• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

FSX GE View: Google Earth viewer for FSX thru P3D v3

Hi Guys
Downloaded pale moon and its working great thank you. Sad to think that come December it will cease to work at all:( I really enjoy using GE view around my home town and country and even at low level flight its fantastic scenery in my option

Cheers
Rhys
 
Roman,

I have not been following that AVSIM thread for a while. Lots to catch up on, I see.

Perhaps this is what Robbie was hinting at when he showed me his oculus rift stuff here in Bangkok last January. See my first post above, "Further work will await commercial release of the Oculus Rift VR headset and/or advancements in how the Google earth browser plug-in is implemented."

I don't understand the implications regarding Google's decision with the GE browser plug-in. I need to ask Robbie. He's a Google software engineer in Mt. View, California. Robbie's not on the Earth team, but I'm sure he can advise.

Bob
 
Last edited:
I do like the GE view plug in, I'm building a MD500e simulator and will be using two short throw projectors for the external view Geview would look great on the big sgreen I reckon

Rhys
 
Roman, et. al.,

For a general comment about what's going on, please check here. Response #38.

Concerning the possibility of using GE View with Google earth desktop client:

Yeah, we're killing the plugin. It's unfortunate, but it makes sense since the API plugins use is insecure and extremely outdated. I'm a bit surprised there's not a replacement ready, but I can't really comment beyond that. I found this post though, which says in Chrome you can go to chrome://flags/#enable-npapi to enable plugins, but that will stop working eventually. Long term we'll have to find something other than Earth, or wait until Google releases a replacement for the earth plugin or updates the maps api to support 3d. Someone on the (AVSIM) forum had mentioned using the standalone earth app, which should work. We can't use it for oculus since you can't start multiple instance of earth at the same time, but I should be able to get it working for the regular mode. I'll probably have to write a separate program that can talk to the httpx module and handle requests from google earth. Once fsx/httpx and this earth proxy program are running, you open a special kml file in earth which will tell it to talk to the proxy program. I've done something like this before; it's possible, but the plugin was much more convenient :( Robbie

Bob
 
Last edited:
I just tested Robbie's beta version of GE View which uses Google Earth desktop client rather than the Earth web browser plugin. Simple to use and it works fine. When Google kills the Earth plug-in this coming December, we will still be able view Google Earth as FS flies as long as Google Earth desktop client has been downloaded and installed.

It should be released soon.

Bob
 
rpmc said:
I just tested Robbie's beta version of GE View which uses Google Earth desktop client rather than the Earth web browser plugin. Simple to use and it works fine. When Google kills the Earth plug-in this coming December, we will still be able view Google Earth as FS flies as long as Google Earth desktop client has been downloaded and installed.

It should be released soon.

Bob
Click to expand...
Great News Bob!!
I have stop flying since GE stopped working for me... I am sure i ll be back with this amazing contribution, i would say the best since now for VFRs!

Thank for you and Robbie and all contributors.
 
We will update the Google Earth View files for Earth desktop client before Google kills its Earth browser plugin in December. I expect Robbie will put them in his BlackBox website and I will post a notice when he does. Free downloads as always.

In the meantime, Robbie has been updating his "http.dll" module that will enable real-time (18 Hz) two-way communication between FS variables (A, C, E, L, M, P) and events (K) and a web browser. That's the design basis anyway - although I haven't talked to him about it in a while...

As well, I'm finishing the 3D rotation transforms that will allow a user to use the HAT button on a joystick to control the Google Earth camera view direction as the aircraft flies (at the moment, the only Google Earth view is straight forward, not left, right, etc).

Bob
 
Last edited:
Thanks Roman,

It might be fun to play around with the updated http.dll module that supports read-write between FS and a browser. For starters, however, I will still only use it to read the A:Vars that drive the Google Earth camera view. I can imagine a browser-based gps running on an iPad while FS flies but that's beyond my capabilities.

Marcin Lizer (WebSimConnect, see response #4 this thread) has some interesting things going - maybe he has already done something like that.

Bob
 
Last edited:
Marcin Lizer (WebSimConnect, see response #4 this thread) has some interesting things going - maybe he has already done something like that.
Click to expand...

Indeed, WebSimConnect HTTP/WS server provides duplex communication to read/write variables between FSX/P3D and the browser. It also allows the browser to listen to FSX events instead of periodically querying the server thanks to WebSockets protocol implemented in 1.2 version. That's a cool feature for cockpit builders using tablets as PFD/MFD. In fact I at some point of time I wanted to transfer the whole simconnect API into WebSockets protocol (keeping HTTP as well), however as I was busy with WebSimGauge and X-Plane support I did not have time to do it and it looks I am gonna be busy the next months as well. Good, someone is moving forward with HTTP/WS layer for FSX/P3D addons. In fact, Robbie's approach is a bit different as he uses DLL and token variables while my HTTP server is and EXE file connected to FSX via simconnect and my API is simconnect "like" ...

