be websites that only worked on IE, well there still might be. There's too many websites coded and tested with Chrome now using features only in Chrome, breaking other sites, or worse checking if Chrome is being used and ignoring if the browser supports the feature, or worse Chrome implements it before a formal spec, which breaks other browsers who comply with the spec.
    - Ididntdothis 7y ago
      “There used to be websites that only worked on IE, well there still might be” Work in a large corporation and you will see plenty of these.
      - scumbert 7y ago
        or Microsoft Silverlight, and soon Flash will be finally deprecated too, and I'm sure it will still be present in enterprise training modules and other nonsense
    - untog 7y ago
      I think both Chrome and Safari have negative connections with memories of IE. For Safari it's the stagnation of IE6: installed everywhere but rarely updated with new features that other browsers have. That's not so much of a problem on desktop because people can always install another browser, but on iOS you're literally not allowed to use any other browser engine.
pmontra 7y ago
Not working with Firefox Ubuntu. I disabled all the privacy addons I'm using to no avail. It works with Vivaldi.
NikolaeVarius 7y ago
Works on Firefox Dev on Manjaro
jmiskovic 7y ago
To me the Google Maps and Earth might be the most impressive piece of software in existence. To see it working on standard web technology on competing browsers is awesome.
- basch 7y ago
  It was so amazing when XMLHttpRequest was a somewhat obscure thing, and they had fully interactive maps while the rest of the world was Mapquest, and "click" "new page" "click" "new page" to be able to scroll and have new images load. I think google jumping on the AJAX train and trailblazing is under credited in the history of their rise. Thank you Microsoft and OWA teams for inventing XMLHttpRequest. Anyone coming into web/development now missed the evolutionary leap from HTML to DHTML/AJAX. Google owes the OWA team a thank you for sneaking that feature in under the radar.
  - nexuist 7y ago
    As someone on here aptly described it, AJAX was a "historic own goal" by Microsoft, who was desperately attempting to separate IE from all other browsers by giving it unique features.
    - basch 7y ago
      My understanding was, the IE team didnt really want (or know about or understand) XMLHttpRequest, and the Outlook team snuck it in last minute.
- modeless 7y ago
  Have you tried Google Earth VR? I highly recommend it.
  - Rebelgecko 7y ago
    Seconding this recommendation. Google Earth VR almost brought me to tears (in a good way)
  - 7y ago
impalallama 7y ago
Not working in MacOS Firefox Developer Edition 74.0b7
- acdha 7y ago
  You might want to uninstall your extensions and try again — it works in a clean install.
unnouinceput 7y ago
Wait, what? I switched completely from Chrome to Firefox in mid November (so happy about the move btw) and had Google Earth on Firefox from day one. Is this article missing something or is it me?
- Vinnl 7y ago
  Maybe you're confusing Google Earth and Google Maps? That happens sometimes.
  - unnouinceput 7y ago
    ohh, a Joker *slow clap
    - aquova 7y ago
      ...except they're right. Google Earth hasn't been available in Firefox until today. Either you're mixing up Maps and Earth, or misremembering.
      - Ajedi32 7y ago
        A beta release has been available on Firefox for a while now (about a year I think?). It's possible GP was using that.
      - unnouinceput 7y ago
        This is not facebook, this is HN. You can't possible conceive that a user of HN does this confusion, do you? Because in that case you are not only insulting my intelligence, you're insulting yours as well. Also a simple click on my name and reading a few answers I've given here could tell you I am definitely NOT the usual facebook user who somehow got lost and ended here. Let me tell you again, so there isn't any confusion: Starting mid-November last year when I switched from Chrome to Firefox, I had google Earth from day one on Firefox. And yes, I am very much aware the difference between not only google earth and google maps but also the difference between google maps 2D and google maps 3D possibilities. I have kids, I use all these 3 tools when my kids are doing their Geography homework. Is it clear now?
markdog12 7y ago
When Google Earth web used NACL, it was so silky smooth, it wasn't even like it was the web. Even on relatively weak hardware (dual core laptop), it was so nice, didn't skip a frame. First time I tried this in stable Chrome it locked up my entire computer. Took about 5 minutes to be able to reboot. On reboot, when I run it, it's like a slideshow, unusable (Ryzen 3900X 12-core beast with RTX 2060 Super). I really want to get excited about WebAssembly, but this doesn't do that.
- wojciechpolak 7y ago
  Today I tried it for the first time (the web version) on my work laptop T490 (Intel UHD 620), Ubuntu with Firefox 73. Everything is super smooth. I'm surprised it isn't for you. It's also smooth on my home Macbook Pro (2015) w/ Fx73.
  - markdog12 7y ago
    I'm surprised too. I've tried on Firefox as well, and on different machines, dual core laptop (Intel), quad core laptop (Intel), iMac 27" Late 2015. All were silky smooth with NACL.
- aliceryhl 7y ago
  I just tried it on Firefox, and it works fine on my laptop.
CommieBobDole 7y ago
This is my usual reminder that Google Earth for desktop is still available and is still wildly superior in terms of features and performance to the web version. https://www.google.com/earth/versions/ https://www.google.com/earth/versions/ (scroll to the bottom, select 'download earth pro on desktop') Edit: Though to be fair, I just checked out the web version and it does appear to be much better than it was when it was first released. It does now appear that they're actually trying to re-implement most of the features of the desktop app on the web. The lack of historical imagery and the replacement of the 'layers' model with a couple of 'map style' options are the most glaring omissions.
- shultays 7y ago
  And if you have vr, it is available on steam and it is an amazing experience!
- wasdfff 7y ago
  Performance is still remarkably better on the desktop app and will be for the forseeable future. I used to run the software over a decade ago on a modest dual core computer with 4gb of RAM without struggle; try doing that with a modern browser experience.

