Posted by Caroline Stanghon, Google Europe

The European Championship kicks-off on 7th June 2008 in Switzerland and to celebrate Google is introducing some new features for football fanatics (that's soccer for Americans).
Posted by Caroline Stanghon, Google Europe

The European Championship kicks-off on 7th June 2008 in Switzerland and to celebrate Google is introducing some new features for football fanatics (that's soccer for Americans).

Fans will be able to keep track of the events of the tournament using the new Google European Football Championship 2008 Fan Map. Learn about the stadiums - the tournament kicks off at Basle's St Jakob Park and the final will take place at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna on 29th June.



As well as stadium details the Fan Map includes vital information on the 16 squad lists and the tournament matches. To help organize your viewing schedule you can look up useful information on local bar and club venues where you might be able to watch matches on screen if you're not lucky enough to have tickets. You can also view photos of the surrounding areas to help you plan your football tour. Share your plans with friends and other fans by creating and uploading your own football map and discover what other fans are up to by checking out their personal European Championship fan maps.

The Google Fan Map is available in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Russia, Poland, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden.

As well as the Fan Map Google is celebrating Euro '08 with dedicated YouTube channels where you can upload and share videos to demonstrate your football skills, share football anecdotes and try out as the next sports journalist or commentator. You'll also be able to keep updated during the 23 days of tournament using the Euro' 08 iGoogle page with a fixtures gadget and a football game gadget to get you in the mood.

So what are you waiting for? Pick your team now!
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Posted by Paul Rademacher, Technical Lead, Google Earth Browser Plug-in

When Google Maps was launched in 2005, few could have guessed the way map mashups would permeate the online world. Online maps had been just something you used to get directions or to find the ten nearest grocery stores. Google Maps and the Google Maps API proved that an online map was actually a rich canvas on which entire new applications could be built. Likewise, when Google Earth was launched, it revolutionized our view of the world, letting people fly around the planet at lightning speed and zoom in on rich high-resolution imagery, mountain ranges, and even 3D buildings. Yet there was a missing piece: there's never been a way to build your own 3D web applications using Google Earth, the way you can with Google Maps... until now.
Posted by Paul Rademacher, Technical Lead, Google Earth Browser Plug-in

When Google Maps was launched in 2005, few could have guessed the way map mashups would permeate the online world. Online maps had been just something you used to get directions or to find the ten nearest grocery stores. Google Maps and the Google Maps API proved that an online map was actually a rich canvas on which entire new applications could be built. Likewise, when Google Earth was launched, it revolutionized our view of the world, letting people fly around the planet at lightning speed and zoom in on rich high-resolution imagery, mountain ranges, and even 3D buildings. Yet there was a missing piece: there's never been a way to build your own 3D web applications using Google Earth, the way you can with Google Maps... until now.

Today, I'm happy to announce the release of the new Google Earth Browser Plug-in, which brings the full power of Google Earth to the web, embeddable within your own web site. Driven by an extensive JavaScript API, you can control the camera; create lines, markers, and polygons; import 3D models from the web and overlay them anywhere on the planet. In fact, you can even overlay your content over different planets, stars, and galaxies by toggling Sky mode, letting you build 3D Google Sky mashups. You can also enable 3D buildings with a single line of JavaScript, attach JavaScript callbacks to mouse events, fetch KML data from the web, and more. Our goal is to open up the entire core of Google Earth to developers in the hopes that you'll build the next great geo-based 3D application, and change (yet again) how we view the world.


If you already are one of the 150,000 Maps API sites, and now want to 3D-enable it, we've made that possible with just a single line of JavaScript: just add the new G_SATELLITE_3D_MAP map type to your MapsAPI initialization code, and (for most common usages of Maps API) your site will "automagically" support Google Earth via a button in the maps view, with all your existing 2D map code now functioning in 3D as well.

The Google Earth Browser Plugin is now live at http://code.google.com/apis/earth. Download it, learn from the online Developer Guide and samples, build something cool, and share it with the world!
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Posted by Elaine Filadelfo, LatLong Blog Team

The San Jose Mercury News has created a My Map to help those near the wildfire that's currently underway in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The map features live video and reader-submitted photos of the fire, along with information about the affected area and nearby evacuation centers.
Posted by Elaine Filadelfo, LatLong Blog Team

The San Jose Mercury News has created a My Map to help those near the wildfire that's currently underway in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The map features live video and reader-submitted photos of the fire, along with information about the affected area and nearby evacuation centers.

