More languages in 3D Warehouse

Posted by Lori Meiskey, Software Engineer

If you've had a chance to stop by the Google SketchUp Blog today, you most likely saw my post heralding the release of 3D Warehouse in eight new languages. Now Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Korean, Arabic, Czech, and Traditional Chinese join our list of available translations. Already included are English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.


We're hoping the release of Google 3D Warehouse in these additional languages will encourage folks across the globe to contribute sketches. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing all of your work!




For more information about getting started, take a look at this 3D Warehouse overview.

Earthquake mapping

Posted by Lior Ron, Product Manager, Google Maps

I was working kind of late last night, and around 8:04 pm, I felt the floor underneath my desk shake and move. For a second I thought the Google Halloween party was getting wild, but then I realized I was experiencing my first earthquake!

Equipped with my mapping skills, I went to explore what exactly happened. I found some cool things about the earthquake by using Google Maps, and I thought I would pass this info along to you:

Where did it happen?
A search through user-generated content on Google Maps quickly provided the answer. Many of our My Maps users created maps pointing to the center of the earthquake minutes after it happened. To access this data, search for "Alum Rock Earthquake" scroll down the search results, and click on "see more community maps."

Add earthquakes to your map:
I didn't think our post from the folks at the U.S. Geological Survey would come in handy quite so soon! Their Earthquake Mapplet shows all of the earthquakes that have taken place throughout the world in the last week. Click on the "Save to My Maps" link to customize your My Maps tab and include earthquake data.

Explore earthquakes in Google Earth:
A 3D view of earthquakes is very useful to understand their impact. If you have Google Earth installed, check out this Earthquake KML from USGS. Fly to San Jose, click on the big orange circle, and choose "View ShakeMap" link to see the full impact of the earthquake.

Map of the day: Halloween edition

Posted by Jess Lee, Product Manager, Google Maps

Happy Halloween from the Google Maps team! If you're looking for local costume parties or haunted houses, here are some Halloween event maps for different cities in the U.S.:

Portland corn mazes and pumpkin patches - A guide to Portland, Oregon metro-area corn mazes, pumpkin patches and fall harvest events, created by the Oregonian News.

Chicago's Haunted Houses - Best places for a scare in the Windy City.

Halloween Happenings in Detroit - Fun events for the entire family throughout the month of October, created by MyFoxDetroit.com.

Where the Scares Are, LA 2007 - A map to month-long haunted attractions throughout greater Los Angeles, created by CreepyLA.com.

OC Halloween Events - The top Halloween attractions, events, and entertainment in Orange County, including Disneyland, Knott’s Scary Farm, haunted houses, Halloween balls and more.

Halloween in Tampa Bay - All of Tampa Bay's spooky events.

Master layer for Southern California fires imagery

Posted by Wei Luo, Senior GIS Specialist

We have created a master layer in Google Earth that includes all of the imagery of the affected areas that we've published so far. The new layer includes imagery from MODIS (from 10/24) as well as updated fire perimeters from the San Diego EOC. And we'll incorporate new imagery as it becomes available.

Be sure to save the KML file to "My Places" by right-clicking and choosing "Save to My Places." To get the latest updates, right-click on the KML file in "My Places" and then choose "Refresh."

Update (4:15, 10/26): We've incorporated infrared SPOT-5 satellite imagery from Spot Image Corporation and new data from NASA and the San Diego Emergency Operations Center into the master layer.


Image (c) CNES 2007 / SPOT Image Corporation

Southern California fire imagery

Posted by Wei Luo, Senior GIS Specialist

As the fires in Southern California continue to spread, our data providers have gathered updated imagery of the affected areas. We are making this imagery taken on October 22nd available as a Google Earth overlay, and will continue to update the imagery as it becomes available. Our thoughts are with the communities displaced by this tragedy.

Thanks to DigitalGlobe for their fast work.


Image (c) 2007 DigitalGlobe

Update (9:02 PM): Thanks to NASA and the US Forest Service, overlays of the fire perimeters and thermal infrared imagery, both captured today, are now viewable in Google Earth.



Update (12:40 AM): The San Diego Regional Emergency Operations Center has provided us with valuable information including fire perimeters, mandatory evacuation areas and re-opened areas.

If you have not yet downloaded Google Earth, you can do so here.

Where in the world is ... (bonus edition -- Answers)

Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS Specialist

Great job, everyone! I love following your collective blog entries tracking the updates, especially the ones that find updated imagery totally unrelated to the hints I gave.

Answers:
1) U.S. Route 91 turns into a much more famous stretch of road when it crosses into this town.
-- Las Vegas (The Las Vegas Strip)



















2) Every year, this city plays host to the U.K.'s largest outdoor (temporary) ice rink.
-- Leeds, England (The Ice Cube)

3) Paradise: In this town you can surf or visit the world's most delicious book store, located in
an old Twinkie factory (with plenty of aging filling still in the pipes).
-- Cleveland (Anyone who watches "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" should have gotten that one right!)

4) The original name of this city was Terminus.
-- Atlanta, Georgia

5) The world's northernmost opera house is located in this town.
-- Umeå, Sweden

6) This major U.S. city is actually north of Canada.
-- Detroit, Michigan

7) A popular children's game show that promoted geographic knowledge was produced out of
this city.
-- Pittsburgh (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?)