114 points by sohkamyung 7y ago

One of the reasons they gave for the delay of switching to wasm was that nacl had threading support while wasm didn't (wasm supports running in workers, but communication can only happen asynchronously through message channels, no advanced multi threading capabilities like sharing memory etc). Then spectre happened and delayed the wasm threading support of browsers even further. Chrome has experimental wasm threading now, but other browsers don't. So now the non-Chrome launch happens without usage of wasm threading.

qubex 7y ago

Isn’t working on desktop Safari (13.0.5).

simion314 7y ago
Article mentions it and the issue is related with WebGL2 support in Safari.
- my123 7y ago
  It does work on Safari (tested it...) just not by default, enable the Developer menu then go to Development -> Experimental Functionality. You will have WebGL2 in the menu. edit: Didn't explicitly say it but you should choose the single-threaded WASM option when asked.
  - qubex 7y ago
    Thank-you. I can confirm it does indeed work on Safari with WebGL2 enabled.
    - Angostura 7y ago
      Oddly, I got the single threaded beta working OK without WebGL2 ticked in the Develop menu
  - greggman3 7y ago
    WebGL2 does NOT work in Safari. All it does is enable GLSL 3.0 ES shaders. No work has been done on WebGL2 in Safari 4 years. See the source http://trac.webkit.org/browser/webkit/trunk/Source/WebCore/html/canvas/WebGL2RenderingContext.cpp http://trac.webkit.org/browser/webkit/trunk/Source/WebCore/h... Search for "NOT IMPLEMENTED". You'll see 80+ WebGL2 apis are not implemented.
    - my123 7y ago
      Yes, Google Earth doesn't actually use the WebGL2-specific APIs, just shaders.
microcolonel 7y ago
Because Apple still doesn't support WebGL2 (similar to OpenGL ES 3.0) after all these years. Apple is involved with WebGPU, but they still won't even support WebGL2, which kinda pisses me off. No matter what people say, Chrome is not the new IE, Safari is; and thank god it's so unpopular.
- giancarlostoro 7y ago
  You misunderstand the term Chrome is the new IE. IE used to be the dominating browser on the web. Whatever standards IE supported were reverse engineered by other browsers such as AJAX. IE eventually got overshadowed by the open web and fell behind. There used to be websites that only worked on IE, well there still might be. There's too many websites coded and tested with Chrome now using features only in Chrome, breaking other sites, or worse checking if Chrome is being used and ignoring if the browser supports the feature, or worse Chrome implements it before a formal spec, which breaks other browsers who comply with the spec.
  - Ididntdothis 7y ago
    “There used to be websites that only worked on IE, well there still might be” Work in a large corporation and you will see plenty of these.
    - scumbert 7y ago
      or Microsoft Silverlight, and soon Flash will be finally deprecated too, and I'm sure it will still be present in enterprise training modules and other nonsense
  - untog 7y ago
    I think both Chrome and Safari have negative connections with memories of IE. For Safari it's the stagnation of IE6: installed everywhere but rarely updated with new features that other browsers have. That's not so much of a problem on desktop because people can always install another browser, but on iOS you're literally not allowed to use any other browser engine.

pmontra 7y ago

Not working with Firefox Ubuntu. I disabled all the privacy addons I'm using to no avail. It works with Vivaldi.

