Next generation GE?

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

What can we expect by way of new things/improvements in future?

[GEH4EVR]

In all honesty, I haven't got a clue, nor does anyone else around here(as far as I know), All we do is provide files for the current Google Earth.

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

This forum is for general discussion and nothing to do with files.

Not having insider knowledge/information from the Google boardroom doesn't mean people can't have imagination or speculate about the future, does it?

[Mickey]

Personally, I just want to see more high-res and 3D.

The lack of high-res coverage is still surprising to me, and Virtual Earth is running away with the 3D models.

Of course, neither of those are new features, as they could be added to the current version of GE...

[Forkboy2]

What can we expect by way of new things/improvements in future?

How far out in the future?

50 years from now, I could see there being realtime ultra-high resolution 3D imagery? Not just textured 3d models, but actual 3d realtime view of the world. We could subscribe to a newsfeed that would notify us of police car chases, major news events, or babes laying out in their backyard, and we could follow along in realtime.

Sound too far fetched? Just think back to where technology was 50 years ago.....or even 10 years ago.

As long as Yahoo, MS and Google continue to spend money like it was water in the neverending quest to one-up each other, anything is possible.

Matt

[Mickey]

Matt,

Well said. Going that far out, I don't think we can really begin to imagine how amazing this stuff will be.

How about within the next five years? What would you like to see short-term?

[martin]

For the moment it would be enought for me, if GE could fly tours smoothly without hickups and crashes.
They should solve those problems before any new approaches...

[Gandolf]

GE could spend more on making sure when they upgrade they don't go backwards in any area. IE: resolution same or better only.

[Forkboy2]

Matt,

Well said. Going that far out, I don't think we can really begin to imagine how amazing this stuff will be.

How about within the next five years? What would you like to see short-term?

Short term, I think we'll see:
- More refined user-interface, easier to navigate layers, etc.
- More integration with Google's other services (Google News, Orkut, Picasa, YouTube, etc.)
- Widgets
- Ads
- More real-time content (traffic, local weather, etc.)
- More historical content
- HUGE scientific datasets
- GE and GMaps converge into a single product. Maybe that's more like 5-10 years out.

Matt

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

How far out in the future?

50 years from now, I could see there being realtime ultra-high resolution 3D imagery? Not just textured 3d models, but actual 3d realtime view of the world. We could subscribe to a newsfeed that would notify us of police car chases, major news events, or babes laying out in their backyard, and we could follow along in realtime.

Sound too far fetched? Just think back to where technology was 50 years ago.....or even 10 years ago.

As long as Yahoo, MS and Google continue to spend money like it was water in the neverending quest to one-up each other, anything is possible.

Matt


Yes but real time, high resolution would tend to impact on personal privacy - I raised the matter of the 'insidious side', i.e. voyeurism, on another thread.
Do people really want the world to become a goldfish bowl?

[GEH4EVR]

Okay, I know this sounds bad, but in the UK, you're already living in the Fishbowl. the UK has 1/4 of the worlds CCTV Cameras, and you could quite easily be tracked wherever you go.

To be honest the biggest thing Google could do to improve GE for me is a system where I can feed photos in, and it could output 3D Models in the real location.

[Forkboy2]

Yes but real time, high resolution would tend to impact on personal privacy - I raised the matter of the 'insidious side', i.e. voyeurism, on another thread.
Do people really want the world to become a goldfish bowl?

Other than people's backyard's and military/national security areas I don't see the problem. Anything that happens out in public is fair game. They would probably have to have some kind of opt-out mechanism where people could black out their backyards and I'm sure military and national security concerns would also be censored.

Big Brother is definitely on his way. For example, they now have cameras that can automatically read vehicle license plates. I wonder how long until they start automatically handing out speeding tickets because you were at point A at 10:00 am and then at point B at 11:00 am, which means you must have been averaging over 10 mph over the speed limit.

Matt

[Mickey]

GE and GMaps converge into a single product. Maybe that's more like 5-10 years out.
Excellent point. I tend to agree, since that's essentially what Virtual Earth already is.

I wonder how long until they start automatically handing out speeding tickets because you were at point A at 10:00 am and then at point B at 11:00 am, which means you must have been averaging over 10 mph over the speed limit.
Wow, I had never thought of that. Sadly, you're probably right.

