Google Earth Thailand Stinks...

[greenwanderer108]

Some of you might remember some of my complaints a year ago (out of all the many I had ) regarding the unreliability and inaccuracy of Google Earth regarding its Thailand database...

Sure it was cool to see in detail roughly 10 percent of the country even if it was a few years outdated....but what ticked me off the most was the lack of professionalism with such a big name affiliated program...even after all my formal complaints to Google directly and these nim-nuts at Thai google earth who are so full of themselves promoting how-to google earth seminars, absolutely nothing has improved.... Koh Samed is still labled Koh Samui, Nakorn Chai Sri district of Nakorn Pathom is still marked Nontaburi, Ratchburi is marked in some rural rice field far from the banks of the Mae Klong as it truly exists...etc. etc. etc...

So I finally got fed up and politely cursed them (Thai Google Earth team) out in Thai in reply to one of their 'how to' business seminar emails telling them something along the lines that an astronaught needs a working spaceship before he/she can travel to the stars....

And what do you know, just found out about www.pointasia.com

Same interface, more tools, more accurate and precise (but just for Thailand) which I believe they claim to cover more than 80 percent of thailand at high resolution (compared to google earth's 10 percent) within the cities a yearly update, and in the rural areas 3-5 updates per year as for the imagery... gradually implementing 3-d imagery apparently (similar to the USA database of Google Earth)

looks and sounds like great news for us visual geeks, but unfortunately I'm on Radio Packets which is crap for streaming and it seems to streem even slower than Google Earth, so can't really test to see if it's as good as it sounds...

Someone on a stable high speed connection, please confirm whether it's as good as it sounds...looks like the Thai IT trend setters are eatin it up anyway...

cheers !

[Cool Water Palace]

Took a look at website.

Is there an English option coming? And Mac version? That's my problem with Google Earth, only ok for latest version of mac OS

[lung]

they have censor google-maps all time because this

...thai-style...

[daveh]

Sure it was cool to see in detail roughly 10 percent of the country even if it was a few years outdated....but what ticked me off the most was the lack of professionalism with such a big name affiliated program...even after all my formal complaints to Google directly and these nim-nuts at Thai google earth who are so full of themselves promoting how-to google earth seminars, absolutely nothing has improved.... Koh Samed is still labled Koh Samui, Nakorn Chai Sri district of Nakorn Pathom is still marked Nontaburi, Ratchburi is marked in some rural rice field far from the banks of the Mae Klong as it truly exists...etc. etc. etc...

So I finally got fed up and politely cursed them (Thai Google Earth team) out in Thai in reply to one of their 'how to' business seminar emails telling them something along the lines that an astronaught needs a working spaceship before he/she can travel to the stars....

Cursing Thai Google Earth team does nothing. They are not related to google.com. Out of curiosity, what email address did you use to send your corrections directly to Google.

[ArtfulD]

Trying to download it in the UK and only getting 2.5k per sec atm gonna take 30 min for 4 meg file

[mittheimp]

Google earth is free and the programme (despite one or two inaccuracies) is generally amazing - to say it stinks is very very harsh!

It has of course also enabled the most entertaining thread on Thai visa!

[Thaddeus]

Took a look at website.

Is there an English option coming? And Mac version? That's my problem with Google Earth, only ok for latest version of mac OS

I knew that I couldn't be the only one

[Tyfon]

Persistence is the key here...

Took a few attempts to download the application, but once it arrived it installed in English and seemed to run okay.

You have to enter a user-name and password when the program first runs... the link in the program doesn't work (!), so back to the home page and click register on the left menu.

The reg. form is in Thai and looks daunting, but with a little help from the Thai-language.com dictionary and the fact that the form error messages are in English I identified the required fields (top to bottom, right to left) as:

First yellow: Your nickname : press the Check button to see if it's taken. If someone beat you to it you get "ขออภัยชื่อนี้มีผู้ลงทะเบียนแล้ว กรุณาเปลี่ยนชื่อใหม่", if it's okay you get "ชื่อนี้ยังไม่มีผู้ใช้ สามารถลงทะเบียนได้". Note this is not used as a user-name in the application itself, rather the email address is used.

Second yellow: Your email address.

Third yellow: Confirm your email.

Fourth yellow: Your first name.

Fifth yellow: Your surname.

