Google Earth VR

[secure]

I played this for about 2 hours recently, and it’s so much fun!

Flying around like that really gives you a perspective of your home town that you don’t usually get. For instance, I have discovered that there’s actually train tracks underneath a bridge over which I drive fairly frequently — from inside the tram, I never saw them.

Notably, this is significantly better than the “liquid galaxy” installations one can find at Google offices. It’s smoother, more immersive, the controls are more appealing, and it looks better.

This app definitely goes into the list of things I show people who are new to VR :).

[matthjensen]

What else is on the list of things you show people who are new to VR?

[piyush_soni]

Is it only available on HTC Vive? Can Google Cardboard users experience it?

[strictnein]

Honestly, I'm visiting Mecca tonight. And then Tehran. And then North Korea.

[strictnein]

Why the downvote? How visiting forbidden places isn't on the top of mind for people using this is beyond me.

Area 51, White House grounds, Russian military bases, Syria. I know the experience will vary, but think big.

[alasano]

I've been dreaming of this for a long time now... holy crap. This is as close as we have to the Black & White (lionhead x EA) god feeling, except for beating up your cow/monkey/etc of course. Can't wait to try it out.

[robeastham]

Me too! I've been wondering when this would turn up. I've been dreaming of flying around coasts and up mountains for a long time. I honestly think this will alter people's perceptions of time and place and space.

I wonder if Google will have a service based on this that allows developers to add additional layers via an API and publish in their own app. That would be great.

Sure would like to add some of the models from my VR Infinite Museum:

http://imnh.org

[shostack]

Oh man, you just put that near the top of my VR remake list along with:

- Sim Ant (or any Will Wright game for that matter)

- Oregon Trail

- Civ

- Baldur's Gate

- Battle Chess

- Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

- A VR version of Where's Waldo

[flukus]

Is that game ever going to get a remake?

[lifeisstillgood]

I am going to go with - "at last !"

It is nearly 25 years since I read Snow Crash, and read the description of the virtual earth - able to dive down form Space, and look round cities, seeing data feeds in real time, including your own position...

We are soooo close. Just don't trust the guy with the glass knives

[#] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash

[CobrastanJorji]

Does Google Earth have some sort of real-time weather capability? That would really help us get the last mile.

[mdrzn]

Why only on HTC Vive? Does this require huge computing power, or is it because of the controllers? I hope it'll become available on the Google Daydream phones.

[dag11]

They had to do a crazy amount of optimization just to the Earth engine to make it work in 90fps VR.

Here's a talk one of the devs gave at SIGGRAPH a few months ago about how they made it work: https://vimeo.com/177549565

[artofcode]

My bet would be the controllers, which would mean a Rift compatible release would be imminent when the Touch controllers are officially released in a month.

[thebiglebrewski]

I agree! I don't understand these two separate arms of Google VR. Couldn't they do the processing power on the server side if you have a fiber connection?

[johansch]

The roomscale VR that let's you walk around in cities as a giant is really the killer feature of this tech demo.

[baobrain]

I'm confused about this as well - this could be a great application for "casual" vr like daydream.

[johansch]

Just tried it on my Vive for ten minutes.

So, of course, it's essentially Google Earth ported to VR.

There's some obvious Snowcrash vibes to this. :)

The left hand touch pad is used to switch between perspectives (top or "being a 100 meter tall giant walking around on the land") while the right touch pad is used to zoom in/zoom out.

In places where they have 3d maps (like e.g. SF) it's amazing. I was also blown away by how fast the scenes loaded.. in Google Earth/Maps there is always a lengthy download process. This was almost instant. (I wonder why it was so slow before?)

Walking around in cities as a giant is pretty fascinating. I guess this is why they went with the Vive as their first platform - roomscale VR really kicks as in this particular usecase.

[ferongr]

>Google Earth VR is first available on Steam for the HTC Vive

The lack of a common VR framework, and no expectation from consumers that a VR-enabled application will be cross-compatible between different systems is the main reason I have not yet bought a headset, and advise people asking me against buying. The VR landscape right now looks like it suffers from consolitis, and I will never support such business models.

[haydenlee]

Anything that is built on SteamVR is cross-compatible with Oculus Touch, so not sure what your problem is. The only reason they don't market it as such is that Oculus Touch is not publicly available yet. As a current Touch owner I can assure you that every SteamVR app works with Touch today.

Edit: However, ironically Google has put in a software check for HTC Vive and blocks any other headsets. I imagine they'll do a proper Oculus "launch" when Oculus Touch launches.

[ngokevin]

You should check out WebVR (https://mozvr.com) with frameworks such as https://aframe.io/, a VR web framework aiming to allowing to work across all platforms (mobile, desktop, Vive, Rift, etc.). The business model there is as you like, you can publish on your own without anyone taking cuts.