[SpiderX22]

Short term, I think we'll see:
- More refined user-interface, easier to navigate layers, etc.
- Widgets
- Ads
- More real-time content (traffic, local weather, etc.)
- More historical content
- HUGE scientific datasets
- GE and GMaps converge into a single product. Maybe that's more like 5-10 years out.
Matt

1. The layers are pretty terribly managed at the moment in my opinion. They are all clustered into as few main folders as possible, so it's hard to find the folder you are looking for. Let's not even talk about how ugly the GEC layer is.

2. A Google earth widget would be amazing, except my experience of widgets is that they are partially transparent, which wouldn't be too good with GE. By any chance, is it possible to get widgets on a PC?

3. Ads...would be awful. Just need an adblock for Google Earth then.

4. Won't adding all this stuff severely slow down Google Earth? Sure, there will be better computers, but eventually you'll get to a point where only the best, most expensive computers can truely handle GE, which kind of defies the point of Google Earth: so EVERYONE can see the globe.

[SpiderX22]

I wonder how long until they start automatically handing out speeding tickets because you were at point A at 10:00 am and then at point B at 11:00 am, which means you must have been averaging over 10 mph over the speed limit.
Matt


Scary.

[Mickey]

Won't adding all this stuff severely slow down Google Earth? Sure, there will be better computers, but eventually you'll get to a point where only the best, most expensive computers can truely handle GE, which kind of defies the point of Google Earth: so EVERYONE can see the globe.
It's already at that point. Turn on all of the layers and try to browse around, especially in a big city. The 3D buildings alone will slow most PCs way down.

If it's organized efficiently, I have no problem with more and more data. As long as they have it start up pretty clean (roads & towns, or whatever the few defaults are right now), it should be fine.

[Appletom]

1. The layers are pretty terribly managed at the moment in my opinion. They are all clustered into as few main folders as possible, so it's hard to find the folder you are looking for. Let's not even talk about how ugly the GEC layer is.Nail. Head. HIT!

[SpiderX22]

Anyone else get annoyed that the shortcut in Google Earth for save image is ctrl + alt + s? Whenever I click those keys, I get the HP Pavillion Support Information window popping up. Besides, my keyboard doesn't recognize three key combinations very well, so the combination's pretty annoying.

Also, I just managed to delete my "Temporary Places" folder. It's weird, cause now I can no longer find the delete folder key when I right click that folder. When I restarted GE, it gave me an error that flashed up and disappeared so fast, I couldn't read it. Thought it would delete myplaces, which would have been awful. Well..it's back now. Just felt like sharing this oddity.

[sladys]

Could very much be in future cares because of developing Black Boxes as in planes.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/black_box_in_your_car.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2087207/

http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/123073/2076411/2086669/030820_BlackBox.gif

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

Scary.

Yep, totally agree having just driven past my local school at tipping out time:

it's definitely scary if you average over 40mph in a 30mph zone...

[Gandolf]

Could very much be in future cares because of developing Black Boxes as in planes.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/black_box_in_your_car.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2087207/

http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/123073/2076411/2086669/030820_BlackBox.gif

Black box already there. I have a 1997 Chevy PU. BlackBox is just under the dash near the steering wheel. Police use them in accident cases to determine speed, etc.

[BillyBob]

I'd just like to see more accuracy in the updates they do.

Until last year Australia was hardly worth looking at.

They then attempted to include Townsville, but missed it, so there was a square of high resolution to the right of the city, but not the city itself, they later corrected it.

But when they did Cairns they left a low definition strip right through the city and Northern Beaches.

Surely they could check their work?

I e-mailed them asking for Cairns to be fixed, but obviously had no response.

There will surely come a day when the whole world is hi-res, and that should be their top priority before adding bits and pieces of little or no interest.

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

I'd just like to see more accuracy in the updates they do.

Until last year Australia was hardly worth looking at.

They then attempted to include Townsville, but missed it, so there was a square of high resolution to the right of the city, but not the city itself, they later corrected it.

But when they did Cairns they left a low definition strip right through the city and Northern Beaches.

Surely they could check their work?

I e-mailed them asking for Cairns to be fixed, but obviously had no response.

There will surely come a day when the whole world is hi-res, and that should be their top priority before adding bits and pieces of little or no interest.


Now that's something we can surely all agree with.

[Forkboy2]

Forgot one......

Google Earth as in-car Navigation System. Probably have some stupid name like "Google Car" :spin:

I'd bet $$ that we'll see this in next 5 years. Probably be a subscription service. They'd have to update the interface with touch screen controls, etc.