Fourth blue (โทร): Telephone number (it accepted a +44 (UK) number)

Everything else seems optional - Submit -> "ขณะนี้ PointAsia.com ได้รับข้อมูลของท่านเรียบร้อยแล้ว

กรุณาตรวจสอบรหัสผู้ใช้ใน e-mail ของท่านเพื่อทำการ Log in เข้าสู่ระบบ" which seems to mean "We have your details, check your email for your password and use it to log in."

I then waited for about twenty minutes (typing this on other jobs), but no email. Eventually I pressed the "Forgot Password" button in the application itself, entered the email address I had put in the form and got a reply with password within a minute.

NOTE: the user-name in the application is not the nickname from the form, but the email address you used to register.

Anyway that worked and I got presented with a familiar globe a'la Google Earth, but default centred on LOS 8^).

I'm using a wireless Internet broadband at 256kb from my boat here in the UK. The system is very much slower than Google and there is no real progress (%) indicator, so you think initially it doesn't work - eventually you get a data speed indication in the top right along with the lat/long.

There's a control widget in the bottom left and if you click the plus sign at about 10-o'clock on the compass you get zoom controls amongst other things - no clicking on the map to zoom-in/out. Position the map with the mouse and use the red slider to zoom-in/out.

On the plus side I went straight to Patong Beach and the image is infinitely better than Google. Looking forward to reports from other regions of LOS.

I'll post some screen-shots in a few minutes to demonstrate...

Edited September 7, 2006 by Tyfon

[Tyfon]

1) Opening Screen (post-login).

2) Bangla Road, Patong Beach, Phuket at 700m.

3) GoogleEarth, Patong Beach at 700m.

[mittheimp]

phuket town - google earth about 700 metres.

[agsnowdon]

got it all downloaded but waiting on my thai partner to run me through the search faclilty as when i type our village in English it don't want to go there.

You can scroll in on the globe with the scroll button on your mouse and there is a hot key menu to open wich will be worth a look in the morning to tired for looking at my house when I can go outside lol.

Will update tomrrow.

Ash

[Thaddeus]

Persistence is the key here...

Took a few attempts to download the application, but once it arrived it installed in English and seemed to run okay.

You have to enter a user-name and password when the program first runs... the link in the program doesn't work (!), so back to the home page and click register on the left menu.

The reg. form is in Thai and looks daunting, but with a little help from the Thai-language.com dictionary and the fact that the form error messages are in English I identified the required fields (top to bottom, right to left) as:

First yellow: Your nickname : press the Check button to see if it's taken. If someone beat you to it you get "??????????????????????????????? ????????????????????", if it's okay you get "????????????????????? ??????????????????". Note this is not used as a user-name in the application itself, rather the email address is used.

Second yellow: Your email address.

Third yellow: Confirm your email.

Fourth yellow: Your first name.

Fifth yellow: Your surname.

Fourth blue (???): Telephone number (it accepted a +44 (UK) number)

Everything else seems optional - Submit -> "?????? PointAsia.com ????????????????????????????????

???????????????????????? e-mail ????????????????? Log in ???????????" which seems to mean "We have your details, check your email for your password and use it to log in."

I then waited for about twenty minutes (typing this on other jobs), but no email. Eventually I pressed the "Forgot Password" button in the application itself, entered the email address I had put in the form and got a reply with password within a minute.

NOTE: the user-name in the application is not the nickname from the form, but the email address you used to register.

Anyway that worked and I got presented with a familiar globe a'la Google Earth, but default centred on LOS 8^).

I'm using a wireless Internet broadband at 256kb from my boat here in the UK. The system is very much slower than Google and there is no real progress (%) indicator, so you think initially it doesn't work - eventually you get a data speed indication in the top right along with the lat/long.

There's a control widget in the bottom left and if you click the plus sign at about 10-o'clock on the compass you get zoom controls amongst other things - no clicking on the map to zoom-in/out. Position the map with the mouse and use the red slider to zoom-in/out.

On the plus side I went straight to Patong Beach and the image is infinitely better than Google. Looking forward to reports from other regions of LOS.

I'll post some screen-shots in a few minutes to demonstrate...

Looks like a lot of effort is required to get a slightly better view of your roof..... maybe a ladder would be easier

[udon]

I don't have Tyfon's patience.

Could someone post large pics of Ao Nang & Krabi from various heights?

Cheers

PS. this is interesting: http://www.sisea.com/index_en.html

Edited September 7, 2006 by udon

[NewGuy]

Thanks Tyfon, I'm submitting now. Excellent work!