I don’t know about the rest of you, but going outside and taking a look at what is to be seen is probably the most ready source of inspiration for me. The problem is, that we have a terrible vantage point for getting a sense of how terrain really meshes together and how the overall system works.
For those who haven’t found it yet, Google Earth is a really really sweet tool.
Right now it’s my #1 resource for getting good views of different terrain types and how they fit together. The “God’s Eye” view it provides is also really helpful in visualizing how things might fit together or seeing how a natural process might work.
Alaska is particularily interesting to me currently… check out the glaciers!
yes it is goood, now if there was a way to replace Googles terrain with my own, and not just add kml/kmz files to it.But since it is streamed it is probably not possible. SeerBlue
Broadband only. Well Poopie! Oh well, there are always my Geology books i can dive into and i have a 22,000K Blue Earth Map as well. The Blue Earth Map for me personally is my main source of seeing the bigger picture on how terrain works sense the GoogleEarth thing is out.
Yes, i agree alaska is very ideal for studying the shapes and movements of glaciers.
Replacing the terrain is not just useful for fictional terrains but also for improving the (fairly limited) resolution of the real world provided by Google Earth. I think they use 90m, 30m at best for the US. In the US you can obtain 10m for the entire country, and 3m for specific reasons. I would think 10m could be used for near LoD at least.
Also don’t forget World Wind. Less detailed imagery in many areas, but much more consistent imagery, which can be important when you’re trying to determine color distribution or when your feature of interest crosses the boundary in GE from good data to terrible data. People who think GE has better data overall than WW are really only focusing on the areas where that’s true. I’d say a good 50% or more of GE’s data is no better than, and often poorer than, World Wind. WW also allows you to explore other planets and moons which can be very interesting for exploring alternate geologies.
Fortunately you can easily have both installed with no problems and enjoy the unique benefits of each.
And once you find the terrain you want, this site has a simple interface for downloading SRTM elevation data in geotiff format. Ijust find the x and y location of the block of data I want via the world map at the bottom of the screen then use the “direct to ftp download” link in the upper right of the page. the folders are easy to navigate to find your tile, and you caan grad surrounding tiles while your there. http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/SELECTION/inputCoord.asp
SeerBlue
Hello, all.
I, too, have found GE a wonderful visula inspiration!
I notice that there are no images posted in this thread.
Is that because anything you find on GE is copyrighted and hence verboten?
While using GE you’ll always have a copyright notice at the bottom of the main window. So you’ll have to ask the companys mentioned there for permission if you want to use these images somehow. If you want to use the imagery commercially you’ll most likely have to pay for this permission.
Well, if you all want to see some amazing terrain, check out the area near Saltillo, Mexico. Not to be believed.
I guess one could post the GPS coordinates of interesting locations.
That reminds me of the two commedians who have mastered the same joke book.
“How about # 27”
(Guffaws all around).
“yeah, but there’s always #56!”
(more laughter).
I think they use 90m, 30m at best for the US. In the US you can obtain 10m for the entire country, and 3m for specific reasons. I would think 10m could be used for near LoD at least.