Matt

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

Forgot one......

Google Earth as in-car Navigation System. Probably have some stupid name like "Google Car" :spin:

I'd bet $$ that we'll see this in next 5 years. Probably be a subscription service. They'd have to update the interface with touch screen controls, etc.

Matt

I can't quite see where GE comes in here over and above the capabilities of Satnav...

[Appletom]

Forgot one......
Google Earth as in-car Navigation System. Probably be a subscription service.

Subscription service? I'm guessing otherwise. I predict advertising supported with online updates. What would McDonald's or Starbucks pay to make sure their locations are in the POI database of the GPS?

Plug your GPS into your computer, go online and tell the GPS where you are going. Google updates your GPS with high information details on all the restaurants in that city - even including coupons and other offers!

Then Google makes it so I can download the Google maps and software onto my GPS - whether it is a Mio, Garmin, Magellan, TomTom, Lowrance, or whatever.

The possibilities of near real time updated street and road databases, combined with advertiser support for the POI's, are unlimited.

Opening a new business? Pay Google $20 to add your information to their POI database. The next day every GoogleGPS plugged into a computer has your business listed.

Hungry? Pick any POI from your GPS and hit the "route to" button. Next time your GPS connects to the internet, Google bills that food establishment a quarter.

There are about 27 million businesses in the USA. Google collects $10 each, there's a quarter of a billion dollars - that's real money even to Larry and Sergey :yep: Then add the 25¢ every time someone "clicks" on a business and you have tens of millions of dollars a year.

Why Google GPS Software could be better:
I don't need all 50 states in my GPS. Let me go online and tell it where I am, or am going to be, and then I can have a LOT more data.
Free software that works across all platforms - that would significantly lower the price of the hardware.
Discount coupons available - even ones with limited expirations.
If a business closes or moves, each GPS is updated next time it goes online. No more following the GPS to a "dead" location.

More thoughts later. If anybody from Google is reading this, feel free to pay me handsomely for my idea!

[Mickey]

I can't quite see where GE comes in here over and above the capabilities of Satnav...
I just want satellite images in my nav system, and this is one way to accomplish that.

I hate being in a parking lot and just seeing a field of white on the nav screen. Having satellite imagery in there would be somewhat useful and very cool.

[Forkboy2]

Subscription service? I'm guessing otherwise. I predict advertising supported with online updates.

Reason I was thinking subscription is that advertising alone can't pay for the data transfer, which I guess would have to be over one of the cell networks or via satellite.

[Appletom]

advertising alone can't pay for the data transfer, which I guess would have to be over one of the cell networks or via satellite.
I'm thinking of plugging my Google GPS into my computer and doing updates at my desk instead of in real time while driving.

What data would you need in real time? Traffic is the only thing that comes to mind, and I'm thinking local radio would be much more up-to-date than any GPS could be.

Here's the advantages of desktop GPS updates:
I plug it into my computer and it updates only my local area - no need for my El Paso based GPS to know about a new restaurant opening in Hoboken, New Jersey.
UNLESS I'm traveling to New Jersey. Then, when I plugged in I would tell my GPS where I'm going (or where I am) and it could update everything surrounding where I am or where I want to be. Think about it - 99% of the GPS units out there are probably staying within a 30 mile radius today. My Mio has 3 million POI's - with a desktop update I could lose data from 49 states, leaving a whole lot more room for where I am.
No additional cost to Google for bandwidth if I update my GPS at home.
No need to update on a regular basis, only when I'm traveling (or bored).
Google could use their Adsense technology. If I look for "hamburger", then Burger King could bid a 5¢ premium to be listed first in City A, and 7¢ in city B.And - different travelers have different needs for their GPS. A truck driver doesn't really need information about museums when in route. A family traveling with kids has different interests than a retired couple driving on vacation. The businessman on a road trip might need to know where Fedex is, but has no need to find the nearest Chuck-E-Cheese.

Last but not least, which would you choose - software that has a monthly fee or software that is free? And there would be a few who would need/want a premium service where their GPS would stream data while moving. They would be happy to pay a monthly fee.

To my knowledge, nobody's working on a "update my GPS while I'm at my home computer" business model. I hope somebody does this and Google is well positioned to completely own and dominate this type of system.

[Forkboy2]

I'm thinking of plugging my Google GPS into my computer and doing updates at my desk instead of in real time while driving.