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Posted by Cathy Tang, Product Marketing Manager

We're always amazed by the innovative ways businesses use Google Maps to improve their product offering, whether it's creating heat maps to help users visualize home price trends or enabling them to search for that all-important coffee shop near their hotel. News sites are no exception; for example ...
Posted by Cathy Tang, Product Marketing Manager

We're always amazed by the innovative ways businesses use Google Maps to improve their product offering, whether it's creating heat maps to help users visualize home price trends or enabling them to search for that all-important coffee shop near their hotel. News sites are no exception; for example, KPBS and the Los Angeles Times used Google Maps back in October to report real-time on the spread of the San Diego wildfires.

I'm happy to announce that we've launched a video site to spotlight these organizations and their great work with Google Maps.

Check out what Kayak has done:



Kayak, Trulia and KPBS are the first three organizations we're featuring, but there'll be many more to come. Stay tuned!
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Posted by Ryan Falor, Systems Engineer

As part of Google's ongoing mission to make information more readily available we recently collaborated with the University of Colorado, Boulder to hold an event for scientists and researchers in the area. The event focused on finding ways to use KML and Google Earth to display and communicate scientific research with policy makers, students, and the public.
Posted by Ryan Falor, Systems Engineer

As part of Google's ongoing mission to make information more readily available we recently collaborated with the University of Colorado, Boulder to hold an event for scientists and researchers in the area. The event focused on finding ways to use KML and Google Earth to display and communicate scientific research with policy makers, students, and the public.

The event was hosted by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics as part of the Electronic Geophysical Year program. As part of the event, scientists from over a dozen organizations including NCAR, NOAA, NSIDC, CIESEN, USGS, and the IPCC attended and presented their work.

Tutorial sessions for all skill levels were held to demonstrate tricks and techniques for displaying larges amounts of data, translating data formats, and using KML to describe complex data sets.

Dan Baker, the Director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, explained that "[t]he interactions between the Boulder community and the Google team suggests that there is immense potential now and in the future for Google Earth and the KML tools to fill important analysis and display gaps." This was an exciting opportunity for Google engineers to interact with and hear from scientists and researchers directly in what will hopefully be only the first of many events to come.
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Posted by Brandon Badger, Product Manager

The launch of Google News on Google Earth is a milestone in the evolution of the geobrowser. By spatially locating the Google News' constantly updating index of stories from more than 4,500 news sources, Google Earth now shows an ever-changing world of human activity as chronicled by reporters worldwide. Zoom into areas of personal interest and peruse headlines of national, regional and, when fully zoomed in, even the most local of interest. From school menus to global warming, there is now literally a world of information at your fingertips.
Posted by Brandon Badger, Product Manager

The launch of Google News on Google Earth is a milestone in the evolution of the geobrowser. By spatially locating the Google News' constantly updating index of stories from more than 4,500 news sources, Google Earth now shows an ever-changing world of human activity as chronicled by reporters worldwide. Zoom into areas of personal interest and peruse headlines of national, regional and, when fully zoomed in, even the most local of interest. From school menus to global warming, there is now literally a world of information at your fingertips.


To activate the Google News layer, navigate to the "Layers" menu on the left-hand side of Google Earth. Expanding the "Gallery" node in the layers tree will expose the "Google News" layer. Check the box next to the Google News layer and start zooming into the places on the globe in which you're interested. Each story is represented by a Google News icon on the globe. Clicking on the news icon opens up the news story's snippet, along with links to learn more about the event.
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Posted by Liz Ericson, Product Marketing Manger

Since Panoramio became a part of the Google family last year, I continue to be impressed by the quality and coverage of the photos that Panoramio's users are constantly generating. But my favourite part about these images is that users can share their photos with the world, making it a richer place.
Posted by Liz Ericson, Product Marketing Manger

Since Panoramio became a part of the Google family last year, I continue to be impressed by the quality and coverage of the photos that Panoramio's users are constantly generating. But my favourite part about these images is that users can share their photos with the world, making it a richer place.

