The Keyhole site does not yet reflect this name change, but an upgraded version of the Keyhole program will be
called Google Earth, and will feature important enhancements of the current interface. If you have no tried
Keyhole, I strongly recommend either doing so or planning to get it upon release
of Google Earth, which might be less expensive or free. Keyhole/Earth provides a tremendous faux-flying experience
unmatched by the still images in Google Maps, cool as they are. The Keyhole/Earth program is like the control panel of
a personal flying machine, letting you cruise, dive, ascend, and tilt as you soar over the earth's terrain. The imagery
database has been upgraded as already noted, so the
resolution everywhere ranges from satisfying to spectacular.
Importantly, Google Earth will implement greater integration with Google Local. This means that local search results
can, in some cases, be overlayed upon the earth's terrain sweeping beneath the user. Driving directions will be mapped
upon the satellite imagery, and Earth will follow the route automatically, as in a test drive.
I was in a discussion panel today with Jeff Graham of USA Today, recording Phil Leigh's
"Inside Digital Media" show, and Jeff slyly mentioned Google Earth as
the "most exciting" announcement of the Google Factory Tour, putting the
much-scorned home-page personalization
thing on the back burner. He's right. Google Earth
promises to be fantastic.
Google Earth
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. I tried to use keyhole.com but found it was not available for Mac users. When is that big omission going to be corrected. Macs are by far superior to PCs now, especially on this kind of application. Anybody know? Is a Mac version of Keyhole coming? I can't imagine that Microsoft Earth will do it first...Help?
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by John Mariotti
3. www.ResMap.com has 15 metre satellite imagery dataset similar to Keyhole's. ResMap works with Macs and it's free.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Adam Inglis
4. I think keyhole.com is not mac user :(
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Trip Coachman
1. I'm a current user of Keyhole 2NT and just tried Google Earth today and am very disappointed in some key areas. I did not find the menus at all attractive for two reasons. The large amount of whitespace background on the menus ruined the esthetic of the satellite views. The kindergarten form for the controls and markers was not only maddening, the markers were difficult to spot due to dark colors w/poor contrast. The apparent java code behind the scenes was frustratingly slow to execute. The menus have become less intuitive from Keyhole (how do you spell progress?). It would seem that Google has hired some of the "progressive" dimwits from Delorme to design this product. They need to rethink two key areas for this, namely visual esthetic and performance.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by wes knox