Category: google earth vr

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Google Earth VR Update bringt Street View Option

Die VR-Erfahrung Google Earth VR für Oculus Rift und HTC Vive erhielt ein großes Update, das die Street-View-Option in die App integriert. Dadurch wird nicht nur die Ansicht der verschiedenen Orte detaillierter, sondern auch die Immersion verbessert sich massiv.

Google Earth VR – Neues Update für die immersive Tour durch die Welt

Google Earth VR ist eine interessante VR-Erfahrung, die es euch ermöglicht, um die komplette Welt zu reisen und spannende Orte zu erkunden. Dabei werden dem Anwender keine Grenzen gesetzt und er kann sich voll und ganz seinem Entdeckerdrang hingeben. Ihr habt die Wahl, ob die Reise zu den Pyramiden von Gizeh nach Ägypten oder zum Machu Picchu nach Peru gehen soll. Per Auswahl reist ihr zu den schönsten Orten der Welt und bewegt euch rasend schnell per Flug dorthin. Am gewünschten Ort angekommen, könnt ihr die Gegenden dann zu Fuß betrachten.

Nun erschien ein neues Update für die VR-App, welches die bekannte Google-Street-View-Option implementiert. Dies ermöglicht eine noch detailliertere und immersive Betrachtung der gewünschten Orte, denn dadurch könnt ihr euch bis auf Straßenhöhe begeben. Dafür taucht ihr einfach in eines der immersiven 360-Grad-Fotos ein. Die Street-View-Bilder wurden für insgesamt 85 Länder eingeführt. Zur Auswahl fliegt ihr einfach näher an euren gewählten Ort und checkt per Controllerklick, ob die neue Option auswählbar ist.

Google-Earth-VR

Google präsentiert auch direkt einige ausgewählte Orte, um die neue Funktion zu testen: Entweder man reist zum AT&T Park, einem Baseball-Stadion in San Francisco oder nach Old Port in Kroatien. Dort können Fans der Serie Game of Thrones nämlich das bekannte Kings Landing einmal in echt begutachten.

Neben der neuen Funktion enthielt das Update zudem einige kleine Verbesserungen zum schnelleren Start des Programms sowie diverse Tutorial-Verbesserungen und eine experimentelle Option der Größenanpassung auf menschliche Höhe. Aktiviert man diese neue Option, so passt die App die Umgebung an eure Größe an.

Google Earth VR ist kostenlos für Oculus Rift und HTC Vive auf Steam und im Oculus Store erhältlich.

(Quellen: Steam | Video: Google Youtube)

Der Beitrag Google Earth VR Update bringt Street View Option zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

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Google’s Massive Street View Library Now Available in ‘Google Earth VR’

Today Google has launched an update to Google Earth VR which brings the company’s huge library of street-level imagery into the application which lets users immersively explore the entire globe.

Google Earth VR is a stunning VR experience which we called “a breathtaking new way to know our planet,” back when it launched in late 2016. Now the application, which is available on both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, is getting even better thanks to the addition of Street View browsing.

Google Earth VR lets you fly from an overview of the entire Earth right down to a block-scale view, letting you see actual geometry of buildings and more (in places where available), but when you zoom all the way down to human-scale, that geometry isn’t particularly precise. Now with the latest update to Google Earth VR you can flip to Street View imagery, which lets you see actual street-level photos captured by Google’s fleet of Street View cameras in 85 countries. In addition to Google-captured imagery, you’ll also be able to see 360 geo-tagged photos captured by users (same as you can see on Google Maps).

In Google Earth VR when you zoom down near street-level you’ll be able to see a floating photosphere above your controller if Street View imagery is available for that region. Just hold the sphere up to your head to dive into the closeup view. It’s a cool new feature, but we’ve still got our fingers crossed for multi-user support for cooperative exploration.

Google Earth VR is free for both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, and if you have neither of those systems, you can immersively view Street View imagery through the Street View app on Daydream (Android) or Cardboard (Android & iPhone).

The post Google’s Massive Street View Library Now Available in ‘Google Earth VR’ appeared first on Road to VR.

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100 Year Old Man Flies A Plane Again With VR

A well-crafted virtual reality (VR) experience should affect the user in some way. The immersive nature of VR means that everything is much more immediate, more real. So a VR experience has great capacity to make you scared, or sad, or tug at the heartstrings, as is the case with the experience of Lyle Becker.

Becker is 100 years old. He flew planes during World War II, and spent a further 25 years after the war working as a commercial pilot. Intel offered the centenarian a unique opportunity to come to the Intel VR lab in Hillsboro, Oregon to try out a special VR experience.

First of all, the team at Intel put Becker in a HTC Vive headset and offered him the chance to swim with jellyfish in the ocean depths, and visit Florence, Italy and US landmark Devil’s Rock using Google Earth VR.