[explodingcamera]

SteamVr / OpenVr is a common VR framework and Google even decided to use it, but they just block all headsets but the vive...

[njharman]

That's like expecting ps3 game to work on Xbox.

[Blackthorn]

I hope one day they offer an API for it so it can be used as part of a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator.

[strictnein]

Now just make it so you can destroy the buildings as you walk around and you have VR Rampage.

I'm honestly surprised no one has made a VR Rampage for the Vive. I tried to play around with the idea a little bit, but game development is just something I don't have any time for.

[mysterydip]

I had the same thought. VR is the perfect place for such a thing. With the monster scale, the whole city can fit within the confines of a typical VR setup, and you get to destroy things without consequence. I want to take a stab at it, if and when I get the hardware necessary.

[rvanniekerk]

This is actually in development, it's called Maximum Override - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWKwgcRSZ0U

[billconan]

Is this based on 3D model or just 360 photo?

I looked at the online demo, it doesn't appear to be 3D model.

But if it is based on 360 photos, how does it perform the transition between different viewing locations?

Streetmap, for example, can't do very smooth transition.

[elevensies]

It looks like 3D models.

You can see the models through google maps on the normal web interface. If you go to a city, zoom in so your screen is a few blocks across and select "3D" view from the lower right corner. It should load 3D models of the buildings. Then if you hold Control which clicking and dragging, you should be able to freely rotate your view around the map's center point and see the buildings from any angle.

EDIT: and I should mention, it works all over the place, not just cities, i.e.: https://www.google.ca/maps/@41.0775591,-71.9351097,67a,20y,2...

[bd]

Online demo is just 360 photos but real VR application seems to be fully 3D (from the videos).

This would make sense as it's based on Google Earth which is 3D.

Even WebGL web version of Google Maps is already 3D since some time ago. See e.g. Colosseum here:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Colosseum/@41.8950247,12.4...

[VikingCoder]

It's 3D model, streaming download as you move around.

[iraphael]

> Available first on HTC Vive

I can't find if it'll have support for DayDream View, which I just got for free with my pixel. Does anyone have more info?

[VikingCoder]

Was playing with it - it's great. I was flying around the towns I know, but I'm reminded of the places that I need to go when I get a chance:

Golden Gate Bridge

The Washington Monument

Disney World

Yosemite

Beijing

The Grand Canyon

[canada_dry]

One of the best potential uses for this (and many similar VR apps) is for senior citizens and immobile folks.

Imagine being able to travel back to your hometown or visit places you never got to on your bucket list.

Priceless.

[jliptzin]

I really think something like this will displace some tourism/sightseeing (at least at the margins). I have done a ton of traveling all over the world and would much prefer a VR experience like this instead of cramming onto an airplane like cattle for hours, getting accused of being a drug lord at every border crossing, dealing with foreigners who seem to hate Americans, etc. Most tourist cities are pretty much the same anyway; a few jam packed attractions, the strip of overpriced fancy tourist trap restaurants, those gift shops you can buy cheap crap with the city's name on it, luxury hotels, adventure charter companies, etc.

Anyway, sorry for the rant but I liken this to going to a football game in the stadium vs. watching at home and I'd much prefer the latter.

[zardo]

Seeing the Sahara on a screen, and climbing a sand dune, are two very different experiences.

[haydenlee]

While it's a fair prediction in the long term, I find apps like these make me want to visit the physical locations even more. Just like seeing photos or videos of a foreign city may spark your intrigue, so does Google Earth VR, at least for me.

[saurik]

I wish Earth VR weren't written in so custom of an engine :(... it is severely missing some basic annotation and presentation tools (such as a 3D pencil) which would be comparatively easy to mix in if it used some off-the-shelf engine (such as Unity, which happens to be used by Tilt Brush). It kind of makes sense, though: it really just needs two cameras over the code they already have for Google Earth. It is written in OpenGL (as opposed to Direct3D), so maybe it won't be quite so annoying to throw together something minimal at the rendering layer?...

[rubicon33]

Of course. Only available on the HTC Vive.

I regret my oculus rift purchase.

[ungzd]

I thought Google Earth was abandoned, but seems they're still improving it.

[xanderstrike]

It's more or less folded into Google Maps since most of the Earth features can be done in a web browser with webGL now.

[andybak]

For those without controller (i.e. Using https://github.com/Shockfire/FakeVive to get it working on a Rift) - the tours are defined in text files inside \steamapps\common\EarthVR\assets\content\tours\ with the extension .textpb

Editing the lat/lngs should enable you to visit wherever you choose.

[naavis]

Just tried this with HTC Vive. One of the best VR experiences I've had.

[toephu2]

Seems like one of those things I'll play with for about 30 minutes, think it's cool, and then never touch it again.