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Google Earth [solved]


AussieJohn
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No rude replys please. :D

I have downloaded the GoogleEarth.bin file for Linux. I cannot find from their site where to and how to install this package The web site is the next best thing to total uselessness that I have come across. It reminds me of Microsoft.

I hope someone here has the answer because I do not want to spend any more time on this than I already have since it is not an important project to me.

 

Cheers. John.

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Thanks Coverup. That worked so I have made a detailed note of it for the future.

Now don't you think they (Google) could have said that on their website for everyone to Know ???. Makes you wonder sometimes doesn't it ???.

 

Cheers. John

 

I almost forgot to thank you too Uralmasha.

Thanks. John.

Edited by AussieJohn
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Cool, I didn't know this was out for linux yet! :thumbs: Have you tried it out yet, does it work well under linux?

It installs and runs fine, but there is a couple of things to note.

 

1. If you connect to the internet via proxy, you have to define the proxy using the environment variable http_proxy, as described in the README file before you run googlearth.

 

2. It does not integrate with KDE properly. On my system, the menu entries did nor show on the menu list.

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I'm not worried about it not showing up in the Menu. I have a link in /John which is my home account and I give it a simple click and it is up and running. The link was placed there at my choice during install.

The images are quite suprisingly sharp but for Australia, even Sydney, the images are 3 or 4 years old.

 

Using the mouse wheel enables zoom in/out but in large impractical steps. Double clicking the mouse at a point will cause a slow steady zoom in and you stop it by a single click. To zoom out is a little different....... hold the right clik of your mouse and push towards the centre. You soon get the gist of it.

 

I have been able to pick out exactly the place I am living in now even to the point of being able to see my adjacent unit neighbours job trailer out front in its usual spot. I am sure the USA images will be the best and probably a lot of Europes as well.

 

Worth it and I think you will enjoy it.

 

Cheers. John.

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Doesn't seem to recognise the ATI drivers so OpenGL runs as software acceleration only on my machine. Which makes the software almost useless. Hopefully that'll be fixed when it comes out of beta.

 

I really enjoyed playing around with Google Earth on my Mac, I'm sure those that can get it to work will have fun.

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Now don't you think they (Google) could have said that on their website for everyone to Know ???. Makes you wonder sometimes doesn't it ???.

Ok, before I say what I'm about to say, please don't take it as me commenting on your intelligence or anything (because sometimes people take it that way - and that's not what I'm saying). Basically: this isn't meant to be rude ;)

 

.bin is a pretty common file format in Linux, it's actually a shell script of sorts - which is why you can run it with sh [filename]. Chances are Google made the all-to-common mistake of assuming people are familiar with the file type and how to run it. At the same time, double-clicking on it in your file browser should have given you the option to run it (or should have run it automatically), but then maybe Mandriva isn't set up the way :unsure:

 

2. It does not integrate with KDE properly. On my system, the menu entries did nor show on the menu list.

I don't think it's meant to...it didn't add a menu entry in GNOME for me either, and I don't remember seeing an option to tell it to install a menu entry in the installer. Maybe I missed it.

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There is no option to do so that I saw, but as it is doing its thing, you see it "Adding menu item....blahblah..."

 

John, for what its worth, the images from my city, USA are at least a year old.

I noticed immediately that there is a vacant lot (where they had torn down a gas station) which had stood empty for at least a year and there is now a Guthrie's chicken finger restaurant there that has been there for a year.

With more investigation, I could probably pinpoint a more exact age.

 

Pity that the software requires an active internet connection...it would be awesome to use the 'directions to...' feature on my laptop while delivering pizza. Nice to have a map with landmarks and landscape visible with more accurate road placement. Just as well, though, because it has to use software acceleration on my crappy Trident Blade3D on the laptop and running it drives my CPU temp through the roof. Hmmmmm....wonder if I could just print out several sheets and use them as my map.

Edited by Steve Scrimpshire
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John, for what its worth, the images from my city, USA are at least a year old.

I noticed immediately that there is a vacant lot (where they had torn down a gas station) which had stood empty for at least a year and there is now a Guthrie's chicken finger restaurant there that has been there for a year.

With more investigation, I could probably pinpoint a more exact age.

The age of some of the images is simply a result of satellite paths and some other factors; such as the fact that while google can pay to get high resolution images, it'd only be worth it for the more popular areas - big cities such as New York, Paris, London, Sydney, etc. have some good resolution images.

 

I can't even make out my parents house, or the streets nearby (except the highways): 39°54'53.21"N 77°36'18.65"W

But, I can make out my old townhouse (which I moved out of a few weeks ago): 40°11'55.39"N 76°43'9.65"W

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2. It does not integrate with KDE properly. On my system, the menu entries did nor show on the menu list.

I don't think it's meant to...it didn't add a menu entry in GNOME for me either, and I don't remember seeing an option to tell it to install a menu entry in the installer. Maybe I missed it.

From README:

DESKTOP INTEGRATION:

 

Some systems may require the user to log out and restart before Google Earth

will appear in their Applications/Internet menu. Some may also explicitly

need the user to tell the file manager to open a .kml file in Google Earth

before it will make the connection, fixing other apps like Firefox all at

once. We are still researching why this happens to some users and not others.

 

Desktops that don't follow the freedesktop.org standards will not

install an icon in the Applications menu. This will happen on older

distributions. In these cases, the user may be able to install icons and

associations manually. Refer to your GNU/Linux distribution vendor for

details on how to customize your desktop.

Does KDE follow the freedesktop.org standards?

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I've got it installed on my system and for me it really doesn't work at all. It will come up and run, but when I try to zoom in, I get a really messed up map with black spots and the likes. I know the vid card is working with 3D because I can play Wolfenstein ET just fine. Not sure whats going on with my system.

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