Becker was then brought to a flight simulator cockpit set-up and fired up Aerofly’s VR Flight Simulator, where Becker was able to use his decades of flying experience to pilot a single-engine plane. “Feels like the real thing,” A delighted Becker said as he operated the controls, “That’s amazing.”

Becker said he hoped to be able to test untethered VR technology soon “All this development in technology is mind-blowing. Of course, I don’t have that much time to wait, so get going.” He said, with a smile.

You can view the full video below.

VRFocus will continue to report on new developments in VR technology.

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‘Google Earth VR’ Lets You Experience the Total Solar Eclipse Right Now

Whether or not you’re in the narrow band of ‘solar eclipse totality’ that’s making its way across the continental United States on Monday, August 21st, Google Earth VR has seen a recent update that will let you experience the rare event from the comfort of your own HTC Vive or Oculus Rift.

Released in an August 12th update, Google has added a new menu function that lets you activate Monday’s total solar eclipse, which can be seen as it passed through 14 US states: Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

image courtesy NASA

You can navigate to the solar eclipse mode through the destinations menu, which plops you in a default area in rural Oregon. Sitting under an already blotted-out Sun, you can use the same point-and-drag tool that lets you rotate the world—making it seem like you’re dragging the fiery, life-giving ball itself—so you can control the actual moment when the Moon blocks out its light. Because not everyone is getting an eye-full of the total eclipse, this is a great opportunity to see it in an impressively accurate simulation of the world, albeit without the risk of burning out your retinas.

Also, not everyone is going to be exactly in the narrow band that stalks across the US, so if you want to get a quick preview of your local area, you need but blast off from the globe and navigate to your hometown for a look at whatever partial eclipse you may have. From a much greater, space-bound vantage point, you can also get a chance to see the ominous dark spot meander across North America in a way otherwise impractical outside of VR.

There’s no word how long the solar eclipse function will be available, but we suspect it may be wiped away in a short time after the actual solar eclipse.

‘Google Earth VR’ on Oculus Store

‘Google Earth VR’ on Steam

NASA’s Safety Guidelines for Solar Eclipse Viewing:

  • Always inspect your solar filter before use; if scratched or damaged, discard it. Read and follow any instructions printed on or packaged with the filter.
  • Always supervise children using solar filters.
  • Stand still and cover your eyes with your eclipse glasses or solar viewer before looking up at the bright sun. After looking at the sun, turn away and remove your filter — do not remove it while looking at the sun.
  • Do not look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun through an unfiltered camera, telescope, binoculars, or other optical device.
  • Similarly, do not look at the sun through a camera, a telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while using your eclipse glasses or hand-held solar viewer — the concentrated solar rays will damage the filter and enter your eye(s), causing serious injury.
  • Seek expert advice from an astronomer before using a solar filter with a camera, a telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device. Note that solar filters must be attached to the front of any telescope, binoculars, camera lens, or other optics.
  • If you are within the path of totality, remove your solar filter only when the moon completely covers the sun’s bright face and it suddenly gets quite dark. Experience totality, then, as soon as the bright sun begins to reappear, replace your solar viewer to look at the remaining partial phases.
  • Outside the path of totality, you must always use a safe solar filter to view the sun directly.
  • If you normally wear eyeglasses, keep them on. Put your eclipse glasses on over them, or hold your handheld viewer in front of them.

The post ‘Google Earth VR’ Lets You Experience the Total Solar Eclipse Right Now appeared first on Road to VR.

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Using Google Earth VR to Study Awe – Towards a Virtual Overview Effect

denise-quesnelOne of the unique affordances of virtual reality is its power to convey the vastness of scale, which can invoke feelings of awe. Denise Quesnel is a graduate student at Simon Frasier University’s iSpace Lab, and she has been studying the process of invoking awe using Google Earth VR. She was inspired by Frank White’s work on The Overview Effect, which documented the worldview transformations of many astronauts after they observed the vastness of the Earth from the perspective of space.

LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF VR PODCAST

Quesnel wants to better understand the Overview Effect phenomenon, and whether or not it’s possible to use immersive VR to induce it. Anecdotally, I think that it’s certainly possible as I reported my own experience of having a virtual overview effect in my interview with Google Earth VR engineers. Quesnel won the best 3DUI poster award at the IEEE VR conference for her study Awestruck: Natural Interaction with Virtual Reality on Eliciting Awe.

I had a chance to catch up with Quesnel at the IEEE VR conference in March where she shared her research into awe, how it can be quantified by verbal expressions, chills, or goosebumps, and how she sees awe as a catalyst for the transformative potential of virtual reality.

Here’s a short video summarizing Quesnel’s research into using Google Earth VR to study the induction of awe:

Here’s Quesnel’s poster on Awe summarizing results:
Quesnel-Awe

Support Voices of VR

Music: Fatality & Summer Trip

The post Using Google Earth VR to Study Awe – Towards a Virtual Overview Effect appeared first on Road to VR.

