There is an annual conference called the TED Conference that I have been following and talking about from time to time. It is a conference that happens every year where people from all over the world come and talk about technology and business. They talk about how to use our skills and industries to make a positive impact on the planet and human civilization.
This last Thursday night (February 5) they hosted their annual conference in California and for the first time part of it was also broadcast to a bunch of movies theaters around the country and over the web in real time. It was their “What I Wish For The World” segment. Every year they have nominations for people that are making huge changes in the world and they get a chance to get up and share their ideas with everyone.
In a talk by Sylvia Earl, one of the 2009 TED Prize Winners, she spoke about how the ocean is vital to human existence and how we need to protect it. During her talk, she showed some of the new features in Google Earth. If you haven’t seen it or played around with it, you need to download it and just take a look. I will promise you will be hooked.
Some of the cool things about it is the ability to travel the world and explore places you would not otherwise visit. It is actual satellite pictures of the earth that you can zoom into from outer space all the way down to a street view.
Not only can you see street view, but in the latest release you can go underwater. You have the ability to see the ocean floor and move along it as if you were walking on the bottom of the ocean.
One thing they do not have yet is any type of life under the ocean. I imagine that one day they will have a layer that would display certain types of fish and wildlife that are in a particular region, but that is not there yet.
They have also implemented their street view technology so you can simulate walking along the roads. This is a little weird but way cool. I can see how people could have mixed emotions about this feature. I think it is awesome and could prove to be a super valuable tool, but some people may feel it is an invasion of their privacy.
I am making some videos on how to do a few things in Google Earth, but keep getting sidetracked playing around with it. While I am working on that, here are some screen shots of some of the cool things you can find.
#1 – Washington DC – Capitol Hill, Library of Congress and the Supreme Court
#2 – New York City
#3 - Our Old House
#4 – Agua Azul – A 360 View 
#5 – Portuguese Flags
#6 – Underwater in Hawaii
#7 & 8 – One of the features that I didn’t talk about was the ability that you have to explore Mars (and soon other planets as well) and other parts of the solar system. You can zoom in pretty far and see where certain craters are and other bits of information. All very interesting.
Well, I hope that you have as much fun with this as I am. It is going to be really interesting to see what future enhancements they can make to the program.
Comments