Real-time Google Earth Or Microsoft Virtual Earth? How Cool is That!

Posted by Abbas ||

October 2, 2009 ||

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Google earth when it was first released had become the 8th wonder of the world and I confess I spend more time on Google earth than I did on any social network or playing counter-strike.

After all these years, though the charm is still there the excitement has somewhat subsided. Now I always imagined Google earth’s technology to me much more advanced than it is now.

For example what if the image repository is updated as frequently as a page is updated in Googles index or what if Google actually displays date and time for the next setallite capture of that particular area.

None of those things have happened yet but 4 students from Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with a model “Augmenting Aerial Earth Maps with Dynamic Information” which makes watching map in real-time possible.

This is done using digital video cameras which capture the video and transmit it to the users on Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth. This means you can see people walking on the road or see or a beach vollyball match sitting in the comfor of your geeky computer chair!

Now, waving at your girlfriend while stuck in the rushhour traffic is not impossible. Though there are huge privacy and security issues attached to such technology coming into existence it does bring all the spice back to earth surfing.

The research is partly funded by Google Research Award and the research paper will be presented at ISMAR-2009, Orlando Florida USA.

For more information on the project click here or watch the video below to see this technology in action..

I Personally think this technology is ahead of its time. A lot of people are having a tough time explaining the Why’s and What’s of Twitter or Why should one enable Google’s Latitude! A real-time map in the middle of all this? NO WAY!!

Tags: Augmenting Aerial Earth Map, Google, Real-Time Google Earth, Real-Time Microsoft Virtual Earth

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