Take a drive with Google Earth
May 8, 2011 9:32 AM Subscribe
Enter start and destination and watch your route payed out.
More like: make sure you're using a Mac or Windows, download and install a 20MB browser plugin, enter start and destination and watch your route payed out.
posted by jack_mo at 9:39 AM on May 8, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by jack_mo at 9:39 AM on May 8, 2011 [4 favorites]
I'm appalled that a Google Earth app would require Google Earth!
posted by found missing at 9:42 AM on May 8, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by found missing at 9:42 AM on May 8, 2011 [5 favorites]
I'm a bit confused why Linux Google Earth wouldn't work with a plugin that works between OSX and Windows.
posted by mccarty.tim at 9:43 AM on May 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by mccarty.tim at 9:43 AM on May 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
It's the weekend. I can't believe I just commuted.
posted by Flunkie at 9:52 AM on May 8, 2011 [10 favorites]
posted by Flunkie at 9:52 AM on May 8, 2011 [10 favorites]
Cool! Approaching Manhattan on the bridges is epic.
Holland Tunnel, not so much.
posted by dixiecupdrinking at 9:52 AM on May 8, 2011
Holland Tunnel, not so much.
posted by dixiecupdrinking at 9:52 AM on May 8, 2011
The car is definitely NOT driving 35 mph like the plugin says. I carefully watched the highway stripes while playing Duke of Earl just to make sure.
posted by crapmatic at 9:52 AM on May 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by crapmatic at 9:52 AM on May 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
I built something like this for flying trips. Not as impressive up in the air, but it's helpful for understanding how close you might get to mountains.
posted by Nelson at 9:58 AM on May 8, 2011
posted by Nelson at 9:58 AM on May 8, 2011
Faaaaake. My car doesn't look like that at all.
posted by phunniemee at 10:00 AM on May 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 10:00 AM on May 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
Hmm, kind of fun re-creating my old Pittsburgh area commute. Coming in through the tunnels from the south hills actually sends you right _over_ Mt. Washington.
posted by meinvt at 10:03 AM on May 8, 2011
posted by meinvt at 10:03 AM on May 8, 2011
Pretty neat. Although it doesn't handle bridges well, which created the impression that the car was driving on the bottom level of the Bay Bridge on the way to San Francisco (wrong way).
posted by brundlefly at 10:06 AM on May 8, 2011
posted by brundlefly at 10:06 AM on May 8, 2011
I'm appalled that a Google Earth app would require Google Earth!
I have Google Earth installed, but you need an extra thingy too.
posted by jack_mo at 10:39 AM on May 8, 2011
I have Google Earth installed, but you need an extra thingy too.
posted by jack_mo at 10:39 AM on May 8, 2011
Make a bicycle version an I'll be even more impressed!
I don't think even Google has perfected asshole-in-a-pickup-truck-running-you-off-the-road technology.
posted by indubitable at 10:40 AM on May 8, 2011 [3 favorites]
I don't think even Google has perfected asshole-in-a-pickup-truck-running-you-off-the-road technology.
posted by indubitable at 10:40 AM on May 8, 2011 [3 favorites]
Doesn't work on Linux. Boo.
posted by koeselitz at 10:50 AM on May 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by koeselitz at 10:50 AM on May 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
found missing: “I'm appalled that a Google Earth app would require Google Earth!”
I've got Google Earth. I use it all the time. This still doesn't work.
posted by koeselitz at 10:51 AM on May 8, 2011
I've got Google Earth. I use it all the time. This still doesn't work.
posted by koeselitz at 10:51 AM on May 8, 2011
I like it! Now if I only actually had somewhere to go ...
posted by bayani at 10:51 AM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by bayani at 10:51 AM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Have it take you onto the highway, and get up to 60 mph.
Now, hit the "Speed [+]" button 3 times.
This is how fast you'd be traveling if we'd properly invested in High-Speed Rail.
posted by schmod at 11:03 AM on May 8, 2011 [12 favorites]
Now, hit the "Speed [+]" button 3 times.