What data would you need in real time? Traffic is the only thing that comes to mind, and I'm thinking local radio would be much more up-to-date than any GPS could be.

.

The aerial photography would need to be streamed. Also, I'm sure anyone that has used mobile mapping with real time traffic overlay will tell you, it's 1000x better than local radio.

I'm thinking more along the lines of competing with a service such as OnStar vs. a portable GPS. But who knows.....anything is possible when it comes to Google. All sorts of things that no one has even imagined yet become possible when you stick Google Earth with high-speed internet connection and 11" touch screen color monitor in a car. For example, wouldn't it be cool to place your order at McDonalds right there in your car vs. yelling out your window at a speaker? Or how about real time tracking of speed traps....Imagine the social networking possibilities.

Bandwidth is the big limitation right now because of the expense, but in 5-10 years, it could probably be full supported by advertising.

The problem with your method is that it requires several actions by the user, which is fine with the techie types of people. But if you want to reach the other 99% of the population, you need something that just sits there in the car and works when you turn it on.

Matt

[Appletom]

Also, I'm sure anyone that has used mobile mapping with real time traffic overlay will tell you, it's 1000x better than local radio.Now you've got me curious Matt. Do you have a screen shot or a url?

All sorts of things that no one has even imagined yet become possible when you stick Google Earth with high-speed internet connection and 11" touch screen color monitor in a car. OMG - I can imagine the car crashes from people watching this while driving. But, in keeping with the spirit of the OP, can you imagine real time GEarth viewing for traffic? Granted you would need to limit the resolution for privacy reasons, but imagine being able to see the traffic density on the freeway 5 or 10 miles ahead.

For example, wouldn't it be cool to place your order at McDonalds right there in your car vs. yelling out your window at a speaker? They would still get my order wrong :slant:

Bandwidth is the big limitation right now because of the expense, but in 5-10 years, it could probably be full supported by advertising.Bandwidth is a big limitation for imagery - not for existing GPS data. None of the GPS units out there right now have satellite images and I'm thinking of Google GPS software without pictures.

The problem with your method is that it requires several actions by the user, which is fine with the techie types of people. But if you want to reach the other 99% of the population, you need something that just sits there in the car and works when you turn it on. Fair enough. But your version of Google GPS requires hardware capable of receiving data - which requires higher cost hardware and monthly fees. My version of Google GPS has me plugging my GPS into my computer, going to www.SomeURL.com (http://www.SomeURL.com), and filling in a couple of blanks. It could be as simple as just entering my zip code to download updated maps and updated POI's.

[Mickey]

This is probably closer than you think. I have Google Map Mobile on my cell phone (Nokia N95), which also has a GPS.

I enter a route, turn on the GPS, put it in "hybrid" mode and hit the road. It's not great for turn-by-turn directions (it doesn't do "Turn left in 2.7 miles" kind of thing -- you really need to watch the route on the screen), but it follows me along the road with satellite imagery as I go. I can enable the traffic layer to get real-time traffic updates for major highways as well.

That being said, I don't use it for that very often. It's a pretty small screen and the lack of upcoming turn notification makes it pretty useless for that. However, it's REALLY close to doing most of what is described in the posts above.

If they put a GPS in the next iPhone (or someone builds another phone with screen that large) and Google puts a few small tweaks into GMM, it could be pretty awesome.

[Forkboy2]

I use my mobile phone to view real time traffic all the time right now. Anyone that has phone with internet and Java can do this for free.

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo all offer similar services. The Yahoo service will even show the location and details of traffic accidents, road construction, etc. I think all three will also overlay aerial photographs. Granted, bandwidth is a lot less to display data on 2.5" cell phone screen vs. 11" touch screen monitor.

http://www.google.com/gmm/index.html
http://www.google.com/gmm/images/phone_en.png

For $10/month I can subscribe to a service through Sprint (http://www.nextel.com/en/services/gps/sprint_navigation.shtml) that will use the GPS built into my phone and give turn by turn driving directions and moving maps. It will also find closest fast food, etc.

http://www.nextel.com/assets/images/common/billboards/bb1-2_telenav_v1.jpg

The future is now. Just need to scale up from cell phone to device built into the car, or after-market option.

Matt

[Forkboy2]

Check it out.

http://mapperz.blogspot.com/2008/02/carmenta-mobile-n95.html

[Mickey]

Very slick - good find!