Last week, a party was held in Barcelona to celebrate the 5,000,000th photo shared on Panoramio. Contributors and friends met for an informal evening to celebrate the power of community. Below is a photo from one of the attendees, who is also a member:

from user Ulisses888

On May 22nd, members of the Panoramio team will be in London to celebrate again with the London photography community. If you're in town (and trust the weather to hold!) we invite you to join us at Google's London office for a BBQ and informal gathering of London's photo community. Space is limited to 75 people, so get yourself registered!


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Posted by Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist and Phil Verney, Google Earth Community Development
Posted by Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist and Phil Verney, Google Earth Community Development

Of the challenges surrounding global climate change, communicating its potential impact and increasing public awareness of the scientific research undertaken to monitor and model its effect on society are quite pressing.

Today we are pleased that the British Government is launching with Google Earth Outreach, and in collaboration with the Met Office Hadley Centre and the British Antarctic Survey, new layers in Google Earth that utilize geographical information to show how climate change will affect our planet and its people.

The Met Office Hadley Centre has produced a layer which illustrates their future temperature modeling, showing an animation of temperature change over the next hundred years and its impact to particular parts of the world.

The scientists of the British Antarctic Survey have developed a layer which details how they monitor and measure the effects of climate change in Antarctica, featuring stunning images that show the retreat of the ice from this environmentally-sensitive continent.

Featured on our Google Earth Outreach Showcase, which provides more than 100 examples of KML content telling stories about our planet, are these two layers: Climate Change in Our World and Climate Change in Our World, Antarctica. These two KML files offer a unique distillation of informed, scientific and geographically-organized information demonstrating the commitment by the British Government to continue to carry out this important climate research and to communicate the results of the research by making this information readily accessible.


Update (5/20, 4pm): You can view Prime Minister Brown's announcement of this initiative:

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Posted by Wei Luo, Technical Lead Manager, Google Earth

An earthquake of a magnitude of 7.9 hit Sichuan, China on May 12, with its epicenter about 50 miles northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. According to the latest ...
Posted by Wei Luo, Technical Lead Manager, Google Earth

An earthquake of a magnitude of 7.9 hit Sichuan, China on May 12, with its epicenter about 50 miles northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. According to the latest news reports, authorities fear that as many as 50,000 people could have lost their lives. We now have post-earthquake imagery from our satellite providers; as of this morning, we have processed the first set of satellite imagery from Formosat2. You can see the imagery by downloading this KML into Google Earth. We will keep updating the KML as we receive and process more satellite imagery. Save the KML to your "My Places" to see the imagery updates.

The first scenes captured the rescue effort to assess and repair dam damage near Dujiangyan City (北川上游围堰) after the quake.


Special thanks to NSPO, Taiwan's national space agency, for their quick action and providing imagery.

Update (5/21, 11am): We've added new pre- and post-earthquake imagery to this KML since we first posted it last Thursday, including:
To refresh the content, right click on the layer name and choose "Refresh".
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Posted by Sanjay Jain, Product Manager and Lalitesh Katragadda, Software Engineer

After Cyclone Nargis hit the Ayeyarwaddy (Irrawaddy) delta last week, we heard from a lot of people about the lack of detailed, comprehensive maps for the region. The latest maps are now available through ...
Posted by Sanjay Jain, Product Manager and Lalitesh Katragadda, Software Engineer

After Cyclone Nargis hit the Ayeyarwaddy (Irrawaddy) delta last week, we heard from a lot of people about the lack of detailed, comprehensive maps for the region. The latest maps are now available through a Mapplet.
These maps are provided as overlays, and some features of Google Maps are not available - most notably, these maps are not searchable or routable. However, they do contain the significant cities, towns, villages, roads, and landmarks in the region, including medical facilities, which can be very helpful in planning and delivering relief to the affected population.

This mapplet will be updated as new data becomes available. Satellite images and other information are available as KML layers for Google Earth.
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Posted by Mickey Kataria, Product Manager

Rarely does a week go by that I don't hear from someone who wants to add Google Maps to their Flash application. Well, we've been listening and working to provide the solution. Say hello to the new ...
Posted by Mickey Kataria, Product Manager

Rarely does a week go by that I don't hear from someone who wants to add Google Maps to their Flash application. Well, we've been listening and working to provide the solution. Say hello to the new Google Maps API for Flash.

