[morningstarrising]

Google Earth in a Mac World

we have a brand new member of the family -- Google Earth for Macintosh. We're happy to finally have some good news for the, ahem, vocal Mac enthusiasts we've been hearing from. Let's just say that we have gotten more than a few "requests" for a Mac version of Google Earth. They've gone something like this: 1) "When is it coming out? Your website says that you are working on it." 2) "You know, Mac users are very heavy graphics/mapping/visualization/design/ architecture/education/real estate/geocaching/social-geo-video-networking fans who would certainly use Google Earth a lot." 3) "So when is it coming out?" We heard you loud and clear. The Mac version runs on OS X 10.4 and up. Happy travels throughout Google Earth, whether you're on a Mac or a PC.

Thank you Jes..err..Google for finally coming to your senses and knowing who is superior

Now get to work on that little video thingy...And maybe kick TiVo in the butt while your at it

[Enki]

It's a very nice idea, but the graphics tech sucks! Popping textures and terrain shapes way too far inside the viewiung frustrum, and no texture caching. A quick trip rotating in a circle inside the Grand Canyon and the same spots repeatedly had the same problems. There'e only about 30 years worth of published literature on how to avoid that stuff, did anyone on that team read it? Or did they think AI engineers can do anything?

[Bryson]

You're joking, right? It's not perfect by any means, but the Google Earth programme is one of the very few things I've got and thought: This is freaking amazing. This is what computers are for. It's the type of application that was pure sci-fi for ages, and now every idiot can have it. That's the magic of Google.

[PKIDelirium]

Did they fix the stupid iTunes flaw, where iTunes skips if Google Earth is open.

[scratt]

Download it and try.....

I still use the old version and find it quite amusing...

[curiousuburb]

For those who scored the *unofficial* Beta a few weeks back, note the build # differences:

unofficial : Version 3.1.0371.0
*official* : Version 3.1.0527.0

edit: can we merge the two threads now that this is legally in the wild?

[Enki]

Originally Posted by Bryson You're joking, right? It's not perfect by any means, but the Google Earth programme is one of the very few things I've got and thought: This is freaking amazing. This is what computers are for. It's the type of application that was pure sci-fi for ages, and now every idiot can have it. That's the magic of Google.

Not joking at all. Ask Scratt if he would accept that amont of graphics crappiness in his engine. Probably not. I'm just disappointed that Google, who seems to do everything else quite well, would settle for such a low bar on the display engine.

[BlueRabbit]

Originally Posted by PKIDelirium Did they fix the stupid iTunes flaw, where iTunes skips if Google Earth is open.

Yeah, it's fixed. However, Google Earth is still really slow on my poor little 1 GHz 12" Powerbook. I'll have to try it out in an Apple Store sometime, on a Quad G5 with a 30" Cinema Display.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Enki Not joking at all. Ask Scratt if he would accept that amont of graphics crappiness in his engine. Probably not. I'm just disappointed that Google, who seems to do everything else quite well, would settle for such a low bar on the display engine.

Well it is still in beta. If the final version has these same problems then the criticism would be well deserved, but for a beta I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[turbulentfurball]

I think I'm addicted. It makes me feel Godly

[kieran]

It is definatley somethiing that you can waste a good amount of time just zooming around from place.

I go from random city to random city just to see the effects of the zoom.

[BarracksSi]

Originally Posted by BlueRabbit Yeah, it's fixed. However, Google Earth is still really slow on my poor little 1 GHz 12" Powerbook. I'll have to try it out in an Apple Store sometime, on a Quad G5 with a 30" Cinema Display.

I have to wonder how much difference that'll make. So much of the data still has to be streamed, and that's largely unrelated to the computer itself.

But still, I'll gladly go out and try it on a balls-out Mac in hopes of it being much faster.

[Enki]

Originally Posted by Dave Well it is still in beta. If the final version has these same problems then the criticism would be well deserved, but for a beta I wouldn't worry about it too much.

It's the engine, the PC version is basically the same. Also it was already a deployed non-beta app when it was sold by Keyhole as Keyhole 2 Viewer.

[Dorian Gray]

I don't think a fast computer would help much: Google Earth only uses half my CPU time on a 1.2 GHz iBook G4. Unless I've missed something the app can do. It does use a huge amount of memory though, 200+ MB real and 500+ MB virtual on my machine.

