Google Earth and significant presence
Google earth is a geographic information system developed by Google. It was originally named earth viewer and was developed by the company Keyhole, Inc. This company was later acquired by Google and the product was renamed Google Earth.
It’s a virtual globe, a detailed map of the planet that gives out various details. A lot of methods are used to filter out data according to the user’s requirement. One can do things like viewing a region in 3D to searching a location using its coordinates (latitude/longitude).
It maps the earth by the superimposition of images acquired from sources like satellite imagery (Satellite Imagery consists of photographs of Earth or other planets made by means of artificial satellites), aerial photography (Aerial Photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position.) and GIS (Geographic Information System) globe.
The Working Pattern: The Google Earth works using layers. Layers are more or less data filters. Like if you need to find out a street in a region, what you can use is a layer called street view. Similarly, you can use the weather layer to find out the weather details of a place. Following are the layers one can use according to his requirements. And these layers actually sum up what Google earth is.
Geographic Web – is a general overview of the Earth’s geography. It shows some notable places across the planet.
Roads – this is an overview of the road networks. The color and signs indicate the type of roadway. Like freeways are marked with pale orange and other important roads are marked yellow.
3D Buildings – shows a lot of buildings in 3D in major cities.
Google Street View – shows the streets of various cities in 360 degree panoramic view.
Borders and labels – shows borders for countries and provinces. Even inter country borders are also shown for some of the countries. The places are also marked according to the population, rural /urban, alternate place names. And the labels are put on major water bodies, mountains etc.
Traffic – colored indicators are used to mark the places where real time traffic is being measured. Various colors are used to mark the type of traffic. Like green is used to mark good traffic and red for poor traffic conditions. Also the user can click and find out the name of the street and the speed on it.
Weather – displays various weather conditions for a specified location like the clouds, temperature and even the forecast for that area.
Gallery - There are a lot of galleries available on various topics like tourism, history, maps etc.
Ocean – this works as the encyclopedia for the ocean. One can look below the waters to know about the life that exists there, and even search for places that conduct ocean sports. Interested in the greatest ship wrecks of the world? One can find that too. And you can virtually dive beneath the surface of the ocean.
Global Awareness – this layer was provided by Google earth outreach. And is a collection of various global awareness programs. One can see on the map where a particular program is being conducted. Ex. Greenpeace, Earth watch etc.
Places of Interest – want some coffee?? Or want to visit a painting exhibition?? Nearest bus terminal?? You can find all the places of your interest on a single click. This layer works with the local information provided by many local services.
Sky Layers – this enables the user to explore the sky. A user can view our solar system, important space events and can even see the historical sky maps.
Mars Layers – this layer provides a sneak peek into this planet. A user can view spacecraft imagery, satellite images, place names and also a mars gallery.
Historical Imagery – this makes Google work like a time machine. It enables users to go back in time virtually and study the earlier stages of a specified city/location.
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