This is how fast you'd be traveling if we'd properly invested in High-Speed Rail.
posted by schmod at 11:03 AM on May 8, 2011 [12 favorites]
There is a browser only tool (works in Linux) that does perhaps the same thing here. You can't modify the traveling speed but I have seen another version around that does support that.
posted by ChrisHartley at 11:06 AM on May 8, 2011
posted by ChrisHartley at 11:06 AM on May 8, 2011
OMG I just drove through a building
posted by desjardins at 11:14 AM on May 8, 2011
posted by desjardins at 11:14 AM on May 8, 2011
More seriously, this is awesome because we're planning a road trip to somewhere we've never been, and I was wondering what the scenery was like between here and there. Now I know.
posted by desjardins at 11:17 AM on May 8, 2011
posted by desjardins at 11:17 AM on May 8, 2011
I'm driving to Alaska, or at least simulating the drive I took when I was in my twenties. Back then it took 5 days. I'm thinking I'm just going to let this run in a window for awhile.
posted by elwoodwiles at 11:17 AM on May 8, 2011
posted by elwoodwiles at 11:17 AM on May 8, 2011
It seems that the simulation shows a freeway system with all overpasses collapsed. My trip over the Coronado Bridge ended up being at water level.
posted by birdherder at 11:23 AM on May 8, 2011
posted by birdherder at 11:23 AM on May 8, 2011
Is there a tunnel in Montreal or can you just drive wherever the fuck you want?
posted by desjardins at 11:28 AM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by desjardins at 11:28 AM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
My sim swam across the bay under the Golden Gate Bridge and over a hill in Marin rather than through the tunnel. I will try it that way today.
posted by brewsterkahle at 11:32 AM on May 8, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by brewsterkahle at 11:32 AM on May 8, 2011 [4 favorites]
My sim drove through various seasons. It started out in the summertime, drove through the winter and back into the summer.
posted by selenized at 11:41 AM on May 8, 2011
posted by selenized at 11:41 AM on May 8, 2011
Is there a tunnel in Montreal or can you just drive wherever the fuck you want?
There is a tunnel expressway under the downtown financial district.
posted by Flashman at 11:46 AM on May 8, 2011
There is a tunnel expressway under the downtown financial district.
posted by Flashman at 11:46 AM on May 8, 2011
Hint: Try New York to Sydney. Takes you all the way there via Japan and the Pacific.
posted by plep at 11:57 AM on May 8, 2011
posted by plep at 11:57 AM on May 8, 2011
Is there a tunnel in Montreal or can you just drive wherever the fuck you want?
Both are true in Montreal.
posted by reformedjerk at 11:58 AM on May 8, 2011 [5 favorites]
Both are true in Montreal.
posted by reformedjerk at 11:58 AM on May 8, 2011 [5 favorites]
The first intersection out of our house is normally a pretty lengthy wait, but he plowed his way right in there without even stopping. I'm amazed he didn't hit anyone. I wonder if I can get away with that Monday morning...
You probably didn't have the speed up to 32x. I did, and it caused a truck to jackknife and started a fire that lit up the weigh station. I would have thought it was cool-looking except so many people surely died.
posted by mreleganza at 12:03 PM on May 8, 2011
You probably didn't have the speed up to 32x. I did, and it caused a truck to jackknife and started a fire that lit up the weigh station. I would have thought it was cool-looking except so many people surely died.
posted by mreleganza at 12:03 PM on May 8, 2011
All green lights in this thing! And I drove over all the cars in the way, Inspector Gadget style.
I put in a route in the community I grew up in, but it was sort of hard to parse visually because of the lack of hills in the app. I had never thought about how much topography is a part of my mental map.
posted by jocelmeow at 12:08 PM on May 8, 2011
I put in a route in the community I grew up in, but it was sort of hard to parse visually because of the lack of hills in the app. I had never thought about how much topography is a part of my mental map.
posted by jocelmeow at 12:08 PM on May 8, 2011
Also, my route paid out $0. Anybody else hit the jackpot, or is this like Letterman's "Beat the Clock"?
posted by jocelmeow at 12:18 PM on May 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by jocelmeow at 12:18 PM on May 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
Wow, that crashed Firefox hard. Like it took four relaunches of the application to get the browser back to normal.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:23 PM on May 8, 2011
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:23 PM on May 8, 2011
You people fucking kill me.
The mere existence of this website is a goddamned technological miracle and you still find a way to complain about it.
posted by empath at 1:30 PM on May 8, 2011 [11 favorites]
The mere existence of this website is a goddamned technological miracle and you still find a way to complain about it.
posted by empath at 1:30 PM on May 8, 2011 [11 favorites]
The mere existence of this website is a goddamned technological miracle and you still find a way to complain about it.
