The world at your fingertip, with the click of a computer mouse.
That's what Internet giant Google is offering Windows users in a new program allowing Web surfers to fly around the world in a matter seconds, hopping from one destination to another across the sky.
In "Google Earth," a user can download a picture of Earth, pick a spot on the planet and navigate through satellite and airplane photos of cities.
PHOTO: AFP
The resolution of images is clear enough to recognize major landmarks, such as Beijing's Forbidden City. You can zoom in as close as 300m from the ground and recognize clusters of people.
If Rome's coliseum is your next choice, you can watch the screen fly over the snowy Himalayan mountain chain, the Caspian Sea and Istanbul.
The program, downloadable free at www.earth.google.com, uses broadband streaming technology and three-dimensional (3D) graphics, "much like a video game," according to Google.
The California company focused more on the US than other places, but mapping out Europe is a "very high priority," said John Hanke, general manager of Keyhole, whose company was acquired by Google and came up with the technology.
In Britain and North America, the technology gives the latitude and longitude of an address. It can even pinpoint to a precise address by searching some buildings by name.
In the US, 38 cities can be seen in 3D, a feature that has piqued the interest of real-estate agents, Hanke said.
The Web site housingmaps.com, which uses Google maps, offers satellite images of places for sale and rent.
Google sells versions of the program for commercial use at US$400 per year, but Google Earth will not be a big source of revenue until the company uses it to sell advertising space. "We will incorporate advertising at some point in the future," Hanke said.
Scott Kessler, an equity analyst who follows Google for Standard and Poor's, said the program was "really neat."
With the program, Kessler said, "They show their users that they are a global company and have a global brand."
"Over time, the most substantial growth is going to come from outside the US," he said.
Gary Price, an editor at SearchEngineWatch.com, said it was a "cool application, which continues to make people think that Google is doing cool things."
Price was impressed with the quantity of aerial images, but he noted that the technology was not new as Microsoft has offered satellite imagery of the US on Terra-Server for years.
"I'm not sure it's a breakthrough," he said.
Microsoft has created MSN Virtual Earth, found at www.virtualearth.msn.com, which shows aerial images of locations that can be searched.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS