3D City Maps or what Google Earth could only hope to be like
164 replies, posted
[b]Introduction[/b]
We've all been amazed by Google Maps and similar services and how they allowed us to view satellite imagery from our homes. A few years ago, Google added Streetview, which allowed us to navigate through cities all over the globe and view panoramic pictures of every few meters. Still, we don't really have the ability to view a city with as much freedom as we want to have, say a GTA-esque mode that allows us to interact with 3D models of entire cities. Google tried to accommodate for that by adding the ability to add SketchUp models of buildings to Google Earth and terrain maps were made for a select few cities around the globe.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/RWcYw.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/yptXM.png[/img]
[b]C3[/b]
Now, a company called C3 developed special equipment to capture buildings from up to 100 angles in a single second. All of the images are shot in 3D at a very high resolution, which means that depth information can be retrieved from them. After the 3D data has been extracted, they use a special piece of software to drape the color data over that and you get a 3D model of a building. They can easily do this for every building in a city, which essentially means that all it takes to turn a city into a 3D model, is to take photos of it. The resolution of this 3D model can be up to [b]8-12 cm per pixel[/b]. Since everything is automated, everything has the same detail and appropriate scale and the models will look a lot less "cartoony" and simple in the end. For capturing the footage, they actually use the same accurate tech as that used for targeting missiles.
Here is a little demo:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqtlGNtc58g[/media]
You can clearly see how much better everything fits and how much detail is available. Instead of looking like an overlay, it seamlessly integrates with the satellite imagery.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/IYuhK.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/C0Ykg.png[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/5QYmj.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/bJvj9.png[/img]
[b]Try it out yourself![/b]
Nokia is working together with C3 to bring these 3D maps to their "Ovi Maps" service. You can try it out yourself [url=http://maps.nokia.com/3D/]here[/url]! Just install the plugin, select a city you want to view and check it out!
-snip- basically i'm gay
Holy shit that is cool
First thing I'm going to do is look at my house
Holy shit, this is awesome. To think, some day we'll be able to take a game like GTA and import a city into it and have the game fill it with vehicles, high resolution textures and etc.
Very impressive. A step in the right direction for maps.
It would be fantastic if they added support for much smaller cities, but hopefully that will be added later on.
[QUOTE=green bandit;31300574]First thing I'm going to do is look at my house[/QUOTE]
If you're trying to find a small city, you won't have much luck.
[QUOTE=Quark:;31300654]If you're trying to find a small city, you won't have much luck.[/QUOTE]
Is Milwaukee too small?
Is there a way to type in a name of a town and go to it?
I wish you could search in 3d mode.
this map is too good.[img]http://snipurl.com/1y5xyn[/img]
[QUOTE=hunster;31301192]-snip-[/QUOTE]
Nice referral stashed in an image tag!
On the bottom left there is a list of all the cities that have 3d maps, use that.
Good move from Nokia.
My god this is sexy.
[img]http://gyazo.com/0881e7a2a63a8bad1f27ce2eb0d41ce9.png[/img]
[img]http://gyazo.com/1760d3d89d29b2548463691c8e04b030.png[/img]
detailed too.
well it's not perfect but it's still pretty neat I says.
now make a sim city game with this :v:
Oh jeeze, I can find all the places I went to on my Italy trip in fine detail. This is incredible.
Awesome it actually calls the Sears Tower by it's correct name not willis tower.
SimCity 5, but holy shit this is awesome!
Needs a flight simulator feature like in Google Earth.
[QUOTE=SilverHedgehog;31302177]Needs a flight simulator feature like in Google Earth.[/QUOTE]
And a time machine feature. Lets go back to 2001 shall we? :v:
Too soon? \/
This is incredible.. one step closer to see the entire world from your computer.
If you ever go to Barcelona, find this place, you will not regret.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/9f62p.jpg[/img]
Wow. I can hardly believe it's real.
Well, it's been nice knowing you google maps :v:
I hope Microsoft develops/buys/steals a similar technology. They are the only company that even cares about my city.
Whaaaaaaaat, they don't have philadelphia.
Hopefully google will buy it and integrate it into google earth and everything else
Where's New Orleans? :frown:
left 4 dead 2 poster in times square
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