Hacking Google Maps and Google Earth (ExtremeTech)

Introducing

Google Earth

A

ll of the preceding chapters focused on the Google Maps API. The

Google Maps system provides a browser-based interface to the data

in the Google database, both in terms of the map and the satellite

photos. The API provides the ultimate in flexibility for building and incor-

porating Google Maps data into web-based applications. That flexibility,

however, comes at the potential price of limiting the environment and

interface.

Even with the flexibility of the JavaScript language and the ability to create

and organize content in ways that suit the application, you can add addi-

tional layers of data to the map information already demonstrated. In par-

ticular, the web-based Google Maps interface is incapable of providing the

interaction and display of three-dimensional data. The limitations extend

not only to the base data, but also to the information that you can overlay

on the map.

Google Earth, on the other hand, has no restrictions on the interface and

how the user interacts with the Google Earth data. Google Earth is a desk-

top application available for Windows and Mac OS X that enables you to

browse Google Earth images in a more dynamic environment. Using

Google Earth you move about the earth in 3D, moving and manipulating

the Google Earth data in real time. This provides additional information

that would be difficult to represent within the Google Maps interface, such

as “tilting” the earth so that you can see the relative height of different areas

of land.

This chapter looks at ways in which you can use Google Earth and how to

create some basic data to be used within the application to extend the infor-

mation and functionality of the application.

Google Earth Overview

The most critical difference between Google Maps and Google Earth is the

environment. Google Earth is a standalone application that is available for a

limited number of platforms. It is designed as an earth browser for showing

satellite images of the earth’s surface in an interactive, 3D environment. The

satellite images and the backup data (such as local businesses) in Google

Earth are the same as those in Google Maps in satellite mode. The differ-

ence is in the way in which the information can be viewed and manipulated.

̨Google Earth

overview

̨Google Earth

overlays

̨KML for extending

Google Earth

chapter

in this chapter