Alps in high detail in Google Earth

by **Rick B** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:33 pm

I just noticed today that large parts of the alps are now in high detail on Google Earth. Especially surfing through Wallis is spectacular now.

Compare these two pictures from Roc de la Vache (near Zinal), with Zinalrothorn, Besso, Dent Blanche and Grd. Cornier:

Pretty neat, I'd say! The digital version is slightly higher than the real photo (~400 m)..

I could also clearly see for instance the normal route on Bishorn when surfing around.

by **schmid_th** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:42 pm

Wow! That´s great! Google Earth gets better and better. Really great possibilities now to "surf" through the Alps.

by **flow** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:50 pm

yeah! it really looks good.
now you can surf through the alps before you hike.

by **goatboy smellz** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:06 pm

Cool!
That should eat a couple hours away from work.

by **mvs** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:16 pm

I remember I tried to impress my friend with the vast scale and steepness of the alps (he lives in the Cascades), but on going to Google Earth the alps looked like the Ozarks or something. :p

This is a great improvement!

by **Rick B** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:26 pm

mvs wrote:I remember I tried to impress my friend with the vast scale and steepness of the alps (he lives in the Cascades), but on going to Google Earth the alps looked like the Ozarks or something. :p

This is a great improvement!

I don't know what the Ozarks are, but it sounds pretty bad

Matterhorn looks great too, so steepness is no problem anymore for sure!

Matterhorn and Dent d'Herens

by **Rick B** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:41 pm

One last image, bishorn normal route visible, with Weisshorn right behind it. In the far background Monte Rosa.

by **flow** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:46 pm

i'm also surfing around now, but i can't get this high resolution/detail.
what does the resolution depend on?

by **Rick B** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:51 pm

flow wrote:i'm also surfing around now, but i can't get this high resolution/detail.
what does the resolution depend on?

Don't know, I didn't change anything that I recall of, but you might want to try and fool around with the tools > options settings?

by **flow** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:55 pm

maybe i should put "more effort" in it

i will try to get it better...
thanx

by **Dan Dalton** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:26 pm

I almost like some of the google pics better, you can make out finer details more easily on them! Really amazing stuff, thanks for the heads up,

Dan

by **Whitesail** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:11 pm

Yep, Google Earth has greatly improved here. An alternative for Switzerland is http://map.search.ch/index.en.html

As a side note www.summitpost.org/area/range/237961/Va ... viers.html covers the Zinal Valley area, as in three of the above 'pictures'.

by **MoapaPk** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:55 pm

The biggest improvement seem to be in the DEMs (digital elevation models) on which the images are draped.

The USGS has high-resolution DEMs for most of the USA -- they just don't get used much for Google Earth.

by **Sebastian Hamm** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:27 pm

by **Sebastian Hamm** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:34 pm

But the italian side of Valais has still less quality.

Alps in high detail in Google Earth

Alps in high detail in Google Earth

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