YouTube invades Google Earth

Google Earth has announced the latest enhancement to its popular topless Dutch sunbather-spotting service in the form of a YouTube layer which "places videos in their geographical context and provides a new way of discovering and understanding the world". The facility can be found in the Featured Content folder, and a quick …

[Michael Parker]

Now all we need is a "Why"

We have a what and a where after all...

[ForeverNotts]

Big Fish; Little Fish

Hey, there's nothing wrong with the fair shape throwers of Nottingham. Or with the city for that matter.

Dear The Reg:

You're off my RSS feed and you can stick your daily spam filled email updates in your CPU's floppy.

So long!

[cor]

Timeshifting

Hmmmm, interesting. I notice the GoogSat prefers morning glory shots when most sane people are still in bed. So I wonder how the time context of the video fits in.

In the famous Dutch Topless Sunbather myth, I'm sad to say it's a bit of a hoax. Just look at the shadows, and check out Scheveningen Beach, about 4 miles to the west. This is (as most beaches in Holland) a topless location.

However the absence of people other than the local council's tractor-driver levelling the sand suggests that it is either 5 in the a.m. or mid-November....

Cormac

[Gilbert Wham]

Well...

...'What' and 'Where' are taken care of, Sinister Google Projects dept. already knows 'Who'; the question now is why?

[Ian Ferguson]

A bit less pointless

I can't see much use or fun to be had out of the Youtube map thingummy, but I can recommend flickrvision as much more entertaining:

http://flickrvision.com/

This displays a constant stream of photos being uploaded to Flickr, marked on a map of the world. It's pretty fascinating, I could watch it for hours.

[Paul F]

Yay! Douche Cam!

Ummm.... bitters all 'round then?

[Hein Kruger]

@Cormac

Have another look at those shadows.

The shadows in The Hague around the topless sunbather all point to the north, indicating that the picture was probably taken sometime in the afternoon (and if you look around you'll see several other topless sunbathers on nearby roofs).

The shadows at Scheveningen all point to the west, so that picture was taken early in the morning, which would explain the deserted beach.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well...

What a joke this article is! Aiming snide comments at Nottingham with nothing to back his accusations apart from a video from youtube... Maybe this just shows the quality of this editors writing or lack of really. Anyone living in Nottingham knows that there about three danger places (Meadows, Saint Anns, Radford maybe) which the Media likes to use to tarnish the whole city. Everywhere else is as safe if not safer than most other places in Britain I have lived in Nottingham all my life and i havent even seen so much as a knuckle duster and i did not go to a school with a good reputation either. So check your facts next time of you may once again come off looking very stupid

[James Sandham]

Rave?

That is perhaps the most tragic rave that ever happenend!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ftKc1RY7K6Q

[Greg]

Google searching for a problem?

The proposition that mashing up youtube videos with location somehow meets a need or want among GoogleEarth users seems pretty far fetched. Here's a crazy idea Google: why not steal a page out of the playbook from all the open source software you use and let USERS decide which pieces of your (or is it their?) information they want to combine and how they want to combine it?

I generally like Google and I admire their manner of public experimentation, but this and other recent moves that look aimed at trying to replicate / extend their ad-supported search success (ads in gadgets, youtube ads for adsense partners, etc.) increasingly smack of futility and even a little desperation. Makes one wonder to what extent the ad-supported model is transferable to non-search online and computer-related activities.

PS Hey Reg - how come no evil / angelic Google icons? is it 'cuz no one would recognize Schmidt even if they saw him sunbathing naked?

[Joel]

How long until...

Live video feeds on google earth? So you can just zoom in anywhere, and watch it all live... ?

[Anonymous Coward]

@ ForeverNotts

You used the wrong icon. The dead vulture one is the one with the alt tag that says: "I am disgusted by El Reg and removing you from my Bookmarks". Even if the grammar sucks.

[Jeremy]

Why...

...are so many videos in the middle of the sea?

Including this cracking example of perfect YouTube/Google Earth harmony:

http://hotimg16.fotki.com/a/89_242/74_105/ge-grab.png

Only about 250 miles out. Perhaps this one should have spent a bit longer in the lab?

[kerlmann]

With a bit of effort....

....and a handful more satellites, this could turn into the ultimate CCTV. Soon you'll have to go indoors to commit any sort of crime. Claustrophobic murderers will soon be outed!

[Scott Mckenzie]

Great!

For the random bird who posts the naked webcam session of herself... we can all find out where she lives!

[Alex Hawdon]

Camera + GPS

Is anyone doing it yet? I love being able to rely on my digital camera's ability to remember when I took a photo, next I want to know *where*.

iPhone version 2 with 4+MP camera and GPS... we can dream.

(Everyone; for the love of Jehova please don't respond with any comments about how great/crap the iPhone is. Lets be better than that.)

[Sylvie-74]

Alternative

with Google Earth 4.2, it is also possible to open .kmz files

containing videos (Dailymotion, Youtube, Turnhere, GoogleVideo...) about specific topics.

As an example, here are the world capitals: http://www.venividiwiki.eu/kmz/Capitals-V1.0.kmz