NYC Goes 3-D In Google Earth

Posted by Eric Zeman, Dec 18, 2008 11:20 AM

The Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Earth team has been hard at work improving the 3-D map of New York City. The new renderings of the city, complete with buildings and textures, is nothing short of amazing.

Google Earth gets just a little bit cooler every time I use it. As someone who loves NYC, it is now downright incredible. According to the GearthBlog, Google Earth has a 3-D model of the majority of the buildings and skyscrapers in Manhattan. These aren't some clunky, blocky renderings. Rather, they are realistic representations of the buildings that include actual photos pasted onto the 3-D frameworks and even show detail such as brick textures.

Google didn't accomplish this all by itself. Others have pitched in, creating many of the 3-D models seen in the Google Earth view of NYC. If you're running Google Earth 4.3 and higher, you can actually fly around the city to get a better look. You can find out how to do that here.

In the meantime, look at the two pictures below. The first is the Google Earth representation of NYC in January 2007. The second is what it looks like now.