It's pretty impressive, but why does it blur the corners of the viewing window? Only the centre is sharp. Is this anything to do with what you are complaining about, Enki? If you scroll so the area that was at the corner moves to the centre, it immediately becomes sharp.

Also, huge amounts of France and the UK are not mapped at high resolution. But the maps are free and a hell of a lot better than the MSN VE maps (which are almost non-existent for most of Europe).

[scratt]

It all depends on the resolution of the images available..

The south-west of England is pretty bad, for example.

However, London is amazing. You can see people getting on and off buses..

You do also need to wait for the downloading of the images to finish as it comes in at staged resolutions progressively for each area... If the little % counter to the bottom right of the image is at 100% then that is the best you are going to get at that level of zoom.. Try zooming in as far as you can and then wait until it gets to 100%. Then zoom out progressively to make the image as sharp as possible. i.e 1 pixel of real image to 1 pixel of screen real-estate, and not scaled.

Also GoogleEarth will prioritize the sections of images towards the center of your viewing area, and then load surrounding areas after that is updated..

Your internet conection speed will also have a bearing on how quickly all this happens...

I am guessing those factors are affecting it for you...

If not then I suggest you get the beta I have as it is crystal everywhere that decent data is available...

[Enki]

Sometimes, that's part of the texture caching problem, sometimes it looks like they blur the area under the logo's to make the logos look clearer.

[morningstarrising]

Now, if they only had weather on this earth of google. Like this program I saw once in the back of Macworld magazine:

http://www.mackiev.com/3d_globe.html

[Dorian Gray]

I hear what you're saying scratt, and I have Activity Monitor open so I can see when Google Earth is downloading data, as well as check the "Streaming" percentage gauge in the app itself. When the maps are good, as they are across London and Paris for example, it's pretty amazing. But even when the maps are very good, the edges of the viewing window are blurred. If you imagine the viewing window divided into a 4x4 grid, the central 4 squares are perfectly sharp, but the outer squares are not perfectly sharp. And they're deliberately blurred by the software, because if you scroll until the blurred sections are in the middle, they become sharp. This is for fully downloaded maps. Perhaps the Beta doesn't do this.

But it's very cool anyway. Kind of a shock to see places you know, and think, this is where I got lost that day, that's where my car broke down, that's where I had sex, that's where I got the bus every day. Spooky and nostalgic.

[scratt]

Just had a thought about what you are saying..

It may also be a hang over from the level of zoom and the fact that the globe is still slightly curved... If you get what I mean..... i.e. When you zoom out from the globe it turns into a globe, and when you zoom in (in theory) it goes flat at the greatest level of zoom.. Although there is still probably a small amount of curvature on the Earth's surface and that is affecting the texture scaling maths to a certain degree as you move away from the center of the view.

I don't know if I explained that very well. But I hope you get my drift..

On my Beta version I can't say that I notice this when I zoom right in, so perhaps it is a difference between the maths on the two copies..

I know that my planet engine on my sim I am working on does something similar also depending on how close you are to the planet...

[Dorian Gray]

Your explanation is good, I understand exactly what you mean. However, I've just looked in Preferences, and there is a setting called Detail Area in the View tab. When set to Large it seems to solve at least most of the problem I was complaining about. Looking good.

[Paranoid666au]

GE has an updated higher res icon, nice.

Hmm and an updated look in the interface.

It's all great for a beta.

Oh and it looks like the jummpy mouse movement has been fixed too!

[Enki]

Originally Posted by Paranoid666au It's all great for a beta.

Thing is, this isn't a beta, it's Version3! Only being shipped by Google (who bought Keyhole out) with a new name slapped on it.

[Paranoid666au]

Beta or not it's still a great program and very useable.

[Moogs]

Strange. I just downloaded the latest variant and the maps seem even more dated than the last time I used it. Roughly 4-5 years would be my guess. I suppose for security reasons. Don't want them al qaedas to know where all our stuff is. I wonder if eventually all areas will be equally resolute down to a certain altitude. Right now forested areas and low population areas are just "greened out" which kind of sucks if you want to visit your favorite hiking trail or a friends house that is in the middle of nowhere basically. I say screw al qaeda; they have good maps anyway and can pay for good satellite maps through third parties if they want. Give us the shiz-nit!

[torifile]

Is it out as a UB yet?

edit: Nope.