Take a digital trip down the royal wedding route in Google's highly detailed new visualization of London.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LdjvZbYIR8
We're used to dazzlingly real computer generated worlds in Hollywood blockbusters, but now Google is starting to bring us 3D digitally mapped versions of our own cities to play around with. They've decided to start with London in anticipation of the royal wedding in April and released this video to show off the technology coming soon to a city near you.
See the "royal's eye view" as a "camera" follows the wedding procession route around London past famous, 3D mapped, landmarks like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and Parliament.
This is made possible by new higher resolution satellite imagery and data from various government agencies including the NOAA and NASA. The level of detail is downright striking, though, as always, natural objects prove a tougher nut to replicate. The trees come off far less real than the buildings in the video above. It's not for lack of trying, though. Google says it planted more than a dozen species of digital trees that actually live in London.
See closeups on Google's Lat Long blog.
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