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Google Earth vs. Reality

Google Earth is getting better and better and will soon be almost as good as actually being there. Don’t beleive me? I decided to pick a couple of shots and line up the same view in Google earth to compare. This first photo is from San Bruno Mountain (original photo here), showing the San Francisco skyline:

Google Earth vs. Reality - San Francisco

You should definitely click through to see the full-sized version. The version on the right is missing the flowers in the foreground and the clouds are a little different but otherwise it’s very recognizable.

Here’s another shot of San Francisco, this one from the bay (original photo here). I thought this would show off the detail of some of the 3d buildings in Google Earth. I had a hard time lining up a large screenshot because the photo was taken at 8x zoom, but you get the idea.

Google Earth vs. Reality - San Francisco from the Bay

Again, you should click though to the full sized version to get the full effect.

What do you think? Will Google Earth evolve to the point where no one will ever need to travel? My guess is that people will still get wanderlust and until Google unveils a food modem you’ll have to go get the sourdough yourself.

Let me know if you liked these in the comments and I’ll do a few more.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 1:50 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Google Earth vs. Reality”

  1. Adam Pieniazek Says:
    May 28th, 2008 at 9:52 am

    Cool idea, I’m about to go rig up some comparisons of Boston now.

  2. Jonas Says:
    May 28th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

    Isn’t travelling about new people, new places, new experiences?

    I hope Google ain’t adding that to Google Earth any time soon; RL has to be worth something!

  3. JasonMorrison.net » Google Earth vs. Reality, Revisited Says:
    June 6th, 2008 at 12:31 am

    [...] week I compared some real-life photos with the same scene in Google Earth.  Since I’m a bit of a computer/mapping/photography geek, I couldn’t resist doing a [...]

  4. Maarten Says:
    June 9th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

    Hi,
    I think it would be great to see the pictures right in Google Earth. Would it be possible to publish the kmz-files?
    Great work.

  5. Jason Morrison Says:
    June 9th, 2008 at 11:21 pm

    Actually, Maarten, that’s my next plan. Wysz pointed out a tool to make it easy to do, too. Just have to find a couple of spare minutes.

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