The Earth Is Square

Ok, it is one thing to be an armchair archaeologist or geologist using Google Earth.. but I am sorry, I have to draw the line at archir scientist and pseudo-science.  Not sure what I am talking about?  What I am talking about is a "scientist" looking at imagery and going "Hmm, they seem to be pointed North all the time.  So it has to be the Earth's magnetic field doing it!"

Dr Sabine Begall and colleagues from the University of Duisburg-Essen looked at thousands of images of cattle on Google Earth in Britain, Ireland, India and the USA. They also studied 3,000 deer in the Czech Republic. The deer tended to face north when resting or grazing.

And just by looking at imagery...

"We conclude that the magnetic field is the only common and most likely factor responsible for the observed alignment," the scientists wrote in an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

What they did was correlation, a very tiny part of a scientific study and not something to put a whole theory on.  So, I REALLY hope this article just made it look like they just used Google Earth.. because of that is all they really did.. that is a sad state science is moving too.

For my insight into this "study".. I grew up on a farm, there are dairy farms all around.. cows will face ALL directions when at rest and will roam anywhere.

Now, I would have thought that Google uses the same data for both GMaps and Google Earth.  But I see now that I was really wrong in that presumption.  So, you have to wonder.. since they don't match up and Google Earth has a lot of wrong information.. can you really rely on them for correct directions?

I am sure that for 90% of the users, it works perfectly and they don't notice any problems.  But lets say I wanted to give someone directions to Railroad St in Orangeville.  In GMap that would work fine if they searched there.

But lets say they used Google Earth instead.

As you can see, there is no Railroad Street in Google Earth.

You would think that at least road data would be consistant between the two applications.

On a mailing list I am on, a member in the UK was in Cambridge a few weeks back and spotted the Google Street View car and caught a video of it coming down the street and passing him by.

One thing I noticed in the video... Google seems to be keeping a low profile on this.. there is no "Google" all over the car like they are seen in the US.

I have a new computer setup that I already have WorldWind and GISExplorer on, so went today to download and install Google Earth for it.  But since it is currently off network I went to download and will just copy the install file over via a thumb drive..

Errr, NOT happening.  Where is the downloadable file?  What is this "Google Updater" they think I should have instead?  When I want to download an application.. I want to download the bloody application!  (You can see how long it has been since I installed a new Google Earth )  So, complaining asside, I re-run the network and take a computer offline to bring the one I want to use online and install.

Next "Bad Google" comes up.. it never asked me WHERE I want to install Google Earth!  It wants me to install an app on the OS partition.. argh!

I know their "motto" is "Don't Be Evil" .. but I think it should be "Don't Be Smart" instead.. this is some dumb thinking from Google.  Trust me.. I know better than Google on how I want to download and install my software.

Was watching CNN while at the gym today and they were making heavy use of Virtual Earth to show regions that were being affected by the severe storms in the US of late.  They used the Bird's eye view a lot where it was available.

Now CNN use to use Google Earth a lot, and to be honest I never liked how it looked.  But their use of Virtual Earth looked a lot nice and to put it plainly, more professional looking.

I am not sure if they are using both Google Earth and Virtual Earth, or if they have just switched fully to Virtual Earth.

Ok, I just had to post this and play the Devils Advocate since I have been thinking off and on about it today. I am seeing all these blog posts where developers are thinking that GE in a web page is the best thing since sliced bread and that everyone is switching over to use it in their websites.

But, what about the average Joe user though? How are they adapting to this sudden change and in some cases, lack of access because they do not use Windows? Now they are coming to a site that is broken for them. Are end users rushing out to download this plug-in so they can have the latest and greatest? Or are they walking away?

Other questions coming to mind.. how are you're average Joe and Jane users managing the interface and navigation after they do decide to install the plug-in?

Just because it is from Google and it is a variant of Google Earth does NOT automatically mean everyone is going to be rushing to be first in line.

Edit: Here, Hear.. you get the point, don't ya?

Edit 2: Well, if you read the slashdot comments, the average user is going "Meh!" about the Google Earth plug-in version.