Here is an example from AFComponents that demonstrates some of the Flash functionality you can build into your applications now that Google Maps can be developed in ActionScript 3. Click on the "Show Photo Gallery" icon to see it in action.
Also check out this application from NAVX that leverages user-generated content:
In just a matter of days, they were able to convert their existing JavaScript + Flash application to take advantage of this new API and provide their users with an updated experience. To find out more, check out what our developer team has to say and peruse the API documentation.
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Posted by Henry Mitchell, Software Engineer

Do you ever visit Google Maps and sometimes get caught up browsing for interesting places? Maybe daydream about getting away, or reflecting back on that awesome vacation you took?
Posted by Henry Mitchell, Software Engineer

Do you ever visit Google Maps and sometimes get caught up browsing for interesting places? Maybe daydream about getting away, or reflecting back on that awesome vacation you took?

I'm pleased to announce the launch of a new feature that makes it more interesting for users to browse and explore different places on Google Maps. With this feature, you can explore an area by viewing photos, videos, user-created maps, and suggested local queries.

Start by searching for any location, such as Solvang, CA. You can see from the photos and popular searches that it's a place known for its Danish roots and wineries:

Click "Explore this area" and you'll find more content, which automatically updates as you pan and zoom the map. Keep dragging and zooming to explore interesting new places!

The development team hopes that you'll enjoy the feature and find some content on Google Maps that you hadn't noticed before. As we worked on this feature, we found ourselves daydreaming and exploring various places, so we'd like to share some of our favorites:
 I'll leave you with a video that gives you a taste of the new feature. Now go exploring!


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Posted by Christoph Oehler, Product Manager

You may have noticed a bit of a theme with some of our recent announcements, such as mapped web pages and geotagged YouTube videos ...
Posted by Christoph Oehler, Product Manager

You may have noticed a bit of a theme with some of our recent announcements, such as mapped web pages and geotagged YouTube videos -- we want you to be able to view any information in its geographic context. But we realized that an important step is making that information easier to find, so we've now added a new button to Google Maps:


The "More" button will allow you to easily turn on layers of Panoramio photos or geographically-related Wikipedia pages. These updated and improved layers are now easier to take advantage of -- if you're browsing Google Maps to plan a vacation, you can now see pictures from places all over the world and use read up on your destination. Or you can turn on the Photos layer and take a look across the map to see where you might want to go (a picture of Java, Indonesia caught my eye...).
So just click the new "More" button to find much, much more.
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Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS Specialist

Hello again! Today I'm happy to announce that the Google Earth data team has pushed out another imagery update. As always, here are some hints pointing you toward the new imagery. Stay tuned for the answers and a more complete listing of imagery updates.
Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS Specialist

Hello again! Today I'm happy to announce that the Google Earth data team has pushed out another imagery update. As always, here are some hints pointing you toward the new imagery. Stay tuned for the answers and a more complete listing of imagery updates.

1) This city is home to over 300 museums. Its flower is the bird of paradise and its tree is the coral tree.
-- Los Angeles

2) An historic landmark, this all wood luxury hotel was built in 1888.
-- Del Coronado near San Diego


3) This city's namesake was the Governor of Tennessee.
-- Houston

4) Many believe the Greek King Ulysses founded this modern day capitol city.
-- Lisbon

5) Towering above many, this city is the 2nd highest capitol on its continent.
-- Madrid


6) Considered the fashion capitol of the world, you can now visit this city with high-res imagery.
-- Milan

7) This is the city where Vegemite was invented and is now exclusively produced.
-- Melbourne

8) The cruise ship capitol of the world has gotten a fresh set of pixels.
-- Miami

9) The currency of this island is known as Manx.
-- Isle of Man


The following is a more complete version of the areas we've updated in this data push:

New high resolution:

We have added a significant amount of new satellite imagery in Ecuador, Peru, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, India, Iran, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and The Philippines. Additionally, we have new 2.5m imagery for part of Western Australia


Updated Imagery:
Americas:
- USA: LA, San Diego, Houston, Miami, Chicago and Milwaukee area suburbs, New York City area suburbs, much of coastal New Jersey, and Harney County (Oregon).

