OK, this is a slightly surreal one: A bouncing Google Earth globe in Google Earth, animated using KML’s timestamp feature.

My idea behind it was to see what an animated model with a shadow would look like in Google Earth. Spheres have nice simple shadows, so I thought why not use a mini globe.

To create the textured globe model:

• I took Screenshots from Google Maps
• Combined these to make a global map
• Re-projected this image from Mercator to Plate Carree
• wrapped the resulting image around a model sphere created in Blender

The shadow is a screenshot (of the model shadow) from SketchUp, used as a semi-transparent ground overlay. 

Bouncing Google Earth
(110kB)

• Click on the time control options (the white clock face)
• Set the repeat mode to bounce
• Animation speed to about half way or higher
• Click the play button

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Or… check out this video by www.gearthblog.com:

Related:
- Vienna Ferris Wheel Animation
- London Eye Animation
- Model Airplane Animation