Everything is amazing, and nobody's happy.
posted by notion at 2:27 PM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Everything is amazing, and nobody's happy.
posted by notion at 2:27 PM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Hey, no complaints here. I just drove from my childhood home to my elementary school and picked a fight with a simulated 9-year-old who yelled "GENESIS DOES WHAT NINTENDON'T" at me. Very cathartic.
posted by jake at 2:27 PM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by jake at 2:27 PM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also, that Louis CK video. I get weird looks when I start ranting about how much we take for granted. I can barely walk on a sidewalk without my mind being shredded by the fact that the truck that poured the concrete is made out of thousands of individual parts, each developed through years of research and materials science, to say nothing of the reflective jackets the workers are wearing, or the concrete / cement -- itself a product of centuries of technological advancement. Then I go type about it on a plastic keyboard on a computer that does billions of math calculations every second and displays the results using liquid goddamn crystals, and send the data over a worldwide network made out of glass fibers. And this is the stuff I think about BEFORE breaking out the vaporizer.
'Course, this doesn't mean we ought to be complacently appreciative of new technology, or else there's no point in improving it or ironing out bugs. I'm still going to be frustrated that my laptop's freaking wifi doesn't work in Linux, even if all three of those technologies are mind-meltingly insane.
Anyway, my point is, fucking magnets. How do they w---(desjardins' car crashes through wall, killing me instantly)
posted by jake at 3:04 PM on May 8, 2011 [5 favorites]
'Course, this doesn't mean we ought to be complacently appreciative of new technology, or else there's no point in improving it or ironing out bugs. I'm still going to be frustrated that my laptop's freaking wifi doesn't work in Linux, even if all three of those technologies are mind-meltingly insane.
Anyway, my point is, fucking magnets. How do they w---(desjardins' car crashes through wall, killing me instantly)
posted by jake at 3:04 PM on May 8, 2011 [5 favorites]
Press RETURN to size up the situation
posted by nathancaswell at 3:14 PM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by nathancaswell at 3:14 PM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Meh. I want virtual holographic immersion road trips. Then I'll be happy.
posted by meh at 3:32 PM on May 8, 2011
posted by meh at 3:32 PM on May 8, 2011
I put in my last trip from Alaska down to the states. It kind of reminded me of Minecraft.
posted by Nabubrush at 5:12 PM on May 8, 2011
posted by Nabubrush at 5:12 PM on May 8, 2011
Mostly, this just reminded me that my recurring escapist fantasy of driving from Boston to Yellowknife is a really, really bad idea.
posted by xthlc at 7:09 PM on May 8, 2011
posted by xthlc at 7:09 PM on May 8, 2011
Set mine from Tucson to Vegas, a la Smoke and Mirrors. Made it all right, so I guess mine paid out.
posted by mnemonic at 8:32 PM on May 8, 2011
posted by mnemonic at 8:32 PM on May 8, 2011
Tried the drive from my old house in Pittsburgh to my parents' in Maryland. Even at 32x I couldn't wait to get off the turnpike.
posted by pernoctalian at 9:05 PM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by pernoctalian at 9:05 PM on May 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
This is how fast you'd be traveling if we'd properly invested in High-Speed Rail.
It also serves as a demonstration of why it's not a good idea to put the rail in the highway median, like some have proposed (rollercoaster!).
posted by alexei at 2:33 AM on May 9, 2011
It also serves as a demonstration of why it's not a good idea to put the rail in the highway median, like some have proposed (rollercoaster!).
posted by alexei at 2:33 AM on May 9, 2011
It also serves as a demonstration of why it's not a good idea to put the rail in the highway median, like some have proposed (rollercoaster!).
A few highway medians are suitable, and the whiplash effect when running through the curves can be mitigated by tilting trains. However, you would also never construct a high-speed line that required tilting along its entire length.
posted by schmod at 11:35 AM on May 9, 2011
A few highway medians are suitable, and the whiplash effect when running through the curves can be mitigated by tilting trains. However, you would also never construct a high-speed line that required tilting along its entire length.
posted by schmod at 11:35 AM on May 9, 2011
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posted by rtha at 9:38 AM on May 8, 2011