8) Don't let the name fool you -- this lake actually fills a 4,000ft deep caldera.
-- Crater Lake, Oregon

9) You can tour the Royal Navy's first iron-hulled, armor-plated warship in this town.
-- Portsmouth, England (HMS Warrior)




















10) The historic fort in this city was restored based on an 1847 map published in Darmstadt,
Germany.
-- Sacramento (Sutter's Fort)















11) As Halloween approaches, one might be interested in viewing the 'Ghost Capital of Britain.'
-- Derby, England

12) Now part of Germany, this city was once the capital of the Hanseatic League.
-- Luebeck, Germany

13) President Lincoln attended the dedication ceremony of the Soldier's National Cemetery in
this town.
-- Gettysburg, PA (President Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address at this dedication ceremony.)
















Here's a more complete list of imagery updates in this data push:

New high resolution:

Americas: State of Oregon, State of Nebraska, State of North Carolina,
Western Mississippi, Much of Pennsylvania, Yakima County (WA),
Benton County (WA), Whistler (BC), San Jose (CA), Imperial County (CA),
Steamboat Springs (CO), Calhoun County (FL), Adams County (IL),
Washtenaw County (MI), Chemung County (NY), Cortland County (NY),
Castilla (Colombia)

Europe, Middle East & Africa:
- France: French Riviera, Avignon
- UK: Exeter, Brighton, Crawley, Essex, Colchester, Chelmsford,
Swindon, Cheltenham, Ipswich, Norwich, Peterborough, Leicester,
Chesterfield
- Germany: Freiburg, Stuttgart, Waiblingen, Remseck, Kornwestheim,
Ludwigsburg, Saarbruecken, Chemnitz, Erfurt, Ratigen,
Munster, Hamburg, Luebeck
Umea (Sweden)
Borger-Odoorn (The Netherlands)

2.5m imagery for the entire countries of: Tunisia, UAE, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

Updated Imagery:
Americas: Las Vegas (NV), San Francisco Bay Area (East Bay & North Bay),
Sacramento (CA), Victoria (BC), Salt Lake City (UT), Provo (UT), Edmonton (Alberta),
Atlanta (GA), Northern St Louis (MO), Detroit (MI), Cleveland (OH), Pittsburgh (PA),
Boston (MA), Montreal (Quebec), Guadalajara (MX), Buenos Aires (Argentina),
Belo Horizonte (Brazil), Fortaleza (Brazil), Montevideo (Uruguay)

Europe, Middle East & Africa:
- UK: Plymouth, Torquay, Bournemouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Gillingham
Southend, Basildon, Berkshire, Reading, Milton Keynes, Newport, Cardiff,
Swansea, Cambridge, Norfolk, Derby, Halifax, Leeds, Darlington, Dundee,
Belfast
Warsaw (Poland), Stockholm (Sweden), Lippstadt (Germany), Magdeburg (Germany),
Paderborn (Germany), Rostock (Germany), Boeblingen (Germany), Casablanca (Morocco),
Bamako (Mali), Windhoek (Namibia), Ankara (Turkey), Kano (Nigeria)

Asia & Oceania: Novosibirsk (Russia), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Ahmendabad (India),
Pune (India), Bangalore (India), Hyderabad (India), Perth (Australia), Brisbane (Australia)
Ulan Bator (Mongolia),

Updated Terrain:
Canada (20m and 90m) and Niagara Falls

Where in the world is ... (bonus edition)

Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS Specialist

Surprise! I bet you weren't expecting another imagery update from the Google Earth/Maps team so quickly. ;-)

I'm very happy to announce that, today, we've published a large amount of new high-res imagery around the world. While in the previous post I spoke of 60cm imagery, this release has mostly aerial (higher-resolution) data, as well as some medium-resolution imagery for large swaths of land. Some of you were able to solve the last quiz within a few hours of posting it, so I'm going to throw in some more challenging clues this time around.

1) U.S. Route 91 turns into a much more famous stretch of road when it crosses into this town.
2) Every year, this city plays host to the U.K.'s largest outdoor (temporary) ice rink.
3) Paradise: In this town you can surf or visit the world's most delicious book store, located in
an old Twinkie factory (with plenty of aging filling still in the pipes).
4) The original name of this city was Terminus.
5) The world's northernmost opera house is located in this town.
6) This major U.S. city is actually north of Canada.
7) A popular children's game show that promoted geographic knowledge was produced out of
this city.
8) Don't let the name fool you -- this lake actually fills a 4,000ft deep caldera.
9) You can tour the Royal Navy's first iron-hulled, armor-plated warship in this town.
10) The historic fort in this city was restored based on an 1847 map published in Darmstadt,
Germany.
11) As Halloween approaches, one might be interested in viewing the 'Ghost Capital of Britain.'
12) Now part of Germany, this city was once the capital of the Hanseatic League.
13) President Lincoln attended the dedication ceremony of the Soldier's National Cemetery in
this town.


I'll post the answers to these clues in a few days. Good luck, everyone!

As a teaser, here's what our new Niagara Falls image looks like...