is it possible to display 3D data in Google Maps o

Question

I'm trying to find an effective way to visualise feedback from some real-world sensors measuring wind speeds at various heights. Does anyone know if it's feasible to display 3D data in google maps?

I was imagining 3D arrows indicating direction and wind speed. If it's possible to load a model and position it to a particular GPS position / elevation and then change its orientation to point to a particular azimuth / elevation what could work.

Another alternative I was considering would be to create an image for each height and display the arrow by scaling / rotating the disk. The documentation suggests you could do a single layer at ground level with an overlay but doesn't make any mention of pulling those images up into the air.

I've played with google maps before, but not Google earth. Just trying to get a feel for what might be possible here. Has anyone tried anything like this?

Answer 1

Google maps is 2d and as such does not support 3d objects, things are located via a latitude and longitude only. However, you could easily create a '3d looking' image and incorporate it in to a map using the maps Api.

Google earth is 3d (latitude, longitude, altitude) and supports models and geometries loaded via kmz archives or constructed via the Api. It is fairly trivial to include using either method.

The reason you see no mention of 'pulling those images up into the air' in the doc you reference is because the document covers 'ground overlays' - so they are fixed to the ground...

Anyhow, take a look at the geometries and models section in the google earth api - should be exactly what you need.

http://code.google.com/apis/earth/documentation/geometries.html

http://earth-api-samples.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/examples/model.html