Bob, I would not worry about Google Earth too much. They have moved 3D maps directly into browsers using WebGL where no plug-in is required. The only problem I see is that they have still not released any API for that kind of maps. I have not checked any news about it recently, though sometime ago there was not even a single PR about it. Anyway sooner or later they want to start selling that thing (API key), so they will give us the API, right ?

best regards

Marcin
 
WebSimConnect said:
Bob, I would not worry about Google Earth too much. They have moved 3D maps directly into browsers using WebGL where no plug-in is required. The only problem I see is that they have still not released any API for that kind of maps. I have not checked any news about it recently, though sometime ago there was not even a single PR about it. Anyway sooner or later they want to start selling that thing (API key), so they will give us the API, right ?
Click to expand...
Hi Marcin,

Right ... Robbie's aware of that,

"Now, the new(ish) google maps site has an earth-like mode in it, which is rendered using WebGL, so the code to render the Google Earth data with web technologies is already written, they just need to add all the other earth features to it, like kml support, and then wrap that in the existing earth javascript api. I don't know the plans, and of course if I did I couldn't say, but hopefully that explains why they're doing what they're doing."

but, I just asked him to crank out something for the desktop client before mid-December when Google pulls the plug-in, and he agreed. Don't know when the new API will be released, but in the meantime I will be able to use Earth desktop.

Regarding httpX.dll, as I recall, he originally tried to utilize WebSimconnect HTTP with his earth.html application, but for some reason, had some difficulty with it and decided to write httpX.dll instead. I'm not sure his progress on the full duplex httpX.dll but he, too, is busy and has little time to devote to flight sim things for me.

My current "project" is trying to write the 3D rotation transforms for the Google Earth camera that will allow it to pan around using instructions from a joystick HAT button. If you, or anyone, happens to have javascript (or anything) Euler Matrix or rotational Quaternion solutions already, I'll shoot you my email if you are willing to share.

Keep up the great work. WebSimconnect opens another dimension to FS.

Bob
 
Last edited:
Thanks, Marcin,

I took a quick look at the links and they relate to joysticks, true, but the problem I'm working at the moment is different - it's a 3D rotation issue in that I want to rotate the Heading, Tilt, Roll (Yaw, Pitch, Roll) of the Google Earth camera according to input from a joystick controller button.

Your reply has given me an idea about how to capture the joystick HAT command. For the time being, I was going to utilize Tom Aguilo's XMLTools event class that can trap the HAT event.. PAN_VIEW, if I remember correctly, that returns the azimuth of the pan... press the HAT button left and it returns 270, for example. This would require installation of XMLTools of course. Through use of the gamepad APIs you link, maybe there is an alternative way to trap the HAT button movement and I'll look into that. It may not be rocket science to you, but its new to me and I would have a learning curve.

Bob
 
Last edited:
Looking forward to future developments, be great if you can add 3D using anaglyph glasses with nvidia 3d vision

Rhys
 
Rhys,

I know nothing about 3D except that I thought nvidia 3D was an active shutter technology ($$ new glasses, graphics card and monitor), and even then, no idea how/if Google Earth would work with that.

At the moment, the focus is achieving panorama capability in Google Earth whilst flying Flight Simulator. We (Robbie) have got that working with the Oculus Rift VR (Developers) headset. Result is interesting, but not spectacular quality, and you cant see the instrument panel while wearing the headset so its almost impossible to fly, for now. Alternative is to keep GE on a second monitor or window and pan around using the joystick HAT button or equivalent. That certainly is doable and I'm currently playing with the 3D rotation math trying to see how much of a problem gimbal lock is or isn't in aerobatic maneuvers in this application. It's basic stuff for engineers in the gaming industry but it takes me longer.

For full 3D like you are thinking, maybe that's next. Don't know.

Robbie will upload the files needed to run Google Earth desktop client soon, and then again whenever Google releases the new API for GE browser. I still advise to also keep up with developments coming from Marcin Lizer at WebSimconnect.

Bob
 
RhysJ said:
Hi all
Wondering if there is any news on the future development of GEview

Rhys
Click to expand...
You will get a GE desktop version in a week. This works fine with GE desktop client and does not involve the GE web plugin that Google has axed.
Additionally, we should be including HAT button joystick capability such that as you move the HAT button, the GE camera view will rotate accordingly ... You won't always be limited to the straight ahead GE view.
Give us a few more days and we will release.
This will be a "short term patch" I hope. Whenever Google comes out with a new API we will switch over.
Anyway, I have been using Robbies's desktop client version and it is flawless.
As always, please also check out the new work from Marcin at WebSimconnect. Good stuff. Use of real time web data increases the cool things that we can do.
Bob
 
Hi rpmc,
Most of you speak about the google plugin that it has been terminated. But still I use this plug in with mozilla and a new browser QT web (at least new for me, as I heard from you and downloaded recently). I found it smoother than fire fox, but there is one problem: the information window in the upper left corner is not displayed which shows altitude and heading etc. do you have a solution
 
Hello Younas,

I don't know why the earth.html information overlay works in Firefox but does not display in QT web, so I do not have a solution. If we think of something, we will reply here, but GE View work (earth.html) with the Earth plug-in stopped a year ago when Google depricated the plug-in owing to security concerns.

The info overlay is very useful and it's too bad that we cannot display it in the GE desktop client version of GE View.

Bob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top