NikolaeVarius 7y ago

Works on Firefox Dev on Manjaro

jmiskovic 7y ago

To me the Google Maps and Earth might be the most impressive piece of software in existence. To see it working on standard web technology on competing browsers is awesome.

basch 7y ago
It was so amazing when XMLHttpRequest was a somewhat obscure thing, and they had fully interactive maps while the rest of the world was Mapquest, and "click" "new page" "click" "new page" to be able to scroll and have new images load. I think google jumping on the AJAX train and trailblazing is under credited in the history of their rise. Thank you Microsoft and OWA teams for inventing XMLHttpRequest. Anyone coming into web/development now missed the evolutionary leap from HTML to DHTML/AJAX. Google owes the OWA team a thank you for sneaking that feature in under the radar.
- nexuist 7y ago
  As someone on here aptly described it, AJAX was a "historic own goal" by Microsoft, who was desperately attempting to separate IE from all other browsers by giving it unique features.
  - basch 7y ago
    My understanding was, the IE team didnt really want (or know about or understand) XMLHttpRequest, and the Outlook team snuck it in last minute.
modeless 7y ago
Have you tried Google Earth VR? I highly recommend it.
- Rebelgecko 7y ago
  Seconding this recommendation. Google Earth VR almost brought me to tears (in a good way)
- 7y ago

impalallama 7y ago

Not working in MacOS Firefox Developer Edition 74.0b7

acdha 7y ago
You might want to uninstall your extensions and try again — it works in a clean install.

unnouinceput 7y ago

Wait, what? I switched completely from Chrome to Firefox in mid November (so happy about the move btw) and had Google Earth on Firefox from day one. Is this article missing something or is it me?

Vinnl 7y ago
Maybe you're confusing Google Earth and Google Maps? That happens sometimes.
- unnouinceput 7y ago
  ohh, a Joker *slow clap
  - aquova 7y ago
    ...except they're right. Google Earth hasn't been available in Firefox until today. Either you're mixing up Maps and Earth, or misremembering.
    - Ajedi32 7y ago
      A beta release has been available on Firefox for a while now (about a year I think?). It's possible GP was using that.
    - unnouinceput 7y ago
      This is not facebook, this is HN. You can't possible conceive that a user of HN does this confusion, do you? Because in that case you are not only insulting my intelligence, you're insulting yours as well. Also a simple click on my name and reading a few answers I've given here could tell you I am definitely NOT the usual facebook user who somehow got lost and ended here. Let me tell you again, so there isn't any confusion: Starting mid-November last year when I switched from Chrome to Firefox, I had google Earth from day one on Firefox. And yes, I am very much aware the difference between not only google earth and google maps but also the difference between google maps 2D and google maps 3D possibilities. I have kids, I use all these 3 tools when my kids are doing their Geography homework. Is it clear now?

markdog12 7y ago

When Google Earth web used NACL, it was so silky smooth, it wasn't even like it was the web. Even on relatively weak hardware (dual core laptop), it was so nice, didn't skip a frame. First time I tried this in stable Chrome it locked up my entire computer. Took about 5 minutes to be able to reboot. On reboot, when I run it, it's like a slideshow, unusable (Ryzen 3900X 12-core beast with RTX 2060 Super). I really want to get excited about WebAssembly, but this doesn't do that.

wojciechpolak 7y ago
Today I tried it for the first time (the web version) on my work laptop T490 (Intel UHD 620), Ubuntu with Firefox 73. Everything is super smooth. I'm surprised it isn't for you. It's also smooth on my home Macbook Pro (2015) w/ Fx73.
- markdog12 7y ago
  I'm surprised too. I've tried on Firefox as well, and on different machines, dual core laptop (Intel), quad core laptop (Intel), iMac 27" Late 2015. All were silky smooth with NACL.
aliceryhl 7y ago
I just tried it on Firefox, and it works fine on my laptop.

CommieBobDole 7y ago

This is my usual reminder that Google Earth for desktop is still available and is still wildly superior in terms of features and performance to the web version. https://www.google.com/earth/versions/ https://www.google.com/earth/versions/ (scroll to the bottom, select 'download earth pro on desktop') Edit: Though to be fair, I just checked out the web version and it does appear to be much better than it was when it was first released. It does now appear that they're actually trying to re-implement most of the features of the desktop app on the web. The lack of historical imagery and the replacement of the 'layers' model with a couple of 'map style' options are the most glaring omissions.

shultays 7y ago
And if you have vr, it is available on steam and it is an amazing experience!
wasdfff 7y ago
Performance is still remarkably better on the desktop app and will be for the forseeable future. I used to run the software over a decade ago on a modest dual core computer with 4gb of RAM without struggle; try doing that with a modern browser experience.