This is pretty cool. A getting together of Google Earth and Second Life to make ‘Second Earth’, located on (above?) the SciLands virtual continent, which I stumbled across while checking out a SciLands event this weekend.
Essentially it’s a way to represent 3D data in Second Life, with the vertical scale exaggerated. Explanatory video here plus a couple of my own InWorld pics.
Second Earth - A mash-up of GoogleEarth and Second Life
UK on Second Earth - Looking a bit flat?
Presumably it’s therefore possible to map the entire Google Earth contour data set into Second Life or a similar virtual world. And, it follows that, when our avatars are sufficiently programmed up with our personalities and such like, we can just set the thing running and jump into a hole in the ground with some sleeping tablets. Matrix here we come – yeh!
I’m getting cynical. Must be February.
Since the mid 1980s, I've worked in university and industrial research, as a manager and editor in technology and environment for an international industry association, and held senior business development, strategy, and procurement posts in industry. I hold a PhD in chemical engineering from Birmingham University, an MBA from Warwick University Business School, and an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College. In 2008, I left industry to focus full-time on my passion for science and technology, and to share that enthusiasm with others as a freelance science communicator. I live in London with my wife Erin.
Contact me at timjones(at)communicatescience.com or through the tab above.
