Written on 2nd February 2009
14 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
I’m not exaggerating.
This latest release brings the ocean depths, historical changes, narratable tours and the ability to have a wonder around Mars – if that isn’t impressive, I’m not quite what sure what is. Let’s get on…
Historical Changes
You are now able to track changes of a place over time and visually witness the modifications of a particular location over time. We’re not talking just a year or two, it’s feasible to track changes from decades earlier.
Oceanic Tours
You are now also able to delve into the ocean and view the ocean floor in 3D, exploring the “nooks and crannies’ of the world below. Thanks to Google’s work alongside the National Geographic, National Oceanic, the US Navy amongst others, Google Earth now includes videos and images of ocean life, expedition logs as well as many other features.
Touring
The new touring feature allows for anyone to create visual and narrated tours of any location on the planet by simply clicking a record button on the Google Earth toolbar – all your actions are recorded and can be played back and/or shared.
You would think that would be all, but not for a release which officially bumps Google Earth from version 4.3 to 5.0. (more…)
Written on 15th September 2008
0 COMMENTS Robin Wauters, Next web enthusiast & Plugg organizer
Electronic music sensation The Chemical Brothers launched a project some time ago where people could participate in the creation of the video of their newest single ‘Midnight Madness’ by uploading short clips or pictures and link them to Google Earth. The video for the project has just been put live on their official YouTube channel, and here it is:
It must be a real pleasure when you’re a Google Maps developer and see some people taking your product to the next level. Like Jordi Ramot did. He’s a Spanish software engineer specializing in geospatial interoperability field and when he’s not behind his computer, he likes to be in the mountains hiking, back-country skiing or mountain biking. Since 2006, he has been developing Wikiloc, a Maps mash-up that allows users to upload GPS waypoints and trails so that other outdoor fans can use it on their trips.
It started as a hobby project, but has grown to a large community of thousands of outdoor enthusiasts sharing their best outdoor routes from anywhere around the world. Several voluntary translators have made the service available in twelve languages. Ramot told Spanish Web 2.0 blog that Wikiloc recently has become a full time project.
And it gets even better now that Google has announced the integration of Wikiloc in Google Earth. Users can now pick routes from the Wikiloc layer. So if you ever feel like skiing near La Monta in Switzerland, be sure to check this map:
Even when you’re not into the whole outdoor extreme sports thing, this post still is relevant to you. It shows that with enough passion, you can even let a hobby project become a successful company.
The official Google blog welcomed another big shot to its list of guest authors: Jay Rasulo – chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. He had a fun announcement to make, packed in some slick PR language:
Last May, Eric Schmidt and I met to talk about The Walt Disney Company’s focus on technology. We started to explore innovative ways we could work together to bring one of the world’s most magical destinations to Google Earth’s millions of users… and how our guests could be a mouse-click away from visiting the place where dreams come true.
So Schmidt and Rasulo sent their employees to work, and within a month, a new feature within Google Earth has emerged: flying through Disneyworld. Every theme park has been copied into detail. So next time you want to go to Disneyland, you can plan exactly which roller coaster you want to see first. As Disney also took care of attraction descriptions, videos, photos, links to menus, event calendars, tickets, and reservations.
Written on 2nd February 2009
14 COMMENTS 
I’m not exaggerating.
Written on 15th September 2008
Written on 1st September 2008
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
