Embedding Multimedia in the new Google Earth!
NOTE: Version 4.2.0198, which fixed some bugs, apparently fixed the bug that allowed this trick to work. As of version 4.2 (released in late August of 2007) of the Windows version of Google Earth it is now possible to have multimedia right inside Google Earth! We can hope that the Google Earth Development team makes the capability universal for Apple and Linux computers, but for now, it is only working for the Windows OS. This new capability has me VERY excited over the educational potential! Plus with the ability to do .mp3 files, it adds a whole new dimension to Podcasts, making them 'geoCasts'! What this potential does is open up an incredible range of educational content and capabilities directly within Google Earth. From content that is made by educators and students, to public domain content such as can be found at the U.S. Library of Congress, to commercially available media content such as at Discovery Education's streaming, the new Google Earth supports many major multimedia formats. The file types that have been successfully tested by include .avi, .mpg, .mp3, .asf, .wmv and .swf. It works with any type of drive, from a CD or DVD, to a little pocket USB Flash drive, to a mapped network drive. The trick is that the path to the folder can't have any spaces in it, so you can't just have a folder on the Desktop since there are spaces in the name (Documents and Settings/Desktop/...). The How To: Embedding Windows Media Compliant Files (.mp3, .wmv, .asf, .mpg, .avi) - Movies and Audio Below is the basic code you will need to put in your placemark description windows (Create a placemark, or get 'Properties'' of an existing placemark). There are only a few things you need to change to get it to work, but you can fiddle with some of the
functions too if you wish. The red text items are the only things you need to change while the lavender ones are optional! If you have multimedia in a non Windows Media recognized format, like QuickTime or RealPlayer, the conversion utility 'Super' is a free, very powerful tool. Lavender text is optional settings you can change if you wish by making them either 'true' or 'false'
(Note for .mp3 files: change the height to 45 or 50 so only the controller shows) Still to try: RealPlayer Streaming and .rm video, Windows Media Streaming video (should work OK), Getting QuickTime to work so we can have QTVR and PodCasts in their native environment, other plug-ins that I can't think of right now like maybe the Sun Java and some of the neat VR ones that are minor players in the world of on-line multimedia, test DIVX with the Windows Media. Let me know what you get to work and I will post your results here!