I learned from Derek at PenMachine that Google finally released the Mac version of Google Earth, so I downloaded it and played with it for a while last night.
OMG! I visited Katy in California (I could even see her old red car parked outside the garage), the Google Campus in Mountain View, looked at my house (of course), went to see my sister and my mom in Rome, visited Barcelona, Spain, the Republican Palace in Bagdad and the Red Square in Moscow. I spent hours traveling the world.
Earth looks so small, so beautiful, and so one. You can hold the world on the palm of your hand and look at it in wonder. At the same time, there is something unsettling in these beautiful images. There are no people on Google Earth.
Where the resolution is higher–for example, the Google Campus–you can see cars, and even tables and chairs. But no people. It feels like the post-nuclear San Francisco portrayed in On the Beach.
So, Google Earth made me feel existential and strongly environmentalist. Please, let’s keep Earth alive. Let’s keep it full of people, animals, and plants. Let’s take good care of her and us.
January 12, 2006
Actually, in some places (such as the examples of St. Peter’s Square and Nelson’s Column), you can see people in the public squares. They’re just dots, but they’re there.
I’m sure there are other locations where you can see them better. Beaches at San Tropez, perhaps?
January 16, 2006
Let’s do save the planet. Let’s do keep it full of people and plants and animals. Excellent post, Antonella! I love your spirit. Happy new year!
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February 13, 2006
I found a person in America playing tennis. Can’t remember where though, I’ll let you know if I find it again!!!
February 14, 2006
Seatlle Seahawks stadium has a game going on on googlemaps. I assume it’s the same as google earth, but i’m in linux now and can’t check. Looks like the ‘hawks have the other team backed up at liek the 3 yard line.
February 14, 2006
[…] In January, I wrote a post on Google Earth in which I complained about the eerie lack of people on the virtual planet. Since then I have been alerted of human sightings on Google Earth. Derek first noticed people in Saint Peter's Square and around Nelson's Column. Then Rosi left a comment saying that she saw a guy playing tennis, but she didn't remember where. […]
May 11, 2006
its spookey… maybe were just ghosts… u can see the cars and buildings and so forth cuz we made them but as humans we are just ghosts… animals can see us tho and we can see ourselfs but we actualy dont exist in this dimension?
:p
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November 28, 2006
Hi All Experts,
Does anyone use google earth images as ground image planes for use in aerial scenes. I know how to stitch them together but are there any tools or tricks to make sure that the images are at the same height, angle and such to make sure they stitch well. I know in the pro version you can get bigger images but im not going to pay for the pro version when i could stitch multiple images together…