3 ms·

Take this idea, and apply it to Google Earth. Have it procedurally generate the rest of the data as I zoom in. Its incredible I can check out my small home tow

Take this idea, and apply it to Google Earth. Have it procedurally generate the rest of the data as I zoom in. Its incredible I can check out my small home town on Google Earth now entirely in 3d (which wasnt the case just a few months ago). Yet the trees/cars are still these blocky low resolution things sticking out of the ground. Imagine Google Earth procedurally generating a high resolution mesh as I zoomed in. Train it with high resolution photogrammetry of other similar locations for the ground truth - and let me zoom in endless in their VR app

esclerofilo 6y ago
I believe Microsoft Flight Simulator does this (and it has VR support). It gets a bit tiring to see the same trees on every place on earth, though.
- ThalesX 6y ago
  Their building gen is also super nice but it really takes away from the experience when flying a known location.
  - LennyWhiteJr 6y ago
    Yeah, going and flying over the small rural farm I grew up on I was disappointing since Flight Simulator had procedurally generated a whole compound full of random buildings that made it look like some cult compound.
kebman 6y ago
It's been a couple of years, but I still like the Outerra project. And also the Bohemia Interactive VBS.
x86ARMsRace 6y ago
What would be fun is the inverse. Feed in a section of Google Earth and have it generate a Minecraft world out the other end.
- Bjartr 6y ago
  It appears that someone's worked that out. reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/x56lg/using_google_earth_terrain_data_for_making_a/
  - x86ARMsRace 6y ago
    This is fantastic, good find!
nicklecompte 6y ago
I like that idea as a separate program (or just in the VR app) but I think it would be confusing/misleading in Google Earth itself. At the very least there needs to be a clear user-facing indication as to which content is procedurally generated (ie fictional) versus photographed (ie real). Obviously there’s a grey area with image processing but I think there’s a real concern with prioritizing nice pictures over actual information.
poorman 6y ago
Is this what https://earth2.io https://earth2.io is doing?
- Vermeulen 6y ago
  a crypto scam isnt what i had in mind
- robertlagrant 6y ago
  No, that's probably a scam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaijNcRuzsQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaijNcRuzsQ
milkey_mouse 6y ago
https://xkcd.com/1204/ https://xkcd.com/1204/
diplodocusaur 6y ago
In the works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_bW3ab8YAk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_bW3ab8YAk

esclerofilo 6y ago

I believe Microsoft Flight Simulator does this (and it has VR support). It gets a bit tiring to see the same trees on every place on earth, though.

ThalesX 6y ago
Their building gen is also super nice but it really takes away from the experience when flying a known location.
- LennyWhiteJr 6y ago
  Yeah, going and flying over the small rural farm I grew up on I was disappointing since Flight Simulator had procedurally generated a whole compound full of random buildings that made it look like some cult compound.

kebman 6y ago

It's been a couple of years, but I still like the Outerra project. And also the Bohemia Interactive VBS.

x86ARMsRace 6y ago

What would be fun is the inverse. Feed in a section of Google Earth and have it generate a Minecraft world out the other end.

Bjartr 6y ago
It appears that someone's worked that out. reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/x56lg/using_google_earth_terrain_data_for_making_a/
- x86ARMsRace 6y ago
  This is fantastic, good find!

nicklecompte 6y ago

I like that idea as a separate program (or just in the VR app) but I think it would be confusing/misleading in Google Earth itself. At the very least there needs to be a clear user-facing indication as to which content is procedurally generated (ie fictional) versus photographed (ie real). Obviously there’s a grey area with image processing but I think there’s a real concern with prioritizing nice pictures over actual information.

poorman 6y ago

Is this what https://earth2.io https://earth2.io is doing?

Vermeulen 6y ago
a crypto scam isnt what i had in mind
robertlagrant 6y ago
No, that's probably a scam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaijNcRuzsQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaijNcRuzsQ

milkey_mouse 6y ago

https://xkcd.com/1204/ https://xkcd.com/1204/

diplodocusaur 6y ago

In the works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_bW3ab8YAk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_bW3ab8YAk