Google Versus Bing

Okay, I was worried for a moment, but the Google Earth overlay on the same Japanese IDP site worked as well as the Bing overlay and the detail was better. In fact, zooming in on Dunhuang left the historical map in the stratosphere and had breathtaking detail to spare. It is possible to zoom to individual buildings. I'll be looking for the Crescent Moon, the "Singing Sands" Oasis at this level.

It is interesting, however, that the 3D tools are not available in the embedded Google Earth window. They would be on Google Earth itself, but then the overlay may not be available. It would be, however, likely available via a *.kmz save and could be orthorectified fairly easily. So I would stick with Google over Bing at this point. But it is nice to have them both.

Silk Route: Historical Map Overlays

The International Dunhuang Project is really first-rate in its utilizing technology in the service of understanding ancient texts and cultures along the Silk Route, but it is especially to be commended for putting together some great maps and integrating those maps into Google/Earth/Google Maps and now Bing maps. Follow this link to a Japanese site (a part of the IDP) to see some browser-challenging overlays. When the link opens, look for the red boxes at the top. Clicking on one brings up an overlay from an older map together with a slider. You can control the transparency of the overlay with the slider. Be prepared for a delay for the slider to activate the change in transparency. Curiously, the Bing map seems to work better than the Google Earth overlay which I will put up next.

(The overlay detail is REALLY impressive. It appears fuzzy in the default view, but if you zoom in using the "+" button the overlay map is extremely detailed at the 1-mile resolution. And the "3D Beta" Bing option is awesome and works like a charm. With it you can rotate and tilt while still controlling the opacity of the overlay!)