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GCN Home > 04/16/07 issue

The world in 3-D

Google and Microsoft apps bring new dimensions to search

By Ron Miller, Special to GCN

Google Earth Pro 4 and Microsoft Virtual Earth have a certain wow factor: Enter a place name in the search box and a 3-D representation of the Earth turns toward that general region then zooms in on the location. It’s very impressive. But these programs are far more than parlor tricks. They are sophisticated geospatial-software tools that can be very useful to government agencies or departments.

They are built on enterprise-quality programming platforms. When you apply your own data and programming expertise to these applications, you can use them in all kinds of interesting ways to track floods, disease outbreaks, traffic accidents, forest fires, terrorist attacks or any number of events. They let you see patterns on a map that might not be identifiable from a list of events on paper.

In general, Google Earth Pro 4 is a substantially more mature offering than the beta of Microsoft Virtual Earth. Although Microsoft provides all the necessary tools, its performance was inconsistent in our tests.

Google Earth Pro 4.0
Earth Pro 4 combines a dazzling visual experience with Google’s search technology in a well-designed desktop package. In fact, one of the big differences between Google’s offering and the one from Microsoft is that Google’s is a stand-alone desktop application, while Microsoft Virtual Earth operates entirely in Internet Explorer.

The first thing you’ll notice is that Google packs a lot of functionality into the interface — maybe too much. The program gives you a 3-D map, browser, search box, saved searches and various layers, such as roads or buildings. To be fair, the interface is entirely flexible, and you can turn elements on or off to suit your own needs, even isolating the map in full-screen view.

It’s important to remember that this is, first and foremost, a search tool. It’s a search tool with a cool visual element, but its purpose is to search for places and view them on the map in 2-D or 3-D. After you locate a place, you can select how far you want to zoom in, but you cannot get down to building-level detail, as you can with Microsoft Virtual Earth.

More news on related topics: Content / Record Management, Geospatial, Software Applications, Web Strategies



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