Sunday, September 2, 2007 |
00:01 - Return to Meigs Field
http://earth.google.com/intl/en/userguide/v4/flightsim/index.html
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Several people have pointed this out: Google Earth now has a flight simulator mode.
I remember back in the early days of Google Earth, when "flight mode" was just a wacky alternative control/viewing mode that let you bank and move at a constant speed and such. Seems they've taken the obvious next step and added all the physics-engine stuff necessary to turn it into a flight-sim that's a bit visually primitive and lacking in such amenities as cockpit visuals, sounds, radio communication, procedures, and all those little dorky bits, but has the immeasurable benefit of the worldwide high-res landscape content of Google Earth. In terms of actually simulating the experience of being in a fighter jet or a Cessna 172, it's about on a par with Microsoft Flight Simulator circa 1995. But insofar as a flight sim is about the world around you and not the intricacies of flipping cockpit switches and exchanging messages with the tower and plugging your ears against the MKR BCN sirens, this is far superior to anything that's called itself a "flight sim" to date.
'Course, I still prefer the normal Google Earth browsing mode, augmented with the joy that is the 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator controller; it is, in fact, what I spent the last twenty years wishing every flight simulator actually was (I was always less interested in the simulated plane aspect than in the aerial exploration aspect). But having this mode available is like having a framed, gold-plated plaque on the wall to remind me of just how much Google Earth rocks: they can surpass the wildest of my childhood expectations, as an afterthought.
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