Google has a Great Glass Elevator; they call it “Liquid Galaxy”

Computers & Mobile Craft & Design Fun & Games
Google has a Great Glass Elevator; they call it “Liquid Galaxy”
YouTube player
liquid_galaxy_00.jpeg
liquid_galaxy_01.jpeg

One of Google’s famous “20% time” projects, by software engineer Jason Holt and co-workers, Liquid Galaxy is an immersive Google Earth experience made by synchronizing eight flat-panel displays arranged in a large arc around the user and controlled with a commercial 6-axis joystick. The effect is nothing short of jaw-dropping. As Holt himself put it:

…all of a sudden, flying around in Google Earth really felt like flying, and exploring the ocean trenches was like piloting a submarine. When you splashed through the sea surface you cringed slightly, expecting to get wet. You could even command your own lander down to the Moon or Mars…With the Liquid Galaxy, we could fly through the Grand Canyon, leap into low-Earth orbit, and come back down to perch on the Great Pyramid of Giza without even breaking a sweat.

If I had a place to put it, I’d be building one of these right now. [via Mashable]

2 thoughts on “Google has a Great Glass Elevator; they call it “Liquid Galaxy”

  1. adcurtin says:

    This is a good advocate for Google Fiber. There’s almost no way this could be done on most home internet connections in the US.

Comments are closed.

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

View more articles by Sean Michael Ragan

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK