Google Brings 3D Mapping to the Masses, Microsoft to Follow Soon

Industry members not too busy playing with Google Earth said the debut raises the bar in Internet imagery, calling it the next logical evolution of search engine sleuthing. “They're setting the standard. Others are going to have to follow suit,” said Mark Brender, vp-corp. communications and Washington operations at Space Imaging, a commercial satellite imaging company. Others downplayed Google Earth as a re-branding of Google’s existing Keyhole satellite mapping service on Google Maps. Either way, the gauntlet has been thrown for Microsoft, which has slated the arrival of a competing product, MSN Virtual Earth, for later this summer.

Google Earth’s imagery circles the globe with medium resolution imagery and terrain data, letting users see major geographic features and man-made structures worldwide. Close-up views show metropolitan areas; most major cities in the U.S., Western Europe, Canada and the U.K. are depicted in DigitalGlobe high-resolution imagery, revealing details of individual buildings. For the 38 largest U.S. cities, the high-resolution imagery is layered with buildings in 3D. Users can tilt and rotate the 3D images, “much like a video game,” said Keyhole Gen. Mgr. John Hanke.

Google’s images aren’t real-time, but photo taken by satellites and aircraft during in the last 3 years. Its imagery cache includes pictures from DigitalGlobe and EarthSat, both commercial providers of remote sensing imagery. For users interested in more advanced mapping capabilities, Google Earth Plus offers more features, including GPS compatibility, data import and annotation, for $20 per year. Google Earth Pro, for commercial use, offers high-resolution printing and GIS data import capabilities for $400 per year.

MSN’s answer, Virtual Earth, is set to arrive later this summer; the product has been under development for some time, said a Microsoft spokeswoman. The brainchild of Microsoft’s MapPoint Business Unit, Virtual Earth will be a “much more immersive local search experience than either Google Earth or Google Maps,” the spokeswoman said.

Commercial remote sensing companies don’t seem to mind the publicity. Traditionally, satellite imagery patrons have been govt. entities, with the Defense Dept. buying the lion’s share of data. But the market seems to be diversifying. Said Space Imaging’s Brender: “The Department of Defense has been, and will be, the primary customer for our industry, but search engines who utilize imagery will finally bring satellite imagery ‘down to earth’ for the general public. This could really open up new markets.”

Brender said he expects imagery to become standard fare in people’s Internet habits, searching and mapping activities. Citing the rise in telematics, particularly abroad, Brender said Space Imaging’s Ikonos satellite imagery already is used as the base map on dashboard GPS screens in Japan. “It’s only a matter of time before the technology is on your handheld and your cell phone too,” Brender said.

“There’s a nice match between this capability and where the technology is going with high speed broadband,” said John Horrigan, Dir. of Research at the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Citing Pew study results, Horrigan said the popularity of applications like Google Earth will depend largely on broadband penetration rates, now clearly on the rise. According to Pew’s latest numbers, 53% of adult home computer users now connect to the Internet via broadband, compared with 42% in 2004. Said Horrigan: “Given that over time more people will be connecting to the Internet via broadband, I think that people will want to utilize imagery like this.”