Europe, Middle East & Africa:

- England: Isle of Man, Suffolk
- Spain: Madrid
- Portugal: Lisbon, Guimaraes, Porto, Sevilla, Coimbra, Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca
- Italy: Milan
- France: Toulon, Montbeliard
- The Netherlands: Assen

Asia & Oceania:

- Armenia: Yerevan
- Australia: Melbourne, Darwin

Updated Terrain:
 - Westport, Ireland
- Hawaii
- Puerto Rico

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Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS Specialist

Hello again! Today I'm happy to announce that the Google Earth data team has pushed out another imagery update. As always, here are some hints pointing you toward the new imagery. Stay tuned for the answers and a more complete listing of imagery updates.
Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS Specialist

Hello again! Today I'm happy to announce that the Google Earth data team has pushed out another imagery update. As always, here are some hints pointing you toward the new imagery. Stay tuned for the answers and a more complete listing of imagery updates.

1) This city is home to over 300 museums. Its flower is the bird of paradise and its tree is the coral tree.

2) An historic landmark, this all wood luxury hotel was built in 1888.


3) This city's namesake was the Governor of Tennessee.

4) Many believe the Greek King Ulysses founded this modern day capitol city.

5) Towering above many, this city is the 2nd highest capital on its continent.


6) Considered the fashion capitol of the world, you can now visit this city with high-res imagery.

7) This is the city where Vegemite was invented and is now exclusively produced.

8) The cruise ship capitol of the world has gotten a fresh set of pixels.


9) The currency of this island is known as Manx.
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Posted by Andrea Frome, Software Engineer

In the last couple months, we've brought you 14 new Street View cities. Now we're touching up Manhattan, one of the first locations we launched. The new imagery is more recent; for example, we now have the appropriately-named New Museum in the Bowery in its near-complete state:

Posted by Andrea Frome, Software Engineer

In the last couple months, we've brought you 14 new Street View cities. Now we're touching up Manhattan, one of the first locations we launched. The new imagery is more recent; for example, we now have the appropriately-named New Museum in the Bowery in its near-complete state:

We also have sharper images -- check out Times Square:


View Larger Map

or the arch in Washington Square Park:


View Larger Map

And in our new images you can look upward, so now you can fully appreciate Manhattan's many skyscrapers:


View Larger Map

We're also taking this opportunity to test our new face-blurring technology on the busy streets of Manhattan. This effort has been a year in the making -- working at Street View-scale is a tough challenge that required us to advance state-of-the-art automatic face detection, and we continue working hard to improve it as we roll it out for our existing and future imagery. Here are just a couple examples from the bustling streets of Manhattan:

Enjoy the new and improved sights in Street View!
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Posted by David Rumsey, Founder, David Rumsey Map Collection

With the recent addition of over 100 new historical maps, there are now 120 maps in the Rumsey Historical Map layer in Gallery layer in Google Earth, and these maps can now be seen in a ...
Posted by David Rumsey, Founder, David Rumsey Map Collection

With the recent addition of over 100 new historical maps, there are now 120 maps in the Rumsey Historical Map layer in Gallery layer in Google Earth, and these maps can now be seen in a new layer in Google Maps. The original 16 historical maps, launched in November of 2006, have been augmented by adding many more maps of cities, regions, countries, continents, and even globes.

The method of finding the maps and enabling them has improved as well – all the maps are now represented by icons on the earth which open balloons that allow you to display the historical map on Google Earth and get more information.

Here's an example of what you'll see in Google Earth:

And here's a peek at the new layer for Google Maps:


Highlights of the new maps include a 1792 Celestial Globe (also in Google Sky), the first accurate survey of Yosemite Valley, California, from 1883, new maps of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Washington DC, Denver, Chicago, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Calcutta, Lima, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Beijing, Tokyo, Kyoto, and more – all from times ranging from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Also included are new country, regional and continental maps from Europe, South America, Australia, Asia, and North America.

I appreciate the work done by Wei Luo and Matt Manolides of Google Earth and the KML design by David Lewis in the UK in bringing these new maps online, as well as the innovative work by Peio Elissalde and Nicolas Cherel of Geogarage in Nantes, France, in creating the map layers in Google Maps, using the Google Maps API.