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Fly Around the World with Google Earth VR

Google Earth VR has been officially launched by Google’s Geo team – and it is for free. The technology is currently available for anyone who wishes to fly around the world. You will even have a full view of Mount Everest from above or climb it virtually from below.

The Project

The Google Earth VR serves as a ticket to anywhere. Google’s Geo team was responsible for Google Maps and Google Earth. The team has been collecting massive amounts of visual data from all over the world for many decades. The time is now to experience the fruits of their labor and share it to the masses for free.

“94 percent of the world’s population is covered in this experience. 54 percent of the Earth’s landmass is covered. There are around 175 cities with full, 3D data, and over 600 ‘urban cores’ as well,” says Mike Podwal, Google Earth VR’s project manager. Anyone can immerse in the Google Earth VR using the HTC Vive VR headset.

How It Works

The journey begins from outer space with a view of the earth. Them the user can rotate the globe and choose a spot. From there, the user may zoom in. After a few minutes, the user is able to navigate through the area. For instance, if he landed on Africa, he is able to hover around from a few hundred feet above the ground.

A menu can also be pulled up so the user can instantly choose which specific place he wants to visit virtually. Using the Vive controller, the user is able to explore places from left to right and above or on the ground. The possibilities are endless.

The mechanism used in Google Earth VR is flight, so the user will have a sort of drone camera POV.

The Pleasure of Freedom

What users will experience using Google Earth VR is the pleasure of being free, seemingly flying around the world. It provides a great immersive experience that the users claim they forgot they are in one stationery place – at least physically.

Compatibility

As of the moment, the technology is compatible only with HTC Vive. Dominik Kaeser, the team’s engineering lead, says they are working on compatibility and connectivity mode with other wearables such as Oculus Rift.

What to Expect

Podwal and Kaeser both claim that the discovery of Google Earth VR is accidental, but they are finding ways to make this an even more immersive and interactive experience for users. In addition, they are pushing for more innovative ideas that is accessible for free – for all.

The post Fly Around the World with Google Earth VR appeared first on Infinityleap - Technology stops for no one..

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Google Earth VR Lands on Oculus Rift

Last week tech giant Google teased that there would be a big announcement about a new Google Earth experience which would be launched at an event that would line up with Earth Day. Google has now revealed what the update will entail.

Google Earth VR has been available for users of the HTC Vive since last year, allowing them to fly over the landscape and visit magnificent landmarks such as the Grand Canyon or Tower of London. The new update is introducing more locations to visit and look around, such as Table Mountain in South Africa, or Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, which was the inspiration behind the castle in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. There are 27 new locations to be visited, and from now on, Oculus Rift users will be able to visit them as well.

Oculus Rift users have been able to use Google Earth VR before with the use of some clever tricks, but now the platform will be fully supported, along with support for Oculus Touch.

That isn’t all that has been introduced in the new update, however. For the first time it will be possible to search for the location you wish to travel to. A floating virtual keyboard will allow Google Earth VR users to type in a desired location, by specific address or just location name and then quickly travel there without needing to make repeated adjustments to try and find the exact spot you were after.

The updated version of Google Earth VR is available now, for free on both the Oculus Store and on Steam.

VRFocus will bring you information on other updates to Google Earth VR when they become available.

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Google Earth VR für Oculus Rift erschienen

Mit Google Earth VR hatte Google vor wenigen Monaten eine Anwendung auf Steam veröffentlicht, welche euch die Erde in der Virtual Reality erkunden lässt. Bei dieser Erkundung entwickelt ihr sogar Superkräfte, denn ihr fliegt natürlich um den Globus. Bisher deckte die Anwendung aber nur einen Support für die HTC Vive ab und Oculus Rift Nutzer konnten nur über Umwege in die Erfahrung eintauchen. Dies hat sich mit dem heutigen Tag geändert, denn Google Earth VR bietet jetzt auch eine Unterstützung für die Oculus Rift und die Oculus Touch Controller an.

Google Earth VR für Oculus Rift und weitere Updates

Neben dem Support für die Oculus Rift und den Oculus Touch Controllern hat Google der Anwendung nun auch eine einfache Möglichkeit spendiert, um Suchbegriffe einzugeben. Außerdem gibt es 27 neue Locations, die als 3D-Nachbildungen verfügbar sind. Unter anderem kann jetzt auch das Schloss Neuschwanstein in Deutschland besucht werden.

Google Earth VR steht weiterhin kostenlos auf Steam bereit und kann hier heruntergeladen werden. Die Steam-Seite zeigt jedoch den Support für die Oculus Rift noch nicht an.  Dafür findet ihr die Anwendung aber ebenso im Oculus Store und dort sollte der Support definitiv gegeben sein.

Wir wünschen viel Spaß und freuen uns über einen virtuellen Besuch in Hamburg!

Der Beitrag Google Earth VR für Oculus Rift erschienen zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!