Google Earth

Dan McDonald

New Member
I don't know if anyone uses this or not but I have it on my PC just for fun(show the kids where I grew up and all that), but I was browsing over Hamilton today and noticed the rail yard beside the harbour.
Just thought it might be a cool way to see all the big yards out there. Check it out, it's a free download and a great program!
http://earth.google.com/
 

Chessie6459

Gauge Oldtimer
Yes Google Earth is pretty neat. I can't remember who brought it up before but when I first looked at it I was amazed. I did alot of searching in one day with it.
 

LoudMusic

Member
jflessne said:
Not that I promote MS product but check out. http://maps.live.com

Ah! Couldn't remember what that link was. I've found that service to be nice as a substituite to Google Maps. They make older B/W aerial photos available at closer zooms where Google just doesn't provide an image.
 

ronin_wolf

New Member
hey, Dan:

Pardon my being slow, but Hamilton where? I'm mulling over a seaside layout [fictitious roadname], so any RL references would surely help.

Thanks, mate.
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
Ronin...

My guess would be Hamilton, ON (Canada). There is/was a huge number of steel mills and other lakeside industry that is served by laker boats/ocean going ships (at least ones that can fit through the St Lawrence Seaway).

Andrew
 
I was playing with Google Earth this morning, and (with a little Photoshop), made a quick version of my dream model railroad that I thought you'd all enjoy.
 

Attachments

  • Colton Yard.jpg
    Colton Yard.jpg
    70.4 KB · Views: 14

IandOFan71

New Member
I like google earth for the major cities, but they don't seem to have as much clear coverage other than that. A site that I use a lot is Yahoo maps. Just type in the town you want to see and click on the "satellite" (sp?) button and you can get any location clear as day. The only drawback is that it doesn't zoom in quite as much as google, but most of the stuff that I look at was out of google's range so it's just fine for me. Check it out.
 

Art Decko

Member
I just love Google Earth, and use it as a reference for model design (I design architectural cardstock models). Google Earth has (at least) two features that really make it stand out.

Resolution - for major cities, the resolution is sometimes amazing. In Manhattan you can clearly see individual pedestrians. It's not yet high enough to make out models of cars, but you can easily make out different types of vehicles. I believe these highest resolution shots are taken by aircraft, not satellite.

"Tilt-o-matic" (or whatever Google calls it) - if you install the app, you can adjust the "tilt angle" of the images. When you line up the angle of tilt correctly with the photo's original perspective, magic happens. Unfortunately, the photos don't have a consistant perspective, so you have to occasionally adjust the angle, but ... wow! A flick of the mouse, and you are drifting along with a view just like you would have from a balloon. Simultaneously play an mp3 of wind sounds or urban noises, great fun, especially if you happen to be a homesick American living abroad. :) Natural features also look surprisingly three-dimensional when tilted just right. It's fun to "drift" along over the Rockies, check out Mt. Saint Helens or craggy glaciers in Greenland.

I was amazed to see high-resolution coverage of Shanghai (China). I can see my apartment building here in surprising detail.

I mentioned Google Streetview earlier. If you haven't heard of it, it's the same idea, only instead of a point of view from above, the POV is from street level. They drive around cities (only a few so far) in cars equipped with camera-filled domes. The resulting images are "stitched" together, so you can "walk" down a boulevard with a photographic view of the buildings that line it. I had great fun "visiting" former residences and haunts in San Francisco. The resolution of the images is not that high, but as a harbinger of things to come ... oh!

Google Earth, Streetview, SketchUp - such terrific free products, so very nicely designed. Too bad the company is so sketchy.
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
I use it to look for old railroad grades and ghost mines. Resolution's not the greatest over parts of the Rockies - Google doesn't tend to focus much on realtively uninhabited areas - but it helps.
 
Top