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Posted by Christiaan Adams, Google Earth Outreach

Since the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar (Burma) last weekend, people all over the world have been mobilizing to provide relief to the massive numbers of victims who have lost their homes and livelihoods, and loved ones. The organizations that we work with at ...
Posted by Christiaan Adams, Google Earth Outreach

Since the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar (Burma) last weekend, people all over the world have been mobilizing to provide relief to the massive numbers of victims who have lost their homes and livelihoods, and loved ones. The organizations that we work with at Google.org and Google Earth Outreach are working overtime to help the people affected, despite the difficulties of working in and even getting into Myanmar.

We've heard from these organizations that Google Earth is a valuable planning and management tool for them. Many use sophisticated geographic information systems (GIS) to create and process spatial information, but layering their own data along with data provided by others (such as ReliefWeb and others) over the 3D terrain and satellite imagery of Google Earth allows them to visit places virtually and get a unique feel for them before they actually get there.

By publishing their data in Google Earth's KML format, these organizations can easily share their information and make it available to anyone who wants (or needs) it to visualize the situation. This KML file is a collection of all the layers we've made available over the past week. It currently contains:
  • Animated Strom Track with category and wind speed (read more)
  • Animated Storm Clouds (read more)
  • Satellite Flood Analysis from MODIS (read more)
  • NEW: Satellite Flood Maps from ZKI/DLR
  • Myanmar Ministry of Health Facilities (read more)
  • Satellite Imagery from a variety of providers (read more)
The layers will be updated as more data becomes available. No need to download the file again -- just refresh the network link or restart Google Earth to get the latest.
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Posted by Chris Harrelson, Software Engineer

Even though the Earth Day challenge is over, we've still been working hard to bring more transit agencies' schedules to Google Maps. This week, I'm especially exited that our newest addition is my hometown agency ...
Posted by Chris Harrelson, Software Engineer

Even though the Earth Day challenge is over, we've still been working hard to bring more transit agencies' schedules to Google Maps. This week, I'm especially exited that our newest addition is my hometown agency, AC Transit, which services the East Bay part of the San Francisco Bay Area.

How would I get from San Francisco to Berkeley after BART closes? We've got you covered:

How about getting to Stanford University from Fremont, straight across the bay? Got that one too:


Or you can take a field trip to the Oakland Zoo:


Wherever I decide to go this weekend, I'll be covered.
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Posted by Annie Maxwell, Chief Operating Officer, Direct Relief International

At Direct Relief International, we rely on Google Earth in both our ongoing and emergency response efforts to help target medical assistance.
Posted by Annie Maxwell, Chief Operating Officer, Direct Relief International

At Direct Relief International, we rely on Google Earth in both our ongoing and emergency response efforts to help target medical assistance.

As part of our response to Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma), we plotted all of the Myanmar Ministry of Health facilities (over 700 sites) using data from the WHO 2002 Global Health Atlas survey. We utilized Google Earth's Spreadsheet Mapper tool to quickly create placemarks. We've now made this KML available for you to download.

We color-coded the sites by the capacity of the facility so that you can visually differentiate between larger hospitals, specialized medical units, and clinics/rural health centers.

By combining layers showing the governmental and nongovernmental health facilities that we work with, and the physical impact, we can focus our response on those points of access to healthcare that are serving the most affected communities. Using this geospatial information in conjunction with situation reports from the field enables us to more efficiently target our assistance.

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Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS Specialist; Dylan Lorimer, Strategic Partner Manager; and Chikai Ohazama, Product Manager

In the aftermath of the Cyclone Nargis, residents and aid workers are struggling to recover in Myanmar (Burma). Satellite imagery providers ...
Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS Specialist; Dylan Lorimer, Strategic Partner Manager; and Chikai Ohazama, Product Manager

In the aftermath of the Cyclone Nargis, residents and aid workers are struggling to recover in Myanmar (Burma). Satellite imagery providers DigitalGlobe and GeoEye/CRISP-Singapore have made post-cyclone imagery available and NASA's MODIS satellite has provided pre- and post-cyclone imagery in order to help disaster relief responders on the ground.

The imagery from these providers is not currently part of Google Earth's built-in imagery, but is available through this KML layer. It will update automatically as we are able to make more imagery available.


We hope these updates raise awareness about the impact of this cyclone and the devastation it has caused, and will help aid workers in their recovery efforts.

