Using Earth-Google for realistic layout design

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

What do you think of this great tool?

2

Heck, yes it is.

Google earth is so cool.

Between Google Earth and driving around in my car, I was able to do some serious “figuring out where things used to be 50 years ago” in my head around the prototype I’m going to be modeling.

Crazy stuff.

Careful, it’s addicting. Before you know it, you’ll be logged onto Google Earth for several hours.

3

I was the same way, when I got google earth I was playing around with it for hours. Its so cool I can see my house

Jeremy

4

this looks fun!!!
wheeee!

5

Question: I cannot get the same resolution you are getting. When I zoom down I get a ‘blur’ mess. Strange, as my monitor is a 20" screen with 1280x1024/24 bit res. Are there any otner seetings to get the resolution I see in the first post?

Jim

6

I love it.

*

Of course, since I’m mostly freelancing right now, it’s mainly a good reference of general principles for building yards, etc.

Brian Pickering

  • Hope this doesn’t get me on an FBI watchlist…
7

It seems some areas are higher resolution than others. Sometimes you can “travel” 10 miles either direction, and notice the resolution increase. Bummer, the city I live in happens to not be as high resolution either. But if I go a few miles in either direction, it is higher resolution.

8

From the FAQ at: http://earth.google.com/faq.html

So, some areas just aren’t lucky, and the imagery is of lower resolution. If you’re not in a “major NA/Europe city”, you’ll be out of luck.

Brian Pickering

9

I love google earth, but my house in in a low res area. AAAARRRRRGFGGGGGHHHGGHGHGHGht!!! Oh well, it’s still an interesting tool.

10

I have been using it to research the BNSF Cherokee sub in the Tulsa area and it has turned out to be a very usefull tool. I am modeling the line between Afton Oklahoma and Tulsa Oklahoma. I finally found the AEP powerplant spur and a large petroleum processing plant I have been searching for. I can’t tell you how many gallons of gas I wasted, I even have the toppo maps for this area and neither of these spurs were shown.

So yes it is a great tool…no for selective compression…

Mike in Tulsa

11

You should check out the New Orleans area and see the mess down there!! Yechhhhh!

12

Its amazing, jrbernier you might not be in the right area, when I looked for my house and school they were fairly blury, but when I looked in a big city (chicago, philadelphia) they were very clear even when I zoomed in very close. I doubt it is your monitor
Hope that helps
Andrew

13

Wow, these google guys must be working day and night. I just looked at my city (Ventura, CA), and now it’s higher res than it was just a few days ago. Whooo whoooo!

(pardon me while I go waste 1/2 hour playing around on this…)

14

Thanks for the info, I was not awarrie that you could look at the earth that way. I have followed the hurricans with the NASA satillites, but did not know i could look this close, specially at the railroads in my area. Wanted to see all the tracks and sidings in the port area of Wilmington, but am unable to get in the port and look around. This helps out alot with the new lay out design.

15

I’m blown away - what a great tool. WOW [tup]

16

Where are those from?