Update (5/11, 9am): We've added new imagery to the KML file since we first posted it on Wednesday, including:

NOTE: The MODIS images that appear on our site are in the public domain and can be freely used and reproduced for any purpose with proper attribution. For the images above, please credit the MODIS Rapid Response Project appropriately: "Image courtesy of MODIS Rapid Response Project at NASA/GSFC". For more information on use and credit, contact the MODIS Rapid Response Outreach Coordinator.
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Posted by Cris Castello, GIS Data Engineer

Using the data provided to us by the Naval Reseach Laboratory (NRL), we've put together a Google Earth animation of Cyclone Nargis making landfall in Myanmar. You can ...
Posted by Cris Castello, GIS Data Engineer

Using the data provided to us by the Naval Reseach Laboratory (NRL), we've put together a Google Earth animation of Cyclone Nargis making landfall in Myanmar. You can download the KML, then click the "play" button in the upper right of your screen (next to the time slider).

The animation moves in three-hour increments for the days leading up to landfall, then moves in single-hour increments as the cyclone approaches Myanmar. We trimmed the images down to just contain the affected area, but the animation downloads a fair amount of data, so please be patient -- after a few runs through the image sequences, the animation will play smoothly.


You can also view this animation alongside the animation from the previously posted KML to see the track unfurling with the storm's motion.

NRL also has created a KML that contains information about Nargis during its lifecycle. Click on each point along its path to see a pop-up bubble containing data about the cyclone at that point in time and links to additional KML files showing images from various satellites and sensors.

Update (5/8, 9:40 AM): Information about the track of the cyclone and the flood assessment area is also now available as a My Map:

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Posted by Anna Bishop, Google Earth Education

Each year, on the first Tuesday in May, we celebrate National Teacher Day by highlighting the heroic contributions our nation's educators make on a daily basis. Today, the ...
Posted by Anna Bishop, Google Earth Education

Each year, on the first Tuesday in May, we celebrate National Teacher Day by highlighting the heroic contributions our nation's educators make on a daily basis. Today, the Google for Educators team is proud to announce the launch of the new Geo Education website at google.com/educators/geo. We hope that this site will serve as an easy-to-navigate, one-stop-shop for teachers looking to incorporate Google Earth, Maps, Sky, and Sketchup in their classrooms.

Whether you're approaching these tools as a first-time explorer or a seasoned pro, it's our hope that you will find helpful hints, compelling examples, and a vibrant community of fellow educators on the site. And if you're ready to take your expertise of Google tools to the next level, be sure to check out the Google Teacher Academy, happening at Google's Mountain View headquarters in June.

You can read more about Google for Educators on the Official Google Blog. From all of us at Google, kudos and many thanks!
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Posted by Jessica Pfund and Christiaan Adams, Google Earth Team

Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar hard over the weekend, causing widespread flooding and taking the lives of thousands of people and leaving many more homeless or displaced. There are a number of people and organizations working to help the people of Myanmar, including the UN Institute for Training and Research Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). UNOSAT regularly ...
Posted by Jessica Pfund and Christiaan Adams, Google Earth Team

Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar hard over the weekend, causing widespread flooding and taking the lives of thousands of people and leaving many more homeless or displaced. There are a number of people and organizations working to help the people of Myanmar, including the UN Institute for Training and Research Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). UNOSAT regularly publishes maps in disaster response situations. They have data on the path of the cyclone and the extent of the flooding, which is now available in a layer for Google Earth.

Update (5/6, 3pm): Find more information here and here.
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Posted by Abe Murray, Product Manager

You may have noticed Google's experimental views for search results introduced the ability to view web pages on a map. We've been having fun enabling this feature for Google Maps.
Posted by Abe Murray, Product Manager

You may have noticed Google's experimental views for search results introduced the ability to view web pages on a map. We've been having fun enabling this feature for Google Maps.

We're excited about this because it helps us give you search results for more types of Maps searches. A search for Einstein highlights important locations from Einstein's life with links to web pages with more information. Mapping these locations can help you understand web searches from a new perspective. This is one of many steps we are taking to help deliver on the geoweb.

Check this feature out - go to Google Maps, click on the "Show search options" link near the search box, and select "Mapped web pages" from the drop-down menu that appears. This early release works best for English queries in USA. Try out some queries - our favorites include ufo sightings and math conferences in California.
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